Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

 Turkey: "Watcha got cookin'?"





Turkey: "I've just got one thing to say:"






EAT MORE BEEF!!!!!!!!!




Me: "Now turkey, why don't you tell us a thanksgiving joke?"

Turkey: "What do you call a stuffed animal?"

Me: "I have no idea."

Turkey: "You after thanksgiving. Hehehehe!"

Me: "TURKEY! That wasn't very nice!"

Turkey: "It's true."






"OK, let's try again..and try to be nice."

"What are the feathers on turkey's wings called?"

Me: "No clue."

Turkey: "Turkey feathers, stupid."




Me: "Now let me ask you one.... Why do turkeys always go, "gobble, gobble?"

Turkey: "Because we can."

Me: "Because they never learned table manners."

Turkey: "Now you be nice! I know where you live..."

Me: "And I am the one that feeds you every morning..."




Turkey: "Can I please take this off now? It's itching!"
Me: "No! Your being interviewed, and besides..you look really cute! Now leave it on."




Turkey: "I bootiful!!"

Me: "Turkey! Stop taking selfies with the camera!"





"You make turkey sad..."




"Turkey gonna cry..." 

Me: "I didn't mean to make you cry...do you want a treat??"




Turkey: "Treat? Did you say treat?!!"

Me: "Yes, I did! Now cheer up!"




"I better now. Fork over!"







Me: "Turkey, do you have any parting words?"

Turkey: "I adoorable. Just you remember that."

Me: Okk..goodbye everyone and Happy Thanksgiving from me and Turkey!!"









~ BlOoPeRs ~



Me: "Turkey, what are you doing?"

Turkey: "I'm hiding."




Me: "Hiding from what?"

Turkey: "Hunters. Now shush, I'm invisible!" 


Blizzard: "What is it?"

Belle: "I don't know...but it's sure ugly!"


Turkey: "I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!!!"


Me: "COME BACK!!"

*I give you leave to crack up at this wonderful picture of me..when I saw it, I laughed until my stomach hurt*




Turkey was very well behaved...until we came inside. As soon as I put him on the floor, he pooped.




After the photo-shoot I had to scrub the rug.


"Remember, I too bootiful to eat!!"


Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Love and Rich Blessings -




~ Aspen

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Conqueress


  Conqueress

"I have conquered the dog!!" 


 "He is really comfy!!"

"All this publicity makes me tired."




FYI: Izzie and Rusty are best pals and are almost inseparable! On cold or rainy days they snuggle up together, often on Rusty's dog bed. She follows him around the yard, eats his dog food, sleeps on his bed when he isn't around to sleep on, and roosts on him.

Blessings - 

~ Aspen 

Friday, November 21, 2014

Grinching That Time of Year

Grinching That Time of Year



Just for the record, I cannot believe I have a picture of the grinch on my blog, as I despise, abhor, and otherwise hate that movie! 

RANT:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who is already tired of Christmas songs/music? Honesty...like it's barely even into the season and I plug my ears whenever I hear any of the traditional Christmas songs. My family has dubbed me "The Grinch". I'm not a Christmas hater or anything, and I do adore some Christmasy songs, such as Silent Night, and Star of Bethlehem. BUT, as for the other songs..not so much.

 
END OF RANT

Today the kids set up our Christmas tree, strung lights all about the house, listened to Christmas music, and watched dorky Christmas shows, whilst I put a pillow to my ears. 

Aside from all that, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT'S SO CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS! *faints*
Like I seriously thought we just had it! For  r e a l s !

And for goodness's sake, Thanksgiving is in like what, six days? *faints again*

Soooooooo...am I the only "Grinch" among my lovely followers, or are all my lovely followers traditional Christmas lovers? 
Let me know in the comments below:


Blessings - 

~ Aspen

Monday, November 17, 2014

The White Mixing Bowl

The White Mixing Bowl 

Have you ever had an item, object, etc, that brought back fond memories? By simply looking at it, you saw those past events floating through your mind once more? Me too. When I look at this white mixing bowl, it brings back memories when I was much younger (I was going to say smaller, but I haven't grown much since then..*ahem*)...



