Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Works in Some Cases

Usually I'm rather depressed driving home from a great vacation, but this time on the way home from Tennessee, Don and I were driving just east of Atlanta to a goat farm to pick up my herd sire.  When I knew we would be in Tennessee, I started googling Nigerian Goat farms in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  North Carolina and Georgia seem to have the most goat farms by far.  I love the internet; it opens up so many possibilities.  I'm not sure Don concurs. I was looking for a blue eyed baby buck that I could bottle feed that also had good bloodlines.  It had to be born less than a month from when we would be headed back home.  Remember, I did the same thing with Google when my sisters and I went to Tulsa, but I got a blue eyed doe.  I want to avoid having a goat that I have not seen shipped on a plane, so if I'm going near there, that's perfect.

They have the best structures at this farm.

I found the perfect little buck at The Double Durango Farm.  http://doubledurangofarm.com/index.html

We left the farm about 2:30 and knew we would not make it home in one day. 
For one thing, the Saints football game was at 7:00.

So just before we reached Tuscaloosa, Alabama about 6:00, we started looking for a hotel.  Don was very nervous about going into a hotel with a goat.  I was pretty sure we could pull it off. I had bought dry shampoo, in case the little goat smelled and diapers. When we pulled up to The Greystone Hotel, I went over the strategy. I include the picture so you know it was not a flea bag motel.  Don was to look for a "no pets allowed" sign. For sure I told him, don't ask about a pet policy.  I learned the hard way in high school, if you are going to do something, don't ask or tell about it ahead of time. 

Anyway, if Don didn't see such a sign, then ask for a room on the first floor at the far end, where we had already check out a side entrance door with a keypad. It wouldn't be cool to go through the lobby or have to use the elevator with little Billy Shakespeare crying in a pet crate. 

Don was very please when he returned with the keycard to room 101.  I drove to the side, while Don walked down the hall to our room.  It was perfect!  We had discovered that Billy Shakespeare would not use the bathroom in the crate; therefore, I would need to make frequent trips with him out the side door.  

It was a great evening.  We watched the Saints play a great football game, while I fed and played with the new kid. 

Vacationing with the Grands

Don and I really enjoyed 5 days of vacation alone, but by then we were looking forward to being with the grandkids and Bridget and Trinity.  That means more activities and site seeing instead of relaxing about the cabin and woods.

They didn't get there until late Thursday, so we cooked dinner for them and the guys had a fire down by the river.

Friday, Don and I kept Kennedy while Bridget and Trinity to the grandsons off on adventures such as riding in a glider plane, hiking and whatever they could find interesting to do.

Don sat on the porch and read.

Kennedy showed up with the croup and was running fever, so she and I took a long nap. That's probably my favorite thing to do with snuggly little Kennedy.  I will certainly give up hiking and site-seeing for this.

Then Don wanted to get out.  Kennedy was feeling better so we took a scenic drive and then an easy hike.

We spent our last day, Saturday, in Chattanooga.  The cavern and waterfall at Ruby Falls were very good.  But it was a long hike and the waterfall at the end was the only big deal.  It was a big deal.

Ruby Falls

Then it was off to this "Incline" ride.  It took too long for what it was.  Wish we had spent the time at the next place Rock City.  So if one is going to these 3 places, go to Rock City early and then Ruby Falls.

This may be proof that Kennedy is spending too much time playing with my goats.

 

 

 

Vacation!! Where do we go?

In July my husband was beside himself; he needed a break, a vacation.  So we started looking on the internet for vacation packages. Of course, I started in Europe.  Don said, "I'm thinking less money."  So I looked up islands off the Mexican coast.  Then I understood that Don was thinking "NOW" and our passports were long expired.  So for a week we didn't decide.  I wanted the date nailed down and then the destination. So Don  put in a vacation request for the week beginning with the Labor Day Weekend.  REJECTED/ALREADY SPOKEN FOR.  Now we had time to get passports, but after researching and thinking about the cost, Don decided we needed to go somewhere we could drive.  We both hate flying anyway.  Don loves trains and sleeper cars. We've been there done that.  Don never leaves the sleeper car. That does not excite me.  I like to drive and check into hotels.

The first week available was October 15- 23. So that was decided. Then beach, ocean, city or mountains?  We both like cabins in the mountains.  So now we had narrowed things down.  I found the website for Welcome Valley Village in Tennessee. http://www.welcomevalleyvillage.com/creek-crest   I showed the site to my daughter, Bridget and she decided her family would join us on the last 4 days.

