Sunday, October 15, 2023

Winter is coming!


My friend Donna and I had a few days visit  about a month ago. Although we have both spent a lot of time in Yosemite it has been quite a while. If when you visit and come in on Hwy 140 and enter at the North entrance you are greeted by amazing rock facing that will take your breath away.


What's new buttercup? Why sheep my friends. I can now add Shepherdess to my other hats. Although these are not my first sheep but a start to a small spinner's flock. Peter and Paul are Shetland withers about 18 months old.  A friend and I brought them home about two weeks ago so they are still in the "getting to know you" stage. Both are friendly but Peter on the left makes it easier to bribe . Paul is coming around nicely. The end goal is they will be in the barn before winter with the goats and dogs with access to the acre pasture. More sheep to be added next year. 


BBboy is the last kitten added to our family via the hay barn at about 4 weeks. He has grown into a
 handsome cat. Short but sweet for now. Still impossible to add photos from my iPhone to my blog without going back and forth to place them correctly. Suggestions welcome as always.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Autumn is coming !

 

All the quirky weather we have had in the last several years shows no signs of stopping. To date we really had a very mild summer and no one will hear me complain. Autumn is showing itself in the casting of longer shadows , cooler mornings and not the traditional periodic heat waves that are typical of July and August . I must admit I am still trying to get over being stuck in daylight stupid time without even a by your leave by the government of our county. It must be nice to play God. Thank you I feel much better but my clocks are  and will be set on "standard" time forever. I just do the math if needed.  

I had the delivery of 58 bales of alfalfa the winter hay for the goats. Last year I was able to stretch the same number of bales at about 125 pounds each last for October through June  and expect the same effect this year. Of course the big thrill was the price was down to $18 a bale. These are the coffee table rectangle bales. Nice to shave a bit off the price to go to other items. Such as fire wood. As some of you know, heat  with a wood stove. After eight years of having 42 acres for our wood needs it seems strange to have to purchase wood . But it was my choice to buy my wood and not pay PGE for it and the propane delivery. As I was only two years into  a new stove much more effective than the older one I loved but was very old and large in the cabin from the last owner.  All in all despite our crazy wet, snowy very cold winter I burnt only about 3 cords total. I have a bit of pine left over and will buy 2 cords of oak and 1 cord of pine to get through this winter. I also have the remains of the oak trees that died this winter to the amount of rain, melted snow and low temps to use also. 

    
 The present garden at the junction of the new fence is going to the right.
           

First section of the new fencing going down hill in the next photo.


Down hill run past the Blue Aptos and the drive in gate just past the left over fencing 
After the gate is the L turn that goes a bit out with a potential pen with shelter.


This is the current garden . My Black mission fig is happy in its home . Has a dozen figs developing on it . This is its third year and for a Mediterranean loving tree I am amazed it made it through the winter!

The garden is plugging along. It is by no means a huge amount in fact not enough for even canning. But it was started three times due to two false starts when winter decided to hang around and now yes, the cooler temps this summer. The great news is I got my fencing guy to fence off an L shape and hope for a relocation for the garden this coming year. I will keep some of the existing raised beds in the original garden such as my first year asparagus where they are. Redesign it for all creatures veggie wise that do well in not needing full sun and more herbs. I am thinking about putting down the ground cover of a variety that can be walked on but doesn't require constant watering and no mowing. Also able to withstand walking on. There are several types just have to decide.  

The barn still needs to have some weather proofing on the SW end. The way our storms come in I need to have two more barn doors larger but the same design as the one I had put in on the tact room entry which also gives access to all four stalls.  Since the previous owners had both of the ends open when the winter winds hit from the SW it blows right through the front stalls and out the backs of the back two stalls. I have finally decided that since they had horses and only lived here for 13 years before myself that the was a period when the state was in drought and the weather much tamer in the winter and much hotter in the summer. Other than that I would like to think they would have protected their horses from the 65 MPH winds we now get.

The above photo shows the sliding barn door I hope to add for the SW end of the barn giving an easy slide to cover the end keeping the weather out of the barn this winter.





Saturday, July 8, 2023

So you think it is all fun, games and naps on a farm?

 This is the morning after. Dude now 3 years chose to stay out last night and party with Esmeralda and Isabella the barn cats. He came in about 5:30 AM had a bite in the pantry and proceeded  to crash. When last seen around noon snoozing.



              

                                       All the while BBBoy chose to cozy  up   to his cactus . 



  

                                Miss Kitty not to be out done took a power nap on the front porch.


       Your guess is  as good as mine . If the pup in front is Cirrus aka Bug then the paw behind him is                                 Storm. Both are enjoying a nice mid morning nap in the SE stall by the water trough.    \           

       
                                  
                                     You won’t catch me snoozing! Someone around this place                                                  someone has to cook, clean and stack hay. 

Sunday, July 2, 2023

So Much Has Changed Here

 


This is what happens when you don’t blog in almost a year, except for blurbs here and there. When Sherman crossed the Bridge it left a hole for two and four paw creatures. I was determined not to make a quick decision and it was almost September with a lot of seasonal items to fill the coming months. Please remember this is the woman who said I don't want a puppy. However when I got an email from my friend and whose family have raised Great Pyrenees for at least 60 years asking if I knew of anyone who wanted a working pup all that went into the dish water. I got both Spinner and Sherman from Angie . I still had Sherman's bonded partner Yarrow at the age of eleven she was looking at retirement in the face or at least slowing down. "Well what are the lines?" Angie began to rattle off  a pedigree that had some very familiar names. This litter had Sherman's litter in the background. I hesitated to get a single puppy as Yarrow expected life span is 3 years , possibly 4 years tops. If I only got one then in a few years I would be looking for a buddy that one who was bonded to Yarrow. Deep breath knowing there was an outside possibility the pup could out-live me. I am not planning on it but I like to cover all bases when it comes to my critters . I feel it is the responsible thing to do . Another deep breath " Angie would you let me take two males?" So here I am going from no puppies to two. Apparently I had lost my mind. Well of course she would and that is a wonderful idea. So the contract was ironed out I would neuter them as I had no interest in breeding and as Angie has done for so many years she agreed to take the boys back if for any reason I could no longer care for them. They are AKC  and have fancy names  but their call names are Storm and Cirrus as the litter was whelped in a January snow storm . Therefore the litters theme was winter weather. I picked them up at 3 months and they are now almost 7 months. They are typical teenage male Pyrenees full of this and that . Know a laundry list of commands and expectations. They are geniuses one day and the next day I toss out a command and they look at each other as if  they are thinking "do you know what she wants? I have no clue oh well!" More photos will crop up including previous ones at younger stages


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And here they are more recently having a good chew in front of the new barn door that I had installed the Spring. And I’m going to let this go for right now and I will be back. I know you’ve heard those words before there were a lot of events this year. A lot of incredible things a lot of amazing things and I think I’m going to walk backwards in time and share them with you but for now welcome to my world Great Pyrenees Central. 💕