The new dog

We have a new dog.  This was not our intention.  Arlis's brother's neighbor pretty much abandoned it.  It has been fixed, trained well, housebroken, and is very friendly and boring.  That's great b/c I don't want an energetic little puppy to train.  He came with the name Goober, and I don't believe in changing animals' names unless required.  (We once got a dog named Roxy.  He called her Roxy cotton b/c of her white tipped tail that looked like cotton....Right.  We changed that name)  So, he asks if we want a dog.  No thank you.  But he just came up to us and was so wonderful and lovable.  Arlis opened the van door and he jumped in like we were his family.  He was good when we visited his sister's house.  He was a good boy when we left him in the car for an hour at Wal-Mart on the way home.  He came in, ate, drank, laid down and slept with Marcus.

  I tried not to mother him, so he could be Marcus's dog.  He sleeps with him, follows him around the house, and lays down at his feet during school.  He's older, at least 8, so we have tried to prepare Marcus for the inevitable.  He had on a collar.  A training collar with spikes going into his neck.  What horrible person would do this??

The first thing we did was buy him a real collar and replace it. That day from Wal-Mart!  Then, we made him a bed, and fed, and fed, and fed him.  We got him Fri, and TODAY is the first time he acted unstarved.  We took him to the vet this morning for rabies and got flea stuff to be safe, and dewormer too, in case it wasn't neglect, but worms that caused him to lose so much weight.  As you can see above, he's just about gained back to normal.  While at the vet, however, he peed on the "Caution wet floor" sign, peed on the vet's exam table, and weighed in at 90 pounds.  He also does NOT like his dewormer!!  It's an oral suspension.  I gave him 1mL out of 9, and he ran to Arlis and hid his head under his arm.  Poor thing! 

What's really nice is he comes and goes as he pleases b/c he doesn't bother the chickens or ducks at all.  He helps to herd them, but is afraid of the cows.  The resident pets are getting used to him, and enjoy his company.  It's like he was meant to be with us....weird.

Ripley's Aquarium

It's time for a new post, and as last winter, backed up photos are finally seeing day.  We went to homeschool day at Ripley's Aquarium.  We went with Marcus's girlfriend "She's not my girl friend!!  And we are never getting married because I'm not ever having any children!!!"  OK OK, so his...friend that happens to be a girl...


Yeah, THAT's just a crush...

 There is a shark fin there.  They actually do swim with that dorsal sticking out.

 Whoa!

 His friend's mom helping out.

 Um...I'm not sure about this...Do I have to?

 They even let the littler siblings join in that were too young for it all.

 Hi!  I'm cute.

 Seriously Mom?

The boar

UPDATED 12/18:  (see below)

I've thought about writing this.  And as more time went by, and more adrenaline left my body, I realized how funny it all was.  But I still didn't want to without a pic.  We got one.  Now, the other night, Arlis barges in the house screaming to keep Marcus in the house and runs out with a gun.  This wasn't the first time something like this has happened, but this was the first time I heard an urgency in his voice that made me concerned.

Flashback:
Arlis (remember now, he's blind), sitting on a tractor and sees what he believes is a calf in the lower field, only the cattle were in the upper field.  "What is that?"
Dad, near his truck and able to see better, but not the best "That's a boar!"
Arlis jumps off the tractor and RUNS to the truck.  They drive to the house and the preceding events took place.

After all this, I find out it's a boar, and I hear "RIEEEEEEEEH!" from near the chicken house.  It was a pretty awakening sound.  Only problem was, that was a good 100 yards or more from the boar they were going after.  (We never saw a second one, and the chickens were unscathed).  Arlis shoots the 30-06 at the boar, only to miss and barge back in "Of all times to only have one bullet in the gun!"  So Barney loaded up, I grabbed the 9 mil and we headed back out.

There it was, as big as a young calf, just staring at us like we were in the cage at the zoo.  (I had to edit the photo as it was blurry b/c it was starting to get dark)

Now, boars are deadly (one usually bleeds to death from the damage, and children are killed before they have the chance to bleed to death).  They are also invincible.  They have shields on their foreheads and shoulders that have actually been known to deflect bullets.  Go ahead, look it up, I'll wait.....

Told you....

