Story #1 - What is your earliest memory?

What is your earliest memory?

That's easy.

The Calgary Zoo.

I remember it as being Rozann's birthday.

She was LITTLE,

since she was still in a stroller.

That means I was little too.

Maybe 3 or 4.

Anyhow.

Mom brought all 4 of us girls and a gaggle

of other kids as well (as was her habit)...

She was wrangling us all and doing

her usual masterful job.

We went to the children's zoo 

(my favorite part)

where there were some baby bears.

You climbed a set of metal stairs

(like the ones on the old metal slides)

which lead to a metal bridge that looked

down over a pit with the baby bears in it.

We all trooped up there and watched 

the bears for a little while.

I was fascinated and kept watching and watching.

Finally I had my fill and turned.

To find I was ALL ALONE!

I don't remember much other than I must have
found a worker (or they found me) and they
took me to the office.
They offered me ice cream, but I didn't
take it.  I was SCARED.
I have no idea what was REALLY happening,
but I was totally convinced there were men
(pirates) in the back room, they were playing
poker and they had a mean parrot.
I was sure they were going to do something
horrifying to me.

LOL

Anyhow.
They paged Mom.
And they paged Mom.
And they paged Mom.

Turns out, they had left the children's zoo
and headed straight over to the picnic area
(where you can't hear the paging system)
ate their sandwiches and played on the
playground and giant dinosaurs.
Then they packed up and headed back into
the zoo proper where Mom heard her name.

NOBODY NOTICED I WAS MISSING!!!!!
(See, I AM Mufty Mouser... quiet as a little mouse!)

She came and rescued me.
All was well.
And THAT is my earliest memory.

Thanks Story Worth!

Story Worth

For Mother's Day I gave Mom a subscription 

to a service called "Story Worth".

They send her a prompt each week

and then she writes a story.

At the end of the year, they will compile

all her stories and bind them into a book.

NIFTY!

Meanwhile, they send the prompts to me too

so I can change them if they aren't 

fitting for Mom.

I decided I was going to write my own story

and put it on my blog.

It started last week.

But last week was a DOOZY!

So I'm already behind.

(But Mom faithfully wrote her story!)

Anyhow...

stay tuned.

Tomorrow I'll post story #1.

Gone

Last night we took the 

"Big Trip"

and delivered the cows to the butcher.

The trailer has all new flooring and new 

tires, but the top is hanging on by a thread.

A new (to us) trailer is in the cards,

but this will do the trick today.

Sir fills the trailer nicely.

Moooon is tucked in there too.

Hi Sir.

He wasn't super excited about it.

But at least he didn't poke those horns

through anything.

Like Mooooon, for example.

It was an hour's drive through some

pretty country.

And then down a really long,

really bumpy,

dirt road.

But we made it!

Kyle did a masterful job of

backing the trailer into a spot

just barely big enough for the trailer.

He's quite the driver!

They got all settled in and met the neighbors.

(A bull and then a heifer and her 

calf came over later to say howdy.)

We chatted with Jeff the butcher and

made all the big decisions

(do you want the bones? YES)

(do you want the ox tail? ???? he

told me what to do with it, so YES)

Oh, and we want his head.

Jeff taught us how to process it

so we can have his skull and horns

to hang in the barn.

(Since we learned our lesson and this

is the LAST time we will have a steer

with horns!!!!!)

And then we headed home.

(By way of Chick Fil A)

Bye guys!

It's been an experience.

One we are anxious to do over again!

Best Mother's Day Gifts

It has been a busy week.

Like that is different in our lives.

LOL

But it is EASIER now.

Because I have the best guys

who took good care of me on

Mother's Day.

This is the chicken feed station.

See that new hose????

More importantly,

see that new hose BIB?

No more hauling a hose around

while it drips and leaks

so I can top off the ferment.

It is MARVELOUS!

On top of that, they also fixed

the other hose bibs around the farm

so the only hose I have to use / move

is the one in the chicken yard,

I drag the hose over to refill the duck pond.

But it's a short hose and not a pain

like the other one was.

We have dedicated water for the

horse trough

cow trough

chicken feed

new fruit trees

chicken yard.

It's wonderful!!!!!

Last night Rod caught all the 52 baby chicks

(what an ordeal THAT was!)

He has a net, like for fishing,

and got really good at catching the chicks in it.

They all got a green zip tie band

around their leg,

so we can identify which group

they are from.

And then it was out to 

"general population".

They seemed to be happy

out there, but they also 

went happily back into their

condo when the sun went down.

(Except for a couple who got

caught outside when the wind

closed the door early...)

All in all, it was a great day!

Goodness Gracious! UPDATED

Last night.

