Thursday, December 31, 2009

Oh my goodness ...

... another year shot to Hell!!! ...LOL!! No it was not that bad at all! Another year gone by with what seems like few changes, but there was stuff happening. I hit the magic age to collect Social Security. My room mate of 15 years moved out - boy, I miss him, but getting a craft studio in exchange. Many camping trips took place close to home to save money but still get out in the woods.

Maggie, my p-i-t-a kitty love, decided that the bathroom sink was nice and comfortable since the heater vent is under the vanity. If it's not the bathroom sink, it's right on top of the heater vent in the craft room. She likes her heat!


And wonders of wonders for our 2009 winter - we finally got some decent measurable snow! In normal years we have 6-10 inches before Thanksgiving, this year we have had a couple of 2 inch snow storms (storms ??). By Christmas and New Years we have had as much as 4 feet. This year is very different.


I've done a lot of crafting, including putting a craft room into usable space. I'm still not completely done, but there is enough usable space for me to do some smaller crafts.




The cowl for my friend Dale - and he has used it when plowing snow, now that we have some, around the neighborhood! I lined it with a forest green flannel and he says that it really keeps the wind out when zooming around on the quad!


Making fun stuff, and I have plans for more chickens and other stuff!


... and REAL chickens! They seem to have settled in no matter how cold the weather is, and I get an egg a day from each chicken = 5 eggs. I'm selling some to pay for the feed, but I still have plenty left over for myself, eggs that is, not feed! Yes, that is a very real baby gate - they would all move into the house if I let them ... that is a definite "I don't think so!"


I could put a lot more pictures up, but I would bore you to death, and that is definitely not my intention! I want you to come back and visit ...

I hope your 2009 was good and not too affected by the whole financial thingy! I hope you all will have a much better 2010. I wish you peace and prosperity, love, happiness, and health.

Hugs

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I am done ... ... ... ... almost

Well, I finally finished all the presents. There are only three left to wrap and that's it for this year! And all the beaded ornaments are wrapped and NO pictures taken. I was in such a hurry to get this done and over with that I totally forgot.

I took the hat to my friend Don, and he absolutely loved it. Double warmth for the head and quadruple warmth for the ears with the brim folded up! Can't get better than that if you HAVE to go out in the cold. I told Don that if he goes out in a snow storm that he'd better wear the red side out so we can find him in a snow bank - - - LOL

We had a bit of snow the other night, so we will have a white Christmas. Five inches is really not a white Christmas considering that we should have 2-3 feet! But white Christmas none-the-less!!

I have to make a batch of red cabbage for dinner; I will do that tomorrow so it has a chance to sort of 'steep'. It always tastes better the second day, so I now make it a day ahead.

All the best to all of you this Christmas!

Hugs

Sunday, December 20, 2009

busy ... busy ... busy ...

I have been busy, very busy! There always has to be the last minute stuff no matter how well thought out Christmas gifts are. Time just seems to get away from me, all of us I suppose, and then there is one week left, and now only four days!!!!!

Making my beaded ornament covers is a lot of fun, and since I'm in a time crunch now, things seem to go faster. There isn't the time to agonize over what colors, which beads and what size ornament. This picture shows how I figure out what will go into an ornament, try this, try that and make sure I have enough of the 'fancy' beads to finish an ornament. If not, then change a row, change a dangle, or save the idea for another time. I seem to work better when I can see the supplies laid out whether I use that particular item or not. And that piece of blue in the bottom right of the picture is my ratty old flannel shirt ... LOL



This shows the lineup of some of my ornaments, some simple, some very simple and some take a bit of thought. None of them are hard to make - you just need to count beads, and count beads, and count beads. Then where to stick the needle is the next quest ... I love doing this king of work and time seems to fly when I do.



Here is the hat that I showed in an earlier post. Very warm, very thick and two layered so you can have whatever side and color you want shown to the world. I took the hat to my friend and he couldn't believe how thick and snug it was. He will be taking it with him up north for Christmas since it is a lot colder there.
Blue side --



Red side --


I will show some more gifts as I complete them.

Have the best Christmas ever, love and be loved.
Hugs

Saturday, December 12, 2009

c.c.c cold!!!

Why is the word 'cold' so non-descriptive? You have to use so many adjectives to really describe a day like the one below. This was last Monday (12/7) about 10 a.m. I've been looking at this kind of temperature for a few days, and thought that I'd better catch it on camera, just for fun and maybe for posterity.



