Frippery Farm

Potato Soup Recipe and Musical Goats

2012-02-12T10:02:00.000-06:00

Okay, I make this potato soup...it is pretty simple and most folks have all the ingredients on hand.
First and foremost, NO SUBSTITUTIONS!
Margarine is NOT the same as butter. It does not taste right if you use margarine!
Also, FRESH onion, not dried!
The herbs can be fresh or dried, however.

****************************
Potato Soup

1 stick butter
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
4 to 5 cups peeled sliced potatoes (Please do not dice them. Slice them around 1/8th to a 1/4 inch thick)
2 quarts chicken broth OR 5 or 6 chicken bullion cubes dissolved in 2 quarts water.
1 tablespoon fresh minced basil or tarragon or 1 teaspoon of same herb dried.
1 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 to 2 cups heavy cream

Okay, here's the directions:
Melt butter in bottom of deep stock pot type pan. Add onions and garlic and cook until onion is translucent.
Add two quarts chicken stock to pan and then add potatoes.
Bring to a boil and then cover and turn back heat to light boil. Cook until potatoes are tender.
Once potatoes are tender, add herbs (dried or fresh).
Mix cornstarch into heavy cream thoroughly.
Pour cream mixture into pot slowly, stirring all the while.
Simmer and stir as it thickens...about 8 to 10 minutes.

Now, while the potatoes were cooking away in the chicken broth, fry up 4 or 5 slices of bacon and drain. Crumble the bacon up in a small bowl. Also set out small bowls of croutons, sour cream, sliced green onions and grated sharp cheddar cheese.

Serve the soup in bowls and add toppings (bacon, cheese, etc) to taste. Crusty slices of fresh baked bread go well with this!

That's my easy potato soup recipe. Hope ya'll like it! Feel free to change it to adapt to your own tastes...but trust me, the real butter is necessary!
*****************************
About the "musical goats"...
I have had to switch the goats around in the pens AGAIN, due to personality conflicts.
Molly had Morpheus and Maximus...and Paulis (our wether) started trying to play with the wee ones and was a tad too rough. So, we moved him in with Nina and Lily. Bad idea. Nina and Lily do not like Paulis and proceeded to butt and kick the crap out of him.
So, I moved him into the pen with Gustav, Gerte and Gabby...and Champagne and Cornelius. That worked...to a point. When I took the mama goats out at night, Paulis proceeded to butt and kick Cornelius.
So, I moved Cornelius and Champagne in with Molly and her boys. Cornelius is still so tiny, I thought maybe it would work. Thankfully, it did. Molly has calmed down remarkably since she had her kids. She has not bullied Champagne or Cornelius.
Cornelius snuggles up with Max and Morph at night and they all sleep together nicely.
I have put Paulis up on Craigslist. Sale or trade. He is of no use to us unless we put him in the freezer and we have designated Gustav for that!
Hopefully, someone will respond to my ad!

Quick Update

2012-02-10T11:16:00.000-06:00

Although I had a full mouth extraction and got dentures around 3 years ago, I ended up at the dentist yesterday.
It turned out that the original dentist missed a rather large tooth root during the extraction.
During the last 3 years, it worked itself through the gum and started causing me problems. It got a bit infected, so yesterday at 8 am, I sat in a dentists chair and had the offending root extracted.
This dentist prides himself on his patients NEVER experiencing pain during the procedures.
So...by the time I left his office yesterday, I was feeling NO pain. I am pretty sure I was floating.
Went with the Darlin' Man and got my prescriptions filled (antibiotic and painkiller), came home, put together potato soup for dinner, put it on simmer on the back burner and went to sleep.
The kids and my son milked and fed the goats yesterday...very nice of them!

Today I am doing better, but still not quite 100%.
So, I have started some laundry in the washer, some dishes in the dishwasher and will now take 1/2 of a pain pill and take a nap. If I had taken the pain pill before doing chores, I am sure I would have had dishes in the washer and clothes in the dishwasher!
I only take 1/2 of a pill at a time as I am hyper-sensitive to just about every medication (including over the counter) and if I take a full pain pill, it would knock me out for about 10 hours!
So, nap time for me...tomorrow I'll catch up on things here and post the recipe for my potato soup! (It is really easy and so delicious!)

A Conversation

2012-02-06T14:36:00.000-06:00

I am currently on my Darlin' Mans' laptop...which is really weird. I mean it feels weird...like a toy or something.
Give me my big clunky bruiser of a desktop ANY day!

Anyway...I figured I would report on how Trixie, the girl turkey ended up on our little farm.

So, the Darlin' Man spent a good part of Saturday morning putting up the new pen for Timothy Turkey.
Saturday evening, the Darlin' Man had to go out and run some errands and report briefly for work. I figured "What kind of mischief can he go into with such a short trip?"
I am SUCH an optimist!

So, he returns and I was busy putting a post up on this blog, so I didn't peek out the window to see what was taking him so long to come in the door.
When he DID come in, here's (as best as I can remember) the conversation we had:

HIM: You know I love you, right?
ME: Yes, darling, I love you, too. (and I WAS thinking "Uh-Oh")
HIM: And you kow I love farming and animals, right?
ME: Yes, and so do I.
HIM: You don't think I am an animal hoarder, do you?
ME: No, but if you keep it up...well, just ask me next time!
HIM: Well, I got the pen built for the turkey pretty fast!
ME: Yes, you did...but NO MORE animals UNLESS we have a pen built FIRST!
HIM: ABSOLUTELY! Look out in the turkey pen!!!
ME: I have seen the new pen, it looks great.
HIM: No, LOOK in the turkey pen.....
...short period of awkward silence as I just "look" at him. Ladies, you know the "look" I am talking about!...
HIM: You won't believe the deal I got on her!
ME: *facepalm*
We go out in the yard and I check out the new turkey.
HIM: I got a discounted price because she only has one eye.
ME: S-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, you somehow found a one eyed turkey at a discounted price and you were gone from the house less than an hour? How did you manage THAT!?
HIM: Well, actually, I was talking to Stretch.... (a neighbor that has goats, sheep, pigs, pheasants, peafowl, turkeys, horses, etc and five times more property than us. I think Stretch is the Darlin' Mans' idol...sigh)
ME: Oh dear god NO.
HIM: Well, Stretch let me have her at a GREAT price. What do you think of her?
ME: As long as Timothy Turkey likes her.
At this point, Timothy decides to show the new turkey hen just how much he does like her. The Darlin' Man is beside himself with glee.

So, that's the type of conversations that occur around here...
Some days I think my Darlin' Man needs a chaperone when he goes out...

The Rest of the Story....

2012-02-04T16:02:00.000-06:00

So, last night, the Darlin' Man gets a phone call. I thought it was from work...until I heard him ask "Should I bring a bag or something to put it in?"
What?!?
I cornered him as he was edging towards the door and he told me he had gotten a "killer deal" on a turkey. A turkey we could fatten up for Thanksgiving.
Where would we put said turkey?
"Oh", he replied breezily, "we can just tuck him in with the goats or something."
Uhmmm...I dunno.....
So, he brings home this behemoth of a turkey. HUGE. Turkey-zilla.
We put the giant bird in with the goat babies and the Darlin' Man goes to bed.
I stayed up a bit, watching a show I had missed earlier in the week. The Boy and Girl had gone with friends to see a movie and I was waiting up for them, too. (Like many Mom types, I cannot get to sleep until I know everyone is home and safe.)
The Boy comes in and grabs the flashlight as soon as he hits the door yelling "Something is trying to get in after the baby goats!"
I run out with him...and there...in all his feathered glory is the turkey, perched on top of the fence of the pen and about to launch himself into the neighbors yard.
I dive into the pen and launch myself at the darn bird and manage to grab him.
Lesson #1 Turkeys are strong.
The turkey begins flapping and fighting. Don't blame him. If someone snuck up behind me late at night and grabbed me, I imagine I would toss up a ruckus, too! Add to that the fact that I was in my nightgown and fuzzy slippers...I imagine I was pretty much a turkey nightmare!
Lesson #2 This turkey is full grown, full grown turkeys are heavy.
I am not a weakling. But a full grown 20+ pound turkey in full panic mode is tough to handle! I managed to hug him close tome and pin his wings down and dash to the peafowl pen.I flung him in there and discovered something else.
Lesson #3 Turkeys in panic mode crap. A LOT.
I stomped back into the house and headed for the shower. My Darlin' Man, who had slept through the festivities, was perturbed that I woke him up by taking a shower. "Why are you taking a shower now? You just took one a couple hours ago!"

Dear readers...I will not post what was said by myself in the five minutes that came next.My statements at that moment were made under a great deal of stress...and, as we all know, statements made under a great deal of stress are not to be taken seriously.
Something like this:

Yeah.
Anyway, went out this morning to discover the turkey (now christened Timothy) had decided to make amorous advances toward Penelope the peahen AND Ugly Betty the chicken. Neither of the girls were happy!
Construction on a turkey pen commenced quickly. By eleven thirty a.m., Timothy Turkey was settled in.

*************************************
On to Molly and her twin boys...
While we were constructing the turkey pen, I was keeping an eye on Molly, she seemed to be a bit restless.
I got caught up in construction, plus making lunch, plus I had a pan of cajeta cooking down on the stove, so admittedly, I wasn't keeping a close eye on Molly.
I noticed she wasn't wandering around her pen as usual,
*************************************
THIS BLOG INTERRUPTED FOR A NEWS FLASH!!!

I let the Darlin' Man go to town by himself again.

I know...I know. I should know better by now.
Say hello to our newest resident:

Meet Trixie.

.....sigh.............
******************************
Back to our regularly scheduled post...
Anyway....
I went over to the big goat pen and there was Molly, pawing away and then plopping down in the straw in the goat house. I ran to grab my birthing kit and yelled for everyone else...
By the time I got out there, she had delivered one and was in the middle of delivering the other. I had to actually pull the second kid, as it was so large it got stuck!
Both mama Molly and her twin boys are doing fine. I went out and took a few more pictures to show how squeeeeeeeeeee! cute they are!

This is Morpheus, the one I had to pull.

And this is Maximus!

Molly and her boys!
********************************
Now, if you'll excuse me,I need to go take an aspirin and possibly take a nap.
Or perhaps a nice strong drink.
********************************

"I wonder what her problem is? Is she screaming?"

Meet Maximus and Morpheus!

2012-02-04T12:24:00.000-06:00

Molly JUST gave birth!
Twin boys!
Here they are, complete with mama Mollys' floppy ears!

The dark one is Maximus, the lighter one is Morpheus.
Mama and kids doing fine!

No Kids Yet...But a New Arrival, Anyway!

2012-02-03T21:50:00.000-06:00

Introducing Timothy Turkey!

More about Timothy tomorrow!

No Kidlings Yet

2012-02-03T09:02:00.000-06:00

I think my goats are messing with me.
Molly and Lily are showing all the signs of going into labor...but no kids yet!
I go out and check and check and check and spend half the night out there and.....nothing, except Lily wants belly rubs and to go to sleep with her head in my lap while she snores peacefully and Molly is convinced my only reason to come out to see her is so she can go through my pockets looking for treats!
******************************************
Well, since there is not much going on here but the ENDLESS waiting,I figured I would do that thing that many bloggers have done...post a "Get to Know Me Better" type post, so maybe new folks would get to know me and long term readers might find out a few things that they didn't know!
*************************
My place of birth: Germany
Favorite animal for pet: Dog
Favorite Beverages: Milk and Dr Pepper with Pomegranate juice running a close third
Favorite flavors: Ginger and honey, DARK chocolate...not very fond of milk chocolate
Favorite scents: Gardenia and Jasmine (I HATE those candles/body sprays/etc. that smell like fruit and cookies and other foods, give me floral every time)
Favorite Flowers: White Tulips, Lilacs, Gardenias, Hyacinths, and White Roses.
Favorite music: Rock...Metal, Heavy Metal, Soft Rock (think Elton John), Celtic
Least favorite music: Country. I despise country music, it literally gives me migraines!
Favorite artist(s): Mary Cassett, Henry Moore (English sculptor), Monet, Paul Gauguin
Favorite movies: The Lion in Winter, Lady Jane, Jurassic Park series, V for Vendetta, The Stand
Favorite writers: Shakespeare, Stephen King,
Favorite color: Blues and Greens...and Orange...and Yellow...HAPPY colors!
Favorite TV programs: Being Human (BBC and SYFY versions), History Channel stuff, Project Runway. I also watch a lot of DIY shows and Cooking/Food shows.
If I were stranded on a desert island, I would want: Les Stroud (Survivorman)NOT Bear Grylls!
When I was little, I wanted to be: A veterinarian. Or a lady wrestler.
Weird thing about me #1: I can bend several of my fingers at the first (top) joint.
Little Known Thing About Me: I once worked as an "extra" in a few movies and tv shows.No screen credits,just a face in the background!
Favorite Activities: Cooking/Baking, Sewing/Quilting, Camping/Hiking, reading, painting (prefer oils over acrylics or watercolors), horseback riding, tending to my goats and chickens.
Weird Thing About Me #2: My eyes are hazel-green...but can change color depending on what I wear and sometimes my mood!

Want to know anything about me? Just ask!
********************************
I have a few things to do around the house...the usual laundry, etc. Just gonna have to fight the urge to crawl back into bed...looks so comfy, as Siona is happily demonstrating...

Quick Update!

2012-02-01T15:06:00.000-06:00

Lily the goat is in the beginning stages of labor! And so is Molly!
Lily was panting a bit,and some discharge and her udder was filling.Molly has a mild discharge and her udder has filled out more.
So, I moved Lily into the milking goats pen so that Molly (who is a bully) won't endanger Lily's newborn when it arrives.Or they arrive, as I am pretty sure Lily is going to have twins.
Of course,when I moved Lily, I had to move her best buddy with her, as Lily bellows her head off when separated from Nina!
Picture reference:

Nina lookig svelte (before she was pregnant)

Molly with her cute "bobby sox"and spiffy red collar. (Another pre-pregnancy pic)

Lily, her first day here...with Wang introducing himself! Wang is the daddy...but he has been sold to another enterprising goat owner that liked the look of his offspring.

So...we should have new kidlings by the weekend. Goats are hard to predict, but I will be keeping a close eye on both of them!
Somehow....I see this ending with my spending the night in the goat house holding Lilys' ~~hand~~ hoof. It is her first kid and she is a very people oriented slightly nervous animal. Whenever upset, she makes a bee-line to the nearest person...with Nina in tow, of course!
I have my kidding kit ready...to that I have added a pillow and blanket...just in case!

Farm Surprise!

2012-02-01T12:13:00.000-06:00

Remember Xander and the lovely Heloise?

Well, they currently share quarters with some of the goats.
Xander does well on holding his own against the goats at feeding time, so it will do until we get a goose pen constructed.
This morning in the goat house...

Goose eggs!

I went to retrieve them...arming myself against Xander...
Yes, a broom is the preferred weapon of defense here! It'll brush Xander away without injuring him and he has now developed a healthy respect for the broom and waddles off when I approach with it. Of course, he mutters goose talk while moving away from me...I can only imagine the threats he is making!
"Darn human wouldn't be so big and bad without that broom! I'll get her one day when she forgets that evil weapon!"
So, I gathered the eggs...turned out there were five,but two had been crushed by the goats.Heloise appeared to have abandoned the messy nest she had constructed, so I didn't feel too bad about collecting the eggs.
Someone else was setting this morning as well!

Ugly Betty, in her nest constructed of straw, her feathers and peacock feathers (ooooOOoohhh...fancy!)
Pendar had just gifted Betty with a lettuce leaf when I took the picture. He is a very protective and compassionate rooster! He brings Betty choice bits out of the feed pan and snuggles up to her at night to keep her warm.
So, I gathered an egg from Betty as well. Her eggs are small, but she usually lays 2 a day!
Comparison picture:

Bettys' egg on the left, Heloises' on the right.

I think I will make cornbread tonight and use one of Heloises' eggs.
I cleaned out the goat pen, put down fresh straw in the goat house as Molly is due to kid ANY DAY and cleaned out and refilled their water trough.
I think we need to construct a goose house asap, though. I don't like the goats trampling Heloises' nest and I really do want her to hatch out a clutch of eggs!

Back to Molly....her udder is beginning to fill out and her tail has raised a touch. I am hoping she will be on schedule. She is due this week!
More kidlings....YAY!

Uh-Oh....My Computer Caught Something!

2012-01-30T15:03:00.001-06:00

Yes, despite my careful web browsing and my anti-virus, my computer caught a nasty virus. The online tech guy is pretty sure it is a virus that the resident teenage boy accidentally acquired for my computer back in December. This one hid, took it's sweet time...and then attacked.
...sigh...
We thought we had solved the issue, but it keeps cropping up again...and again...and again...
So...in the next few days, my poor computer will be going in for a total redo. Crash, burn, wipe, load in a new operating system, the works. Going to add on some more memory while we are at it.
Some folks may wonder why I hang on to my old Dell Dimension 1100...but I like the old workhorse. I have had this computer for ages.It has served me well...traveling from Missouri to Texas and across Texas.
I bought it after I moved back to Missouri a little over 6 years ago.It was used when I bought it!
I have been through 4 keyboards and 6 computer mice (mouses?) and 2 monitors.
The CDRom drawer doesn't open anymore. I think that stopped working about...3 years ago maybe?
Still...this old computer has worked when I needed it to.
Scratched and a bit battered, it is still a good friend to me!
So....off to the computer doc and hopefully within a week, it'll be running better than ever!
I will post to this blog and elsewhere with the Darlin' Mans' sleek little laptop...which I really don't like....until I get my clunky old PC out of the shop.

One of These Things is Not Like the Others...

2012-01-29T10:40:00.000-06:00

Every morning after milking, I open the chicken coop door and scatter scraps on the ground outside. This encourages the chickens to get out and about a bit. This morning, Baby (our rescued stray) decided to join in the fun!

The chickens don't seem to mind and even Red, our psycho rooster, is okay with the strange creature that has joined his flock!

Well, That Didn't Last Long!

2012-01-27T09:21:00.000-06:00

The bread we baked on Sunday...all gone. Three loaves of regular bread, a dozen hamburger rolls and a dozen round pitas.

That's a lot of bread!
I don't have a bread machine, so it's all by hand, boys and girls!
So, after I fed the critters, fed the Darlin' Man breakfast, woke the kids up for school, milked the goat, started the pot roast in the crock pot for dinner and started the dishwasher (I use it when I'm rushed); I started my bread dough.
I am thinking two loaves of bread for sandwiches, toast and such and a pan of dinner rolls.