Goodness Gracious!

Last night.

So...

Sir loves to play.

Who Meeeee?

Yes, YOU.

At some point yesterday he tipped over

their rubbermaid water trough.

Poor Mooooon, she doesn't think it is funny.

I fed them their grain

and while they were pre-occupied,

re-filled their trough.

Then headed back to the barn to finish

my other farm chores.

Glanced up.

Sir was high-tailing (literally - he flags his tail

when he runs) it across the pasture.

Straight back to his water trough.

I figured he was thirsty.

Nope.

Ran over.

Flipped it.

Walked back to his feed bucket.

REALLY??????????

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I put some hay in the trailer

knowing he would hop in there

and wouldn't see me.

Fixed the trough,

refilled it and stood guard

while poor Moooooon  got a good

long drink.

(Meanwhile, there is a nice big mud puddle

now where he dumped the water.

Naturally Roxie hit it like the mud magnet she is...)

Then Roxie hopped in the trough.

(She LOVES the water.)

Splashed around a little and then 

hopped out, soaking wet.

Looked for a good place to roll

to dry off - aaaaah, HERE is the perfect spot!

You guessed it.

(Probably)

Yup, right on top of a fresh-ish cow patty.

Sigh.

She is clean.

The trough is full.

The cows are being delivered TOMORROW.

I am counting the minutes.

Kind of.

*********************************************

UPDATE!

The butcher is going to be out of town this weekend.
So the BIG EVENT is being pushed off until next weekend.
I'll be out of town.

******************************************

FURTHER UPDATE!

Doug - the man Kyle has worked with for, for the
past 5 years was out in his pasture this morning,
making sure everything was ready for his youngest
daughter's wedding reception tomorrow evening.
Didn't feel well.  Went inside to lay down.
Never woke up.

Such terrible, sad sad news. 

Yummy Dinner

It's not the best picture in the world...

But it was GOOD!

Chicken with black beans and mango.

In my pretty red cast iron pot.

YUM!

(First meal that didn't involve the air fryer

in quite some time...

Needed to give the other players some love.)

Last night I made chicken & wild rice soup

in the pressure cooker.

But tonight it's BBQ chicken in the air fryer.

LOL

Random Weekend Stuff

I was off this weekend.

It was SO nice and relaxing!

Saturday morning Kyle and I met the

other members of my Trails and Greenways

Committee down at the woods 

to replace / repair some signage.

There is a TON of signage out there!

Somebody got WAY too carried away!

But Kyle and I took off by ourselves

and had an enjoyable 2 hours walking

our trail and enjoying the morning.

I was actually taking a picture of

some soil stabilizing material

one of the other teams put down.

And there was Kyle!

(He had gone back to the house

to drop off some stuff we didn't need...)

SURPRISE!

The guys also finished putting in the 

new little trees.

Two peach and two loquat.

Excited!

Rod also finished replacing the floor in the trailer.

It's all ready now for the cow transfer

on Saturday.

When I order chicks, they always send a

random "mystery chick".

This is this year's.

I'm thinking it's another rooster.

But we'll have to see.

Hard to tell in these pictures,

but it (he?) is quite a big bigger

than the rest...

Pretty though...

Some of the girls were out

looking for goodies to eat.

The ducks were happily wandering around.

Kyle and Shadow were playing...

And here's Saturday's crop.

(Notice Grandma's recipe box...)

It was a great weekend!

Oops!

We have been feeding the cows in the

trailer to prepare them for their "big trip"

next Saturday.

Yesterday Rod and I were standing by

the trailer, visiting and talking about

the logistics of getting them in AND getting

the doors shut.

He was trying to explain it to me when we

looked inside and noticed the floor.

Close to the back, there is a broken

floor board!

That could be a DISASTER!

Next thing you know, the trailer was

hitched up to the 4-wheeler and pulled

up to the house and on the patio

where a closer inspection could be undertaken.

By that time Kyle was home.

Sounds like it will involve

welding.

(Yes, it's pretty rusty.  Rod reminded me it is

17 years old, and has been sitting out in the

pasture all those years...)

We don't do much trailering around here...

Late Dinner

We had a busy evening last night.

Kyle got off work early to update his

drivers license.  

(CDL has to update their medicals)

So he was home when I got there.

Rod went to donate plasma.

So he wasn't.

Kyle and I put the puppy on a leash

and grabbed a bucket and went

out into the woods to do some

blackberry picking.

We were too early.

By a couple of weeks.

But it was still a fun walk!

Then there were the usual chores.

And the guys started planting our new 

trees (peach and loquat).

Pictures tomorrow.

It was getting dark.

