Wild Kingdom

When I was little it was a big deal to watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins. It came on every Sunday at 6pm I think... I loved that show.

I still watch Discovery, PBS and National Geographic channel documentaries on nature and animals. I'm just weird like that.

I was scooping string algae out of my little pond with a net the other night and I scooped up a little tadpole. It had all it's legs and still had it's tail... very cute! I called Furry Husband over to see and we were gazing into the pond to see if we could spot more.

That is when this garter snake began to emerge from the side of the pond. It was wriggling and moving and seemed to come right out of nowhere.... and as it emerged, little tiny froggies jumped out of the water onto the sides of the pond and onto lilly pads.

The snake was most definitely not drowning but hunting and the froggies knew it. It was if Marlin Perkins stepped into my back yard. Wild Kingdom right there in my pond!

Flies

About this time of the year, we have flies.

We put up those sticky fly trap things, we hang the fly trap bags. They are covered and filled with flies... it's all really disgusting.

And it doesn't really control the flies because when I'm milking goats, there are still flies everywhere. And when I ride, there are flies, flies and more flies and the little suckers bite!

Last year we tried fly predators for the first time. What are fly predators? They are these teeny, tiny little insects smaller than gnats. The predators don't kill existing flies; they lay their eggs in fly larvae killing any flies to be. We bought them at the height of fly season last year.

This year, before the flies were able to multiply, I bought some fly predators from the feed store. They come in a sealed bag, stored in the fridge. The bag rests at room temperature for 2-7 days until you see tiny, widdle, bugs in there. That's when you cut the bag open and sprinkle the predators around your place. You should spread new fly predators once a month during fly season... for us, that is 3 maybe 4 mos. of the year.

Today, I have 2 or 3 flies keeping me company while I milk goats. We haven't had to put out any fly traps and the outdoors are so much nicer without flies!

I decided to check out the company that sells these wonderful little bugs on-line. Sometimes our feed store keeps the predators too long in the fridge, they get old and don't hatch. Figured if I went directly to the source I wouldn't run into that problem.

Spaulding Labs are cheaper than the feedstore even with shipping... check 'em out! https://spalding-labs.com/Default.aspx

I placed an order and I ordered some for my sister.

I never did hear back from her about a time she was free for me to treat her to a birthday lunch or outing. I remembered her commenting how many flies were around her yard.... so happy birthday sis! Enjoy your fly predators!

What do you think? A little too unconventional? grin.

Greek yogurt and nipplage

I put a tank top on the other morning cuz it was hot out. This particular tank top has this built in "bra" which is really more of a pain in the arse than anything, but I'm too stubborn to toss this tank top out and even tho' I don't like it because of the weird bra thingy I still wear it.


I was brushing my teeth and I noticed in my bathroom mirror reflection something that looked like my nipple. Only it was sort of on the bottom of my breast and it was pointing straight down.

I had this flash of, "Oh. Geez. Oh. Wow. I really AM old cuz look at my nipple. It's on the bottom of my boob and it's staring at the floor!" and then I reached up to feel because it was so bizzare looking and I really thought it was my nipple.

Nope. It was that stupid built in bra thing.... there was some bunchy material there.

Oh. Well. SHEW!

I'm NOT that old ..... yet.


And now the recipe for Greek yogurt:

*1 quart of whole goat/sheep/cow/yak/water buffalo (whichever you may own) milk. We doubled the recipie because: go large or go home!

*Spoon 2 Tbl of said milk into a bowl and stir in 2 Tbl of full fat yogurt with live active cultures. Set aside for now.

*Bring the milk into a boil. (be careful with this step! we let milk boil for an ice cream recipe and it boiled right over onto the stove top in the blink of an eye... HUGE mess.) We were a little too chicken to bring the milk to boil (see italics) but it was hot and moving around like it was breathing in the pot.

*Take milk off the heat, and let it stand without stirring until it reaches 100. (I forgot and stirred... and I also put it in an ice bath so I wouldn't have to wait very long because I am impatient that way...)

*A skin will form on the top (this did not happen with mine but like I said... I stirred it and I am impatient), using a table knife, make a slit in the skin and pour the milk/yogurt mixture in. Cover the milk with a kitchen towel and move the yogurt into your oven.

*Turn your oven light on (oh, Furry Husband laughed and laughed at the "turn your oven light on" step) and let it stand for 16 hours.

