Saturday, February 7, 2009

Baker Seeds & Goat Bamboo

Oh, the Baker Seed Catalog is beautiful, the photo's and illustrations like none I've ever seen.


We cut some bamboo stalks for the 5 goats today, they dig into the leaves like I do to brownies.
When SweetPea is out among the bucks, I keep a watchful eye on her because I don't want the boys to get any bright ideas with her.

I threw a bunch of poop into the compost piles today.

The bucks resting in their pen.

No Diane, that's not an udder back there.

AppalachianStateUniversity by Marie


I love the photography by Marie at BlueRidgeBlog. In Boone, NC, this the Appalachian State University campus which Marie is employed as a photographer. I'm the Secretary/Photographer/Webmistress at AppalCART, the public transportation system for ASU and Watauga County. I just look at Marie's photography and sigh, "I'm not worthy." :-)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Heidi and a goat


Johanna Spyri's classic story of five-year old Heidi, an orphan sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Sweet-natured Heidi soon wins her grandfather's heart and makes friends with the lively young goat herder, Peter. Her newfound happiness ends quickly, however, when Heidi's aunt, Dete, takes her off to the city of Frankfurt to be a companion to Clara, a handicapped child. Finally Heidi is restored to her Alpine home and is exuberantly happy when she learns that Clara will come and visit her in the Alps.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Boone Winter by Bob Timberlake

about Bob Timberlake
An arctic front moved through last night. Behind this front, we have bitterly cold temperatures, gusty winds, snow showers and flurries.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Snow & Ultreo Ultrasound Toothbrush

The weatherman's prediction - significant snow comes Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday in the form of snow showers and snow squalls with gusty winds--near-blizzard conditions.

I went to the dentist this morning. When is the last time you went to the dentist? Did you know that more than a quarter of all kids and a third of all adults are walking around with untreated cavities? The percent of people with untreated tooth decay is the highest it's been in decades. Through work, we have a free, excellent dental plan, and most of our employees still don't go.

I'm the one who oversees all our health insurance (all free to employees) so I'm the one who is always pushing for the employees to take advantage of the Cigna medical and dental plans.

I've not tried this ultrasonic toothbrush but I may. The customer reviews are good.

Ultreo Features
Sonic Bristles With Power TipSonic action bristles with power tip creates microbubbles and cleans away plaque upon contact. Patented Ultrasound WaveguideChannels ultrasound energy into the bubbles. Auto Shut-Off TimerAutomatically shuts off after the dental professional-recommended 2 minutes of brushing time. Brushing Interval SignalSignals every 30 seconds to help you clean all areas of your mouth equally. Programmable Brush Head Replacement Indicator When it’s time to change your brush head, the word "REPLACE" will illuminate. Programmable for 1 or 2 users per handle. Battery Charge Status IndicatorTells you the level of charge on the battery. With a full charge, you can use Ultreo for up to 28 brushings without additional charging.

Monday, February 2, 2009

2 awards for me? thx

Claire, over at Is this heaven? No, this is Iowa! gave me the Tree of Happiness Award. Thank you Claire, and I'm am to list six things that make me happy.





1). Claire, and all the folks that rescue homeless animals, make me happy. I don't know how many farm animals and misc critters she has adopted since I started following her blog, I eventually lost count. Like Claire, and all the rescuers that I have met, they lead such active lives, it's amazing they find the time to do it all and yet give quality time to the animals. Rescuing is time-consuming, labor intensive, expensive, and you see a whole lot of stuff that makes you very sad.

2) Trees make me happy. Do you know that Mike and I have never given each other any wrapped gifts? For many years, on special occasions we would go together and buy a special tree or bush, bring it home and plant it. The crabapple tree off the back deck is still the one we talk about the most often. It was Mike's birthday, and I drove the car while he rode in the trunk of the car holding on to the trunk of this large tree. We found it on sale at Kmart and brought it home, the Crabapple has always had the most gorgeous blossoms, however, every year without fail, just as soon as it blooms, it snows, and ruins the show.