We had a fair sized goat herd that roamed the ranch, causing all sorts of havoc. For instance, crawling through the tiny chicken pen door, eating all their food, smashing eggs, and stepping on chickens. Then, when they saw you coming, they would high tail it out the tiny opening and back out into the pasture, going "Baaabaaabaaa!" all the while. I'm convinced they were laughing, at us.
When big 'sis would go out to milk the cow, she would enlist one of us to keep the goats off, while she milked. Otherwise you would end up with twelve goats of all shapes and sizes, in the feeding trough, gobbling up the cow's food as quickly as possible.
Kidding time came around, and I believe we had half a dozen, or more, nannies due to kid. They of course picked the coldest day, usually a blizzard, or a severe sand storm, to have their babies. Ask me how I know that. *ahem*
But, never the less, we ended up with aprox. a dozen baby goats. Now you're going, hold on there! How on earth can you have a dozen baby goats when you only have around 6 nannies??? Let me explain; one of our nannies, Dot, would always have quadruplets. Always. Without fail. Several had twins, and very few had just one. You end up with a lot of baby goats, trust me!
The problem was, that year it was several nannies first time to kid. And they had no earthy idea what was going on, or what the heck was coming out of their be-hind, and they absolutely-positively did not want a single thing to do with that fuzzy creature that was screaming at the top of its lungs. No sir!
So guess who got to play Momma Goat? Your's truly.
Once they all kidded, I was bottle feeding seven baby goats. Yes seven! Oh, and did I mention I was also bottle feeding a bull calf at that very same time? Yes, I most certainly was!
Talk about a bunch of noisy, messing, drooling kids! I fed them two, or maybe three times a day. Each morning I would get up, grab my white mixing bowl, whisk up some formula, pour it into two bottles with a smaller nipple for the baby goats, and head to the barn.
I would feed the baby goats first, two at a time, while trying to fend off the calf, who was, in no uncertain terms, very pushy when it came to his bottle. He also weighed a couple hundred pounds, which was a lot more than me! After both the bottles were drained empty, I would head back to the house to fill a bottle for Blackie, the calf. Then back out I would go. This time I would fend off seven baby goats, most of whom, had horns, while feeding Blackie. They were good times; waking up every morning, pulling on your warmest clothes to brave the wintery wonderland outside. Going out to hear eight babies screaming their lungs out for you to come feed them. Yes, it was paradise! I'm lying. It got very annoying, very fast. But, I did enjoy it immensely! And often wish I had some darling little ones to bottle feed. 
I also remember how smart my little babies were. 
How they found out which room I lived in, I will never know! But somehow they did. And they slept under it, every.single.night. And they would let me know when they were hungry, and wanted Momma to come feed them..usually at the break of dawn.
I always had a caravan of followers, let me tell you! I could walk out the front door, and instantly be surrounded by eight starving wolves..err..I mean, darling babies.
It was a completely normal sight to see me outside with seven baby goats, and a calf right behind me. Where ever I went, they followed.
The day we sold all our goats, including all my bottle babies, broke my heart. I loved them all so much, and had spent so much time in their company, that I grew terribly attached to them. But the day Blackie, my darling bull calf got hauled to the sale (to be turned into hamburger), I cried for a week.
After I raised him up, and weaned him off the bottle, we branded him and turned him loose out in the pasture. I didn't see him for six months. When it came time to gather up calves that fall, Blackie was among them. I saw him in the pen with the many other calves, and wondered to myself if he would still remember me?
I climbed over the fence, and softly called to him, "Here Blackie! Come to Momma!" He took one look at me and walked right up, and started licking my hand, like he had done when he was just a tiny tot. 
The last I saw of him, he was going down the road in a trailer, heading to the sale barn.
To this very day, I can plainly see that heart wrenching scene, clear as a bell.


Yep, that white mixing bowl brings back lots of memories, not all of them fond, but it brings them back, none the less.

Now I'm going to go find a tissue.



Do you have something that brings back memories whenever you look at it? Do tell!

Blessings - 

~ Aspen

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Siblings

Siblings



You know that feeling when you have your plans all arranged for what you're going to do, and then those plans get blown into the wind? Yeah, me too!
 But sometimes that's ok.

It's true in this instance...

Last night I was back in my room with liltle sis', listening to music, fixing to take up where I left off in my writing, which was strewn all over my bed; when Laredo walks in, and soon after, Stockton trots in after him. He expressed an interested to listen to some music from an old computer game (Knights & Merchants, for those of you who would like to know). So I promptly searched YouTube, and found it. He (Laredo) took a seat at my computer chair and proceeded to immerse himself in the sweet melodies of the music, while Carolina and I started dancing around the room like a bunch of wild banshees!
Who could blame us? I mean seriously, we'd been cooped up in the house all day (due to the extreme cold temperatures), and desperately needed a way to turn loose of some excess energy. Dancing to music seemed like the best option to do just that. So we did..for like an hour and a half. 
Carolina would take the slow steady beat, and stomp around the room, while I would take the swifter, lighter beat of the music, and stomp the beat out on the floor. Keep in mind, before all this happened, we were both freezing cold back there, with a heater going, and 10 layers of clothing. About 15 minutes into our stomp dancing, we shed our socks, coats, and turned off the heater..and started sweating. Yes, and it's frigid temperatures outside, and we're inside sweating...
After we finished, I was exhausted! What a (odd) workout!! 

So, if you are ever feeling the need to get some exercise, just turn on some of your favorite music and turn loose!

Even though I got zero accomplished (except pumping up my heart-beat), it was worth it! It was one of those moments where it just felt good to be alive, with family, having lots of pure fun! I think that is something we've lost now-a-days. The act of having simply, wholesome fun. 
So, stop reading this post and go have some fun with your family and make some good memories!

