Favorite farm picture of the week

I took this down at Toni & John's when we took Jasimine to her new home. It was kind of a cold blustery day and this little guy had gotten himself locked out of the hen house, and he was none too happy about it. But he had a great Crow about him.

Too much on my plate...

Too much on my plate - I think that's right up there with being up to my you-know-what in alligators - Why is it that you can't go away for just two days and not have everything go to heck in a hand basket?

First - part two of the work party in the barn - after we got everyone wormed and all the pedicures done, it was time to move the girls in with Thorson. Only two for us this year - Regina & Susie - they both have beautiful wool and their babies should be fantastic - and Lucy who is sold "bred" - then we loaded up Jasimine to take her to her new home with Toni & John C. in Skagit county. The move in actually went quite well - no chasing or anything - and she didn't even particularly seem sad to see us go. She's probably ruling the roost there now, knowing her.

I can't remember if I mentioned in my San Antonio post that I've been having (more than usual) problems with my right knee (the one that has not been replaced yet) Anyhow - it had gotten so I had to stand and wait for my knee to "pop" before I could put any weight on it - which is not very convenient, to say the least - and was fairly embarassing at the meeting I was at. The conference started at 8:00 on Saturday a.m. with continental breakfast & welcomes from the "whobodies" - then to classes ALL DAY LONG - with two "beverage breaks" in the morning, lunch, and two breaks in the afternoon. Most of the sessions were given by people from the membership committees of other locals - the classes were very informative (notice the size of that binder - we got to carry that around for a day & a half) - Anyhow - each time a class would end, I would have to stand up, and wait for my knee to pop before I could go to the next session. Geeze.

So, long story short, I did finally go to the Doctor on Friday - this guy is a GP, but he's a "sports doc" for the schools so he is pretty good with knees and joint problems - He thinks that my problem is probably a little piece of the cartiledge that is left in my knee has gotten bent over and catches on the knee cap OUCH! - We talked briefly about an MRI - and I'm thinking that I may go ahead with it, since my deductible & stop loss are both topped out from the surgery last spring, I wouldn't have to pay very much for it. (Maybe they can figure out why I've been having bouts of sciatica, too)

About 10:00 on Sunday a.m., Tari, our membership coordinator, got a call from the airlines - seems that Delta "needed" the flight crew from our San Antonio to Salt Lake City flight - SO they CANCELED our flight! So how the heck were we supposed to get home? They sent us to ATLANTA! (975 miles in the wrong direction) where we caught a flight to SEATTLE - notice something missing - we were supposed to have flown Salt Lake City direct to Bellingham - where as, after landing at 10:33 p.m., I'd have been home at roughly 10:45 p.m. (we just live a few miles west of the airport - but nooooo - we landed at SEATAC at 10:45 p.m. and then still had a two hour bus ride home - it was about 2 a.m. when I rolled into bed - thankful that I had taken my car to the airport here in town so John didn't have to get out of bed at the midnight hour to come get me. (From the look on Scott's face here, he's trying to figure out something horrible to do to the person who canceled our flight...)

Thank heavens I had already scheduled to take Monday off - I was very tired.
The rest of the week didn't get much better, as the bosses were out of town - which leaves me as the "go to person" (ie - go to Tina, she'll figure it out...)

So, here it is, another Sunday night - I missed Weekend Cat Blogging - but thought I'd show you where Neelix hung out while we were terrorizing the sheep two weeks ago -






And the boys? They couldn't figure out what all the baaaaa-ing and carrying on was about - Well, they're just teenage boys - a little dufus, but very sweet.

The Yellow Rose of Texas

OK, so THIS rose really isn't from Texas, it's out in our garden, but I thought it was a great way to introduce the trip to San Antonio I took this past weekend.

It was the National Home Builders Association 2006 National Conference on Membership & our local chapter, the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County decided to send our whole committee to this meeting. Cool!

Eight of us left on Thursday (another fellow joined us in San Antonio - he'd been in Detroit on business) and flew directly out of Bellingham (a relatively new occurrence with the addition of Delta Airlines to our airport) - into Salt Lake City - then connected to San Antonio - great flights - pretty much got where we were going on time, etc. The conference was held at the Westin La Cantera Resort (http://www.westinlacantera.com/) Very beautiful place - I thought the rooms were a little over priced, (but then I wasn't paying for it) however, the "Heavenly" bed and the double headed shower were pretty neat. Oh, & the other thing about the resort - it's 12 miles from the airport & 15 miles from down town, and they don't have a shuttle ( I guess $300 a night doesn't pay enought for a shuttle?) Any how, think $50 a pop anytime you want to go to OR from the hotel to down town, etc. ! Holy cab fare, batman!













