Lost a Best Friend!

Today I lost one of my best friends in the whole universe! My goat, Lucy, passed away in the night after suffering with illness for the past week. The vet was going to come out to see her this morning, but it was too late. I know she was an animal. But she was truly so sweet to me. She loved me unconditionally and was admired by all who knew her. She had gone through a dog attack and never recovered, leaving her with a crippled leg, but a strong will. She wanted to stay with us as long as possible, and I believe she enjoyed her 6 years on our farm.

Lucy, I love you forever! Thank you!

I really love the laundry soap!! It smells so good and works so well! News this month includes I am hiring a secretary to help me with my paperwork ... my sister did well in her medical test ... another sister had a birthday yesterday Happy Birthday ! ... my sweet Coley is sick with a sore throat today and I'll keep him tomorrow ... my son's birthday is coming up ... my nephew's birthday is today Happy Birthday ! ... my other nephew's birthday is in two days Happy Birthday ! ... my grandson Carson's birthday is in two weeks Happy Birthday ! ...

whew!!!

Love Life and Keep on Going!!!

Homemade Soap

I made some homemade laundry detergent tonight. It was so simple. I made the powder type, so I will test it tomorrow and see how it does.
1 bar of Fels Naptha laundry soap (grated)
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup laundry soda
mix together very well (I used a coffee grinder).
Use 2 T per load.

Also, Rosie had her spaying surgery a couple of weeks ago (my Maltese) and she is FINALLY gaining weight. Yeah!

Makayla's drawing.

I worked on her drawing some more.

Art

This is a pastel drawing of Makayla that I did today. Like it? She is holding up her "silly band"!

My Mom, Sisters and me. My daughter, Kristi, (the professional photographer) took this! We are at Mandy's house.

July

We've had so much rain lately, it's been good for my garden but bad for my goat's hooves. We had fun on the 4th of July, fishing, visiting, eating good food. We have been working very hard out back clearing around our pond. It is so hot that every time we go outside, we have to take a shower.

I found a beautiful collection of clothes hanging on lines -- over 700 photos -- on flicker. I am not alone.

All things Japanese

Some new things I've been experiencing and researching:

1) Pu'er tea - from Japanese and Chinese cultures, I saw this being featured on the Veria network. Then, I ordered it. I got this treasure yesterday. It is in the form of a "brick". You chip off some of it and brew it into tea. It is said to lower cholesterol, which will be a good benefit for me. But it does taste great.

2) Yubinuki Thimbles - The pictures speak for themselves. An ancient art of Japanese women who began this making thimbles to sew with.

3) Temari balls, also an ancient art of Japenese women, these balls have a bell in the middle. They are embellished with decorative stiching. So far, I've been researching for three days and this is so complicated -- but it has my attention. I want to make a Yubinuki first.

They are wonderful!

What we've been doing.

My DH and I have been working on our entrance to our property. The tulips won't last long, though, and I'll have to plant something else. Coley caught his first fish last weekend.

Majestic Cook Stove

I found this picture of a Majestic Cook Stove online. Isn't it beautiful? I have recently begun to read a lot about these old beauties. In Mother Earth News there was an article about a woman who wanted one (and once she had it installed there was no turning back). This is a wood-burning stove/oven. She learned to cook on it like her grandmother did and loved it.

Ok -- I'm already milking my goats for my fresh milk every day, gathering my eggs for my fresh eggs every day ...

would this be such a stretch?

I know it's not realistic, but I can dream, can't I?

The Last Two Months

... no blogs for a while, but I'll try to catch up. We had a 3rd birthday party yesterday for Jayce! She is doing so well!

Other than that: Kristi and her family moved to Tenn. I miss them so! I pray that they will come back soon. No new goat babies, expecting them in Aprill and May. Just as well because it has been so cold and wet. I'm so happy it is starting to warm up some.

I may be able to visit some goat farms on a trip to Alabama and Tenn this month. Gotta go get some work done! God bless!

God Moves Mountains

Would you like to see how God moved one mountain? Go to www.four2six.wordpress.com for one couple's story of getting Hatian children that they wanted to adopt to their home during all this earthquake disaster! They go to our church.

It has been so long!

Two months of flu, a couple of more months of keeping kids full time, Christmas, ... you know what I mean. But I'm back! I do enjoy posting to "all my fans". Actually it is more like a journal, but I enjoy reading about other friends' lives so much, so I thought this would be fun to have, too.

Our pond froze over and our ducks and goose learned to skate! That was wild! I'll have to post the video.

The muddy, cold winter goes on, and I try to comfort our goats as much as possible. We have had to reinforce the barns, put up warming lights, extra hay, and I even massage them down so they will get their blood moving since they haven't had much running around in the extreme cold days. On sunny days, it is so much better.

I'm so heartbroken for Haiti! As I know everyone is. Keep our prayers going to them.

Happy Birthday to my grandson, Chandler -- THE BIG ONE YEAR OLD!! Exciting! He's so cute!