Fair is fair - and kids are kids

I had the best time! All the animals... chickens, ducks, horses (HUGE and tiny), all the cows, and sheep and an adorable little donkey! All the booths! All the fair food! All the weird and freakish people (someone please explain to me the fashion statement of dirty cowboy boots and frilly little skirts.)

Are these not adorable? They were born just hours before this photo. These are Boer goats. For meat. (I shudder to think about it!). Unfortunately the dairy goats aren't going to be there until Wednesday. I might just have to go back. Even without dairy goats, I managed to still be enthralled with what they did have. It was a great time.

I'm looking forward to dragging Peter (kicking and screaming) to the fair next summer in Lynden.

There's a problem with the chicken coop!

I have automatic sprinklers. The girls did not like it very much when they got "rained" on in their yard.. and in their house. There was no where for them to hide. They sat huddled in the corner of their chicken run for the 10 minutes the sprinkler doused them. I felt bad but didn't know how to help them...

Now.. I have to figure out what to do about THAT....

Chicken coop - final answer

Back on June 30 I set myself a list of To-Do's before the year was out. I've been busy trying to get them done.

I've gone to the Street of Dreams. I went to Oneonta Gorge (one of Oregon's true hidden gems!). Yesterday I went to the Hallie Ford Museum (it was closed!) and then I went to the Mission Mill Museum (it was closed too!) Yesterday was weird.. but I'm certainly making a dent in that list. Too bad I have to go back for a do-over on the museums.

Peter was here this weekend. He brought me a dozen red roses on his arrival. He drove down Thursday night. We did the Oneonta Gorge thing on Friday as well as drove around Carson, WA looking for a cabin my family used to go to when I was a child. He did his seminar thing and last night he got to work on the chicken coop. He didn't get it finished. Sigh.

When he left this morning, it was an emotional farewell. We kissed (shh.. don't tell anyone!) We hugged (awww). I waved as he drove down the cul-de-sac and turned the corner. Double sigh.. He called me at noon. I asked if he was in Seattle yet. He said that no, he was just getting to Salem.

I was confused. It turns out when he drove away from my house he went due west instead of north. He spent the morning at the Oregon coast. Men! I would have been cranky, except that he came by the office and took me to lunch. Then he came back to my house (while I toiled away at work) and finished the chicken coop. Finally.. except for the roof.. That's going to be my job!

I suppose this means I should shave my legs..

I am teaching the chickens to eat out of my hands. I want them to be comfortable around me. They are horribly cute and follow me around the back yard. Tonight I sat down with them and fed them some chicken scratch. After they ate their fill, Lucy walked over to my bare legs and started wiping her face on them. I think the stubble felt good.. or.. they were wiping the cobwebs off their beaks. This video was shot a few minutes later. Lucy was very curious about the camera.

I love GoodWill

I so SCORED on knitting needles today. It was a bit of a grab bag. I paid $6.99 for this set. I couldn't tell what was what - and I certainly couldn't tell what was in the needle case. I bought them anyway. It was a gamble. How was I to know that inside the wrapped needle case was every size imaginable in double-pointed needles?? New those would probably cost close to $100.00. Although the colors are a bit mished and mashed - there were only three needles that didn't have mates in the standard needle sets. It was a steal!

I've been rethinking the "funky pink bicycle goal." Mostly because the following conversation took place the other day.

Peter: "Where are you going to ride your funky pink bicycle to?"

Me (trying to be particularly charming and future-wife-like..): "I will make you lunch and pedal down to your office every day and bring you a lunch made with love." (and I didn't even cough or gag saying it!)

Peter: "uh.. remember? I'm going to build a new office, connected to the house. That's not going to be a very long bike ride."

Me: "oh.. umm.. then I don't know where I'll ride my bike to."

So a funky pink bicycle with a cute basket and streamers on the handlebars may not be very useful. I'm not sure where I would go on it. I suppose I could make local goat shop deliveries with it. If the weather was not too hot, not too cold, not too windy. But blocks in his neighborhood are seriously 2 miles long. I couldn't travel more than a couple of blocks...

This bicycle thing may have to go. Perhaps a sturdy mountain bike to navigate the goat pasture and the laneway. That might be more practical.. but not near as cute or fun.

Quick Trip North

Here it is Sunday night already. I'm home. I went north to Peter's this weekend. I got there at 1:00 ish Friday night/Saturday morning and came home today. It was a lovely day. Because, really, I was only there on Saturday, having to leave by noon today.

Peter took pity on me and we did not work on Saturday. Instead we went for a drive up Mt. Baker, past Nooksak falls and way up this bumpy, unimproved mountain road. It rained. We stopped the car with this magnificent view of the mountain that included snow and waterfalls. We had a picnic with fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and smoked salmon. The clouds rolled in and obscured our view, then they rolled out, and then they rolled in...

Then it was home again. Peter has selected the spots for our future house.. and the future goat shop. These locations, of course, could change.

He thinks the house would be perfect way over there.. WAY over there.. behind those marshmallows, over toward that corner. That would be the northeast corner of the north field. It could work.


The goat shop, he thinks, would be good here. This is the north end of the south barn. The grape vines on the left need trimming and maintenance, and the pile of peat on the right will go away and a perfect little parking lot will remain.

I'm getting excited!