The cooler weather has been making everyone happy - Kevin, me, and the animals. But today it's hot again around 85 degrees F. But fall is in the air. The deer flies are less, and soon we'll be able to start work in the bush.
Today I start canning up my tomato sauce. I'll do a few jars of chili sauce just in case I get a late night craving for some with cream cheese this winter. I've got 40 pounds of tomatoes. My cucumbers are ready but they will have to wait until I get the tomatoes taken care of. I bought a huge watermelon yesterday for $2.99 mostly to give to the goats and birds as a treat, but I'll save the rind and do up a few more jars of pickles.
Coming home from town yesterday we saw this little guy just before our first gate.... he paused and let me get quite a few pictures of him. He has quite a tear in his ear which will be a great way to indentify him this winter if he hangs around and makes it through hunting season out here. In the evenings when I'm out in the bush I've seen several does and we've seen 2 small bucks in the past couple weeks. One of the little bucks has a busted antler - he's just a spike. They are starting to hang around a little more often. There was a black wolf on our lane two days ago and last night the coyotes were terrible, they were one field away from barnyard pastures. It's not unusual for them to be around and extra noisy this time of year but coming into our yard in broad daylight while Max is barking and throwing a fit and with us outside is pushing it. It's making me very uneasy. Wrambler, my Haflinger and Chance the Llama are going to need to come in from their pasture since the coyotes are out there scaring them at night. I've been going out a little later in the evenings to check them since more of my time is eaten up with the puppy, Flavious. The coyotes are all over and they've been in the pasture. I'm not worried about them hurting Chance, or Wrambler but they don't like having them around and I don't blame them. Chance doesn't really seem to care, but Wrambler gets spooked.
Max has finally decided Flavious is pretty fun to play with. It was a riot watching them play this morning. Max is very gentle and cautious with the puppy. Whenever Flavious runs to him, Max runs away and Flav thinks that's hilarious. He's so proud of himself chasing that big dog off! Max is wagging his tail and having a great time with Flavious and does not use his paws to play like he does with anything else. If Flavious runs underneath Max, Max freezes and stares at me. I think he's worried he's going to step on him! It's a lot of fun having all that puppy energy around and someone pulling my pants as I walk and running along (or wobbling behind) me wherever I go.
Today I start canning up my tomato sauce. I'll do a few jars of chili sauce just in case I get a late night craving for some with cream cheese this winter. I've got 40 pounds of tomatoes. My cucumbers are ready but they will have to wait until I get the tomatoes taken care of. I bought a huge watermelon yesterday for $2.99 mostly to give to the goats and birds as a treat, but I'll save the rind and do up a few more jars of pickles.
Coming home from town yesterday we saw this little guy just before our first gate.... he paused and let me get quite a few pictures of him. He has quite a tear in his ear which will be a great way to indentify him this winter if he hangs around and makes it through hunting season out here. In the evenings when I'm out in the bush I've seen several does and we've seen 2 small bucks in the past couple weeks. One of the little bucks has a busted antler - he's just a spike. They are starting to hang around a little more often. There was a black wolf on our lane two days ago and last night the coyotes were terrible, they were one field away from barnyard pastures. It's not unusual for them to be around and extra noisy this time of year but coming into our yard in broad daylight while Max is barking and throwing a fit and with us outside is pushing it. It's making me very uneasy. Wrambler, my Haflinger and Chance the Llama are going to need to come in from their pasture since the coyotes are out there scaring them at night. I've been going out a little later in the evenings to check them since more of my time is eaten up with the puppy, Flavious. The coyotes are all over and they've been in the pasture. I'm not worried about them hurting Chance, or Wrambler but they don't like having them around and I don't blame them. Chance doesn't really seem to care, but Wrambler gets spooked.
Max has finally decided Flavious is pretty fun to play with. It was a riot watching them play this morning. Max is very gentle and cautious with the puppy. Whenever Flavious runs to him, Max runs away and Flav thinks that's hilarious. He's so proud of himself chasing that big dog off! Max is wagging his tail and having a great time with Flavious and does not use his paws to play like he does with anything else. If Flavious runs underneath Max, Max freezes and stares at me. I think he's worried he's going to step on him! It's a lot of fun having all that puppy energy around and someone pulling my pants as I walk and running along (or wobbling behind) me wherever I go.
Kevin broke a turtle nest open two days ago while he was working on our driveway, right outside the back door. He broke four of the eggs, so we cleaned up the turtles and they are all completely formed and three still had their yolk sacks. There are about a dozen eggs still intact. We reburied the eggs where we can monitor them and the four little turtles are in a bin. I kept them on a wet paper towel for a couple days which I read to do. Last night they all opened their eyes. We have a heat lamp on them and I gave them a little pool last night which they went right to. They seem pretty slow but my friend who is a wildlife rehabilitator reminded me turtles work on "turtle time" everything is very s-l-o-w. I moved them into a small habitat with fresh sand, a pool, and some rocks last night. They aren't up to much right now but yesterday they slept all day and then got up and moved around in the evening. I tried giving them worms but they are not yet interested so we got them some turtle food and small shrimp. We'll just have to hope for the best.
I tried to make a delish sounding butternut squash tart for dinner last night but ended up herding sheep for longer than usual. I managed to make the dough and part of the filling (the roasted squash) so I should be able to complete it tonight! If it turns out I'll share the recipe.
