Riyescott Ranch

Here are the photos I promised from yesterday. So about the scary eyes. Brook, our first dog is 10 years old this month. We named her Brook as we had been looking to move to Brookings and the name seemed to fit. She had a squirrel as her first toy as a pup. Mei got both Brook and Max a squirrel for Christmas and Brook wanted both of them. Those of you that know her will often see her trotting around with several of my slippers, socks, or unmentionables!

But after a while when the excitement settled they had one each. 24 hours later both squirrels are still intact!

Thanks, Mei.

I am really trying to get the blog habit. Christmas is done for another year, thank goodness. It all seems so silly. People spending money they don’t have on gifts people don’t want. Have you ever seen the queue for take backs the day after Christmas at Costco? Or Walmart? Really.

We had a quiet day Mei came over I made dinner and we tried to stay warm. The boy sheep got out because the wind blew the gate open. So that was good exercise. My poor Brussels sprouts made it through snow, ice, hail and wind. Then along came 4 hungry-for-green-things sheep followed by two equally hungry-for-green-things llamas. Well, they are now back in their pen, most likely plotting to get out again. Not that I don’t let them out. They get a large area to graze when it is not pouring down with rain.

Some of the Brussels are still standing, but it was not a pretty sight.

I will add a couple photos tomorrow. And Blog again tomorrow…

When today millions of people wait at airports to go home for the holidays. I wonder if they are the same bunch that did it last year? Or maybe they don’t remember last year?

Christmas is always in winter, well for us in this hemisphere.

Anyway I digress. As you know I traveled to England this past October. It had been a year since I had the misfortune to be at an Airport. Well Virgin Air lets you have approx 60lbs in your checked bag. But United Air only allow 50lbs. .

While in England I found some antique furniture polish. I need it to use on my furniture that I refinish. So I got a big one. Then after collecting several things to add to my luggage I spotted the Oxford Marmalade. The best Marmalade. Expensive. I got a big one. Squeezed everything in my case. Had to leave a few things behind, like the nice tea set my sister gave me. At the airport to get on the United plane they said my bag was too heavy. What? It would have cost me an additional $135. What?

I just came from Briton on Virgin.

Well they told me, just put some of it in hand luggage. What? Same weight on the plane but now I have to carry it. In my haste as I was running to get to the gate. I grabbed the polish and the marmalade and put in my hand luggage along with other bits and pieces. Bad move.

Next through security. They pulled my bag out and yes you guessed it. The Marmalade and the polish were taken from me. What? blow up a what with what? Marmalade and polish! I should have realized that I would never be allowed on the plan with such dangerous ingredients!

So Ms. Security Checker Have a nice holiday, I hope you are working today!

And I just picked Tomatoes out of the green house
Not that I had a bumper year. The hoop green house was barely up before the cold weather hit and I had to leave to go to see Mum and Dad in England. Then when I got back to the disaster of fallen trees and fences. The Tomatoes in the hoop house got cold and damp and so they are thrown out. My egg plants are still hanging on though, go figure.

But the old green house still has 8 tomato vines and if I can keep them going a bit longer I can take cuttings and be well ahead of the game for good tomatoes all year.

Stay warm wherever you are…

I scanned the news this morning and one clip was asking the banks what they did with the bail out money? Not one bank could answer. (LA times newspaper on line) And the car bail out? In three months they will need more or what? Where is this all going? I don’t know about you but I don’t like it!

I think this is an interesting person who wrote this book:

http://depletion-abundance.blogspot.com/2008/02/bob-waldrop.html

But right now I have some pea soup on the stove and books waiting to be read. So keep warm and I will find something to say tomorrow!

Finally at the end of the sun going south, tomorrow it will turn around and head back toward Summer! Not that so far this Winter has been bad for us. I think the dark days get me.

Yesterday I was surfing the net (Dale carried my computer upstairs were it is much warmer, so I find myself on it more) I was innocently looking at seeds I need to buy and found all kinds of Bloggers by accident. Seems everyone is doing it….blogging that is!

People talking about the economy and the possibility of the failing food systems. It occurred to me that perhaps we are heading for times that we, in the future will call “The Good Old Days”. Days that we had to “mend and make do”, Grow our own food, make our cloths, stay close to friends and family and we rethought the way we live. I think these are good things and our children and grand children will thank us for it.

