Sunday, September 9, 2012

My sisters visit, Harvest, and road trip



FAMILY VISIT

My sister, Sandy came for a visit the end of August. This is the first time that she has been to our place. She said "Liz, I thought you had a great view of the mountains". Which we do, but for her entire stay, smoke from the wildfires up north hindered the views. On clear days we can even see Longs Peak from our front window. But nothing during her visit!
Well anyway, we had a great time visiting with a cousin and his son that we have not seen for years, and my children and grandchildren were over. We also went to about 10-12 thrift and antique stores and found a few "treasures."
Here is my sister with my two dogs.




THE HARVEST
So, anyway, it was 46 degrees this am, and with the windows open last night we got to 55 degrees in the house. Think it is time to start closing our windows. Harvest time in the garden, and here is a picture of the largest beet that I have ever seen. We don't use fertilizer, just composted manure and hay/straw.




  Despite the drought here in Colorado, we have had a bumper crop of edible pod peas, Swiss Chard, zucchini and yellow summer squash. The squash is to the point that I want to leave a bag of it on every ones porch, ring the bell and run!!!The tomatoes are just starting, and the beans are poor. Only a few watermelon and cantaloupes are seen along with winter squash. The flower gardens are winding down also.
Momma Guinea fowl is hiding in a squash plant, thinking that she is incubating eggs.  One thing about Guinea's, the hens all seem to lay their eggs in a few nests, and occasionally you will see two hens incubating.  There are probably over 100 eggs in this nest.  Impossible for one hen to keep all of them warm.   So they never seem to hatch.

NEW RAM
We have been on the lookout for another ram to breed to our young females, they are like chips, you can't just have one!  We built this "goat tote" to haul him in.  He was too big for a dog kennel, and we did not want to hitch up the trailer for just one sheep.  Here is our finished tote. We added straw for bedding, and hung an eye hook in the corner to carry a water bucket, should we run into car trouble. I could not help but add the Katahdin Sheep and our phone # to bring about awareness for this wonderful breed of sheep.   Tote in the back of our pick-up.  We can haul a few goats, sheep or even our two dogs in here if needed.

 
Our new ram lamb, Chester.  He was very comfortable with his ride to our place.

On our trip to pick up Chester, we decided to fore go all the speedsters on I25 and opted to take the back roads.  We ended up taking 14 out of Ault to hiway 71.  It was a 256 mile one way trip, so took us all day to get there and back.  Near Limon we went by a Correctional Institution with signs along the road to not pick up hitch hikers.  Good tip.  South of there we came to the little town of Last Chance.  What a name. But for a good reason. We quickly found out why that name.  Now in Colorado, some areas are rather arid and we are encouraged to drink allot of water.  I had two cups of coffee, and a full thermos of water on our trip.  The nearest gas station is somewhat like 87 miles, and not a tree in sight.  But we made it. 
That stretch of hiway is so desolate, hundreds of wind turbines and plenty of wind and curving roads, and all grass.
Learning about Colorado by the back roads, proved to be an adventure.  When we finally did make it to our destination, the ram that we had decided to get, had been bit by a rattlesnake on the neck that morning, so we had to choose an alternate.

SEWING ROOM
Haven't had much time to satisfy my urge to sew, but did manage to put together this lap sized quilt for a family member, and just a little more quilting to go!



BOOK CLUB
I read the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  I have really lead a sheltered life and had no idea what POWs went through.  This is a true story.  I hope that you will all pick it up and read it.  It has been a real life changer for me.


See Sandy, we do have mountain views.

More later........................................................................I will be cooking beets all day!

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