Must. Love. Darkness.

Oy. I'm struggling with the short days and the dark when I get up and the dark when I get home. It's not doing much for my riding motivation.... I'm trying to convince myself to love the darkness. What other choice do I have?

I also know it's winter cuz Furry Husband turned up the thermostats. We have electric baseboard heat and he turns up the dial in each room.

Then we do this funny little dance all winter long. (you'd think we were Sandhill Cranes doing a bizzare mating ritual or something...)

He pulls this solid wooden bench in the kitchen far from the wall thinking it will burst into flame because a baseboard heater is behind it. I move the bench back to what I think is a resonable distance. He pulls it out. I move it in.

Allllll winter long.

I also prefer our bedroom to stay a bit on the chill side. Nuthin' like snuggling under the covers and being warm when it's chilly. Furry likes the bedroom on the toasty side. Again, we sneak around and I turn it down then he turns it up... I turn it down... he turns it up.... over and over it goes.

It remains a peaceful if not rediculous battle of the wills so far.... just another sign. I know without a doubt - winter is here.

Goats bring visitors....

Had a visitor yesterday come by my place to learn to make cheese.... she's going to write it up for a Colorado Springs newspaper food article she does. I'm not sure what to expect but I do know she is a gifted writer. When she sends me the article, I'll link to it here k?

I worked a chevre and a feta recipe backwards so I'd have the cheeses in their different stages for her to see.

It sort of blew my mind....

I watch Food Network... and I have a new appreciation for all those prepared steps they gots goin' on.

I tried to organize things smoothly...I think they went o.k.... we made a garlic/dill flavored chevre, a walnut/honey/cinnamon chevre and a basil infused chevre.

Oh, I also dipped into that soft rind cheese I made 3 weeks ago. It's decent! I was hoping for a creamy middle like a camembert or brie... it wasn't like that but it's definitely different than anything I've made before. I wish you could taste it!

I have 4 more containers of cheese in various stages in pots or hanging in cheesecloth from my kitchen cupboard handles draining into other pots... my kitchen looks a little like a kooky science experiment, but that means lotsa good cheese for me this week!

Cheese.

It's a glorious thing.

First Snow

Our first snow for 2010!

Weather guys said the storm would be bigger - still it's a nice, gray day with teeny little granular flakes of snow amounting to maybe 2" - maybe - streets clear and melted.

I have today off from work and I was hoping to get some quilting done (piecing... for those who really quilt...I'm not a regular quilter...erm...piecer) and bake something to fill the house with yummy scents and warmth from the oven. Cozy.

Maybe some yoga.... maybe some hula.... maybe teaching the dogs to jump thru the hula...

Sammy's DNA results....

Who knew all this time we had another Setter in the house?
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No wonder our Gordon Setter and Sammy got along so well... they was kin.

Sammy shows up mostly as English Setter 37-74%...

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German Shorthair Pointer coming in at 20-36% and 10-19% each of Laborador, Golden Retriever and Rhodesian Ridgeback!

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Well we were right about the Lab anyway... Sammy must get his big dose o' fierce from the Rhodesian Ridgeback eh?

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They hunt lions in Africa ya know.... sorry we don't have lions Sam-in-ator... just coyotes, foxes and skunks.

Sammy's DNA

Sammy - Bequia - Toe Sammy to the left - Bequia (the Dachshund - snort) to the right... baby goaties far right

Sammy knows how to smile on command ... such nice pearly whites Sam-in-ator....

O.k. - FINALLY - I get around to Sammy and the results of his DNA cheek swab experiment.

If you missed the post before - I gave Furry Husband a gift of BioPet Canine DNA kits for our anniversary and his birthday. Thought it'd be a fun science experiment. You can read about Bequia's test and results here and here.

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We've always thought of Sammy as a Border Collie/Lab mix. He's a large dog - 70-75lbs. He is pretty high energy, sort of a nervous dog, quick to try and please you - but overly quick. When doing tricks before you can tell him which trick you want, he falls to the floor and rolls over trying to guess what you want to please you ... loves people... can be aggressive to dogs he doesn't know.

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He is super protective - he protects the cats, the goats, the other dogs if we should have a visiting dog. We always call him our "protector dog" and feel really safe with him around patrolling our property.

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He likes to run the fence line with the horses, barking and snapping at the horses, trying to help Bequia herd them.

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What do you suppose his DNA results were?

Kraken?

We must've really angered something out there.

Furry's car is acting up - the electrical stuff is all wonky and he can't roll windows up or down and the electric locks are acting up so in it goes tonight for a look-see.

Cataract sounds like Kraken.... sort of.....?

We fed Sunday morning and found Rosso's cataract eye swollen shut. Crap, crap, crap! I called our vet and took him down there... she found a tiny little seed hull or some little dirt thing in his eye. It looked ulcerated but we couldn't get the eye dye to pick up the ulcer. That could be a good thing.

The risk is that the irritation and pain in the eye will set the cataract off and growing again. She loaded him up on banamine for pain and swelling redux. I gave him atropine when I got home to keep his eye dilated and I am to put eye ointment into his eye every chance I get.

The swelling was finally gone this morning and he doesn't look to be in any pain but lets keep our fingers crossed that The Cataract has not awoken.....

Fragility...

(yes, this will be an odd blog post coming from me! don't worry - we'll return to regular programming shortly...)

I listened to this NPR program on the way home from Denver a few Sunday's ago. Music just wasn't cuttin' it for me on the drive home. I like to think I tuned in for a reason.

The program was Krista Tippett's on Being. She was speaking with a French man, Xavier Le Pichon. He lived in a concentration camp as a child and witnessed children of families dying every day. He chooses to live in a community of disabled people with his family. He is a famous geologist who works on plate tectonics....um, whatever that is.

He was speaking with the host about fragility and the evolution of humanity. How being fragile makes us human - what an interesting concept....

I was really fascinated by his interview - only caught part of it and kept meaning to look up the program to listen to it in it's entirety. You can find it here: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/fragility/

Under his link, there is a poem, Le Vase Brise (The Broken Vase) by Sully Prudhomme. The English translated version is below. I think it is amazing and wanted to share.....


The vase where this verbena's dying
Was cracked by a lady’s fan’s soft blow.
It must have been the merest grazing:
We heard no sound. The fissure grew.

The little wound spread while we slept,
Pried deep in the crystal, bit by bit.
A long, slow marching line, it crept
From spreading base to curving lip.

The water oozed out drop by drop,
Bled from the line we’d not seen etched.
The flowers drained out all their sap.
The vase is broken: do not touch.


The quick, sleek hand of one we love
Can tap us with a fan’s soft blow,
And we will break, as surely riven
As that cracked vase. And no one knows.


The world sees just the hard, curved surface
Of a vase a lady’s fan once grazed,
That slowly drips and bleeds with sadness.
Do not touch the broken vase