And then I remembered it was

Wednesday and had to wash and deliver

the week's tiny egg collection.

Only 11 dozen again this week.

Is it July yet????

(That's when I hope the new girls

will come on line...)

Then a trip to the store for Rod

to buy another hose so we can water

the new trees...

And THEN it was time for dinner.

But I hadn't really planned anything

and didn't really feel like cooking.

(By this time it was after 9)

Luckily I had some frozen fish fillets

and an air fryer!  (I went outside to close

up the chicken coops and Rod was going

to start the fish - but when I came in he said

the box says to cook them for 45 minutes!)

Air fryer to the rescue.

10 minutes later we had yummy, golden brown

breaded fish, some nacho cheese thingies,

and a lovely salad complete with cherry tomatoes

and sugar snap peas. (tomatoes from the garden)

Rod made my salad for me!

DUCK!

Our baby ducks are chickens.

Ever since we first started

letting them out of their little rabbit house

they have stuck right next to the condo.

By their pool.

By their buddies, the baby chicks.

And then they started to slowly venture

further and further out into the chicken yard.

Even going so far as eating some

of the chickens fermented feed.

(YUM!)

(Until the chickens made a face at them

and they ran back to their designated corner...)

But Monday, THIS happened!

DUCKS!

Out in the YARD!

Unfortunately, shortly after that,

Bandit noticed them and decided

they shouldn't be out there.

In the process of herding them back

to their designated corner

she nabbed one by the neck.

There were lots of feathers,

lots of quacking,

lots of freaking out.

But no dead ducks.

Whew!

Everybody is fine now.

But they are sticking pretty close

to their "spot".

Sorry ducks!

Maybe you can try again later.

I Love My Life

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.

(Deep sigh of contentment...)

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Well, it's only 7:30 am, 

so a little early to make an official

proclamation about the whole DAY.

But it was a beautiful morning in the neighborhood.

Sorry Mr. Rogers.

A nice cool breeze was blowing

through the house

as I made our chocolate / banana smoothies

and scrambled eggs with cheese & bacon.

Headed off to work driving the VW

this morning.  (Rod has to pick up some

hay after work so he's driving the truck...)

Counting down to when he drives it daily.

Once my office moves, I'll have (get) to drive

the car every day.

As I was driving along the river,

I glanced up and got to watch the successful

(so far) launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying

a new military spy satellite.

First military contract for SpaceX.

Way to do a great job guys!!!!!

This mission has a goal of landing the

stage 1 rocket back on Earth on a landing 

pad out at Cape Canaveral.

Since they have already successfully landed

it on a BARGE on the OCEAN 

(aka - moving postage stamp)

I'm not sure this is a very lofty goal.

Seems like they did it backwards.

Certainly if you can hit a tiny spot on the ocean,

a big ol' solid hunk of concrete on the ground

shouldn't be much of a challenge...

But they didn't ask me.

Anyway.

It's always beautiful to see them take off

as the sun is coming over the horizon.

The morning sun catches the rocket and the

stark white contrail and makes them shine

and sparkle like nothing else you've ever seen.

So beautiful!

I grabbed my phone to snap a picture to share

with y'all, but it appears my phone did an update

overnight and required tapping OK or something

and then restarting and all sorts of other nonsense

which is a really long explanation to say

NO PICTURE.

But trust me. It was beautiful.

Rod works at our local flight school.

Which is located just "over there" on the other side

of those trees next to my office.

(OK, and like a mile or two away... but whatever...)

This morning somebody was, I don't know,

practicing landings? Just getting started?

Not really awake?

Either way, they were flying LOW!

Like duck and carry an umbrella LOW.

Like I could nearly read the flight instructor's

name badge on his shirt.

(Not to mention the look on his face!  LOL)

Honey.

You might want to talk to them about that.

But it still put a smile on my face.

(And then I got to work and my "files" that were due

Friday (last day of the month) came this morning, which

is good news.  And I got an email that my supervisor

is out of the office today, which is good news...

so maybe Mr. Rogers was right all along!)

*********************************************************

In other news... update on my HUGE class this weekend.

I ended up testing 27 students. 

(new rule, if you don't complete your hours, 

you don't even get to TRY the final exam... 

I had a bunch who got sick,

 had work schedule conflicts, etc etc etc...) 

 Out of 27, I passed... wait for it... 

NINE. 

 Sigh.  

(In my defense, all but 2 of the ones who failed 

are Haitian and don't have a great handle 

on the English language - they did well 

answering oral questions, but reading the test 

was too much for them.  

But they'll get it... if they don't give up.)  

(Either way - somebody else's problem.) 

(More good news!)

MAKE IT A HAPPY MONDAY!