We go through a lot of bread here,despite my efforts to get everyone off the carb wagon and eat more salads. The Darlin'Man, conditioned by over 20 years of military meals doesn't consider it a meal unless there is a protein (usually meat), a green vegetable, a starch AND bread. Except breakfast, which is always a meat (bacon or sausage), two eggs over easy and toast/pita/tortilla.
I ate a salad for breakfast this morning, with a boiled egg sliced in it My lunch will probably be a couple of slices of gouda cheese and a pear. ( I LOVE fresh pears!)
I am not so rigid as the Darlin' Man when it comes to meal choices!
I can thank my parents for that! My father was not adverse to having pancakes and eggs for dinner....and a steak and potato for breakfast. He once told me that one of the best parts of being an adult was eating what you wanted when you wanted, lol!
My breakfast choices for the last week have included the aforementioned salad, rice with vegetable broth, a hot dog with onions & sweet pickle relish & raw onions, scrambled eggs and a mug of hot cocoa and one day when I started with a tangerine and a slice of whole wheat toast.
Since I am making pot roast tonight, I will probably end up with leftover pot roast and potatoes tomorrow...which I'll make into a quick hash. I am very happy when I have good leftovers for breakfast!

How about you? Are you rigid in your meals, or do you go with spur of the moment choices?

Gone With Wind!

2012-01-22T12:25:00.000-06:00

We had wind last night...LOTS of wind!

Everything in the back yard was blown about. Tarps, lumber, panels on the goat pen, the chicken coop, feed buckets, etc.
It was a mess this morning!
Finally got it all cleaned up and put away, except for a few tarps that are still missing. I figure a neighbor will show up and let us know they found them. I returned a few items to neighbors myself this morning!
The chickens were a bit agitated this morning and wanted no part of coming out in the yard. They were staying in their coop, thankyouverymuch!
The goats were hiding in their houses...except for Molly and Paulis, as the panels of their house were blown off! I got those panels back on and fed everyone and milked Gabby.
The wind has calmed down a bit now, and I hope it won't pick up again tonight.
*******************************
I have bread dough rising on the kitchen table. Hamburger buns, (great recipe here!), whole wheat pita bread and regular bread for sandwiches, toast and such.
I have gotten in the habit of doing all my weekly baking on one day.Any bread I don't plan to eat immediately gets frozen or refrigerated for later in the week.
Hope all is going well for everyone out there!

Lets Get Ready To Rumble!

2012-01-21T08:58:00.002-06:00

As you can see by the header picture, Red and Pendar are NOT getting along well these days!
I let the chickens out every morning to wander about the yard while I tend to the goats.
Pendar and his lady love Ugly Betty live in a coop with the peafowl.
Red, of course, has his harem in the bigger chicken coop.
Red and his ladies:

Forgive the bad quality of the pics...a little hazy!

Well, Pendar and Ugly Betty get out of their coop at the same time...and Red feels since he has the rest of the hens,he should have Betty as well! Pendar does not agree with Red on this point, and as is common among males of many species....this leads to chest beating, challenges and, finally, they come to blows.

No one has been hurt, as what they mostly do is fluff their ruffs out, flap their wings and then fly at each other while the hens scamper for cover.
As you can see, Red, our psycho rooster, is larger than Pendar. This does not matter to Pendar! He will defend Ugly Betty to his last breath!
I do find it funny that after a fight, Pendar runs over to Betty and checks her over as if making sure she is okay....and Betty clucks softly while preening herself. Pendar then crows his darnedest, proclaiming to the world that he has defended his lady successfully again.
*************************
Speaking of chickens...we have a new one!
A friend had five chickens, but because they had a dog that wanted chicken dinners, they quickly ended up with one.
They didn't want the fifth one to end up like the rest, so they gave her to us!
We named her Bess and figured we would put her in with Pendar and Betty as we thought putting her in with the big flock might end up with her being pecked.
WRONG idea!
Betty, who is tiny, proceeded to go absolutely crazy on the new hen! Pecking her, flapping her wings at her, jumping on her and just generally harassing the crap out of her!
"Stay away from MY rooster! I KNOW you weren't looking at him like that! "
So, I tried putting her in with Reds flock.
It worked! The hens accepted her in, shared their food and water and even Red was calm about it.
We named her Bess.

I know...she looks like every other chicken we have here...except she has these black under-feathers, so I can pick her out of the crowd easily!

Slow Progress

2012-01-19T10:45:00.000-06:00

Things are puttering along at a slow rate here. Not "Winter" enough to get excited about, but not yet Spring.
This morning I let the goats out to play in the yard and so Champagne could introduce Cornelius to the herd. I wish I had taken my camera out with me, but, forgive me, I forgot!
The goats loved stretching their legs and reacquainting themselves with each other. I was worried that Molly (our farm bully) would get aggressive towards little Cornelius, but she behaved herself.
Cornelius was entranced with the great wide world outside his pen! He wandered off from his mama and suddenly realized..."Mama is not here! Where's my mama!?!" and started up a baaing and squalling that brought his mama running.
After letting everyone play this morning, I lured them back to their respective pens with the goat equivalent of candy...oats mixed with raisins! Oh my! The look of bliss on their faces is quite funny as they chew, lol! It's like giving me Godiva chocolates.
*******************
I am piddling along on my Declutter challenge. I think I will make much more progress in February as I am still organizing. Gotta post a few pics of "before" and "after" for you guys.
I have found that I sometimes work better when I dangle a reward in front of myself....so, I have decided that when I have the kitchen, dining room, den and living room decluttered and organized...I will paint them! And make new curtains. Since we have an open floor plan, I think I will go with a pale green in the dining room, a light caramel tan in the living room and a medium chocolate in the den. The kitchen...I dunno...trying to find a color that will work with the green, tan and chocolate. Right now all the rooms are white. Blah, bland, boring white. I really, really don't like white rooms. I LIKE COLOR! I think that comes from growing up in base housing where all the walls were white and we didn't live there long enough to repaint.
When we finally moved into our own house after my dad retired from the military, our color choices were....uhmmm...a.....little extreme. My oldest sisters room was electric blue.Seriously bright! I shared a room with my other older sister and our room was lilac. My mom and dads room was coral.Bright coral. The kitchen was teal blue and the living room was mint green. The bathroom was pink and brown.
My father said it looked like a paint store threw up in our house, lol! It took a few years for us all to calm down our color choices, but my moms house is much more sedately painted now.
******************
I received a call from the kids school yesterday. That, in and by itself, was not unusual. What was different was the person calling had a HEAVY Hispanic accent and was having difficulty in speaking English.I could barely understand her! After I had asked her 3 or 4 times to repeat herself, I was getting frustrated (and I could tell she was, too). I told her that because of her heavy accent, I was having a problem understanding her. She retorted with "I don' hab a hebby aset." So,I calmly asked her if she could please have someone call back who did not speak English as a second language. Ten minutes later, another call from the school.One of the vice-principals telling me that there would be an open house on the 31st to explain the schools new tutoring program.Then the vice-principal asked if I was the one that had a problem understanding the young woman that had called before. I told her I was, and she proceeded to tell me that the young lady was born in the US and spoke English quite well I let her finish her speech, then informed her that I was NOT born in the US and yet, no one had ever complained that they could not understand me since I was 4 years old. I also told her that the young lady (turned out to be a student intern) needed to work on speaking English as she was extremely difficult to understand on the phone. I was informed that MANY of their students spoke nothing but Spanish at home and the transition to English at school is not that easily done.
...sigh...
Fine. I told the vice-principal to please make a notation that any calls in the future should come from an English speaking person, as this family does not speak Spanish. She told me that in this school district, we are in the minority.
I have lived in other countries. When in other countries, I never expected everyone to speak my language. I know enough French and German to get around. The Darlin' Man knows enough German and Korean to function in those countries, and a smattering of Dutch, Italian and Chinese.
I don't feel I was rude to the young lady. I was calm and polite. I think that since these kids go to school in the US (regardless of how close we are to the border), communications from the school should be in English.
Just another day in the Borderlands....

Pics!

2012-01-13T14:53:00.000-06:00

Remember Ugly Betty?Well,Ugly no more! AND she is laying an egg EVERY day, sometimes TWO a day.

Isn't she lovely now?

Some shots of our new kid:

Yes, Cornelius has one ear up and one down ALL the time...he just came that way! Gives him sort of a rakish look, lol! He is nursing well and often and his mama is taking very good care of him. The first night I was concerned because he was so tiny and actually considered bringing him inside to keep him warm...but decided in the end to just keep checking on him and only bring him in IF he was in some sort of distress. Well,his mama kept him warm, so I didn't have to bring him in. Which could have been funny...considering I probably would have tucked the wee cuddly Cornelius into bed with us. I think my Darlin' Man would have been a bit disconcerted to wake up with a goat in our bed, lol!

Nina...looking pretty!

I can barely wait until she kids! I just know her baby is going to have lovely markings!

Gabby and her twins,just hanging out! Gerte got tangled up in some baling twine that got left in the pen, so, after taking this pic, I spent about 5 minutes untangling her.

Wang left us yesterday....on his way to a new home about 5 miles down the road. So, this afternoon we will move Gabby and the twins into the pen with Molly and Paulis and the geese. We'll see how that goes!

A Gain and a Loss...Farm Life Goes On

2012-01-12T12:26:00.000-06:00

I fed the animals yesterday morning and Champagne, one of our pregnant does was acting anxious.
She was pacing about in the pen and bawling a bit. She was due to kid in a week and a half, so I checked out her "rear view" . No discharge, just a bit swollen, although that's pretty normal at this point in goat pregnancy.
I came inside and got a few things done and then around lunchtime went out to check on her.
Surprise!
Tottering beside her was a wee kid. Really tiny! I checked and it was a little buck. I looked in the goat house and found the still body of a wee doe kid. The doe kid was easily twice the size of her twin.I checked over the little body, looking for obvious defects and found none. I have no idea why the doe kid died.Perhaps she was just too big and strangled during birth, I don't know.
But,the little buck was fine and frisky. On an adorable scale of one to ten,he is a solid eleven!
We have named him Cornelius.

How cute is that!!!???!!!

Look how tiny!
And cuddly...oh how cuddly!

Champagne is a good mama...and one of my most cooperative milkers.
I am sad we lost the wee doe, but am happy that this wee kid is doing well.

We have decided to NOT breed our does this year as we are planning on moving.
So, I placed an ad on Craigslist to sell Wang,our big buck. I got a few responses and had to weed through them...a couple of people thought he would be good to butcher (uhmmmm....NO.Older goat bucks are NOT a good choice to put in your freezer!), so I weeded them out immediately. Finally talked to one guy that wants him for breeding. He'll be here this afternoon to load up Wang and take him to his new home.

We have also decided to re-home Andy, our untrainable German Shepherd. He is a danger to the livestock...and occasionally US! He has broken windows trying to get at the goats and chickens when they were in the yard. He has knocked most of us down the back steps on numerous occasions trying to rush out the door. Andy has also gone after the peafowl and the geese.What Andy needs is a family that will love his goofy self and not have him around livestock. So, placed an ad for him as well. Have gotten a few responses, but not what we are looking for yet.

So, Cornelius is new...and Wang and Andy are soon to be gone. We should have had two new kids,but, alas, it didn't go as well as we hoped.

Rain...then Snow...

2012-01-09T10:25:00.000-06:00

Looks like an inside kind of day, which is just fine with me as I have much to do!
Started out raining, so I posted a pic of rain and leaves...then it started snowing, so I ran outside and got the pic you see in my header. Yes, clothes on the line...the ones the girl hung up yesterday, but the rain came suddenly before we could get them off the line, so I decided I would let them hang until today...when it was supposed to dry off here!
Well, the rain stopped....but then the snow started!
Today I am making cajeta and cheese, using henna on my hair and continuing with the declutter thing and organizing.
Baby, our little chihuahua mix stray has her own plans for this cold day...

Declutter Challenge...Are You In?

2012-01-06T16:27:00.000-06:00

Along with "Organization" for my January theme...my whole theme for the entire year is "No Waste".
I have found the more disorganized we are and the more cluttered the house is, the more we waste!
With that in mind, I have joined the "Declutter Challenge "over at The Single Saver's blog.
Looks like a good challenge for us!
366 items to go out the door in the 366 days of 2012 (it's a leap year, remember?!?)
Since we are getting ready to move within a year, this is SUCH a good idea! We don't want to move *junk*!
If you feel the need to declutter, join up!

I Live With a Mummy...

2012-01-06T09:33:00.000-06:00

Yes...a wrapped-up blanket stealing mummy!
Let me back up and explain...

I enjoy cold weather, but when I bed down for the night, I love to snuggle down under 2 or 3 blankets/comforters/quilts. (In hot weather...a sheet and nothing more than a sheet!)
My Darlin' Man HATES cold weather.
He is a mummy. He wraps up in as many blankets as he can find.
This leads to my having to fight him for blanket coverage during the night. Inevitably, I wake up with a scant corner of a blanket while he is warmly wrapped up.
I try to tug some blanket over to my side.
Tug...tug...tug...and I have just enough to cover a knee and maybe my feet.That lasts about 5 minutes and he does his death roll and snatches that small comfort away from me.I have tried snuggling closer to him, but that doesn't work, either, as he always ends up rolling again and somehow accumulating all the covers again.
Yeah...he is a blanket hog.

Yeah...that is usually about what it looks like in the mornings...

I figured I'd get smart about this.I staged a comforter on the floor on my side of the bed.
Sure enough, I woke up around 2 am with no covers. Smiling smugly, I pulled my comforter up on the bed with me and covered up.
I woke up around 4 am with no blankets again and with my Darlin' Man completely swathed in a blanket cocoon.
The next night, I staged TWO blankets.
Same result.
Last night...I added our featherbed to our bed, put the sheets on, put the normal blankets on the bed and staged THREE blankets on my side of the bed.
I woke up this morning a bit chilly and got to watch the spectacle of the Darlin' Man trying to fight his way out of all the covers he had cocooned himself in.
*snicker*
Ever put a blanket over a dog or cat and watch them trying to find their way out?

Yeah...it was similar, lol!
My giggling aside, I have a new plan of action.
Gonna wear socks to bed. And flannel pajamas. I am normally a nekkid sleeper, or just tee shirt and undies...but I am tired of waking up with goosebumps!
***********************************
My organization is going...okay. Somethings have gotten done...some things haven't.. Should be able to post pics in the next couple of days.

2012 and Objectives

2012-01-02T12:14:00.001-06:00

Instead of resolutions, this year we shall have objectives.
Each month will focus on one theme.
January is (drum roll please!) ORGANIZATION .
No more stacks of books spread willy-nilly about the house. Clothes will be folded and stored in their proper places. I will organize my sewing bins >o< (wince) and my desk. Closets WILL be cleaned (gasp!).
The tools will be organized and specific places will be provided for each one.
Today I am tackling my sewing bins. I'll take before and after pictures...although I will cringe and blush about the before pictures!
Ideally, the whole house, outbuildings, etc will be organized by the months end.
February will be CLEANING.
March will be CREATIVITY.
We haven't decided on April at this point...since we will be moving this year (hopefully), I am only working this in three month blocks.
I am hoping this works out for us.We'll see.
In the meantime, I have to go fold up fabric and gather up scissors that have migrated around the house...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T10:47:00.000-06:00

Big changes coming this year....and I'll try to keep posting about them here!
First and foremost...no New Years Resolutions this year!
Second.....trying to get my cajeta business up and running locally.
Third...We are moving towards...moving! A BIG move!
That about covers it.
Having a traditional New Years Day dinner tonight!
Menu:
Ham croquettes
Collard Greens
Hoppin' John
Cornbread
Date Filled cookies

Hope everyone out there is bursting with optimism for the New Year!

Some Links and Reviews

2011-12-28T15:50:00.001-06:00

Some of the main gifts given around my house were books...lots and lots of books!
I gave the Darlin' Man a book of short stories called A Land of Ash compiled and edited by David Dalglish.
Of course I read it, too!
It is different authors take on the blow-out of the Yellowstone Caldera. The authors are mainly sci-fi and fantasy writers.
No rainbows, roses and sunshine here...all the stories are as dark as the ash that covers the land in most of the stories.
But it is good. Very good.
It is a small book, only 123 pages, but all the stories carry weight. I highly recommend it, especially if all the apocalyptic fiction you have found features heroic guys mowing down hordes of bad guys with a machine gun they had kept concealed since the 1950s, and full bosomed tiny waisted women that are dead shots and perfect in every way.
The people in these stories are flawed, as we all are.
***************************
Cool website alert!
The Union Creek Journal is a novel starting out online. It takes place in Nebraska after an economic and governmental collapse. Lots of prepper stuff, too!Give it a read!
***************************
Cool things for the crochet crowd and knitters out there:
Crocheted beanies for breast-fed babies How to do discreet breast-feeding

Heh-heh. I love this idea!

Okay...some other hook and needle work for those talented folk out there:
Crochet with wire e-book .You can download for $6.26.

*****************************
Well,I have to go muck out a goat pen and convince the kids,Gustav and Gerte, that it is okay that they are being weaned and that the sweet feed they happily munch on in addition to their alfalfa will make them grow big and strong (or, in Gustav's case, it will help him grow tender and tasty!)

Recipe for Christmas Eve-Eve

2011-12-23T20:38:00.000-06:00

Tonight we decided to cook a meal together....we all wanted Chinese.
Egg rolls and rice.
The rice was easy....
Here's the tutorial for the egg rolls:
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or minced tiny
1 cup baby bok choy or Chinese cabbage,cut tiny
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup celery, cut tiny
1/4 cup green onions,cut tiny
1 Package Egg Roll wrappers or Spring Roll wrappers
1 tablespoon red bean paste
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in large bowl until thoroughly mixed.

Lay wrapper out flat on smooth surface (we used a cutting board) fill,and roll up as shown in following pictures:

Wet the tag end of the wrapper with water and finish rolling.

Now, gently lower egg rolls into pan with 1/2 inch of hot oil in it.I used vegetable oil.

Remove from oil, drain on paper towels and serve with hot rice and dipping sauce.

Dipping sauce recipes:
Hot and Spicy:
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons bean paste
2 tablespoons hot sauce (I suggest Sirachi)
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
Mix all of the above well and put in small bowls on table.

Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon red bean paste
2 tablespoons vinegar
Mix all of the above together and put in small bowls on table for dipping.

Surprise This Morning!

2011-12-23T10:16:00.000-06:00

Look out my back door!

Yes, we have SNOW!!!
It started around 6:30am and has been coming down steadily since. The kids are thrilled, as it is supposed to stay cold all weekend...so White Christmas for us!

