My Buddy-O

This is my boy. I can hardly believe he's turning 1 on Tuesday. He took his first unbated step today (we've gotten him to take a step before by luring him with blueberries). He's such a sweetie. Lately he's learned to make kissie noises and does so every morning as Randy's leaving. He's figured out waving and makes all the cashiers at Publix swoon with a simple flick of the wrist. He loves to be tickled. His laugh is positively intoxicating. I can't help but tickle him at every diaper change (though his wiggling is making those changes QUITE challenging!). He adores his sister. They have laughing fests several times a day where all they do is make each other laugh by laughing. This is my little Superbowl Giant, born just after the Giants won last year. So when you're watching the superbowl this weekend, remember our little man and give the Glorious God thanks for creating such a wonderful person. He has certainly already made the world a better place.

And praise God he was a GIANT and not a STEELER! :->

Aggressive Women

So I added another older chicken to the mix yesterday. She killed the rooster. I saw he had a bit of a bloody butt, but we decided to let them duke it out rather than always interupting the shuffling. Apparently this "top chick" didn't like there being a rooster in charge. Killed him dead in a matter of hours. Why do chickens have to be so nasty to each other? The other chickens have settled in fine with her though. Its a shame. I hate having animals die, particularly the gruesome death of constant pecking. Can you imagine having another person bite your butt until you're dead? I have to say, that, to me, is enough proof that we are NOT decendents of wild savage animals.

A homestead salad

This is our first completely homegrown salad! Well, not quite. The turnips were given to us by a neighbor, but it convinced us to grow them next year! This beauty is loaded with lettuce (little gem and mignonette bronze), mustard greens (I forget where I got them), peas (Lincoln and Wando), green onions (Publix's finest), cherry tomatoes (pearly pink) and carrots (cosmic purple). If only the cukes could have held on a bit longer. Unfortunately, the lettuce is a bit on the bitter side. My neighbor said she had experienced the same so I'm thinking its a soil deficiency or something. Its added to my "must research" list.

Saturday was gorgeous. Though its sad to see all the brown, the sunshine was glorious. We ripped out the tomatoes and half the peas and planted a few strawberries. I'm planning what to plant where in February and hoping to have a good load of composted cow poop to go with it. As we were eating lunch outside we were delighted to see a "lady bug". Then, as I was planting a kiddie pool of chia (in all our wood ash), I noticed the swarm of "lady bugs". They were everywhere. I knew there's a look-a-like bug that's bad so I looked it up... no lady bugs, but Mexican Bean Beetles. At least they move slow. We walked back and forth in front of the house smooshing every one we could see. The carnage is still evident though I haven't see a live one since. :->

Last week we combined our 6 grown chickens with the 13 4-month old barred rocks into one pen. We figured combining them while the younger ones were still a bit small would ensure a quick re-shuffling of the pecking order. Chicks supposedly have no problem fitting in to the pecking order as its clearly evident that they are lower than the older ones. Not so. Last week our rooster and 2 hens were showing bad signs of pecking. The rooster lost all his tail feathers. We separated them to let them heal. Then Saturday we saw another one with a completely bloody head. It was such a sad sight. I debated killing her to end her suffering though Randy thought she would go on her own. In a couple hours she was acting like a normal chicken. We took 5 of the older chickens back out, and put the first 3 wounded ones back in so the badly hurt one has her own pen. Today I added another older bird. Everything is going ok now. I think I'll add a bird every few days until all are in and sorted out ok. The cold didn't slow the eggs, but shuffling the pens has. I'm expecting a 100% today though as they can only pinch the eggs in for so long!

As a side note, for all my pro-life friends, please call your senators and oppose the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). It's legislation that goes WAY further than just "pro-choice". You can get your senators' numbers at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

This is critical. Partial birth abortion is about to be re-instated among multiple other unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of Americans. Children are ALWAYS a blessing if a mother will allow them to be.

Twenty what?

Yahoo! Its 11:10 am and the temperature INSIDE just crested 50! That's Farenheit for all you people who refuse to believe that Florida ever drops below 72. The last 2 nights have been harsh. Tuesday night it got down to 27, I think. I spent all day Tuesday preparing. Orange trees are pretty hardy but not when they're young. I wrapped every strand of Christmas lights we had (and this is the only reason we have outdoor Christmas lights) around the trunks and center foliage of 4 citrus trees, 1 avocado tree, 1 barbados cherry tree and 5 pineapple palms. I left the papaya trees to fend for themselves and I think they lost. What do you think? Oh well, it was only 1 year of growth from seed anyway. Then I covered the trunks and our 2 rows of brocolli (probably unnecessary) with blankets, and covered the pineapples with boxes, buckets, tarps and anything else I could find. Last night was worse, getting down to 25, and we also hung a light in our pump house to keep the pump from freezing. We let all the ducks run loose so they could find the warmest spot... maybe huddled in with the goats, but they scattered all over the pasture instead. Yesterday the ice in the waterers never did completely thaw. Today the sun is shining really nice. I think its warmer outside than in! So here comes the question... don't you have heat? We do. Emergency heat. We turned it on Tuesday night but only cold air blew out. Wed night was supposed to be warmer so I didn't bother reading the manual to find out if there was something else we were supposed to do to get the heat on. We all camped out in front of the fireplace last night instead. It was fun. It brings back memories of my China days where we'd be sitting with snow on the ground but the government-regulated heat doesn't get turned on until Nov. 15th. Those were fun times! Randy wore 3 pair of pants to bed last night. Gloria and Aaron faired well with many blankets. I was tending the fire so slept right beside it... yeah, I was toasty!

