One more birthday celebration!

Last night we, along with our friends Gary and Cecile, were invited to Simply Country for our birthday celebration. What a great time we all had enjoying a wonderful barbecued chicken dinner, a social time with the kids and the animals, a nice birthday present and hand-made cards, and a couple serious Pegs and Jokers games. A perfect evening spent with family and friends!

Cecile and I followed KL up to the barn to watch her put the animals to bed for the night. It's such fun to watch all the goats and chickens run to the gate to greet us. Then they immediately follow KL into the barn because they know they'll get some edible treats too!

So it's really not us at all that they're glad to see
. . . it's KL!

I asked KL to show me which is the hen that lays the green eggs . . . and here she is!

After a day of scratching for their own food they're happy to come in at night for dinner.

Then back to the house I found PD firing up the barbecue . . . yummo!

Jen made a decadent birthday cake . . .

This is a devil's food cake, with caramel and Heath bars laced among the whipped topping . . . oh my!

JD took this picture as we played Pegs and Jokers
. . . the guys won both games.

Thanks for the great birthday bash Simply Country family!

Life is good!

We found another project!

While we were celebrating birthdays we also helped Jackie and Rick get the adobe ready to rent. In the mudroom was a counter that had never really been finished. So we volunteered to cover it using a leftover piece of linoleum and it sure made a difference. It was fun going into their ancient barn and finding just the right materials to use for the counter top and recycling odd bits of wood to finish the job. We even took some leftover avocado green and brick red paint to mix the perfect brown for the wooden trim. Great fun!

We had two odd-shaped pieces of linoleum that we had to trim to fit.

This used to be a sewing table, but standing next to the washer and dryer, it will make a great folding table.

Walking outside we could see signs of spring.

Most of the many fruit trees were bursting with new bright green leaves and colorful blossoms.

However i couldn't find any grapevines starting to bud, but with the warmer days ahead I think they, too, will soon be bursting with those bright green leaves.

Life is good!

Spring Break in Healdsburg

As has been our tradition, for the last half-dozen years or so, we took our "spring break" in conjunction with our birthdays! We just got back from a five-day fun-filled visit to Jackie and Rick's "little piece of heaven" (as our dad used to call it) in Healdsburg, located in the beautiful Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County's wine country.

This is the view from the deck in late afternoon . . . beautiful!

The first afternoon Jackie and I took their 14-year-old Border Collie, Windy, for a walk down to the creek, enjoying beautiful weather, while the guys enjoyed a glass of wine catching up with each other's lives.

Windy is so loved and is such a sweet dog!

Upon our return Jackie fixed a Meyer lemon cosmo, then proceeded to frost the birthday cake she had baked from scratch . . . a beautiful chocolate with walnut cake . . . covered with a to-die-for chocolate glaze.

When the dinner bell was about ring, Ken noticed a four-legged guest sitting in my chair . . . "Cokie" who will be turning 20 next week! I think she could smell the Steelhead cooking.

I failed to get a picture of the birthday dinner which was broiled fresh Steelhead, broccoli and salad . . . delicious! (This picture was taken the following night.)

"Make a wish!"

Amazingly delicious . . . and we enjoyed it for four days!

Our birthday present from our hosts was dinner and a movie the following night. Here Jackie and Rick anticipate our dinner at "My Ha" Vietnamese restaurant.

Great five days in Healdsburg. Thank you so much!

Life is Good!

Home Sweet Home for the Bunnies

Jen and KL came over this afternoon to load up the hutches. Between the four of us we were able to get them both in the truck, tied down, and off we went up the mountain to their permanent home. Ken and I followed them so we could assist in the unloading. PD and the boys were off at various ball games.

KL helped Ken tie down the hutches.

We were a bit concerned about them being top-heavy in the truck so Ken cinched them up good!

The first time out, the wind lifted the roof-tops and flipped them over! So we had to pull over and adjust the hutches and tie down the roof-tops. Life is such an adventure and we learn something new every day!

Finally out on the highway . . . what a pretty day it was today!

We made it without another hitch.

KL introduced her rabbit, Elwood, to his new home.

The bunnies love their new digs!

Elwood got a little run of the yard before he went into his new home for the night. These bunnies are purebred in their individual breeds. Elwood will be used for stud service, and in exchange KL will get the pick of the liter which she'll be able to sell. JD's "Lillian" will be mated and her babies will be sold. Both kids are starting their college funds!

JD got home and, after inspection, was quite pleased with the new rabbit hutch for Lillian.

The two rabbit hutches were a lot of work, but we thoroughly enjoyed the project and are happy with the results. However, it will be nice to wake up tomorrow morning and look out onto our deck and not see sawdust!

Life is good!

Done!

The final touches have been applied. The paint has dried. The rabbit hutches are ready to be trucked up to the farm!

While I applied primer and a coat of paint . . .