This turned out to be a perfect vacation.  We drove to Chattanooga Saturday the 15th.  That part was not good.  We learned that one should never show up on the weekend in Chattanooga without hotel reservations.  We were on the internet in a hotel lobby at midnight looking for a place to spend the night.  We had to drive 30 miles north of Chattanooga to get a hotel room.  This was absolutely the first time I have left town without a hotel reservation, but hopefully it will be my last.  I hate reservations, because then you drive into a strange city and have to find that hotel as you drive passed 20 or 30 that would be great. But not so great if they are all full. 

Don is impatient with my picture taking.

Sunday, we bought groceries for the week and checked into the cabin.

  

On Monday we drove to Blue Ridge, GA and rode a train.  It was okay, but a little boring.  

The Ocoee River

There were a dozen of these huge buzzards in the tree.

Tuesday, Don went fly fishing and I just hung out in the cabin and walked through the woods.  There was not internet in the cabin, but I survived because my cell phone worked most of the time.

Wednesday it rained.  We had almost forgotten what rain was. It got rather cool so we had a fire in the fireplace and stayed in the cabin all day and read books. 

Thursday, we drove toward Asheville,  North Carolina and ran into snow at the higher elevations!  We drove through Brasstown, NC, twice, because I was looking for the $2.4 million mountain farm I had found for sale on the internet. http://www.greatcarolinaproperty.com/farms/208728a.html#a  It was a cute, very small town; under 400 people.  I was not determined enough to find it, because I never stopped and asked anyone where it was.  Most likely because I don't have $2.4 million and I was making Don angry driving all over the place.  Oh well, I'm sure it looks better on the internet and hundreds of miles away.

Thursday evening Bridget, Trinity and the grandkids arrived and we spent the rest of the time with them.  I'll write another post about those adventures.

My Happiness Has a Price

Today I discovered that with just spending $60 I can buy happiness.  "How?" you ask.

"Well, just look at my feet and toes!" I exclaim.

The photography may leave something to be desired.  And I didn't proclaim that I have beautiful feet or toes.  BUT a deluxe pedicure sure feels good.  And if the feet feel good, I feel good so my happiness abounds. 

It's silly that I have so much trouble parting with the money and time to get a pedicure.  

Note to self:  It is worth $60 to have happy feet, so don't wait so long next time.

Either Gracie or StayedAtHome Made a Contribution Today

It's small at first, but it will get a lot bigger.

When I went out this morning (rather late this morning) to feed the goats and chicken, I found a surprise.  

Either Gracie (the one the golden retriever played roughly with) or StayedAtHome (she didn't fly over the fence) laid her very first egg. 

They are 1/2 Copper Maran and 1/2 Barred Rocks.  Gracie is in front.

Omelet, a Barred Rock, #1 Hen with all the attitude

I have been making various comments about how long it has taken for them to lay an egg. They are from the first eggs to ever hatch on my mini urban farm last March.  Little Ace and Cracker took turns sitting on the eggs until they hatched.  Gracie and StayedAtHome are half Copper Marans (father Big Foot) and half Plymouth Barred Rock (Mother Omelet).  Omelet is my best laying hen.  All the hens seem to have stopped laying since the days have gotten shorter and cooler.  Only Omelet has laid an egg the last 2 weeks. Omelet is my oldest chicken and she has never gone more than a day without laying.  Lately, she has gone from laying everyday to every other day.  Now she is laying a giant odd shaped egg.  I can't even close the egg carton; it is so big.

Little Ace's   New Egg   Omelet's

But today we celebrate Gracie or StayedAtHome's achievement.  Will the one you laid the beautiful brown egg please cluck loudly.  Just wish I knew which one came through.

StayedAtHome has a larger dark red comb.

Kennedy and the Front Door are Decked Out--It's October!

 Kennedy has started wearing her October/Halloween wardrobe.  These outfits so exemplify her personality. 

Yes, she's pulling the leaves off of my crouton.

But I so want to get a perfect picture.

If you find Cloud, you will find Kennedy and me.

The photography session is OVER.

Wasted the Night Away

I am an extremely product oriented person.  So when I spend 3 hours and really have nothing significant to show, I'm very disappointed.  I started a blog about the GRADES the state has decided to give each school and an average letter grade to each school district.  But I will have to do it slowly because I get too emotional and write things people shouldn't read.  So what did I accomplish?  Well, I read a half dozen other blogs and found www.playlist.com.

Then I spent 3 hours putting together a list of 26 of some of my favorites songs.  It may seem like a strange mixture.  I apparently enjoyed the hours. 

cacrawley's Playlist http://www.playlist.com/playlist/22573079051

This playlist has the songs Born This Way by Lady Gaga, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Blessed by Elton John, We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel, Innocent Man by Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Patsy Cline, Dido Adele, George Straight, Garth Brooks, and  Leann Rimes more.

