A Dolly Doodle Demonstration

Dolly Doodle here,or as I like to be called these days Lumber Jack Dolly, to demonstrate the goatie way of  getting rid of a tree!

I  am the best in the goat yard at this job. You can see because I am the tallest goat and can stretch waaayy up  to get the high bark . Now, you all may think I am just a snacking goatie but it is more than that! You see,this is the tree the lightening struck and I have decided it needs to be removed and what better way to remove it than by eating it!

I am very diligent in my work! I spend a lot of my day eating,..umm..working on this tree!

If you only knew how yummy my job was!

I munch all the way around,I never just work in one spot!

I really would...mmm...like to tell you all...more about my work...but I am really busy right now..

These are tough times,at least that is what the Maa says when she is looking at the feed bill,and every person and goatie has to pitch in and do their part! I do not mind at all being a career goatie as long as I can keep up my lumber jacking!

Now I have to get back to munching..errr..work!

Mamma Whirley Comb

This is Whirley Comb and her chicks. She is the last of our original black and gold bannie girls. I do love these little chickens! I don't even know if she still lays any eggs but she loves to hatch babies! She will still go broody 3 times a year and hatch out a little family!

Whirley Comb is teaching her chicks how to find yummy chicky things to eat in the compost pile! She is giving me the "chicken eye"!

She hatched out 6 jumbo eggs! She never looses a chick either!

Our Orpingtons will go broody occasionally and if they do manage to hatch  a chick or two they never manage to raise them,they disappear.

I rarely even bother to try eggs under my big hens any more. These little bannie mommas out do them by a chicken mile!

Whirley Comb says she has had enough of this paparazzi treatment! Can't a little black hen have her breakfast in peace! She takes her chicks and says,"Talk to the tail feathers lady!"

I know you all are probably needing a goatie fix! So...  here is  Butterbean ! He maaas everyone  a big goatie hello!

Out and About

First off I would like to say...We got some rain!!! I had almost forgotten what it was like! It was a good rain and 2 days in a row.

Folks around us got way more than us and that is good because that means there may be hay this fall to cut and we will all be needing hay! For some reason we have a weird lake effect here. Storms come right up to the lake and dissipate,then form right back up past us and keep going. It is enough to bring tears to drought dried eyes I tell ya!

I was thinking this morning,this blog has a wide variety of post. Farm animals,gardening and canning,homeschooling,sewing,spinning...crazy rants,lol! I really could divide it into more than one blog...but then I have trouble keeping up with just this one so I won't start another one just to neglect it too!
With it being so hot me and The Boy get to feeling a little, OK a lot, cooped up and house bound, both of us being cold weather kind of people! We tend to hide out in the summer in a darkened house, AC going full blast. So, I decided we needed a road trip! There is this store in Navasota, 1 1/2 hrs from here, that is a fiber store and I have been wanting to go see it. The store is called WC Mercantile. Now you know The Boy is desperate when he jumps at the opportunity to go to a fiber store! It is a nice easy drive, no traffic really.We have to go through Huntsville, but as long as you are not in going to work traffic it is an easy town to drive through. I will tell you all, I would rather drive 5 hours on Texas highways or any highways for that matter, than 1 hour down in Houston! Uggg! I think there may be a fiber store down in Houston but there is no way I am driving down there to go have a look! Anyways,The Mercantile had a lot of fiber I have not had the opportunity to spin and they have no problem letting you feel all the fiber,which I did!  The big problem was deciding which ones I wanted to take home! The Boy,who was sitting on a couch, rolled his eyes and said,"your going to be awhile aren't you?" Well you know the answer to that was yes! Navasota is a lovely old Texas town.The downtown is made up of beautiful historic buildings and lots of antique shops. I think I will go back the next time my MIL is down, she is my junkin' buddy and we can spend the day there hitting the shops!

I ended up with 8oz of artisan dyed superfine merino in this lovely gold,it reminds me of Autumn leaves!

I also got 8oz of Fawn colored fine alpaca,which will be a first for me to spin. It is oh so soft!

Then I got 8oz of this merino and tussah silk blend. I ,like most spinners I think, love merino. I have seen a lot of this tussah silk on etsy and around but have never spun it myself so this will also be a first!

The girl that rang me up said she loved spinning this one,85% Blue Faced Leicester and 15% tussah silk. This, again, will be another first for me!

Then just for the heck of it a bag of sparklies to make some yarn extra special!