The temp has been below zero too, but there was no way I was bundling up like Nanook of the North just to go take a picture! Mmmm - NO!!! When I took this I was out getting wood for the stove so it wasn't hard to grab the camera on one of the trips into the house.



These two just did not care that the other was there. The four-legged creature is very cute and there are two more out of range of the camera, but they come to visit the chicken food. I have to charge out the back door banging away on a pot with a spoon to get them out of the yard! I don't like for any animal to go hungry, but I can't feed the wild ones or they will really become pests. This was the same day that the temp was really low - it was too cold to snow.

We have snow and warmer temps - all the way to 31 today! Our lows are now higher than our highs were at the beginning of the week! We were suppose to have snow all weekend, but I saw the sun today - briefly, but I saw it!! Hopefully we will get a lot more snow, there isn't enough yet for this time of year. As far as I'm concerned it can snow until we have 5-6 feet on the ground, because the weather will be warmer.

You all stay warm out there!
Hugs

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Christmas gifts ...

I have been knitting! ... and knitting ... and knitting ...


These are 2 sets of fingerless gloves, easy. If you'd like my pattern let me know. The pink ones go to my niece that received the pink/green snake scarf last year. I'm trying to finish the green ones to send to my Mom, who is 82, in Denmark. She's not into the hot, screaming colors, but I thought she needed something bright ... and if she only wears them indoors - who cares! I thought they would be fun.



This cowl is for my friend who spends a lot of time on the quad. He plays in the snow and plows out driveways - the wind in your face gets very, very cold. I found this pattern on Ravelry, it's by Michael who also has a blog, This Boy Knits I think I searched for "cowls", but I'm not sure, on second thought, try searching for "Man Cowl" - the name of the pattern. Michael's pattern calls for 60 rounds for the main section, but I only did 40 rounds and it made it long enough to pull up and cover the lower face. It's a bit hard to see the design because I used "camo" yarn, but I think it's very nice and manly!



This is the beginning of a Double Layer Hat, where you start the hat at the top, knit down to the ribbing, then knit another hat to the top. Stuff one hat part into the other and you have a double layered hat. Extra warm. This is for another friend that likes to take walks in cold weather and I thought he needed something extra warm for his head.

Hopefully I will get all these done so I can move on to all (4) the beaded ornaments I need to make! I'll get it done, I just need to sit my fanny down and do it. Sounds familiar, huh?

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.
Hugs

Monday, November 23, 2009

I have crafty stuff to show ... !

I realize it's been 2 weeks since I promised some "crafty pics"... I got some for you!

I tried some chicken pin cushions -


The large girl is made with two 5 inch squares and is lightly stuffed, she's just an ornament for now. I sewed the back end closed with the machine, I will NOT do that again - I will do it by hand from now on, much easier! The two smaller girls are two 4 inch squares and was getting real fidgety to work on. This pattern also had two prairie points as tail feathers. WOW! that was tough even by hand and there was no way I was trying the machine. So the conclusion is: NO tail feathers and close the back opening by hand! But ... I love the chickens anyway!

I now move on to show you more of the studio with more of the stuff:


This is the top of the two plastic 7-drawer units that I have my driftwood, sand dollars, shells and some beads in. The stuff on top needs to be put away after I straighten and organize the drawers. There are several (3-4) containers of beads, findings, stringing materials, etc. that are not shown ... LOL ... they are in the studio, but not very organized, so not for viewing at the moment.

And here is my closet. Getting fuller by the day!


All this stuff is sitting on top of a legless chest of (4)drawers. There is NO room in the drawers for this stuff, so I just need to organize it as is. There are more containers filled with crochet cotton that are sort of just in the closet ... there is no organizing them, so they just sit there. One of the drawers is full of skein ends, leftover yarns and odd ball stuff. You can see all the knitting needles just sitting there ... and I find I need more needles. I am now into knitting in the round so sets of 4 or 5 dpn's (double pointed needles) are needed as well as circulars - can we say "Lots of money" for this? I can! and no, not yet. Someday when I'm rich, bwa ha ha ha ha!!!

And this will be my biggest challenge - the slow process of sorting fabric!


The six containers on the bottom two shelves are my very feeble attempt to sort fabric by colors. I say feeble as I have sooo many cartons of fabric that will NEVER, EVER fit into those teeny, tiny containers. There is a container for Christmas fabric which might fit everything, but well see as I continue to dig ... The little drawer unit, bottom left, will go somewhere else, I just don't know where yet ... and that space will be filled with more fabric containers!