Giving the Girls a Trim

I started to write that Dottie Belle, Gypsy and Honey Bunny got pedicures today, but they have hooves, so that is not technically correct.  But they are city girls.  As we were leaving the theater after watching Moneyball,  MUCH to Don's chagrin I very nicely asked him to assist me in trimming the girls' hooves.  I have been able to snip them often while they were small, but they are a bit much to handle by myself now.  He had his choice of holding the goat or trimming the hoof.

Does Dottie Belle look like she's developing an attitude?

Well, that was not a difficult choice for him.  So I held the 50 lbs. goats one at a time, while he did the snipping.  I have been using gardening clippers, the best you can buy at Lowes, but they don't work very well.  Don had told me a month ago, when I asked him if he could sharpen them, a definite "No."  But that is his standard answer to 99% of my questions or requests.  But today he truly came to understand that these clippers are not adequate. Of course, since I was always holding a goat, there are no pictures; and honestly if anyone had gotten a picture I would not publish it.  I was in some very crazy positions. Sometimes I was sitting in a chair with the goat in my lap and sometimes the goat was in the chair with my arms around it. At times the goat was standing on the ground between my legs.  I'm thinking it could become an exercise craze like Zumba, because I truly got quite a workout. I told the student who lives in my garage apartment that we were about to trim the goats hooves and she ask the logical question, "How does a wild goat get its hooves trimmed?"  Well I know that answer.  Wild goats climb rocks and mountains that wear their hooves down.  I could consider dragging them down the sidewalks to wear them down.  If Don ever says no to helping me, I may have to give that a try.

I've included the following video for you to see how it could or should have gone.  I don't have a milking stand yet, so that will be handy.  My girls hooves were not in this bad of shape, since I've been snipping them pretty often.    

But the girls now have very nice looking hooves and Don said he saw some clippers at CVS that he thinks will be a lot better.  Anyway, I will let him buy them and we will see how they do.

Now It Feels Like Fall

Japanese Red Maples--just green and mostly brown.

I called Anthony a couple of days ago about getting the yard cleaned up and weeding my very neglected flower beds. He and I had already done the 4 in the front yard this summer. 
I told him that I hate my yard this fall.  It is so ugly. Instead of my Japanese Red Maples turning beautiful colors, the leaves are turning brown on the tips and curling up.

  The side yard has been covered with pine straw all summer, no matter how often it gets raked. The other day I counted 11 pine trees in my yard. 


UGLY, UGLY, UGLY.  My water bill has been $200 every month this summer and my flowers and grass are UGLY. 

Only the weeds look happy.

My husband used to go nuts every time  I made a new bed.  He would say, "You should not be making all those flower beds.  How are you ever going to keep up with them?"  Well, with the 110 degree temperatures the answer is I WILL NOT. They will go to weeds. But not forever; I have learned to call for help and write a check.  Gone are the days of doing it all myself.

These are the 2 beds. Mostly roses and daffodils and lilies bulbs.

Well, Anthony and his 60 year old helper showed up today!!  I went out and work with them.  Mostly to be sure the few pitiful flowers don't get pulled up with the weeds that have gone crazy. 

We started about 10 o'clock.  They had already mowed 2 yards on my street.

Look at all the bags of weeds and old pine straw.

They had already mowed 2 yards on my street. It is the first day I believe the calendar is telling the truth about it being fall. For a few hours it felt great.  I think I was working at least as hard as they were. 

At about  2:30 I went into the house to get something.  But this slow down made me realize how tired I was.

Then I came out, wrote Anthony a check (even though he hadn't finished) and told the guys I would only be working the rest of the time as a consultant. Actually I wasn't even available for that because I passed out on the sofa before they left.  

This was taken the next day.  They are very imaginative.

I woke up about 5 o'clock and Don was sitting in his chair in the morning room reading. We call it that because we like to sit in there and eat breakfast and drink coffee.   I coaxed him into going outside with me and letting the goat kids play in the yard.  Before we knew it our yard filled up with human kids, Connor, his friend Vivian, and Kennedy.  

 

Then Bridget and Trinity said they were going to Out Back for dinner.  Jacquie and G.B. had given Trinity a gift certificate to there for his birthday.  I know for a second, Don thought I had set him up for baby sitting with me.  He does not like it when he thinks I am pulling a fast one on him--who me?  

Connor

I wish I had taken my camera outside.  But if I had, I would have never convinced Don that I did not know the human kids were coming over.  The 6 kids, human and goat, ran all over the place and had a great time.  Vivian's dad called her home for dinner and soon Connor said, "Take me in the house and feed me."