*******************************

Other news this morning....
Patches and Geordi left Frippery Farm this morning...headed to the Houston area.
A co-worker of the Darlin' Man wanted a couple of goats to give his father-in-law for Christmas.
The Darlin' Man made the deal, came home from work last night and told me (!) and this morning, before the sun came up, we loaded Patches and Geordi up for their trip.
I will miss goofy little Patches...

But even more...I will miss Geordi!

I helped load them up and made sure Geordi had his favorite snacks...bananas and cookies.
I petted them both....making sure I scratched Patches right under her chin...she loved that!
The little farm they are going to is 4 acres of lush green grass and plenty of bushes for them to browse. They'll be treated as pets...no fear of getting butchered. Patches won't even be milked! Just petted and given lots of good food and browsing.
I am happy we found such a good home for them...
Still, I cried. Geordi was special. We called him our "Homie". He is an affectionate little guy and loves his people!
Patches was such a goofy little goat. Not a good milker,but she was a good mama. She loved her sweet feed and getting her chin scratched would put her in a total state of bliss.
I cried over Patches, too.
I made sure they knew how to take care of her, as she is due to kid Dec 30th...although with the stress of the move, she may deliver sooner! We made sure they had some sweet feed and alfalfa hay, as well as some favorite snacks...the bananas for Geordi and sugar cookies and gingerbread for both. A couple of cut up apples for Patches.
Good luck Patches and Geordi....may you have happy lives in your new home!

Are You Ready?

2011-12-23T01:31:00.001-06:00

Regardless of your faith,just about everyone celebrates this time of year.
Are you ready?
I'm not as ready as I hoped, but still, ready as I can be!
Still have some presents to wrap....some more baking and tomorrow I pull the ham out of the freezer.
Might not post again until Monday.
Until then, stay warm, celebrate the festival of your choice and.........

Have a cool Yule!

Ugly Betty Update!

2011-12-21T10:57:00.000-06:00

Remember Ugly Betty?

The remarkable hen that the Darlin' Man bought at the feed store?
Well,she has had a good diet,comfortable pen and friendly neighbors for the past couple of months...and voila!

Betty has feathers! Finally!
Also...

See the wee pale egg?
Ugly Betty finally laid her first egg!

Her roomie,Pericles,is also looking good these days...his tail is growing back in:

Lovely, isn't it?
***************************************
As for my leg...healing is progressing:

Still a bit swollen, and,as you can see...bruising is starting to show through. Yes, I need to shave my legs...but right now my leg is still too tender!
*********************************
So, while Pender has his breakfast in the back yard....

I think I'll relax with a hot cup of cocoa....
with a dab of whipped cream on top....

Reality of Farm Life

2011-12-15T12:33:00.001-06:00

Sometimes...you get hurt.
Yes, this hurt!

That is NOT my knee...that is about four inches BELOW my knee!

Nice goose-egg, huh?

How it happened:
This morning, before it was fully light, I started feeding the critters before they went into the barnyard version of "The Hallelujah Chorus" and woke up the entire county.
There were two pallets in the yard that we use to stack the old hay on before we get delivery of new hay. That way we can rotate our hay supplies by stacking the older hay bales on top of the newer ones.
SOMEONE neglected to get the pallets up and out of the way the last time hay was delivered. Usually the Darlin' Man, his son or my son moves them. I hadn't complained as I figured it would eventually get done. The damn things are almost too heavy for me to drag around. I guess I could have...but, I was being lazy, too, I guess.
Anyway, as I was feeding, my shoe caught on the edge of the wooden pallet and down I went!
My leg and ribs slammed into the pallet and the side of my face slammed into the ground.
OUCH!
I managed to not scream, although I admit to some VERY creative cussing!
I finished feeding the animals, milked Gabby the goat and crawled inside. Strained the milk and jarred it and put it in the fridge. Got the kids off to school, started a load of laundry and cleaned out the kitchen sink. Started bread dough for dinner tonight.
Oh, and THEN I cleaned off my wounded leg and put ice on it and elevated it for a bit. Took a couple of aspirin.
Now have a soft compression bandage on it, after applying some neosporin.
My son went and cleaned up all the pallets and lumber debris from our recent pen build. He also transferred Nina into the milking pen with Lily...they are buddies and Lily has been crying across the yard all day every day for Nina.
After I hang up laundry, I'll elevate my leg again for a bit.
Reality of farm life....you gotta walk it off when you are the one everyone depends on!

Xander the Gander

2011-12-14T22:33:00.001-06:00

A surprise new resident here at Frippery Farm...
Xander the Gander!
The Darlin' Man found him at the feed store. They had thought they were done with geese for the year, but someone brought in a small flock and since they knew we had Heloise....and the Darlin' Man was there to buy feed for the goats....well, you guessed it!
The feed store did not have a box big enough to bring Xander home in, so the Darlin' Man trussed up his feet and plopped him in the passenger seat. He said Xander honked all the way home while watching the world go past in the car window. They stopped at a local gas station/store to pick up a soda for me...the parking lot was crowded, of course. Xander honked at everyone he saw, attracting a lot of attention!
We put Xander in with Heloise, the peafowl and Pender and Ugly Betty.
You can see the reaction to the new roomie here:

Heloise, however, seemed delighted to meet Xander! She honked continously for about 20 minutes. I guess there was a language barrier between her and the peafowl and the chickens!

There is Xander in the foreground and Heloise near the back...with her beak shut! Most pictures I tried to get had her with her beak wide open and her wings flapping.
So...besides all the Yule stuff this weekend, I guess we will have to build a "goose only" pen!

Granola Recipe!

2011-12-12T11:58:00.001-06:00

I just made my annual Yule granola. I give it for presents. First batch toasting in the oven and the house smells heavenly!
Small batch recipe:
8 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries)
1 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
(or you can use almonds and pecans)
1 cup golden raisins (or use regular raisins)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix all the above together in a big bowl.
Now, in a saucepan combine the following:
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 cup honey
heat it until everything is melted into a syrup. Stir it well.
Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla, stir in well

NOW, drizzle the syrup over the granola mix in the bowl and stir it well to mix. Spread the granola on buttered cookie sheets and spread mixture out evenly. Put in 325 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally.
Let cool completely. Package in jars or ziplock bags or tins. Will stay good about a month, but will get eaten LONG before the month is over! Eat with milk as a cold cereal, hot milk for a hot cereal, or just munch on it out of the bag!

This makes a lot. I normally make three or four batches this size and package it up for presents.

Morning Rodeo Report...

2011-12-09T12:13:00.000-06:00

So, this morning, with an assist from my son, we got Gabby into the milking stand. Apparently, Gabby had forgotten all about the milking stand and now viewed it as an object of terror. She kicked and bleated and just generally refused to cooperate. Finally milked her, leaving a bit for the twins, and returned her to the pen with her babies. The twins flung themselves onto her and began nursing. All are content right now.
I was really surprised the twins and Gabby were so calm last night. Hardly any fussing at all after 9 pm. I think the cold temperatures and the dark may have been our allies. Gerte and Gustav snuggled down in the hay inside their house with Aunt Lily. Lily proved to be a very good babysitter.
Still, the nighttime pen transfer and then the same in the morning will be a pain for the next couple of weeks.
*******************************
Still in my cookie baking frenzy. My favorite recipes come from the Martha Stewart web site. A pox on all you Martha haters! She has the best recipes for cookies!
http://www.marthastewart.com/276951/christmas-cookies
Although I am usually a "seat of my pants" type cook, I have found if you follow Martha's cookie recipes as exactly as you can, they ALWAYS come out wonderful!
Today, snickerdoodles and more gingerbread.

Baby Pictures...errrr Baby GOAT Pictures!

2011-12-08T21:47:00.000-06:00

Okay...maybe I'll post a pic or two of my gorgeous grandson!

But here are pictures of our baby goats. These were taken when they were just a few days old!

Such goat kid cuteness!
Tonight, though, the wee goats are spending their first night away from their mama. They are big enough to start spending less time with mama, and tomorrow morning we start milking Gabby again. After a couple of hours, Mama Gabby stopped bleating for her babies and settled down to sleep back in the maternity pen. Gustav has been yelling for his mama more than Gerte. Aunt Lily is still in the pen with them and she and Gerte have snuggled down in the goat house. Gustav will snuggle for a bit, then wander up to the gate and bleat for his mama. He'll get her back in the morning. I'll feed hay to everyone, put her in the milking stand, milk her and then put her back with her babies. We'll do this for about 3 weeks, and then we'll move Gustav into the boys goat pen and Gerte into the maternity pen, which will eventually be the female non-milking pen.

Okay...more cuteness:

My son Daniel with his son Gideon. Best way to take a nap!

Having a Cool Yule...

2011-12-07T12:59:00.000-06:00

Yes, the holiday season is upon us and I have so much to do!
I do almost all of my shopping online OR make gifts myself and ship them out.
My deadline for shipping is this Saturday...EEEP!
I am mailing out cajeta and home made cookies to some relatives, a couple of home made aprons and a quilt.
After Saturday, everything is D-O-N-E as far as distant relatives.
Then the final push for here.
We still don't have a tree up. We have an artificial tree...which I hate, as it is only about 3 feet tall and "pre-decorated". Ugh.
The fella has dragged it around the country in his military career, so I understand he has some sentimental attachment to it. But it is so tiny. And drab. Very drab.
I want a LIVE tree with the piney smell and needles dropping and all the decorations lovingly placed.
The Darlin' Man considers live trees a fire hazard.
...sigh...
Okay, so we compromise...he will let me pick out a new artificial tree on Saturday. I will get a certain amount of decorations (store bought) and then the kids and I will make the rest.
So...Saturday and Sunday will be uber-busy!
I'll try to take some pictures of the home made decorations and the final tree result!
********************************
As for The Boy....he apologized to me profusely this morning. He is pulling extra chore duty for the next two weeks. His father had a talk with him and let him know how disappointed he was...not just with him messing up my computer, but about him lying about it afterwards.
The Boy finally did admit it was his idea and he was the one that did all of it. His sister's participation was limited to telling him "That's not a good idea!", but she did nothing to stop him. So, she is doing a little extra duty around here, too.
However, both are looking forward to a cookie making frenzy for the holidays!

Several Hours Later...

2011-12-06T17:52:00.000-06:00

My son, bless him, could see I was pretty upset about my computer. He told me to go watch some bad reality t.v. and let him give it a try.
After a few hours of deleting programs, unneeded files The Boy downloaded on my computer, viruses and trojans that The Boy somehow got on my computer, my son shut the whole system down again and was able to reboot. Then he did a system restore (or something like that), literally cleaned my computer and I can now post pictures (I think).
I was able to upload my pictures from this morning...finally...now to see if blogger will let me post them!

In the yard

Snow on the cactus

I thought the snow on the straw looked pretty.

Won't be grilling on that anytime soon!

Snow on the tree branches.

So, it looks like my son was able to get my computer back in working order...woo-hoo!

Don't Touch My Stuff!

2011-12-06T13:51:00.000-06:00

I am a fairly easy going person...if one of the kids needs a dollar or two for school, I'll tell them to look in my wallet and trust them to only take what they need. So far, so good.
Last night, I went to bed before the kids, as we knew they had a late opening for their school because of the snow. However, I knew the livestock would be bellowing, baa-ing, crowing and clucking for their respective breakfasts around 6 a.m. So, I crashed early, after asking the kids to do after dinner clean-up. They said they would, so I took a shower and crawled into bed around 10 p.m.
I get up this morning, feed the animals and come back in the house, grab my camera and go back outside to take a few pics of the lovely snow.
I come in to upload the pictures and discover the cord that connects to my camera has been pulled out of the port on the computer and tossed on the floor. Then I check my computer and find that someone has tried to download something on my computer and my system is now frozen. I wake up my son and he tells me that The Boy was doing something on the computer when he went to bed. My son shuts down and reboots my computer and everything is working...almost.
My camera will no longer upload and a little message tells me on the computer screen that the computer port that the camera cord goes into has experienced a power surge and will no longer work.
The Boy gets up and I ask him---gently---if he was trying to download something after I went to bed.
Immediately he says "She did it, she said it was okay with you, I didn't have nothing to do with it!!!" ("SHE" being his older sister) His sister, who overheard this, retorts "He was trying to download an album and make copies". The Boy immediately starts screaming more denials, which I have learned, are a positive indication that he is lying. Also, my son saw him at my computer when he got up to get a drink of water.
...sigh...
So, until this issue is fixed, no more pictures.
I have very few items that I outright own. This computer is one of them. I bought it at one of those rent-to-own places and worked very hard to pay it off. It is several years old...I think I got it in 2004. I have taken good care of it, had memory added about 3 years ago and it has moved all over with me. I love this computer.
When I moved here and set up my computer (so we could have a home phone via MagicJack), I took the kids aside and told them to not touch my computer.
Ever.
They have a computer to check emails/facebook/youtube/etc on. I told them if they wanted to watch a movie on my computer, to ask me first! My computer has several idiosyncrasies that only I know how to handle.
Don't touch my stuff.
Simple rule.
Apparently not simple enough for The Boy.
So, yes, I am angry beyond belief. The Boy is 16. A young man who should be showing some signs of responsibility and adult reasoning.
I will be asking my Darlin' Man to help me get my computer fixed and I am sure he will.
I don't know what to do about The Boy. This is not his first lie. He lies constantly and then tries to "suck up" when his lies are discovered or to lay the blame on someone else. He attempts to manipulate every adult around him to his advantage. He can be very charming...but I am afraid that is part of the problem. Some adults believe his B.S.
I had kids before. Saw them through their teens. Had a couple that tried to get lies past me...which rarely worked. I was kid once, too!
So...I have some decisions to make before The Boy gets home from school today.

Look What is Going on Here!

2011-12-05T17:05:00.000-06:00

Snow on cactus? Check!

Confused goats....

Mom...MOM! What the heck is this white stuff!?

Yes, we have SNOW! Not a normal thing here in El Paso. The newer goats (Nina and Lily) are just turning a year old, so they are VERY confused and a bit distraught. Lily, pictured above, is yelling her head off. I keep telling her to just go in her house and snuggle down, but she's not having it! She wants the white stuff to stop and stop NOW! I think I'll give her a wee bit of extra sweet feed this evening. Maybe with a full tummy she will calm down a bit and get to sleep tonight, poor confused thing.

Tempermental Pictures

2011-12-02T09:34:00.000-06:00

I have been trying and trying to post pictures. No dice. Blogger won't let me or my computer won't let me or something in the universe won't let me.
My computer crashes, and I have to reboot and go through the seven levels of hell to get everything back up.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............
So, today will be spent dealing with the livestock and trying to straighten out my computer.
************************
Quick update...
Pendar has now been put into the same coop as Heloise, Pericles, Persephone and Ugly Betty.
Pendar is pleased, the peafowl are not concerned, Heloise is mildly annoyed and poor Ugly Betty is exhausted.
I had to put Pendar in there because Andy, the stupidest dog on earth, kept trying to kill him whenever Andy went out in the yard. I hate cooping up Pendar, because he seemed to rather enjoy trotting around the yard.
We have to do something about Andy. He is no good as a herding animal as he thinks he has to kill any animal in the yard. He is good, I suppose, as a guard dog, as long as the person coming in the yard doesn't offer him a milk bone or any other snack...then he acts like they are his best friend! We have to muzzle him every single night because if we don't, he chews up everything he can. Sofa cushions, trash, electrical cords...nothing is safe! Andy has no "spatial awareness". He runs into people, walls, furniture, etc. When I open the back door to go out, he'll lunge for the back door and has knocked me down the steps more than once onto the concrete patio. No broken bones yet, but I think that is only because I learned how to fall when I took martial arts a long, long time ago.
As far as I am concerned, feeding him is a waste of good dog food.
Yes, he can be goofy lovable....but, to me, that is not reason enough to keep him around. We have tried and tried to train him. We had a professional dog trainer friend work with him...and even that guy said he thinks Andy is brain damaged in some way. Andy has learned exactly two things..."shake paws" and "sit" and he only sits about half the time when commanded to.
So, the Darlin' Man and I are doing a last ditch effort to train Andy to live the chickens and goats, etc alone.
We may try a shock collar. I despise those things, really, I do. But Andy has gotten to the point where he is becoming a danger to the livestock.

Oh! What a Morning!

2011-11-30T12:57:00.000-06:00

This morning I had the oh-so-bright idea to move Mama Gabby and her three week old twins Gustav and Gerte to the milking does pen. As that is a smaller pen, it would also necessitate moving Patches over to the New Goat Palace, aka The Maternity Ward.
I thought..."Get a bucket of feed and easy-peasy, Gabby will follow me right over!"
How wrong I was!
Gabby was determined to NOT leave her pen. After 20 minutes of trying to tackle her and also trying to catch one of the twins to lure Gabby out, I realized I needed to change tactics.
O---kay. I'll bring Patches over to the Maternity Pen and then I'll grab Gabby and the twins.
Grabbing Patches was easy. I looped a piece of baling twine around her collar and led her to the Maternity Pen. As soon as she was in, she and Gabby and Champagne started a three way head-butting contest...with me in the middle trying to grab Gabby.
Several bruises later...I grabbed Gabby, looped the baling twine around her collar and led her over to the milking does pen. The twins, enthralled by the head butting contest they were watching had no intention of missing this quality entertainment to follow mama over to the new pen.
So, another 15 minutes trying to catch them! Mama Gabby baaa-ing her head off across the yard, Champagne and Patches in a battle and poor Nina and Lily confused at all of it.
Did I mention that Nina and Lily had escaped from the milking does pen and were cavorting around the yard?
Yeah.
So, I sorta gave up. I opened the Maternity Pen gate and chased ALL the goats out of there...Gustav, Gerte, Champagne and Patches.
The little ones were totally panicked...no mama in sight and out in the big wide world for the first time. So they were dashing around the yard like the nimble footed speed demons they are, Nina and Lily were cavorting next to the boys pen, Wang started wailing at the does, Champagne and Patches resumed their royal rumble on top of the lumber on the basketball court and I was trying to herd everybody back to where they were supposed to be. It was starting to look hopeless! There was no way I was going to catch those wee kid goats!
But, Mama Gabby began to yell encouragement and soon they were both at the gate of the milking does pen, yelling back at their mama. I picked each up and put them in.
NOW, to handle everyone else!
Lily went back into the milking does pen rather quietly, and a bucket of sweet feed convinced Patches, Champagne and Nina that they wanted to be in the Maternity Pen.
Blogger is not letting me post pictures today, so you'll have to imagine the Keystone Cops like chase scene and then all the goats happy and content in their new pens.
I need a cup of tea and a nap!

