Rain!

Wonderful, marvelous, beautiful rain. 

The clouds came.  The thunder rumbled.

The wind blew and kicked up a dust storm.

Then it rained.  It wasn't much...more like a drop of water on a dying man's tongue, but it was something.

Then, unexpectedly, it rained later in the night.  We need a whole bunch more, but it rained enough to soak the ground and leave a little water in the livestock feed troughs.

We are grateful.

I'm Back, Cyberfriends

Just when I thought I was going to coast through the rest of the summer painting and napping, my daughter went and got herself engaged and set the date for October.  So, there will be no napping for the next two months.

The mother-in-law needed a picture to put in their city's newspaper, so I was elected to do some quick snapshots.  Now, I've never claimed to be a photographer, but I have a really nice camera with lots of fancy features that I don't know how to use, so I gave it the old college try.

I took about 20-25 pictures, then transferred them to the computer and told Meagan to go through them and delete the ones she didn't like and send the one she wanted to her mother-in-law to be.  When I came back to check on her progress, she had deleted all but one.  Well, I didn't think I was THAT bad of a photographer.

Luckily, I hadn't deleted them from the camera and was able to load them back on my computer for my own use.

It was my wacky idea to stand by the tree.  Somebody shoot me before I get any more ideas.

It was only about 103 degrees and poor Drew has a suitcoat on, but he was a trooper.  I think turnabout is fair play, don't you?  Women have to freeze in most public places and formal events with cold air blowing up and around their sleeveless dresses so men can be comfortable with their jackets on. 

"Look natural," I say.

Now we're getting somewhere.

"Um...hot."

What a guy will do for love.

Touchdown!

**Click on pics to get a better look and especially to see the ring**

Slow Season

It's the slow part of the year for me right now, especially with the drought going on.

With all the goats and donkeys foraging in the hayfields and pastures, I don't have regular feeding time.  I've let the milk goats dry out because (1) I was tired of milking and it really ties me down; (2) I was concerned that the heat was stressing the goats who were producing; and (3) they'll be bred again in September or October and I wanted all babies weaned and all the mothers to have time to rebuild their strength before then. 

The only thing producing in the garden is peppers, so all that is necessary right now is pulling up the few weeds that can survive the heat.  I started planting my fall garden last week, but so far the only thing that has come up is one winter squash and one pumpkin.  It's a little soon to expect much, but I don't know if anything will make it since as soon as it comes up it will be blow torch scorched with this heat.  I'm watering every evening to give the seedlings a fighting chance.

Tom has still found plenty to do even though he has finished goat fencing the perimeter of the entire property.  He cut down the worst one of those maples in the front yard that really didn't come back after the Arbor Barber pruned it severely.  That's OK.  It was ugly anyway.  We put a red oak in its place and we're hoping it will survive.  He spends the day fixing things, mowing, cleaning the chicken coop and taking frequent breaks in his office drinking gatorade and trying to cool down.

I think the heat is stressing the chickens because we're getting an average of three eggs a day, whereas we were getting over a dozen a day before the heat got so severe.  They could be hiding their eggs or a snake could be getting them, but I mostly think that they just aren't laying.

So, I actually have a lot of free time right now and have started on a project.

I've made much progress on it since taking this picture, but it's a gift and I don't want to reveal too much until it's done.  Then I'll explain what it is and why.

Bag Boy Liam

Who needs toys?

Look at this great bag I found!

Hmm, what can I do with it?

Oh, I know!

The very definition of LOL!

That was so much fun!

I Love Buttercream Frosting

I'm not much of a fancy baker and am not one to make up new recipes or experiment with food.  Pretty much I just plain ol' don't like to cook.  But I like to eat and since there's nobody else around that's going to cook for me, I do what I can.  I'm a good cook and what I do cook tastes good, I just don't enjoy the process.

Anyway, the past couple of months with it's events and occasions have presented the "opportunity" for me to frost a lot of cakes and cupcakes.  I used to just buy Betty Crocker or Pillsbury frostings and be done with it, but I wanted different colors and decided the best way to do that was to make it myself.

