Monthly Archives: November 2018

2018
11/30

Category:
Life
sheep

COMMENTS:
Comments Closed

God’s nudge

I have a long list of things I want to get done – just like most of you do.   Yesterday God ‘s nudge turned my path a different way.   I’ve been feeling guilty about not visiting my neighbor in the rehab home since she broke her hip.   Yesterday, she called and said “when you come today, will you bring….”   Well, I wasn’t planning on going, but decided that must be God’s nudge.

I went to the post office and got the stamps she wanted, then we went to visit her.  After that we stopped and did two other chores not on yesterday’s list.   The interesting thing was that I got everything done that needed to be done without feeling the normal stress.

Pierre is our dominant colored ram and has been in pain all week.  He is very weak and having a difficult time standing.  We called the vet who doesn’t know what is causing the problem.  So we are giving Pierre a shot of B vitamin + .

He dislikes the shot and does get up when getting it, but you can see he is not a bit perky.  He is eating, drinking, and eliminating normally, so we wait and watch a few more days.

It will freeze hard next week and then even these few flowers will be gone.  I will miss there happy yellow blooms.

2018
11/25

Category:
farming
food
Garden
Life
sheep

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

One thing leads to another

All of you know how one thing leads to another.  This morning after making Broccoli soup and steel-cut oats, I was cleaning off the counter top.   I wanted to put the potato starch into a specific container.  That was no problem, but I didn’t know where the lid was.  Usually the lids are kept with the container, but this lid was missing.  So I proceeded to look in the possible drawers.  I ended up cleaning out 9 drawers plus the pantry, looking for that lid, which I never did find, nor did the counter get totally cleaned.  I gave up

In the midst of this,  I remembered that we are changing a few more sheep coats tomorrow and I needed to wash coats to have enough clean for that.   Now I also have a few more coats to mend.

Next, I needed to move the dog food that Costco delivered Friday.  I order every 3 months and get 12 bags each weighing 30 pounds.   Again, not a simple task, because as you know, one thing leads to another.   I got the tractor, brought it to the front door, and piled on 8 of the boxes (Costco puts each bag into a box).  While I was doing that, I noticed that the plants in front had frozen, so pulled them out and  loaded them on top of the food.   I took the food to the barn, and put the frozen plant material on the compost pile.

 Now to get three more boxes to take to the studio, which is where we keep the food for the dog who guards the sheep in the lower pasture.  I picked those boxes up and went around to the studio, delivered them, and then decided that it was a mess around the door.   So I loaded the peat moss , some garbage and the water trough that I will be using for the boys in an upper pasture.  Off I went to take the peat moss to the upper hoop house along with some other items.  On the way, I left the garbage in the garbage house, the trough near the gate in the upper pasture, and the peat moss in the hoop house.

But it didn’t stop there.   Once you clean up a part of an area, you want to keep going, so we loaded all the parts of the fleeces that are too soiled to sell and took 3 loads of that up to the compost – well, I started a new pile near the new garden.  Then there was another load of thermalite etc to go to the hoop house and another load of junk for the garbage shed.   Most of this stuff was too heavy for me to move before I had the tractor.   We spent 3 hours doing this and enjoyed a late lunch.  It was nice to have it already made and we could just heat and eat.

After lunch it was back to the barn to clean a third of the stalls and feed the animals.   We will finish the other two stalls tomorrow and sweep off the cement areas by the two back doors, since they are now free of all the “extras”  Like I said, “one thing leads to another”,  but it feels so good to have it done.  Most of it I couldn’t do without the tractor.   I am so thankful we bought it.

 

2018
11/21

Category:
food
Life

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

 

 

 

 

 

I was trying to make more interesting platters.   This turkey will get a head touch up.   I think the owl will get shortened and I’ll try avocado rounds for the eyes.   They should be ripe by morning.   Sometimes it’s difficult to get just the look you’re trying to achieve.

This has been a fast year, hasn’t it.  We’re nearly to the end of 2018 and  I for one will end the year with left over projects.   Enjoy the holidays and know there’s another whole year to work on those projects.      Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.