The cutting table is covered with fabric pieces from remnant bins that I don't know what to do with yet, so you don't get a picture. I'm trying, I'm trying!!! At least I can scrape out a little clear space for small projects, but some of the bigger ones I want to do will just have to wait.

One last picture from my craft studio:


This is my darling Maggie. She is under the desk that has the serger on it, sharing space with another tote - lying on top of the heater vent! Sometimes I think she is really ditzy, but if I could, I would curl up and join her today - it is COLD.

Have a great (short) week, and a Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Hugs

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Simplifying my life ... LOL

In the previous post I'm showing all the stuff that's being 'stuffed' into my craft room ... and I just added a button for the Down-to-Earth Forum ... under Simplify you life. Now does that make sense? Yup, it does. I'm simplifying my craft life by having everything in the same room, no matter what it looks like. I have zones in there; the bead area, general crafts, quilting, painting, etc.

I just went looking for crafty type pictures, and I realized that I don't have too many. 99% of the ones I have, I've already posted here - - well stay tuned, in a day or two, I will have plenty to show you.

The blog for Down--to--Earth is listed in my side bar. Rhonda Jean lives in Queensland Australia, and is living a simple life. There are just tons of recipes, tips, gardening and much more that she writes about. I love her blog. The forum is a place for getting together with all the people who post on her blog. Check it out, you will love it.

I won't forget the pictures either.

Hugs

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Craft room and some flowers ...

I tried to post this on Friday, but blogger just did not want to cooperate!

Believe it or not, but I'm still working on 'stuffing' the craft room with stuff! I finally got the other bookcase in there, but haven't put anything on the shelves yet - it won't be hard to do, but everything has to be dusted, including the books. The little that is sitting on the shelves will be moved - they are just in a holding pattern for now.



As you can see, I've also hung the bulletin board and put things up. The baskets hanging above the bulletin board have smaller baskets in them for now. I don't like to put loose things anywhere because they get so dusty - living on a dirt road does that!! LOL



My Christmas Cactus has finally flowered! This one has never flowered before, but when I put up the shelf under the kitchen window and moved it over there, plus remembering not to water until it is bone dry, it has beautiful flowers on it and lots of new buds.



This picture came out a little dark, but that is what my house is like - dark. The flash went off on the first one and I don't know why it didn't with this one. All my plants, all eight of them, are clustered around windows, but north and northeast windows don't bring in a lot of bright light. There is just enough light to keep the plants alive, but even that is touch and go sometimes. The kitchen window faces mostly west, but it is the only one, besides the bathroom window, that does.



I hope everyone survived Halloween. Where I live the properties are far enough apart and the area dark enough that we don't get any trick or treaters. The kids would have to be driven from driveway to driveway and with the cost of gas, not many parents are willing to do that.

Just think, only 25 days until Thanksgiving!

Hugs

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Warmth in the evening

We all (almost) get along well enough to cozy up to the wood stove. They were both lying down in similar poses, but when SueAnn heard the camera open, she lifted her head. She's so nosy!! The heat can get really intense right in front of the stove, but SueAnn will lay there panting away - will she move? Not for a long time!!



You can't really see it, but the stove is in the upper left hand corner. The blue bucket is kindling, and the red container is fire starter.

The days aren't that bad temperature wise, I can deal with 64 in the house, but when evening rolls around I like a roaring fire too. I just need to learn to regulate the damper better - sometimes I need to open a window to cool it down a bit ... I'll get it sooner or later.

I wish you all nice days and warm evenings.

Hugs

Monday, October 19, 2009

The girls get names!

Well the Three Chickenteers now have individual girl names.



In the back on the left is Chocolate - dark brown, on the right is Penny - copper colored, and in the front is Lacey - white and light copper. I had figured out Chocolate and Penny a while back, but just could not come up with a name for Lacey. I tried looking at her in different ways and when I asked myself what did she look like the answer came - kind of lacy. AHA!! There is was.


You can see them better in this picture even though they refused to look at the camera.

They look a whole lot better in these pictures taken on Oct 8, than they do now - all 5 of the girls are molting!!! I have feathers EVERYWHERE! I find them indoors as well since they stick to my shoes, the dog and the cats.

