Farm: a picture of real life.

I love, love, love this book my little friend checked it out at the library and brought it down to show me. The illustrations are in watercolor and it is like slice out of real life. A big thank you to the author Elisha Cooper. It was just another confirmation that this is my calling.

Icing on the ...farm

The barnyard is covered with a thin layer of icing, although it is not the sweet or tasty kind. It is not as thick as the coating we got at work, for which we are thankful. If you have no where to go you can enjoy the crystal beauty it lends to the world while it remains. If it is a necessity to be on the go make sure you pack some yak traks and a sturdy ice scraper.

This crystal layer is not conducive to safe ladder traversing and utmost caution and attention is to be exercised while doing so.

The calves do not care about the weather as long as they have sufficient roughage, grain, and water. They just mosey along as they always do. Not a care in the world.

The goats detest this assault of the weather on their domain and show their protest by unified shivering in the warmest corner of the barn.Whispering one to another about how utterly dreadful it is.

 Even the mud has a frosty layer encrusting it. Did you know that mud could be iced? I didn't! It is amazing how some thing so treacherous can make even disgusting mud both intriguing and beautiful. Such is the state of my empire. Have a lovely and Safe evening and stay warm.

meanwhile...

My sister and I were browsing at the local Goodwill and I saw this shirt on the rack. I wasn't going to buy it just for the sake of the tag so I took a picture to share with you all.

My post. Signed Buttons

Hello! I am Buttons, the beautiful chestnut doe on the left. I came to Rebekah's farm as a 6 week old kid. Due to a failed disbudding I had horn nubs and Rebekah's brother John named me Buttons on the ride to my new home. I rode quietly on his lap and tried to ignore the ruckus in the back seat, but that's another story for another day. I was slightly smaller than my companions and used it to my full advantage. Whenever they got too rough or protective of their feed all I had to do was cry a little and my new human mother would come running to "save" me. :) Then she would stand guard over me till I had consumed my counterparts choicest morsels. I don't blame her as all new mothers tend to be a little overprotective. Unfortunately she caught onto my game when I started getting a little too plump, much to my chagrin. After a while I learned to fend for myself and even found out that Grace was very nice as long as I gave her the respect due her position. In the beginning of my second year of residence we received 2 visitors. One was a flighty crossbred doe who liked to run from my mom when she came down to feed us. Her name was Snowflake and she was a true flake. The other visitor was a bossy rather large gentleman with a significant limp. His name was Jupiter and he looked like an abstract painting. They only stayed about two months then they went to a place I have never been to called "the sale". As my stomach swelled with my unborn kids so did my appetite and I found myself craving crazy things such as thistles. Several months later I became a mother to two small bucklings.

 Because I was bought for milking we were seperated after the first week, but I could still keep my eye on them in their playpen my mom built especially for them and the 3 other buck kids and Charlotte Ann. Then sickness struck the play pen and we lost both of them before we found the cause and a remedy for their illness. About this time Mom's other brother Isaiah whom I shall just call "the boy" got chickens. One day he left the door to the new coop open and I went exploring and discovered this delicious stuff I can only compare to manna. At least I guess its like manna, I've never tasted it just heard it was good. Later on my stomach started rumbling even though I was stuffed to the gills. After mom milked us that evening I started feeling worse and when she came out the next morning I was sick as a dog. Mom didn't know this and when I tried jumping down from the milk stand she put her knee in front of me to hold me still. I looked down at her and heave-ho. Mom was not happy, but I felt a little better then she made me take these pills and they helped too. I still like the stuff, I learned its called chicken feed, but they put up an electric wire to keep me out of it. I guess they weren't impressed. In the fall we received 2 new residents, a big but sweet doe called Minnie and a cute little doeling called layla that stole all the best pets from Mom. Towards mid-winter our milk production dropped and mom made some phone calls an once again we received another gentleman visitor. He was closer to our size and was a handsome black with white spots. My Mom really liked him and would have bought him but he had a problem with his knees. I liked him pretty well myself, some of the other girls didn't, but I didn't care what they thought, I was with Mom on this one. Sweet Pea was so jealous because Mom said she had to wait till this year. "smirk". Our nice young gentleman named Jake followed his predecessor to that ominous sale. Soon that now familiar swelling began and in July I got my first daughter and her sister :). Mom was proud and relieved as she had her parents suprise wedding anniversary the day after my actual due date. My girls were healthy and beautiful and we had many visitors those first few weeks. As summer became autumn things settled down a bit. We got a new resident doeling in September then in October I saw that familiar look in Mom's eyes. Sure enough several weeks later another gentleman arrived accompanied by a smallish doe who seemed rather shy. Then I got the news this particular gentleman wasn't just a visitor, he was a resident!!! He was a big burly dude, black with big silver white spots, he reeked, sported a set of garish horns, and seemed intent on breaking all Mom's rules and fences. I and all the other girls were impressed even Minnie did what he said. His name is Wild Thing but Mom calls him something else. After his first month here Mom made a pen that would keep him in the barn and the free-for-all in the barnyard settled down. Now the most exciting thing that happens is watching mom try to milk the new doe while being mobbed by my youngsters :). I'm gonna call it a night now and turn the publishing back over to Mom. I just had to make sure things were written down right.