Author Archives: WoolyMama

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Need A Real Farm

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The last few weeks have taught me one thing well:  I am woefully under – prepared for my animals.

Here’s the thing – I am a worrier.  I worry about my kids and my animals.  I am that person that wants to grab the chickens and the goat and the llama and bring them all in the house with me whenever the weather’s not right.  And these past few weeks?  It’s been rainy, cold and more rainy.  We are expecting something crazy like 2 inches of rain tomorrow.  That is bad.  Not because I don’t like a good rainy day, but because the shelter for my four – footed babies is leaking.  And the other one that was storing one giant hay bale leaks as well, meaning that we have one giant wet hay bale.  Oh the wasted money right there…..that hurts.  Every day when I brave the mud to feed them I worry.  Are they warm enough?  Are they staying dry enough at night?  Do they have enough room?

Given the situation I’ve decided to hold off on acquiring any more goats for now – I’ve not got enough shelter for them and should my little Milkshakes give birth I have no decent place to keep a kid warm or to milk little Miss Nanny Goat.  Fortunately she is content enough with Mr. Jerry the Llama (that name still kills me……) and he is happy with her as well.  Soon I’ll have to have him gelded (castrated) since he is about 2 now and on the brink of “maturity”.  I don’t want him attempting to breed a certain tiny goat when she goes into heat (yes, they do try…..that’s why they say to geld them if you want to use them as guard llamas).

Therefore, I need a barn.  Not a huge barn, but a barn big enough to shelter some goats and a llama and have a spot for milking when the time comes.  Because eventually, I’d like to have enough that I can milk them and make cheese.  Mmmmm yummy goat cheese.

Rather than attempt to clear out enough flat land (HA!  As if we had any real flat land here – we’d have to flatten it with equipment) to raise a barn I am thinking it would be easier and wiser to buy a larger property that already has a barn on it, or at least an outbuilding of some sort suitable for my needs.  A plus would be if that property came with an old farm house.  Something with history, and if it has things that are falling apart or in need of replacement it will be from age rather than sloppy craftsmanship.

Of course I am in no real position to do this right now, given the state of the economy and the housing market.  I’m just giving y’all a heads up (notice the southern thing there?  Even a true blue yankee like me can’t help it once in a while).

One thing I WILL be doing soon if I can manage it is working on my hen to rooster ratio.  My one Rhode Island Red hen, Mabel (above) , has been giving me an egg roughly every other day since Sunday.  I re – homed all of our Barred Rock Roosters except one – he who was formerly called “Jemima” (our other RIR hen, Nellie, is very much attached to him) and Emily has been calling “Jemi-Man” (I call him Jim).  Today I put “Jim” and Nellie into the pen out back with Mabel and her main man, Barry.  Hopefully I can order some chicks for the spring so we’ll have more girls.  The bad part is that the earliest chicks available to order right now are delivered in March – that means no eggs until end of next summer from them.

This whole egg thing is killing me, people.

Jim

Anyway…..lest you think I’ve been shuffling about complaining and bitching all day (tempted to, but no) I will say that I did a whole lotta cleanin’ (not nearly enough with these kids!) and I am working on some holiday type stuff.  I’ll let you in all all of that next time, once I’ve gotten a bit more done and I have better pictures.  Just know that I’ve been using a lot of ideas from The Alabama Stitch Book. I looooove it!

Unknown's avatar

Occasionally, Something Great

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It’s a small thing, to be sure, but its potential is great.  Not only for the life inside of it (well, actually Emily at that sunny side up this morning) but because it means I at least have ONE laying hen!

I know Turkey Day has passed already but as I have some pictures to share and I am still so excited about our first egg yesterday I feel compelled to share my gratefulness!

For those of you who know use or who are regular readers, you probably already know that we are “cursed”.  Not that I am sure I really believe in the whole voodoo/black magic/stink-eye kind of stuff, but more along the lines of thinking that Mr. Murphy had me in mind when writing his law.  Anything and everything that can go wrong, will.