As you can see, Friday was a beautiful day, and suprisingly enough, it was only in the high 70's - it has been hovering around 85 degrees or so for the last few weeks & about 74% humidity! So we were lucky with our choice of days to go down town to see the Alamo & The River Walk. (Yes, that's me on the left with my chubby knees showing).

The Alamo was very inspiring - that a small band of men should have wanted to fight so hard and lose their lives to keep that part of Texas free. "People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds — a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom."
(http://www.thealamo.org/)

But as you can see, history has not stopped the city from literally growing up right around the Alamo grounds. It is now within a block of huge skyscrapers and modern hotels.

San Antonio's most famous tourist destination, The River Walk was conceived in the 1920's after they had several bad floods in San Antonio - a dam & a canal were finally completed in the '40's and since then several extensions and repairs & additions have been done - including a botanical garden .







There are sidewalks on both sides, altho not railings on both sides - I wonder how many people they drop in the drink every year?


We had dinner at a place called Dicks - pretty good ribs - VERY good margaritas! Then we went out to explore the rest of the area - some of the group went bar hopping - Thankfully Robin & Del were ready to go back to the hotel so I didn't have to pay that $50 cab fare all by myself.

In a few days (when I get caught up with life in general), I'll post some about the conference & tell you all about our trip home (ever hear of the "trip form hell"?)

A work day in the barn, part 1

The Girls are very suspicious - when ever they are locked in the barn, it is a sign that baaaad things are going to happen.

Today it was pedicures, worming & setting up the breeding group, and moving Jasimine to her new home in Mt. Vernon with Toni & John C.



Pearl was not too happy about getting her tonails clipped & what is this thing that dad just put on my face!!!???

















I think I have dibbs on Pearl's lamb fleece. Isn't it pretty? & very long - she is just a little peanut under it - If we sheared her today, she'd just fly away.











Remember Gwendolyn. She not only came with spots, she came with horns, which is somewhat rare...

Our friends Donna & Tom brought her up to her new home with our flock last sumer.


http://ablipontheradar.blogspot.com/2006/07/all-kinds-of-company.html

Her wool is stripped under all those spots. Hmm., now which fleece do I want to keep?


Gwennie also got a new halter, very stylish don't you think?









We were in charge of snacks for church today. I made my "famous" Seafood Caesar Wraps, Turkey Caesar Wraps & Ham Wraps - (They were all very good, if I don't say so myself, and they disappeared quite rapidly too) We partnered up with our friend Vic and he brought crackers and cheese, and fresh locally grown grapes. We also brought apples & carmel dip - a new experience for some of the older folks, but it is so tasty, that they caught on quickly! Big week ahead - I'm on my way to "San Anton" - more later!

Weekend Cat Blogging #71

Showing off for company - (drum roll, please.....................) Sinda will now roll over!



















Thank you Sinda!










Neelix's trick is a grand imitation of a dust mop!






See more tricks & treats at Rosa's Yummy Yums
http://rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.com/2006/10/weekend-cat-blogging-71.html

A big thank you to Fridolin and Maruschka and their nice lady in Switzerland for having us all over to visit! (Fridolin, that hat is just divine)

We got our picture in the paper!

GRAZERS
Name: Flock of sheep
Pedigree: Shetland sheep are native to Scotland but are becoming more popular in the U.S. because of their small size and hardy constitution. They are friendly and their naturally short, V-shaped tails are known to wag when they are petted.
People: John Park and Tina Thomsen-Park, Bellingham

So this is what got printed in today's Bellingham Herald! Pretty cool, huh? They have a regular weekly column called Pet Parade, and people send in their favorite pet pictures. I thought they needed something else besides cats, dogs & the occasional rabbit. So, end of this summer, I sent in this picture that I took last spring. Our pasture looks so lush & green in this pic - it looks pretty toasty now, but with the little rain that we've had, it's coming back slowly.


That's our exciting news for the day. Back to working on payroll. T.

Inspiration (or my lack thereof)

Susan, who writes the blog Farmgirl Fare http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/ recently announced that she had been having so much trouble with her computer network & because of other issues, she was going to "take a break" from blogging.

I almost cried - well, not almost, I did cry - mostly for Susan and her frustrations - but because I enjoy reading her blog so much - her writing is fresh & witty, informative & entertaining, and she has a great way with a camera - her farm in Missouri is in a very picturesque area, and she takes the best pictures of her animals. She has devoted readers from all over the world - sometimes reading the comments on her blog are as entertaining as her blog entry! Her camera work has inspired me to find beauty in the common every day world.

