Getting Ready for the Show

Charlie was out helping Bailey tattoo her goats that are going to the show this weekend.

Not sure who is presently sporting more ink- Obediah's and Olympia's ears, or Bailey's face and hands!

Sunday Projects

Sunday was fun!  When I swept before breakfast, I found a leak in the sink- the seal on the drain basket had worn out, and let the water from the sink, where I was soaking dishes, to leak down under the sink.  With that out of commission and waiting for parts, I headed off to teach Pilates and work out.

When I got home from town in the early afternoon, the gentleman working on Rattlesnake and Chicken Avoidance with Shadow came over to work with her.  The rattlesnake avoidance seems to have gone well, but the chickens are still a big challenge for her.

The Charlie headed off to town, and the kids and I got to work outside.  They were working on pens, I needed to do more laundry and work on my projects to shore up the doe barn, as well as the hen house in the big pen.  This will also strengthen the fencing connections at the barns. If I ever finish, that is!

I measured and cut the poles for Wyatt's pen.

Bailey measured for hers, I cut.

Love power tools!  They make things much faster!

The storms were coming in.  We were trying to work quickly and efficiently, but ran into a big scorpion over four inches long- and it was MAD!  Wyatt got Shadow safely out of the way, and Bailey and I got shovels.  Bailey went to work chopping it into tiny pieces.  I would have taken a photo of the crazy thing, but was more interested in getting rid of it!

The sky was getting more beautiful as we worked.  I wish I could say we got it all done, but the wind came in, and we filled the trailer again.  So we put away our tools for the night in time to have the rain begin falling. Sure hope to get more of those done in the next couple days.

The monsoon sky is just so beautiful!  Bailey and Vegas love the wind and lightning.  But sights like this really make me want to curl up in the rocking chair on the porch.

Shadow is a puppy who really needs to chew, so she has LOTS of bones stashed around the house.  But last night, she found this horn outside.  I think it is a ram's horn.  She looks really funny when chewing on the end, because the other end sits up bu her eye.  But she loves it!  And when she chews on those things, she isn't chewing on anything else, sooo...

Well, the rain gauge didn't even show enough to pour out, though I did try!  Maybe later this week.  I can hope, anyway!  Here's to a beautiful week for everyone this week.  Hope it brings many blessings to you and your family!

Onward and Upward, Saturday went by too Fast!

Started my day teaching my first step class since the goofy fall this past week.  It went pretty well.  Did a little cardio, picked up some things for dinner, and came home to get busy with chores.

First up: more prickly pear jelly!

I like seeing signs like this.  Sometimes I cannot get specific items made in the USA anymore, but when I can, like in the case of canning jars, I do.

This was part of dinner.  Homegrown chicken, with lemon, garlic and salt and pepper.  No crazy preservatives, or compounds to mess with the body or set off Bailey's headaches and allergies.

Today, I have been working on a workout template for my Pima students, doing a lot of laundry, cleaning and a little work in the garden.  I still love those sunsets, and we have been waiting for the rain they promised for today. (The late news says there are pretty powerful storms heading our way- I need to be careful what I wish for!)

These clouds look puffy and sweet to me...

Down below, though, pretty wild!  Can you see the chickens bedding down for the night?

Bailey was having trouble with a couple sets of hooves, so Charlie pitched in to help while she held them.

This is the Loquat tree I put in the garden today.  I am looking forward to watching it grow!

And this is the fig tree.  They have each grown a good foot while waiting in or near the greenhouse.

Looking forward to see where they go!

Here's to hoping I get even more done on Sunday!

Friday Chore Day

I don't know about the rest of the mamas out there, but the beginning of the school year has me feeling stressed out from the need to do things at home while the kids are needing to be in town at school and at activities and appointments.

Friday, I took the kids to school, ran a couple errands, did a little cardio, dropped some things off at the post office and work, and came home to try to get things done!  Of course, when I got home, the rain began, so I started with laundry!

Above are some of the little young chickens that came home from Phoenix.  They like to cuddle up together.

Above and below are photos of that young roo we have been watching.  He needs to hurry up and pick which color he will be before Labor Day weekend.  Looks like the gene expression has come down to two possibilities.  Funny how the lighter color comes in later.

I needed to tie in the barrier between the bucks and does along their fence.  They manage to loosen it from time to time. I was in the buck pen, and the boys always want attention.  Silly Huey was looking a little redneck.  Despite being an old buck, he is a happy healthy old man.

This little hen hatched this year was wandering around while I was in the garden.  She is beginning to really fill out nicely.

Looks like she decided to stop and pose for me!

Feeding time meant more ear scratching for the bucks.  Charlie picked up the kids so I could work at home. That meant Bailey had to stay at practice with them, so I fed for the kids.

Glory was over in the doe pen wagging her tail for the boys' benefit.  Good grief, that girl!  I told Bailey she was in heat and watch out.  She tends to follow Bailey around biting her when she is in heat, demanding to be bred.  Goofy goat!

Still in the buck pen, the Australorps decided to get a drink.  They have adopted the bucks, and even sleep with them.  Here, they were perched on the water buckets, drinking their water.

Then they decided to share their dinner.  The boys are awfully tolerant of thees little ones!

I raked up the mess the chickens made of the dump cart waiting for Charlie to be home long enough to take it out.  Above me, Muffy was getting ready to settle in for the night.  I decided I had best get more done in the garden before my daylight was gone!

The monsoon sky makes for AMAZING sunsets!  Okay, back to watering hte greenhouse and working on the garden!