For instance:

*We ordered a part for my car so that it would pass inspection, but the seller took well over a month to ship it out and now my car is way past due.

*We bought a bus in great condition and a decent price (but not so decent that it should have anything major wrong with it) only to have it break down just south of the capital beltway a month later.

*I brought home 6 adolescent female chickens only to have 4 of them turn out to be boys.  Add this to the fact that half of the chicks I bought in March turned out to be roosters as well.

*Oona turned off the chest freezer this weekend and no one noticed until all the food thawed and the frozen berries leaked dark red juice all over the wood floors.

*I had this post 100% written and ready to go and when I clicked on “Save Draft” it deleted it instead.

You get the idea.  This is just my life, day to day.  We have accepted this and try as much as possible to plan for all of the failures.  It tends to make one grateful for all of the little things; sometimes little victories are all you have.  BUT I do have 3 very significant victories – all 3 of my girls were born healthy, on time, and without complication.  I’ll take a lifetime of Murphy and his bad luck if that’s the payment required.

And with all of that in mind, on to Turkey Day!

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go……

It was funnier when we actually did have to go over a river and through the woods to get to my mother’s house.  Now it’s really just “down the road and through the gates”.

Emily dressed herself all in polka dots.  I wouldn’t do that, I promise you.

I’m thinking that if Maddie sees enough of these pictures of herself on the internet she might stop making that face.

Eric made the fried turkey, as per tradition. (And pumpkin creme brulee – the likes of which shall haunt my dreams forever).

Master chef dad, whipping the potatoes.  I am starving just thinking back on it.  My brother will be happy to know that this was the first year we did not run of out masjed potatoes.  Dad said it was because he made “an ass load of them”.  And yummy they were, with the mashed squash (acorn?) stuffing with sausage (oh droooooooool) green beans, gravy………this is torture.

My kids gnawed on the drumsticks, caveman – style.

Paul was……..Paul.  Actually, to be fair, that’s my Blackberry he’s messing with there, not his.

Everyone loves Sadie dog.

We ate so much food that once the dessert was passed around and squeezed in all we wanted to do was lie down and sleep.  I think we were all in bed by 8 that night.  I didn’t want to eat again, ever.  But now that it’s been a few days and I am thinking about it again I think maybe I could use another such feast.

Hey, dad?  Want to whip up another feast for me?

Dad?

Hello????

Unknown's avatar

Dislike

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For those of you (and all 2 of you know who you are)  that are not on Facebook, you get little “Like” buttons you can click when someone says something you like.  There’s no “dislike”, but there should be.  Anyway I’ve noticed that when I read a blog or am listening to people talk I now have this deep urge to click that button.

Today is a “dislike” day.

While I was in the shower Oona crawled halfway into the litter box and made it her personal sand box.  Nothing like getting out of the shower and being greeted by that.

Once I cleaned her up and went downstairs I found a nice puddle of dog pee on the dining room floor.  She’s *this close* to becoming an outside dog.

ALL of the Barred Rock hens I got last month are actually roosters.  They were 17 weeks old when I bought them, which means that all of their rooster-y qualitites should have been apparent by then.  Not one looked the least bit boyish.  No pointy feathers.  No enlarged combs or wattles.  No crowing.  Yet here we are.  Must be something in my water causing them all to spontaneously change genders.

This means I have 7 roosters and 6 hens.  That is such a bad ratio I can’t even tell you.  It should be more like 1 rooster for every 10 to 12 hens.  No wonder I’ve got no eggs.

I’m going to have to post those boys on craigslist and hope someone takes them; otherwise it’s the stew pot.  Then I need to find me a bunch of actual female chickens.

You wouldn’t think it would be so hard, would ya?

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Whoa, Oh, Mexico…………………..(LOTS of pics)

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Can I just say – WOW!?  It’s been quite a whirlwind and I have yet to recover.   Thursday last we flew down to Cancun with a group of about 65 other employees from Paul’s company and their spouses / significant others.  After passing through customs we stepped out of the airport……and there was a bar.  Right there on the curb, next to where our buses were waiting to pick us up.

