Pictorial Of a Jealous Goat......

Remember when I told you Tulip is jealous of Merida?

And how she likes to try and bully her when she's in my lap?

And remember how I told you I don't let her do it?

Well........

On Sunday, I was in my customary place sitting on the overturned feed pan with my Merida in my lap.....so far so good!

I'm scratching Tulip and as The Man was out there with us, I asked him to take a picture of the three of us....

Oh the fun we are having!

As Merida extends her sweet little nose in friendship, Tulip flips her head at her, whereupon I increase the scratching to let Tulip know I still love her too.....when as quick as a snake, I see Tulip strike and hear Merida squeal!

As I scold an unrepentant Tulip, and try to comfort a scared Merida.......

Tulip saunters over to The Man, who asks her how she would like it if HE bit HER ear.....

Till next time, I'll leave you with a disgruntled and displaced Tulip............

God Bless,

Laying My Blunnies To Rest......

Remember when I mentioned that I SERIOUSLY needed new boots?

And I hated to have to get them because my favorite kind of boots were no longer made in Australia, but Indonesia?

And I was going to have to make a trip to the most wonderful boot store to try and find some new ones?

Well we finally went about a month or so ago!

And after about an hour of walking around in different boots, I found these.....

And I really like them, they are super comfortable!

And durable, and stylish!!   

And guess what the best part is???

MADE IN THE USA......

That's right!  A good pair of comfortable, stylish, USA made boots!  I got them on sale because they were discontinuing this color, but I would have gladly paid the full price for American made, and will probably go back soon to get me another pair for weekend work.

Until next time, I hope your feet are feelin' fine!

God Bless,

A Tale Of Spring.......and Mud......and Three Dogs......

 Ah yes....here are the three dogs in their usual lounging spot.....

And here is the mud.......so far so good.....

But wait!  What's this?? 

Which = this.... 

And we mustn't forget this.....as red clay goes so great with burgandy/mauve-ish carpet...

I like to keep a neat and tidy house............however, in the spring time, it certainly isn't a clean house.....due to MUD and THREE DOGS!

I'm not fussing though, because I'm ready for Spring!

Til next time.....

God Bless,

Ten Reasons Goats are Better Than Cows.......

So I was thinking about this last night as I was milking my beautiful ladies......

It's a thought I've had many times before.......

It's totally no offence to those of you who are dyed in the wool cow lovers.........

Please feel free to do your own post of 10 Reasons Cows are Better Than Goats.....

I'll go read it...

And prolly enjoy it......

But you won't change my mind........

So without further ado and dithering.......

Here we go......

Top Ten Reasons Goats Are Better Than Cows

according to the Goodwife

Ahem..... 

10) Goats are small.............therefore they don't eat as much, and they don't tear the ground up near as much with their little bitty cloven hooves, as a cow with their huge giant cloven hooves.

9) Goats are browsers............therefore they will eat the poison ivy, briars, multiflora rose, thistles, and all sorts of other obnoxious stuff and convert it into yummy milk, all the while twitching those cute little tails in glee!  A cow wants grass........grass.........and more grass!

8) Speaking of those tails, goats do have little bitty tails that twitch in glee, as opposed to broom corn tied to the end of a baseball bat.  While I'm milking and Tulip and Star are happily gobbling up their goatie granola, their tails are twitching with happiness.  When I was a kid milking Rosie the Jersey cow with my dad, her tail was wont to do something else, namely smack me upside my head with every swing!

7) Beards......cows don't have beards, and I do love me some facial hair!

6) Multiples.......cows don't often have more than one calf, although it does happen.  Goats almost always have at least twins, and sometimes triplets or quads!  More bang for your buck so to speak!

5) And speaking of multiples........goats have two boobies, while cows have four.  I don't know about you, but I've only got two hands..................

4) The tongue.......goats have cute little tongues that they like to lick you with!  They stick them out in anticipation of grain, or treats, or in lust for breeding, but I've yet to see a goat pick it's nose with a giant tongue.

