Beef Cake the Steer

 Meet Beef Cake, our steer.   Isn't he adorable with those big brown eyes?  And oh, those eyelashes!  Beef Cake has been a short term visitor to our homestead.  When we purchased him early last summer it was with the express purpose that he would soon fill our freezer, so, even though I named him we didn't allow ourselves to develop an attachment to him.

His time on our farm had finally come to an end.  Last Thursday Joel and I went out to the barn a little before 3pm.   We wanted to allow ourselves a few hours before dark for the task at hand.  The moment had arrived to round up Beef Cake and prepare to take him to the slaughter house.   How hard could it be?  Giggle....

But first things first.   We had to figure out some logistics such as do we have the right ball on the hitch of the car to haul this particular stock trailer?   Check.  Now, to hitch and back up the trailer at just the right angle so as to block off any access of escape from the barn that Beef Cake may try to take.  Check.

Swing open the large heavy back door of the trailer against the hog panel that blocks access to the long corridor leading out to the pasture.  Check.  Hey, we don't want to have to chase a steer all over creation to get him inside the trailer.   We closed off gates as best we could to control which areas he would have access to.

That  included penning the girls inside the barn so we didn't have to contend with them running interference as we tried to push Beef Cake in the direction of the waiting trailer.    Check.   Ha!  

Sounds easy, right?   Except you weren't here when we got our boots stuck in the muck trying to get all three cows in the barn.   Then, Joel went into the pen, separated the girls from the steer and drove Beef Cake ahead of him as he shot out of the gate I was holding.  I quickly shut the girls inside the barn.   At least now everyone is separated and all we have to do it get Beef Cake into the trailer.

What you're looking at is Beef Cake....he's a little put out that the girls are in with the hay and he's stuck outside with us.   Let's take a moment to catch our breath.....Check.

Um, yea.....the grin on Joel's face is because we spent almost half an hour chasing animals around the pasture.   Why were we chasing cows, you ask?   You thought the girls were all penned in the barn???    Of course it wasn't that simple!  After rounding up the girls and isolating them inside their pen, Joel had walked out of and closed the gate he is standing next to.....the gate that keeps the cows in the barn.  

Now we thought we were ready to herd Beef Cake into the trailer.   There was one slight problem, though.   Joel forgot to latch the gate and as we were working on getting Beef Cake up to the trailer, the girls pushed their way thru the gate and escaped, creating havoc with all three cows running around the small pasture next to the barn.  Instead of just one cow needing to be herded, now we had to start all over again.

Oh, yea, the three of them loved this new game.    I had scattered the cows' favorite corn, molasses, and grain feed in the trailer and both Buttercup and Baby Belle casually waltzed right into the trailer and began munching on the feed.   The girls had no compunction about getting in the trailer whatsoever.   All the while this was going on Beef Cake was stubbornly hugging the back fence line.  Uh-uh.  No way.  He wanted absolutely nothing to do with that trailer no matter how enticing the feed inside was to him.

Ok, so we managed to secure the girls back in their pen, only this time Joel latched the gate so there would be no escaping for them.   By now Beef Cake was fully on alert.  He knew something was happening here that he didn't want to participate in.   And add to that the fact that he has had very little contact with Joel and he was not going to come into the little pasture next to the barn.  

Our idea was to lead him into the little pasture and close the gate behind him, giving him smaller and smaller areas from which to plan his escape as we pushed him closer to the trailer.  I stood in the trailer shaking a bucket with his feed in it, calling to him the whole time.   Usually he runs straight for that bucket as he greedily gobbles up the feed.  But not this time.  He kept looking at Joel and was not about to fall for our ploys.
 

Finally he walked into the small pasture and Joel was able to close the gate behind him, cutting off his escape route.   Ah-ha!    Our plan was working.   NOT.   I got tired of waiting for him to come to me and walked up to him with the bucket and shook it, willing him to smell the feed and take a few bites.  He actually ate right out of the bucket for me and I continued to walk backwards, inching ever closer to the waiting trailer.    I would get him to within 6 feet of the trailer and then he would spook and run back into the small pasture.   This happened over and over again.   And if Joel tried to sneak up to the gate Beef Cake would sense his nearness and back up into the small pasture, thwarting our plan to trap him up near the trailer.

I guess it was another 20 minutes that passed with us trying various tricks to get him into the 9'x9' area we had cordoned off behind the trailer, making it hard for him to go anywhere else but inside the trailer.   I went inside the trailer again and dumped more feed in there, hoping to entice him on his own.   There was no way we could push him in because he was so quick on his feet we had to dodge him on several occasions so as not to accidentally get bumped into.

For some odd reason, by chance Beef Cake walked right into the 9'x9' area....probably trying to get away from Joel.   Joel shut the gate behind him and walked into the tiny 9'x9' area with Beef Cake. The steer took one look at Joel and bolted right into the trailer.   Huh!   It was that simple.  Beef Cake just didn't want that "guy" to get anywhere near him.   Joel quickly latched the heavy trailer door shut and gave a victory chant.   Check.    We had successfully trailered an animal all by ourselves!

All that was left for us to do was to remove the hog panels that had served as fencing to block Beef Cake's escape and pull the trailer up to the house.   We were both really glad that we had planned ahead and corralled the steer into the trailer the night before our appointment instead of trying to accomplish that early in the morning.

It's nice that our plan worked this time.    We may have had to alter it a bit as we went along, but we got Beef Cake into the trailer alone....with no outside help.   Not like when we had to get the pigs to slaughter and it took a couple of days and 7 of us to round them up!    Holy cow, I don't ever want to have to repeat that process.

The following morning we drove down off the plateau to the slaughter house where we had an appointment to process Beef Cake.   We learned a lot about rounding up animals Thursday, what to do and what not to do.   And I have to say we were pretty pleased with ourselves as we gained some new found confidence in our ability to wrangle these animals on our own.  Life here is one giant learning curve, one that we love to experience every single day.

Beef Cake is at the slaughter house and they called to say he weighed in at 643 lbs.   Now we wait to see how much beef that translates into and will it all fit in our freezers?    Guess I had better get busy and make some more room for all the beef we're about to bring home with us next week.

Blessed indeed,
Debbie

The Sap Run

I know, I know.....some of you folks are wondering what in the world is she talking about now?   Sap, as in the sap in trees.   To be more specific, I'm talking about the sap in maple trees.   And as for the "run" part, that just means the sap is coming from the ground and being drawn up into the trees.  

During the most frigid months of winter the sap is very slow to move inside the trees.   But when the temps rise above freezing during the day after being below 32 degrees at night, the sap starts to be drawn up into the trees.   Thus, the term, "run".   Ok, it's not running with legs, but it's traveling at a pretty good pace as you'll soon see.

Two years ago I had read how you could tap black walnut trees.   Yes, I was surprised about that too.   I had always had the impression you could only get syrup from Sugar maple trees.   Well, there are more than a dozen varieties of trees that can be tapped for their sap and then cook it down to create syrup.  Who knew?!?   Well, we bought taps from a company in Canada and after some trial and error we made syrup from our black walnut trees.   And was it ever yummy!   It tasted just like maple syrup and nutty at the same time.

Now, why, you ask, didn't we tap our maple trees that winter?   Duh!   We hadn't been living on the farm that long and without the leaves on the trees I couldn't tell which trees were maple, oak, beech or shagbark hickory.  (Yes, we have quite a few of those.)  I made a point of watching all of our trees close to the house this year during late summer and fall to clarify in my mind which trees I wanted to tap this year.   Oh, yeah.  And I missed the "run" last year because the weather warmed up so fast and the run was done before we had a chance to catch the sap.

And so last week Joel and I decided it was time to tap the maples and give them a try this year.   We had been saving milk jugs since early December.   Yes, they are the stars of our Exclusive line of Sap Collectors.  Very chic, indeed!  

And the core hardware used in sap collecting is these little beauties.   They are well made metal tap, and hollow inside which allows the sap to run from inside the tree down into our collection containers.

These taps are made in Canada(they do a lot of syrup making up there) and are designed to be driven into the tree after a hole is drilled.  If you don't drill the hole first, and simply drive the tap into the tree, the wood clogs up the tap.  And then there would be no sap coming out of the tap.

First you drill the hole "up" at an angle and a little over an inch into the tree.   Don't worry, this doesn't harm the tree and the holes seal up on their own once the tap is removed.

Then you "tap" the tap into the hole with a hammer, leaving enough space behind the ridge on the tap for the milk jug, er, um, our Exclusive Sap Collector to hang.

Before you start running around tapping trees, though, you need to make sure the tree is at least 14" in diameter so as not to harm a younger tree.   This particular tree is inside the fencing of the potager garden.   Late this fall we moved the swing into the potager so I could sit there and look down over our valley.   The swing made a great place to hold all of our equipment while we drilled the holes.

Then Joel cut a specialty hole.....ok, so it's just a triangle, but that took some skill.  Tee-hee.   Not too big or the jug will blow off the tap in the almost constant winds we have here.

See the drip getting ready to fall off the tap?   Yes, well, that was after less than 30 seconds of being in the tree.   Oh, yeah, baby, we hit the timing just right this year.  Notice the ridge at the top of the tap.   That is an integral part of this simple operation.   Great design by those guys in Canada, by the way.

My Tree Tapping Expert lines up the hole in the jug with the tap and slides it on, making sure the edge of the milk carton is over the lip of the ridge at the top of the tap.   And that's all that holds the carton onto the tap until we come out to empty the contents twice a day.   We've only had one carton that has blown off so far, dumping it's liquid on the ground.

See the sap at the bottom of this jug?   That was what had collected in the time it took us to drill the four holes and install the jugs on this much larger tree out in our front yard.   It's really surprising how fast the sap runs.   If you put some on your finger and taste it, it mostly tastes like water with just a hint of sweetness on your tongue.   Sap is somewhere in the range of 94-95% water which is why it needs to be boiled down to evaporate the water and what you are left with is syrup.

Since this tree in our front yard has a diameter of somewhere in the neighborhood of 20" we could put 4 jugs on it.   Oh, I forgot to mention that the idea is to put your tap somewhere above a large root coming out of the ground.   This tree had so many large roots that we could put a tap almost anywhere around the tree.   We noticed there were old holes made by a bird called....wait for it.....a Sap Sucker.   Some of those holes were actually seeping sap down the sides of the tree.  Yes, we hit the run at just the right time.

So this year we are only tapping the maples and only two trees, at that.   Remarkably, the sap has been running so fast and furious that I have had to empty the jugs twice a day.   And where do I empty them?    Into the largest pots I have that will fit into our spare refrigerator down in the pavilion.  

There is just one problem.   We have collected so much sap in a week that the refrigerator is full with the largest pots I own, each of them filled to the brim with clear sap.   Sigh, such a good problem to have!    The sap needs to be kept cold so it doesn't get moldy, which means I can't just set it out in the open because our temps have been fluctuating into the 50's here lately.  

You know what that means, don't you?   Yes, we had to start boiling down the sap yesterday to make room for more in the refrigerator.   Here's how it works.   You sit outside, get the biggest burners you have and put the pots on top and sit and watch for hours as the sap boils down.   The 94% water in the sap evaporates from the pot and as it does the sap turns from a clear color to a soft yellow to an amber.

The pots need to be watched so they don't boil down to nothing which would ruin the batch.   Once the liquid in the pot boils down to about 2" more sap is added and the process begins all over again.   Wash, rinse, repeat.  For hours.    Like 4-6 hours.   On a dreary, damp, windy day.   While we drink coffee and sit in our comfy lawn chairs and read a book.  

Every once in a while I take a fine meshed sieve and scoop out any froth that collects on the surface of each boiling pot.   Our goal this weekend is to cook down the almost 15 gallons of sap we have collected in a week so it fits into a small pot which will go back into the refrigerator.    We will repeat this process every week as long as the sap is running clear in the trees.   Once the sap collecting in our jugs turns cloudy the run is over.

The very last step in this process is to take the amber liquid we have spent hours cooking down and bring it into the house where we will refine the final stages of creating syrup.    I'll post more on that in the weeks to come, complete with pictures for you to see our progress.   And now you know what we are doing this weekend.  

I'm sure it won't be long before I can show you pictures of the final stages of our syrup making process.   Until then, we'll keep on collecting sap and boiling it down.   It'll be interesting to see how much syrup our work yields this year.

Sticky fingers,
Debbie

Dogs and Cats....Cats and Dogs

We love all our farm critters.   The "inside dogs".   The "outside dogs".  The barn cats.   The cows and chickens.   Yes, we love all our animals.   But these Pyrenees puppies have stolen Joel's heart.

They greet us every time we step off our back porch.   They keep Joel company each trip he makes to the chicken coop, sitting at the gate waiting patiently for him to return from completing his bird chores.  They walk to the mailbox with me every noontime, and proclaim "A package has arrived from UPS" as the delivery man puts the parcel in a bin we keep outside our entry gate.

And whenever we have any work to perform in the barn they are always there, guarding us(you know that's a very important job for a Pyre), keeping us company, and "assisting" with shooing the cats around the barn.   When we mucked out the barn a few days ago I looked past the gate separating the cow pen from the rest of the barn and there were the puppies, lying quietly and keeping an eye on everyone and everything that was happening.

We were gifted our barn cats the month we bought the alpacas.   There was a Mama cat and her three kittens.   Mama was pretty feral, as were all the other cats at the farm where we bought our alpacas.   I've never had a cat as a pet before and so I had no expectations of what kind of relationship we would develop over time.  

Well, it wasn't long before Mama cat actually let me pet her, occasionally, as I was feeding her and her babies.    She not only tolerated my petting but started to meow her request of "more, please!".   It wasn't too long and her babies were also allowing me to stroke their soft furry backs....some were happy to receive the added attention, others not so much.   To this day, Chloe is the most stand-offish of the four cats.

How do the cats and dogs get along, you ask?    Surprisingly, really well.    When the puppies first came to the farm they would try to satisfy their curiosity about the cats by walking right up to them and attempting to sniff them.   Ha!   That was usually met with a quick swipe of a cat's paw to their nose.    The puppies soon learned their limits with each of the cats and now the four cats and two puppies have developed a healthy respect for one another.

The cats have grown bolder in their attitude toward the puppies and I've even caught them(the cats) lying on their back, taunting the puppy to move in ever closer.   And then just that suddenly, the cat will bolt up and run thru the large open weave of the wire walls separating the pens in the barn.   It's quite a dance these critters perform and they never seem to tire of playing with one another.

Except for Chloe.   She had just about had enough of the puppies on this particular day and she swiftly climbed her way up, up, up higher into the rafters of the barn.

Nope, I'm not high enough yet!

"Ah, yes.  Now that's better." she says.   And the puppies walk around below her all the while wagging their tails because they know soon enough she'll come back down and play once again.

The weather was so beautiful on this one day last week that Joel and I decided to take a walk down off the farm into the valley below.    I never tire of the view of the majestic bluffs that line the lower portion of our farm.  We feel so blessed to be stewards of this land for a few years and love our time spent with the critters running around the farm.   Come and see us sometime and we'll show you why living here makes us so happy.

Looking forward to acquiring more critters this Spring,
Debbie

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Tractor

Remember the movie Jaws?    I"m sure we're not the only family that quotes one of the best lines in that movie.....you know the line.....when the guys on the boat get a close up look at Jaws and utter....."We're gonna need a bigger boat.".   Well, that's been Joel's line here lately, except replace the word boat with the word tractor.

When you first move from the city to the country, you have absolutely no idea exactly what size equipment you might need to invest in.   Sure, we knew we needed a tractor.   But since we had no intention of sowing seed on 50 acres we surmised a sub-compact tractor would be sufficient to take care of our hobby farm needs.  

But then we had a few alpaca die......sure would have been nice to have a tractor with a backhoe (or as I fondly call it, a "digger tool") to dig their burial hole instead of using a shovel.   That phrase usually elicits hoots and howls from Joel.   And then there is the never ending supply of manure for our compost piles.   We used to shovel the poop from the alpacas out of the barn by hand and Joel schlepped it in the wheelbarrow to the compost pile.

Then we sold the alpaca and got back to our original intent.....animals that produce food we can eat.   And so now we have our sweet Jersey cows who will provide us with milk, cheese and other dairy goodies for many years to come.   After breeding, if one of the calves is a bull, he will provide us with meat.   There's just one thing, though, about cows.   They poop....a lot.....in huge piles.....seriously!    A lot more than alpaca, that's for sure.