Hugs

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Returning home

I got home yesterday around 1:30 in the afternoon and enjoyed the warmth outside. It probably wasn't more than 60, but after waking in the morning to 23, it felt like a heat wave! Saturday night we got some rain showers and a tiny itty bitty bit of snow - you had to look hard to see it falling, but it WAS snow!! And WIND - we had so much wind that you never got completely warm except when you were practically sitting in the fire!

I did not take any pictures since this camp looked like all the other camps we have had in that spot except for the warming tent. Unfortunately no deer when I left, but being opening weekend, the mountains were crawling with camps and hunters. Hopefully the ones left in camp will get something during the week. I will have to go back up on Saturday to tow home the trailer with all the quads.

The house felt warm even though I left the thermostat at 58-59. Unloaded the food, dirty clothes (and there were plenty!), dog bed and dog food. I still need to remove all the non-perishable food, left over clean clothing and "dump" the camper. I will do that today when it warms up a bit. It is barely past 30 outside.

After I cleaned the cat box (Pheweeeee!) Fed and watered the chickens, cleaned out ashes from the wood stove, I lit a fire - oh heavenly warm fire! I didn't get to bed until 10::30, but I slept sooo good.

I need to go to town this week, but I'm waiting a day or two so I can just rest up in the warmth of my house.

Hugs

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Baby gate needed



I would have all four of them roaming around the house if I didn't have this baby gate. Thank goodness for good neighbors - they have a six yr. old and I called them to see if by chance they might have an old baby gate they didn't use any more, and bingo, there it was on my front step.

I need to take it apart and make a real hinged gate, but it works 98% of the time. Sometimes the trio will fly up on top of the gate - wing clipping time! - and sit between the gate and the hanging screen I have there. I've tried to get a real screen door, but the opening is very short of regular door height, and if it opens out, it would hit the eave rafters. I just tacked a fiberglass screen to the top of the opening - it helps with the bugs just fine, but is no match against chickens! LOL

Saturday, September 19, 2009

More craft room stuff

I have been slaving away (ha, ha, ha) at moving stuff into the craft room again. My next 'thing' that comes into the room is another bookcase. It will go to the right of the small shelves and bulletin board in the picture below.



Right now there is another tote full of stuff sitting there, but I will just pull it out of the way into the middle of the floor and find a place for it later. I have a lot of those 'later' things to find places for! The tall bookcase you see here has some containers with stuff in them, the rest are empties that will soon be filled with fabric sorted by color. I'm sure I have more fabric than containers, but eventually it will all find a home!

The two light blue totes under the table below are full to overflowing with fleece - I didn't know I had THAT much fleece ... go figure. The purple one has some quilted fabric, like burlap and corduroy and other odds and ends.



This is under the other end of the table! The bottom green tote is filled with batting and by-the-yard felt, the top one is fabric that needs to be sorted and so is the fabric in the three clear containers.



Remember in this room I have a walk in closed too. It is also being filled up! The one bookcase at the end will be ribbons, cords, ruffles, embroidery thread and pattern books. You can see it is filling up fast.



The closet also holds my yarn, knitting and crochet books, needles & hooks. I'll be sure to take lots more pictures when it's done. Will it ever be done ... I think it will just be one project after another until there is more room and then I'll bring more stuff in! Most of the fabrics I have are from remnant racks. I do have yards of fabric that were bought for a specific project - long-forgotten now - but I can always come up with some new projects for it.

Hope you all have happy crafty days ahead.

Hugs

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Changes and chickens

The Changes:

I canceled my website registration and hosting company - just too much money a month right now. I've transferred my domain name to a holding site and will transfer it to my final choice in 60 days and begin again.

I am NOT letting it die, there is just a wait for the time being. I should be able to write a whole bunch of content before I launch it again. Like I said, I SHOULD be able to ... and hopefully I will get off my butt and DO IT!!!

I wish there was some way to notify my visitors that I haven't dropped off the earth, but when you didn't own the site, it is still listed in a search, but you don't get the site when it's clicked on. I really wish I could have just changed the first page to read "site under construction", but I can't ... bummer!! If anyone knows how I could do something like that, PLEASE let me know.


The Chickens:

Well, I have three more chickens. These girls are young, not little chicks, but young pre-laying hens. These three girls were raised in a household where they came in the house, sat on laps and watched TV. Ummm, NOT HERE!!

They have made it up the back stairs, but I can hear the clucking and come shoo them back down the steps. None of them have made it inside, but I can't say that for Cinnamon! I don't know how many times I have been out front and here comes that DARN chicken, walked through the house to where she could hear my voice. Thankfully I haven't had any poo to clean up yet, but I know the day is coming ... Uggh!