3) Goats are very clean.....very!  I've never seen a goat laying in their own poop, never had a goat poop while I was milking, and never once have I seen a goat poop on top of the head of it's nursing kid.  I've witnessed all of the above with cows.

2) And speaking of poop......goat poop = berry, cow poop = patty.........it's sort of like the difference between peanuts and soft serve ice cream...........I'm just sayin...

1) And the numero uno reason goats are better than cows?  

I LOVE GOATS!!!  

Till next time, I remain goatishly yours......

Farewell to a Blundstone.......

Does anybody remember this post about my Blunnies?

My dear faithful Blunnies, how I love them.  How my FEET love them. They are truly my go to footwear for almost every occasion.  Most Sunday's I wear jeans to church.  What is on my feet you may ask?  My Blunnies of course!  Work every day, (and homestead chores before I was a full timer) my Blunnies!

Well in that post I made this sweeping statement...

  "I will never wear another kind of boot again"

 HA!  Drama much Goodwife??

In that post when I said I was making my "town" Blunnies my work Blunnies and ordering a new "town" pair, that's what I did.  And I got a nasty surprise.  My beloved Blundstone 500's went from being made in Australia, of wonderful, soft, supple leather and fantastic craftsmanship.....

See Made in Australia on there??

.........to being made in Thailand, out of some sort of I don't even know what, but boy is there ever a difference.  They went from no break in time, to FOUR years later and almost wore out, and they are still stiff as a board.....

I kept wearing my work Blunnies to put off the ordeal of switching, but for the last year or so my "work" Blunnies have been done for......

I am of course still wearing the dang things for wood cutting and chores because I just can't bear to give them up, but it's time to order a new pair.  I think they deserve a decent burial....

And my feet are starting to get wet when i wear them...

So Goodwife, what the heck is the point of this post??  I NEED NEW BOOTS!  And I can't/won't order my Blunnies anymore beacause of this...

See that tag that says Made in Thailand?

 ........so what's a gal to do?  

I guess I'm going to head to boot barn and try to find another boot that will steal my heart (or er.. my feet's heart).

Wish me luck!

Till next time, I remain yours in Christ!

  

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Yesterday afternoon I was standing at the sink washin' up some dishes.  My window looks out over the backyard, barns, and pastures.  This is what I noticed......

Does anybody see anything amiss in this picture?

How bout this one?  Anything at all??

Or this one?  Anybody?

That isn't a Tamworth, or a Duroc, or even a Red Wattle sharing Ed Earl and Luanne's pen......

The Youngun and I began casting about for clues.........we didn't find many.....just this track...

No hair, no smashed fence, no other evidence of tampering.......

After getting things back this way......

The Youngun and I began doin' this......

She's putting insulators on the posts so I can run hotwire.....

For this particular project we had to use three different types of insulator.

This is a nail on.......

This is a regular snap on, in long length.......

And this is what we call a reverse, or backward insulator.  It fits on the backside of the post.  In our case, we have insulators on the top outside of the pig pen, for keeping horses and goats out, and insulators along the bottom inside of the pig pen for keeping pigs in!

Now nobody is gonna bust in or out.  Hopefully this will encourage ever'body to stay where they belong!  Why in the world Champ would feel the need to go visit the pigs is beyond me, but nobody ever said he was the sharpest spade in the barn!

After getting all that done, I caught Ed Earl and Luanne in a romantic moment.  They are so in love!  Click the picture if you want to see it bigger! 

God Bless................

Chronic Ordinary Urticaria........or Goodwife Gotta Rash!

"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches."

Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884 - 1980)

This is pretty much how I live my life, but for the purpose of this post, we are going to address the part about scratching where it itches.......

For at least two years now, I've had hives. Hives, hives, hives! Oh the hives I've had. All....over....my....body...all....the....time!! I'm one of those who doesn't go to the doctor, but finally last year I went and they did a blood test for allergies. They called me and told me the test came back normal and that was that. Still with the hives all the time, but I just lived with it, cuz that's just the way I roll. Uncle Big Dog had hives too, and that is comin' into play in the next paragraph.