After-effects of Thanksgiving...

2011-11-27T04:41:00.000-06:00

Well, I boiled down the turkey carcass and picked the bones clean.
So far, we have had turkey pot pie and turkey-and-rice soup.
I had a lot of soggy skin and some chunks of fat, plus the fat I skimmed off the broth that wouldn't be used in our upcoming meals...so, I gave it to the dogs.
An hour after the dogs feast:

Yeah, that turkey thing works on dogs, too!

You Got a What...?

2011-11-25T20:33:00.000-06:00

So, the Darlin' Man has today off and decided to run down to the feed store and replenish our chicken scratch, sweet feed and dog food.
He comes home and his daughter runs in yelling "We have a surprise for you! A HUGE surprise!!!"
Now, I don't know about the Darlin' Man around your house, but mine has dreams. BIG dreams. Occasionally, he muses out loud about some of them...in the past 6 months I have heard such things from him as:
"You think it would be hard to milk a giraffe?"
"I hear ostriches can bring a good profit."
"What do you think about raising yaks?"
"You know, we might be able to put a burro to good use here."
While outside I am smiling, inside I am:

So, I was not quite sure what to expect, especially as I headed out the door---and before I got to see the HUGE surprise, the Darlin' Man said "I got a really good deal on it!"
Remember Ugly Betty? The remarkable layer that has never laid an egg? Yeah...that was his last "good deal".

Anyway, he leads me over to the milking does pen where I am greeted by this:

So my face was more like:

We have a GOOSE! It's a girl and was the last one the feed store had. They don't like feeding them through the winter, so they sell off all the farm critters they can as winter creeps in and will get new chicks, goslings, turkey poults, etc., in the Spring.

We have named her Heloise, but pronounced the French way---where the 'H' is basically silent.
Heloise is tall and elegant and very opinionated.
She does NOT like the dogs. She does NOT like the Darlin' Man. She does NOT like the goats. Putting her in with the chickens or peafowl seemed like a bad idea, so she is in with the milking does for the time being.
Pendar uses that pen as home base as well, but although he tried to court the peahen, getting cozy with Heloise seemed to be the last thing on his mind! Especially after she hissed at him and chased him across the pen!
Heloise is lovely:

In this picture, you can see Pendar's legs as he exits...stage left...
I am not quite sure what we are going to do with her...the Darlin' Man says he got her "as an experiment".
Apparently, the "experiment" is to see if we can handle geese.....we'll see!
Anybody have any advice? Should I expect any eggs with no gander around? What snacks do they like, along with their regular feed?

Late Night Blogging

2011-11-25T03:47:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I post a blog. Sometimes I stay up on purpose to blog as I have way much to do during the day!
So, tonight, it is a little bit of each!
Today, while the turkey was roasting, I went outside and took a few pictures..
First, the new, improved and finished Goat Palace!

You can kinda see the side door here.

Front door,, there is also a side door.

Mama Gabby and the kids there, with Auntie Champagne, all looking very pleased with their new cozy quarters.

"C'mon, kids, she has that darn camera out again!"

We are also putting up sides on the Peacock Palace, but only on three sides...we have two sides up now and you can see one of the wall panels behind them...quick pic while I was watering all the animals this morning.

And...here's Ugly Betty!

She is starting to feather out some, thank goodness! Pendar the rooster thinks she is lovely, feathers or not.
The Darlin' Man has decided we will be building a second chicken coop for Pendar, and then we will split our flock of 20 (plus two roosters) into two smaller flocks of ten. Red, our psycho rooster, will be upset, but he'll get over it.
**********************
Now we are discussing our gardening efforts for next Spring, as this years garden failed horribly. We have decided to go with a Hoop House. A big one. We are getting some like minded friends together to build it after the bad weather passes...around late January, early February. (And before you envy me my earlier than thou Springs...remember we only had 6 inches of rain this year AND temps of over 100 for almost 3 months)
I have already sent out for seed catalogs from my favorite seed folks and have started dreaming of veggies overflowing my garden.
For those of you that have hoop houses...how do the plants pollinate? Is there someway to let bees and other insect pollinators in? Is that necessary?
Thanks in advance for any hoop house advice you can give me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T23:14:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a good day!

Our turkey turned out beautiful. I made bread and cranberry sauce and stuffing from scratch. I cheated on the pies, as the fella knew I had way more to do than I had time for, so he picked up a couple of prepared pie crusts on the way home from work yesterday.
Everyone was happy and stuffed after the meal.
Hope all of ya'll had a great day!

The Twins at Two Weeks

2011-11-22T11:01:00.000-06:00

Gabby's twins are doing well! We named them Grete and Gustav. Both are growing by leaps and bounds...and leaping and bounding all over their mama and their Aunt Champagne (who shares the pen, awaiting her own kid).

Gustav and Gerte

"Mama, she's taking my picture again!"

"Oh, hi! Make sure to get my good side!"

Floppy ears!

The wee goats are a delight to watch. Mama Gabby is doing an outstanding job at keeping them well fed and clean and happy. We finished walling in the goat shed...pictures of that yet to come.
This afternoon we will be banding Gustav. I was going to start milking Gabby today, but she still has a bit of a discharge, so I'll wait another 3 to 5 days and see if it clears up. Besides, after banding today, Gustav will want his mama for comforting and will nurse more. I know a lot of y'all don't band, you cut, but my fella prefers to band.
**********************
In other news, my new grandson is doing great, although new mom and dad are suffering from a lack of sleep.
Considering this particular son of mine did not sleep through the night until he over two years old....well...I guess this is "Mama Payback", lol!
I don't know when I will get to visit my son and his wife and get to see my new grandson...wish I could do it RIGHT NOW, but everyone out there that has livestock knows the situation. The Darlin' Man is trying to arrange for some time off so he can take over the duties of milking, etc., but right now---as all the guys are coming home from Iraq---no one is getting time off. My Darlin' Man has duties that involve greeting each flight in, inspecting the items brought back with them (you'd be surprised at what some guys try to bring back as souvenirs!) and then making sure each soldier gets to where they are supposed to go and receives their assignments. Not his normal duties, but with so many coming back stateside, he got assigned to this until the dust settles, so to speak.
So...for the next month or two two, he is going to be incredibly busy. With new goat babies coming, so am I!
I'll have to content myself with pictures of little Gideon for a bit, I guess.

Announcing....

2011-11-20T10:37:00.000-06:00

My Grandson!
Gideon Edward Moore
Born 11/18/11 at 6:58 am
6 pounds 4 ounces
19 inches long
@ Augusta Medical Center, Fishersville, Va

Occupy What? Why?

2011-11-16T17:00:00.001-06:00

The past week, I have watched a lot of online videos and streaming web cams about the Occupy Wall Street groups.
I wanted to understand why they are doing what they are doing and what they hope to accomplish.
First and foremost, they are pissed off that bankers and big corporations got bailouts, tax incentives, government subsidies, etc.
So am I. These have been going on for a very long time. Too long. It is just the most recent spate of bailouts that got attention.
The OWS people are also angry that unemployment is high, inflation is rampant and the future is not as bright as it used to be.
Okay, I am annoyed about that as well.
They say they are in the 99% that does not control the countries wealth.
Right there with you, guys!
Now we come to the parting of the ways....
They want a free college education and/or for their college loans to be forgiven and wiped off the books.
Look, it is not my fault that you CHOSE to take out $186,000 in college loans to get degree in Women's Studies and Ethnic Studies and now can't find a job. (Seriously, I know this young lady that did this. She is an upper middle class white girl that continually tells black women "I KNOW your struggles!" Yeah, she has been smacked more than once.)
If they would consider carefully what the rewards are (financial and career-wise) of their education path, maybe they would make more sensible decisions.
They want their educations, housing, utilities, etc to be free.
Have these people never heard of a *vested interest*?
A vested interest is when you have worked for, or invested in, or somehow put in some effort in order to reap rewards. You value whatever you have invested time/money/effort in MORE because of the time/effort/money you invested.
If things are just given to you, they have less value and are usually treated that way. Look at government housing projects, for example.
Remember your dad screaming at you to turn out lights when you left the room? As teenagers, most of us thought "What the heck is Dad getting so upset about? It's just electricity!" Yeah...and Dad paid the bill, we didn't!
These people want the taxpayer to be Dad. To pay ALL their bills so they can have a lovely, carefree life where they are free to be creative and "find themselves".
Also, from looking on their web pages and online chats and such, they don't think anyone should be able to own property.
That's right, they want to do away with private property. They seem to feel that NO ONE has a right to own property. That ALL property belongs to EVERYONE.
Well, okay you people, try coming on MY property without my permission! Gonna get real bad real fast!

Look, I am one of the 99%.
I don't own any stocks or bonds. Not a trust fund baby (as some of them are!) and I work damn hard for anything and everything I get.
I never expect to get rich. The best I hope for is to have a little farm to raise my goats and chickens, maybe a cow and a pig or two someday. A garden to feed my family.
A porch to sit on to watch the sunset.
And to know I earned it all myself.
I don't understand them, and I doubt they would ever understand me.

Report On Gabby the Goat

2011-11-10T10:10:00.000-06:00

The day before yesterday, Gabby began frantically pawing the ground in her pen (the new goat palace) and bleating loudly. I went out to see her and once I was in the pen, she came up to me and leaned against me while I scratched her ears and rubbed her side. I could tell she was in labor and she just wanted some comfort.
I came back in the house and when The Girl came home from school, we heard Gabby give a particularly loud bleat, we ran out to discover she had delivered an adorable little buck. I had a towel with me, so I wiped off his wee face while his mama cleaned him up.
I had suspected Gabby was carrying twins and as she cleaned up her new kid, I could see I was right, as the movement of the second kid was obvious. After about 15 minutes, she plopped back down and began delivering her second kid. A few pushes and a lovely fawn colored little doe was delivered! I wiped off her face as the wee thing was snorting and struggling to breathe.
Gabby got both her babies cleaned up, and within an hour, both were up and enthusiastically nursing.
I gave mama Gabby some warm water with molasses & salt (livestock Gatorade) mixed in to boost her energy and replace electrolytes.(Recipe: 2 quarts warm water, 1/2 cup molasses and 2 teaspoons salt, mix well)
I posted pictures (post below this one) and then the batteries on my camera died!
The Girl took some video and I am struggling to post that....just having a hard time uploading it to youtube, darnit.
So, video and more pics just as fast as I can get them up.
Babies and mama goat doing well. They have beautiful markings and are frisking around. Mama Gabby looks as pleased as can be with herself.
Baby goats are THE most adorable farm babies (just my opinion)!

Tonight at Frippery Farm

2011-11-08T20:30:00.001-06:00

New additions, born within the past hour...one boy, one girl!
Will post update tomorrow!

The New Goat Palace

2011-11-07T11:45:00.000-06:00

The New Goat Palace is finished!
First, a few pictures:

As you can see, Gabby and Champagne are already comfortably settled. I know it looks a bit strange, the tall roof structure in the middle, but there is a method in our madness. The side panels for the little goat house in the middle are easily removable. They hang and are stabilized at the bottom.. We install them when cold weather hits.We hadn't installed them yet when I took these pics.
I moved Nina and Lily in with Patches in the milking doe pen so she wouldn't be lonely. When she gets closer to her due date, she'll be moved to the new goat palace.
The plan is that the new kids will (eventually) populate the new goat palace, the milking does will be in the milking does pen and the bucks and wethers will be in the main goat pen.
So THAT project is done. I'll take a pic after we have the panels up for cold weather.
****************************
On to cookie recipes.
Do you make Rice Krispie Treats? So do I! They are quick and easy.
But............kind of boring after a bit.
I follow the basic recipe and add my own twists.
Other things I add:
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Walnut pieces
Pecan pieces
M & M's (red and green or Christmas, pastel ones at Easter)
Slived almonds
A bit of cinnamon
Salted peanuts or mixed nuts
Drizzle chocolate on top
Some of my cajeta
Or I skip the Rice Krispies completely and use Chex Mix!
It is so easy to play with the basic recipe. The kids favorite is walnuts and semi-sweet chocolate pieces
My fav is pecans and some cajeta mixed in..Or salted peanuts and cajeta mixed in. Good stuff!
Use your imagination and go with what you like!

Morning Surprise!

2011-11-06T08:22:00.000-06:00

I went out to feed the animals this morning and got a bit of a surprise.

See the wee pygmy goat in in the back there? That is my neighbor Franks wee goat. He has two, see?

The charming doe with the lovely beard who is currently on MY side of the fence and the little buck on FRANKS side of the fence.
The doe came over to join my little herd by going under the fence here:

Wang has been mooning over the wee doe for weeks. She was pregnant when Frank got her and she kidded yesterday, however the tiny kid only lived about an hour. Sometime during the night, she managed to burrow under the fence. My little herd welcomed her and shared their hay and Wang and Geordi have been cuddling up to her.

Frank just left to go bury the kid and will be back later to retrieve the doe. We will be doing some fence work on both sides today.
Until then, his pygmy doe will be visiting with the herd here.

Still Building...

2011-11-04T16:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, we are still building the new goat pen here! The Darlin' Man is a stickler for doing things right, so ever board, every little bit of fencing, every screw has to be perfect! (Thank goodness he doesn't watch me sew, lol!)
He, his son, my son AND a friend have been working on it all week.
Problems have added to the time, of course.
We had a small sandstorm, it took longer for the concrete to cure than we thought it would, and we had to work around the Darlin' Man's work hours (as well as his friends) and his sons school hours a bit.
My son would have done more during the day....BUT the Darlin' Man wants to be here for every single bit of the build. So, the best my son or I can do during the day is clean up work on the build site.
We should get finished this evening. I hope!
*******************************
This dang cold is still hanging on. I am doing much better (and many thanks to all y'all that have sent me get well wishes!). I think I am keeping Halls Menthol-lyptus cough drops in business! They seem to be the only thing that helps keep my head clear and stop the coughing. I am down to two or three cough drops a day. Much better than the 10 or 12 a day I was taking a couple weeks ago! I am totally out of my homemade disinfectant that I make, so I need to get some more lavender flowers when we go to the store. I swear, I think it works better than Lysol.
*******************************
Ugly Betty has still not laid any eggs. She has a sweet personality, though. Pender is still mooning over her and courting her through the pen fencing. It is fun to watch his courtship.
*******************************
We are about to enter the sandstorm season here. Saturday high winds are predicted, so I am doing the little things I have come to do to avoid the worst. First, I do laundry...all the laundry I can. I do not want it hanging on the line when the sand hits! Second, I vacuum and dust all I can. I know I will end up with sand and dust in the house, but you have to apply yourself to cleaning it up before, during and after to stay ahead of the worst!
*******************************
I love the cooler weather we are having. I sleep better at night and feel more full of energy during the day. I am looking forward to the holidays. I am going to posting some cookie recipes in the next few days.I LOVE baking cookies! Makes the whole house smell wonderful!

Hungry?

2011-10-31T14:57:00.000-05:00

Recently, I have had a lot of busy lunch times and late nights while we work on the goat pen.
So...quick lunches and some midnight snacks.
Thought I would post a few of my favorites for a quick meal or snack.
I have a microwave, and this is when it comes in handy!
My favorites:
Baked Potatoes. I microwave a potato and stuff it with any of the following (or a combo) :
Sausage and gravy (no time to make biscuits!)
Taco meat and salsa
Chili (or any thick soup or stew)
Scrambled eggs and bacon
Broccoli (with or without cheese sauce)
Kim chi (an acquired taste, to be sure) or sauerkraut
Radish sprouts, mushrooms and walnuts, a little Italian dressing on top (Hey, I'm weird)
In fact, anything you like to snack on is pretty good in a baked potato---unless it is obvious stuff like ice cream, now that would be pretty icky (YMMV).

Stuffed tomatoes are pretty good, too! Cut off the stem part and then hollow out the tomato. Dice what you dig out and mix it with your filling.
Stuff them with any cold salad:
Chicken salad
Ham salad
Macaroni salad
Tuna salad
Egg salad (my favorite)
Leftover fried rice

For a midnight snack comfort food, little beats Creamed Eggs on Toast.
Boil 2 eggs, peel, slice and mix with 1 cup medium white sauce
White sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk (works best if milk is warmed or room temp)
Melt butter, whisk in flour and then whisk in milk. Stir over medium heat until thick.
Okay, mix in the sliced hard boiled eggs and pour it over a couple slices of whole wheat toast. (I tear my toast into small pieces like my grandmother used to for me when I was little)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika or some green onion if you like, maybe a bit of crumbled bacon.

My fall back is to grab a bowl of cereal..usually Raisin Bran, Life or Wheat Chex. But since I rarely have cold cereal in the house, I usually end up with one of the above choices.

:

Last Pics of the Night

2011-10-30T23:44:00.000-05:00

We folded around 7:30 pm. Still have a few things to do, i.e.; build goat house in pen, get trough in, put fluffy straw in goat house, etc.

The gate is now totally installed. We will be putting plywood behind it to help prevent escapes!

Where the goat house will be.

The Darlin' Man finishing up. Yes, you only get to see the back view, he doesn't want his picture all over the internet.

More Pictures of the Build

2011-10-30T19:11:00.000-05:00

Not quite done, but getting there!

Oh yeah, the lumber yard LOVES us!

Andy doesn't think it's fair WE can dig holes in the yard and we get mad when HE does it!

Holes dug, posts set...now add fencing.

Our friend, Jeremiah, he is helping!

The gate is up, anyway!

A Few Pictures...

2011-10-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

Ear scratches accepted here!


Just relaxing on a Saturday.


Where the next goat pen is going in.


Hey! Get off my back!

Hello Saturday!

2011-10-29T11:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday , as most of you saw, was my birthday. The fella showed up the day before with 10 new laying hens for me! These, in addition to the peafowl and Nina and Lily (the new goats) were the final part of my present...althugh he came home from work on my birthday with a nice surprise for me!

P-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-t-y!

Today we are building a nursery pen for the mama's and kids. After a doe shows signs of being pretty close to delivering, we'll transfer her to the new pen so she'll have a private and secure place to have her baby.
I'll be taking pictures later of the new hens, etc.
Stay tuned....

Still Alive at 55!

2011-10-28T09:08:00.000-05:00

Today's my birthday...so, I will be taking the day off from posting...except for my thought for the day:

"If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves
alone to thee are left,
Sell one & from the dole,
Buy Hyacinths to feed the soul"
- Muslihuddin Sadi,
13th Century Persian Poet

Lady-in-Waiting and a Little Romance

2011-10-26T18:19:00.000-05:00

Gabby the goat just keeps getting bigger and bigger! I swear, I think she is going to have twins...or one really big kid!

