I think I saw her belly roll!!!!

We decided to let Wyatt and Zelda mate this fall and of course being new at this whole thing we didn't have a clue!! So we thought Zelda might be, possibly was, could be, should be pregnant. I have read there's really no way to tell for sure until the last 4-5 weeks. So she's been getting a little pudgy and round but hey that could be from what is causing the rest of us to be pudgy and round :-) But this morning I was brushing her (she loves to be brushed and rubbed) and I stopped for a few seconds and just watched and I saw a huge roll in her side. Cool!!!! I think she' s got a little goober in there. I'm so excited and nervous. You know just like people you read and hear all the horror stories about kidding.
We sold Wyatt and I think he's found a good home. We thought Basil (BaaBaa) may be pregnant too but not because we wanted her to be. She's not showing any sign at all of being pregnant, which is a good thing. She was just a little young yet.
Luke and Jesse are tremendously happy that Wyatt is gone. Now they can all play and jump and be frisky without Mr. Horns butting in. The fact that he had horns and none of the rest did was not a good thing. The breeder said he was disbudded but those horns say a different story.
Most of the ducks have gone to good home. There were just too many of them and darned if two more, a huge male and female didn't just show up for dinner and stayed. Where they came from I don't know. They were muscovy too. We're down to 6 chickens and plan to get a new batch in the spring. I think I'll try Speckled Sussex this time and maybe another kind.
That's a short update on the animals. It's been awhile since I've been in the kitchen. We had a sad accident with my mother in law over the holidays so we've been back and forth to the hospital since Christmas Eve. I'll post about that separately later today.
Gotta go check out that belly one more time :-) YAY!!!!

A new bread!!

I'm trying out a new bread procedure that Jenny and I thought sounded interesting. You mix up a batch of dough. The bread in this picture contains a mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flour, salt, yeast and water. After mixing you let it rise in the container for about 2 hours then pop it in the fridge. The next day you cut off a chunk, shape it let it rise for about 90 minutes then pop it in the oven and in 30 minutes you have a wonderful dinner bread. The remainder of the dough is in the fridge waiting for the next day. As it ages it gets a sourdough taste to it. The last dough of the batch was actually the best but they were all good. It's all in the book ArtisanBread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois. It's yummy and quick. I still make my other bread because I can make that 6 loaves at a time and freeze it, but this is nice for a hot dinner bread.

Looking good!!!!

My talented husband has started trimming out the windows. He's very handy I must say. The bottom of the old plaster wall had too many holes and such to patch so we thought we'd put up the bead board. I think it looks good!!!! I love the windows. This house has a lot of windows. I like the light so I'm glad. He's finished two and only has 16 left :-)

Check out that barn!!!

We finally managed to get some paint on the barn. We ran across a deal at the store so we bought a couple gallons and managed to get it on the same day. I think it looks much better. Before it stuck out like a sore thumb, now it has a calmer look. I think the goats like it too. Wyatt managed to rub up against it before it dried so we had to towel him off. He didn't like that too much. Do you suppose it's a little strange the barn gets painted before the house??

Lost my Head!!!

Ahh, well this whole transition thing kinda set me back as far as my "healthy" eating is concerned. I don't understand how people with a hectic schedule can eat anything but quick and easy which is not always healthy. Being on the road all the time you stop here and stop there and before you know it you're bulging everywhere just like the picture of my unfinished scarecrow. I wasn't even able to bake my bread for a long time and Vince let me know the store bought stuff just wasn't the same. He says it doesn't hold him as long.

So I finally got back to baking the bread, cooking my beans, and yesterday I bought a rice cooker because we eat so much rice. I'm cooking the beans (dried) in my crock pot which is amazing. Although we stumbled for awhile we are back on track now. Although I must say moving to Henderson is making it more difficult. Can you believe Wal-Mart can have two full aisles of candy and not one container of vegetable broth!!! I had to make my own. There are a few other things I have a hard time finding but I'm sure we will adjust and just make those monthly runs to Whole Foods.

Even my tomato loving dog is eating healthy thanks to the garden. First it was a race to see who could pick the tomatoes first then came radishes and now today I caught her actually picking a collard leaf and devouring it. Either she's not getting enough food (she's fed 3 times a day) or she just loves her veggies. I actually had a lady get upset with me because I don't feed them a meat based diet and I know they are carnivores but all the meat based foods irritate her allergies really bad. I do however buy canned meat only dog foods and try to give them some on a fairly regular basis. I'd love to find a local source for fresh meat bones maybe I can talk to one of the local butchers about saving us some.

Most spoiled dogs EVER!!!!

Dog beds seem to be everywhere in the house and they keep moving. One minute it's behind the sofa then beside the chair. We couldn't find a place where they seemed out of the way. Then when our grand dog visits another one is added and of course they all want that one since it's different. We had a little nook that use to be a kind of desk area but we took the counter top out and hadn't really decided what to do with it yet. Ah ha! It was just the right size for both of the dog beds side by side. Vince built them a little platform (to make them feel like they are getting on the furniture I suppose) and made it high enough so Broch's bed can slide under it for when he's not here. Kinda like a doggie trundle bed. They love it. Sometime they sleep together and sometime they sleep apart. They like their pillows too. Rory really gets comfy about 2 in the afternoon. Now if I could just manage to find something that would smell "fresh" like the spring air instead of like dog funk it would all be just perfect.

BBBRRRRR!

Well it's here, cold weather. Are you ready?? We are, well, kind of. Actually the heating system for the "old" house we are working on is not installed yet but we did manage to get a gas space heater that is a wonderful thing. The dogs and I snuggle up to it all the time. I have to watch Annie though she'll stand in front of it till we smell hair burning. Crazy dog!!!! We are making a lot of progress though. Here's a pic of the old kitchen and the new kitchen. I'm still trying to figure out where the "simplicity" comes in though. It seems like everything we tackled gets difficult and complicated. You can't do one thing till you do another and to do one thing you need this gadget or that and then you need another. Fortunately Vince is really good at improvising. Like to drag the pasture rather than buy a 200.00 drag he took a piece of old cattle panel and cut some of the wire and bent it down then ties logs on top for weight and it worked perfectly. Well I'm going to let the goats out to enjoy the pasture. Ha, we let them out and they won't go but a few feet from the barn. Then if an acorn falls in the woods they all scamper back. They are a hoot to watch.