*Using a skimmer/slotted spoon, lift the skin off the top of the yogurt and discard (or feed to the dog(s)). Carefully ladle the yogurt into a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth and refrigerate until much of the whey is drained and the yogurt is thick - at least 4 hours.

*Transfer to a bowl and serve.

We added honey to taste as a sweetner and strawberries for fruit to ours.

It was definitely thicker than previous yogurt attempts and if I had been patient.... it may have gotten thicker...but I didn't let it drain long enough. It was at least 4 hrs, but I think there was still a lot of whey to drain. I should have scraped the sides of the cheese cloth to take away the thick yogurt and let the thin drain more whey....

Give it a whirl and let me know how yours turns out! It was pretty easy schmeasy!

Keep Norman in your thoughts...

This is Norman. He doesn't belong to us, but we babysit him when his parents go out of town. He is a big, sweet lug and he's only 4 1/2 yrs old.

.

His Mom called me last night crying. He's been diagnosed with Wobblers Disease. The options aren't good. Not good at all.

.

Norman is her first dog. She waited all through college and after until she and her sweetie had a house, the time, the money to get her first dog. She had always wanted a German Shepherd Dog and Norman has been loved and pampered. He goes everywhere with them... camping, hiking, he goes to work each day with his Dad.

.

My friend is completely devoted to him. She has some hard choices ahead of her, none of them with a very rosy outcome.

.

Her heart is breaking.

.

My heart is breaking for her.

.

Keep Norman and my friends in your thoughts, would you please? Now go have a good weekend and give all your dogs a big ol' hug and a kiss from me.

Dairy, Dairy, Dairy....

(Udders, udders and more udders. This is THE money shot in the dairy goat world. These are Marilou Webb of SouthFork Lamanchas spectactular girls and where my does come from... these are probably their cousins...)

I LOVE me sum dairy products! Reason numero uno why I wanted dairy goats.

Before we brought them home, we went on goat adventures every weekend. Non-goat people told us how disgusting goat milk would be. "You are gonna DRINK that crap?! Ewwwwwww!"

Hoo boy, if I had a nickle for every time someone told me how gross goat milk was, I'd be a rich goat-milkin' woman.

We tried us some goat milk at one stop of a goat adventure weekend. It was ice cold. It was pasteurized. It came served in a cold glass complete with condensation running down the sides like a Coke commercial...

Furry Husband and I looked at each other...

"You try it."

"No. YOU try it"

"YOU try it!"


I closed my eyes and wrinkled my nose... I sniffed it....

Didn't smell any different than regular ol' milk. Huh.

I took a deep breath and I took a sip.

My eyes opened in surprise. A grin spread across my face. Milk! It tastes just like milk! It's wonderful and cold and creamy and sweet and milky. There was NO goat flavor AT ALL.

I have NO idea what those other people are talkin' 'bout. Maybe they found a half dead dairy goat and sucked right off of it's shrivelled, dirty, dying teat?

Now it's my secret mission to spread the goat love one person at a time. We let people try our milk in blind taste tests next to whole cow's milk from the store. All but ONE person in six years points to the store bought cow milk with a superior gleam in their eye, "THAT one! That is the goat milk!"

Nope.

Gotta love the goat. Pay homage to the goat milk, suckah.

I found a recipe for Greek yogurt from our July Food & Wine magazine issue. I have half a gallon of it in our oven ripening as I type. It should be ready to drain around lunch time and ready to eat tonight. I have strawberries at the ready to chop and mix in...

I'll share the recipe if it turns out.

Tonight we make chocolate ice cream....

Over the weekend we made glorious chevre cheese flavored several ways..... honey & cinnamon, basil & sun dried tomatoes, garlic & dill, Sriracha hot sauce & green chilies, herbs de provance....I took the cheese to our feed store. The fellas wanted to try a bunch. Ben, the head feed store dude asked me what I recommended to go with the cheese.

I told him

"Crackers, chips, bread, veggies... anything that gets the cheese to your mouth! "


Oh how I do love those wunnerful, delightful, milk-giving goaties!

Susan and Toe

Last year was THE year for planting. Our yard was very much hard pack red clay soil, bind weed, kocia weed and grasshoppers.

Can you say Deliverance?

A neighbor had a tree taken out... she had mulch coming out her ears and had the tree guys dump a truck load of mulch in our driveway.