Now, Arlis grabs my gun and hands his to dad (I never get any of the fun) and as usual out of 15 bullets, only 1 or 2 hit, and they weren't from the rifle.  He just stood there and looked at us, never moved.  I know one hit b/c he finally moved and started running like something was biting his bum.  The next day they traversed the fence line and never saw a trace of blood.  Told you, invincible.

We called the neighbor, who hunts, and now he's determined to get him.  Hope he doesn't come back!

UPDATE: So, we get a call from a friend just yesterday who hasn't called in several months.  Anyway, we tell him about the boar, and he tells us that there's a hunting lodge past our woods (the direction the boar came from and went to) and that they set boars loose periodically to hunt them.  Sounds beyond stupid to me, but at least we know where he came from.  So then, I put an ad out for our turkeys today, and this guy calls to buy them.  He owns that lodge and said they had 2-3 get loose that day, and the one we shot at was later killed by hunters out for deer that day.  So odd that we had two people call us so close together with this info.  So we called the neighbor who was VERY relieved to hear it's dead.  In fact, Arlis left his gun in the house today when we went out to work following the phone call, so it's put a lot of minds to rest!

We heard some pops after it went into the woods, and although dad and Arlis believed it to be boar directed, I thought nothing of it b/c we hear gunshots all the time around here.  I guess it really was aimed at the boar-how coincidental!  The slaughterhouses around here apparently call the guy with the lodge when they get one of his b/c his are tagged.  I'll be honest, I didn't see a tag.  It could be a chip, or fallen off-who knows?  TOO WEIRD!!

The science experiment

I have all these blogs from over the summer that I figured I put up once I got to a dry spell.  Here's one.  We went crazy this year trying to keep the pool perfect.  Checked it at least once a week and added all the stuff you're supposed to.  But the rain just killed it.  Finally, I noticed some eggs on the surface.

 At first I started skimming them off.  Then I asked myself-"What am I doing???"  Frogs are great insect catchers, and we have tons of frogs, and little mosquitoes....tons of flies but...
So I let them live.

 And they started hatching.

 And hatching...

 And hatching!!!

 And growing...they started getting little back legs.

 And then front legs...

 And perching in places.

 And trying to get out.

 And floating on sticks.

 And having parties.

Feather Collection

It started with me thinking they were pretty.  I collected feathers dropped by my birds from time to time.  Then I found where one guy was selling them for $1.25 each.  Crazy.  So, I thought I would try.  I never posted them, I just felt plan silly doing it.  Selling chicken feathers??? 

I had a lot of feathers...a LOT of feathers.  I had so many they were starting to weigh down and crush those on the bottom.  One or two grace my hat.  They're special.

 My basket, now empty, sighed in relief.

What do you do with a bunch of feathers?  Yes, they're gorgeous, and many are sentimental, (Merlin, George), but what do you do with feathers??  You make a feather tapestry for the wall.

Take material (an old sweater I bought for a dollar at a yard sale), cut it to one layer thick and sized for hanging, and start poking feathers in it. (those are from Bluefoot)

I got better at it as time went on

The white are mainly Pekin duck, the grey are guinea and Tom, the golden laced (Wyandotte) are from Bluefoot, and the shiny on the right are from the various roosters.
Hang on the wall for easier access.

 Add the Royal Palm turkey feathers....

I can continue to add to them as the years go by, and their numbers increase.  We have a great deal to process tomorrow, so I will probably restock my supply.  I know to most this must seem stupid, but I think it's pretty and a wonderful way to remember all my birds.

I just made my own pastrami

Bit of background-We don't go out to eat.  There's only so many ways I know to fix beef, eggs, and milk.  So, I am constantly looking for new ways to fix things.  We don't do roasts, we just don't like them.  I would always just slow roast and BBQ them.  But that can get old.  Egg sandwiches for lunch everyday gets a bit old, and lunchmeat is not cheap!  So, I decided to figure out how to make my own, and I did.

1-I used a tip roast, 3 pounds

2-I didn't trim any fat off, as there wasn't really any to trim, but you will need to trim down to 1/8 inch if needed. 

3-Put in a bowl of water and add salt.  I used 3/4 c Kosher salt and I don't know, 2-4 quarts water?  Place this is the fridge for 7 days to 3 weeks.  I did it for 8 days and it was perfectly salted.