Around Christmas time Uncle Big Dog started havin' some trouble with a kidney stone and they found out he had a mass on his kidney. That mass turned out to be cancer and after lots more tests they took that rotten ole kidney out and Uncle Big Dog is doin' just fine. The cancer was contained to just that one kidney, thank God, and he should recover with no more trouble. They also told him, his hives might go away now, they could've been caused by the kidney cancer. And that got my little pea brain to workin'.

I went back to the doctor today because I thought maybe there might be somethin' wrong with my kidney and it's better to be safe than sorry. The doctor didn't think so, but we did get talkin' bout those silly hives I keep havin'. I asked him if I should see an allergist and he said, "Well we already know you are allergic to everything!" Evidently whoever called to tell me the tests were fine was a tad misinformed.

I'm allergic to.........are you ready???

• corn
• wheat
• peanuts
• sesame seeds
• there was more foods on there but I don't remember them all
• oak trees, well pretty much every single tree known to man
• cockroaches (seriously??)
• pigweed
• ragweed, well remember what I said about trees, it goes for weeds too
• timothy hay (hmmmm)
• bermuda grass hay (again, hmmmm) 

There is more, three pages worth, but I can't remember it all. Pretty fun for a gal like me to be allergic to all trees, weeds, and hay isn't it? He said he wasn't too sure this all was causing the hives because my allergy level to it wasn't all that high, but I am allergic to all that good stuff.

So what to do? Nothin'. He says I can take Zyrtec for the hives and they'll go away eventually (it's been 2 years here folks). Now wasn't that helpful?? 

And folks think doctors don't know anything.............are ya pickin' up on the sarcasm here, cuz I'm layin' it on purty thick........

God Bless..............

the Goodwife Speaks.....................

So Nicole over at That's Life did a vlog post about how you say certain words.  I thought it sounded pretty fun so I'm doing it too and I hope those of you who have the time and the inclination will participate as well.  It reminds me a bit of my contest about What the Heck is She Talkin' Bout?

You all know I'm a hillbilly and this should confirm it.  I also should've watched Nicole's before I did it because I explained myself after each word, which turns out wasn't part of the project.  That said, you all know I like to take the long way 'round the trailer park anytime I tell a story so you shouldn't be suprised that I'm like that in real life!  Anywho, here goes!

My gracious!

update.............  I'm such a dork, I forgot to put the list of words and questions..........no suprise here huh?

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught


What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?

What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?

What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?

What do you call gym shoes?

What do you say to address a group of people?

What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?

What do you call your grandparents?

What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?

What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?

What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

God Bless....................

 

A Christmas Gift from Goodwife Farm.........

In celebration of my Savior's birth, I'd like to give a Christmas gift to one of my dear readers. 

Remember this felted purse?

My dad made me an antler button for the closure on it, and it's super cool!  ;0)

That's the gift I'm going to send you if you win. 

To enter you must answer these questions.  Lets see just how much you know about Goodwife Farm!

1. What breed of goats do we have here at Goodwife Farm?
2. What is my darling yellow dog's name?
3. How many dogs do we have?
4. What is the name of our cat?
5. What style of horseback riding do I do?
6. What kind of hot rod does The Man drive?
7. What is the name of our truck?
8. When is The Youngun's birthday?
9. What is the name of my sewing machine?
10. How long did The Man and I date before getting married?

In the comments section, please answer as many questions as you can, and if you don't know just guess!  The winner of the purse will be the person who gets the most questions right.  Hint, hint, hint, all of the answers can be found in the blog if you are bored enough to look!!  In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen at random.  UPDATE!  I'm going to have two winners to this contest.  The person getting the most right answers will win the pink purse.  Then I will draw a winner at random for the multi colored purse.   The contest begins now and will end Thursday, December 16, 2010.  The winner will be announced at noon on Friday, December 17, 2010. 
Also........sorry to any of my family members that read this blog........you can't enter!  That just wouldn't be fair now would it??

God Bless...............