How I Rate this Winter

 

I rate how bad a winter is by how many times I have to have my driveway plowed out.

 

 

My driveway is a 700 foot  straight shot down from the road. 

It has a little curve as it comes down to my house.

The driveway has been plowed out 5 times this winter.....meaning there was no flipping way I was going to get out without it being plowed out.

 

This. Winter. Sucks.

 

Today was the 8th snow day for the school district that I teach in.

While I am not sad about this, I have to admit I have like barely any grades because it has been a struggle to start and finish a topic without a weather interruption.

Dixie and Meesha however, don't mind me being home because they get extra playtime outside.

 

My poor little statue sheep have been buried in the snow all winter..........

 

.........and then there are some sheep who are so "fluffy" that I don't think they could possibly get buried in the snow......Abby has no shame. 

 

On a positive note......there are 30 days till spring as of today!

Snow Rolling in the Arctic Blast!!

It was -13 at 6:30 am today, Tuesday, January 28th 2014. 

The wind chill made it feel like -23.

It was like a frozen tundra outside.

Today was the 3rd snow day in a row for no school.  So sad:(

Not really. I just thought I should say that because I am a teacher.

I have not left my house since Friday nor have I even gone up my 800 foot driveway to get the mail.

How pathetic of me.

 

The beautiful blue sky was very deceiving today.  Some places in Northeast Ohio got to experience a rare meteorological phenomenon called snow rollers.........

I found some snow rollers in the back pasture!  They are like large snowballs that form when pieces of snow are blown across the ground by wind and pick up material as they go along....kinda like rolling up a snowball for a snowman. Pretty cool! This one was the largest one in the pasture!

 

Monique was probably wondering why I was a laying in the snow taking pictures and freezing my fingers off......just havin' some good olde' fashion winter fun!!

Perhaps the sheep were looking for some rays of sun to warm up.....notice no goats were present because they are not having any of this arctic weather and have taken up residence in the barn till further notice!

Rutland: "What is all this whining about cold temps? Good grief this is perfect sheep weather!! Suck it up and put on a wool sweater!"

Colechester: "This weather is flipping awesome! We are even getting extra hay! The colder it gets, the more food we get!  Bring it on!!!"

 

Even the sun today didn't offer any warmth in the greenhouse:( 

The seed catalogs are coming in the mail so there has to be hope out there somewhere!

Just saw that our school district will be closed on Wednesday......that makes 4 snow days in a row.

I wonder if my students miss me?

Heck no, they are 9th graders!

I am feeling stressed that we will probably have to go back to school on Thursday......

I might have to take a sick day if I get too stressed out;)

 

Having A Few Drinks on the Farm is Okay

Sometimes when I get new "additions" to the farm or when new babies are born on the farm it takes awhile to figure out what their names should be.  Their personalities need to develop and how they interact with me are factors that I consider before I give them a name. Sometimes the names even come from experiences I have had if life. When the new Huacaya crias came to the farm just recently I was really stuck on what to name them. Nothing was sticking out. 

 

"Scotchy"

 

Pictured above is "Scotchy".  He was a bottle cria at Magical Farms and he was named after his mom who's name was "Butterscotch".  He is small, insanely loveable and adorable and his name just kinda stuck with him.

I like to stick with themes when I name the animals.  A candy theme was not really working for me.  First of all, I am not a big candy eater and secondly, candy themes are just corny for me. So what  about taking  "Scotchy" in a liquor direction? 

Okay that works but I am not a "drinker" per say.  The last time I seriously drank was at my sister's wedding 13 years ago.  I jammed the majority of my good drinking years in before I was legal to drink and then when I was legal to drink I didn't drink like a lush......sigh.....too be young again.

So where do I begin to find some good liquor names was my dilemma?  Oh, the liquor store of course.  First I had to find a liquor store and when I found one, wasn't I surprised to see how much liquor there is in the world as I walked the aisles in the state liquor store.  It was actually quite comical on my behalf.  So many pretty bottles.....and so expensive....wtf??? I was, however, drawn to all the awesome flavors of vodka and I couldn't help but buy a pretty blue bottle of Pinnacle Cinnabon Vodka.  Doesn't that just sound yummy?!?!  I haven't had any yet, though after this Arctic Blast this week, I may be busting open that bottle to warm myself up.

So, back to naming the crias.......yeah I didn't find any "white" liquor to name the white cria.

"Coquito"

 

So what about mixed drink names? Good idea again but my knowledge & drinking experience is limited again. I am more of a wine cooler woman, mostly in the summer.  Though I do know what a"White Russian" is but that wasn't working cuz alpacas are not of Russian origins, just sayin.  So, I did the most intelligent thing......I asked fellow colleagues at school and within minutes I had a list of names for white mixed drinks.   I know.....shame on me.  But seriously....shame on them for knowing so many!!!!  The female security guard who is Hispanic suggested the name "Coquito". Of course she had to explain it to me and make me say it correctly with the right accent (she is Puerto Rican and she says I have the worst accent when trying to speak Spanish....whatever;). I loved it!!  Coquito is not a liquor but it is a white drink and made with rum and it fit perfectly!