Shadow cannot be left alone with the chickens yet.  So she was in the garden keeping me company.  I was ready to put two trees in the garden, and found that the holes where I wanted the trees, since we don't till there, was really hard.  The pitchfork and the water will be coming out today.  I was losing my daylight quickly, and Shadow began taking turns digging with me, wanting to help!

This morning, I got this shot of the monsoon rain gauge from yesterday- 0.15 inches.  Not much, but the rain barrels were full, so cannnot really complain.

The last thing I did outside last night was move this Jasmine plant from the garden to the porch.  Here's to hoping I can do enough to protect the plant fro the chickens who have taken to nesting in these pots!

Well, it is Saturday morning, and time to go teach Step and Yoga.  Hope you all have a great day!

Tuesday Night Storms

The farmers' market this week was really hot!  And rather slow.  Bet still fun.  It did leave me nearly out of grab bags.  For some reason, folks like the random sampling of soaps in one special price.  Nevertheless, it will leave room for other things on the table, like the CocoLime soap that is coming again!

On the way home, you could see the storm that was going through parts of Tucson, even though it was off in the distance.  Some of my students told me they got a lot of rain on the North West side from this one.  We never saw it.  That's jut how the monsoons work.

I enjoy stopping to get photos of the wild side of nature.  The stretch of road n the way home has lots of neat opportunities to stop and take pics of the sky and desert.  Above, I stopped by a feed store near the Marana Municipal Airport for this one.

Just thought you all might enjoy these photos.

I especially love how it can seem almost dark, then light again.

It looks like the storm is taking over here!

Knocked on my rear by what?

This might not be the sort of thing folks who do what  do would document and share with the world.  But when was the last time I did things like everyone else?
This morning I went in to sub a Step and Strength class, then a Pilates class.  I thought it made for a good day to break in a new pair of sneakers before the college began its semester and I began teaching there again next week.
About fifteen minutes into class, rolling through the second combination, I thought a few options would get the group going a little more.  A showed a jumping jack as a power option at the end of a move, and promptly turned my ankle and landed on my rear.  Very unceremoniously, I might say.
As the students asked if I was okay, I put them in a turn step holding pattern and tried to decide.
Out the window went the combination, and in went anything I could cue evenly while trying to figure out whether I would be ale to stand up.  After a couple minutes, I was up and trying to get range of motion back, an finishing off the goofy little combination of simple moves.  I made it back on the step, and finished that class and the next.
Not sure which suffered more- my pride or my choreography.
Good thing I have tomorrow off.
Note to self- when extra tired in the morning, don't try new sneakers.
I have a lot on the list for this afternoon, guess I will e working in some ice and range of motion to go with it. I still can't believe it was a jumping jack that got me.  I mean, where is the cool story in that?

Dutchie says Hi!

Are you tired this Tuesday morning?  Maybe it will help a little if you have a quick hello...

Two years ago, Dutchie adopted an abandoned white Ameraucauna baby.  She mothered it as it became three times her size.  They were together until the little white Ameraucauna decided she wanted to nest in and try to hatch her own eggs last Spring.

Dutchie say Hi!  Every new day is an opportunity!  Now go make something positive of it!

Sunday Chores

With record breaking heat, we do chores in shifts and more toward the evening right now.  This hinge was my nemesis this weekend, finding the correct size was impossible, but finally a nice man at ACE helped me find a braket we could use with bolts and nuts to make it function!  Wyatt is so glad to not need a second person at the gate when he sees to his new brahmas!

Wyatt came home from a day of finishing up his hunter's safety class to try to get a few chores in before dinner.  Shadow had missed her boy so much, she tripped me over and over until I took her outside, then she wandered until she found him by voice.  She cannot yet be trusted with the chickens, so she hung out near a water bowl and watched her Wyatt work.

Wyatt has been pulling all of the straw out of the big chicken house, so he can put down new DE and then put fresh bedding in their nesting boxes.  I think this project may take a bit, but he is plugging away!

While packaging the lavender goat's milk soap, then working on laundry and enjoying a family dinner, I got a small batch of prickly pear jelly done!  These jars have been through their water bath and are cooling (sure enjoyed the closing ceremonies while doing that!)  I ran out of lemon juice, though, so the rest will have to go in stages this week!

Well, it is very late, so I had best rotate and fold the laundry one last time, and prep the glassware order that came in tonight so it can go out tomorrow!  Have a wonderful week everyone!

Mamas and Babies

Bailey was helping me change out waters and fill feed with the little ones that came home yesterday, and the cochins jumped into her arms.  She is working on naming them, feel free to post your suggestions in the comments!

I wandered down to the garden shed.  There is a mama in there that has been sitting on eggs quite a while.  Her friend hatched hers, and the last couple days, she has been looking at them a good bit, trying to decide (I think) whether they were good or duds.  But she was sitting and not giving up.

Here is her friend and the little week old little one she is raising.  They have been touring the yard pretty well!  I thought it was going ot be a really light one, but it looks to be darker than I originally thought, now that it is feathering out.

Because I have all of those birds in quarantine from coming home to use today, we cannot use the eggs.  So, in the end, after trying to look and see whether the Brahmas would sit on theirs, I gave the two from the brahmas to the little mama.  Of course, she tried to bite me.  But she looked long and hard at the eggs.

Then she watched me, and nudged her beak out to slide the first one under her.

She took great care to put it in just the right place.

Then I broke out the video!

Mamas are mamas, and we love all babies.  This mama is no different!