more stuff

I forgot to mention that the Tuesday before the storm hit I moved 3 cords of wood. When the guys got home from school they also helped and did a fabulous job. We all worked pretty hard. I couldn't get all the wood in the shed, and have some larger pcs sitting outside that needs to be split, and a stack of smaller wood under a tarp. Really, most of the wood I bought should be split, but that's the way it is. The big pcs. burn nice and long if I have a hot fire started, so it should be ok. We'll see, though.

Let's see....I got a new tattoo yesterday. My tattoos are usually indicative of some major milestone, and it was time for this one. It was a really tough year, and at the same time one of the most amazing and wonderful 12 months of my life. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world--hence the tattoo. This was copied from a painting entitled "The Guardian," which seems fitting some how. I'm very appreciative of all the support I got from my friends, and I'm seriously not sure I would have made it through without them. I hope I can be as supportive as they were should they ever need it.


Had a sweet Halloween party last night. It seems like the music up in these parts has been a bit dry the last year or so, but a new band played last night that makes me think the music scene has taken a strong turn for the better. We used to be able to go dancing almost every weekend, and now we're lucky if it's once every couple of months. This new band plays a combination of blues, jazz, and rock, and are freaking amazing. They totally made the night.

Here's a picture of me and some of my scary friends. I dressed up as a scarecrow although I don't think I wore enough straw. Couldn't help it--I was itching as it was!



Here as some more pictures of the cats:



Time for us to take care of the animals.

almost november!!

Ok, I am not liking the fact that I haven't written in 3 weeks. Part of it is that while I am looking at the photos and getting them ready to upload, I can't remember when things happened because I waited so long! Bummer. I'll do my best, though.

I think it all started out with our first snow. It was quite incredible. 2nd week in October, I think? Not exactly sure of the date. I know it was blizzarding on a Thursday night--ok, it started Wed. night on the 11th. School was canceled on Thursday, and the kids already had Friday off. Sitting at the KBC looking outside was crazy--we could hardly see anything. It had tapered off a bit by the time I left so the drive back wasn't so bad, but still. It was the whole point of getting snow in the middle of October. A bit depressing.

The good news is that it melted by the weekend and it got me totally inspired to get all those winter prep chores done, and pronto! And we have had excellent fall weather since. A bit cold at times, but not so cold that I couldn't get work done outside.

Here is a picture of the snow, but this was taken Thursday am. We ended up getting quite a bit more than is shown here.


That weekend, I worked like a madwoman to get the chimney repaired. Because of the storm we ended up having tons of water in the house again. It was definitely starting to get worse and worse. I finally built a ladder with 2 16 ft pcs of scrap wood lying around and hooked it over the top of the roof. It held fine, actually, which I was pretty happy about. Rio had to get on the roof with me to help me--that thing was freaking heavy! We made it safely, though. After it was hooked up I dry-locked the chimney a couple of times and caulked as well. So far, there has been no more leaking. I'm quite proud of my work!


Here are some other pictures of the animals that the guys took:



And on the 21st we got our goats! We renamed them Hershey and Nutmeg, and I think they really like us. They are doing really well. This picture of Nutmeg isn't the clearest, but I'll get some more later this afternoon when the guys are here. I took them for a walk/run in the woods yesterday. They really liked it a lot, alternately running and grazing as we went. They seemed to enjoy trying to catch up with Vanna. It's really nice having them here. Another level of responsibility, but it's good that we will have a year before they have kids to get us all prepared for even more responsibility!

New wood stove

Almost forgot to mention that we now have a different wood stove at the goat. We switched with Diane. Hers was too big for her cabin, and mine was too small and didn't work well anyway. I had an Earth Stove in the road house so she took that one and we have hers. I hope that they both work out well. This baby weighed a ton. Marshall and Dawn came over to help us move them all. We owe them big, so we figure a family outing of pizza and beer would be a start.

I like the looks of it in here, don't you?



