Monday, June 11, 2012

Random pix

Here are some random pix from the last couple of weeks.

Scottish highland cattle. I'd never seen these critters up close before. Impressive. Not huge, but impressive.


An "aww" photo of Lydia.


Over Memorial Day weekend, I picked up our friend GG from her boarding school, and we went into Coeur d'Alene where the girls spent a few minutes walking along the lake shore.


(By the way, GG's school year is now finished and she won't be returning to the boarding school next year. She's with us for a few days and then flies home to her parents on the other side of the country. We are SO going to miss her!)

We spent a few minutes watching some folks parasailing.


I was having tea with my friend Enola Gay one day, while her little son Master Calvin crawled around the sofa. Suddenly he just... fell asleep. Boom. "Ran out of gas," observed his father Sir Knight.


Here his big sis Maid Elizabeth is recording the event for posterity.


On a rare sunny day, Matilda grazes. She (and all the beasties) are looking fat and healthy on all this green grass.


This is Atlas, our little bull calf (he has some growing up to do before he can breed) and Thor, Matilda's yearling steer.


Lydia and Major watch as Don disks the wheat field before planting.


Old Major peeks out from the dog house in the yard.


Calves are like goats: they can't resist high places. Here Sparky climbs on the dirt mound left over from digging the pond.


Ditto with Polly.


Everybody loves those dirt piles. (I can't wait to get rid of them.)


Polly was fascinated with my progress in the tire garden.


Victoria was in heat. Atlas was interested. He was just too small to be effective. ("You know," observed Older Daughter, "those 'gender-neutral' people have never been on a farm before.") Keep trying, Atlas!


I absolutely love the way this shot turned out (it's our neighbor's horse).


One of our hens, perched on a pallet.


Victoria peeks out of the barn door.


A faint rainbow in the midst of a squall.


Smokey, once again outside the fence. The little turd. Can't wait to put her in the freezer.


A rare sunny morning. Quick, take a picture!


We're not the only ones longing for an end to this cold rainy wretched weather. This is the sign on our local grocery store.


Between rainy days, I'm still working on the tire garden. I took some of the weird off-sized smallish tires and decided to turn them into flower beds.


My mother gave me some seed packets for various flowers, so we'll see what happens.


Meanwhile, many of the acorns I planted in mid-April are growing. Oak trees are not native in our region, so these acorns came from some trees near a parking lot in Spokane. The burr oaks haven't spouted yet, though. They take longer.


More tires from our friend Jack, whoo-hoo! It's like Christmas whenever he brings a load.


The critters are always curious about them.


A little bit of color through evening rain.

9 comments:

  1. DO NOT plant Portulaco anywhere on your property, they will infest your garden. Burn every seed to prevent the birds from spreading them. My neighbor had one plant and they spread all over the neighborhood. They are a pain to get rid of once they are in the veggie garden.

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  2. Everything looks really good. Thanks for sharing all the pictures with us. :o)

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  3. I enjoyed your pictures. I know you want to get rid of the dirt piles but that's just plain mean to take away their playground!

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  4. Are you sure he wasn't effective? he looks like he is managing to hit the target in the photo.

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  5. Keeping an eye on your blog. 45(!) tires for tire garden. Weather here also often cool and wet.

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  6. MICHAEL DEAN MILLERJune 13, 2012 at 10:32 AM

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    Was the picture of Matilda taken at Tim Burton's ranch?



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    1. Silly boy. Mature Jerseys are all angles: ribs, hips, shoulders. Unlike meat breeds which have, well, meat on their bones, Jerseys are a milk breed, which means they're lean everywhere except their udder. Matilda doesn't have the greatest udder attachment, but otherwise she's a very healthy cow -- especially considering her age (going on ten years).

      - Patrice

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    2. Although now I want to live on Tim Burton's Ranch.

      - Older Daughter

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    3. Thank you for explaining that for people who obviously only ever see pictures of beef cows, or photo-shopped milk cows.

      I have to admit I was a little concerned about Matilda when I saw the picture, too. Her udder looks great to me.

      Good to know she looks like she should!

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