O Beautiful

for spacious skies... for purple mountain majesties,
With a sunrise like this it is easy to understand the inspiration for the song.  Every direction I look, any time of the day in any season or weather, there is always something beautiful here.  

yard ornaments

I recently received several different concrete planters.  I decided to place this one upside down (there was a large  chunk missing from the rim).  It seemed like a good place to try out my Hokie Gnome.

I like the way he blends in with the falling maple leaves.  Looks like he is camouflaged.

Go Hokies!

Weaning Time

Yesterday was the big weaning day.  We gathered the herd and cut out the larger steers and heifer that won't be replacements to wean and start on feed.

With the rotational grazing that J does the cattle are usually fairly easy to move.
I think this is J's idea of heaven.
Emma as always likes to think she is helping.
The poor little calves don't know what hit them.  We'll have to listen to the bawling for several day now.

Odd Jobs

I've been catching up on some misc. projects lately.

E helped me paint a couple of walls in the stair area.  Hopefully the girls are big enough now to keep their hands off the wall better.
I transplanted several bunches of peonies that I had originally gotten from Grandma's house.  When I first got them I didn't have anywhere to plant them so I just stuck them between some shrubs on the side of the house.  The shrubs have gotten bigger and the peonies had multiplied so I thought I would try to find them a more permanent home.  I think they will do well below my pergola.

Cold Weather

It finally got cold enough this past week for J to start the wood stove.

Despite the cold I still have several flowers blooming in different parts of the yard.
E's mums have come back for yet another year.
I had some volunteer zinnias in the garden this year.
The black-eyed susan's are almost got but a few stray ones are still in bloom.
The forsythia is completely confused.  I don't know if it was the weather or the goat pruning that has it messed up.
I still have some dahlias I dig up and replant every year.  They will bloom until frost.

Guard Dogs (puppies)

J said he was tired of losing goats to the coyotes.  We were going to have to do something or get rid of the goats.

He went Tuesday to get a billy.
I think it is 3/4 kiko and 1/4 spanish meat goat.  J is wanting something different than the boer breeding we've been doing.
When he came home with the billy goat he also had two 8week old female great pyrenees puppies.

If raised with the goats they are suppose to protect them from predators.  They grow to be 80-100 pounds.   The amount of dog food they eat will probably off set any goats they might save.

Anyone have an idea what to name them?

New Additions

Here's a picture of our 2 new additions.

More pictures and story to follow.

Yard Scraps

I spent some time this weekend cleaning off the garden.  There were still 2 cabbage heads left along with the stems of some earlier cut cabbages that were growing new leaves.

Of course I just throw everything over the fence to get rid of it.  I usually wait until the goats are near by so the items will disappear faster.
They really went after the cabbage which surprised me a little since they didn't touch it when they got into the yard a few weeks ago.  I guess they weren't as picky since they didn't have the tomatoes, grape vines, butterfly bushes and apples to chose from.
They also seemed to enjoy the hostas.

Sunrise

Had a beautiful sunrise this morning.

V passed her test to get her learner's permit yesterday.  Just about everyone she knows that has already taken it has failed at least once.
This evening when I got home from work I had the privilege of driving up the dirt road with her.  Let me just say that Daddy had the patience of a saint to put up with teaching 5 of us to drive.

NJHS

E was tapped into the National Junior Honor Society today.  This is the first year they have had it in the middle school.  We got a letter a few days ago about it and that it was to be a surprise to the students being tapped.

I tried to encourage E to wear something other than her usual tee shirt and sweatshirt, but she was getting suspicious so I didn't push it.
One of the other parent's said that they told their daughter before they read the last paragraph in the letter.  At least she smiled for the picture (while she was grunting "go away").  At what age do parents stop being an embarrassment to their children?

Kitten

I've had to work all week and week-end so I haven't had time to do much else.  I made the mistake of letting E come with me tonight to do the treatments.  We have about 6 kittens right now for adoption.  She always likes to play with any that are at the clinic.

This one was so cute I let her bring it home for  the night.
First it made itself as home with V.
The it set with J watching football until it fell asleep.

It is going back tomorrow however to find a permanent home.  I'm quite certain it wouldn't last long if Oreo sees it.  He killed a weasel a few days ago.  I've never even seen one before.