The Truth about Home Ownership

So I know everyone told us this, but this first year of home-ownership has been tough financially.  Kevin and I had gotten used to having that little nest egg to fall back on.  It gave us peace of mind, that if something should happen we were going to be okay.  

Well, that little nest egg basically became our house.  And every last dime we have gets put into the house.  I am not complaining, that is just my reality.  And to be honest I don't mind.  Because for that last few nights I get to close my days looking at this and it reminds me that it is all worth it!

Goat Antics

I wanted to post some pictures of my little farm family on the sidebar to the right here.  So I went out to take some recent pictures of the goats.  This is not an easy task!  To take a picture you need to stand back around 3-4 feet, which is impossible with goats!  They want to be touching you and be near you at all times, so you end up with pictures like these:

Obnoxious isn't it?

So I would try to push them away with my hand.  Here are some decent shots:

Nice one of Butters face and Oreo's butt

And they don't look at you like dogs, so I got a ton of shots of them looking in the other direction:

What's so interesting?

Here is my one decent shot:

So if you want to tell them apart, Oreo is black and white with a red collar.  Butters is black and cream with a purple collar.  Butters also has cooler looking eyebrows than Oreo.

My Sweet Poppy

I know I have been absent for while, but we have had one crazy and emotionally draining week.

Kevin and I have two beautiful dogs, Ellie and Harley.  They were one of the main reasons we bought our little farm.  We wanted them to have the space to run and stretch their legs.

Our Sweet Baby Girl Ellie

Our Good Ol' Bear Harley

Well, we had all this space and we wanted to give back the love our dogs shared with us.  So we volunteered to be a foster home for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

When we got the call that a Cavalier girl named Poppy needed a home we jumped in the car and drove 3 hours to pick her up.  On the way up, all excited, Kevin and I discussed all the things we were going to do with the new foster, take her for walks, to Fort Funston, meet children, go the park, etc.  

When we picked her up, she was nothing like we were expecting.  She was sad.  So very sad.  Her whole life got turned upside down and she didn't want to interact with us.  If we talked to her, she looked away.  If we reached to pet her, she cowered into a corner.  She barely walked, and only took about 10 steps at a time.

But despite this sad demeanor, she was starting to see us as family.  She wagged her tail slightly when we talked to her.  And she started to perk up when we got closer to her.  She was becoming my foster baby.  The Cavalier spirit was still alive in her and she was starting to open up and trust us.

And then the most horrible thing happened, she disappeared.  

We had moved our dogs outside for the cleaning lady.  She is afraid of dogs (especially Harley) and requested that they go outside so they are not in her way.  I put Harley and Poppy in our shaded yard.  Made sure that the gates were closed and locked and then took Ellie to her Nosework class.  Harley and Poppy were alone for maybe 1/2 an hour.  When we got back Harley was alone in the yard with the gates and doors still closed.  We still have not figured out how Poppy got out.

The pain of a lost pet is quite unbearable.  Wondering where she is.  Is she lost or stolen?  Is she out in the street or in someone's home?  Is she alive or dead?  How did she get out?  Who took her?  What can I do to get her back?

I would lay awake at night thinking about her.  Wanting her home and under my roof, safe and warm.  I would think of things I could be doing to find her.

I cried. 

But I am a woman of action, so I didn't sit wondering what happened.  Here is a list of things I did.  Hopefully, if you have lost a pet, you might find it helpful.

1. Make large signs to be placed in front of your home.  At first, I hand-wrote them on fluorescent boards, but I replaced them with professional looking printed corrugated poster boards with large pictures. I also placed one at the near-by park.  (These were what eventually brought our Poppy  home).
2. Buy window chalk and use your car as a moving flyer.  Just in case your dog gets outside your neighborhood, this expands your visibility.  I used a bright white marker.
3. Call your local radio station and TV stations.  They might do a public announcement.  They did for Poppy.  The local paper also volunteered to run an ad for her.
4. Get your flyers in all the vet hospitals in the area.  I did it in the three surrounding cities.
5. Get your flyers in the local supermarket, coffee shops, pet stores, and surrounding schools.
6. Use the internet: Get attention with Facebook, Pet Amber Alert, Pet Harbor, Fido Finder, Craigslist, etc.
7. Drop-off flyers in all your neighbor's mailboxes.
8. Check the shelters, make a missing pet report, and leave flyers.
9. Hire a private pet detective (I give this one mixed reviews, but it is worth a shot).
10. Did I mention posting flyers around your neighborhood?  I know I mentioned flyers a lot, but you have to cover every angle.
11. DON'T GIVE UP!  

8 Days later, my husband announced he would be right back.  About 10 minutes later he walked through the door with Poppy in his arms.  Our neighbor had seen our sign by the park and when she woke on Sunday morning Poppy was sitting in her front yard.  I immediately began crying tears of joy and whisked Poppy to the Emergency Vet.  They gave her fluids and cleaned out her eyes.  She had collected dirt, leaves, and debris in her eyes, but she was okay.  They sent her home with antibiotics, eye drops, and a cone.  

I was a little worried that this adventure of hers would set her back, but it didn't seem to.  She still sees Kevin and me as her foster parents.  And we love her for it.

Isn't she beautiful?  She will be ready for adoption soon!