 So this will keep me busy for a couple of months in the spinning department, like I need more projects! I have so many things going on! My friend Texan and I cause each other to have a lot of UFO's. That is crafter talk for unfinished objects! We inspire each other to constantly start new stuff! It is fun though, to have a buddy to do things with! We have been planning a new quilt project ,even though neither of us have finished our last project we started! This one is the cathedral windows quilt! I always have half a dozen thing going at once. I think it is a type of crafter's ADHD! I do eventually get them done. Something usually has to give though and that something is house work. I mean really,does it really matter that much if there are life sized balls of dog hair wafting around in the corners! If I keep the lights  low any visitors will just assume it is another dog right? Another thing me and Texan have decided to do is make some of our own clothes! She has already got started on some super cute tops! It must be a 40's thing....I do not like a lot of the new styles and I am so never going to be ready for the "old lady" look! So I will just start making my own funky and to my own taste clothes!
Coming home through Huntsville,they have a quilt shop there in the downtown area  that carries some of that wonderful vintage fabric from the 30's and 40's. I am soooo in love with that stuff and every time I go through there I have to stop and get a cut of one of them. I got this one this time.

I think this will make some great throw pillows! Well..one of these days...when I get done with plying the yarn I have on my wheel...and finishing that dust ruffle..and working on that quilt...and cutting out that top..and.....

For those of you who may not know,this is Clyde. Clyde Hyde is his whole name,because most all our animals have 2 names!

 Clyde likes to carry things off. He is always carrying off the rubber feed pans and just about anything he can get those big ole rubbery donkey lips around!  We have to be careful what we  leave lying around because it will disappear before we can blink twice! It is a  sight to see this funny looking little white donkey running across the pasture with a big black rubber feed pan in his mouth! Of course,you all know he is not going to do it when I have a camera with me! So I decide I would try and distract him with one of those Jolly Balls they make for horses to play with.

As you can see,Clyde is unimpressed!

He nibbled at it a little but would not take it from The Boy..

Bon-Bon Bonnie and Sweetie came over to check it out too. Bonnie decided she would take it if Clyde didn't want it!

I have caught Clyde in the act of running off with stuff,but now I am thinking that he may have had an accomplice!

Bonnie sure seemed to know what she was doing with this ball!

 Well, I am glad some donkey decided it was fun! Clyde says for now he will stick to getting scratchins from The Boy!

Canning and More Ducks

 No, not canning ducks  just more ducks! But I would can ducks if we liked to eat ducks but we don't,so no canned ducks today! Just because the garden is mostly done does not mean there is no canning going on in my kitchen! When ever I find good deals on fruits and veggies I buy them up in bulk and can them.Yesterday they had a whole bunch of mushrooms marked down for quick sale. Now, you do have to inspect marked down mushrooms because sometimes they are...fuzzy! These looked really good so I bought them all,8 packages. Mushrooms are easy to can,but they shrink a lot so if you can only get one or two packs you may not feel it is worth getting out the canner for. They must be pressure canned but you have to do very little to them.Wash them, sliced them if you want and boil for 5 minutes pack in jars and process 45 minutes.

I always wash my mushrooms.Oh,I know those fancy chefs say just brush them off and never wash them.Well... I will tell you,as a gardener who has used that wonderful garden gold, mushroom compost, I am washing my mushrooms!  I know what those little pieces of "dirt" really are! If you have never used mushroom compost let me tell you,it stinks so bad you can barely breath when it is fresh! Literally it smells as bad as an outhouse in the Texas summer time! And yes,I do know what and outhouse in the Texas summertime smells like! Some of you may be thinking port-a-potty. Nope, a port-a potty is like a golden throne compared to a real out house! When I was a girl my great grandparents still used an outhouse. I just know you all want to know what that was like,so I will tell you. First off all the grown ups tell you to watch for snakes and get a big stick to run around the hole in case of spiders! While you are holding you breath and watching for snakes poking the hole for spiders and  still trying to hold your breath and sweating like crazy, Texas summer time remember, looking for these deadly creatures all the while trying not to glimpse down the hole that is withering and alive with, I don't know,a gazillion maggots and praying that if a snake or spider does get you you do not fall down the hole....ahhh child hood memories! Thank you tho who ever invented the indoor toilet!  Gosh, see how easily I get sidetracked!  Back to mushrooms! When ever I can mushrooms I also can the broth that was leftover after their 5 minute boil. It just smells too good to waste!  It is very good when you are cooking meat in the crock pot,or to put in a soup or when you are making gravy.