4-When its time is up, remove it from the fridge and bowl, rinse it off, and make the rub
RUB:
3T freshly ground pepper
2T ground coriander (I ground it fresh from what I grew.  Coriander is cilantro seed)
dash of cayenne (not really needed)
1T paprika
1T veg oil
good sized tsp of chopped garlic without the juice (I use store bought pre-chopped)

Rub this all over the outside liberally.
Wrap three times in alum foil and seal WELL!

5-Bake at 240 degrees F one hour per pound (although I'm sure there's a minimum)

6-When done, place in the fridge over night

7-The next morning, pour off the juice, unwrap (rinse the foil to use again-do NOT rinse the meat) and plop in on the cutting board

8-Slice THINLY (OH the smell, the SMELL MWAH ha ha ha ha haaaa!)...ahem, sorry...

It was very tasty.

My animals are weird

(All pics are thumbnails that you can click on for the full size.)
My dog really likes melons...that's weird.

My dog likes to ride Booger-that's even weirder.

My ex-pet bantam rooster liked to say howdy through the window.

Daphne (female duck) is presently molting.  Poor thing.

My pet spider

WHY does someone like me have a pet spider???  Well, I learned from a nice young lady that these spiders are nice to have around.  (This one resides next to my kitchen sink)
And eats bugs

(There really is a dead insect in there)
But the funny thing is, this spider is not maintenance free.  I didn't know this, but spiders poop.  And I have to clean his poop almost every day.

My pet cow loves a good horn scratching.

And my turkeys are just asking to be eaten. (you think the bird poop on your car is bad?)

(I throw in this last one just b/c it's pretty)

The dark side

We were invited to a party yesterday!  Arlis did NOT want to be sociable.

Mya just wanted to play

And at the last minute I made my costume.  I went as Morgause (pronounced Morgose) from Merlin/King Arthur.  Here is a good pic from the show

And here I am

Poncho for a cape, letters and envelopes for "chain mail", and knee high moccasins (not worn at the time of the pic).  My chain mail was real good too!

"Obama is the anti-christ! Pass it on!"
"Make 59 copies of this in the next 3 seconds, or your family will be wiped from earth's existance!"
"Dan Radcliff loves goats with his horses!"
"Lyndsay Lohan beats puppies!"
"The government is really made of Martians growing us for food with our own tax money!!  Pass it on!!"

Granted, they weren't in all caps with different colored fonts, but you get the idea.

Marcus wore his outfit...yet again.

See, with the cape over his head, he's the Emperor, with it off, he's Darth Vader again...

The cool thing about the party, I did meet up with a fb friend of mine, Nichole, who had helped me with foot rot before. 

So, while the kids played outside

...she helped me learn about my wool. 

We carded some.
 
, and she showed me how to spin on her nifty wheel.

After much trial and tribulation, a gorgeous skein was had (I really like the color mix) (sorry it's sideways)

 She gave me some of her beloved wool already carded and dyed with plants and such.

 I've already knitted all the spun wool together, and played with some of the carded.  I enjoy knitting from carded without spinning.  I really like the lanolin that gets left on the wool too.  It feels really good!  In order to knit without carding, you have to be pretty comfortable knitting to begin with.  Then, pull of a strip, and pull the strip as needed to even out the "rove".  I haven't quite figured out the optimal way to join new roving when the strips run out yet.

 Pull that top bit out as a strip, twisting it a bit if it makes you more comfortable.

Some of what she gave me was "pencil" roving.  It kept breaking on me, so I let Marcus play with it.  I believe I can card it later into full roving if needed.

He's made "warming socks" and "warming woolen pillows" that he puts in the oddest places.

 (See it down his shirt)

I'll post the "scarf" I am knitting with what wool I am currently blogging about later.  Currently, I am getting familiar with different fiber thicknesses, compositions, etc.  And the scarf will be awfully wonderful as far as I am concerned ;).  No matter how many different colors, thicknesses of yarns, or big tufts of fluff stick out.  I also plan to make a peg loom ASAP and make a tuffet or something similar.  AND...I found a cheaper drum carder by a brand called Brother, but I will probably buy hand carders first.  Oh what fun!!