One Disgusting Story

I was telling this story to my co-worker and she told me that I had to include this one on the blog.  So for everyone who feels like getting squeamish, please read on  If not, you may want to skip this one.  This is your warning.

As you know, I was in charge of doing all the chores this last weekend which included changing out all the fly and yellow jacket traps.  So I found a shovel and started to dig a hole in the dry hard earth.  This is not exactly an easy chore for me.  I dug and dug and barely broke ground.  So I grabbed the post digger and used that.  Meanwhile, Harley is watching me dig.

So, when I got about 8-10" hole, which is barely big enough, I grabbed the fly traps and emptied the contents into my hole.  So now this hole is full of mostly dead fly bodies, maggots, and few live ones.  I quickly buried them up and walked away to clean the traps and set them up again.

BIG MISTAKE

When I walked past my fly burial ground, I saw Harley, my doberman, digging them all up and the few live ones are flying everywhere.  SHIT!

I called him away and cursed myself for not putting him into the house.

I continued cleaning out the traps and setting new ones, when from the corner of my eye I see a white furry body rolling happily in the dirt.

There was Ellie, my sweet clean white Cavalier girl, rolling all over the dead fly bodies that Harley had just dug up.  I screamed at her to stop, but my screams were falling on deaf ears.  Once she was done, she happily pranced over to me all gray and black with dead fly parts and wings hanging off her.  UGH!

So I did what any good Cavalier Mother would do, I told my hubby to please give her a bath.

YUCK!

Chores

I know people have told me this, but Kevin and I have a lot of chores!  I have never felt it more than this weekend, when Kevin sprained his ankle.  I was left to get it all done by myself!  

So here is a list of typical chores we do on a weekend:

1. Wake Up.
2. Let out the goats.
3. Feed the dogs.
4. Give dogs their medications.
5. Feed the koi.
6. Take the dogs out to potty.
7. Clean up dog poop.
8. Make breakfast
9. Do the dishes.
10. Change out goat's water.  This is easier said than done, since it requires a screwdriver to remove it from the wall.  And then you have to carry the heavy bucket to a place to dump it.  Refill.  Do this twice!
11. Muck out the barn.  Also easier said than done. This requires pulling the green waste bin all the way down to the barn (we haven't set up the compost yet), scooping out the muck and then putting fresh bedding down.  Drag the bin all the way up the hill to where it belongs.
12. Change the water in the fish tank.
13. Clean filters in the koi pond and top off the water level.
14. Water the plants and the lawn.
15. Clean out the fly traps and the yellow jacket traps.
16. Clean up the house.  There is a LOT involved in this, but I won't go into detail.
17. Clean dog's drinking fountain.
18. Shower.
19. Eat.
20. Do the dishes.
21. Lock up the goats for the night.
22. Feed the dogs.
23. Take the dogs out to potty.
24. Sleep.

Let me tell you I am sore today!  But there is so much satisfaction at the end of the day when I am sitting on my deck enjoying the twilight with a glass a wine.  What a good life we have!

It is WAR!

That's IT Mr. Gopher!  You are no longer welcomed here.  I tried to let you live here, but you have not followed the rules.  You have continued to dig holes in the front lawn and that is just not acceptable!  You had 1 acre to choose from and you insisted on living on 200 SF that is my front lawn.  Not cool!

Here is your eviction notice: carbon monoxide.

Side note:  This first attempt to gas him failed. 

You may have won this battle, Mr. Gopher, but we will win the war!

Pop! Pop! Popcorn!

So recently I have been really into popcorn.  What a delicious, light, and healthy snack!  Well ... it has the possibility of being healthy.

I couldn't help myself and bought a box of "natural" microwave popcorn at the market.  When I brought it home I was disgusted with myself.  There is just SO much packaging and waste in a box of 3 popcorn bags. There is the card board box, the plastic around each bag, and then the bag itself.  And to top it off, who knows what chemicals are in the "natural" popcorn.  Just stuff you would have to be in a chemistry class to understand.  So when I finished the box  I made a resolve with myself to learn how to make popcorn over the stove.

Who would of thought it would be so easy?  Why is anyone making popcorn in the microwave?  Here is how I do it and now I can pronounce all the ingredients in my popcorn... corn, butter, salt.

1. 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels
2. 3 tablespoons of canola oil
3. Butter and salt (you decide how much)

Add the oil to your large saucepan and about 3 kernels and turn the stove on high.  
Wait for them to pop.  
Once they pop add the rest of the popcorn kernels and then remove the pan from the heat for 30 seconds.  Count out loud and insert the word, "Mississippi" in between your numbers.. makes it feel like you are 10 again.
Return the pan to the flame and wait for the rest of the kernels to pop.  They should start popping all at the same time.  Once it really gets going, give the pan a gentle shake and skew the lid a little.  It allows the steam to vent, so your popcorn is nice and crisp.  Once the popping stops, immediately pour into a bowl.  
Add butter and salt.

That's it!  Really!  Super easy and probably cheaper than the microwave stuff.  If you really want to go wild add some Parmesan cheese or Truffle oil.  Yum!

I can't get a picture of a bowl full of popcorn because someone insists on eating all of it right away

I wonder who that someone could be?