I always try to save things I need to do that day in the kitchen for when I have to be in there watching the canner.

While my mushrooms were going I cut up some bananas and dipped them in coconut and put them in the dehydrator.

A terrific idea I got from my buddy TEXAN! I then cut up 2 fresh pineapples that will go in to the dehydrator after the bananas. Then I shredded 2 heads of cabbage and salted and seasoned it for Kraut. If you have never tried making your own kraut you should! It is sooo good and good for you because of the  fermentation that has all those lovely good for you bacteria in it! Plus you can season it how you like. Put in some hot peppers...onions...what ever spice you like! I have tried several flavors but my favorite is with dill and celery seed.  I love it in the hot summer time,cold and crisp and salty,yumm!

Now here is where the duck part comes in! Crazy Daisy Jr. hatched out yet another batch of babies! Crazy Daisy Jr. has got to be the most baby hatching  duck we have ever had!

 

 Anyone want some ducks?!?!

No Green but a Little Gray

I have seen so many of you out there posting wonderful garden photos. Believe me,I wish I was posting them right along with you! You see, I have the heart of a gardener. I love to grow things,any things! Food for my family, flowers even cactus! I have nothing to post about gardening or anything green. First of all the drought has ended any hope of flowers this year.Oh,I keep the struggling plants alive by watering them but there are no masses of flowers.This time of year,even on a good year,there is not much that can take the heat here in South Texas in the ole veggie patch. Okra and purple hull peas make it but that is about it. Soon I will be starting some tomato seedlings for the Fall garden. Some of you may be thinking ,wow two gardens a year! It is not so "wow". First off to get a spring crop of tomatoes we start seedlings in December to have big enough plants at last frost to put out so that they will set fruit before it is too hot. Also, there is no succession planting. It just gets hot too quick. There is no harvesting green beans all Summer, I am grateful for the one picking  I get. Same in the Fall. I have to get stuff planted as soon as it cools a little and hope it was soon enough for it to make before frost. It is challenging to say the least! So instead of green I will give you gray...in the form of  Oscar Peterson!

This is his come hither look! Come hither and pet me ,which happens to be the only look he has! That is about all Oscar does,he has a very laid back personality!

In fact, he doesn't even break into a run at feeding time! He will follow us around, slowly mind you, and beg to be petted. Or if we are doing something he will plop down in the middle of it so we have to pet him! He loves a basket of wet laundry!

Mr.Peterson is a very small cat,the size of a big kitten. His momma was small and he was the runt of the litter! Oscar says, "Put that thing down and pet me!"

Yes,little Oscar really has only one passion in life! He wants to be petted 24-7! His second love would be napping. He only wakes up if he thinks there might be an opportunity to get some petting!

Mouse chasing..ummm no! No interest in mousing at all,darn cat! I kill more mice than he does! Once, I knocked out a mouse that was in the chicken coop and threw it too him he sat there and watched it come to and run off!

Oh well,I guess I can't hold his lack of mousing skills against him. After all, he makes up for it with sweetness!

Happy 4th of July!!!

A Name and More Cuteness

Thank all of you who made name suggestions, there were a lot of great ones in there! There seemed to be a theme of flower names and white names. Then there was Pez,suggested by Lin and if this kid had been a boy it assuredly would now and forever more be know as Pez! One of the few flowers The Boy has ever told me he likes is the white Shasta Daisy. So, in continuing with the flower and white themes she is now Daisy!

It has been so blazingly hot here she has been suffering from a little heat stress so little Daisy has been spending the heat of the day inside with us. She seemed to be able to tolerate it a little better yesterday and spent less time inside,I am hoping each day is a little better and she will be out all day soon. She was plenty frisky this morning! She had discovered  the stump!

It is the goatie motto,all stumps must be conquered! Daisy gave it the little goat try!

Not quiet to the top,one more try!

Those little legs will have to grow a bit more! Little Daisy already knows there are other ways to conquer a stump.....eat it!

Or wait for The Boy to come and sit on it for some snuggle time!

Momma Sweet Pea says she is not fond of The Boy getting his smell all over her clean baby! Sweet pea is one of those over protective mothers! I am surprised Daisy is not bald from all the licking!

Goats all have different personalities. Some like Sweet Pea are over protective and some, like our Doodah, will just as readily fling  her babies across the yard if they are in her way!

 Daisy did not get her momma's wattles but she got everything else from her, she is very pretty just like her momma!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend!