Weeding is Fun!

I finally took out those hideous bushes along the back of the house. I've been itching to do this since I moved here. I dug one out by hand, but there were five and that would have taken all day...not to mention it was hard WORK! So I brought in the special forces.

I just looped the strap around the base of the bush, then hooked it to the tractor and backed up slowly. They came right out of the ground as if they were nothing more than spindly weeds.

I'm loving the tractor.

I'm going to replace the bushes with Hydrangeas. It's the perfect spot. See? Afternoon shade...just barely, haha. I just have to paint the house first. Oh boy, the fun never ends.

Treely Update

I went to see Treely at the trainer's today. I am such a proud mom. She is doing awesome. I almost didn't recognize her. When I pulled up, one of the trainers was just riding out of the barn on her. She's shed out since I saw her last and has a lot more dapples. Also, I hadn't met the trainer who was on her, so I kind of had that thought in the back of my head: What if that's totally not my horse and I walk up going, "TREEELY!!" She looked so mature and was moving into the bit and looking hAwT (OMFG, I like totally turn into a teenie bopper talking about my mare)!

They already have her driving (pulling a cart) and have now moved on to riding her. She's doing SIDE PASSES(!!) beautifully and is really softening up. The biggest thing they say she needs to work on is her confidence. She's been a bit of a weenie when it comes to new stuff like the mud pit and water and big scary farm equipment. She's having to learn that it's not okay to just move away from everything that looks scary. I didn't get many pictures of her being ridden because they were in the indoor and it was just too dark. I didn't want to be the ignorant owner flashing away on my camera and spooking the horses, haha. I really wish I had some pics of her side passing though. I just LOVE my mare!!

I only got a couple pictures of her driving before the trainer said, "Hop on." I've never been on a training cart before, but I have watched a lot of wrecks on youtube, haha. It was a first for me and, umm...a little scary. BUT I got to stare at my gorgeous girl's big beautiful butt, and that always makes me happy. I was holding on to the "oh shit" handles too tight to take any pictures. Trust me, though, the view was wonderful. The trainer drove her down through the hay fields which had just been cut. There were big hills to go up and down and sharp curves to fly around - at least I felt like we were flying. Treely was so awesome. It kind of makes me want to do combined driving. Who knows, maybe it will be my new thing...if I can ever afford a cart and harness.

They have to piece together her harness with whatever is big enough for her...which is why none of it matches. Here she is with the first piece waiting for the rest of it. Her head looks especially big in this picture, but look how dark she is! I appreciate it now because in a few months she's going to look like a red roan.

Ground driving.

The obligatory butt pic. I must say that harness really enhances her assets.

Almost ready to hook to the cart.

She's coming to a screeching halt in this picture. It's funny because you can see the mechanics of that butt in action. If I could draw, I would make a cartoon where Treely is a superhero who uses her super butt powers to hold up falling buildings and stop trains etc. I don't know if that's funny to anyone but me.

Happy Mother's Day

My mom collects big gaudy tea cups, so when I saw this planter I had to get it. She also loves bright colors. I put together some flowers to match, so hopefully she'll like it.

I especially love how the blue in the daisies matches the blue polka dots on the cup. It even has little orange specks in it.

May Flowers

I have some assorted flower pictures from the few moments this week when there was light coming from behind the thick paste of clouds.

The first of the year's peonies trying to bloom. I just love the delicate blushing petals and they smell wonderful when they're all in bloom.

Watching the sun set.

I bought this perennial at Lowe's. I can't remember what it's called, but I think it is so unusual and interesting.

Some wildflowers I brought back from a walk...and what's that? Could it be? Sunshine!

This week has been nothing but rain and clouds. I was actually kind of relieved because I put in some creeping phlox and some other flowers, plus a whole lot of wildflower seeds. The daily showers got me out of watering duty and hopefully the plants will be established from all the good watering, so I won't have to drag the hose around.

April Showers Bring May Flies and other things, as well you know

Well those giant mosquito looking things otherwise known as May Flies are everywhere which means only one thing: Fowl Feast! The chickens and goslings (and cats) have been chasing the little buggers down all over the yard. I never knew what they were until last year when I was hand raising baby chimney swifts that got dumped at the clinic. With all the May flies swarming about, all I had to do was go out with a mason jar and harvest bugs a couple times a day. They are easy to catch (and harmless, thank god) and it's kind of addicting once you start hunting and catching them. I can completely relate to the obsession that has overtaken the fowl on the farm. The goslings weren't even interested in following me to the pond. They kept getting distracted because they just had to chase down a fly.

Today was not a good day for pictures, but look at the fly about to get crunched! RIP little fly.

The cats were very active today. I guess they only disappear during hot days. Today they ventured into the front yard.

One Cat.

Two Cat.

"How the hell did they do that?"

I think I've become a cat person

In addition to this cuteness, the brown eyed kitty likes to jump in my lap and knead me and suckle my shirt like he's nursing. He makes cute little suckling noises and everything.