See what I mean? Gabby has also been pretty grumpy today, so I think labor is not far off!

And romance has arrived at Frippery Farm...
Remember Ugly Betty?

Yeah...the remarkable bird. Still no eggs.
Remember Pendar?

The gorgeous rooster, here staring wistfully into the peafowl pen...and no, the object of his affections is NOT the peahen.
Check it out:

That's right...he is adoring Ugly Betty. Ugly Betty is not so sure about him, but she accepts his adoration through the pen walls....it is fine, as long as he doesn't actually get too close seems to be her attitude!
I will wait until she feathers out more and then re-introduce them. Maybe even build them a little pen of their own...let them start up housekeeping, raise a few chicks...

Feels Like a Monday

2011-10-24T13:47:00.000-05:00

It certainly does feel like a Monday, and the calender informs me it will be Monday all day long...ugh!
This cold of mine is still hanging on. Tried every herbal and/or over the counter remedy I can think of. The only things that really help are cups of hot tea and Riccola cough drops.
So, hot tea is the order of the day here. I add honey and a bit of milk.
The British have it right...a cuppa tea always makes you feel better!
****************************
Just a basic update today...
Ugly Betty still hasn't lain an egg. She's NOT a rooster, very definitely a hen.
Gabrielle the goat hasn't given birth yet, but she is due Nov 1st. Poor thing is waddling now!
Nina and Lily have settled in. Molly has turned a bit *bossy* and shoves some of the other goats away from the hay at feeding time. Going to have to figure out a solution to that!
Baby the stray has gotten into the habit of trying to chase Pendar the Rooster. Trying to. She found out that Pendar chases back!
The weather is cooler at night, which makes me happy!
****************************
The tea kettle is whistling, so I am going to go have another cuppa'. Hope all y'all are doing fine!

Exploring Different Cuisine

2011-10-21T09:15:00.000-05:00

I like to pick a country and then explore their cuisine. Most countries have remarkably different cuisine in their different regions.Some small countries have distinct *flavors* that permeate all their dishes.
Right now I am exploring Moroccan cooking.
The problem with exploring the dishes of another country is frequently a condiment that is available there is not available in the US...unless you live near a big city that has many small ethnic neighborhoods with grocers OR you order online.
Such is the case with Morocco. Many of their dishes contain *preserved lemon*.
So, off I went to google to explore this ingredient.
I found several recipes...Preserved Lemon is apparently on the pantry shelf of most Moroccan homes.
Recipes vary, but essentially, you preserve lemons in salt and lacto-fermentation does the rest!
So, using a combination of several recipes, I came up with my own...

Basics...Lemons (Meyer lemons if you can get them!), coarse sea salt, cinnamon sticks, coriander seed, a quart jar and a sharp knife.
Cut the lemons...there are two schools of thought on this:

Either cut them almost all the way through and pour salt in
OR

Slice them up and salt them.
Shove them into the quart jar and when you are almost to the top, add in one cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of coriander seed.
Let set three days at room temperature. During that time, a lot of the juice will come out of the lemons. After three days, add more lemon juice to fill to the top. Let set at room temperature another 3 days.
Refrigerate.
Now, for the lemon to soften properly, it needs to stay in the jar undisturbed for another 24 days...that's 30 days total.
I know, I know, that is a long time to wait...but I am a patient person.

I will be using these lemons to make chicken tagine in November. Down home cooking...Moroccan style!
I'll take pictures and post the recipe then!
*********************************
Ugly Betty still hasn't laid any eggs...but she is doing well otherwise.
Gabrielle the goat is due to have her kid by Nov 1st. Gonna have to take a pic of her, she is HUGE, lol!
Baby the stray is exploring the animal pens...the chickens scare her a bit..

Yes, we got her a little shirt. The mornings are a bit chilly and she has very short hair. She was shivering like crazy when I put her out for her morning *potty break*. For the curious, the shirt says "I'm Adorable".
She loves hanging out in the mornings while I feed the goats and chickens.

So, my lemons have about 2 weeks left to ferment, Ugly Betty is still egg-less and Gabby should present us with a new kid any day.
Hope all is going well in your corner of the world!

Misc. This and That

2011-10-19T08:01:00.000-05:00

It has been a rough October here so far. Every one of the humans here has come down with something the past couple of weeks! Strep throat, bronchitis, mild pneumonia, miserable colds, etc.
I had to make up some more of my herbal sanitizer and have been spraying down the furniture, carpets, the air...everything with it! It seems to have helped a bit. The house smells better, anyway!
Refreshing memories of those that haven't read here long:
Herbal sanitizer:
1 cup alcohol (rubbing alcohol is fine)
1/4 cup dried lavender flowers
1/4 cup dried rosemary
Put all ingredients in a jar with a tight lid, shake up to mix thoroughly and then leave lid on and let set for 24 hours.
Strain and Pour into spray bottle and add 1 to 2 cups of hot water, shake well to mix.
I use it as a linen spray on the bed sheets, I spray down kitchen counters with it, etc.
*****************************
Little Baby the stray is settled in and very happy. Never found a micro-chip and ads posted on base in an attempt to find her owner brought no response.

She and our big German Shepherd, Andy, have become best buddies.She follows him around, gets into mischief with him, and he flops down on the floor so she can *pounce* him for a wrestling match, lol!
**********************
The nights are much cooler now...I need to get to a thrift store to buy old blankets to fill some almost finished quilts with! Yes, I know I can buy batting, super loft and all that, but in my mind, that sorta defeats the purpose of my quilts! Quilts were originally made to frugally put to use fabric scraps and threadbare blankets.
I really like seeing how creative I can get with what I have, rather than buyng spanking new fabric just for a quilt. Most fabric I buy is put to use in making clothes or aprons, etc. The scraps go into my quilts. I will buy clothes from thrift stores to turn into quilts...especially old worn and stained clothes that I know will just end up being thrown away! Bag sales are wonderful things!
**************************
My new grandson should be making his appearance within a few weeks! The name is already chosen (Gideon Edward) and my son is so excited, along with his lovely wife. I wish I could be there for the birth, but alas, I am several states away and just can't afford to fly out there for the occasion. Maybe a Christmas trip?
**************************

A Cautionary Tale

2011-10-18T08:59:00.000-05:00

I recently learned of the death of someone I had once been very close to. I didn't learn of the death until months after the event. Still, it saddened me a bit, because it didn't have to happen.

The person that died was young by our standards. 54. A hundred or so years ago, a man dying at that age would not be considered that remarkable.
He spent a lot of his youth on farms. Doting grandmothers baked him cakes and cookies and he learned from his grandfathers and father that it wasn't a real meal unless there was a substantial slab of meat on his plate.
In high school, he worked part time and grabbed dinner at a local burger joint, and when he got home found his mother had left him dinner in the oven, so he ate that, too.
At 18, he joined the military and basic training peeled the pounds right off of him! He met a girl---also from a farm family--and they married and had a child. She had been raised on fried foods and meals with lots of red meat, too. He liked her cooking.
He got out of the military and moved closer to his parents. His marriage faltered and then failed. He moved back in with his parents, got a part time job and attended a local community college. Lots of fast food meals and double portions of his mothers cooking.
He met a woman and after a two year courtship, they married. The new wife cooked stir fries with small portions of meat and served fresh fruit for dessert.Salads were sometimes the main entree! He would stop on his way home from work and buy himself donuts or a meatball sub and eat them before he got home. His mother baked him cakes and pies and brought them over. On grocery shopping trips, he always made sure to sneak in a few bags of chips, a frozen cheesecake, a package of cookies, "Because I deserve them!"
Because of various reasons, by the time he was 39, that marriage faltered and failed as well.
Back to his parents and his mothers cooking.
At age 44 he discovered he had cataracts. At age 46 he was diagnosed with diabetes.By age 50, he was more or less bedridden. His father had died, but his mother was still there, cooking for him, and now, helping him in and out of bed. One day his mother was helping him get out of bed so she could change the sheets and she slipped and he fell on her, breaking her back. At age 52, his mother now unable to care for him, he moved into a nursing home. At age 54, after several heart attacks and two heart surgeries, he died.

I can still hear him saying "I deserve to treat myself now and again." as he piled another bag of chips or another cheesecake in the grocery cart.
Yeah, he was my ex husband.
I was never a big "meat eater". I just think it was my general nature as a child. I was raised a portion of my childhood in Europe and I learned early that a slice of good cheese, some bread and a piece of fruit is an acceptable lunch. My Irish grandmother spoiled me with stews and soups where meat was a flavoring, not a "star" of the dish. Fresh fruit was always more of a treat to me than any pie or cake.
I tried with my own children to teach them to enjoy healthy foods, and for the most part, I think I succeeded.
The Darlin; Man enjoys vegetarian meals...although the Girl still cries out in dismay "No meat?!?" when she sees a tofu stir fry about to grace the table. Cake is a rare treat here...birthdays or Easter or Christmas. I think I had a handful of potato chips..ummm...about 4 months ago.Tostada chips with a fresh salsa maybe once every two weeks for the kids. (I don't much like tostadas)
There's no reason for a healthy person to decline so badly that they die at the age of 54. I am 54. I am up every morning, feeding and milking the goats, cleaning out the chicken coop, etc. Breakfast this morning was a glass of 2% milk, a scant handful of walnuts, a few raisins and a small bowl of oatmeal.
Large portions of meat...I still don't eat them. I love a good steak, but most times I only eat half of what most people consider a "portion". I will over indulge on green beans and broccoli, though!
Look, homesteading is hard business...you need your health to do it!
We all know how to eat healthy, all you have to do is look online, watch the news or pick up a book.
Don't dig your grave with a knife and fork...there is so much more life out there!

Holy cow! Read this!

2011-10-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

Louisiana bans cash transactions for 2nd hand goods

By: Thad D. Ackel, Jr. Esq.
This summer, the State Legislature and Governor of Louisiana passed a law that bans individuals and businesses from transacting in cash if they are considered a “secondhand dealer”. House Bill 195 of the 2011 Regular Session (Act 389) broadly defines a secondhand dealer to include “… Anyone, other than a non-profit entity, who buys, sells, trades in or otherwise acquires or disposes of junk or used or secondhand property more frequently than once per month from any other person, other than a non-profit entity, shall be deemed as being in the business of a secondhand dealer. ” The law then states that “A secondhand dealer shall not enter into any cash transactions in payment for the purchase of junk or used or secondhand property. Payment shall be made in the form of check, electronic transfers, or money order issued to the seller of the junk or used or secondhand property…” The broad scope of this definition can essentially encompass everyone; from your local flea market vendors and buyers to a housewife purchasing goods on ebay or craigslist, to a group of guys trading baseball cards, they could all be considered secondhand dealers. Lawmakers in Louisiana have effectively banned its citizens from freely using United States legal tender.
The law goes further to require secondhand dealers to turn over a valuable business asset, namely, their business’ proprietary client information. For every transaction a secondhand dealer must obtain the seller’s personal information such as their name, address, driver’s license number and the license plate number of the vehicle in which the goods were delivered. They must also make a detailed description of the item(s) purchased and submit this with the personal identification information of every transaction to the local policing authorities through electronic daily reports. If a seller cannot or refuses to produce to the secondhand dealer any of the required forms of identification, the secondhand dealer is prohibited from completing the transaction.
This legislation amounts to a public taking of private property without due process or compensation. Regardless of whether or not the transaction information is connected with, or law enforcement is investigating a crime, individuals and businesses are forced to report routine business activity to the police. Can law enforcement not accomplish its goal of identifying potential thieves and locating stolen items in a far less intrusive manner? And of course, there are already laws that prohibit stealing, buying or selling stolen goods, laws that require businesses to account for transactions and laws that penalize individuals and businesses that transact in stolen property. Why does the Louisiana State Legislature need to enact more laws infringing on personal privacy, liberties and freedom?
Motivating the introduction of this legislation was an increase in criminal activity, necessitating law enforcement to develop additional tools in tracking potential criminals. Thefts of copper and other precious metals have risen recently with higher commodity prices and mounting pressures from the economic downturn. The added restrictions under this recent legislation have come about under the pretense of cracking down on crime and helping the government take care of you, all at the cost of your individual privacy, economic, civil liberty and freedom.
Interestingly enough, although Pawnshops are still required to obtain clients personal information and transmit their client database information to law enforcement, they are exempt from the restriction of cash payments. A jeweler next door to a pawnshop cannot offer clients the same payment method offered by its competing pawnshop neighbor.
Act 389 passed by unanimous consent of the Louisiana House of Representatives and only mustered one nay vote (Senator Neil Riser) from the State Senate. The governor signed the legislation into law on July 1, 2011.

Thad D. Ackel, Jr. serves as lead counsel at Ackel & Associates L.L.C. and Broker of Tribute Real Estate. He may be reached by email @ thadackel@gmail.com

Uh-Oh! It Followed You Home, You Say?

2011-10-15T01:32:00.000-05:00

We have Siona:

She is a competent guardian of the property, plus...look at that face!

We have Andy:

He looks like a competent guard dog....but in reality is what I would call addle-pated. Just a big galloping puppy that doesn't respect personal space and frequently runs into walls.
I am okay with these two dogs. Andy drives me crazy some days, but I am used to it now. Training him has been problematical...as I suspect he is actually brain damaged in some manner---don't laugh, it can happen!

Well...the other day a couple of the Darlin' Man's co-workers called him and announced they had found a stray dog on the other side of the base and could he take it? He told them to call me as I was the one making decisions on all animals here (WHAT!?!? I swear, I wasn't the one that decided on Ugly Betty---who, by the way, has not laid an egg yet). Anyway, they called and pled their case and I finally said to bring the dog over and we'd see how the other dogs felt.
Let me explain, I don't like small dogs. At all. I worked as a vet tech and a dog groomer in the past and small dogs are always a pain in the butt! They are snappish and irritable, fragile and needy. Give me a big dog any day!
So, the guys show up with this:

A chihuahua mixed with....something.Small. Tiny, in fact. Fragile.Black and brown brindle with a white patch on her chest.
Also, malnourished and dehydrated when she got here.
...sigh...I checked her out. She had been spayed, appears to be around 2 or 3 years old. I gave her some water...then some more. Poor pup emptied the water bowl!
I let her take a whizz outside, then brought her in. She was timid and trembled when the other dogs approached. Siona sniffed her all over and then---those frustrated maternal instincts kicking in---assumed this tiny thing must be a puppy and started treating her as such. licked her, cuddled her, etc.
Andy figured this small thing was another toy for HIM! He pawed at her, barked at her and, finally, tried to see if she was a squeaky toy. Yeah, she squeaked. Andy got a rap on the nose for that. He settled down after a bit.
I told the two guys we would keep the lil' mutt until we found her owners or a new home. They left.
The little creature moped around the house all day...then the Darlin; Man came home. Now, mind you, this dog had never met the Darlin' Man.
He walked in the door and the wee canine greeted him as if he were her best friend. She jumped up, she danced, she jumped up next to him on the sofa and climbed into his lap! She watched him with adoring eyes and followed him around the house and yard.
He has named her Baby.
She slept on his clothes while he was at work ...it was the only way to stop her from crying:

So, we are off tomorrow to get her checked for a microchip to see if there is an owner out there.
I suspect....as so often happens around here....that a soldier was deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and his wife decided she no longer wanted the little dog around and turned it loose far from the housing area.
I guess, if no owner is found...we have a new dog!

The Peafowl Palace and A New Resident at Frippery Farm

2011-10-13T10:12:00.000-05:00

TAAAA-DAAAAA!
The Peafowl Palace is complete!

I think the Darlin' Man, along with the assistance of his son and my son, did a fabulous job!
The peafowl are happy and content. We have a perch in there for them and a house will soon be in there as well, for them to cuddle in when it is really cold.
My chicken house project?
Errrmmm...not complete.

...sigh...I'll get back on that today...

Here's my milk stand (someone asked for a pic of my milking set-up recently)

Yes, that is a BBQ grill in the front. The fella forgot to attach a shelf or anything to put a little feed bowl on, so I found that the grill was the perfect height to set a pan full of feed on for the goat to nibble from while I milk. I took this picture right after milking and before I hosed it off. The height works really well when I sit in the lawn chair.

****************************
Yesterday the Darlin' Man called from the feed store and told me he was bringing a new chicken home. The feed store guy, Junior, told him this hen was laying an egg every single day. A good chicken, he said, a WONDERFUL chicken. He convinced the Darlin' Man to buy her.
I was expecting something like this:

That's Zoe, a gorgeous chicken that is a good egg producer.

What he brought home was:

Oh yes....this was a remarkable chicken, indeed!

She has been christened..Betty, aka Ugly Betty.
We tried to put her in the chicken coop, but she was immediately attacked by the hens.
We tried to put her in with Pendar, but he decided to romance her...and was so rough, the poor little hen was shrieking in pain and terror. She is so small. Easily half the size of Zoe.
So, she is the new roommate of the peafowl, Pericles and Persephone.

I wonder how she feels being house with such lovely birds?
Poor thing.

Hopefully, she will feather out just fine.
Softie that I am, I pet her and tell her that she is a lovely bird. The peafowl share their feed with her just fine.
So, welcome Ugly Betty to Frippery Farm.

Giveaway at Krazo Acres!

2011-10-12T00:17:00.000-05:00

Check it out here
Remember to ask her to post her cinnamon roll recipe!!!

Meet The New Goats!!!

2011-10-09T14:36:00.000-05:00

Yes, I have TWO new does!

Nina is the one in front...isn't she lovely?

This sweet girl is Lily. Such a pretty soft brown!

The two of them together, along with Wang *guarding* the new members of his *harem*.

The Darlin' Man got them for me for my birthday. And today he is finishing the peafowl house build. I have YET to finish the chicken house, so I am going to have to get busy on that!

The new girls are sweet natured and docile. Lily, especially, likes having her ears scratched.
I think both will be good milkers!

***********************************
Just about 10 minutes ago a dust devil blew through the yard. It picked up the corrugated steel panels the Darlin' Man has laid out to use on the roof of the peafowl house and those suckers flew up about 9 or 10 feet and flew across the yard! Thank goodness no one was hurt! It bent one of the panels and put a hole in the side of the house where it slammed into it. I wasn't outside, but when it hit it sounded like a car wreck!
Wow!
Just shows you to ALWAYS be alert! My son and the Darlin' Man and his son were all within feet of the dust devil. They ducked behind the posts of the new build in case anything flew their way. The posts are set in concrete, so a hit there would could have been deflected.

