Progress

My war against the weeds appears to be leaning in my favor....I've only got one more section of the yard to combat.  Here's the pile now, a few days later.....

.........and what's left to do.

Also, looks like I might actually get some tangellos this

 year!!  This would be the first year it has actually produced fruit.  

And, I think it is time to start planning my fall garden.  Time to call the garden experts I know (my mom and MIL) to figure out what I can plant!  I want to make sure I don't miss the window of planting opportunity.

Upsides and Downsides

I noticed from all the rain we've gotten the last couple weeks, our trees have really grown quite a bit.  When we planted our cottonwoods about 15 months ago (+/-) they were just 3/4 inch whips; just little leaves growing off a stick, with no 'branches', and in the ground were only about 5 feet tall.  Plant them with expert help (Mom and Dad!!) and give them lots of water, and some of them have passed up our neighbor's pine trees.  (Our neighbor planted his pine trees about 3 years ago, and they were the 42" box size, or maybe bigger, when they went in the ground.  They looked huge at the time!!)  They look gorgeous, and make the perfect 'rustle' noise when the breeze blows.  I'm not sure of their height, but for comparison, the rail fence is 4 feet at the top rail.....

Contrast that with our 'front yard'......I have neglected it for many reasons.  For one thing, no one drives past it, aside from the garbage man.  Also, I can't see my front yard from any of my main windows.  So, I never see it until I am pulling up to the house, or leaving.  What I do see all day, is gorgeous green trees and grass, and it's easy to forget that there's a forest of brown ugly dirt and tumble weeds on the other side.  I began this morning my battle with these tumbleweeds, and made quite a bit of progress before I nearly passed out.  It was pleasantly cool this morning, but one can only take so much.  :)  Unfortunately, as huge as the pile of uprooted weeds is, there is at least 4 times that, still rooted in the ground.  :(  I'll keep at it, though, I need to reclaim what once 

was my front yard.  And maybe someday someone will buy the property next to us and clear it; that will really cut down on the weeds that spread to our yard.  

Just thought I'd rub it in to anyone who doesn't have homegrown steaks whenever they want; check out the size of that sirloin on the left!!  Yummmmmm....

And, finally, the mystery of the week.....There is a nest of some sort that has begun to form on our front door.  I know that wasps make nests like this out of mud, but the ones I have seen are much much larger.  I have drenched this mud clot with bug spray, and plan to arm myself with another can of it before I knock it to the ground.  Any guesses as to what is inside??

What to do with the milk?

I had a brilliant plan to freeze all the extra milk we had so that we would have milk when I let the does dry up. But, I didn't have much extra ever and now I am getting ready to breed them, and not very excited about it. I for sure don't know enough about it all to just rely on a one-day visit from a 'friend', so I was planning on having a buck here for a month. I do know don't want to milk or drink the milk from the does during that time. I don't want buck smell permeating into my skin....but, if I let them dry up right now, that will be 6 months or so without milk. That's a long time! So, you see my dilema. :( I might just have to deal with the smell, and just shower right away after milking every day. *sigh*. Off to Craigslist to find the does a 'friend'.....

Picture of the day

I could get used to this

It's been raining off and on for a week or so now. Mostly at night, which is nice because when I wake up the air is really fresh and it's very quiet outside.

This morning, though, it was raining when I went out to milk, which was a different story. I don't have a barn or cover to milk under, so I just had to put on my jacket and subject me and the poor does to a soaking. It let up as I was squirting, but then I heard thunder. Normally a very pleasant sound to me, this morning it was a bit intimidating. I realized as I was squeezing, that I was holding a steel pail, hunched over a goat that was standing on a steel framed milking stanchion. I squirted faster and faster as I contemplated what it would be like to be struck by lightning, and how I would explain it to DH that I was stubborn enough to keep milking even though my gut was telling me to stop and go back inside! I'll admit that I didn't strip them completely dry and I got my little behind back in the house. Within 20 minutes, it was a full out thunderstorm and absolutely pouring.

Generally, I haven't liked rain much in the past. Maybe it's because it turns out front 'yard' into Lake Mud every time it happens (and it's guaranteed that we have company over AT LEAST once a day until it is dried up, so they traipse awkwardly though the mud to our front door). I also don't care for what it does to my hair (vain, I know, but true).

Lately, I have really been enjoying it. The air is fresh, my grass is green, the trees are growing and the cloud cover blocks the blasting sunlight for a bit. Those 5 inches of rain a year that our state gets seem to have all come this week, but I hope it's not over. ;)

More reconstruction

This is too fun...good thing I have plenty of tshirts to experiment with. ;) Who doesn't? Get your scissors out! Chop chop!

Butterflies

At first, a week or so ago, I pointed out every single one. 'Look! A butterfly!' 'Look! A butterfly!' 'Look! A butterfly!'....It wore off, though, and I haven't been pointing them out anymore. Today, I finally figured out where they were all coming from. As I pulled out of our street and looked at the alfalfa fields flowering, I saw thousands (millions?) of tiny yellow butterflies. I tried to get the camera to focus on the amazing scene of the fluttering haze above the field, but I just couldn't capture the magic of it. Still, I managed to catch a few of them in focus.....