Sleigh Cluck and Video

Sleigh Cluck (click on sleigh cluck)
The Chickens are out for a little winter ride in the snow and carol clucking! (And in their Dickens-like outfits no less -- you know what that makes them, don't you? Dickens Chickens!)

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I didn't write this about Christmas Cookies but it's certainly my way of thinking.

Christmas Cookie Rules...

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.
2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.
3. If a friend comes over while you're making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calories free, (rule #1) yours is also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.
4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.
5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.
6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five - one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!
7. Cookies eaten while watching "It's a Wonderful Life" have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.
8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.
9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!
10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes don't have calories.

Eton FR500 Radio

I bought this radio today from Radio Shack. Thank goodness we didn't lose electricity this weekend after the large snowfall but many households did. I don't want to be without; receiving the local AM radio station. The forecast for Christmas Eve is ice.

When you are off the grid, you need a device that can fill multiple needs. The American Red Cross FR500 functions as an AM, FM, and shortwave radio with NOAA weatherband. It also has a flashlight, an emergency beacon, and an emergency siren. Plus, you can use it to charge your cell phone. Can be powered with the hand crank, or solely by the sun—solar panels make this a very “green” device. Battery power and AC power are also options.

AM (520-1700 KHz), FM (88-108 MHz), Shortwave (6000-12100 KHz)
NOAA weather – all 7 channels plus Alert
Siren and Flashlight
Can be powered from four different sources:
From the built-in rechargeable Ni-MH battery that takes charge from the dynamo crank and from an AC adapter (not included)
From 3 AA batteries (not included)
From the AC adapter alone (not included)
From solar power
Analog frequency dial with digital display
Built-in cell phone charger
Digital clock function

snow pics and video

Here in the Northwestern North Carolina Appalachians, we got hit with a large snowball.


Brawn and Bliss


Brawn

The Wheaton Marans had to move to the barn.

old barn roof, please hold

snow on the way

http://www.booneweather.com/Forecast/Boone
Double-digit snowfall is what we're looking at for Friday to early Saturday. And that's just Event One--we have four distinct snow events possible between now and Christmas Day. It now appears that this low will track in a classic Gulf Low to Nor'easter pattern giving us a "Good Ole Fashioned Snow" beginning Friday morning and lasting into Saturday. Snow totals of 10"-20" will be common across the region by Saturday afternoon. Even colder air will arrive Sunday with a northwest flow snow shower episode Saturday night into Sunday. Another disturbance in the cold northwest flow will arrive Monday (another round of snow showers). Event Number Four will arrive Christmas Eve Day.

this is a darling Clydesdale video

wreath, self-sufficient living book, nacho dip

This is our wreath, and white lights line the deck railing underneath it. We'll have these up until Easter or so, I like seeing the white lights sparkling against the snow.

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Put this on your wish list. Although I'm not a full-time homesteader, I always like reading about homesteading. The Belanger's are always good anyway.


How to be green, save green, grow greens-even turn a thumb green.

Self-sufficient living can mean a healthier life, a way to protect the earth, or a way to save money. This guide helps readers find their perfect degree of self reliance in the areas of food, shelter, energy, clothing, and more. For both the urban and rural dweller, it covers gardening, cooking from scratch, preserving food, raising livestock, keeping chickens, generating or supplementing energy, essential tools and equipment, foraging for wild foods, hunting, fishing, and trapping.

•Saving money in today's economy and self-sufficiency go hand-in-hand

•For the growing number of eco-friends considering self-sufficiency

•Existing books focus on either rural or urban self-sufficiency, but this covers both
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For our Friday potluck, one of the gals brought this in a crockpot, was very tasty, although Mike and I like spicy food so when I make it, I'll kick it up a couple of notches.

Meaty Nacho Dip

1 lb.(16 oz.) Velveeta pasteurized prepared cheese product
1 roll Jimmy Dean hot or original sausage
1 can Rotel Mexican tomatoes (for less spicy flavor, use original)

Brown meat until fully cooked. Should be very little grease. Meanwhile cut Velveeta into small cubes. When meat is fully cooked slowly add cubes of Velveeta, while stirring frequently. Turn burner to medium/high. When Velveeta is melted turn burner to medium/low. Add Rotel Tomato mix. Mix well.

Best when dip is hot or kept warm.

Goat's and Guinea's

Our dear Appalachian State Football team lost tonight to Montana, was very snowy and cold there, but oh well, our Mountaineers had a great year.
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Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats
TootleLu


Pearl Guinea's


Frozen Water Buckets


Girls - Cali, June, Clara

Deets

Deets will be going to live at SonnyAcreFarm, his pedigree is already listed there. SonnyAcreFarm is excited about showing Deets in the ring and we'll certainly have our fingers crossed that he does well.

deep freeze, GOG's, potluck, goats, ASU

We've been hunkered down, no snow but in a deep freeze with strong winds.
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Met the GOG's (Good Ole Gals) on Thursday for our Christmas lunch, we hit the buffet at the Broyhill Inn's Jackson Dining Room. The GOG's are a group of gals who met through our local Humane Society and somehow we started meeting for lunch monthly, we go to a different restaurant each month. Funny when I think back on the topics of Thursday's conversation, everything from Tiger Woods, urologists, divorce, suicide, doggie coats, and crazy cats. Oh, if we just ruled the world.
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Speaking of eating, we had a potluck at work today. I got up early this morning and made mac & 7-cheeses (photo - circled in red), it's pretty good especially when it first comes out of the oven. I also sprinkle a few green peas inside and top it with herbed bread crumbs.
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I had to take Wednesday afternoon off to take Cali to the Farm Vet (an hour one way), she's got a bad eye. Doc Beckworth came out with his magnifying glasses and examined her in the back of the pickup truck, diagosed as some kind of infection, and we're applying oinment 3 X's daily.
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Looks like our Deets is moving to SonnyAcreFarm, we're trading him for MoonFire to get new bloodlines. We could have used Deets on some line breeding, but since we are fairly inexperienced in goat breeding, we decided maybe it would be better to trade. MoonFire carries a lot of red genes too and we love red goats. I sure hope our other 2 bucks, MilkDud and Cahoot, give MoonFire a positive welcome. The wethers, Sundance and Cubby, get along with anybody.
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http://fiascofarm.com/goats/breeding.htm
The old saying goes: "If it works it's called Line-breeding and if it doesn't, it's called Inbreeding." This saying puts a very complicated subject very simply, but it has some truth in it. "There is no better way to improve your herd than with Line-breeding, BUT there is also no better way to ruin a herd." Line breeding (breeding closely related animals) can quickly improve a herd because the good qualities of the animals get accentuated. BUT the bad qualities are also accentuated. Because of this, you have to think about what you are doing, look at the animals and use your head. You can't just simply go by some arbitrary "rule" like "it's OK be breed grandfather to granddaughter", but look at the individual goats and decide if their particular good traits out weigh the bad traits.
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Deets

MoonFire

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The highlight of the weekend will be our Appalachian State at Montana in the FCS/1AA Quarterfinals. The Appalachian State Mountaineers are making their fourth semifinal appearance in five years while the Montana Grizzly Bears are in the final four for the third time in five seasons. ASU is 15-0 all-time when playing on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. On the video below, both of these guys think Montana will win. :-(