Dairy cows need protection from the winter elements, and so we put the cows in the side of the barn where the female alpacas used to live.   Now the cows have the barn to keep the elements at bay and that works just fine, with one exception.   When it was nice weather I used to go inside the pen with the cows and walk down into their pasture to drop their morning and evening ration of hay into the hay feeder.    But when Old Man Winter arrived, it was slick walking down hill to the feeder and I really didn't relish the idea of slipping and falling on the icy, snowy incline.....littered with, you guessed it, poo.   Now that creates an image, doesn't it?

Joel came up with the idea of building a manger inside the barn attached to one of the walls where I could simply pop the hay over the top of the wall into the manger, thus eliminating the need to walk anywhere slippery.   We spent an afternoon a few months ago building and tweaking the manger and it works like a charm.   With one exception.

Now the cows hang out in the barn a lot more hours of the day.   You know what is coming next, don't you? It would stand to reason that if they hang out in the barn more, they will also poop in there more.    Aw, man.   Thus bringing me back to Joel's lament....."We're gonna need a bigger tractor.".

Yeah, that's a mess.   And we like to keep this area as clean as possible since the cows sleep in here at the far back corners of the pen.   There's no way we can muck out the barn using shovels and a wheelbarrow.   Well, we could, but it would take us hours and hours by hand.

And even when we switched to using the tractor we realized we should have a bigger tractor with a bigger bucket on the front.    As it is now, Joel makes trip after trip picking up the  contents on the floor of the pen and running it back to our newest compost pile.

I should backtrack a minute here.   See the cows watching Joel?   Well, we have learned by experience that the cows are very curious animals and when we have worked in the barn in the past, they hang out with us.   They generally get in the way, stand behind the tractor as Joel is trying to back up with a huge pile of manure-strewn straw in the bucket of the tractor and walk all over the areas we are trying to clean up.   Now I know that before we start any work in their pen, I have to round them up and drive them into a small pasture with a gate.....where they stand and watch our every move.   Funny critters!

So, back to the tractor.

Joel loves to extoll the virtues of all he could accomplish "If I had a bigger tractor..."   I just smile at him and nod my head in agreement as I visualize huge dollar signs in my head and think, "No Way!".

Even with the use of the tractor, mucking out the barn still requires some hands on work with the shovel....and that's my job.   You know, as the assistant barn mucker.   Giggle.....On this particular day, I had to shed my barn jacket as the exertion of shoveling out the corners and sides of the barn warmed me plenty.

I had to show you this pic.    When we first walked out to the barn Joel spotted two of our barn cats sitting nice and comfy, one each on the seats of his tractor and my mower.   Can you see the black and white Mama cat on the seat of the mower in the background?

Miss Chloe was quite cozy nestled on Joel's seat.....that is until he shoo-ed her away so he could use the tractor.   The cats love to sit up there where the dogs don't think to look for them.   It's been so much fun to watch the interaction of the four, wiley barn cats and the Pyrenees puppies.  

Once we are finished cleaning out the barn I walk back to the cows in the pasture and open the gate for them.   They are so funny!   They immediately head for the barn......I believe (unless you can prove otherwise) they are excited to check out their newly cleaned  pen.   First, they get a drink of freshly drawn water and then they look at their salt lick and, of course, they wander over to the manger to see if I put in some fresh hay for their treat.

The last place they check out is the fresh bed of straw where they will lay their sleepy heads at night. See what I mean?    Don't you agree they are curious and smart animals?

This coming week we have a new challenge to meet.   It will be the first time we have to round up one of the cows and get him into the stock trailer.   You see, Beef Cake, our steer, is going to the slaughter house on Friday.   But we think it may take us (ahem) a little bit of effort to coax him into the trailer, so, we plan on working on that Thursday afternoon so we are prepared to leave the farm first thing Friday morning.  

After Beef Cake is gone, I guess one good thing about us only having the two much smaller mid-mini female cows is .....you guessed it......a whole lot less poop to scoop.   See, we may not need a bigger tractor after all!

Wish us luck,
Debbie

What Else is New?

We don't let any grass grow beneath our feet.   Remember that old saying?    Well, it pretty much describes our life here on the farm.  If we're not outside working with our critters, we're probably inside the house....or another building.....doing some kind of minor repairs/remodeling construction type of work.   Or if we're really lucky, we're busy with some kind of hobby.

In my case, I'm usually in my studio happily sewing away......making things like this mug rug.   I've been making seasonal mug rugs for my computer desk so I don't mar the desk surface with my drinks.    This rooster mug rug was so much fun to make and the cheerful blue and white theme brings a welcome shot of color to the dreary winter months.

During the cooler months, I tend to have some sort of hand work sitting next to my chair to occupy my hands while we watch tv in the evenings.    You know, things such as knitting or embroidery.   I almost always have a pair of socks on the needles and currently I have 3 sweaters in various stages of completion.  

I've even done a bit of rug hooking....only I put my own personal twist on the "rug".   The twin beds on the sleeping porch are really high with the trundle bed beneath the iron bed.  So I found an old, sturdy step stool that was just right to help someone safely hop up onto the top bed.   But it seemed lacking in the "cuteness" department.   Ta-da.....let's cover it with something interesting!    And this is the result......a mama hen and her chicks.....in rug hooking....with a fun embellishment(of course) of fringe.

Can you tell I had a lot of fun creating this  one of a kind step stool?   And I feel it fits right in with our new farm lifestyle.

One of my goals for the time spent inside during these colder months is to continue to improve my skills on the longarm quilting machine we purchased over a year ago.   Thanks to another quilter who generously shared her expertise with me, I now feel the tension and settings are functioning as they should be and the quilt stitches look "pretty" both on the top and bottom of the quilts I have been working on.

One of my sweet friends, Kathy, gave her latest quilt to me and asked to be my very first customer!   Her house quilt is adorable and I was honored that she entrusted her lovely quilt to me......gulp.....and then I had to actually quilt it.   What if I made a mistake?   What if she didn't like the quilt pattern I stitched into her quilt?   What if the color of thread wasn't to her liking?  

At the suggestion of another friend, I used a soft pink thread for the quilting and then I choose an all over swirly design that I felt would soften all the right angles of the house blocks.   I love how it turned out and Kathy called me to say she was over the moon.   Yippee!    My confidence is growing with each quilt I finish on the longarm machine.   At last count I have also quilted 6 quilts for Quilts of Valor....an organization that presents quilts to veterans who have been affected by war and to honor their service to our country.  

And just what in the world is a longarm machine, you ask?   It's this beauty in the pic above.   It's over 10' long and takes up a considerable amount of real estate in my studio but it's worth every bit of space it occupies.   I have longed(no pun intended!) to have a longarm machine for many years and having this one is a dream come true for me.   My hope is to build a business right here in my studio by quilting quilts for others.   And to that end, I finally got brave enough to hand out my business cards at the last meeting of our local quilt guild.   So we'll see if/how the business grows over the next couple of years.

Ah, yes, and there is one more thing we have been busy with this last week.   We pulled the RV out of the RV garage, aired up the tires and brought it closer to the house.   We emptied all of our personal belongings into bins and trudged them into the house where they all got sorted, cleaned and put into bins for long term storage.  

Joel and I have loved RV-ing for almost 2 decades.   When we brought our trailer up here 3 years ago we thought we'd be going to local parks and investigating the surrounding area in the RV.   Hmmm, it seems we have been so happy "parked" here on the farm that we haven't used the RV once since moving here.   We finally figured out that when we lived in Florida taking trips with the RV provided an escape from work and other obligations.   It was our respite.   But now we already live in a place where we are completely relaxed....and have no need to sneak away for a few days to unwind.   And so we have dropped the RV off in Chattanooga and have consigned it for sale.

Well, that about wraps up our recent activities.   Next week we are going to have to corral Beef Cake, the steer, and get him into the stock trailer.   We have an appointment with the slaughter house on Friday and need to be prompt in getting him there as they are booked solid for months and we don't want to miss our day to drop him off.  Wrangling him into the trailer should make for an interesting afternoon, don't you think?    Ha!  What could possibly go wrong?  

Stay tuned,
Deb

Farm Life= Boring?

Ha!   So, you think living on a farm is boring, huh?   Ok, so I admit life here drifts along at a much slower pace than our lives did back in the hustle bustle of Tampa Bay.   Now, a traffic jam is more like 4 cars ahead of me at the stop light when I go to town to grocery shop instead of the never ending line of cars we experienced daily whenever we pulled out of our Florida driveway.

But if you think things are boring here let me tell you about our experience yesterday.   Sure, I can go for days just hanging out here with Joel and tending to the animals.   I can decide to sit and read a book or go for a walk to visit the cows and chickens....all the while enjoying the peace and quiet of the woods surrounding the farm.   No sirens or car horns to disrupt my thoughts here.    Thank goodness!

Now for some of you that would drive you crazy, but for me, I relish each and every peaceful moment.    But then something happens that makes us jump into action.   Things such as dogs getting loose.   Oh, no!   Yep.

It was almost dusk last night and Joel was making a last minute run with the Polaris.  He had loaded a heavy bag of chicken feed onto the back of the Polaris and was taking it to the chickens so they could have their evening meal.   That required him to open a gate leading to the back of the farm.  We've been diligently working to train the Pyrenees to "sit" and "stay" when we are working with the gates and Joel thought he had the dogs under control as he maneuvered the Polaris thru the gate leading to the chickens.   But before he could close the gate behind him, the inevitable occurred.

Shadow decided to test the waters and she snuck past Joel before he could close the gate.   All she wanted to do was check out the tree and look out over the bluff.   But then real chaos began.   Of all things, 2 white tailed deer popped out of the field adjacent to our farm and began running for cover and that was all it took.   Yes, Saber and Shadow took off like lightening, chasing the deer all over creation.

One of the unfortunate traits about Pyrenees is that they love to roam.   That's one of the big reasons we fenced in a good portion of the farm last summer.   We love these dogs and don't want any harm to come to them.   And now they were loose!    And running heaven knows where?   And the dark of night is starting to descend on the farm.   Our biggest concern was that they might roam into the road and get hit by a car or truck heading home for the evening.

Joel and I quickly hatched a plan and I ran inside the house to retrieve 2 flashlights, 2 leashes and some dog treats that the puppies simply can't resist.  Joel took the leashes and a flashlight and started off on the trail with the Polaris where he last saw the dogs running along the woodline.   I grabbed my car keys and went out our lane and onto the road down in the valley, slowly scanning the fields and woods and calling the dogs.

As I rounded the corner at the bottom of our valley, I spotted Saber, way up on top of the hill.  I started calling him and he came running down to great me.   I was so grateful he was heading my way and grabbed some treats to reward him as soon as he reached me.   While he was gobbling his treat I latched onto his collar and started looking up the hill for Shadow.   In the enveloping dark it was hard to see her but I could barely make her out....up on top of the same hill.

I started to call out to her, too, and she came running down the same path that Saber took to my car.  I didn't realize it at the time, but Joel was up on top of the hill calling to Shadow at the same time that I was.   Apparently the only reason I won out was because I had the treats....thank goodness we trained them to obey using treats since we first brought them home at 8 weeks old.

Now I'm trying to hold onto a 75 lb. dog that doesn't like to be "captured" and juggling treats with my free hand, calling Shadow and willing her to come to me.   Pyrenees are very aloof and do what they want to do, not necessarily what their masters want them to do.    I started calling for Joel at the top of the hill to please hurry and join me because I knew I'd need his help manhandling both dogs.

Eventually Shadow came right to me and I rewarded her with lots of praise and treats.   But now I was hanging onto two very large rambunctious puppies.   Hurry up, Joel!   When Joel met up with me he quickly leashed both dogs and then he had to lift them, one at a time, into the back of my Suburban.   For some reason the dogs simply will not jump into the back of my car!   Seriously?    I know they could do it if they wanted to, but they refuse.

Ok, at least now that it was dark, we had the dogs safely tucked away in the car.    Joel started driving the Polaris back up the road toward our farm in front of my car and I followed him with my flashing lights on so no one would barrel along and smash into us in the dark.   We were halfway up the hill to our house when I noticed smoke coming out of the Polaris.   A lot of smoke.   Seriously smoking now.   Uh-oh.

He stopped and I jumped out of the car, afraid the Polaris might be on fire.   Hmmmm.    It was dead. And I mean it wasn't going anywhere.   Crap.  Now what?   Joel and I just looked at each other and started laughing.   What the heck else is going to happen next?   Luckily, my very prepared husband opened the glove box of the Polaris and produced a nice sturdy, long yellow tow strap.   So I pulled the Suburban in front of the Polaris and we hooked up the strap to both vehicles and I jumped back in the car to pull him back to the farm.

We knew if we left the Polaris where it was it would surely cause an accident so we had to get it off the road and back onto our land.   Sure enough, it was easy pulling it and when we approached the gate at the end of our lane I jumped back out of the car, opened the gate, and drove us thru.   Then I jumped back out of the car, closed the gate and towed Joel to a coasting stop in our yard.    Meanwhile, the curious puppies watched Joel from the large back window of my car, fogging it up with their puppy breath.   Boy, were they ever happy to jump out of the car when we opened up the back of the Suburban.

And so, today we have a new lawn ornament sitting next to the lane.   Yup, don't know how long it will be until we figure out what broke down on the Polaris.   Oh, well, that's work for another day.   Needless to say, we both walked into the house with a sigh of relief that we were able to find the puppies so easily.  

Now was there anything boring about that story?   Nope, I didn't think so.    At least it certainly wasn't boring for Joel and I.   You just never know what is going to happen when you live on a farm.

Glad to be here,
Debbie

New Year, Fresh Start

Yes, I'm back.   Seems I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging which lapsed into pure laziness on my part.   The main reason I stopped posting here was the demise of my beloved Nikon camera.    Somehow the blog seems kinda blah without pictures to complete my story telling, so I lost my enthusiasm for telling you all about our adventures.  

But when our nephew, Tyler, visited us in October he showed me that the camera was still intact, it was just the lens that was a goner.   Luckily, he has a friend who is a fabulous photographer and they texted back and forth and Tyler's friend recommended a new lens to jazz up my camera.  Um, just one issue with all of that.    The lens was super expensive.   So, I waited and waited and debated if I should press "Add to cart" on Amazon......and right before Christmas I decided to gift myself a super-duper present.   Yes!    The lens!   After all it was my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one(and I even promised Joel it was an anniversary present for the next umpteen years for me as well).

And so I've been practicing with it over the holidays....doing shots inside and outdoors, too.   Trying different lighting and arranging items to get the focus right, and begging our farm animals to cooperate and stay still and "look at me!".   Ha!   I'll work on that some more.   And now, for your entertainment, here are a few pics of our recent activities.

 Jeremy brought us the loveliest present this year for Christmas.....himself and his girlfriend, Hannah.   They arrived in time for dinner on my birthday and stayed thru till Christmas morning.   We had a wonderful time getting acquainted with Hannah and we hope to see a lot more of them both real soon.

 Ok, I know it's half a month past the holidays, but I had to include at least a little bit of Christmas in this post.   Here's the island in our farmhouse kitchen, all decked out for some hot chocolate, coffee, or whatever pleases your tummy.

 And when I wandered out to the front pasture, look who was staring back at me.   Buttercup is on the left, Beefcake(who is soon going to be in our freezer) is on her right, and Baby Bell is in the background.   I love to walk around the farm and hear them moo-ing at me as I walk up to the fence to visit with them.   Pretty soon we hope to start the process of mating so we can have a calf next spring and milk for our family soon after that!   Woo-hoo!  I can hardly wait.

After I took down all the Christmas decorations, I decided to chalk up a little sign for the back porch. And darn, if it didn't work!   We got snow a couple of days later.

It was so pretty to walk outside and snap a few shots of our landscape layered in a light coating of fluffy snow.   And then the temps dropped into the single digits.   Brrrr.......

But these guys didn't seem to mind the cold or the snow one little bit.   Shadow is on the left and Saber is on the right.   She is about 70 lbs. now and he is well over 75 lbs.    They are growing so fast and will be 8 months old in 2 weeks.   They are supposed to reach their full stature by the time they are 18 months old.  Won't it be interesting to see how big they get at full maturity?  

Joel is crazy about these dogs and he spends a lot of time outside giving them love and bonding with them.   They follow us everywhere and we believe they will be really great guard dogs.   Every day they run out to the gates at the end of our lane(yes, we finished with all that fencing last Fall) and greet the mailman who affectionately gives them both a good scratch behind the ears.

Well, I hope by now you have forgiven me for staying away so long.   I have so much more to tell you and will try to fill you in on the farm "goings on".   For now, I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Back in the saddle again,
Debbie