On a side note, I just found out I need bifocals. Sigh...And surgery. I've got some big kind of lump on the back of my leg above my knee that needs to be removed. Shouldn't be a big deal (don't they always say that?) so hopefully I will be back to normal in 2 weeks. (But don't they always say that?) I'm giving myself time to do all the winter prep stuff around here before I get it done. I'm sure it won't be a big deal, but I'd rather know we are ready for the big snows.

bucky

We lost Bucky and another white chicken last Wednesday after the guys and I left for school. Thursday morning Vanna chased off what I think might have been a coyote. I'm not really sure as I only saw the back end of it. It was exactly the same size as Vanna and a darker brown. There have been some really nice fox around, too, but I haven't seen any this big. It's been so devastating to be losing everyone. Next year we will have all the chickens in the smaller house/coop and will cover their outside pen area so they can't fly out. As much as I love having everyone being able to run around as they please, there are just too many predators around. The place has become known as 'Neely, Benj and Rio's snack bar and grill,' and it just has to stop. Vanna's great, but she can't be expected to keep everyone away all the time.

I'm also thinking of having different areas for the fowl to run around in. If I fence in some garden areas, then I can have little buildings in each area like the old duck house for them to crash in. Here's what the duck house looks like with a metal roof on it:



If the fowl end up going into the other coop, then the barn they're in now can be the goat barn. I kind of like that idea better. If we do that, then the spot where the old farm house is now could become their grazing area. But what's cool about Bill's old fence is that it's portable. It wouldn't take much to move their grazing area so that they always have fresh grass to eat. It will be interesting to see how it all develops.

Speaking of such, Diane heard on NPR that 'farm golf' is all the rage in Sweden (or somewhere over there) and she thinks I could make it work here. Instead of regular golf clubs, people would use a stick with an old work boot attached to it. They would have to play around gardens, geese, turkeys and goats. Half way through they would get goat cheese, milk, and beer. (Don't you think I should grow my own hops?) It would be a riot, actually.

vermont cart

Almost forgot to mention that we now have a Vermont Cart. It is totally awesome. It can carry 400 pounds and it is really easy to move. The guys had no problem hauling stuff in it today. I really like the fact that it is square and flat--I can really load the stuff in it. You can see it in the background of the picture with Benj and Rio in it.

goats!

We finally found some goats that are from a very good family! I can hardly believe our luck and how it all happened. I went to a silent meditation retreat last weekend (that wasn't really silent but very cool nonetheless) and met someone there who had a farm. I asked if she had goats and not only did she, but she had 2 young does that were looking for a home. It was totally awesome. They were born this spring and won't be ready to have kids for another year, but that's totally ok. I'm thinking that I am going to reconfigure the chicken coop so that all the animals, including the goats, can be in there this winter. They would all help keep each other warm and they'd have some company. How that's all going to work out is quite beyond me at the moment. We've got geese who think they run the place, turkeys that try to run the place, guineas who harass everyone else and a bunch of roosters who can't keep their hands off the chicks. It might be a bit of a zoo in there! But if no one gets lonely and they all stay warm, it should be worth it.

Here are some pics. Chocolate is the chocolate colored one, and Cinnamon is the...You guessed it...Aren't they awesome looking?

wood shed finished (almost!)

I am unbelievably happy that the wood shed is finished. I say almost because I ran out of the wood that I will use on one side and a bit on the front, but the rest is done. (I'm using the wood that came from the little house that will be the chicken coop. I'll keep putting more wood up as I take it out of the house.) Regardless, it has a roof, and I'm totally ready to get all the wood in. My friend Doug came over last Sunday to help me put some stuff together. His advice was invaluable. Like, "Uh, Neely, don't you need a door?" as I was proceeding to frame all the sides without even thinking of an entrance way. Here's to friends who are willing to state the obvious without being embarrassed about it!
Here are some pics.




Here's one of the piles that needs to be moved!


Here's a picture of Benj and Rio working on the kindling pile. Kind of working. Their time was being demanded elsewhere!

lots going on!

Hi again,

It's been a long time, but really, not much has been going on. It's going on week 6 of school, and it seems like it has taken me that long to even get into the groove, if I can even say that I have yet.

The good news is that this week has been awesome and I've gotten a ton of stuff done outside. Finally!

But first the hard news: Bill was slaughtered this morning at 9:05 a.m. It was pretty hard, but also not as bad as I thought it would be. I need to think about things a little bit more before I write about it, but I can at least say that he had no idea what was coming and he felt no pain. It was instantaneous, which made me feel a whole lot better. I will definitely write about it some more later because it seems to me like there is a lot to talk about, but in the meantime, here are some pictures of Bill. We thank you, Bill.