This morning when I went out to feed the cats, I saw a big orange blur of a cat dart out from the shed and dive under the fence and disappear into the woods before I could even say, "Kitty?" I couldn't figure out what could have frightened him so much...but then, as I stared at his brother, I felt something rub against my leg. Both my kitties were present after all! I guess they had a mysterious visitor who joined them for their nightly debauchery. It's so odd, how the whole time I've lived here I've never seen a stray cat and then once I get cats, one shows up all of a sudden. How do they know? Maybe the big orange cat has been making nightly visits all along. I'm going to be thinking of him every time I hear the coyotes howling.

Hummer Time!

Today was wonderful! I rolled out of bed at about 9am, woken with sweet Yombi kisses. I made my coffee and sat on the back patio in the warm sunshine while the cats stretched out at my feet and my little goslings chirped to me. The bumble bees were buzzing around my head. One in particular was very loud and when I turned to see it, I saw not a bumble bee, but a humming bird! The small male must have come to tell me that he's back from Mexico and hungry. I immediately (well, okay, I finished my coffee first) went in and put on a pot of sugar water. By this evening there were already 3 or 4 at the feeders. Last year, at their peak, there were at least 30-40 hummers swarming my feeders at a time. I was going through 8 cups of sugar water a day.

After that I took the goslings down to the pond for their swimming lesson (like I need to teach them anything). As soon as we come down the hill and they see the water, they start running and jump right in. It's so cute. Yombi likes swimming lessons, too. Maddie prefers to life guard from the banks.

Mother Goose

Ben and Jerry

So, I've neglected to write about my two new kitties for a week now; but only because I didn't have any good pictures of them because it was always raining. The vet clinic I work for pawned off two cats on me that they've had up for adoption for a couple months. The brothers were stray kittens near my friends' apartment and she managed to coax them close enough to grab. The vet clinic neutered them and gave them shots and then they sat in a cat cage in the lobby for two months. Eventually they said, "You need barn cats, don't you?" I said, "Do I?" I'm really not much of a cat person, but I decided to take them home and just see.

Well, after being locked up in a cage, these kitties are soooo affectionate. They love any attention even if it's attention from dogs, goats, goslings...haha. I think they are going to fit in just fine. I had them closed up in the shed for the first few days, but now they pretty much have free run of the shed/back yard area. They sleep in the shed most of the day, but last night they were bouncing all over the back yard catching anything that moved. This morning I went out with my coffee and camera and got some pictures at last.

Gos-zilla

Rainbow

It was a double rainbow, but by the time I got my camera it was almost gone.

Puddle Jumping

You know how when you were a kid, toys that could go in the water always outranked the ones that didn't? I was reminded of that today...

Testing the waters

The bottom one dove through the water and the one above it tried to do the same but it was too shallow, so he just ended up launching himself through the air.

it looks like he has little t rex arms.

Finally a puddle deep enough to swim in.

Sebastopol Goslings

I drove a total of 9 hours yesterday to pick up the two gray Sebastopol goslings I've had reserved since November. I really didn't feel like going and I couldn't even remember why I wanted them so much in Nov when I sent in my deposit, but I was going to E-town to sell some chickens, so I figured since I was heading west, I might as well go on to TN...And I'm so glad I did!

These little babies are sooo sweet. They are not at all like chicks, who run screaming every time they see me. The goslings follow me around and jump in my lap and snuggle up for a nap. I LOVE them! I was hoping the weather would be nice again today so I could take them outside to swim, but it's raining. I only got a few pictures last night because it was getting dark, but here they are.

Preening my "feathers" for me.

Weird

Feedjit tells me that someone from LA got to my site by googling, "Horizons milk puppy mill". I'm thinking wtf why would someone search for that. Well it turns out several of the organic dairy farmers for Horizons milk (milk company who boasts about the humane treatment of their cows) are also running puppy mills. Horizons suspended at least one farmer until he stopped breeding puppies (he had several hundred dogs on site), so I'm not saying boycott Horizons, but it's just funny that two things that I mentioned on my blog that don't seem like they could ever possibly have anything to do with eachother led someone here because it's the exact thing they were searching for. haha. It's a vast and small world.

I think you can pretty much google anything and still get results.

Banana chimney
peanut chair
cradle sausage apparently one of Newton's theories

Creamy, Delicious and Nutritious

Finally! After two weeks (seems like months) of hand cramping - I mean milking - I finally got to taste fresh goats milk (I hadto wait due to due to antibiotic withdrawal). It is very creamy and sweet. Not at all "goaty". YUM! I'm getting a reliable 2 1/2 cups per milking (twice a day) from Bella...which isn't bad for a first freshened pygmy goat. I'm definitely going to have to start looking at cheese recipes. And yogurt. And Kefir. And ICE CREAM!

Also, I have this amazingly fragrant flowering bush right under my bedroom window. I fell in love with it last year, but could never figure out what it was. After doing several google searches, I finally found success by searching: "Pink flower clusters shrub". It is Viburnum carlesii "Aurora". I can smell these things from the back yard. I cut a few to have in the house and as soon as I walk in the room, the sweet smell hits me. It almost smells like bubble gum, it's so sweet. I wish they would bloom all summer. The bush itself isn't that attractive, but it's well worth it for the week or so that the blooms are around.

If only pictures came with scent...I would love to share it as well.