I have to admit I have no clue how many I have of these but I’ll make a guess at 4! (Truth is, I can’t be bothered to get up & go find out!)

These backgrounders were retired recently so if you don’t have one & would like a chance to win one on Smart Cushion then fee free to take part in this little competition. AND you can blame Richard for this question:

What is Gary Larson famous for?

It was either this question or the first one he suggested which was, ” What is the average rainfall in the Amazon Basin?” LOL!
I’ll pick the winners sometime on Monday, Sept 3rd 2007. Look forward to hearing from you all.

Liz

Well I have to admit folks that I cheated on lunch yesterday! I was working on TK stamps which I wanted to finish before lunch & had no inspiration on what to feed everyone. I suddenly began to fancy a bowl of fresh fruit & cream but knew my family would want more than that SO I sent Michael to the store to pick up fried chicken, potato wedges & fresh fruit. Well the grocery store were out of wedges so Michael brought home frozen Tater Tots which he cooked. No offense to anybody reading this who likes Tater Tots but those things were DISGUSTING! SO like a cat who has the cream I ate 3 bowls of fresh fruit (chopped nectarines, oranges, grapes, kiwis & strawberries) drizzled in fresh Bossy cream. Talk about yummy!

Well then tonight I had cleaned out part of our small freezer & found some odd bags of raspberries & blueberries so I had a big bowlful. When I poured the cream it didn’t pour, it was SO thick & so out came a big blob. No complaints here - very delicious. Now that Chuck is no longer feeding off of Bossy we are getting a LOT more cream & have plenty. I had already made over a pound of butter before eating the cream on my fruit.

More progress has been made on the barn today. Much to Daniel’s delight the backhoe was down here all afternoon leveling out the front of the cow barn so that all the water drains away from the barn instead of into it. He took his backhoe down to “help” them They brought several loads of sand in today to level it all inside & will finish that up tomorrow. Due to Monday being Labor Day the concrete won’t be here until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Bossy was happy today though because they have torn down some of the fencing so she has gone back into her old pasture. Of course she can’t get in the barn but at least she is back in her familiar place & will be happier.

I will be back in a few minutes with this week’s giveaway. Thank you to all of you who have been concerned about my knee. No I haven’t been to the doctor as there is really nothing they could do. It is getting better but life is BUSY here so it doesn’t get the rest that it should. I’ll be back jumping hurdles one of these day! LOL! Well maybe not hurdles but getting back on the trampoline would be good. While you’re waiting for me enjoy this “I Miss You” card from Keri using some of Marieke’s images:

Take care & have a great evening,

Liz

If you remember a few months ago we painted the cow barn? At that time we had thought the cow barn was finished. WRONG! The floor is earth and over these last few months of having cows using it as a toilet has made it pretty gross. We have kept it clean as best we could but Bossy LOVES to poop as she is walking out or in the door! Yesterday guys came to start concreting it - way TOO big a job for us to do. They have to lay more than 10 cubic yards of concrete & that is just in one half! The cow barn is split into two halves lengthwise. The first half that is sided with wood is where we keep all the hay etc. The other half which has metal siding is where the cows reside & that is the side that is being worked on. The other side is fine as no animals live in there.
The guys came yesterday & pulled off the siding so the concrete truck can have easy access.

When they went to move a log they disturbed two huge yellow jackets nests! Poor guys! One of them got stung & we quickly went & got spray to kill them all. They are going to make the concrete slightly sloping so that all the water etc runs out the door & then there will also be concrete out side the door so as to alleviate a huge puddly mess. They gutted the one side - look at all this stuff that had to come out of there!

Now inside they are preparing it & leveling it etc:

As for Bossy & the calves they have now been displaced. Bossy is up here by the house in the double pasture & seems quite happy and the calves spent the night in the first pasture where the turkeys are. The nights are cooler so staying out isn’t a hardship on them. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be milked last night but finally let her milk down. Cows like routine & familiarity so can’t say I blame her. Michael said she was fine this morning.