 Blessings - 

~ Stomp Dancer



P.S. I'm currently laying in bed, piled with covers, with sore legs and feet, thanks to the squats and stomp dancing I did. Oh well.


Monday, November 10, 2014

Did You Miss Me?

Did You Miss Me???


I shall not make a bunch of excuses for my (long) absence, I will only say that life has chosen to be a bucking bronk, and we shall say no more of it!

 So, I shall try and fill you in on the (many, many) goings on, and events of the past that have happened.

  • First of all, I culled my feathered dinosaurs down to a manageable number, I shall try and do a post on them separately soon. But let's just suffice to say that instead of a 5 gallon bucket of feed, we are down to 1 gallon of feed, and instead of several hours a day doing chores, I spend maybe 5 minutes doing chores in the mornings and evenings. I am enjoying a smaller feed bill, and less work. I spend more time with my animals than I did before, their pens are much tidier, and it's just much better all 'round.
  • Radar, if you remember was an elderly horse that we adopted and put out to pasture on our ranch for the remainder of his days. Sadly, we had to put him down last week. It was during a rainy spell we had, he had come up to get his evening grain. Dad gave him his feed, and no sooner had he turned around to leave when he heard a big *thud*. He turned and saw that dear, sweet Radar had fallen down, and was unable to get back up. He was in a lot of pain, so they had to put him down. He is greatly missed. Rest in peace, sweet one!
  • The predators have been terrible lately. We have seen coon droppings in the hay shed, coon prints all around the house, coyotes and hogs have been coming up real near the house, and I've seen an owl lurking around. And that's just what we've seen! Who knows what else is sneaking around out there that we don't know about! All the animals have been locked up tight, but the least secure pen was my chicken pen (i.e. a dog cage in a chainlink run). One Wednesday night, we got back late from church and hit the hay. In the wee hours of the morning, Gypsy (my dog, who sleeps with me), wakes me up. She is shaking like a leaf on a tree with the wind blowing 100 mph! I've never seen her so scared before! No sooner do I cuddle her up in the covers with me, when I hear a gunshot outside. This was one of those nights were there wasn't a single noise, everything was still and calm. When the gun went off, it sounded like a cannon getting fired outside my bedroom window! My first reaction was, "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!" Then I regained my senses...ok..maybe I'm still searching for them, but whatever....and thought, "Well, the guys are probably out shooting a coyote or something." So I stay in bed, because that's the only logical thing to do. In a few minutes I hear voices in the back of the house, people come in and out of doors, slamming them behind then. I vaguely hear something said about, "Coons..", but still lay in bed, too lazy to actually get out of my warm bed and see what's up. Thankfully, I didn't have to, because soon after, Stockton, came bursting into my room, "ASPEN!! You awake?!?!?!!!" Me, "I am know. What's going on? Who's getting shot at? Are there mountain lions outside? Are my birds OK? TELL MEE!!" < That's basically the dialogue we had. ;) He told me, he and Laredo had heard a chicken screaming bloody murder outside their window (the chicken pen is right outside their window....) and they'd quickly jumped up and ran outside to see what all the humbug was about. They ran around to the side of the house where all my feathered dinosaurs are housed, and found that inside the chicken pen, a big 30 lb coon had his hand reached inside the chicken's cage, trying to grab himself a chicken. They fired a shot, but missed, and the coon dove through a small hole in the chainlink and high tailed it into the brush. They fired another time, and thought, perhaps, they'd shot him in the bum, but the next morning we went searching for blood (or a body), but didn't find anything, except a few tracks. Sadly, I found one of my sweet Black Aussies girls had been mortally wounded. The coon had ripped open her leg, crippling her. I separated her and tried to save her, but she passed away soon after.
  • Last weekend, Laredo and I took a spontaneously random road trip to town, to visit our Granny. We had all sorts of fun, and got in some good visiting, but boy howdy is it good to be home again! I honest to goodness don't know how all you folks survive in the big cities! I would loose my sanity within the first week and would be taken to a mental house. So either all of you folks are crazy, or this redneck country girl is a hermit. The latter statement is probably true. Perhaps both. ;) TeeHee! 
That was a extremely, un-detailed, abridged version of what's been going on 'round the ranch, but it will have to suffice for now.
 Cold weather has moved in, and we spent the day cleaning house, as we knew we'd probably all be staying indoors tomorrow, except for the wild dashes out to the barn to care for the animals. I mucked out the waterfowl/turkey house and put fresh shavings down. Mom helped me move a hutch into the chicken pen. I put a heat lamp on the peachick and her two Guinea keets that she is mothering currently, and now; I'm back in my room, freezing my socks off, literally..and coincidentally, I don't have any socks on, so the above statement is true. And I'm feeling quite exhausted, so I shall bid you ado, for the time being. I shall attempt to catch you up on some posts over the next few days, so keep out a sharp eye for them.
Blessings - 
~ Aspen