News Flash from Frippery Farm

2011-10-07T12:48:00.000-05:00

Persephone escapes...again and again, finally put in chicken coop until we can build the peafowl pen.
Red the Psychotic Rooster gets his comeuppance! He is terrified of Persephone!
We put her in the coop and after examining the exotic creature in his domain, Red decided to start up with her...he pecked. Persephone didn't even flinch under Reds attack.
She was more like

Then she proceeded to smack Red upside the head with her wings until he retreated to the corner and sat there with his head tucked between the fencing. Totally defeated.
I knew peafowl could be a bit aggressive...but Persephone made it VERY clear she is not taking any guff off of Red! Good for her!

Last night, Persephone laid an egg!
Check it out (next to a couple of our regular eggs)

Impressive, yes?!?
So, for breakfast this morning, the Darlin' Man had a large omelet! I tried a bit of it, too...it was delicious!
Persephone's eggs aren't fertilized right now (forced separation from Pericles until pen is built) and she won't feel like hatching out chicks until March/April anyway.

The Darlin' Man just arrived home with some lumber and then had to hurry back to work. He'll stop on the way home to grab the fencing and the cement and fence posts.
I'll take pictures of the build!

Two Additions to the Frippery Farm Menagerie

2011-10-04T12:26:00.002-05:00

Darlin' Man had overnight duty last night, so I called him right before he left for home and reminded him to pick up feed for the goats and chickens.
A little while later, he called and (excitedly out of breath) told me to open the gate and bring a pair of scissors with me.He had a SURPRISE for me!
Hmmm?
He pulled into the yard and I looked in the car window and saw two mysterious bags in the back seat.
Moving.
He pulled the bags out while my son fetched the feed and we went to the does pen.
He opened the bags and.....SURPRISE!!!

A peacock and a peahen!

The peacock...newly christened Pericles. He is in molt, so no long gorgeous tail feathers.

.The peahen, now named Persephone. Isn't she lovely?

Of course, the does pen is goat proof. That does not mean it is peacock proof.
We found this out a scant 5 minutes after the peafowl were released into the pen when the peahen promptly flew over the fence into Honey's, (the horses) paddock next door. The Darlin' Man immediately gave chase, and with Honey's help (she was very perturbed at the peafowl invasion!) re-captured Persephone and put her back into the goat pen.
After a few minutes of head scratching, we put up a *curtain* of screen fabric to dissuade her and Pericles from making any further forays into the neighbors property.
Pendar (aka our gender bender rooster) was annoyed at Pericles, but seemed to take a bit of a romantic interest in Penelope---which alarmed her. So, I grabbed up Pendar and moved him in the big goat pen.
Temporary solution, but working for now.
The goats were curious and started sniffing at the peafowl and then Pericles let loose the typical peacock *squawk* and the goats all stampeded over to where I was standing and hid behind me, lol! They peered out from behind my legs at the fowl, then looked up at me as if asking "What is THAT thing!?!?

I know what our weekend project is this coming weekend...a peafowl pen!

This -n -That Sunday

2011-10-02T13:06:00.000-05:00

Just a few things to take care of today.
First and foremost...clean out the fridge as the Darlin' Man is back from his trip (as of Saturday morning) and is making a trip to the grocery store for me today. He has the list and I hope against hope that he won't forget too many items AND will not buy too much that is NOT on the list. He always brings home one or two *surprises* that I have to end up incorporating into a dish or meal. That can be fun or frustrating...or fun AND frustrating.
"Really, honey? A one gallon jar of marinated artichoke hearts....and 4 jars of kim-chi? That'll go well with the chocolate chili sauce you got last week."

Back to the fridge...
My chickens and the goats LOVE fridge cleaning day. So far this morning they have received some wilted lettuce, rubbery carrots and soft grapes. There's a squishy apple and a peach that got buried and turned mushy in the back that I have cut up to toss to them in a bit. I try to not have too many goodies to toss to the critters, but things invariably get shoved to the back and forgotten or hidden. Wasted food HURTS these days! I know, I know, not completely wasted since the chickens and goats will repay with eggs and milk. Still, I'd rather see the food go to our table than to the animals!

Speaking of food...I am trying to get everyone to eat foods they are not used to. Our vegetable dish tonight with dinner will be roasted root vegetables. Turnips, beets, potatoes, carrots and parsnips. I'll peel them, toss them with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and some herbs and then roast in the oven. Serve with a bit of butter. YUM! I just hope the kids like them! Generally they like everything I put on the table...although it took a bit of convincing on some dishes. They both hated spinach when I got here. Now they argue over who gets the last bit out of the bowl! (using either fresh or frozen thawed spinach, saute some garlic in olive oil, drop the spinach in the pan and saute until fresh is wilted or frozen is heated through. Serve with a pat of butter on top)
I think the root vegetable roast will go over pretty well.

Back to the critters...the Darlin' Man was upset about the loss of Cloris and has taken my suggestion to build a separate pen for the buck. YAY! We will get to work on that next weekend.
He came home from California inspired and eager to do more projects here to increase our yields, both from gardening and from the livestock. A lot of his inspiration came from attending the L.A. County Fair. He saw animals and gardening demos, quilts and other handicrafts. He took about 300 pictures, so after I sort through the pictures, I will post some...maybe you might get inspired, too!

Sad Day

2011-09-29T11:45:00.000-05:00

This morning I went out to feed the goats as usual...and discovered that our youngest goat, Cloris, had died during the night.
Cloris was born in March, daughter of Champagne and Wang.
In case you don't remember Cloris:

Cloris is the little one to the right...she had just lost the *King of the Mountain* championship to Geordi in this picture taken a couple of months ago.

I know why Cloris died. She had gone into season far too young (it can happen...sigh) and before we discovered this, she had been bred.
She was simply too tiny to be pregnant.
I called a friend this morning after my discovery and sadly loaded Cloris into the trunk of the car and drove over to their place.
A brief necropsy and we discovered that her uterus had split and she had died of internal bleeding. She was carrying twins. Too large a burden for such a tiny young doe!
Cloris was left far out in the desert. The coyotes and birds and other scavengers will have her now.

Gender Bender on Frippery Farm?

2011-09-28T10:05:00.001-05:00

Remember Penelope?

Our chicken that preferred the company of goats?
Penelope was purchased at our local feed store, along with Phoebe. Phoebe settled in well and proceeded to make friends with the other chickens, etc. Penelope got in constant fights and was attacked not only by the other chickens but by the rooster, Red the Psycho, as well.
I let Penelope stay with the goats and she soon learned how to get out of the goat pen and wander the yard contentedly. No eggs, but we bought her and Phoebe young and didn't expect eggs for a few weeks.
Penelope would sit on my lap as I milked the goats and followed me around the yard as I fed the goats and did other chores. She had become a fixture in the yard and was benignly ignored for the most part.

Yesterday I let all the chickens out in the yard...and Penelope made a bee-line for them.
Uh-Oh. There's going to be a fight!
Uhmmm...what's Penelope doing...she's not fighting...she's...HOLY CRAP!

(I had to edit in a new surprised face as the old link went bad)

Penelope...is not a girl chicken, she's a BOY chicken.
That's right...Penelope is a rooster!
Observe what I finally took notice of:

See the spurs growing?

Except for the tail feathers, he is a handsome bird! No crowing yet, but he gave it a bit of a try this morning.

S-o-o-o-o-o-o...name change is in order.
We are calling him Pender.

This Morning....

2011-09-23T08:48:00.000-05:00

Of course, some of us did not want to get up and greet the new day...

Property Rights?

2011-09-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

These videos are a "must-see" for anyone that owns property or is contemplating buying property and living off-grid.
Do you have the right to live off-grid?

The answer...depends on where you live!

Shorter video:

Some of these folks have lived in their homes for 20+ years...and just now the government decides to use code enforcement to force them off...for code violations that never existed before!

Find out the codes where you live or where you plan to buy.

Cooling Off...ahhhhhh...and Other Things

2011-09-21T07:59:00.000-05:00

The temperatures here have cooled off nicely the last couple of weeks. A HUGE relief to a heat-hater like me!
Everyone else has pulled out blankets and comforters, but I manage with just a sheet still...and sometimes kick that off.
The Darlin' Man has a bit of time off from work and is splitting it between here and a visit to his eldest daughter. Her college is having it's annual Parents Weekend and wanted him to come to that.
In his absence, I have a few *surprise* projects I want to get completed.

First and foremost, I want to *wnterize* the does goat shed.
It is so hot here in the summer (which, honestly, is most of the year!) that the goats shed we have is really just a covered area for them to seek shade under. Originally, that pen was the *bachelor quarters* for Wang.
As the does kidded, it became more logical to separate the does and new kids from the flock to give the new moms some privacy and to prevent accidental injury to the new kids, so Wang was moved out and the new moms with kids were moved in.
Then we realized it was just way more convenient to keep the milking does in that pen.
We extended the fence area so the does have more room (last weekends project).
So, I plan on adding sides to the covered area. I think the sides should be permanent, to provide protection from wind (both cold and hot wind!) and so the kidding does have a comfy spot.
It should be fairly easy to do (famous last words, lol!) and I will get to play with power tools again (duck and cover everyone!). We still have plenty of lumber to do the project left over from the scrap lumber the fella brought home.

Smaller projects I have planned are creating a tool rack for our ever increasing tool collection, cleaning the screened-in porch (how DID so much stuff accumulate there?) and maybe re-stringing the clothes line. If I had the right kind of paint somewhere, I'd repaint the clothes line poles as well.

The kids have a day and a half off from school this week, so I will have their help, thankfully.
Is it just me, or do they seem to be giving kids more and more "days off" from school? They have so many teachers work days, etc that it seems that the kids are going less and less. School started a month ago and there have already been 4 days off...Labor Day and the rest teachers work days...although they now call it "Staff Enrichment". (I'll refrain to comment on that!)
Anyway, a full week before the Darlin' Man gets back and I have work to do!
Hope you all have a productive week, too!

Panic Attack in Aisle Four!

2011-09-14T13:11:00.000-05:00

I am either too old for this day and age...or, perhaps I was just born in the wrong era.
The day we got my new goat, we did go grocery shopping.
The Darlin' Man has a Costco card and --- for the first time--- I went to Costco.
My Darlin' Man usually goes there by himself and picks up bulk items for the house once or twice a month.
I had never been, so I sorta looked at the trip as a *treat*.
Nope.
I hated the place, let me count the ways...
Too BIG. Massive place. When you get in the rear of the store, it seems worse to me. I like smaller, more intimate stores...with windows, thankyouverymuch! I felt *trapped*. Seems weird that I would feel trapped in a building that large, but I did.

Too much *stuff*. Seriously. Too, TOO MUCH! Shelves towering over me. Aisle after aisle of *stuff*. Mainly stuff I had no use for (ginormous flat screen t.v.s, jewelry, massive bottles of expensive liquor, etc). All I wanted was to get my grocery shopping done.

Too many people. The place was packed--- to me, anyway. My fella seemed to think it was pretty light traffic in there. ACK! And the sample people did NOT help! I don't need someone on practically every aisle offering me a teensy cup of juice or a bite of sausage. Leave me alone and let me get my shopping done!

Too much noise. That place was LOUD! It didn't help that some of the sample people had brought radios or cd players and were blasting music at their various stations.Especially the jerk in the meat department blasting George Jones and Tammy Wynette or whoever it was ( In case you didn't know, I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC!!! It actually gives me headaches and nausea).

Too much of EVERYTHING! Too much size, too much stuff, too much noise, too many people, too many smells, too much activity. It was all...just TOO MUCH for me.

We bought a 50 pound bag of rice, a big box of crackers and a few other items. Some lettuce. No meat (I literally could not get out of the meat dept. fast enough!), a case of black beans and a case of tomato sauce.(We get the organic stuff)

I hauled butt for the checkout as soon as I could and told the fella I would wait for him outside. I could not stay in that store another second. I stood outside shaking.

Minor panic attack. I lasted in the store about 20 minutes. Took almost that darn long to walk (okay, I was walking fast, the fella could barely keep up, lol!) from the front to the back and then again to the front for checkout.
I think I will stick with my locally owned grocer. The store is bright and cheery, the front windows are large. I know where everything is and I know the cashiers and baggers. If I need or want something they don't have, all I have to do is talk to the manager and he'll make sure they order it in AND give me a call when it gets there! A much more pleasant shopping experience than *shudder* Costco!

For all the Costco lovers out there, go for it! Some of us (well, at least me) can't handle it. A few of the prices are good (the rice is 3 dollars less a 50 pound bag there), but I really don't think that is worth the experience.
I guess the fella will just have to go there by his-self, while I happily push my cart through the local grocers!

Because it is September 11th

2011-09-11T13:48:00.000-05:00

At The Movies!

2011-09-11T12:17:00.000-05:00

The fella finally got to take me to the movies...
We went to see Contagion.
Stellar cast giving fine performances. Great premise, tracking a virus back to Day One and seeing how it spreads. The efforts to contain it, the efforts to find a vaccination or treatment, government response, etc.
If you have not seen the movie and wish to go see it, read no further as there will be some *spoilers*.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
Okay...here we go...
They showed the trash piling up in the streets as people didn't report to work, etc. because so many people were sick. I mean, they quarantined cities and whole states! Two million people dead in the US within the first 14 days.
HOWEVER...my big issue is that within all the chaos they were showing...the electricity was still on, the water still flowed from the taps, cable t.v. still up and running, the internet was still going fine and the phone lines and wireless phones were still operating without a problem.
Really? REALLY!?
Almost no violence.
The violence shown was: a sorta raid on a pharmacy (glass breaking, shoving and shouting), a small melee at a food station run by the National Guard (again, shoving, a few people knocked down), shotgun blasts in a darkened home (no bodies or blood shown), a home invasion at a CDC doctors home when his wife was home alone...the miscreants were searching for the vaccination. The wife was never really physically threatened. Apparently just scaring her was supposed to be trauma enough.
That was it.
The story was good...but the details were lacking in realism.

I'll give it two stars and recommend that you wait for Netflix or the dvd.

As for getting to go out on a date with the Darlin' Man....now THAT was WONDERFUL! The only fly in the ointment was I made the Very Bad Mistake of getting some nachos at the movie theater. Was fine for a couple hours and then massive heartburn hit. Yeee-Ouch! Next time I'll stick to popcorn!
We had a spirited discussion of the movie afterwards.
The Darlin' Man was quick to point out logistical mistakes, mistakes in details about the Armed Forces, National Guard, etc. Also, since he has been to Asia, he saw some of the mistakes made in showing how the governments there would handle the problem. I was amazed that in this particular *scenario*, there was still ample gasoline available for people to high-tail it out of the cities, plenty of trucks on the road, etc. They showed an empty grocery store...but a fully stocked and military guarded MALL ! "Yeah, let's not worry about the food supply...dear heavens, get to the mall! The Gap and Hot Topic NEED us!" (No one actually said that---but that's how it came across to me!) And no interruption of electricity, water, cable t.v., phone systems and internet? That gobsmacked me.
I guess because we are so wired in to the whole preparedness mindset, we have a different world view.
We KNOW that if the garbage men don't come into work, neither will the guys down at the water treatment plant or the workers at the cable company or the linemen for the electric company or the folks that drive the trucks to deliver goods to the malls, etc.
The infra-structure of people that provide the things that those of us on-grid depend on is vast and complex. One fumble and the electric grid goes down. One screw-up at the water treatment plant and raw sewage will back up in your house or flow into the streets.
We live in an intricate web in the on-grid world. We are dependent upon the efficiency and competency of a massive amount of anonymous people that we never meet.
I, personally, am grateful for all those folks. We pay our bills on time...if we don't they can't and things could break down in a hurry! We are aware of all those anonymous folks and hope for their well-being, especially on stormy nights when the power goes out and somewhere out in the darkness, somebody is being roused out of bed to make repairs so the rest of us will have lights, heat, refrigeration, etc.
Conversely, we also prepare for occasions when the grid doesn't work and we will be on our own. We have flashlights and candles, alternate cooking supplies, stored water, etc.
It boils down to the old adage "Hope for the best but prepare for the worst"

Over the Weekend...

2011-09-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

Since I had been here a year, the fella took me shopping...we originally intended to go out to eat, go to a clothing store to get me some much needed additions to my wardrobe and then do the grocery shopping.
Well, on the way to town we have to pass the feedstore.
They also sell animals....chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits and occasionally, goats.
We stopped to get some chicken scratch and some sweet feed.
We looked in the corral behind the store.
GOATS!
Three lovely Boer does, one doe of unknown breed and a doe that was a Boer/Nubian cross.
The amount the store wanted per goat was not within our budget. I checked all the goats over...one very friendly and ancient Boer doe had only one good teat, but she was hugely pregnant. The two younger Boers looked good, but a closer examination of one showed she had had mastitis before and one teat was messed up. The other Boer doe had a better udder, but something about her didn't look quite *right* to me.
The unknown breed doe was lovely, but wild to the point where she was almost feral. All three of those does were pregnant.
The Boer/Nubian cross was not pregnant. Around three years old, with a nice udder, she was docile and curious about these strange people wandering around the paddock. Her udder looked perfect, with no defects or signs of previous infection.
I wandered up front to talk to the owner of the store. Told him I was interested in one goat, but she was not pregnant and her price was too high. Offered him half of what he was asking.
He agreed!
Dinner out was rapidly cancelled and we put our new goat in the back of the truck and tied her down and I stayed in the back with her to keep her calm.
The ride home freaked her out and she struggled a bit and bleated everytime we hit a bump. An interesting ride home!
I named her Molly!
She is so pretty!
Adorable floppy ears and the cutest white *socks*.

Soooooo Pretty!

Look at that smile!
Molly has settled in well. Wang (our buck) was VERY enthusiastic to meet the new girl!
She is getting along well with the rest of the little herd, although she has not met Gabrielle and Champagne yet as they are in a different pen.
So, I didn't go out to dinner and I only got one pair of new jeans and the rest of our shopping was curtailed until next month.
But, sometimes, you have go for an opportunity when it appears.
Besides, who wouldn't want a new goat for a present!?

In other news...I tried to put Penelope back in the chicken coop yesterday.
This morning, I found her wedged behind the roost missing her newly grown tail feathers.
It took a lot of effort to get her out, but with my sons help we were finally able to effect her release.
Back in with the milking does she went!
Penelope Fluffbottom is, sadly again, Penelope Chickenbutt.

She and the does had a happy reunion. When I left them, Penelope had eaten, drank plenty of water and had snuggled down with Champagne.
So, I guess Penelope is to be a permanent companion to our does. She and they seem content and happy with the situation. The fella is not happy that Penelope is not *producing*, but I think she will eventually lay eggs, just have to construct a nesting box for her in the goat pen.