Update: This evening I had one of the new girls come in. I caught her just inside the door where she left me a present! Thank goodness it was on the back porch linoleum. I think I invited this since I mentioned it in the paragraph above ... LOL


These are the three new girls, aren't they lovely?


And just to be fair here is Cinnamon the "bitchy chicken" that wanders in the house!



She is the only one that laid eggs, but I got one a day, which is enough for me since I'm by myself. I'm waiting for her to stop due to age, and I think Frazzle is past laying, but she is sooo cute!



When I got her she had tons of feathers missing from being picked and pecked on, but she has come a long way. She still looks frazzled because of her Araucana cheek feathers, but that is natural for this breed.


Here are the Three Chickenteers, they are never far from each other. Hopefully that will change as they get use to the yard and the other two. See the dark chicken in the above picture ... if you look real close you can see the second one reaching up to taste the cedar branch. Didn't like it.

I can't keep calling them Chickenteers, but I don't have any names for them yet. I really don't want anything like Tom, Dick and Harry or Larry, Moe or Curly Joe - they are girls and need fine names. I'll come up with something pretty - maybe I'll think of names while we are at deer camp the first week of October.


Here is my big tom cat Joey. He leaves all the girls alone even if he does catch other birds, but he will go into the pen and drink out of their water dish. He was about two feet from Frazzle when I took this picture - neither of them minded.

And my little, itty, bitty tomato garden is coming right along. The plants are still setting a few flowers - the days are nice, but the nights are getting down into the low 40's at night so I don't know how long this will last. The fruits on the plants are still green and it worries me that I might loose them. The hanging plants in the milk jugs, that I showed you in a previous post, just didn't work out. The water sat too close to the stem and they rotted and fell out. Won't do that again!


If you look real close, right in the center, there is a shaded tomato hiding in there! I didn't get very many tomatoes, but I know what I did wrong - planted them too close and not enough water! Now I know!!

Phew, this post ended up covering a lot of ground! I need to pace myself and write less per post but post more often.

Hugs

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Last camping trip of the year, except hunting season

We pulled out of my driveway towing the boat, on Thursday morning around 10. Got to the campground at 10:30, got our favorite sites, and set up. It was just Candy and I and SueAnn, my dog. Dale, K and Chaps, their dog came up later after Dale was off work. The first thing after getting the 5th wheel level was to launch the boat.




Park the boat trailer and get the boat ready to go. It needed to be moved to the other side of the dock. In the process of trying to move it, the gear mechanism broke. Bummer. The boat was not able to be used except as a comfortable seat to fish from while tied to the dock.




Our camp is comfortable. The picnic table is under the canopy to the left, lawn chairs close to the fire pit, wood, and SueAnn staking her spot by the fire. The hammock has been hung and relaxation is under way.




Father and daughter trying to share the hammock for an afternoon nap. K couldn't stand it for long, she told Dad that his hands smelled of fish and that the rest of him wasn't too fresh either (this was the 2nd day without a shower); she bailed and Dad slept. We always know when he's asleep - he snores!!! LOL




And lots and lots of fishing got done. In four days there were probably 45-50 fish caught. Croppie in the mornings, perch during the day, and lots and lots of catfish in the evening starting around 7 and going until 10. There must have been about 25 lbs. of fish! The fish in this picture is a channel cat! The channel of the Klamath River is about 40 feet deep - this one must have come up a ways to get caught!




On the last morning, it was fishing in the fog! When I first looked out my window I could not see across the lake; by the time I got some shoes on and out the door it was burning off fast. Most of the catfish were caught the night before, but there were four croppie caught that morning. Dale cleaned 12 fish!




It was predicted to have 20% showers on both Saturday and Sunday, but none came. The sky was filled with dark clouds late in the afternoon and by sundown I thought there was no chance of getting a good picture. But I did capture this, with just a bright spot on the clouds lighting up. It was beautiful!



I think the most amazing part of this trip - a holiday weekend - was that the campground was only half full. And there are only 13 sites for the public! Nice, quiet, peaceful, restful and all other nice descriptive words you can think of.

It was, as it always is, a bit sad to leave. But we will be back there for hunting season. The BLM is keeping it open for hunters, which is nice.

Hugs to everyone and I hope your weekend was just as nice and relaxing.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

What I have been doing ...

