Nosy Goat

...and maybe a little help from Billy.

Loafing Sheds

The previous owner of the property had built partial loafing sheds. Mostly they were four poles with tin roofs. A couple of them have wooden sides half way up. We found that these were not enough shelter for the animals when it was both raining and freezing. They didn't seem to mind standing in the rain, even pouring, driving rain this past summer, but they were obviously miserable when they got wet and cold. From what I've read about donkeys, their coats don't shed water like a horse's will. They just get soaked to the skin. It didn't seem to be a good idea to let the babies get soaked with the freezing weather coming.

The sheds didn't do much more than provide shade in the summer because the wind blew through them, carrying the rain right along. So Tom's project as been enclosing the sheds on three and a half sides. It's much cozier for them and they hunker down in the sheds when the weather gets bad.

To enclose the goat shed, Tom used some tin that he got off the old barn. Then he bought some new tin to enclose the donkey shed. His plan was to paint the sheds to match the barn. I didn't like that because I'm sure that painting the sheds will be such a low priority that it will never get done, but Tom insisted that he will paint them. Then, we priced the paint and discovered that it will cost more to paint the sheds than to buy the tin already painted the right color. Sigh.

Anyway, Tom got two sheds done with a little help from me and more from Paden and his friend.

Cold Showers

When you have a propane tank, don't let it get empty.

I'm just sayin'.

Brickwork

It's been a month or so, but we finished the breezeway, which was previously a covered outside walkway/narrow porch between the kitchen door and the carport (turned garage) door. I'll post pics of the inside later, but in the meantime, this is a pic of the outside...where the two windows are is where the walkway used to be.

We discovered that the brick was Antique Chicago, which actually does mean antique Chicago. The bricks are from old buildings in Chicago that have been torn down and repurposed. It wasn't possible to match what was already on the house, not exactly, because obviously, the bricks used on the house 30 years ago were from a different building than the bricks we were able to buy now. An interesting thing I found out that the different colors on the bricks are caused by signs that had been painted on the old buildings. Like, if you get some with red or black or white, it may have been a Coca-Cola sign. Anyway, needless to say, our brick doesn't match, but it's very close and I don't mind. If you look closely, you can tell. The color difference would probably have been much more noticeable if I hadn't noticed and stopped the brick layer from using grey grout. The rest of the grout on the house is a dark tan. I felt bad because he was already starting on his third row of bricks. But who uses grey grout on a tan grout house? He was a good sport, though, and took it all down, remixed the grout to my satisfaction and did a fantastic job otherwise.

Oh, and we have a whole pallet left over. The place where I bought the brick estimated that I needed two pallets, but we only ended up using one. Then they wouldn' t take the other pallet back. Oh well, I'll just have to think of some fun project to do with the brick.

To Pick or Not To Pick

Apparently, I have no clue as to when to harvest my vegetables, as evidenced by the giant zucchini and now the giant v. tiny carrots. I read somewhere, Howard Garrett's book? carrot seed package? that carrots are to be picked when the tops are wilted. That didn't sound right to me because when I see carrots with tops in the produce section of the grocery store, they always have pretty tops. But I tried it anyway. I waited and waited and the tops never wilted. They just got bigger. So I pulled up a test carrot and it was enormous, so I pulled up several more. Some of them were tiny babies, some were normal sized, and a couple were freakishly large.

We, well, not me, ate some for lunch on Sunday. I made a roast for us and we invited the visiting preacher and his wife. I always put carrots in the pot roast. I don't like them, but the rest of my family does. I guess they were OK. Nobody complained. But I didn't use the huge ones. For some reason, I think that overgrown ones might not be good.

The goats and donkeys enjoyed the carrot tops.

Oh yeah, I harvested some broccoli, too. In the middle of December. Amazing!

Kamikazee Casualties

Awww! Yesterday, for some unknown reason, birds started crashing into the living room windows. I don't know what is different than all the days before when they didn't crash into the windows, but it was happening all day. Then, this morning, when a HAWK crashed into the window, it prompted me to go have a look. This is what I discovered. Two sad little birds, a Cardinal and a Woodpecker, must have broken their tiny necks in their headlong dash toward what they must have thought was a clear passageway through my living room. I taped a piece of newspaper up in the middle of the window in hopes that it will give the rest of the birds enough pause to save their lives.

Well, Surprise!

We got a surprise donkey today. We had given up on Hilde having a baby. She wasn't getting big a fat like Buffy did, so we figured there was no baby on the way. Then, all of the sudden, she had a baby by her side. It must have been born last night or in the wee hours of the morning. We don't know if it's a boy or girl. Hilde is being more protective of her baby than Buffy was and she wouldn't let me near it. Either way, in keeping with the Bosom Buddies them, this baby has been dubbed Kip.

Fire!

We got the fireplace all cleaned out and working. Tom found some newfangled fireplace grate, called Grate Wall of Fire, on the internet and ordered it. He installed it tonight and it's working great. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I can't wait for Thanksgiving to have a house full of family and a cozy fire...if it isn't 80 degrees outside, which is entirely possibly here in Texas.