Ken sanded the doors so they would fit perfectly . . .

Finally they are ready for Lillian and Elwood!

Life is good!

Green Roof is Rain-Proof

The rabbit hutches are almost finished.
All they need now is a coat of paint!

Life is good!

Rabbit Hutches Go 3-D!

We've been working very hard trying to get these rabbit hutches finished so that our Simply Country farm bunnies can have a beautiful place to live, rather than being in a small cage in the garage. Today was a great day in that we were able to assemble all the pieces we've been working on for the past couple of weeks . . . give or take a few days here and there for our other busy-ness in addition to the drizzly weather we've had too. Today the temperature stayed in the 40s, never reaching 50 degrees and quite breezy, but we plugged along. I thought you'd like to admire our progress.

A bit intimidated by some of Ken's equipment, I soon grew more comfortable with the "chop saw," the power stapler, the drill/driver, and my friend the sander did miracles on de-splintering the parts which will be handled by the kids. It was also my job to take measurements when needed before cutting the wood.

It was exciting to be able finally put the different pieces together. It was kind of like pre-fabrication of each side before we assembled the first hutch.

With the floor and back installed we were able to finish, all but the roof and the privacy wall, the first hutch.

The privacy wall to protect the rabbit from the elements or if he/she just wants to be alone.

The second one always goes together much easier than the first. Tomorrow's project will be to put on the roofs. It will take another day or two, providing the weather is good, to paint them before they head up the mountain to their new home.

Life is good!

Who's kidding?

Like I've said before, we learn new things about country living every day! Apparently the gestation period for an Alpine goat is 145-150 days.

Destiny's 150th day was yesterday. She showed no signs of getting ready to go into labor . . . signs that are normally common for a new mama. This would have been her second time at "kidding" and there was no visible evidence that she was any where near ready. Hmmmm . . . better call Laura (4-H young woman who was Destiny's previous owner and the one who provided stud service for our sweet Destiny five months ago).

Laura came over and examined Destiny. Long story cut short—Destiny is not pregnant, and we've been waiting in grand anticipation for 150 days to enjoy the whole adventure of "kidding" and playing with two-three baby goats. . . not gonna happen this year. Now we have to wait until next fall!

When I took this picture last week I wondered how small those baby goats were going to be, because I didn't think Destiny "showed" like she was carrying a pair of twins. Now I can't wait to see how she'll look when she really is pregnant. But that's exactly what we'll have to do . . . just wait.

Life is good!

New project in the works . . .

Rabbit hutches . . . two of them. The bunnies, Elwood and Lillian are nearly full grown and need proper housing. Ken has been working for nearly a week designing and building two beautiful rabbit hutches. I've helped out a bit, and we plan to have them completed by the weekend. Here's a sneak peek at our progress.

After thorough research on the internet as to the rabbit's needs, he came up with drawings and ran them by Jen for final approval.

And, of course, any excuse to add a new tool and he's a happy camper!

He loves working with wood.

My job was to sand all the parts nice and smooth, so the kids have no chance of getting splinters.

Adding a latch on one of four doors to keep the bunnies in their new homes.

We had a couple of days of sunny weather, otherwise it's been pretty cool and sometimes even rainy.

Life is good!

The Goats Need Coats

We're learning things about goats every day. The baby goats, Cover Girl and Joey, came to Simply Country Farm when they were just weened from their mama last spring. And then Joey's big sister, Destiny (the one with the prize-winning udder) came early summer. We've so far learned about milking goats, feeding goats, and have loved getting to know each of their personalities. Now Destiny is about to give birth to twins, or possibly triplets, so that will be yet another adventure!

But something new we've learned about goats is that they need coats to keep warm in our cold winter months. A goat coat? Hmmmmmm . . . I've never seen one, in fact I've never heard of such a thing until now! But thanks to good ol' Google, I can find out just about anything on the internet and there it was, complete instructions on how to make a Goat Coat requiring taking measurements from shoulder to hip, around the belly, etc!

Then I found out something even better. Jennifer had a set of coats she had borrowed and needed to return, so I just made a pattern from them and had a great time making them. They are made with a sturdy cotton outside layer with a soft fleece lining.

I had a good time sewing these goat coats, something I've never thought in my wildest dreams of every doing.

Here are from left: Cover Girl, Joey, and Destiny the other day when it was a nice sunny day.

Here they are today. It was too muddy to go inside the gate so the pictures have the gate between us. But you can see that we need to make some adjustments to the goat coats. They tend to slip and slide around their bellies!

I'm not sure why Destiny, on the left, wasn't wearing her coat but here you see her with Joey. I love the way the chickens, especially the one in the center, want to be in the picture too!

And this is Cover Girl modeling her lovely coat. Note that she is standing with all four hooves on a rock . . . so she doesn't get her feet muddy!

Life is Good!