December 30, 2006

ow! Almost the end of 2006 and almost 2007. The year 2000 New Years seems so long ago and not that long ago. The days have been beautiful here. Mary is up here bringing more things before they move onto their place. We started out the morning with me beating her woodstove into submission as she has been freezing all week (actually it is a very good woodstove) and then chopping her walls apart to regulate heat a bit better to the upstairs from the basement. 

A couple days ago, I took the dogs over to her place to give them a longer run than we have been doing as I could put all the dogs in her pickup canopy. It was the WORST run with the dogs I had ever had. One of my elder wheel dogs decided to make sure the other wheel dog knew who was boss and there was a dogfight going on. Got that broken up and then moved and then he was being mean to one of the girls. Then my best lead dog, decided she forgot which way was left or right.  I let Mary drive and she did quite well for a bit.. 

 ... and then at the bottom of this slight hill.. she did what every Newbie does.. forget there is a brake on the sled.. and Yes.. when I was starting out, I did the same darn thing. She crashed at the bottom of this field, about 30 seconds after the picture was taken. It was a beautiful day though. 

We have been getting some very nice reviews on Garden Watchdog and Homestead.org Forums. We have been getting alot of subscriptions for back issues the last few days and a couple magazine issues which are sold out again, but I should be able to get more printed by next week. So if you order one, it may take 2-3 days longer, but you are guaranteed to get it/them.

I want to get as much done as we can this weekend as for the next 2 weeks we are supposed to get some good snows. Tomorrow I think we are hauling our new cattle.

Afternoon Update:

The cows arrived here this afternoon. In a 2-horse horse trailer. They were pretty sociable and were not a problem to unload though they had to push the one cow in. They came named, which was interesting for a place which runs 400 head of cattle. Their names are "Tractor" and "Mudbog".. "Mudbog" is so named as once she had nothing showing but her head and her tail, she was so sunk into the mud.

Before they got here, Mary and I walked around the fenceline and put more tighteners on the barb wire in case they wanted to go walkabout, but they looked like they were quite content and happy where their new home is. They used to be pets, so they were pretty easy to handfeed a bit of whole oats to.

Top Picture: "Tractor"

Bottom Picture: "Mudbog"