For the first couple of batches, I used a recipe that Meagan found for me on some woman's cake decorating blog.  As her base, she uses shortening.  It's good, but it's a little to greasy tasting to me.  So, I found another recipe and tweaked it a bit and I think it is wonderful.  I could (and have) eaten it by the spoonfuls.

This recipe will generously frost about 30 cupcakes.

1 cup of unsalted butter (two sticks), about room temperature
1 cup of shortening
8 cups of confectioners sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. table salt
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
Up to 8 Tbs. milk or heavy cream

Beat butter and shortening together with mixer on medium for a few minutes.  Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and with your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere), mix until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Add the rest of the sugar while mixing.  Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 1 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.  If the frosting is too stiff, add milk/cream one tablespoon at a time until you reach the consistency that you want. 

I'm sure this could be made without the salt, but I wouldn't recommend it.  That little bit of salt adds just the right touch so that while you're eating it, you get that little hint of salty/sweet that makes this so enjoyable to savor.  Yum!

Hmm, Feed Trough?

We've only had one rain this summer and the paddocks are pretty near eaten bare, so it looks like we might have to start supplementing with hay soon.  The vet told us that the goats get worms from eating stuff off of the ground because when it gets so dry and the grass isn't growing, instead of grazing off the tips of the grass, they have to graze down to the ground.  We're supposed to keep their feed up off the dirt to minimize the ingestion of worms.  The problem is, we have no feeders to put hay in out in the fields.

The above picture is one of Tom's solutions.  I know it used to be a feed trough.  It's one of the things that Tom found abandoned out in one of the pastures, but the plastic liner is long gone.

Tom has a vision for it and, to be fair, it is not finished, but I'm not seeing it.

Fail

Well, our foray into raising Boer goats was pretty much a fail.  We were warned in the beginning that goats have a problem with intestinal parasites in east Texas.  I think what we are finding out it that BOER goats have a problem with intestinal parasites in east Texas.  I don't know why they are so popular here - Boers and Boer crosses everywhere.  They can be seen out in numerous fields as one drives along and that is the goat of choice for FFA students to show.

We bought three fullblood Boers last year and we traded our spring Nubian doeling for a fullblood boer doeling this spring.  So we had four fullbloods and three of them died from worms.  Buttercup, the only surviving fullblood, is doing well.  I'm not sure why she has survived unless it's because she kidded back in December so her system wasn't stressed this spring and summer.

Someone told us the other day that if you cross a Boer with just about any other goat, they will have a much better chance of resisting death by worms.  So far, we have found that to be true (knock on wood).  Pansy is a Boer cross (we don't know what with) and she has been fine.  All of the babies that are either fullblood Nubians or Nubian/Boer crosses are also thriving.  Our fullblood Nubians, Hyacinth and Daisy, seem to be unaffected by worms so far.

Even though our intention was to raise Boer/Nubian crosses, we can't keep our Boer nannies alive, so we are officially out of the Boer business.  We're going to try Kikos, which are a meat goat from New Zealand.  They are supposed to be very hardy and parasite resistant. 

We went to see some yesterday.  They look rather scrawny compared to the Boer.

But we bought two doelings, brought them home, and are hoping for the best.

We put them in with Buttercup, the surviving Boer, and her little herd of orphaned girls.

Indulge Me for a Grandmotherly Moment, Please

Birthday Boy Liam.

I mean, really, how could I resist showing off that sweet face?

Intent on birthday presents with his daddy.

Something is hilarious in his one year old world.

Peeking mischievously over my shoulder at Pops.

Shuffling Livestock

The drought is bad in east Texas.  The only rain we've had this season is on June 21st when we got about four inches in 24 hours.  That is long gone now, the fields are drying up and the pond is lower than I've ever seen it.  So, we're trying to manage our livestock in a way that we don't have to supplement their grazing (other than the little bit of sweetfeed I give them each morning just to keep them in a routine and tame).

We let a friend whose fields are grazed down to nubs, bring over three of his cows to graze the pasture around our pond.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm wondering if we're going to need that area for our own livestock.  When I went to look at it, I found it eaten nearly bare except for some tall weeds the cows won't eat.