Nothing ... really, not much, but then again why do I always feel I'm busy? I read my favorite blogs and comment once in a while. Clean the chicken pen and gather my one egg a day. Water my 9 sq. ft. garden, and wait for the tomatoes to ripen! There are now 10!! Woohoo! Next year I will expand, I need more to eat than tomatoes.

Last Sunday, the 30th, Dale and Candy came down and we split wood, and split wood, and split wood! Somewhere between 2 1/2 to 3 cords. Filled the wood shed completely.



The shed is about 6' x 6' x 6' and we filled it - not one more piece would fit! And this is the trusty little machine that made it all possible. Along with Maggie the cat.



We are leaving again for a camping trip in two days. The last shebang of the summer. We don't usually go camping on holiday weekends, but we will try this again. We went on the 4th of July and it was wonderful, so we are taking a chance that it will be so again. I finally got my Senior Pass, so I get 50% off the camping fees - Woohoo! There is still hunting season to camp, but that is sort of a working trip as we need to fill the freezers with meat for the coming year. Still a lot of fun even if the weather is cold - please no snow this year!!!

Yesterday was a funny sort of day. I just lollygagged around cleaning the carport of bark from the splitting, watered the yards (3), and futzed around the house. I woke up at 3:45 this morning in a panic. We are leaving in two days and I'm futzing?? What is wrong with me?? I love camping, so why am I not getting stuff done?? I have no answers. But ... this morning it was move the truck and plug in the camper, do a couple of loads of laundry, take stock of what I need to get at the market for the trip, load some clothes and wipe out the dust from the last trip! All this before 8 a.m. I still need to go to town to shop, but that should be simple, as the camper is usually stocked with staples until after hunting camp when I empty it completely. I just need to get the goodies, and the beer! I've also planned out what yarn I will bring to make more dishcloths. I love knit dishcloths!

I've already set up the mister for the garden even though it is suppose to cool down for the weekend. Four days is just too long without water.

I got my electric bill today. I am on level pay and it will go down by $9 starting next month! Love it!!!

I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday weekend - see you when I get back! This time I will remember to bring my camera and USE it.

Hugs

Friday, August 14, 2009

Hi everybody ... I'm over here ... hello ???

Hi everybody, if you are still paying attention to me - I didn't mean to stay away for so long. Slowly but steadily I have been working on the craft room, pictures soon. I got 2 bookcases moved, have dusted and wiped books, separated them to keep painting, quilting, crochet & knit, general crafts, etc. in their respective areas. Sometimes it's not easy as some of them cross over into various other categories, such as Christmas, Easter, etc. I look at the book and use the category that comes to mind first. I do my best ... LOL

I have a prolific killer living with me. He skulks around corners, rocks and bushes, both here at home and at the neighbors. He will bring home his prize. This picture shows him out back hanging on to his prey, and if you could hear it, there was a lot of growling / clucking going on over this poor little feller. The chicken, Cinnamon, really, really wanted it, but Joey was not about to turn loose. I beat him to the back door before he tried to bring it in ... Well, since this picture he did bring in, unbeknown to me, another victim! I know that has happened when I hear crunching and smacking from anywhere besides the food bowl ... and even that doesn't elicit that kind of excitement.




I trotted out into the back yard one day, and not 15 feet away was this awesome buck! 3 x 3! He was snacking on some bread I had laid out to dry for the chickens. He hopped the fence and just stood there looking at me. I took a ton of pictures, but they are way too dark to publish - I need to work on them to see how light I can get them. Here he is leaving my property on the right, at a very easy gait. Not scared, but not trusting either! If you click on the picture you can get a better view of him.




Last week I was sooo sick, I wasn't sure I was even alive! The county fair was going on and I had promised my friends to feed the rabbits and chickens for them while they were camped at the fair grounds with their goats. I did not make the morning feed last Friday, but did get up there that evening - by the skin of my teeth!!! I'm not sure what I had, but I don't ever want it again. No appetite, no thirst, slept on the couch, slept in bed. Woohoo, life of the party! I'm a whole lot more like myself, but still not 100%. The only thing good to come out of this - I stopped smoking! I've gone a week now without a cigarette! Not that there hasn't been trying moments, but I haven't broken down. I have hard candy for when it gets real bad, and I've had quite a bit, but I'm persevering.

I need to get to the post office, so I'll leave you all with this:
Why am I the only person with a fork in a world full of soup?

Hugs