I find myself saving plastic bags, yes and washing them out. Thinking twice about what I buy at the market. Turning lights out. I have a feeling we all will be doing more because we have to survive.

It has been pointed out that a few of you don’t know what a Kohlrabi vegetable is well…

I likes the crunchy bits! I just peel and eat raw, it never makes it to the salad mix.

Later….

Clever! And the added bonus is slaving over a hot stove.

The weather this year has been weird. We had hardly any rain until the middle of December. But this past week or so we have had it all. Snow, hail, freezing rain, rain, wind and frost. I had plans to get a lot done during the Winter months but all I want to do is be by the fire.

The greenhouse got put up a bit before I left for England. I got half of it done. That is to say I have raised beds and good soil in them. I have some tubes that are hanging (see photo) And I managed to get some seeds in late October. I am harvesting the Kohlrabi and still some Tomatoes and lettuce. My plan is to put in more raised beds and more tubes.

I will keep you informed on the progress, but right now I am going back to the cozy fire!

Has it really been 6 months since I visited this soap box? The time is rushing by and I wish I could put brakes on the clock. I listen to 40’s music and wondering the isles of the antique stores in the hope that somehow time will just wait for me to catch up. Another year has gone, who knows where and we don’t seem any further along. Or are we?

During my silence:
I have had an 80 x 24 ft hoop green house put up.
Artificially Inseminated 17 sheep with Herdwick Semen from England.
Ordered a new kitchen for one of the condos (we are selling the two condos next year)
Visited my parents in England accompanied by my daughter
Worked on my pastures.
Planted a garden that failed, but I will try again next year.

The sheep:

Are doing great. This breed, Herdwick are very hardy and they stay so clean. I will be weaving rugs as soon as I can. The shearer will be here in late February and I can get going on the wool processing. I don’t have any of the sextuplets left. All were fine and sold. I do still have Baby. She is the one who used to sleep with my dogs upstairs.

I hope all are bred and lambs will be coming in March.

All the butcher lambs are sold except for two.

Oh, but my favorite thing is the wood stove.

Last year our electric bills were HUGE. We had electric heaters. It was horrible. Late this summer we had a Regency Wood stove put it. We have lots of wood in the barn, no surprise as we have a tree farm and wood is everywhere.

I am cooking on it! It started out that because our cook top fizzed out we only had a double burner I put a few things on top of the stove as an experiment. Now everything goes on it. I will continue tomorrow the story of the stove. Got three pans on it right now and the best place to be is stirring the stew!

Don’t have much time to write but I am making the tough decision to sell the peacocks. We could eat them I guess…

They are eating my garden and as it is my greatest wish to finally have a garden this year I can’t keep them.

They are beautiful there is no doubt. And entertaining. So if anybody out there knows someone looking for peacocks…….I will post photos tomorrow. It is 9.30 and we have not had supper…

POST SCRIPT:

Peacocks are sold. I miss them

Sometimes.

Have you ever had someone steal something from you? It feels like that. Or someone spying on you from a dark corner. Feels like that.

I keep myself to myself and would never intend to hurt anyone. Live and let live. Mind my own business. But to have people complain about me, my dogs, my activities or family and friends. To complain, not to me but to others. Like the county or the police or the animal control people.

What is a neighbor? “fellow man” or “a kindred human being”. Neighbor is the wrong word, weirdo’s might be better. It just would never occur to me to look up what a neighbor was doing and try to find a reason for a complaint. Search the internet for “evidence”, look for something to be aggravated about.

My friend and soon to be nice neighbor wanted to do a “crank in” — getting fellow knitters with circular crankable sock knitting machines in for a get away. We thought that we would provide a pot luck and a few sandwiches. Perhaps we thought a spaghetti dinner.

But my “neighbors” found an ad on the internet advertising this event. These people complained to the county that we were conducting a business in our home and sent a copy of the internet ad. Who does that kind of thing? Well, we would not want to upset the neighbors with the noise of the knitting machines……I have heard about those rowdy crowds of sock knitters.

Well beggar–thy–neighbor. Gain at the expense of others. But what they gain I don’t know. I don’t know what to say….