I was happy to see that she had a new post today - maybe she has solved her computer issues - maybe just taking a week off was good enough to rest her "inner blogger" -

When I thought about it, I was astonished to realize that I knew more about what was going on in Susan's life than I did in my sister's or my good friends here in town. Hmmm - what does that mean?

Heck if I know -It's "angel time" (11:11 pm) and time to go to sleep, I think. Thought I'd share this picture I took of a little chick-a-dee in John's sunflower patch - between the chick-a-dees and the gold finches, they pretty much have the sunflowers cleaned out - & BOY you ought to hear them when they get to talking about it!

Heading for bed. T.

Weekend Cat Blogging #70

Neelix & Sinda would like to thank Boots, Tess & their human at The Hidden Paw for hosting this weeks WCB #70 - Be sure to check in there and check out all the wonderful cats on the blogesphere :-) http://forthejunta.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, we were going to show you some of the tricks that we know, but as I was walking around taking pictures in our yard this morning, I found Sinda & Neelix having such wonderful sunbaths, that I had to share those with you instead.

Sinda has gotten a "water bath" more than once when John has been watering the plants and didn't see her before he watered this pine. But it is still one of her favorite places to sit.




It was a beautiful fall day here in the Pacific Northwest & Neelix made good use of the sun this morning. It's a good thing he did, because it's clouded up now and looks like it might rain.

Thanks again to Boots & Tess @ The Hidden Paw for hosting Weekend Cat Blogging. Everyone can go take a nap now. :-) T.

I'm Baaaack.....

I keep telling myself that Fall is just around the bend - I think, it has actually turned the corner - look at how beautiful our yard is.

It was a rough couple of weeks - computer problems are never "fun" but when they happen at the time that you need your computer the most - whew - it sure makes you grumpy. Mine started with an innocent notion that I should change anti-virus programs (this was recommended by my office computer guru) from one that had worked fine (beginning with a Mc) to one that totally took over my computer (& my life - beginning with a "N") Well as they said in the play "The Music Man" - I'm a sadder but wiser girl - pocket book is much lighter too (try $227.00 to get the whole thing fixed) Anyhow I ditched the "N" antivirus, upgraded my RAM & put the "Mc" antivirus back on. All is right with the world.

So, I thought I'd branch out here and add a little religion to my blog... As you may, or may not know, John & I are Unitarian Universalists. We go to church in Blaine at a little church that was established over 75 years ago by the Icelanders who had become convinced that "the Lutherans were dangerous people" They hired themselves a traveling Unitarian minister, and Free Church Unitarian was born. Fast forward to today - John leads the choir (I am one of three alto's), we actually have More Basses than Sopranos - actually last night we didn't have ANY sopranos - and I am the newsletter editor.

Being the newsletter editor is kind of like writing a blog by committee - and thankfully it only happens once a month. It is fun, but I've been trying to inspire other members to contribute. Just asking hasn't been very successful, so I'm hoping that my October "From the Editor" column will encourage some to get out pen and paper. Here it is - let me know what you think - (after all, it is my blog, and I can write about anything I want, right?)

"From the Editor"
I was intrigued by a “forwarded” letter that I recently received from Becky & Larry T. It was a note to them from a new friend in Panama, where they are now living. The fellow was a retired Anglican minister and he was reflecting on how the hardest thing he had experienced during his years as a minister was not the writing of a sermon every week, but trying to find a topic that would be relevant to the everyday life of the time and place. He went on to say that faith is of little value to people if it cannot be shown to be totally applicable to their life experiences.

Like George M., I came upon the UU “faith” via my mother & the Church of the Larger Fellowship when I was about 12 or 13. I think I always had an “inkling” that there was “something else” out there for me, though, because I can remember, even at a very young age, having sincere doubts about the stories that the ministers were telling us. Perhaps even then I suspected that “Standing in a church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.” I think that too often, we overlook the value of our Unitarian Universalist faith and the roots that it has given to our country. (And how far our country has moved away from those important UU roots?)

I am very grateful that I am able to walk down the street, dressed as I wish to dress - read what I want to read and go where I want to go. But, most of all, I am grateful for the freedom to believe the way I want to believe, and, like Nan says, “and that’s the truth”

So what do you think? Will I inspire them?

BTW - this is a picture of our beautiful Mt. Baker taken from the docks at the Port of Blaine -

Hope you enjoyed today's installment - coming up next? Why it's Weekend Cat Blogging and Sinda & Neelix are going to show off their tricks! Later, T.