From the Mouth of Babes

My friend stopped by for a visit today and brought her five year old granddaughter, Carmen. I took her into Tom's office with me to get her some paper to write on. Short conversation ensued.

Carmen, "This is a messy room."

Me, "I know!"

Carmen, "Who made this mess?"

Butchering Season

I mentioned to Tom that we should look up information on the correct time to butcher goats. One of our friends had a wild hog butchered at a place in our town, so Tom is going to find out if they butcher goats, too.

I googled it and found that about nine months of age is the time. Tom said that he read for Boer goats it's six months to a year. In any event, it is time. Pansy's boys are ten months old.

I've been dreading this. Hopefully, Tom can just take them to the butcher and bring them back in packages. Oh.

Whaaah!

Trying to weed the garden with a cat or two is nearly an impossible task. They can't just be "nearby", they must be right where your face or hands are at all times. Digging out a weed? Try getting past the cat body first.

And then, here comes Harry. He has to chase the cats all over the garden. Not out in the pasture. No, in the garden. And then, when I tried to chase Harry out of the garden, where he was plowing around like a tractor, he decided it was a game and called for more running and plowing. I was so mad at him that I threw the only thing I had available...my favorite pair of pruning shears that were in my pocket.

I threw. I missed. Harry said, "Nah-nah nah-nah naaaah-nah!" I saw the shears land on the other side of him, but when I went to pick them up...they were gone. Disappeared. I searched and searched. Tom used the big magnet-on-a-pole thingy (that we use to pick up nails and stuff ) to search and he didn't find it either. I know they are there. Somewhere. Rusting.

My Task This Week

Since we couldn't finish mulching the garden and the weather has been so beautiful, I decided that I'd work on cleaning up the fence line by the road. I've got about 3/4 of it done, but what's left to do is the hardest part - the part where I can't really mow during my weekly summer mowings because the ground is so soft and uneven, the mower gets stuck. The tractor get's stuck, too. So the weeds grow huge and out of control.

These are before and after pics.

Fine Specimens

These are a couple of our roosters. We have three Rhode Island Reds. I don't know what kind the white one is. He's the one that was given to us by a neighbor. We thought it was a hen up until just a month or so ago when he started exhibiting his distinctly roosterly behavior and growing big glossy tail feather. The red one is the fattest rooster and seems to be the dominant one, too.

The Results of Wood Chipping

We were able to get about half of the garden mulched before the wood chipper broke the final time. It smells like a big hamster cage that has just been cleaned.

Farm Equipment Manufacturers...Bah!

Is it possible....for any farm equipment manufacturer...to make a product that doesn't break every time it is used?

I mean, it isn't like this is a new industry or like they haven't had time to get it right.

I'm telling you, every time Tom goes out to work with any farm equipment, it breaks.

Latest example...the wood chipper. Tom uses it to chip up wood and make mulch for the garden. A few months ago, he had chipped a few truckloads and we finally got around to spreading it in the garden this week. So he went out to chip more. He started chipping, but it didn't seem to be working very well and he decided he needed to sharpen the blades. Take machine apart, sharpen blades, put it back together - a couple of hours gone. Then it worked great and he was able to get another truckload chipped. We got that spread and he went to chip more. Then a belt broke. Take machine apart, replace belt, put it back together - another couple of hours gone. Then he started chipping again and a MAJOR part breaks.

Tom has spent the last couple of days taking the chipper apart to get to the broken part, which will not come off easily. Then he has to order the needed parts and put it back together.

This is how Tom has spent his week.

Fabulous Fifty

It's my birthday today. I'm 50. Ugh.

This is my birthday present from my very best friend from high school. My -- Main Street dragging, screaming over boys, crying over boys, going barefoot to the movie (what were we thinking? It was HER idea!), horseback riding, yakking all night, cutting class to go shopping, lamenting our single status, going to a concert and staying 10 minutes, arriving late and leaving football games early, be there for each other no matter what -- gurl fren'.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Our pond is frozen all the way across.

It has been below freezing for over two days. Everything is frozen. It's horrible. I'm ready for summer.

Hello! What's This?

I announced a few months ago that the last of the goldfish was gone - probably eaten by the raccoon that hangs out around that water bucket. I have seen neither hide nor hair...nor scale of any goldfish since that day. I've even emptied the bucket, washed it out and refilled it. No kidding!