3) Although there have been times that I wanted to kill him, Mike makes me happy. 99.9% of the time, he goes along with what I want to do. We've had a lot of good times together. We met at the duplicate bridge table, I was playing with my mother, and we became partners for many years after that, going to tournaments around this region. Now, I don't like running the roads anymore, and Mike plays bridge online with his regular partner, Denis, who is up in Quebec City. They play against people from all of the world. My parents have passed but they loved Mike like a son. Mike provided much care to them when their health was declining.

4) Being at home makes me happy, everything I enjoy is at home. I've never stayed in a motel or hotel that is better than home. All my dear animals are there, I love to cook, read all sorts of things, my camera , I love my laptop that takes me out on the internet, my husband is there and he loves the home life now just like I do. And yes, people, I like watching TV, certain things anyway. For the most part I don't think the TV programmers are targeting the 52yr old female who likes to be frugal and has no interest in fast food and the lastest movies. Composting and dirt are at home, love them. Mike and I both work away from home because we need the incomes and health insurance but we sure do look forward to pulling in the driveway at the end of the day.

5) I like green. environmentally and cold, hard cash man. Yes, green makes me happy.

6) Animals make me happy. I love, love animals. I grew up with my parents teaching me to respect all of God's creatures. Yes, I love snakes, spiders, rats, bats, all of the "creepy-crawlers." Whenever I'm around animals, I feel good, I feel goodness, I feel God.

So, now, I will re-award the Tree of Happiness, to 6 blogs that make me happy, and here they are: Gals, list 6 things that make you happy.

1) Jennifer at Goats in the Garden
2) Jama at ProperineGoatHill
3)
Mary at AnniesGoatHill
4)
Michelle at SugarCreekStuff
5)
Amy at TwelveAcres
6)
Diane at Loess is More
**********************************************************
Flartus, over a My 2 Cents, a fellow North Carolinian (although she's transplanted from Ohio) Butterflied me. She and me are big fans of Alix over at CasaHice. Alix is an awesome writer and storyteller who lives the high life down in Florida. I love people who make me laugh out loud and she's one of the rare ones that can do that. If ya get a chance, read back through some of Alix's writings, she's a hoot. It's like any friend of Alix's is a friend of Flart's so thank you honey.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Sunday, SuperBowl, Snood, SweetPea

Franklin is tucked in his bed. The only time I don't let he and his 4 hens sleep outside on the fence railings is when we're having extremely cold winds. They pout when we shut 'em up in the chicken coop. Franklin draws in his snood at night.


3 of the 4 Bourbon Red hens. Clara eyes lit up in the background.

All 5 of the Bourbon Reds in the same pic, a first.

All 5 goats got their hooves trimmed today.

SweetPea can't understand why Mike is not paying attention to her, she is pawing at his arm, and he is fussing at me to restrain her while he is trimming Clara's , her Grandma, hooves.

Finally she gets some snuggle time in Mikes lap. Franklin is always close by.

Clara sunning.

The bucks playing top-of-the-mountain. Nougat, on top, is the father of MilkDud.

I was trying to get Nougat to hold his head still, so I let him smell a turkey egg.

Dud and Spec out and about today.

I've got 11 Ameraucana pullets, not egg 1 yet.

Mike is watching the SuperBowl, I like the Clydesdale commercials. Of course, we wish the Carolina Panthers had made it to the final. I fixed some SuperBowl baked potatoes for supper.

Champagne, a retired Salmon Faverolle hen. The silver band on her leg, a NC State Ag inspector comes to my house and checks my birds for disease, swabs the throat and draws blood, the silver band means the bird is disease free of all the BIG diseases, Bird Flu, etc, ones they are not likely to have, I wish they'd test for more routine stuff too.

On the roost is CherryPie, she runs our infirmary. Her sister in the back has had a cold. CherryPie is physically disabled, one leg doesn't work, although she does manage to roost. She's never had a sniffle. During the winter months we keep her up because she has a tough time getting around plus I don't want the roosters bothering her. CherryPie is a sweet little nurse to whomever we put in with her.