Name That State

Jonah was making a map. It had a long, winding road, and all along the road were various places. It started at our house, and then went to Oma and Opa's house and then Grandma and Grandpa's house. It had dots representing all the states of which he knew the names: Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon. But it needed more, so he asked me to supply some state names.

"Um... Washington."

"Okay... Washington." Dot.

"Florida."

"Oh! That's where the space shuttle takes off! Floooridaaa..." Dot.

"Georgia."

"Georgia..." Dot.

"Utah."

Blink. Stare. "No, you talk."

My turn to blink. "Utah."

"Mom, you talk!"

"I am! I said 'Utah.'"

"I want YOU to talk! I need more names!"

Sigh. "Jonah. There is a state. Named. UTAH."

"Uuuuutaaaaah?"

"Yes."

"Utah." Dot.

Springtime Surprise

After Cappuccino died, I borrowed a little yearling goat named Annabelle from a friend to keep my Opal company, since goats don't much care for being alone.

This goat has a funny little anomaly, a "forked teat", (apologies if that was TMI... this is life with animals) so she wasn't supposed to be used for breeding, but was perfect for companionship. However, my friend told me that she had broken in the with buck once last fall, for all of two minutes, so "she's probably not bred."

You know where this is going, don't you?

Apparently, two minutes is about all it takes.

This morning as I was milking Opal, I noticed that Annabelle looks an awful lot like she might be kidding... any minute. I checked on her later in the morning, and she was laying down looking normal. Then after lunch, Jonah came running in yelling "There's a new baby! Come look! A new baby!"

Sure enough! Annabelle was licking off a big, strapping buck kid. We watched a little while, and then along came another one. This one was born completely in the amniotic sack, which was really pretty neat, so I had Jonah take a good look and then I broke it off the kid's face since the mother didn't do it right away. She quickly started cleaning him up after that.

I guess that was our little homeschool science class for today.

This is that second kid (another buckling) as his momma was cleaning him up:



I was joking with a friend lately that I'm sure glad we humans don't have to lick all the birth goo off of our babies to get them clean... yuck. But the momma goats sure like to do it, and I guess that's good since they don't usually have a stack of clean towels handy.





I just can't get over how adorable cute they are! All legs and fluff, stumbling around trying to get their feet under them... So cute.





Annabelle seems to be a good mommy and is looking after them quite well. They both nursed like pros, even on the bad teat.





She was pretty happy to lick her babies, and then decided that Jonah needed a good licking as well.



And yes, I even have some videos of the new kidlets!

Now we need to think of names for these little guys. I'm open to any and all suggestions!

I just love that it's spring! We're waiting for more babies, as I have a hen on a big nest that should hatch any time (not sure when since she hid it on us and we don't know quite when she started to sit) and ducks who are starting to act broody as well. Ah, spring babies!

Einstein Has Left the Building

In my previous post, I mentioned that my blood doesn't seem to be making it to my gray matter any more. I'm not even joking about that. Really. I've had the house to myself all afternoon, and you'd think I'd be accomplishing things. I've been doing things all day, but I don't seem to have gotten anything done.

I had some sewing I wanted to do. I plugged in the iron, but I didn't turn it on. Waiting... waiting... I even started to iron with it, thinking it must be hot by now, and then realized my error. I then made all sorts of dumb mistakes on what I was sewing, so the project I was working on? Back to the beginning. Start over. Reset. Power flush.

So I went on to making a pan of enchiladas for supper. I put the tortillas in the toaster oven to warm. Waiting... waiting... Hello? Earlier I had unplugged the toaster oven for the iron (yeah, the one I didn't turn on...). So I got that straightened out, warmed the tortillas, and made the enchiladas, for which I didn't have enough sauce, because I somehow didn't make enough. Tried to make up for that with extra cheese. Put them in the oven and absentmindedly set the timer (which I usually don't do for casseroles-type things) and neglected to turn on the oven itself.

The list of things that I forget or don't think of on a daily basis these days is simply astounding.

Hello? Anybody in there? No?

I never really bought the whole "pregnancy brain" thing, but... dang.

The wheel is turning, but the hamster... oh, nevermind.

Walkin'

Since I evidently do not have a single thought in my head to share with you (I've been trying, too! My blood supply seems to have exited my brain for the time being, however.), I will share these photos that I was playing around with.












(I'm not sure if it's good or bad, in this case, that the images on blogger are almost too small to actually see...)

Kickin

I'm thoroughly enjoying my visit with my good friend, Debbie. We get along like a house on fire and we're having a great time. Technically, I'm here for cooking, cleaning, and babysitting, but that's all cake. It's kinda nice to just get out of my usual same-ol' same-ol' routine and do something different.

I even got to run out for a little clearance/thrift shopping today! I don't usually get to do that since I ordinarily only hitch up the buggy and head to the nearest small town for supplies about once a month. Ya gotta go to something more like a city for good bargains...

Look what I got myself brand-new for a whole dollar:




A hat! I've got me a hat! Gives me a little hip, urban edge, no? Alright, maybe nothing can make this country bumpkin all that hip, but it's fun to have a new remedy for a bad hair-day. And this here hat prolly does my cute little sister proud (looks like the one she wears, except it's in my colors), except I don't think I'll be wearing all cutely cocked to one side like she does. It's bad enough to wear my glasses that way...

Baby Cheeks!

I know I've been a baaad blogger and haven't bothered to blog anything in... um... a week. Downright neglectful. Hit a dry spell, okay?

I will now attempt to appease my readership with some squishy baby cheeks!





Doncha just wanna kiss 'em?

I'm staying with a friend who just had a baby last week. The baby's name is Leah and she's just as sweet as can be. Jonah got quite a kick out of holding her and examining her little fingers and toes. He's warming up for his big-brother debut in a few months...

With five older siblings in the house (four of them being brothers!), little Leah is gonna have to be tough. Good thing she has a big sister to show her the ropes.

Apple Fritters!

Jonah and I had to stop at the store for a couple things on our way home from the chiropractor's office.

(Aside: What is with this small-town grocery store that they are ALWAYS out of heavy cream? They have piles of half-n-half and fake creamer-crap, but they NEVER have cream! Or they only have one small container left! Hello, people, restock your cream! We're not all fat-phobes, ya know! Actually, I am a fat-phobe, but in a different way and that's why I don't drink pop! Oh, you should see the MOUNTAIN of a pop display in this store. Ick. Okay-- rant over.)

We had to walk past the bakery and thus the donuts. Just so we're clear, I think store-bought donuts of any kind are disgustipating. The male faction of my household would beg to differ. Anyway, Jonah was jonsin' for donuts, but I couldn't bear to buy them. I told him we'll make some donuts soon. "Toodaaaay? Pleeease?" I knew we wouldn't have time to make actual donuts today, but then I remembered that Pioneer Woman recently posted a recipe for Apple Fritters. As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew that my life wouldn't be complete until I made some.




They're actually very fast and easy to make. They're essentially muffin batter, deep fried. What could be better?

I used sprouted flour and sucanat and fried them in coconut oil (vegetable oil being from the devil and all), so they're actually pretty healthy...




These little babies are simply amazing. Yum, oh yum.

They disappeared in a hurry...



(Hey, recognize that face?)