It was over an hour from the airport to our resort, which is located in Playa del Carmen – it’s south east of Cancun, and you can see Cozumel island from the beach.  We all stepped very wearily off the buses, walked through the front door of the resort and were greeted by an open bar and a nice man taking orders.

The main lobby

Here’s the thing.  I don’t really drink.  But since they offered, and I had a headache from the long flight and bus ride, I accepted something blue and full of rum.  It was the first of many.  You see, while we were waiting to check in we were told that we’d be given bracelets to let everyone know that we had an all inclusive package.  That meant wherever we went, whatever we ate or drank, it was all included.  No tipping required.  We also had the same privileges at the other Palace resorts, should we wish to ferry to Cozumel or head north a bit.  Honestly, they kept us so busy and happy we never felt the need.

Our room.  I already miss waking up to the sounds of tropical birds.

The first night we were expected on the beach with the rest of our group for a welcome dinner.

Wait………….

W

here’s Paul????????

Ah – he found the coffee.  Even in this tropical paradise where it’s sunny and 85 every day……….he’s gotta have his java.

We had a mariachi band for entertainment.  That was rather awesome.  Paul and his boss were debating how many drinks it would take to run up and join them.  Paul would have done it sober.

Day 2 was Friday – we had most of the day to do as we pleased, and we discovered just how wonderful all – inclusive is.  We ordered all kinds of room service for breakfast and stuffed ourselves to busting at lunch.  The buffets had to be seen to be believed.  I even tried octopus!  But I digress.  We spent the day exploring the resort and lounging by the water.

This is the yoga hut, facing the ocean.  Our room was to the right of it.

There were all kinds of cool fish in the lagoons.  And btw, check out that water!!!

I spent the day like this.  Every 10 minutes or so a waitress would ask me if I wanted a drink.  I can’t even tell you how many frozen strawberry margaritas I consumed.

Don’t worry.  I don’t think they put as much alcohol in their mixed drinks as we do in the states.  Otherwise by all rights I should have passed out.  Instead we got showered and dressed up for the awards dinner.

I clean up pretty nice, right?

As for Paul…….

He was back to the coffee.

Saturday was phenomenal.  We toured the ruins of the Mayan city Tulum in the morning.

The city was built on a cliff over the sea.  There’s a staircase that we took down to test the water…..

That beautiful, beautiful water.  For those paying attention that is the dress from Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing I am wearing there.  It was perfect for covering up my bathing suit .

There are also iguanas everywhere.


Paul said I couldn’t bring one home.

After Tulum we were bussed over to the Ecological Water Park called Xel-Ha.

I have but 2 regrets from this part of the trip.  One – we didn’t get to swim with the dolphins (it was extra, and after snorkling and tubing we didn’t have enough time) and two, I didn’t get my picture taken holding a bright red macaw.  Xel-Ha employees were all over the place with huge birds for photo – opps.  It was funny seeing each of them holding onto 3 or 4 of them, just hanging off their belts.  We did however have a blast.  Another couple joined us as we made our way down the mile – long inlet into the lagoon.  Aimee and I started off in the tubes and had to make ou way through some dense mangroves to get out into the spot where the guys were starting their snorkling.  They took a few breaks from that along the way to do some cliff – diving.  Us ladies were not so much into that.

And how does Paul cap off a hot day in the sun and snorkling?

He heads to the outdoor restaurant to wait for his coffee.  I had a frozen daiquiri.

A siesta would have been nice, had we had the time.  At Xel-Ha, there aren’t park benches.  There’s hammocks.

On our war back to our bus we donated blood to the Mex-quitos.

We capped off our long and happy day eating authentic Mexican food brought to us by a waiter who made fresh guacamole at our table.  Ole!