So, it's freezing here and the livestock's water buckets have frozen. So today I sent Tom out with a bucket of hot water to pour into the buckets so the animals could have a drink. He went out and poured the water for one bucket, went and dumped the ice (and little bit of water) out of the other, then came back to the house for more hot water. I went out with him and while he was pouring the water in, he looked over at the pile of ice and said, "Hey! There's a goldfish!" And it's tail was flapping feebly.

He quickly scooped it up and put it in the water. It was able to swim around, but barely could stay upright. So, if we didn't kill it from dumping it out on the ground to suffocate, we might have killed it from putting it in the hot water.

So, where was that little fish hiding all this time?

No, really...

...it's not a guinea pig; it's not a tribble. It's a dog.

Mochiko

And you thought yeeeew were the cewtest.

Meagan's new pomeranian puppy.

Chicken Protector?

Things have been slow around here. Cold, rain, and snow has prevented a lot of outdoor work..or, rather, the desire to do outdoor work. It's much nicer to cozy up by the fire than to bundle up and schlep around outside.

We're cautiously optimistic that Harry has finally learned that he mustn't kill the chickens. He hasn't been agressive towards them in a long time and we're consistently leaving him out there unsupervised with them. In fact, they seem to follow him around. Maybe they're taunting him, maybe they like his company, maybe they feel protected, or maybe they're just too stupid to remember that he was picking them off one by one. Even the big white rooster (we thought it was a hen until he started jumping on the hens in rooster fashion), who was mauled by Harry a few months ago, doesn't seem to remember the incident.

We were averaging about half a dozen eggs per day until it got really cold. Now we get 3-4 per day, which is still more than we need. I have six dozen eggs in the refrigerator at the moment and I give them away to anyone who visits us.

Sad Harry

Harry is a bit sad this week. We had him neutered so he has to be confined for the next five days and he has to wear this collar for ten days so he won't lick and chew his incision. I don't know what's worse, the confinement and boredom or the neck brace. He's almost nine months old and 86 pounds.

Venison

This is all that's left of the venison. I've never liked venison before, but this was good - tender, not gamey. The guys did a really good job. They grilled it just right. The rub (a Bobby Flay recipe) consisted of peppers, coffee, mustard, and some other stuff. They used mustard seed rather than ground mustard, and it was a bit heavy on the coffee, but it was OK anyway.

The Centerpiece

I don't usually decorate for any holiday or give any thought to such things as centerpieces, but this year I went all Martha Stewart and made an arrangement for one of my tables. I drove down the road and cut limbs off of trees, arranged them in a vase, and ... voila!

Man Cooks

Mark got a deer at his deer lease a few days ago, so it has been decided that venison will be on the menu tomorrow. Since we ladies don't know how to cook venison (that's our story and we're sticking to it), or, according to Mark, we're lazy...the men are cooking it.

Tom looked up Bobby Flay's venison recipe which consists of marinading it in vinegar for two hours, then making a rub, rubbing the meat and letting it marinade overnight. It has been entertaining.

Implementport

This is Tom's latest building project. His friend, Charlie, who among other things, is a welder and he welded it together. This is for parking tractor implements under to keep them out of the sun and weather.

So, Charlie told Tom about this guy that puts up and takes down billboard signs. Who knew that the billboard signs were actually huge plastic tarps? Well, they are. And this guy sells the tarps really cheap, like 10.00 for a 32' x 20' and 15.00 for the 40' ones. And Tom had this great idea to use them as "walls" for the shed. That way, they could be rolled up out of the way on any side so that the implements could be moved in and out more easily.

It's a grand idea in principle...not so much in execution. I had a picture in my head of how this was going to look. This picture in my head does not match up with reality. Instead, reality is a big eyesore that I don't like to look at and, in fact, am quite dismayed about.

Chicken Fun

Chickens love their dust baths.

Repairs Underway

New floor is being installed today. I had a bit of an altercation with the foreman. The guys that tore out the damaged floor damaged some of the texture/drywall around two of the windows. The foreman insisted that it wasn't their fault and that the water caused the damage. I know that he is wrong about that, but I decided that I wouldn't argue about it anymore. He called his boss and his boss said that if we threatened to hold back any money for the cost of repairs, to just pack up and leave. Of course, he had me in a bind. I couldn't tell them to leave because I want my floor finished.

Some day, I will learn to check and document every move that construction workers make.