A Present From My Fella

2011-09-04T19:48:00.000-05:00

To celebrate my being here a full year, the fella got me a wonderful present yesterday!

More about our new goat tomorrow!

Food Storage and Allergies

2011-09-02T01:16:00.000-05:00

We have allergies in this family, oh yes!
Because of various allergies, we have to take alternative routes to a full long term food storage pantry.
First and foremost, two people have severe allergies to shellfish. One person is severely allergic to all seafood. Two people are allergic to Lima beans and butter beans. One is allergic to MSG. One is allergic to tomatoes. One is allergic to aspartame (NutraSweet). Another person simply can't digest TVP (texturized vegetable protein) to the point they get excruciating stomach cramps from as little as a couple of teaspoons of the stuff.

Since there are only five people here, you can figure out that some of us have multiple allergies.*raises hand* Yup, multiple allergies here. The Boy also has multiple allergies.
So, I have to read a lot of labels when I go shopping! Whether it is for my cabinet shelf or the long term storage, if someone in the household is allergic, we simply don't buy it!
The one exception is tomatoes and tomato products. Only one person is allergic, so I make an alternate dish for that person. Tonight we had pizza, but I fixed a small chicken breast for that person and they shredded it and made some tacos with it.
I was so frustrated when I first started my food storage here. The fella was willing to buy some of the fancy freeze dried foods and meals from some of the internet dealers, but when I sat down and read the ingredients (and bless them for posting their full list of ingredients!), I realized that many of their meal items (entrees especially) were chock full of TVP or had tomato powder as a seasoning or MSG or something else that wasn't a friendly item for this family.

Almost all lists tell you to buy tuna fish or sardines for the good protein and caloric boost those items give to emergency rations. Alas, too many of us are allergic. I buy canned Vienna sausages, canned chicken and other such items to round out our protein needs.Even then, I end up reading labels as many of the canned meats include MSG.

There are always ways to round out your food storage even if a family member has special dietary restrictions. It takes a bit more homework and research, but it can be done. Gluten free grains such as millet can be used for those people that cannot tolerate gluten, for example.

Never waver in your efforts to set up a long term food pantry for your family when allergies raise their ugly head! You CAN has long term food storage and manage to handle those allergies at the same time.
Do your homework, research, read labels and persevere!

Different Things and Random Thoughts

2011-08-29T14:37:00.001-05:00

So, Hurricane Irene wasn't the mega-storm they were predicting, although it hit--and hit hard---in some locales. People died, some of them pure accident, some of them pure stupidity ("C'mon! Let's go surfing in a hurricane! It'll be rad!").
Flooding and lots of property damage from wind and rain and flying debris.
I think we should all breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't at Katrina strength, though.
I hope everyone in it's path that escaped unscathed have taken this as a warning to have a 72 hour bag and supplies at home to help them survive the next storm or disaster that comes their way.
************************************
The fella and I went to a class on Saturday about rainwater catchment. Good class!
Since we live in the desert, it is important to utilize rain water to the utmost here.
We learned about rain barrels, and more importantly, about swales, french drains and other natural ways to store and direct rain water.
I also found out that this something I really need to study up on much more.
************************************
Last night TLC had on a program called Living for the Apocalypse. It focused on four families of preppers/survivalists.
The first family was Peggy Layton and her family in Utah. Peggy is the author of several books on food storage. They showed her food storage...I was seriously envious!
Check her out at www.peggylayton.net
The second person gives the name of "Survival Doc". He is a chiropractor living in Missouri.
Find his videos here http://thenewsurvivalist.com/
The third person was Dennis McClung and his family in Mesa, Az.
They have been seen on several survival type programs and are noted for turning a back yard built in pool into a garden. LOTS of great ideas! Check them out at www.gardenpool.org
The fourth couple was a couple of singles...a older woman and her transgendered (male to female) best friend and roommate.Their location was not disclosed.

All in all, an interesting show. Some great ideas, but some terrible OPSEC (operation security). I would be a bit nervous about giving out my full name, street address, family members names, etc. Not to mention showing off all my preps! But I guess they are doing these shows to help others prepare.
**********************************
A lot of bloggers are trying to help others get on board with prepping.
It isn't just out of the goodness of our hearts, I have to admit.
If we can get just one person to take our message seriously and really start prepping, that is one less person that will end up looting, one less person that will have to ask for handouts, one less person that may have to resort to violence to feed themselves or their family.
That's a Good Thing.
If you don't do food storage...start today.
If you don't keep emergency supplies...start today.
If you don't have a 72 Hour Bag (Bug Out Bag)...start today.

Hurricane Emergency Supplies

2011-08-26T12:40:00.001-05:00

In the past couple of hours I have fielded phone calls from friends/family in the path of Hurricane Irene. They wanted to do what they could get right damn now to be prepared for the storm.
Here's what I told them:
Get to a full grocery store, Family Dollar, Dollar General, Wal-Mart or Target or similar store.

Buy 5 gallons of water (at Family Dollar it is 1 buck a gallon). That's for drinking and cooking only. Many places will end up sending out *boil water* orders because their water treatment plants will be flooded, etc. Having ready water to drink will be a relief. Buy 10 gallons if you have a large family.
Buy ready to eat foods. Nuts, dried fruit, trail mix, a box or two of crackers, some peanut butter and bread, anything you don't have to refrigerate or cook. Canned tuna and canned ham or chicken, too.
Buy 1 or 2 tarps. High winds and rain may cause roof leaks or break a window. Tarps can help you reduce or mitigate damage.
If you have a grill, get a bottle or two of propane or if not a gas grill, get charcoal briquets and lighter fluid. If the power goes out for a few days, you'll need this to cook on. The food in your refrigerator should be the first things you cook, then the foods in your freezer.
Buy a cooler and buy a couple of bags of ice to save refrigerated foods if the power goes out. Keep the ice in your freezer until it starts to melt a bit.Then transfer it and your thawing foods to the cooler.
In fact, make as much ice as you can right now! Fill empty 2 liter bottles 3/4 way full and put in freezer where-ever you can fit them in. They will keep your frozen foods frozen longer.
Buy flashlights and batteries NOW. Also some candles. The dark is scary to most people, even more so to small children. Never leave small kids alone in a room with a lit candle. Remember matches and/or lighters.
Buy a manual can opener. Most folks forget this!
Buy paper plates, plastic utensils and aluminum foil. Easy to clean up. Make sure you have trash bags. You can cook in aluminum foil. Get the heavy duty type, so you can cook on the grill or over a campfire.
Move valuables out of basements or any other place where water may flood. If you think it necessary, park your vehicles on higher ground.
Buy a roll of duct tape Tape windows or use to tape up tarps, etc if windows break.

That is the quick basics.
Realize that you should ALWAYS have the above items on hand.

Gourmet Foods, Foodies and Food Snobbery

2011-08-26T11:25:00.001-05:00

I watch cooking shows. Not a lot, just a few favorites.
My Favorites (in no particular order) are:
No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern
Chopped
And once in a while I watch Top Chefs
.
Recently, there was a bit of a fuss when Anthony Bourdain called Paula Deen "the worst cook on Food Network" He also lumped Rachel Ray in that group. (I personally find Ray irritating, so I don't watch her show. People that perky annoy the hell out of me!)
Now, we all love Paula. She is the epitome of the sweet southern lady. But if you ate her cooking every day, you'd have a build up of butter and mayo in your arteries! I watched her show one time and she made a salad...nice healthy salad...then she dressed it with vinegar mixed with some sugar and bacon grease!
Paula makes what is considered *down home Southern cookin'*. I think I could eat one of her meals maybe once every two weeks, but I'd have to fast until the next one!
So, I could understand Bourdain's objections to Paula's cooking.
No Reservations shows Bourdain and a friend or two wandering around some exotic locale (okay, exotic for me) eating, drinking, wandering some more, chowing down on street food, checking out 4 and 5 star restaurants and getting a bit drunk. All accompanied by Anthonys' sardonic and insightful voice over monologues. I enjoy the show because it shows the inner workings of restaurants, exotic locales, foods I never heard of (some of which I eventually hunt down and try to prepare myself) and because Bourdain is so freakin' funny. His acerbic wit is entertaining Also entertaining is the alarming regularity of his adventure making a sudden left turn into territory he never considered possible. (Such as when he was dragged in to a karaoke bar in Korea) Here's an example of his show...when he wrecked an ATV:

Similarly, Bizarre Foods shows the host eating some truly strange foods in exotic locales. I confess that I mainly watch this for the EWWWWWWWWWWWWW factor. Some of the foods I would probably try--- kangaroo tail, alligator sausage, stuff like that. But roasted tarantula? Nope! Andrew also gets into some strange situations...I remember him having some *healing ritual* performed on him in South America somewhere, the *shaman* ended up taking a mouthful of rum and spraying it onto Andrew after lighting it on fire! Here's an ewwwwwwwww moment from his show:

I like Chopped, because that is what most of us face every night.
We look in the fridge and the cabinets and try to figure out what to fix for dinner. The week before payday can be especially challenging!
"Let's see...I have two apples, some leftover mashed potatoes, some celery and two chicken breasts to feed four people...hmmmmm"
It's fun watching them race around with a time constraint as well. Most people that are fixing dinner for their families do not have the luxury of taking 2 or 3 hours to spend in the kitchen with a hungry batch of kids waiting!

It seems that people are paying much more attention to what they are eating.
That is a Good Thing.
People are finding out that they enjoy eating less processed foods, more *honest* foods and that they like cooking for themselves.
Another Good Thing.
A lot of folks call themselves *Foodies* and proclaim they "know" what is good food and what most people eat is Not Good.
So, Food Snobbery raises it's perfectly coiffed head.
"Oh, you ate at Wolfgang Pucks restaurant when you went to Disneyland?" *sniff* "You really should have gone to *insert trendy pop up restaurant name here*. It's on the bad side of L.A, I know, but the food is so organic/honest/peasant it is fabulous. Puck is so passe!"
Look, you fix/grow/butcher/buy what you like. Maybe you adore mac and cheese from the box because it reminds you of what your mom made when you were little. That's okay! (Personally, I have a soft spot for orange Creamsicles)
I try to fix healthy, good tasting food for my family. Because I am responsible for cooking their meals, I watch out for fat, salt and other things we all need to be careful of. I avoid overly processed foods not because I am a food snob, but because they are so expensive, and to me, taste kinda *chemical*.
I bake bread not because I am enthralled by *artisan bread*, but because I know what the additives are in commercially produced breads. (That's a whole 'nother post...with lots of ewwwww factor!)

I think everyone should love to cook, but I know that is not the case. When you do cook, whether you like to or not, cook with love and that will be felt.

New Gray Hairs Ahoy!

2011-08-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

The kids made it home safely.
There was some question about that happening when The Boy called Friday morning and let us know the plane he had been on had to make an emergency landing in Charlotte, N.C. when their hydraulic systems gave out.
The Boy thought the experience was "way cool", especially when some of the adults freaked out.
He didn't like how bumpy the landing was. He was also disappointed that they did not get to slide off the plane via the emergency chute, but had to disembark the normal way after being towed to the gate.
He got to stay in Charlotte overnight, with an escort provided by the airline. The Darlin' Man has the habit of buying trip insurance, so the overnight stay, his meals and the escort were provided.

Of course, The Boy regaling us with the story of his adventures freaked ME out, as I am a nervous flyer at best.
Flying freaks me out in general, something wrong with the plane would cause me to ramp it up into hysterics. I mean, if I am on a boat and something goes wrong, I know how to swim! If something goes wrong with the plane I am on...well, it's not like you have the option of jumping out with a parachute. BTW, I found out a long time ago that airlines frown on bringing your own parachute on board.
Don't ask how I know that.
The Girls' arrival was much less dramatic. (Thankfully!) There was some drama, as she had made plans to stay up north. Her dad squashed that idea, as he felt staying up there would not be the best choice for her safety or education at this time.
So, there was some drama over that, but agreements and concessions were made on both sides and all ended peacefully.

Today was the first day of the new school year for them both. The bus, of course, didn't show up. So, the Darlin' Man --- who, thankfully, was going in late today --- drove the kids to school.
I have been doing laundry, as both of them came home with the souvenir of dirty laundry from their trips!
I'll be making a big batch of chimmichurri in a bit, and prepping for dinner.
We have embarked on a health kick here, so tonight will be a vegetarian meal.
Black bean and cheese enchiladas will be the entree. Yummmm!
Hope the school year started well for all of you out there!

Last Day of Quiet!

2011-08-18T09:50:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow noon The Girl returns home from her summer vacation and tomorrow midnight, The Boy returns.
While I have enjoyed the peace and quiet here, I have missed them!
The Girl likes to help me fix meals and bake, she is turning into a terrific cook! The Boy is a help around the house, too, and also is great at helping with the yard work.
I hope they both enjoyed their vacations, but the start of school is looming ahead, so the vacations must end and preparations started for the new school year.
The Darlin' Man already registered them for the new school year and brought home their new school books.
Activity fees have been paid and class schedules will be mailed out within a couple of days.
Today I am trying to organize their school clothes and do necessary repairs, etc.
Tomorrow I do my grocery shopping, at the same time I will try to get a few items I know they will need for the new school year.
We haven't received the infamous *lists* that teachers send home, that will come the first week of school.
The lists seem to get longer each year and it also seems the teachers each want different things.
One teacher only wants blue ink pens, another black. College ruled paper for one class, regular rule for another. Last year one teacher wanted a specific type of composition book that we couldn't find anywhere! The Darlin' Man finally found it by pure chance wandering in the PX looking for something else completely.
I would like to go ahead and get some of the school supplies tomorrow, but it is useless until we get the lists.
So, tomorrow will be bulk buys of hygiene and personal supplies---shampoo, deodorant, hairbrushes, combs, hair gel, pony tail holders, etc.I like to buy such items on sale. One store has shampoo and conditioner on sale for a dollar a bottle, so I'll get 10 bottles of each.
I think I'll add a personal/hygiene shelf to our food storage stores. The Darlin' Man hasn't concentrated as much on food storage, leaving that up to me, so I guess I'll have to take charge on this, too!
So, soap, shampoo, deodorant, conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, combs, hair accessories, hair gel, lip balm, sanitary pads, tissues, and anything else I can think of by tomorrow...

Hope everyone out there has an easy time with the teacher lists!

A Day at the Goat Spa

2011-08-15T19:06:00.000-05:00

Patches had been in her breeding cycle and Wang had free access to her, so she was, well...a little bit smelly.
So, today she was moved into more private quarters and had her day at the Frippery Farm Goat Spa:

"Ooooohhhhh...tropical coconut shampoo? Love it!"

Like all good spas, we offer our clients snacks at the Frippery Farm Goat Spa!

Rinse cycle started!

ALWAYS remember to rinse the *undercarriage*!

All sweet smelling and clean, another satisfied customer!

Champagne and Penelope approve!

Relaxing Day

2011-08-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

The new picture in my header is what the sky looked like this morning as I finished up milking.
Why, yes, those are actual clouds! We had RAIN!
It showered yesterday evening right before sundown, and then again after dark. Overnight we had rainstorms move through 3 or 4 times.
Nothing like the sound of rain to give you a good nights sleep!
I am hoping we get some more rain today....we have had thunder in the last couple of hours, and there are clouds again, so chances look pretty good!
Today, I am just relaxing...I did the usual feeding and milking this morning, and gathered eggs. Made sure all the animals had full water troughs.
To relax today, I am researching recipes, especially curry recipes. The Darlin' Man loves curry, so I am trying to find some good recipes out there so I can make curry this week.
I've never done a lot of Indian cooking, so this is an enjoyable adventure for me!
What style of cooking have you never tried that you want to try?
Find a few recipes and go for it!

A Few New Pictures

2011-08-12T13:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't been able to get a decent picture of Patches...but I have a few of Champagne and Gabby that might work...

Anyway, here's some pics!

Champagne looking for her feed bucket!

Another attempt at Patches...ruined by Paulis deciding to get in the act!

Yes, I will pose pretty for a close up!

Geordi, our first goat born here, yearning to get in with the does and have access to that feed bucket!

Wang, just chillin' in the shade...

Patches, strolling through the pen.

Go ahead, use my picture again...do I get a models fee? I'll take it in sweet feed, please!

Help Me Choose!

2011-08-12T09:31:00.000-05:00

Barreling on towards getting my cajeta to market...
We are ordering labels for the jars tonight!
I needed three pictures for the three different labels (reg., extra thick and spicy cajeta)
I picked two pictures:

Gabrielle aka Gabby for the label for the regular cajeta

Champagne aka Champ for the extra thick cajeta (happy goat!)

Having a problem picking the picture for the spicy cajeta
This picture of Patches?

I think it is too much of a close-up and you can't really tell it's a goat!

This picture, which I would have to crop out excess background and you can still see Paulis standing behind her.

or this one..Patches standing in the feed box with her goofy happy-goat expression on her face (and she is endearingly goofy!)

Or should I try for some new shots and hope I can get a better one? Patches is notoriously hard to get a good pic of, as she will come over for her close-up, but then try to nibble on the camera or the person holding the camera! Patches is just a *nibbly* type of goat, lol!

I think I will try to get a couple of pics of her...may post the results later IF I get a good one. If I don't, I am tempted to go with the bottom pic. My son likes the close-up and the fella likes the middle picture (if I crop it).
Which one do you think would look cuter on a label?

The Economy

2011-08-10T20:24:00.000-05:00

I normally try to stay pretty upbeat on here...even when Red the Psychotic Rooster has been trying to kill me, or the goats get out and I chase them around the neighborhood or when I am confronted by an invasion of mice.
But right now, nothing is upbeat about the US (or even the world's) economy.
The stock market is tanking. Not just the US stock market but the financial markets around the world.
The drought and heat wave experienced by "American's Bread Basket" (and Meat Department) this year (and that is still continuing) will cause ripple effects that will end up on your grocery store receipt.

*Prepping* and Food Storage are no longer things that the *nutball* down the street does.
Food Storage is no longer a case of buying one 50 pound bag of rice and one 25 pound bag of pinto beans and calling it done.
*Prepping* for First Aid is not buying a cute little box of Hello Kitty band aids and tossing it into the trunk of your car or under the bathroom sink to be forgotten.
Being Prepared has taken on a whole new meaning these days.