"Rumchata"

 

That last alpaca to be named was actually the funniest to name.  Lets go back to January 3rd when the Northeast Ohio got slammed with a snowstorm that blew in from the North and those Northern winds totally wrecked havoc on the farm, creating insane drifts around the barns and making my 800 foot driveway impassable and the propane truck was suppose to come on the 4th. I was flipped out, stressed out, and had to call a good friend to come over with his big tractor and bucket to plow me out.  I got to drive in the tractor as he plowed out the drive & he said he and his wife would be over at 8 that night to take me out to have a drink cuz I was wound a tad tight.....I thought that was a very good idea.  The local bar, a good sandwich, and later 6 shots of this insanely good rumchata stuff and I was a happy camper that night.   Rumchata is good and even better in hot chocolate!  Even went back to the liquor store for a bottle! Exactly I making some Rumchata cupcakes this weekend for the Superbowl.  Oh, did I mention that I now had the name for my last cria?  See, I had to find some personal connection to naming the crias!

"Scotchy, Rumchata, & Coquito"

 

See, so having a few drinks on the farm really isn't that bad at all;)

 

Please read responsibly!

 

A Dog Gone New Year's Eve Party

I planned a huge, hopping New Year's Eve Party today......

you know, the kind with all the festive hats, noise makers, fun treats like busy bones for the dogs,

catnip for the cats, chips and Ginger Ale for me........

Yeah, well after the busy bones were long gone.....this was what I have been left with.......

 

 

In the senior beagle category, ReRun and Squirt are passed out and snoring.........

 

Dixie is crashed out on the other end of the couch..........

 

and Meesha is sleeping and protecting her rawhide at the same time.

Wow, some party planner I am.  I can't even get my dogs excited. 

Sigh.

I wonder what kind of party is going on in the barn tonight?

I didn't even get an invite to that........pathetic.

That's all right.......I'll show them.

I got Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve Party & watching the Ball drop at midnight.

Of course, this means I have to stay awake till midnight..............

In case I don't make it till midnight,

Happy New Year!!!!!

 

 

So How Did I Get 3 More Alpacas?

So exactly how did these 3 alpacas get to my little homestead?

I asked my parents for buy them for me for Christmas.

Ok. That's a huge lie cuz I usually lie to them on how I "acquire" animals and I am a responsible 46 year old adult and I don't lie to my parents....anymore....well at least since last month.

So, honestly they fell out of Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve & I was at my parents on Christmas Eve & didn't notice them until Christmas morning.

Ok. That's a lie too cuz Santa would never let any animal just fall out of his sleigh.  He would make sure they landed safely at a good home....like mine.

 

 

So, seriously I was driving past Magical Farms and these 3 crias just jumped into the bed of the truck and refused to get out and attacked me till I said I would take them home.

Ok. That's a lie cuz I really was at Magical Farms buying grain for the 2 alpacas that I already have and the 3 crias followed me to my truck and held me a grain point. 

 

Alright, the honest truth is I might have "mentioned" to the super nice lady at Magical Farms that I "might" be interested in one or two white or tannish colored fiber males.....and how I ended up with 3......well seriously, they were all bottle babies and the super nice lady at Magical Farms had all 3 of them in the stall when I went to look at only "2" and the one pictured above walked right up to me and stuck his face in mine.......really? It was a hard decision to make....take 1 or 2 or 3......it took me at least a minute to decide on all 3.......it was a very stressful situation......NO LIE!!

 

I mean look at those eyelashes.........

 

 

........look at the way the eyes just suck you in..... 

 

Everyone just bonded right away..........

 

....there was no bullying and isolating the new kids on the block.  A factor that I pointed out to all the sheep and goats who are notorious for bullying any new addition!

 

Now in all seriousness........

I can not have more than 5 alpacas because I can't count higher than 5 in Spanish. 

Uno.  Dos.  Tres.  Cuatro.  Cinco.

NO LIE.

 

Ok, honestly I could count higher.....I mean I just have to look it up on my smart phone......

 

 

Photo bombing Goat

On Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving the first real good snow fall came to the homestead.  After feeding everyone I grabbed my camera to take some photos.  Mr. Rooster had settled down on the gate to take watch over his domain so I decided to use him as my morning subject.

 

 

As I was clicking away I had not noticed nosey Nelly coming our way ( actually I realized I had a photo of her when I was looking back on the photos I took).

 

Mr. Rooster noticed however, that nosey Nelly was intruding on his photo shoot.......

 

.........and in addition, was intruding in all the wrong places. 

Nothing like good goat humor on the farm;) 

Those Stupid, Stupid Green Things

Autumn is my favorite time of the year for many reasons..........

 

 

 

...........except when it comes to these stupid, stupid green things that call out to all the young sheep who don't know any better than what they want to nibble on requires walking through all these stupid, stupid green things to get to all the good things to eat.

 

As one can see, Milton walked right into a whole bush of those stupid, stupid green things......he even has them on his you know whats.  What he doesn't know is his you know whats are coming off in 2 weeks.   Milton is just a train wreck right now.......poor guy.