Mostly back to normal

We had an ugly thunderstorm early this morning, ahead of a cool front, that dumped a bunch of unneeded rain on us, but really we're pretty much back to normal here.

I am making cheese now because, well, the milk doesn't stop coming. The problem is that I am sure Tuesday's market will be canceled and we may soon be sitting on a whole lot of cheese that we can't move. But if that is the worst of our problems, we are still in a really good place.

A little peep peep update - they are all flying now. Dawn had them up in the rafters of our big hay barn during the storm. All the birds are wretched and wet now, but they all made it through.

Speaking of wet, we had a little drama on Thursday. We noticed Dawn was missing one peep and we figured it may have been lost to a hawk. (It was one of the white ones - they are easy for birds of prey to pick off.)But just as we were giving up, Christian noticed it bobbing in the duck pond. We snatched it out and went into emergency mode.

We thought it would die of hypothermia, so C tucked it inside his shirt while we discussed our options. We settled on a trip to the beauty salon (AKA our bathroom) where I used a hair dryer to warm the little guy up and dry him off. He was still shivering and unable to walk when I was done, so we set him under a heat lamp for another ten minutes or so before returning him to Dawn - who had just settled the other peeps under her for the night. With a little gentle poking, he made his way into the community peep bed and slept off his big day. I can't believe we manged to save him.

They are all out getting wet today, but I think Dawn knows when it's time to warm them up- she takes little breaks and gets them all under her wings. Which is increasingly difficult for her and comical to us as they grow like weeds. I'll try t get some new photos soon.

Ready for this to be over

It is noon and the wind is still blowing pretty strongly. I am officially tired of it. Like, Category 4 tired.

As soon as the wind gets below 30 mph we'll go out and clean up the barn and think about milking goats.

I don't know how people live in windy places year 'round. The howling is driving me totally insane.

But we dodged any big bullets, never lost our power and are safe and dry. I don't think we could ask for more.

We suspect the Tuesday Farmers' market will be canceled if power is still out in Houston. If not, we'll see some of you there. Stay safe.

Halfway through Ike

It is 8am. We still have power - so that's good.

So far we have lost half of the goat barn roof, the other half of the cedar we lost a couple months ago and another big tree on the side of the house.

The winds are still HOWLING and I think we have a good four or five hours before we'll be out of it.

The ducks are out there partying like it is 1999.

Here are some pics I took from inside the house. The first one was before sunrise. The camera had trouble figuring it out. I'll check back in when it is all over.

Awaiting Ike

As you can imagine, we have been closely watching hurricane Ike for the past few days. The trajectory has changed a few times, giving us temporary ups and downs. But as of now it looks, well, less than good.



We are almost 100% sure we will lose the roof to the goat barn. And we hope that is as bad as it gets. We're going to go clean up the rest of the logs in the yard from the big tree escapade before the 90 mph winds kick in.

...wish us luck.

Peep Update

I took some peep peep photos the other day. They are growing SO fast. A few are already trying to fly. ...thought they don't make it very far since they are still more fluff than feather.

Here is the Trude keeping an eye on the family. You can see a couple keets behind Tony. (...Who is doing some bizarre grooming in this pic...)



And here is a slightly fuzzy shot of the flock of peeps. I got in between them and mama, so they were all on their tippy toes trying to look for her. So funny. They look like penguins when they do that.

An unexpected visitor

Last night I was packaging up cheese when I heard the dairy door slam. Soon thereafter the unattended goats began yelling. (Well, Peggy Sue did. The rest were looking at her the way I did, which is to say, "What the $#@%$#, Peg? Chill!)

I went out and saw Christian across the yard, scooping up a black lump that I was afraid was TOD - and was even more afraid had fallen victim to Max.

It wasn't TOD.

One of our neighbor's dog's new-ish puppies had somehow made it onto our side of the fence and then managed to get tangled up in the electric fence that keeps the pigs in. She was completely shell shocked. So sad.

I brought her into the house and while she got back to normal, we debated taking it as a sign that we should keep her. (Tom has been trying to get us to take a couple of the pups since they were born.)In the end - after a few hours of sweet puppy time - C brought her back home. We really do not need another dog now. But man, was she cute. I called her Shockey. Which became Shocka Khan by the end of the night. ...I know, I know.

This is just mental

For at least a year now, we have had a hairy, black and white jumping spider living in our mailbox. I don't have a photo of him, so I just pulled one off the interwebs ... gross, huh? And did I mention he's a jumping spider?

Most days I just say a little silent prayer that he'll be in the back of the box when I go to get the mail. 'Cause if he's on the Netflix, there ain't no movie watching that night.

It has occurred to me that I could kill Mailbox Spider, but it seems unnecessary, so I haven't. I mean, he hasn't hurt me. He's no worse than the bathroom spider.

Anyway, last week Christian and I were heading into town and decided to grab the mail on the way. C rolled down the car window, grabbed the mail, pulled it inside the car and drove on down the road. About 100 yards later we saw that M.S. had hitched a ride. Now - I saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally rid myself of the guy, but my mental husband actually put the car in reverse, rolled back 100 yards and chased the dang spider around his own torso and neck (where he had jumped from the mail)for a good minute or so before I helped scoop him up with a circular. I handed the spider and the ad over to C who gently placed him back in the mailbox and shut the door.

We need help.

And we are probably not watching a movie tonight.