Lamb Transition

Today we took Dolly back to her original home and she is back with Hank and 2 other ewes. I would have loved to have kept her, but she is too skiddish and runs away from us. Unfortunately, she is teaching her lambs to be afraid of us and that cannot continue to happen. Maggie and I took 2 bottles of lamb replacer down to the barn and introduced Holly and Ruby to the bottles. Both lambs took to the bottle quickly so we are very fortunate. Maggie and I held them for a while and are slowly getting them used to us. I am confident that once they realize we are "food", they will be meeting us at the gate with wagging tails! Speaking of tails, Holly lost her docked piece today. We put iodine on the tip of her tail and hopefully it will continue to heal nicely.

I Am Becoming My Mother!!!

I will start this post by saying that my mother is an amazing wife, mother and friend. She is a godly woman who has always instilled in me the values of family, hardwork, education, and independence. I was raised in a Christain home and provided a Christain education. My mother is my role-model and I fall short everyday!
This afternoon Miles rode his bike up to Safeway to meet with some of his friends. When I called to check on him, he told me that he was going to go to the pizza place with his friends to eat and watch the football game. (Ok...this is the part where I am becoming my mother......) I told Miles he could stay if there was an adult supervising them and he assurred me that there were two adults. I asked to speak to them and Miles told me I was embarassing him. My response to him was he could either let me talk to an adult or I would come down there in my sweats and slippers and REALLY embarass him. Needless to say, he handed the phone to his friend's dad.
Thanks, Mom, for being always being "mean" and threatening to embarrass me!!!

Emergency Tub

The struggling economy and the earthquake in Haiti have me thinking about emergency preparedness. We aren't stockpiling food (yet), but we decided to make some plans to be prepared in case of an emergency. I have found a few sites that have lists of things to have available, and we used those ideas to create our list. Some of the simple things that I havehad to buy are: a hand-crank radio and flashlight, lots of bottled water, extra batteries, bandaids, neosporin, Motrin, matches, canned soup, and an extra can opener. I put them in the tub so they won't be used for day-to-day living. I also filled up the spare gas cans for the generator and have bought extra propane and mantles for the lanterns. We have a pile of wood for the wood-burning stove, and we plan to keep it stocked with the wood from the cabin. I also have a supply of vegetable seeds...just in case.

Canning

OK, I know I have so much on my plate, but I really want to learn how to can my own fruits and vegetables. I bought a great book and it seems a little overwhelming, but my goal is to keep reading and watching videos so that by this summer I will be ready. Fortunately, I am off during the growing season so that will give me time to experiment. Last spring I planted fruit trees so I am looking forward to a harvest this summer. I suppose I should add "canning" to my summer to-do list!

New Project...uggggg!

I bought Maggie a silverplate tea/coffee, sugar and creamer set on Ebay. My idea is to have something to give her when she gets married that she can use and pass on to her own children. My mom has a tray to give her to complete the set. The seller said it was tarnished, but I thought it would be no problem to shine it up. It arrived today and Maggie and I began the very hard task of polishing. Note to self....polishing is not fun! We have finished the surfaces, but we still need to get all of the crevices and flowers cleaned up with an old toothbrush. Once we are done we will put it up and use it on special occations.

Reusable Bags

I am attempting to create a new good habit. I have purchased several reuasable bags from various stores and now I need to remember to use them! My plan is to keep them in the front seat so I don't forget to take them inside the store with me. Up until today the bags have been kept in the trunk, and I have never remembered to bring them in the store so I have had to buy use plasic bags (bad,bad,bad). Lee doesn't mind having his groceries bagged in plastic so I plan to save them for lining the bottom of my garden walkway (under straw to keep weeds from growing).
1/15 Update...this is harder than I thought! I keep forgetting the bags!

Harness Training

We have started a new adventure with our animals...harness training. Today we bought cute little harnesses for the rabbits, and I just finished ordering some for our lambs and doelings. We will begin with the rabbits and lambs next week. Our 2 goats may or not have kids, but the doelings we have reserved will be born sometime next month. As soon as we get them we will begin so Maggie (and hopefully Miles) can get them ready to show at the county and state fairs. I hope it goes well and we have the patience we need to train all these animals! Wish us luck!