Miscelaneous News From The Farm

Good morning!  :)  It's 5:45 and dawn is just breaking.  First light.  I love it.  Dave has not crawled out of bed and begun to ask me to go find his glasses or bring him more tea.  Poor man.  He wants to be off of his crutches as much as I want it.  He realizes he did not marry a nurse.  He said if he ever becomes paralyzed to please just shoot him.  You are all my witnesses.  He asked for it!  :)  Ahh... humor!  How energizing.  Especially the kind aimed at someone else.  That is unfortunately a genetic flaw.  :)  I apologize for the sins of my father.  :)

Well.. first of all... my renewed commitment to drop a few unwanted winter pounds is almost discouraging!  I'm two weeks in and I've only lost a few pounds.  156.6  :(  But... my glucose level  is staying right where it needs to be.  It was 78 this morning and I'm eating super healthy stuff.  Here's an example of some recent creations from my kitchen that either are healthy - or I have deluded myself into believing they are...

Breakfast Parfait made with plain Greek yogurt mixed with sugar free strawberry syrup and crunchy bits like sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (my newest addiction).

Beef & Tofu Stir Fry topped with slivered almonds.  Made from the left over roast.  I know... a sweet potato!  But!  It's only a quarter of a spud.  I realize this looks like an enormous plate of food but it's a salad plate.  I usually eat off of a salad plate.  Small portions look pathetically small on a diner plate!  It's the oldest trick in the book but pretty effective.  And pretty fun if your husband is not on a diet.  Make's him feel like a big fat pig when I bring his big fat plate   :)  That's a little mean but it's  pretty emotionally satisfying especially after having to witness ice cream being consumed.  This is not the case right now... but in the recent past I have had to witness such atrocities.  Hmm... I must be feeling mean this morning.  A great day to make some collection calls.  :)  Anyway...moving on...  how bout this...

This was dinner last night getting ready to go in the oven to roast.  Sausage and lots of veg.  Sausage is healthy you ask?  Well... not really except that it's a pretty small amount.  And very lean for sausage.  This is a toaster oven size pan.  Also this is special sausage.  Crafted specially for us from just one cow, which is why we call them Panda Dogs.  :)  I know... I'm sick!  Poor Panda!  She is so tasty!

Or for lunch... Turkey Lentil soup with a lovely salad with mozzarella cheese and pistachios.

 I'm starting to get more exercise now too.  For instance, on Tuesday because Dave is still on crutches I had to fork all the hay ( a wonderful gift from our super star neighbor farmer Ed) from the trailer out into the pasture.  I was pitching it to them a little at a time but when we got close to the end Dave said to feed them the rest.   We had to unload it in order to take a road trip to Spirit Lake, ID to pick up some wooden fence posts and rails for Dave's spring fence project.  Of course he can't actually work on it - with the crutches and all, but the material is here.  I had to drive the truck and trailer since it's his right foot.
I really don't like driving anything big but I didn't really have a choice because... he'd already made up his mind :)  It was a fun trip though.  It turned but to be partly sunny all day and we took the back roads.  So pretty.

With the fencing loaded onto the 20' trailer we wound our way through the Pend O'Reille valley then up over Flowery Trail Rd and flew past the ski resort at an astounding 30 miles per hour.  Good thing there was pretty much NO traffic all the way from Idaho.  It's one of the benefits of living out in the sticks.  Anyway, I did a nice job driving.  The trailer is parked as requested right alongside the chicken coup waiting for the cast to come off.  Unfortunately we have to make one more trip back on Saturday to pick up the rest of the fencing.  It didn't all fit on the trailer.

Next week while he waits for the cast on his right foot to come off he thinks he can get my garden shed and green house framed in.  Here is a pic of a garden shed that is similar to what mine may look like when it's complete... a mini barn.  Won't the teeny tiny weather-vane that sits up on our barn look adorable on top of this?  Yes!  You can barely see it on the barn.  I'll probably have to go up and get it down though.  :)

I got back in the garden with the roto tiller again.  That's a work out!  :)  That machine feels like it's beating the hell out of me!  But I love to see the soil being worked and turned.

And once again... the most exciting news of all is our newest baby...

Meet Chuck!  We deliberated over the name for a few days and this is finally what Dave likes best.  Short for Chuck roast.  I know... boo!  He was born Sunday morning and is beautiful and healthy.  This was taken just a few hours after he was born. He's up and about now, bouncing around the pasture with his mommy Mumbo.  Here he is meeting his sister for the first time...

Chuck is on the left.  Daffy is on the right.  Yesterday we moved the mamas and babies into the same pasture which meant we could let Red Bull out of his small pen.  He has his own pasture now.  I think he was glad to have a bit more room to move around in.  

Here is Mumbo with Everett (on the right) and baby Chuck.   Everett is Mumbo's calf from last year.  I took this yesterday.  It was sweet to watch them.  Baby was nursing and Mumbo was grooming Everett (named because she was born on 4/25 which is the Everett area code).   We think Everett will be a good mama too.

It is not a great pic but it shows you Mumbo's little family.  Everett looks just like Mumbo!  Little Chuck is very dark red courtesy of his daddy Red Bull... the Red Angus. 

Red Bull is just a youngster too.  He is two years old so he still has some growing to do.  He obviously did a fine job this year.  Dave has only attempted to ride him once so far.  It was only a half hearted attempt and not very successful.  I'll request that he let me video the next attempt as it may be his last appearance on camera.  The likelihood of him becoming paralyzed and therefore shot is quite high!  :)

Ok... gotta get rolling.  I have cows to feed and breakfast to make and tea to deliver.  And... it's Thursday already.  Wow!  Where did the week go.  Happy Friday Eve!

Ciao!