I think Connor really enjoyed being the oldest child tonight.  Chase was spending the night with a friend.  Connor helped me cook salmon, and change Kennedy's diapers.  Then around 8:30 Connor said, "Make me a pallet upstairs with Grampa.  I need to go to sleep."  He is always very direct about what he wants and needs.  Bridget says he sometimes sounds like a grumpy old man.  But I love that he just says what he needs and doesn't get all whiny.  He communicates in such a way that I just do exactly what he says. I know I should teach him to say "please"; but for some reason he doesn't sound rude.  Life is easy the way he does it.

If a few more days turn out like today, maybe this fall will be beautiful after all.

Trinity's Birthday

Today is my son-in-law, Trinity's birthday.  He has been a part of our family even before he and Bridget got married in 1998.  We hired him as a carpenter's helper and our tile guy in about 1997 or so.  But he is a person of very rare talent.  He is actually an artist,  but has also become a great carpenter. He is a contractor now, but is still a one man show; he's the contractor, designer and carpenter.  He can do it all and do it with excellence.  Once a client gets him in their house to do their remodeling they almost never let him leave.  So his other jobs tend to log jam. When he was working for us, he built a second story addition on the house at the corner of Fairfield and Walton with just a helper.  

He and the boys look great in pink! You see Dottie Belle and Gypsy are always butting in.

He is also a great son-in-law.  I have often asked him to help me with little things like pull the spurs off the rooster or help me put the saddle on the hen.  He started calling me "Mom" from the start; meaning no slight to his mother.  He has enough love for everyone.

Trinity assisting in Kennedy's first bath.

He is very involved with his 2 sons and daughter.  They do their homework best with him.  He started out as the den leader in Chase's Cub Scout pack and now he is the Cub Scout Master.

 

He also did 2 tours in Iraq.  He is an American hero and someone for his children to look up to.

So tonight is Survivor night and we always get together and usually eat pizza and watch the show.  But for his birthday, I am making his favorite meal, chicken and dumplings and for dessert homemade banana pudding--not from a box.

Happy Birthday and much love, Trinity.
May you have many more.

What Happened to the Roof of the Goat House

Well first off, I didn't take pictures.  It was too disgusting.  I had been noticing every time I went into the backyard and looked in the goat yard that Gypsy was standing on top of the goat house.  But yesterday, I noticed it was covered in goat poop.  I mean covered. Take my word you don't want pictures.  What has happened, is a huge shake up in the girls' pecking order.  Little Miss # 1, Gypsy, apparently has fallen to number 3.  I cannot believe it.  She is the curious, outgoing and very smart one, but no; now she has to stand up on the  roof of the goat house, because Honey Bunny had suddenly realized that she is BIGGER than Dottie Belle and Gypsy and she is not taking anymore of their headbutting.  Wow!!  Honey Bunny still butts around with Dottie Belle a bit. But when Gypsy gets close to Honey; all Honey has to do is put her head down in butting position and Gypsy actually walks backwards to get away.  I'm almost sad for Gypsy, but not really.  She and Dottie Belle were such bullies to Honey the first week, that I just have to be happy for Honey.  Oh and I had to sweep off the roof of the goat house.  I swept it into a bucket and spread it around my peach and nectarine trees.  

So when the goats give me ****; maybe the trees will give me fruit.

Dancing Is Not Just For the Stars

Tonight was the premiere of this season's Dancing With The Stars.  I was there on the sofa watching it until 2 Broke Girls came on and then I switched back and forth.  It worked out great.  The last 3 dances took place during the commercials for 2 Broke Girls.  That doesn't happen very often.

During the first couple of seasons my husband watched many of the shows with me, now he is not interested. Perhaps because I kept making comments like for an anniversary present, maybe we could take dance lessons. I've learned that will scare them right out of the room. I happened to marry 2 rather nerdy guys who I believe will not dance because they fear they will look like Carson on the show tonight.  There is no way they would even look that good--sorry guys.

Even high school dances were terrible.  Most guys just don't like to dance.

I did get to dance with my son at his wedding.  I loved it, but I'm not sure he did.

The best dancing ever happened last October at my daughter, Jacquie's, wedding reception.  The love of dancing must be genetic. And it must go hand in hand with marrying or dating men who do not dance.  I think only my son-in-law, Trinity, likes to dance and is a good dancer.  But he was in Iraq, so all the ladies in the family couldn't fight over him to be their dance partner.

My mother, GiGi, is looking up at the camera.  She had fun.

Samantha and Tafta

Samantha and Jacquie

  Great Grand Mother, Grandmothers, Mothers, Nieces, Cousins and Sisters all danced the night away.   

Looks like my sister, Debbie, was under the table.

The secret to having fun dancing is to dance like you think you are a star.  And don't think about tomorrow.

Because I know some of us could not move the next day.