In addition to the exceptionally dry conditions and suffering grass/hay, we have at least one paddock that is infested with worms that have killed three of our Boer goats.  The vet told us not to put any other animals in that paddock for six weeks.

So, the time has seriously come to try to get the goats out into our small woodland areas to browse.  After wracking my brain for days on a way to position them so that they'd have protection from predators and protection for the donkeys that are supposed to be protecting them, I finally came up with a plan, which Tom and I implemented today.

I decided that we needed to divide and conquer.  Separating Kip and Henry was necessary to keep them from forming an alliance and attacking our spring crop of wethers that we wanted to put in the pasture with Billy.  Because Henry has a milder dispostion, we decided that he would stay in the pasture with the little boys and Kip would move.  Kip was a good boy when I slipped the halter on him and led him over to the pasture with Buffy and Hilde.  Hilde is his mother, but she's acting like she never met him.

Then I led the boys to Billy and Henry's pasture with Tom herding from behind.  Billy seems glad for the company.  Henry did a little chasing, but seems to have settled down.  Billy did some grunting and huffing, so maybe he was telling Henry that chasing wasn't allowed.  This is the pasture with access to the hay field and woodlands.  Billy hasn't ventured into the woods even after weeks of having access to it.  I'm hoping that he'll start wandering over there now that he has some pals to go with him.

We moved Buttercup and all the orphaned babies into Buffy and Hilde's pasture after moving the donkeys over one.  Buttercup had to be drug by the horns and eventually all the babies followed.

The Nubians and Pansy are in the smallest pasture drying out.  I can't believe that after a week their udders are still fat with milk.  But they can't stay there for much longer because the grass is being eaten up fast.



Experimenting With Beets

I grew beets in the garden this year.  I don't really like beets, but they were included in the bucket of heirloom seeds that I ordered and I had room in the garden, so I planted them.  They grew well and no pests bothered them.

So, what to do with beets that I don't care for?  I searched the internet for recipes and came across a soup on http://www.allrecipes.com/ that sounded decent.  I like soup and it looked easy, so here it is, altered a bit to fit my taste:

The recipe called for six medium beets.  I'm not exactly sure what "medium" is, but I figured that my assortment of different sizes would add up to six medium ones, so I peeled them all.

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

6 medium beets, peeled and chopped

2 cups (or more) beef bullion

salt and ground pepper

heavy cream

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir in onions and garlic; cook until soft but not browned, about five minutes.

Stir in beets and cook for one minute.

Stir in beef bullion; season with salt and pepper; bring to a boil; cover; and simmer until beets are tender.  It took about 35 minutes for the beets to become tender.

Puree beet mixture in a blender or food processor and return to pot.  At this point, I thought the mixture was too thick to be called soup, so I added about one and a half cups more of beef bullion.  Correct the seasonings and heat thoroughly.

Serve in bowl with a swirl of heavy cream.

This actually was pretty good.  It kind of tasted like a cauliflower/leek soup that I make and love except that the beets added a bit of sweet flavor to it.

And it's lovely to look at.

Racoon Ragdolls

I heard Harry barking out back the other night.  Then that morning, while walking the path to the barn, I noticed Harry looking up in a tree, so I looked, too.  There were four or five baby racoons sleeping in the branches. 

This isn't a good picture, but that's really what they looked like - a hairy wad.  I never would have seen them if I hadn't looked really hard.  I thought at first that it was one large racoon and one baby up on a higher branch, but when I came back and looked later, they had spread out.  There was no mother, so these are probably the babies of the racoon that was killed a few days ago.

This is the baby that was in a higher branch.  After they all spread out, their little heads and limbs were just dangling from the branches and it looked like someone had tossed a handful of rag dolls up into the tree, snagging them on the branches.

So cute, but probably future trouble.

They were gone by 10:30 that morning, but they must have climbed from branch to branch to other trees.  I know they didn't come down because Harry stood guard at the base of the tree all morning.

Voodoo Doctor

Those of you who know Tom, know that he has always suffered from allergies.  Sneezing, nose blowing, and throat clearing is a way of life for him, in addition to waking up in the middle of the night with an earache due to plugged up sinuses.  He had been tested for allergies in our early years of marriage and found to be allergic mainly to molds, so he went through a regimen of allergy shots (which I administered, much to my chagrin).  His allergist pronounced him "cured", but I didn't see any change in the nose-blowing category.  Then he had surgery for a "deviated septum" in his nose.  The doctor claimed that he'd be able to breath much easier after that.  Still,  no change as far as I could detect.