Sunday I designated as a day of relaxation (massage at the spa!) and beach lounging.  The drink of the day at the resort was a concoction of passion fruit, amaretto, coconut liqueur, cream and ice, all blended together.  So good.  I don’t know how many of those I had.  For dinner we gorged on sushi before heading to our group’s dessert reception and farewell.

I was relaxed, content, full of amaretto and loving the ocean breeze.

And Paul?

You guessed it.

We had one long final night of uninterrupted sleep before heading back home.  The one blip was that right before we boarded the plane at Cancun they decided to search our bags by hand (after we’d already passed through security).  The agent handling my bag pulled out my knitting (a sock in progress) and looked too panicky for my taste.  I had to explain to 3 of them what it was.  Of course I was thinking that I would stab him with those dang needles if he tried to take away my wool and my dpn’s.  They finally let me though, with my knitting.  And hey, we saw Cuba from the plane as we were flying home.  I told Paul I’d be more than happy to throw him down there so he could get his Cafe Cubano.  He declined.  Oh well.

Maybe next time.

Unknown's avatar

And We’re Almost Outta Here…..

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For reals this time.  We’re taking the girls up to New York tonight so they can stay with my in laws while we are in Mexico.  Then we’ll drive back down to DC tomorrow and catch our flight out Thursday first thing.  Riviera Maya, here we come!

I am insane busy so here is the scoop, in bullet format:

1.  I hate packing and laundry.  It took me several days to tame the piles down enough to get everything sorted, into suitcases and put away.  I don’t want to even think about the explosion of dirty clothes that will occur once we get back.  For now I am focusing on what’s left – getting the dog to the kennel, picking up feed on the way back, putting clean sheets on all the beds and vacuuming.  I can’t relax if I am returning to a filthy house.

2.  I am packing a bunch of sock yarn.  I don’t particularly like flying, so the knitting and the ipod will be my panacea.

3.  We’re touring Mayan ruins on Saturday!  Yay!

4.  Emily is going to miss her animals.

11.09.09b

Really, really miss them.

11.09.09c

I am trying hard not to think about it.  Especially that little goaty face and her plaintive little “maaaaaaaa” and the little wagging tail whenever she sees me.

At least I know my mother will be here with them and they won’t be all alone.

5.  I still don’t relish the thought of my pudgy white self stuffed sausage – like into a bathing suit.  It turns out that I know exactly who I can blame this on, though.

The pie fairy.

11.09.09a

Seriously.  The pie fairy swoops in on a way – too – regular basis, takes control of my body and turns out multitudes of pies, like this chocolate cream one that flew into my belly over the weekend.  Curse you, pie fairy!

*Note to all of those who will be at our house this christmas – oh yeah, there’ll be lots of this!!!

6.  I have to go change a very stinky baby now.  Then I must finish all my chores and shove off for warmer (hopefully not rainy) weather.

See you on the other side!

Unknown's avatar

The Wooly Llama of Wooly Mama

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I actually don’t have too much to add today.  We’re still working on the pen.  Mom and I worked hard to get it done only to discover (once we’d strung all of the electric wire) that one of the corner posts had come loose from its concrete mooring and basically brought all further work to a halt (have I mentioned my rotten luck?  Nothing ever goes right the first time around here).  We’ll attempt to fix it and get Jerry and Milkshakes into their permanent home tomorrow – just in time for Hunter the Saanen goat to be delivered.

So far the two newbies are doing well.  Jerry is rather aloof and does not like to be approached (which is fine for a guard llama) – but if you hum at him he will hum back and he has been eating hay I hold out to him.  He almost ate some grain out of my hand today but little miss piglet goat bucked at my hand in an attempt to ge the grain all to her cute greedy self and it spooked him.  Ah well.  Tomorrow’s another day.  As for miss goaty – she is like a little dog.  She calls to us when she sees us, she wags her tail when we pet her and she likes to lick our skin – and maybe take the occasional nibble on our clothes or arms.  The chickens have gotten used to their presence and have been sharing the hay with them.

11.03.09a

See Roo standing there?  I wouldn’t be surprised to find any of them sitting on Jerry’s back.