2018
11/18

Category:
food

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

Canned beets

I bought 25# of beets last week.   We have been feasting on them.  Today, I canned 20 pints for this winter.   Tuesday, I will go back to the farm and get fresh vegetables for Thanksgiving nibbles and another package of beets.

Usually I boil the beets, put them under cold water, and the skins slip off.   These had to be scraped off.   Have you ever had beets like that?  Or can you tell me how to do it differently?   That was a pain.   But I have 20 pints of canned beets and would love to triple that number.

2018
11/17

Category:
Life
machine embroidery

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

Embroidered potholders

emb apple

These two embroidered potholders were done totally on the machine.   I first hooped wash away stabilizer, then I stitched that out.  I then spray basted the thin batting to the top piece, and placed it in the stitching line.   I finished the top side, then for the bottom I spray basted the insulbrite to the bottom piece and basted them both to the under side of the potholder.  I think by adding the extra layer of batting, they will be thick enough.

We had the birthday party yesterday at Panera’s and the office girls were each given two potholders.   They were delighted to be remembered.  Our daughter was given sheets and other bedding since she just had a new queen size bed delivered.  It’s a lovely time once a year and we do it before the holidays, which worked out really well this year, since her birthday is on Thanksgiving day.

2018
11/12

Category:
farming
Life

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

Frightened

It has turned cold and that means in a barn, there are more rodents seeking a warm place, where food is available.  So we have several bait traps out with this product.  The animals cannot get inside the traps.  However, someone helping us emptied a trap into a garbage bag and put a different bait into the trap.

I looked in the office and saw Beau, with the garbage bag ripped apart and he was very interested in the contents.  That frightened me!   There is no antidote for the rodenticide used in Tomcat Bait Chunx.  It is toxic in small amounts.   A toxic amount in a dog will manifest either as paralysis or convulsions.  It is deadly.

So off to the vet we rushed.   They made him vomit and then gave him activated charcoal.   And we pray while waiting for 4 days.   We don’t really know for sure if he ingested it or how much.  We do know that 2.5 cubes of this stuff are missing.  It is toxic by weight and his being a big boy at 99# is helpful here.

This is a photo I snapped of him looking and playing normally this afternoon.  We’re supposed to keep our eye on him, but if he shows symptoms, there’s nothing that can be done.   Not a good thing.   So we cleaned the barn today with him helping us.  Kept us and him busy and now the sheep have a nice clean barn to mess up.

If you use any poisons, please check and recheck that other pets or children have no way to get to them.

2018
11/08

Category:
Life

COMMENTS:
Comments Closed

Breakfast in bed with DH

As an early riser I awoke to the first frost of the season this morning.    Guess what I did after my drink of water.cereal bowlI prepared my bowl of oats with plenty of blueberries and crawled back into the bed to have “breakfast in bed” with my DH.   Since he gets up “late”, it’s the only way to have breakfast with him.  And it’s a good quiet time to think through the day and catch up on anything on my phone.

 

2018
11/07

Category:
Garden
Life
quilts
Sewing

COMMENTS:
Comments Closed

Turkeys and ducks

The ducks are finished and the turkeys started.   These are essentially small quilts and the binding is put on the same way as a large quilt, which takes a bit of time.

The garlic is planted and the plants that can’t survive a freeze have been moved.  We’re expecting our first freeze tonight and as usual, it barely got done.   It’s amazing how deadlines help push one to get things done.

Tomorrow is the dentist and the next day is the optometrist.   And another week will be gone, and we will have arrived at week’s end.  How does this happen so fast?

2018
11/04

Category:
food
Garden
Life
Sewing

COMMENTS:
Comments Closed

Potholders and gardening

Potholders:   Working slowly, but steadily, these are now ready for the Insulbrite backing, and binding.

 

The quilting machine has been updated with a new computer which I now get to relearn how to use.   The older computer is no longer supported, so there really wasn’t an option if I wanted to use the computer aspect of it.

We also have been putting some time into readying the hoop house for winter.   We will let it rest this winter as there isn’t time for everything.   So the last of the tomatoes (I think) came in, the kale will stay where it is, in the back and I’ll plant the garlic yet this month.  The citrus, we will move to a warmer place.