So, we have these friends, sisters, that are into holistic medicine.  They have a doctor that they've gone to for years, but their husbands are skeptics.   Both husbands have allergy problems, so, out of desperation, one of the husbands decided to go to this doctor.  She did her thing, whatever that was, then stuck what he described as a bundle of dirt into his sock against his leg.  He was to wear it for at least three hours, then he could take it out.  And he did that.  And he says he is cured.

It was cheap, so Tom decided that if it worked for our friend, it was worth a try.  So he went yesterday.

The doctor put some sort of hood over his head so that he could breath something in to try to dry out his sinuses.  She touched some sort of electrodes to his skin and pronounced him to be allergic to molds and some grasses.  She said that he was much more inflamed than our friend, so it would take longer for him to get better.

Then she put the "dirt pack" in his sock...on both legs, told him to wear it for at least three hours, and gave him a bottle of slippery elm herbal supplement to be put into his water and drank.

I was expecting at least a tidy little surgical looking pack of dirt strapped or taped to Tom's legs, but this is what it looked like when he took his sock off...a wadded up Kleenex.

And this is what was inside that wadded up tissue.  You might have to click on the picture to see it better, but there were bits and pieces of various plants and what appeared to be some mold.  Hilarious.

So, in a couple of weeks, we'll see if voodoo medicine really works.

Orphaned

I really....really....hate this.

When Tom went to pick muscadine grapes on Monday, he decided to also pull some of the vines out of the tree with the idea in mind that he could trim the vines and pick the grapes off of the vines that he pulls out.  Before they got started, Tom and our teenage helper, Reid, saw a racoon up in the tree.  For some reason, they decided that the racoon must die.  When I later asked him "why?", he said that if they left it there, it would have been bothering them or trying to get them while they worked in the tree.  My thought was that the racoon didn't want to be anywhere near them and would stay as high in the tree as it could.  Nevertheless, Tom came in and got his gun.  I heard two shots.

When I went out to help pick, I commented, "I hope that racoon didn't have babies somewhere that it was taking care of."

Lo and behold...baby.  In tree.  Beside dead mother hanging in tree.

I'd rather not have even known this, but Tom took a picture and loaded it on my computer.  So now I know and am haunted by it.  And now you know.  I hope it doesn't affect you the way it affects me.

I am not the kind of person that would join PETA or think that animals should never be killed for any reason.  Obviously, I am not a vegetarian and I do think that animals are here for us to make use of.  I eat meat, I wear leather and furs and I have no problem with that.  It's just that...I don't want them to suffer.  And it makes me so very sad thinking about that baby racoon seeing it's mother killed right beside it and not knowing what to do and not understanding why it's mother is not responding to it.

As far as I know, that racoon hadn't done anything to us.  Yeah, that one summer we had a racoon fishing our goldfish out of the water buckets and I didn't like it and I wanted that racoon out of here.  Maybe it was the same racoon.  I don't know.  But this just doesn't seem like a fair exchange somehow.

Boyz In Da 'Hood

Billy the Goat

Harry the Dog

Edward the Cat

The vet says Eddie Cat is going to be a big fella...'bout 17 pounds.  He'll fit right in.

Crummy Trees

Remember Ewell Love the Arbor Barber (Dec. 17, 2010)?  And the extreme trimming that he did on the ugly maple trees in the front yard?  And how they were supposed to come back all beautiful in the Spring?  Well, this is what they look like now.

This one is kind of OK.  Better than last year.

And the one on the left is OK, too.  Not great, but it is an improvement.  But, the one on the right is pitiful.  The problem with all of them is that the new branches keep falling off.  They just...drop off.  And if a big wind blows, the yard is littered with them.  That terrible one on the right has got to go.  I'm going to replace it with either an oak or a magnolia.

So, the Arbor Barber was sort of right.  They do come back with a better shape, but what comes back seems to be very weak.