It's A Wrap

It looks like I have too much time on my hands.  Or else, I am not organizing my priorities properly.  Anyway, I decided to try to make my Secrete Santa and White Elephant gifts a little more special.

First, I did an origami Christmas tree.

I then hot glued some fringe down then glued the tree on top of that.  Pretty cool bow if I do say so myself. 

Then I had some scrap things that fell off a wreath that was being thrown out (not by me). 

A little more hot glue and voila', another sort of bow.   
 

And So It Begins

With a wonderful Thanksgiving under the belt (pun intended) it is time to move on to Christmas.  And as always the first up...

Santa's Mail.  No one comes to the front door so I just hang it on the inside so I can enjoy it.  This afternoon J wasn't doing anything and asked what he could do for me.  I said, "get me a Christmas tree."  The place we have been getting trees from for the last several years cut down all of their large trees last year because they had gotten wild and out of hand.  They were only selling a few 6 footers at the farmers market.  I was spoiled to getting any size tree for $25.  I checked a tree lot yesterday and found they were selling 8-9 foot trees for $65-$70.  

So J took matters and ax into his own hands and cut down a cedar off the farm we rent.  It has been a long time since we had a cedar tree and he said he had been wanting one.  

It started out about 14 feet tall (after cutting). 

And I whittled it down to about 9 1/2 feet.  It's a little Griswoldy there at the top but I'm sure the star will disguise that.  Let the decorating begin!
 

Trouble Almost Out Of Trouble

Trouble is out of her cast but still in the pen.  

The fracture feels stable and she is running and jumping on it.  But I think she needs to have it strengthen more before I turn her out.  So maybe in another week she can join Tribble.  

The cast worked great.  I had already split it when I put it on so to get it back off I just had to cut the tape.  And a goat in a barn ended up with a cast cleaner than 90% of the dogs that I cast.  It stayed dry, no cast sores and she didn't chew it.  
 

Secret Ingredient

Ok, maybe not so secret because it goes right on top.  But a very important ingredient all the same in my sweet potato casserole.  And we are definitely heading into sweet potato casserole season. 

I headed out with the 4 wheeler and buggy a few weeks ago and picked up a load of walnuts.  I still have plenty from the last couple of years, but you never know what year the trees may not have any or when the zombie apocalypse is coming and you need walnuts.  Plus, I have a new handy dandy walnut cracker that I got for Christmas last year and that definitely needs to be put to use.   So, after letting them dry for a couple of weeks I have been picking them out of the husks. 

J helped some with this part.  Then abracadabra....

secret ingredient.   But these are actually last year's because this year's need to dry inside the shell more.   Maybe I will take a short video of the abracadabra part sometime.  
 

Big Goat Update

J bought a 3 year old Kiko billy goat last Monday. 

We rounded up some of the goats to have close by so he would know where to go when we turned him out.  

J got a little sidetracked and stopped to pull up some mullein.  Whenever we are out walking, especially in places we don't frequent, we always try to do a little pasture management or weed control.  The goats won't eat mullein, so out it goes. 

We hauled the billy goat down to the gate and let him out. 

He didn't waste anytime,

and got right to work.  

The next day we rounded up the entire herd. 

Jewel kept careful watch. 

J got a rough count through the gate. 

And we had them in the field below the old barn so we could get them up Thursday morning. 

And bright and early, we went to work rounding up, sorting the nannies out, culling a few, keeping some of the very small kids to grow more, and selecting some of the largest females as replacements.  We sold 84 kids and 5 culls.  Six more females are suppose to leave tomorrow to the same man that bought some from us last year.  That should leave us with around 70 nannies that might kid in 5 months. 
 

Just Kit Sunday #174

Kit Kat's youngest fan came for a visit.  It was very exciting to get baby S for the entire weekend!

Watching Kit was better than television. 

We had some outdoor time playing in the leaves. 

So exciting that he came this close.

Now off to see where he goes next. 

Moving Again

E decided she was done sharing apartments and houses with other people.  So she found a place all to herself.  It is an old house that has been turned into a duplex.  J and I went up there Saturday to help her move. 

The pictures of the house were better than seeing it in person.  All three of us spent over 5 hours cleaning a one bedroom unit.  And we didn't even finish the kitchen.  I kept smelling something in the kitchen but couldn't find what it was.  E has since decided that it could be a dead mouse stuck in the stove somehow.  Luckily, she has a toaster oven she can use until she finds out about the stove. 

She will now be on the lookout for needed furniture and household items.  The landlord did agree to get new blinds and is installing a washer/drier.  This will be her first home all to herself.  I think she is pretty excited.