Egypt is my new favorite winter get-a-way place

Where else would two history buffs, seeking a warm climate in January, go to relax, learn, and eat foreign foods?

Of course, with family in Egypt, it was a no-brainer to head to the land of the Pyramids. From left: our nephew Ahmed, Mom, me, and our lovable guide Mohammed (he was quite the con-man, but we couldn't help but like him).

We spent a lot of time in ancient temples and underground in tombs.

Egypt is very safe. We never worried about our safety. Security is everywhere.

The famous Cairo Museum.

Just about everything here was thousands of years old.

This is just the front area inside museum - it was huge.

We could have spent days studying the many items.

Spent first few days at Marriott Mena House Hotel near the Pyramids. 

Our nephew Zayed. On our way to the famous Khan El Khalili souk to do some shopping. 

The market seems to meander thru miles of alleys and roads. It is full of people, color, sounds, good aromas, and life.

Many of the buildings are easily 1,000 years old.

We wanted to buy some spices (behind her). This part of market seemed to be indoors.

Various ancient mosques sprinkled throughout.

You can find just about anything you are looking for.

But you have to stay alert and look out for the motor scooters!

Ahmed's father does not speak English, but came along to do the "price haggling" for us. Zayed speaks excellent English. Check out the bread vendor wheeling past on a bike. 

Crowded, but fun.

I only saw a few other tourists from Asia and Europe all day.

Negotiating a price...

Healthy snacks.

Supper time and so many restaurants to choose from.

Love Egypt. The people are warm and friendly, and the food is delicious.

Panoramic view from our window over looking The Nile river! Spent a few days in the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Cairo has a population of 20 million people, so don't ever be in a hurry to get anywhere. You notice there is room on street for 6 lanes of cars? But how many lanes are moving? Two!

The lane closest to sidewalk is full of parked cars. The next lane toward traffic is where people temporarily park to shop, repair their car, or...

...change their tires! No kidding. There are no rules when it comes to driving, none at all. But you can only drive as fast as the flow will allow you, and you can expect the non-stop honking of horns.

Our niece Reem and her sister are excellent cooks and made sure we enjoyed many different Egyptian dishes - they treated us like royalty and we were never hungry. Reem is Zayed's mother.

We flew down to Luxor for few days. This is our guide Mohammed at the Temple of Karnack.

Ancient history everywhere. Mohammed is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. 

Street vendors are everywhere. We would gladly have adopted this boy (but adoptions are near impossible in Egypt - I researched it).

Our room in Luxor.

I had to include a shot of our bathroom. You notice the shower is on the wall between the sink and the toilet? Very interesting. And practical for small spaces. The squeegee is in the corner for cleaning the floor after your shower. You just have to be careful on the slick wet marble floor - kind of like ice skating!

Winter 2018-2019

Not a horribly cold and snowy winter, but it did snow a few times, and...

...there were a lot of days with below freezing temps and ice.

We kept the wood stove burning many nights, but Mom still wasn't warm enough, so I had to do something, but what?

I know just the thing - a trip to Italy!

In spite of the excitement of foreign travel and seeing the ancient sites in Rome (and being well protected by the Italian Army - in background), Mom was still feeling the cold!

Walking around and through the Coliseum was awesome.

Walking also helped a little to stay warm.

My second favorite highlight was The Pantheon, which was warmer inside this magnificent, giant, domed building, but Mom was still looking for a place that had sand and sun, so...

...time to head back to the airport (and Duty Free shopping for my all important chocolates). To Be Continued.

Mid-summer heat

After having 3 calves born in the spring, our herd had 4 more born in the heat of summer. Holly, polled and on the right, and her Momma Heidi, horned and on the left, both had bull calves on the same day - July 2nd. The old table you see on the far edge of pond in the background is used as a shooting target.

After several attempts at sitting on eggs, this persistent momma was finally successful in getting some baby chicks.

We put a new gate in the northern fence line...

...after which we had to dig out the water ditch and install a...

...a tinhorn water pipe covered with rock. Need to finish painting the steel fence piping.

This week I took advantage of the older boy's slow week at their construction jobs to get their help with some farm work. I rented a portable cattle shute/squeeze from our local MFA feed store and ran all 23 cows though it, so we could put new ear tags on every animal except our bull. We thought we would have to delay the job because of severe thunderstorms the night before and the morning of, but the rain stopped and clouds moved on by 9:00 AM. We worked in the mud at first, but dried out as time went on. Toward end on line we tagged #21, Holly's new born boy, and found a long, deep gash in his back (from running thru a barbed wire fence). Immediately took him to the Vet for stitches and antibiotics.

And since we were already there, had him castrated as well.

After returning from Vet, we pulled all male lambs out of flock, so we could send them to the sale barn next day. Need to get their mouths off the grass as we don't have enough to feed herd and flock. The recent heavy rainfall will help get the grass growing again. 

And we tagged all girls without ear tags. We now have 54 ewes and one baby ram lamb not weaned yet. Will be buying two new rams in late October to put into flock, which should result in over 100 lambs being born next April.