Sunday visitors

The past few days the sun has been shining in through our big picture windows in our living room. Norman and Douglas have just been soaking up every bit of it, especially Norman. I think he dreams of being back in Arizona at our friend Steve's house at night. He loved the sunshine there and the heat.

We are pretty exhausted. Yesterday Kevin rested, he's fighting off a nasty chest cold, and my plan was to rest too but I tossed that out the window and mucked stalls, cleaned cages, moved furniture, clogged the sink and had to fix that, which lead to reorganizing all the cleaning supplies under the sink, etc, etc.

However, I've been sleeping good - exhaustion does help you get a good nights sleep! As anyone on a farm knows, spring is always tiring, it's when the most work needs to be done, can be done (now that things are thawing out) and when everything really starts happening at once. A few more months of this pace, and by mid-June it will be slightly slower and easier.

Yesterday afternoon while I was reading in my chair,  Kevin took this picture of Douglas. I could only see the front of him so didn't notice his entire rear end was hanging off the chair!



He was just hanging there, chewing on a toy. He's such a nut.

This afternoon I decided I had to take advantage of a walk in the forest since the snow is going away and it's so nice outside. Kevin joined me a little while into it and we checked some of the hillsides for antlers. We decided we'll get back to work boiling sap tomorrow, we needed a break and the weather is cold enough the sap buckets all have ice in them, which is good, it means the sap will not go bad on us.

We didn't manage to find any antlers, yet. I found some old bones, along the fence line of my horse pasture, they are from a deer but a couple years old.



This little guy was following me, every time I turned around he popped up. The same one, I could see him running around keeping an eye on me. I think he had something he didn't want me to get, maybe his food supply was nearby.


We walked for about an hour when we heard a vehicle coming in.  Our cousins Pete and Peg came by to visit. Peggy really wanted to check out the new evaporator and taste the maple syrup. She remembers when she was a little girl helping out in the sugar bush, and sticking her fingers in the pan to taste the syrup before it was done. She has told me that story many times, and she wanted to be able to do it again. She did, and boy was she excited! She gave us her seal of approval. They also had fun visiting with the animals, everyone here loves attention and never passes up an opportunity to get more of it!

Wrambler and Peter

Wrambler, Peggy, and Pete

Wrambler (shedding like crazy! I'll have to take the brush to him after chores tomorrow night) Me, Flavious, Peggy, Pete, and Buckwheat who was a complete attention hog as usual.

We visit them often but they rarely get down to our place because of our road being difficult for them to drive. Our road is through the worst part of the breakup but still a little rough. We really enjoyed their visit, as did all the animals. Bandit (the little bunny) sat in Peggy's lap in the house for a good hour straight!

After dinner I tossed together these orange pound cakes. They have a really nice flavor and are good with a big glass of milk.

Orange Pound Cake
from thesepeasarehollow.blogspot.com

makes 6-8 mini loafs, 2 regular loafs, or 1 Bundt

2 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups  granulated sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole milk
zest of 1 large oranges

Preheat oven to 350 F, placing a rack in the middle of the oven.

Butter and flour your loaf pans, shaking out all excess flour and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk or sift together, set aside.

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and cream together with butter on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the egg, beating thoroughly and scraping down the sides between each addition. Add the vanilla and beat just until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Add one-third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated, then add half of the milk, beating again until incorporated. Scrape down the sides in between each addition. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, then the remainder of the milk, then the remainder of the flour. Gently and quickly mix in the orange zest.

Spoon batter into your prepared pan(s).

I made mini loaves so my cakes took 30 minutes, just watch them and check them with a toothpick to see when they are done.

Now it's off to bed and back to work tomorrow. Lila (my oldest ewe) has bagged up so much now it's nearly touching the ground. So we'll see...