I went out for the first time this morning. YEE HAA! I only went down to the turkey pen & garden & by the time I had pottered for a while my poor leg was screaming “Rest! Rest!” Walking through the vegetable/weed garden is hard enough with two good legs but trying to climb over things with one bad leg was quite a challenge. BUT I dug up some potatoes & picked tomatoes. My tomato plants are just LOADED! The potatoes have done really well too. One plant produces a good lot of taters. The spinach patch still needs weeding but that will ahev to wait.

When I came in Daniel was hungry & Hannah was shouting to get up as well as hungry so I put eggs etc in the pan & Daniel cooked scrambled eggs whilst I got Hannah up! He was very proud of himself - did a good job.

Poor Michelle came down sick yesterday so she is not able to be out & about. Daniel & Hannah were both a little “off” last week but when Michelle gets sick it ALWAYS goes to her stomach & makes her physically sick.

Hope your day is going well.

Liz

Howdy folks!

Hope your Monday is starting off as a good one. Sorry for the lack of communication on this end & no goodies as I promised. I was off my two feet for longer than I had expected so getting places by hopping or sliding was rather slow, to say the least. I finally began to start walking again on Friday but very gingerly & slowly. I am still walking slow - yes the ol’ knee still hurts & I have not been outside for FIVE days! Can you believe that?

One advantage with being off my feet is that I spent alot of time sat here at my desk & so was able to crack on with the new THomas Kinkade images. Still have a ways to go but at least we have made progress.

Also I didn’t change a dirty diaper for 3 days

So what else has been going on here? Not much! Everyone is busy. Michael starts back on school work today & Michelle is pressing rubber. The weather is cool here this morning, only in the 50’s.

Keri sent me this GORGEOUS card a couple weeks back. She did for the CHF forum swap. It uses the Wild Rose & A Friend Like You.

Hope you all have a great week. I will try to get some goodies photographed & given away this week.

Liz

Well sorry that I am late with this folks. Yesterday the pain in my knee kinda addled my brain.

Thanks for all your kind comments & laughs - I know you all found it rather funny! Bossy spent the day out with the other cows & the bull but surprised us by coming home to be milked. Well I think it was more like coming home for her grain We left the gate open all night & now everyone is in Bossy’s pasture. I’m sure they are having a grand old party.

I am out of pain today but still cannot walk on it. Yesterday I couldn’t even put my foot on the floor but can do that today so it is obviously healing. Still having to go up & down the stairs on my rear end.

Interesting to hear everyone’s different favorite colors. I have to stand with the blue people in my choice. Have always loved blue & all its shades.

The three winners picked out of the pot are:

#31 SmilynStef

#35 Lacyquilter

#11 Cindy

Congratulations to all of you. I have more great giveaways coming up later in the week.

Liz

Richard & I were just talking about this last night as he had heard of the woman that had just got killed in Australia by her pet camel. We also knew that cows will mount humans when they are in heat if there are no other cows around. In my infinite wisdom I told him I was watching Bossy carefully so that that didn’t happen to me. HAH! We knew she was due to come into heat at any time.
This morning I headed down to the barn thinking what a beautiful morning it was. I put the bucket on the shelf, said good morning to Bossy as I always do & turned my back for 2 seconds to put the stick in the door to hold it open.

It happened quicker than lightening. She was on me & I was flat on the ground! LOL! She went over the top of me but thankfully I am still alive & laughing. BUT I have twisted my left knee & it is RATHER painful. SO I guess I won’t be doing any running today, just hobbling.

There is a bull in the bottom pasture so Miss Bossy needs to go take a visit with him to get her needs met

No I didn’t do the milking this morning. I got Michael up so he went & sorted that out.

Take care,

Liz

…. is hoarse! Poor thing, he sounds SO funny. All he can manage is a squeak BUT he is now drinking his gallon of milk morning & night from the bucket so he soon learnt that wasn’t coming from anywhere else.