So other than our poor papaya trees (which still may come back), nothing of any real value was badly affected. The tomatoes are dead but that's to be expected. They weren't the greatest anyway. We have lots of green tomatoes sitting on our windowsill trying to ripen though. The potatoes are shot so I'll dig those up. The peas look to have survived. As did the onions and lettuce, carrots and all the herbs.

Now to find enough firewood for another full day and night!

Goat slippers stage 1

Randy has been working for weeks on tanning Sundae's hide. A taxidermist lives just a few houses down, but his professionalism is a bit cost prohibitive for us. So, the internet to the rescue (praise God for the information age!). After some searching and reading on different methods, he decided to go with soaking it in a battery acid solution for a couple weeks, pulling off the inner layer, soaking it again, rinsing it, drying it, "breaking" it, drying it again, resoaking it to "break" it some more, and then finally rubbing in the mink oil. It was such a long process, made longer by responsibilities of daily living. One evening we put the kids to bed then Randy went to work on the pelt in the garage, his wet hands freezing. I bundled up and knitted my Christmas stockings with him in the dark December cold. Then finally this past Saturday, he was rubbing in the mink oil while we were sitting in warm sunshine in our reclaimed front yard. It came out quite nice. Its not too big, of course, as Sundae wasn't big, but its big enough for kids booties. However, I'm a bit daunted. Sewing is my job... but this isn't scrap fabric that I have drawers full of. I have one go at this- no mistakes allowed.

I'm thinking of buying some standard skinned leather for the main part and using the fur to trim it around the ankle. That would give me a bit more wiggle room. I'd appreciate any thoughts on the subject though. Randy's ready to do another one. He's been reading about brain tanning and the perfection of the Creator in making an animals brain the perfect size, containing just the right amount of oils for that animals pelt. I'm wondering if that's the case for a brontosaurus though. I'll put that on my list of questions for God. Anyway, he's found a new interest in learning to hunt and is wanting to tackle and entire buck. I have dreams of a leather patchwork quilt dressing our bed!

And please excuse my shaggy-headed daughter... she's getting a haircut today!

A Long Overdue Update

Call me a slacker, but we've been celebrating. And what a reason to celebrate... the lion will lie down with the lamb- or in today's vernacular, the racoon will lie down with the chicken!

I come bearing tidings of great joy which will be to all people of N. Pinedale Rd.- the goats are out of the front yard!!! Randy and our friend, Steven, put up woven wire fencing around the pasture this past weekend and it has proven goat proof! And the ducks are even tucked away meaning they're no longer eating my chives and pooping all over the driveway! Now lest you think our necks have totally ceased to be red, we still have a pallet wood fence, the most decorative area of landscaping is a smattering of herbs and our jasmine climbing our "Narnia light" has yet to recover from frequently being snacked on.

We moved the ducks night time enclosure into the pasture to encourage them to... ahem... fertilize the pasture sand. They evidently no longer recognized it as home and refused to go in. Previously we merely had to go outside after dark and shut the door. No amount of chasing and herding would get them in now though. So today I tricked them. I put their water in the pen only and lured them with some chicken grain. Once inside I trapped them in. I'll let them out again in a few days after re-establishing it as home. I've had some rather nervous nights with them running loose where any coon or bobcat could get them, especially since they are further from the house and I may not hear an attack in time to save them. Thankfully, they were unseen by all mischievious nighttime wildlife and lived to see another day.

As for gardening, the greens are still going strong. Peas are getting nice and plump. I've gotten several handfuls a week of beautiful pearly pink cherry tomatoes. My cilantro is waist high. I planted more garlic and some more seeds this weekend. We're giving spinach one more shot. Not a single plant has survived transplanting... such a shame- I love spinach! The beets too remain very small. I've got a few more seeds in cups hoping they're take off where the others have stunted. I think I'll have some carrots for harvesting in a couple more weeks and planted some more seeds to take their place. Also trying to get more sage going. Seasoning our 37 Thanksgiving bird still has me wiped out.

The goats MUST all be pregnant. They are all looking rather wide though the earliest kidding date would be March. They are enjoying their wide open spaces... though haven't ventured to the rear of the pasture much yet.

As for our other kids, Gloria had a fabulous Christmas. She was so cute to watch. Her favorite part was making "Baby Jesus Cookies" though few made it onto the gift plates unsampled. She also loved all the "horsie" ornaments on the tree. I never realized how many "horsie" ornaments I had until she pointed them all out. My mom gave her a little tape recorder with a microphone- she's been singing jingle bells ever since. She's quite the little diva. Aaron has enjoyed the season as well though not because of cookies or presents, but rather just having lots of people around to hold him. He's such a cuddlebug. I've gone through a little bit of withdrawal. I had so many projects I was working on for Christmas: handknit stockings for Aaron and my mom's fiance, a quilt for my nephew, scrapbooked calendars for all the grandparents, etc. Now its just cooking and cleaning and organizing and making up for all I let slide while I was making gifts. I don't mind the daily grind, I just really like being creative. Now all I have to create is some diapers for "little" Aaron's ever-growing behind.

Many blessings in the new year for all of you. The pictures are of our family celebrations: Gloria modeling her new "click clack shoes"... The kids must have been mighty good this year (yes, small children CAN fit in those stockings!)... Aaron and "GG" (Great Grandpa)... Gloria singing with Grandpa Mac... And its not Christmas if Randy isn't stealing some playtime with the kids' new toys!