Pickled Kitten

Fireplace, Extra Large

When we bought the house, it had a pellet burning stove insert in the fireplace. We thought, "Why buy pellets to burn, when we have enough wood to last for years?" So we pulled the stove out and are awaiting a chimney sweep's services. The fireplace is unique, in that it has tunnels built into it that lead to vents in both sides and the back of the fireplace. Those tunnels have fans somewhere in them that we can turn on with a switch. We're hoping that the fireplace will help to heat the whole house so that we won't have to depend so much on the heater. Chimney Sweep arrives tomorrow so we shall soon be able to test our theory.

I Bought These Today

I know, they look like something out of The Cat in the Hat, but they looked warm. For some reason, I feel like I need extra warm things out here in the country.

Early Morning Fog

Oh My!

A storm is coming and it's supposed to get cold, so I moved the goats back into their regular pen where Tom and I had renewed their bedding, nice thick and cozy.

I had to move their water bucket and food dish before I moved them, so I first picked up their food dish and flung it over the fence to be cleaned. It landed upside down and I noticed that the rim on the bottom was stuffed with hay, as usual. I thought I had flung it hard enough so that the hay would fall out, but it stuck there like glue. I pulled out a tuft of hay and what lurked under there? What is it that was holding that hay in there? Ack! A big fat BLACK WIDOW SPIDER had made a web and stuck hay to it. And I had put my ungloved fingers in there!

I am so lucky that black widows are not aggressive. Otherwise, I surely would have been bit. That is so scary. I must remember to where gloves when I'm sticking my hands in dark scary places.

First Fall Harvest

I picked my first zucchini yesterday. They're little, so I probably picked them a bit too early, but Howard Garrett says they are very good and tender when picked small. The peas are making lots of peas, but I'm not sure when to pick them. I remember shelling purple hull peas when I was a kid, but these peas don't look like those. Should I wait until they are dry and purple? Will they even get dry and purple?

We also need to get the summer garden section ready for planting Hairy Vetch. To do that, I need to get the tomato vines out of there so Tom can mow and plow. But the tomatoes are still making like crazy. I think it's too cool for them because they aren't ripening well, but I still feel bad about cutting them down.

Trash

Why do people do this? This is the eighth old tire we've found out in the field.

Deep Dark Forest

Here are some pics of our little forest.

Kitten Pics

We finally took the plunge and brought my desktop to the farm and it works great! So far.

So, here are the kittens. That's Jasper with Pearlie. S/he just wants to rub up against Pearlie the way cats do, but it freaks Pearlie out. Then there's picture of Jasper's skunk stripe. Last one is Alice.

No Pics

I haven't been blogging much recently because my internet connection at the farm is so terrible. And I can't post pics because I've moved my camera out to the farm, but not my computer so I can't download (upload?) them.

I got my barn cats...kittens...last week. They're so cute; black and white. One looks kind of like a skunk. Meagan named them Alice and Jasper (with a nod to the Twilight series that she's reading). I took lots of pics, but alas...

Anyway, the kittens are supposed to be living in the barn, but I'm afraid that snakes will eat them since they're so little. I've been keeping them in the breezeway of the house. It's fairly animal proof and I can close it off to the rest of the house. I think Pearlie would die of frustration if the kittens had free access to the house. She seems to think they are toys. They look like her toys, feel like her toys, squeak like her toys, and play the same games that her toys play, but they move on their own and I don't allow her to bite them. She is a very confused dog. She'll probably be relieved when I move them into the barn in a week or so.

Henry has grown into the halter, so it's on him full time. He still resists being led, so that's something I'll have to work on. I tried encouraging him to walk along beside me by offering him a sugar cube, but he wouldn't have it. I even put it in his mouth and he spit it out. Maybe sugar is an acquired taste for baby equines. The grown-ups sure liked them. I also bought some apple flavored equine treats to bribe the donkeys with. I'm not sure that was a good idea. When they got a taste of those, I thought they were going to run me over trying to get more. I had to keep pushing them away so that I could lead (drag) Henry around.

Donkey Training

My neighbor told me that now is the time to start halter training Henry and she loaned me her training halter. I carried it out there with me for a couple of days to let him get used to just having it around. Then I put it on him and left it on for just a few minutes. He did resist a bit, but it was easier that I thought. I expected him to be far stronger than me and be able to pull away, but surprisingly, he wasn't and I was able to hold him still long enough to get the halter buckled.

Since the halter is made for a horse, it is too big for a baby donkey, so I didn't want to leave it on him for very long when I'm not around. Today I left it on for about four hours, but had to take it off before we left the farm.

My fall garden is starting to produce. I thought at first that hardly anything was going to grow because it took several veggies a long time to sprout. But things are looking good now. I've got several baby winter squashes and lots of Southern Pea pods. The bush beans, cucumbers and zucchini plants are getting pretty big. I had about decided that the carrots weren't going to come up at all, but I noticed today that there are a few tiny sprouts that look like carrot leaves. The corn still looks very pitiful. I doubt I'll be getting any fall corn.

Moving Slowly...or, Slowly Moving

We've been moving our belongings out to the farm bit by bit. The first major thing to go was the washer and dryer. When that was moved, it pretty much meant that we were living out there. Last weekend we got the beds, sofa, and a few other things moved. This weekend's goal is to get the dining room furniture moved.

Almost all of the baseboards are installed. I've been filling the nail holes, then I have to do some touchup and clear coat on them. After that, we can call it done.

Up there is a picture of my (much smaller than I'm used to) closet. I tore out all the original bars and shelves and put in a closet organizer to make the most use out of the small space.