Zip went July and now here's August!

My humble apologies for lagging so far behind. I can give reasons, not excuses, but that is besides the point. For two and one half weeks of July we had a lively house. The first week our son Geoff and his family came with daughter Annie's oldest Emily in tow. We took the sailboat to Lake Mendocino for a day, went to the coast for a day and just sort of hung out the remainder of the time.

I drove to Fresno after the first crew left and picked up Claire, Annie's 8 y.o. making her first solo trip to visit. We pretty much repeated the activities from the first visit but Claire and I added a day in San Fransisco. We spent about 4 hours the museum and aquarium in Golden Gate Park http://www.calacademy.org/. We then took a drive down Lombard St. http://www.sftravel.com/lomabardcrookedstreet.html  and Claire wasn't too impressed with that as she "thought it would go on and on and on." Lastly Gammie bit the bullet and we did the major tourist scene at Pier 39 http://www.pier39.com/index.cfm having a nice dinner at restaurant there with a view of the famous sea lions http://www.pier39.com/Attractions/index.htm .

Annie came up on the Amtrak the last Sunday and was able to stay over two nights. So we all went to Lake Mendocino with the boat again for a day. Everyone had a blast including Ari who is so hardwired for swimming it is amazing. Before anyone post about the lead - it is quite long and we are very careful with her. Until she is a bit older we keep her on lead at all times.

So what you may ask what am I doing now that everyone is gone? I work 2-3 days a week at the Vet. clinic still. At home there is much to do this time of the year. So far I have put up two batches of Bread and Butter pickles and one batch of carrots. I have tomatoes to tackle next. Our weather was cool and wet so late into the year the tomatoes are just beginning to get ripe. I anticipate that they will all ripen at the same time and I will find myself in the kitchen putting up allot of those.

Sorry about the lack of photos but when the kids and grandbebes were here I got very few photos. I just wanted to take the time to enjoy them. The few I got are still on the camera and I will take them off soon.

Trust your summer is going well and life is wonderful for you and yours!

It' showtime and other stuff

Last weekend (6-4 to 6-6) I spent in the lovely village of Ferndale. Um , wait, let us correct that - last weekend I spent the weekend on the fairgrounds of the lovely village of Ferndale www.victorianferndale.com/ and the only time I saw Ferndale was hauling in and out. But it is lovely!

My dear friend Donna and I went to the Humboldt Co. Dairy Goat Club show there. I must say the grounds were nice, the showers came clean and with unlimited hot water (every goat persons dream) and the host club was friendly, efficient and hard working.

It was a kick back show for us. We each brought 2 dry yearlings and Donna brought her 2 y.o. buck DRD Adhamh Patrick. Red is the sire of my crop of Nubian kids this year and a fine crop they are. We opted to clean up the livestock trailer and sleep in it. Donna has this incredible bed that inflates with the help of a truck battery and converter to a queen size 2 foot off the ground real live bed. Now add to that a portable DVD player with CD's and you can say Best Western eat your heart out!

Chef Donna cooked both mornings  my home grown (or is that laid) eggs with fried potatoes, onions and toast. I got the hang of camp coffee (it has been awhile) and we had a blast. Thank God for the Boy Scout troop running the concession stand as we forgot the catsup and I made a nice donation for some at the window.

Did I fail to mention the wine that was sipped while propped up against the Circle J head board while enjoying Thelma and Louise and the Bucket List. Of course I need to fess up to being grateful that we had both seen these movies before. Between a 12 hours show day on Saturday and traveling and settling in on Friday we both nodded off not far into either flick.

But it was worth it. Donna's dry does and mine got some lessons in show etiquette and Red got 2 legs towards the 3 he needs to be a permanent champion like Dad Patrick was. This line is from the Hidden Meadows herd and Donna has built over the last 10 years a lovely herd. I feel lucky to have quads from Red  even though I only got 1 doe in the 4.  

We both entered the cheese competition and I was lucky enough to get 1st place soft cheese and Best in Show. I have been making cheese for 20 years and my dream is still to become legal and do artisan goat cheese on a small scale. So this was a real treat for me. The judges were a commercial cheese producer and a chef.

My doeling Raz-ma-taz by Red.

To the right home sweet home for the weekend and Chef Donna doing her thing.

What is this cat looking at?

This is Monkee. Monkee came to us from the Central California SPCA about 5 years ago when I worked there as the vet. tech in the stray building. So what is it that has captivated his attention at the kitchen window for about two hours this morning while I quilted?