The one good thing that has come out of this is that Bossy is now letting us have her cream. I think before she was holding it back for him - yes cows can do that! Anyway tonight I took the cream off of last night’s milk & there was 3 cups! WOW! Butter making here I come (well tomorrow now) and talking of butter making, you’ll laugh at this little escapade I had on Saturday evening after writing the last blog.

I decided to make butter although we only had two cups of cream. Didn’t want it to go off SO I poured it into the butter churn only to discover that the blades wouldn’t reach it. DARN! Now what was I to do. Not fully thinking I poured it into a large pyrex jug & just stuck the churning part into that. Switched it on & cream flew everywhere! WHAT A MESS! So now I had more dishes to clean not to mention the cupboards & myself. BUT still the question remained on how to make this cream into butter? Then it dawned - the blender sat right in front of me. I put the cream in there & within 20 secs it was at the consistency it should be, worked it in the butter cloth & sieve & made the fastest butter I have ever made. SO that is the last time I use the churn.

Michael was back today after his trip BUT he had to go out at 7pm so I had to go milk Bossy. For some reason the flies were horrendous - swarming everywhere. It was gross. Needless to say Bossy doesn’t like flies so was very antsy & the stupid flies kept dive bombing the milk so I had no intention of keeping it for us to drink. Needless to say the turkeys & chickens were very happy to oblige. Chuck still got his gallon but we get 2 gallons at each milking.

It’s late here & I’m tired so will pick the backgrounder winners tomorrow.

Sleep well everyone,

Liz

If you folks ever meet me you will soon learn that I am VERY down to earth, definitely a jeans & t-shirt kind of girl. Well right now I look LOVELY! HAH! I would love a shower but there are still animals to put in for the night so the aroma has to stay for a while. My jeans & shirt all show significant signs of cows but y’know I LOVE working with them. Even as a child I would spend hours out in the fields with the tame ones. Each year there would be one or two that were friendly so I guess it is in my blood.

Chuck was MUCH better behaved today - actually came up to me but moved when I went to touch him but then let me put the halter on me & walked to the barn so hopefully he’ll become a sweetie like T-Bone.
I know I needed to do more exercise but now I am gaining muscles where I never thought they were, not to mention the calluses on my hands. Been down cleaning out the cow barn. The pigs haven’t had any hay & manure for a while - the cart was full so they were pleased to see it coming over the fence. We don’t normally get the humid weather here but today & yesterday have been yucky.

Of course I am now milking Bossy twice a day. I took the bucket to Chuck but he just ignored it so I gave it to all the different chickens & turkeys. They were thrilled. Those black broilers we have are very dominant - started pecking my boots whenever I go in there now.

Jodie sent me this great card yesterday & we had a laugh over what a great new breed of chicken, our new Mrs Chicken, would make. Thanks Jodie for sharing it with me.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I, for one, am looking forward to a day off tomorrow. Several stamp magazines came this week so I have some reading to catch up on.

Take care,

Liz

Well this week I have THREE of the retired Fleur-de-lis backgrounders on smart cushion to give away to you.

SO what do you need to do to enter? WELL……. I really have no clue so just tell me your favorite color. I’ll pick three winners sometime on Monday, August 20th, 2007.

Have a great weekend,

Liz

… and no pun intended! The vet has just been out to see Bossy & diagnosed “Caked Udder” which basically means that Chuck has been bumping her too hard & caused a HUGE lump & I mean huge, to form inside her udder. He is coming back tonight with some medication.

So what does this all mean? It means that we have had to take Chuck off of her & now we have to milk twice a day, something we really didn’t want to do but needs must. Chuck has never been a nice calf & now this makes it worse. We have had to put T-Bone & him in a separate pasture. T-Bone, being the sweetheart that he is, just walked nicely. Chuck on the other hand had to be dragged all the way - Richard had that job & then at the end I had to stand behind & push to get him through the gate.

Of course Bossy is not happy & is making her voice heard!

So goes the farm saga for today. We are just thankful it was not mastitis or something worse.

Liz