If you are prepared, congratulations. Now, stock up some more.
If you aren't prepared, bust your butt to get prepared.
No money, you say?
Look around your house.How many useless electronic gizmos do you have that you rarely use? Sell them. Craigslist, the classifieds, pawn shops, ebay.
Everyone in the family has an IPOD? Sell all but one or two and share, dammit!
Switch to cheaper cell phone plans and, if you have older cells that you no longer use, sell them.
Those diamond ear studs that you got for your fifth anniversary 4 years ago that you have worn only a dozen times ? Sell them. Buy CZ, no one can really tell the difference anyway.

Four different video game systems with a slew of games for each? Sell the games that no one plays or rarely plays. Keep only one or two of the systems and sell the others. SHARE the ones you have left. You might consider waiting until near Christmas or a birthday and take all your rarely played games to a game store and exchange them for store credit to get the new game your kid so desperately desires.

Expensive sports equipment or musical instruments that no one ever uses and just gathers dust and takes up space in the attic or garage? Sell it NOW.

Two car family with the latest cars and the high payments/insurance to go with them?
Check the Bluebook value and see if you can sell one (or both) for a profit. Pay them off and buy a less expensive used car (have a mechanic check it out first). You say you NEED two cars because both of you work (for couples). Sit down and break down the costs of having a job. Travel/commuting expenses, meals, wardrobe, daycare, etc. A lot of folks that do a full breakdown find out it actually costs them to work. They are paying to go to a job! If that's the case, quit the job and find something else to do, preferably working out of the home.
If you ABSOLUTELY have to have two vehicles, then get situated with two used vehicles OR use the profit from selling one vehicle to pay off the other and go find a decent *beater* for one of you to drive.
Pack your lunches for work and no more eating out. Cook at home.
Use coupons for special *nights out* with your spouse or kids.

Have a lot of name brand high end clothes and shoes that the kids (or you) have outgrown? (If you are reading this and have 4 dozen pairs of shoes bought within the last year...there's no damn hope for you, but I advise you to sell most of them.)
Sell on ebay or find a consignment shop that will pay cash so you don't have to wait for your used item to catch someones eye. Launder the clothes first or have them dry cleaned (if needed) or just clean them up the best you can if you can't afford the dry cleaning. Clean and polish the shoes or handbags.Sell them.

Find anything and everything around your house that is outgrown, useless, redundant, etc and SELL THEM!
(and no...you cannot include spouse or children in those categories, lol!)

Now...PREP!!!
Food
First Aid
Firearm
Junk Silver and/or Gold (depends on your budget.)
Seeds (for Gardening)
Tools

Food
You can find hundreds of sites that give you a food and/or caloric breakdown of what you need Google "Food Storage for one person" to start..Read some of those sites. Always remember to get foods that you and your family will actually eat. Five #10 cans of hominy will do you no damn good if no one in the family will eat them! Try to get at least 3 months of basic food for each family member. (Don't forget your pets!)

First Aid
Get a GOOD first aid kit. Always have 30 to 90 days worth of prescribed medications on hand, especially if it is a chronic, on going health problem. Take a CPR course and a Red Cross first aid course or two.

Firearms
First, a basic shotgun for home defense. Second, a hunting rifle for...duh, hunting. It can also be used for self defense if need be. Third, a handgun for personal defense, if you need one. I am not going to suggest calibers.What I will suggest is that you invest an afternoon or evening at a shooting range that has rental guns to try out. Find out what you can handle.Ask other gun owners for advice.Do NOT go out and buy the shiniest gun with all the bells and whistles. Find out what suits you FIRST! Shop around. Look at pawn shops.In Craigslist. At gunbroker.com. When you find *your* gun at the price that is agreeable to you and buy it, PRACTICE! Cheaper to blow through a hundred rounds to get adept and accurate with a weapon than to have no clue how to accurately hit a target when your life depends on it.

Precious Metals
Try to have at least some junk silver (old coins with high silver content) stashed away. If the dollar collapses, it may be the only currency worth anything. If you have the cash, a few gold coins. Right now the precious metals market is going through the roof, I know. Still, better to have some precious metals and have them lose value if the economy stabilizes, than to not have any at all if the dollar does crash or is devalued.

Seeds and Tools
Non-GMO seeds and Heirloom seeds and the tools to garden with. Tools to get firewood with. Tools to do home repairs with. Learn to garden and learn to use tools properly.

This is the best I can advise right now. I feel that so many of us out here have been screaming the same message for years, but were ignored or dismissed as *kooks*. If you never listened before...please do so now.
Check out the blogs I read...Bacon and Eggs, Rural Revolution, Krazo Acres...all of them have been trying to get the same message across for so long.
I hope you guys out there are finally listening now.

A Super Easy Recipe and Penelope Pics!

2011-08-10T07:14:00.000-05:00

I just posted the recipe for my easy hummus over at Krazo Acres for Carolyn-Renee and I thought I'd share the recipe here. We eat hummus 2 or 3 times a week, as it is our *go to* snack item here!
Super Easy Hummus Recipe--
1 can Garbanzo Beans (chickpeas)
2 tablespoons Tahini (sesame seed paste) OR 1 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 to 2 cloves garlic (optional)
pinch of salt

Drain can of beans (save the liquid!), dump the beans in a blender and add the rest of the ingredients. Start on a medium speed and add a couple tablespoons of the bean liquid as it is blending. Taste every once in a while to see if the texture is smooth enough for you. I usually hit the puree button on my blender. Refrigerate for a bit to chill it and always refrigerate leftover hummus! If serving for a party, *fancy it up* by serving in a pretty bowl and sprinkling some toasted sesame seeds on top or some minced parsley on top or shaking a little paprika on top.
Tahini is pricey, but I have found that using the sesame seed oil gives the same flavor profile PLUS you don't get that *mealy* texture that some folks don't like. Get the Toasted Sesame Seed Oil if you can...richer flavor.
Now, I always add in a clove of garlic while it is blending as my family likes that. Other *add-ins* I use:
Roasted red bell peppers
OR
Marinated artichoke hearts--well drained
OR
Sun Dried Tomatoes or one fresh tomato-seeded and chopped

We eat it with pita bread, pita chips, on tortillas, with corn chips, on bread. Like I said, it is a mainstay here!

I usually make my hummus from dried beans that I crock-pot cook overnight, but I started off making it from canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and still keep a stock of canned beans just in case we run out and need to make it in a hurry!

*****************************
Penelope news...
Penelope aka *Chicken Butt* was out wandering the yard yesterday with the goats.

She gets along just fine with all of our little herd.
Her downy butt feathers are growing in more:

Yesterday evening, I FINALLY got the chance to get a pic of her riding Champagne (her favorite riding goat, apparently). Unfortunately, the pictures turned out a bit dark, but I hope you can see her. She is on the back of the white goat:

I know...hard to see. :(
I'll try to catch her having a daytime ride so I can get a better pic!

Desert Gardening----Trying Again!

2011-08-09T06:19:00.000-05:00

We had ferocious heat and a devastating drought this year across most of the country.
The garden I had hoped would feed my family got baked. That's the only way to put it! Blossoms shriveled up and fell off, seedlings I watered and kept watch on withered and died or were so stunted by the heat and sandstorms (a delightful side benefit of desert living --yeah, sarcasm there) that they never produced.

BUT...now it is time to get my Fall garden in the ground and going!
I WAS going to try using the raised bed boxes I tried growing my Spring/Summer garden in. However, long term weather predictions say that we will have continued severe heat until the end of August and drought until the end of October.
OUCH!
I went to a couple of lectures/talks given by local Master Gardeners and went to check out a local community garden run by Master Gardeners to see how they do it. Their gardens had suffered in the heat, too, but not as badly as mine. They actually had veggies!
The big differences iin what they did as opposed to what I did:
Drip Irrigation and Shade Fabric.

LOTS of shade fabric. One MG I spoke to said he had spent several hundred dollars on shade fabric alone this year to protect his garden! I certainly don't have the money for that! So, I looked through what I DO have. I have tarps. And some camo netting stuff the Darlin' Man brought home that looks like it could approximate shade fabric pretty good.
So, tarps and camo netting (actually, that's a misnomer and it's more of a fine screen that net!) to start with.

Moving on...Drip Irrigation.
Some of the gardens I saw had 10 or more drip irrigation hoses snaking through the rows. The gardeners themselves told me that in order to keep up with evaporation and the heat and the sun, they had to run them at 3 to 5 times the pressure they normally do.
I am HUGE on water conservation AND, here in the desert, we have to be as careful with our water as we can. The water bills can get pretty high, too!
So...my strategies will include the following:
Burying 2 liter bottles in the garden at two foot intervals.The bottles will have holes poked into them so water can trickle out. I figure I can fill them once a day and they will seep water into the ground all day and night.
Using *gray water* as much as possible. I can't exactly route it directly to the garden, but I can, for example, use a bucket to empty the tub instead of letting that precious water go down the drain! I have figured out a way to route my washing machine *gray water* to the garden, so that's a plus.

I had plenty of seeds left over from this spring, so I have already started some seedlings. Butternut squash, cabbage, etc.
Although I still have loads of raised bed boxes, I think I will borrow my neighbors tiller and give a try at putting this garden directly in the ground. Maybe put a few things in the boxes.
Seems a shame not to put them to good use!
Remember all these?

I figure I can use at least one for a small herb garden...
I already turned a few of them into shelving for my food storage and am ripping apart a few more for a chicken house project.

I have my fingers crossed that my Fall garden will succeed!

Big Changes Afoot!

2011-08-08T10:03:00.001-05:00

Today my blog changes it name, description and appearance!
The reason for this is sometimes you have to change to grow!
We are, very shortly, incorporating our business (oh...paperwork, gotta love it!) and expanding our livestock herd, along with the products we are and will be producing.
We will be selling locally initially, but within the next few months, we will also have an online store.
All of this came about after the Darlin' Man and I had a conversation about where our efforts were heading and where we wanted them to head.
We even went over various logos for our business...wow, was that a funny discussion! (Watch for the new logo within a month...working on the artwork now)
I hope you all like the changes and continue to follow us in this new adventure!
Most of the changes will be apparent later today or tomorrow!

Chicken Coop Adventures

2011-08-07T19:46:00.000-05:00

This morning it was nice and cool at 6 am. I had finished feeding and milking, so I decided to take on the task of cleaning the chicken coop....AND *dusting* the chickens. I dust the chickens with diatomaceous earth, which prevents lice, mites and other such nasties from getting a toehold on them. I like cleaning the coop actually, and I figured dusting the chickens would be no big deal and I could handle it myself...
Cleaning the coop was not too bad. I shooed all the chickens out and they happily pecked and scratched around the yard as I hosed down the roost, refilled their water, raked out the coop and put in a fresh layer of hay for them. I love how the coop looks when it's all clean and fresh for my hens...and I think they like it, too!
Then the hard part....
I had to catch each chicken, stick them in a pillow case with their little head sticking out and dump in about 1/2 cup of DE. I sorta shook each chicken around and then turned them loose in the coop.
All went passably well until it was time for....Red, the psychotic rooster. (Yes, that IS his official title here!)

This is Red BEFORE I cleaned the coop or dusted him....and he looks pretty annoyed already, doesn't he?
Well, after several tries at catching Red, I realized I only have so much blood and I need it!
So, instead of putting him in the pillow case, I just waited until he had his back turned to me and sprinkled some of the DE on his back, in the hopes that through his preening and such, he'd work it through the rest of his feathers.
Red, not appreciating that I was actually trying to protect his health and well-being, misconstrued the sprinkling of the DE as a sneak attack and retaliated.
He charged, talons out for blood and screeching what I can only assume was a rooster battle cry.
I admit it, I ran. I had no weapon to protect myself at that point, except for the small plastic cup I was using to sprinkle the DE with. I mean, I threw it at him, but I missed and Red didn't pay attention to it anyway!
I made it back into the house with only one injury from his spurs.
I cleaned myself up, saw that Red had returned to the coop and I snuck out and shut the coop door.
I have 4 band-aids on my hands from him pecking me so hard he drew blood when I tried to catch him, and one gauze pad on my left calf where he raked me with his spurs.
If any of my neighbors saw me racing in fear away from an outraged rooster, I think my dignity took a solid hit as well!.
Next time the dusting needs to be done...the Darling Man and my son are gonna do it!

Too Quiet Around Here.... and a few reflections

2011-08-05T14:51:00.002-05:00

This morning the Girl left to visit relatives in another state. The Boy is already doing the same.
So it is real quiet around here...TOO quiet.
I am one of those people that not only wakes up at a noise in the dead of night, I also wake up at the total LACK of noise.
No noise is sorta unnatural around here! Normal background noise here includes the goats, the chickens, the dogs, the fans, refrigerator running, maybe the washing machine, etc.
The human noises are already noticeable by their absence. No video games going, no teens laughing over a movie or arguing over what movie to watch. No slamming doors as someone goes outside, no clinking and clanking in the kitchen as one of the kids makes a snack. (Why do their snacks always involve 4 plates. 2 bowls and a dozen utensils? LOL!)
It was a bit spooky feeling to me, so I turned the tv on for background noise.
I will try to enjoy the peace and quiet, but they will be back on the 19th, so everything will get back to normal then!
**************************************
As some know, my Son has moved in with us. Yes, he is an adult (28). Times are tough, and the place where he worked cut it's staff, so he asked if he could come down here to try to get back on his feet. The Darlin' Man and I talked it over and agreed to let him move in.
There were some caveats ....he had to pitch in with the chores and work here. No drugs. He had to take his drivers license test and get his license.
So far, he has done all that has been asked of him and more.
The most remarkable thing is the change that come over my son.
You see, he always had the idea that he would end up living in an urban area, working with computers or something technical.
With him, it was always "city, city, city". He thought he would enjoy the noise and activity, the easy availability of concerts, etc. In fact, he moved to Portland, Ore. for a bit and tried it.
He hated it there.Left after just a couple months. It was "too much", he said.
Now, here, on our little acre, he is happier than I have seen him in literally years!
He is calmer. He loves the goats and enjoys working with them. I suspect his milking skills will surpass mine within another month or two! The goats have *bonded* with him. They follow him around, begging to be petted or scratched behind the ears. He talks to them and takes them treats.
He is okay with the chickens, although he has found Red to be the most anti-social rooster on the planet! (as have we all!) He gathers eggs, cleans out the coop and refills the water.
His first week here, the Darlin' Man gave him a list of jobs that needed to be done, that we just hadn't had the time to get to. Within three days, all the jobs were done.
He used to smoke marijuana. I was concerned that lack of it would annoy him or he would miss it so much that he would be testy and cranky.
I talked to him about it this morning, as we were milking the goats. He said "You know, I don't seem to need it as much as I did living in town. There, I smoked it to calm down and to sorta block all the stuff that was going on. Here, it is so peaceful, I don't need to."
Country living and goats....
Even more surprising are his future plans.
He wants to farm! He sees far more value in farming, than in being a computer repair guy or code writer, etc. He says if he has to get a job that's not farming, he'd like to look into being a farrier or a large animal vet tech or even an A.I tech.
I was flabbergasted to hear this!
What is kinda funny to me, is the Darlin' Man's son, the Boy, sounds like my son before his change! The Boy is all about city, city, city and wants absolutely nothing to do with the goats or chickens or the garden, etc. He plans on a career in the *tech world*. Can't wait to move to a big city "where there is something fun to do".
I wonder what he'll think in 10 or 15 years.....
**********************************
Late last night, I sat outside for awhile. The cooler night air relaxes me before I come in to go to bed.
I looked up at those stars, so crystal clear in the desert night sky and though about how lucky I am to be here...with my Darlin' Man, my family, and in this situation. How lucky I am to look up and see those gorgeous stars, my view not blocked by buildings or smog, the cool night air gentle against my face. The goats rustling around in their pens, a soft baaa every once in a while as they bedded down for the night. A soft cluck every once in a while from the chicken coop as the hens vie for the best position on their roost.

Night time in the desert....

Penelope's Saga

2011-08-04T08:12:00.000-05:00

Penelope the hen is still living in the milking pen with the does, Gabrielle and Champagne.

Remember Penelope?

Well, she has settled in quite contentedly.
She cuddles up with the goats at night, scratches through the hay all day looking for bits of feed the goats miss and drinks from their water trough. I have even caught her riding around on the goats backs! (Of course, I never seem to have my camera ready when that occurs!)
She seems to not to miss the company of the other hens at all!
She is sprouting some fuzzy down on her bottom where the other hens pulled out her tail feathers.
Penelope is quite lively and happy in the goat pen. She hasn't laid any eggs, and I fear if she does, they will get crushed by the goats. But right now, she is content and I am content to leave her where she is.

Bacon and Eggs...having a contest!

2011-08-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite people in the blog universe is having her first contest!
Click here!
Even if you don't enter the contest, she has a very cool blog and it is well worth reading and following!

Morning Grazing

2011-07-30T08:46:00.000-05:00

Browsing on the weeds.

Wang catches the scent of the milking does....

..and wanders over..."Helloooooo ladies"

Geordi wins a game of King of the Hill against Cloris.

Little Projects Make Life Easier

2011-07-29T08:09:00.000-05:00

There are little annoyances in everyone's life. That sticky drawer in the kitchen, that door that won't latch properly, etc.
Not big items, just little ones.
One thing that annoys the heck out of me (or used to) was that absolutely useless plastic drawer insert thing for silverware. I mean, seriously? It can hold a paltry amount of silverware, unless you place everything in it just so, it spills over into the drawer and you always find forks in the spoons and vice-versa.
I hate those things!
So, I changed my top drawer in my kitchen cabinets to a silverware drawer and used some lumber craps we had laying around to make the drawer into a useful drawer!

I am so much happier with this! Maybe it doesn't look like it came out of "House Beautiful", but it works for us! Althoooough, looking at the picture, I see somebody put a set of the chopsticks in with the knives....ah well, at least the majority of the utensils are where I can easily find them and sensibly organized for me!

I was also annoyed with having to go into the nether-world of the lower cabinets to find pots and pans when I was fixing dinner.
Sooooooooooooooo...I bought some of these

and I installed them under the upper cabinets

and now I can find all the pots and pans easily!
Just wee things that make my life a little easier and are now less annoying.
I have a few other small projects I am working on, will post pics of those soon!

MUCH Earlier today....

2011-07-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

Siona has decided it is NOT her morning to help with the milking. She has her pillow and all is well in the world! (I made the pillow for her when we got her---of course, then, it was her entire bed!) Although she has outgrown her *bed*, it is still her favorite snuggle down to sleep item! She drags it up on the couch with her when she beds down for the night.

Milking? Already? Gabby the goat doesn't looked too pleased with the situation!

Although sleepy still, Champagne is okay with early mornings...as long as there is sweet feed involved!