"The Squirrel" is planning his/her daily assault on one of the wild bird feeders on our deck. In the last week or so this guy/gal has become very brave and has no problem dancing about on the deck or even sitting in a chair at the table outside.

Once again "scored" at the expense of the many wild birds in our area. And just when the cold, wet weather was settling back in.

Can it be mid May?

The calender on the wall says May 19th. The view outside the office window says winter. Rain, cooler temperatures and more rain. Even for our neck of Nor. Cal this is rather unusual and if we do indeed wake up to 35 degree weather later this week it is more than unusual. I won't complain we can still use the water.

A blush of Spring came my way just before Mother's Day from my son and his family. The lovely azalea plant brightens up the funky, cloudy days in my office. I catch a glimpse of it every time I walk past the paned glass office door where it sits sequestered behind the closed door to protect it from a "cat"astrophic event. With 6 house cats plants of any ilk are subject to ingestion. Much more enjoyable knowing both lovely plant and cats are protected from sudden demise.

On Sunday last Tassels produced our last kid of the season. A lovely strawberry blond doe with a set of waddles just like Mom. She is cute and very feminine with almost a white face, not unlike a little Hereford calf, but much smaller in size. And I am sure her mother is grateful for that! Photos to come after next trip to the barn.

 The view off the deck two mornings ago about 6 a.m. with the sun climbing over the mountains to the East as the clouds were creeping in from the West just prior to a full day of rain on Monday. Didn't have a sunrise today-clouds came in before the sun got up today and then the rain.

Mother's Day Sunday

Today is Mother's Day Sunday.  Mother's Day is quieter than it used to be in years past. Before our children were born it was dinner at my in-laws and truly after children it didn't change much from that. The first change came when my dear mother in law passed 15 years ago. So we entered into the next step of life being parents of adult children who popped over for holidays and birthdays . Not too long after that we entered the next phase the adult children brought smaller versions of themselves with them. 


Then a bit further down the line we took the biggest plunge and moved away from family. Only 350 miles mind you but far enough that those hastily planned weekends at Grammie's and Grandpa's  were no longer. There were now week longs that take planning ahead and many hours of driving one way or synchronizing watches and meeting half way in Stockton to pick up those smaller versions or drop them off again. That part made me kind of know what it must feel like to have a shared parenting plan courtesy of divorce. I don't think I would like it, but my daughter does it  weekly albeit not as much distance and I don't know how she manages without her babies during the week they are with her ex-husband. 


I am grateful for cell phones, texting, email and the like. For as much as I feel this world is spinning way too fast and more often than not out of control, technology is a blessing! Those priceless calls with a chorus of girlish giggles on my voice mail have made more than one day for me. It is also nice to hear my children, the news of promotions, broken toilets ,dead cars, trips to the ER for the second time in a week for stitches all keep me up to speed and in the loop. 

So this Mother's Day Sunday is very quiet. The house is filled with the scent of beans and ham hocks slow cooking away. Dough for homemade tortilla's sits in plastic wrap gently aging to perfection. Magic Cookie Bars cool on the tile counter in the blue and white kitchen while a young deer leaps the back fence in the yard below the deck to follow her mother. There will be calls made and cards received. And even tho we are separated by miles we are attached by the heart.

A year's worth of surprise

We are off to see the wizard! This is the humble beginning of a quilt for my dear daughter for her 33 rd birthday. 
And this raises some serious questions. Such as how did I get to the point I have a 33 year old daughter? Wasn't she just 2? And why has it taken me a year to get it together? Well I guess if we follow this humble blog in reverse we could find a completely  logical explanation for at least one of those questions.
The quilt is a combination of her loves Wizard of Oz and the pattern is from a book called State Fair Quilts and is the Carousel quilt. Since Annie loved the carousel at the county fair where she exhibited her lovely Toggenburg Dairy goats in 4-H this seemed to be an appropriate combination.

Now just promise you won't say a word to her because she won't be gifted until June.

Berrie's Big Adventure

"About time you heard us we would like to go into the barn please, getting a bit too rainy and cold for our liking."

"Kids, kids stay together now that may well be a predator garden hose, one never knows!" We all know how cautious Nubian's are.  And look they made it past the garden hose and the hanging basket. Well done Berrie and family.

Made it into the barn but another new obstacle in the way. Not new pen but formerly empty. Now filled with possible Nubian eating LaManchas. Oh bother, we all know LaManchas only eat Nubian ears out of jealousy!

"Finally, good job kids we are safe now . At least until tomorrow when we have to do it all over again. "