A friend sent me an e-mail about her perennial garden needing to be thinned. I brought home a zillion garbage bags full of dirt and plants. Literally a zillion. I counted. 1.... 2..... 3..... 4.....

I worked like a crazy person with buggy eyes, a slick sheen of sweat on my skin, ropey veins pulsing in time to every shovel full o' dirt I dug in order to get everything in the ground and mulch all around.

Now it looks pretty nice at our little place. Things other than weeds are growing and I don't have to worry so much about learning to play the banjo. Fine instrument that it is.

One area I planted Black Eyed Susans... the Susans did not appear this spring. I was disappointed but kept watch.

Lo and behold... ONE scraggly, very sick looking Black Eyed Susan emerged. It developed a bud and was trying it's hardest to blossom.

I pointed it out to Furry Husband. Just then Toe, our dog, came into the picture. He promptly squatted over the single, struggling Susan and pooped squarely on top of it.

Furry Husband burst into gales of laughter.

I dug up the poor, valiant, albiet stinky, Susan and moved it to another spot.

Let's hope Toe isn't drawn to it's new home to lay waste.... fingers crossed my little forlorn looking Black Eyed Susan is much happier in her new home.

Horses and pool parties...

Mrs. Kravitz invited me and another gal that rides at the barn to her house to go swimming. She has an above ground pool... she made margaritas and had some chips with dip.

It was a 100 degree day and a pool party sounded purty good to me!

The other gal invited is 28, with long, long legs, rides well, and looks amazing in a bikini.

*sigh*

Hope no one minded my bulges! Grin.

While we were swimming, Mrs. Kravitz told us that she told Mr. Kravitz he could NOT come into the pool while we were swimming. She told us that she was always really grossed out when she was a little girl by old, hairy men in the pool.

I looked at her open mouthed, "Mrs. Kravitz, he is your HUSBAND! It is so NOT the same thing!"

"Yes, it is. He has a hairy chest and it's turning grey just like those gross, disgusting, old men when I was a little girl!" she replied in a smug and justified way.

"NO! That is not the same thing - YOU are MARRIED to him and you SLEEP with him every night. You are the same age!"

I almost drowned laughing.

Just then Mrs. Kravitz looks over and sees Mr. Kravitz standing near the chips and dip on the back patio. She gets this panicky look in her eye and hisses "Look! Look at him! He's eating all our food! Look at his mouth! Look how busy his mouth is!"

Sure 'nuff. There is Mr. Kravitz, mouth chewing, marg in one hand, waving at us with a chip in the other....

Poor Mr. Kravitz.

Lucky for him, Furry stopped by on his way home from work and the boys were "allowed" poolside.

Hilarious. I guess you have to know them.... Mr. Kravitz wears hearing aids (years spent rocking out in a band ruined his ears) and simply takes them out when Mrs. Kravitz really gets going.

Constant entertainment. Really. Bless their hearts.

***************************************

I had another great weekend of horse lessons. Poor Furry Husband. I was taking lessons on ONE horse regularly. My costs have doubled, because I'm taking lessons each week on TWO horses. Yikes.

I don't wanna stop taking lessons with Rosso since my comfort level is coming back. I don't want the fear of him to return. And while my comfort is coming back, I'm still not totally comfortable yet if that makes sense.

I'm beginning to enjoy Rosso and my lessons are good - leg yielding, we introduced shoulder fore and we are cantering 20 meter circles. He's been floppy eared and perfectly willing to work.

I still don't look forward to his lesson like I do with my mare, Sera. I guess I'm waiting to have an argument with him and see who comes out on top. (Hopefully ME!) Rex thinks that it may never happen. It really might have been pain and now that he is comfy he is willing.

Me? I'm not so sure just yet. But hey, I'm on him and I'm riding him.


Sera is doing great... my sitting trot is coming along. Rex gave me some pointers.... push my forehead out a little like I'm pressing it against an imaginary wall to keep my neck more stable and shock absorbing. Push my feet into my stirrups and use my ankles in a way that they absorb the bounce so my feet move more up and down vs. bouncing out and sideways. Keep my elbows tight against my torso. It's working. I'm sitting much better.

Tho', to be honest when I post Sera seems to fly!

Would be nice if I could sit THAT trot.

Practice makes perfect.

Or so I hear.