Meet our new herd sire - Red Ferrari

Just finished our guest house, so come on over for a visit!

K3 and K2 put the finishing touches on our new goat shed, which was designed by me but mostly constructed by nephews Brian and Anson. At 16' long and 8' wide, I call it the Taj Mahal of goat sheds. I'm already thinking of adding a few chicken laying boxes along one wall.

Our latest Sunday night Bonfire

Goofy moments

A pretty sight

The 450 lb. pig departs, but the Dexter cows and St Croix sheep arrive

Busy week with lots of rain, and lots of job completions.

We add a guard dog to the farm

Meet "Dandy", a 3 year old pure bred English Shepherd. I was chatting with a friend at Church yesterday and found out he is selling his farm and needed to find a good home for her. The boys and I drove out to his place today, and brought our three dogs along to see how everyone got along. Our old lab could care less, but the two little papillons are not so laid back - it may take a few days. K8 rode in the cage with her all the way home...I am sure anyone seeing them in the cage in the back of my truck must have gotten a chuckle.

Sunday evening camp fire(s)

After cooking steaks, sausage links, and veggie kabobs on our Weber charcoal grill Saturday night, the boys asked if they could build fires to cook Sunday night. Since we have no neighbors, no home owner's association deed covenants, or any other impediments, I said yes.

They built them with scrap pine 2 X 4's using their hatchets to cut tinder and kindling, and lighted them with flint and steel. Note the white plastic water bucket off to the right. Boy Scout training is paying off.

What the camera does not capture is the magnificent night sky full of bright stars and planets, with an owl hooting in the trees along the stream.

Master Card can keep their credit card, and we'll keep the "priceless" experience.

Biology Class

A "praying mantis" is one of the many creatures the boys have been finding while out doing chores (zoom in and check out it's face). We see lots of frogs, lizards, dove, as well as many types of other birds. We hear owl calls in the night.

Crawdads from our "crick".

A "walking stick", one of many types of Plasmids.

We have internet hooked up - faster than dial-up, but slower than our former cable or DSL.

Satellite dish, modem, and connected to web. We set it up for wifi, and we can email and browse fairly fast, but it takes almost 10 minutes to upload one picture to this blog...

I tried iChatting with K1 tonight, and the picture was not clear and the sound was delayed compared to cable or DSL. We may have to pay Hughes Net and get a faster speed.

Moved from hotel into basement Friday, 3 September!

More room to spread out in than our hotel, but smaller, less comfortable beds.

Our bath room is better than camping in the woods, but a little below a hotel. Dusty concrete floor, toilet with privacy curtain, shower with curtain and warm water, and room with a view.

I asked a friend (the gate and fence builder) to make a metal clothes hanging rack, which is working out great for five guys with church suits, etc.

Have shovel, will dig...a boy's life on the farm.

Looking for the mysterious Black Hole

The backhoe operator accidentally pulled out the ground drain pipe, and we had to stop all other projects to dig and find the end of the buried french drain tubing...the little black hole. If not fixed now, the basement could leak later.

Working the iPhone to take care of tomorrow's jobs in the middle of the crisis. No, I haven't taken up smoking, that's the white syrofoam insulation on our basement walls.

K8 and K2 help with the final connection before the dirt wall collapses.