Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Pure Sweetness!


More Adorableness!

The kitties are venturing further and further from their barn safe haven.
Their favorite thing to do is practicing climbing trees and prowling around the tall grass behind the shop.
I can't help it....they are so cute.
Lightening loves to be held on his back and pet.
They both immediately purr the second you pick them up.
Lightening is spying on Thunder.
See? Look how cute he is!
They find the teeniest little twigs to play with. Who needs cat toys?
Miss Thunder is the one with the crazy energy.
The little boy is a little more layed back.
The kitty doesn't know what to make of the chicks and the chicks don't know what to make of the kitty.
They were hysterical to watch.

New Babies!

So....about March I started to suspect that Lizzy was pregnant.
That rascal Jacks had something to do with that!
Victoria and I couldn't seem to remember when the last time she went into heat. So we counted out 150 days for gestation from when we last remembered and came up with the possibility of having new baby goats June 9th!
We were close! Two new baby goats came into the world on June 8th!
Kaleb and I had just left to go fishing in Logan Canyon when Kirk called and said he was pretty sure that Lizzy was about to give birth. So we high tailed it back home to see these two little miracles just minutes after they were born. Kirk and Victoria saw it all happen.
Lizzy did really well and quickly showed us good motherly instincts
Both babies looks just like mom and simply adorable.
Just seconds old they were licked clean and standing on wobbly little hooves.
This little one above is a buckling. He looks like he has pajama pants on so we are calling him PJ.
His name fits him quite well. He seems to like me. Whenever I walk into their pen he comes up to me for me to pick him up and hold him. I think we have another lap goat like his mama.
This sweet baby is a doeling that Victoria named Ella. Both have beautiful blue eyes like their parents.
One happy Mama.
I love Lizzy's sweet smile.
I think she has done a wonderful job of caring for her little darlings.
Just after they were born and were standing on wobbly legs they were talking to each other. Lizzy was between the two of them responding to each one as they bleated. She kept turning her head, responding and then looking at the other one, responding...over and over until they settled down.
It was so sweet!
Lizzy is already teaching them bad habits. We found all three of them sleeping in the bottom of the hay trough. The babies were tucked under the wire that holds the hay up.
PJ is on the left and Miss Ella is on the right.
24 hours old
Proud mama watching over her little ones.
God's precious little creatures.
We are so blessed to be living where we are living.
Our house may not be up to date and very old but having almost one and a half acres of land where we can have the goats and the garden and everything else that is going on, is something that Kirk and I have waited a lifetime to experience.
And we have it right at our finger tips.
God is  Good...All the Time!

Thunder and Lightening

We brought home two new kittens from a friends house.
We had no idea at the time if they were boys or girls. We now know that Thunder (top)
is a little girl and Lightening (white blaze) is a little boy.
We lasted five months without a kitty in our home. The first time ever...in my whole life, we didn't have a cat. Not any more! These little ones were born and have been living in a barn so it is very easy for them to adapt to being barn kitties.
They are the most precious kittens. A little hard to see when it's dark in the barn. Their little bells on their collars really help. The time just flies by whenever I sit down to visit with them.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Oneida Narrows

The fun part about living so close to the Idaho border....
we get the best of both states.
We went on an adventure seeking the perfect fishing spot.
Daphne always reminds me of some young english country girl.
Kaleb caught a trout just after the sun slid behind the mountain.
He got lots of useful tips from Nana who was once a deep sea fisherman with
 her Dad growing up.
There was quite a bit of wildlife all around us.
These Canada geese were swimming up stream in groups.
Country Girl.

Lucky!

Out of necessity, Victoria has learned to drive the lawn mower.
Jared came home just in time to help us figure out why the motor was quitting on her.
He moved the seat forward so that the automatic shut off switch that
 is in the seat wouldn't engage when she bumped over our hugely uneven lawn.

A Pop-In Visitor

You never know who is going to pop in for a snack.
This cute little turquoise blue bird is a Lazuli Bunting!







Ultimate Weed Eaters

While Jared was running a trencher through the yard we decided to have Victoria take the goats over to the back of the property. We weren't sure how Lizzy was going to react with being pregnant. In true goat fashion, they were so preoccupied with munching away on the weeds that they hardly noticed the activities revolving around the trencher.
Plus they did a good job of decreasing the amount of weeds that literally grow knee high over night.

Irrigation

 It's so nice to have such a capable son who loves everything dirt.
Perfect for handling this contraption.
We rented a trencher to get water from here......
 to all the way down there.....

I know You're Jealous!

It's okay,
You can say you are completely envious of our Home Depot industrial strength power cord.
110 year old houses come with questionable electricity.
In this case, we had a power outage during a thunder storm, which is quite common here. 
The unfortunate part is it blew the circuit board in our oven....
therefore, we not only have to use our little convection oven that we use in the summer out in the garage to keep the kitchen from heating up (hence the no A/C...remember 110 years old) but we have to buy a new oven as well. AFTER.....we have an electrician check the outlet. 
Don't you just love the crappy cupboards and counter top?
Not to mention the ancient vinyl linoleum.
The good part is that I have Sammy to protect the floor....
just in case a pancake jumps off the plate or something.

Our New Garden Site

For the first time EVER....we have our garden in our very own yard!
This is a big deal and anyone who has ever had a garden in someone elses
 yard will know how it feels to have it right out the back door.
Of course, these pictures were taken three weeks ago.
Now the plants are huge and showing signs of harvest in the future.
It is so awesome to cut fresh lettuce for a salad right out of the garden!