Speaking of hay….I think I may have ordered a *tad* too much of it.

11.03.09c

There’s two of them.  But, you know what?  I’ve never ordered hay before, and I didn’t realize how big they’d be.  It also didn’t help that I could barely understand the guy I bought them from, and since he was hard of hearing as well I am amazed he showed up at all, never mind with the hay.  On the plus side, it is nice to open the kitchen door into the garage and have the heavenly scent of hay waft into the house rather than the usual burning oil, paint, cleaning chemicals, etc.

And they LOVE the hay!

11.03.09b

Yummy hay!

My mother has become our farm hand – and it’s a good thing – our Mexico trip is back on and we leave next week.  Mom will be caring for the chickies (still no eggs!!!) and the goaties and llama in our absence.

Paul’s company is sending us to the Riviera Maya to a resort where we also get to tour some ancient Mayan ruins – I am very stoked about that.  Not so psyched to be stuffing myself into a bathing suit in November, but still.  Think of the photo ops!

Lastly, and I don’t really like to get too political here but I just had to express my dismay that Virginia has taken a huge step back with regards to womens’ rights with this election.  And I am not even talking about any hot  button topics. Ah well.  I’ll spend time with my growing herd and all will be right with the world.

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Welcome Jerry and Milkshakes!

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*Please note that I was not involved in the naming process.  Emily and Neve came up with the names.  I kind of think they’re hilarious.

11.01.09b

This is Milkshakes – our little Cashmere nanny goat.  She is very happy and friendly.

11.01.09c

See?  Big goat smile!  We are awaiting a mate for her – we have a lovely Saanen boy on his way this week.  But just to be sure she doesn’t get too lonely waiting for him, say hello to Jerry:

11.01.09a

He’s our guard llama.  Good thing llamas like the cold and rain, because it’s awful out there today.  Otherwise I’d have lots more pictures.  For now, these’ll have to do.  We’re working (in the driving rain) on getting their pen and shelter completed today.

Cheers!

Unknown's avatar

Happy Halloween!

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The spooks are out!

We are heading out in just a bit for trick or treating, but first I thought we’d show off our pumpkins and costumes.  My little skunk is napping so only the older girls are ready.

10.30.09a

10.30.09b

10.30.09c

10.30.09d

It took a few hours to get them all carved and lit, but we had some excellent pizza and The Nightmare Before Christmas on dvd.  If I’d had time to plan it properly I’d be capping off the evening with some old Hitchcock movies and a bottle of red wine, but alas, it’s been too busy ’round here.

10.31.09a

Princess.  This is, in fact, the dress she wore to her uncle’s wedding a few weeks ago.

10.31.09b

Coraline.  If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of my littlest stinker in her costume.  We’re also getting a very special delivery in the morning, and I will be sharing that with all of you as well.

Have a spooktacular night!

Unknown's avatar

**Update**

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Culprit named in eating death of HenRietta the chicken.  Local hunter friend Heath spent time camouflaged in the woods tracking what he thought were deer, discovering instead “a pretty good – sized” bobcat.  The bobcat was spotted not far from the house and all efforts will be made to trap the suspect.

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Too Busy To Think, and R.I.P. HenRietta

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I spent the better part of an hour writing up a post and went I hit “save”…it exploded.  SO frustrating!!!  Just the right cap to my “perfect” week.

Last week I was feeling frustrated and fed – up with the state of the house and the property and in the midst of laundry and cat litter the handle broke off my washing machine and I think part of me may have snapped as well.  My rage ended up being focused on a small accent table in the “sitting area” portion of my bedroom.  It’s been there for over a year, waiting to be repainted but instead accumulating lots of junk with no other place to go (paint supplies for the table and the alcove itself, some discarded batteries that hadn’t made it to the trash, my uncle Jamie’s underpants he left here last Thanksgiving……..dont’ worry.  They’re in a ziplock.  We had intended to frame them and send them back as a gag, but never got around to it.  Sorry guys!!!! (Oh come on….like you all don’t play weird jokes on your families)

As I was saying, in my rage I zeroed in on this poor little table and decided that damn it, it needed to be painted.  Right now. I dropped everything else I was doing to prep the area.  While I was at it I figured I could paint the frame of the poster I intended to hang to match it, and heck if I was doing that why not paint the whole dang alcove?  Never mind it was nearing 7:30 pm on a Wednesday night.  I needed to expel some pent up fury!

10.28.09a

Before.  This is the view from my spot on the bed.  I’d been living with this for a few years now and I was more than ready to fix it.

While the girls congregated on my bed and watched Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth on SyFy I painted and cleaned and re-arranged as much as I could.  I finished up around midnight.  It’s not magazine worthy, but it is a huge improvement.

10.28.09b

The next morning, while admiring my handiwork I realized that I still needed some sort of window coverings.  I had the fabric laying around for ages and decided to just get to it.

10.28.09g

While the rest of the house deserves nothing but our shame and derision, my bedroom at least looks halfway acceptable.

Speaking of shame………

Emily cleaned her hamsters’ cages for the first time in Lord knows how long over the weekend.  I told her to dump out the old bedding and food into a trash bag and then wash out the cages with soap and water in the bathroom, which she did.  Except for one thing.  She also rinsed out the stuck – on food into the sink.  Hamster food is mostly seeds.  What do seeds do in a damp environment?  They sproout.  I looked into the bathroom one evening and there were plants growing out of the drain in the sink.  Great.  We should be jailed for our house-keeping skills.

Emily made yet another mess two nights ago, but this time it was ok.  She had to make a totem pole for a class project and when I pulled out the plaster of paris and a wrapping paper tube and paint Paul mentioned that he could much more easily make a totem pole with some wood and a chainsaw.  Here’s the thing:  Paul’s never been what you’d call “good with a chainsaw”.  Not that he’s inept or anything, but he’s not artisitic on his best day, and I can’t imagine how on earth he’d figure out a totem pole.  Not one to back down from a challenge he went to it while Emily and I hedged our bets by getting to work making a mold out of the tube and some duct tape and working with the plaster.  In the end Paul won out surprisingly with a superior product.  Since it is a rare occurrence I don’t mind admitting he proved me wrong.

10.28.09c

The wooden one on the right is Paul’s.  Emily painted them herself and wants to take both of them to school.  She better get an A!!!!

Yesterday I had planned on organizing the great laundry disaster of ’09.  First I went to check on the chickens, though and found that HenRietta was missing.  She had been escaping the pen all week (no idea how) and I figured I’d find here running over once I started scattering some corn for them.  Instead, just on the outside of the electric perimenter, I found a clump of grey feathers.  Then I followed a trail of them out to the backyard and down to the stream, where the trail went cold.  We scoured the woods but found nothing more than those large masses of feathers and a single animal print, suggesting either a large fox or a small bobcat.  Poor Emily is devastated and planning an elaborate funeral and feather burial.  Paul and I have resolved to strengthen our security system.  Currently the pen looks like this:

10.28.09d

Soon we’ll be getting a goat – we’re being gifted a handsome devil courtesy of Paul’s uncle.  Paul is actually on board with this plan, and is helping me devise a list of needs.  We’ll be expanding the electric fencing and putting up a shelter, but when I mentioned perhaps a guard dog I knew I had lost him.  Then I slipped in a little known faxt about how llamas make great companions/guards for goats and sheep, and Paul completely agreed that we needed one.  I’m looking at a few this weekend.  I’m as shocked as you are.  I can’t believe Paul is so okay with this.  I am totally going to strike while the iron is hot, I’ll tell you what. I’ll also need to see if I can find a female dairy goat for our new boy.

Now if I could only get my chickens to lay some darn eggs.  Ruby says she’s considering going rooster instead.

10.28.09e

I put two little text boxes on this photo to point out the pointy saddle and hackle feathers she has begun to develop.  Hens don’t get those.

SIGH.