Duck Prints in the Snow

A heartwarming drama inspired by the true story of Stanley The Duck who overcame a dibilitating disability (read here) only to undergo a personality conflict that had him believe that he was not a duck at all.  Left in his formative years without duck peers, Stanley forms a bond with five rag tag Nigerian dwarf goats in this epic period piece directed by Ron Howard The Duck.  Filmed on location in the goat barn, Stanley struggles through his journey of self enlightenment and self preservation.  Starring Dottie as the weathered matriarch with a sharp tongue, sharper horns and a heart of gold, Betty as Dottie's wild and unpredictable daughter, Stella, the innocent ingenue who longs to move to Paris and write romance novels on the banks of the Seine, Alice,  Stella's illigitimate daughter whose beauty and poise move men to tears and in her breakout performance, Chi-Chi as the conflicted girl from the country who refuses to relent to any man's embrace and fights barnyard convention that a doe need to flag her tail and stick out her tongue at any buck who ventures past and finally Jake the Dog who gives an Oscar winning performance in a role that he was born to play as the simple farmhand who unsuccessfully dreams of gaining Stanley's respect...

Probably not coming to a theatre anywhere, near anybody, ever.

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

The Descent...

The little farmhouse was built in 1900.  We have a finished basement, IF the final product was meant to be a medieval torture chamber where milk fed chicks with Scandinavian heritage cannot walk upright and spiders hide amongst the rock foundation and there are ghosts too.  It's pretty scary is what I'm saying.  

The stairs are scary.  The stairs are less stairs and more ladder which maintains that you descend backwards.  That's fun.  Have I ever defined the level of my grace to you?  No?  Well there's a reason for that.  It's undefinable, in not a good way. 

I enter the basement less then frequently but the freezer is down there and sometimes it is necessary to crawl down those cursed steps. 

For some reason this always illicits an audience. 

He calls to his friend...

I can't decide if they are confused as to what I am doing or if they are plotting on how to keep me down there amongst the spiders and ghosts.   Something tells me that if I were to fall, they would just quietly close the door and go about their business. 

Which explains the massive ghost population in my cellar. 

Sewn...

Click to read more....

Whatcha been doing?

I started milking the goats...not this one though.  (Story for another post.)

In doing so, I now have to get up at 5:30.  IN---THE---MORNING.  In case you didn't get that.  Said goat needs to be milked twice a day, twelve hours apart.  I saw the sun rise this morning.   Meh, I'd rather be in bed.  Did I mention we have four feet of snow.  That's not an exaggeration, though I am prone to such.  We have FOUR feet of snow.  At 5:30 in the morning.  Are you feeling sorry for me?  Thank you. 

With my first gallon of milk I made cheese.  I used the recipe in LIVING WITH GOATS.  I won this book last year from their blog.  I met the author and her husband at  Goat School where they were taking photos for this book.  I am not in the book even though I was there.  Does it make me vain that I am disappointed that my picture was not in the book?  Probably.  ANYwho...I had some milk and I made some cheese and it was soooo good, I ate some of it.  A lot of it.  Most of it.  All of it...

Then I was bored and started a quilt for Big Bud who has been  having a rough winter.  It has sailboats on it.  I need a new floor in my kitchen.  Hey I never said this post was going to flow or make sense.  FOUR FEET OF SNOW, 5:30 in the morning,  remember?  The quilt will be six blocks wide by eight blocks long.  I have two strips done.  He may get his quilt by next winter. 

Then I was cleaning out some stuff and found two big boxes of photographs of people I don't know.  Old, dead people.  Well they aren't dead in the pictures, but they probably are in real life.    Why do I have these?  I don't know why, doesn't everyone have boxes of stranger's photos in their drawers?  Well you should.  I found this lady and became somewhat obsessed with her. 

Isn't she lovely?  What do you think, probably 1940's?  That's my guess.  I love her eyes and her hair of course.  There is nothing on the back of the picture so I have no idea her name or where she was from.  NOTE:  Please write identifying information on the back of your pictures in case you die and your ungrateful children sell your pictures to some weirdo at an auction.  It would be very helpful.  Thank you.  So how obsessed am I with this lady?  Umm, this obsessed...



I painted a portrait of a lady I don't know.  It's not quite done, and absolutely not quite accurate but it kept me busy for a few hours. 

Oh look, it's 2:30.  In three hours I get to milk the goat again. 

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

Rocking with the B-Man

I went to a concert yesterday. 

Was it age-appropriate for me to enjoy it as much as I did?  Probably not.  But I'm a huge fan of the B. 

I'm not sure if it's the B-man's weird hank of hair or his big expressive eyes or his high nasally voice.  The dude's good and wow he puts on an amazing show, very versatile.

I just looked past all the internet rumours about his sexuality, his style and his attitude (he does seem a little high strung). 

The little girls in the crowd were just screaming.

Because boy can he rock a striped shirt/turtle neck combo...

Okay, they may have been screaming because it was lunch time and cotton candy turns to a  hallucinogenic drug the closer it gets to nap time...buy hey, whatever....

Who did you think I was talking about?  Justin who?

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa
 

Winter Math...

It has been snowing for a bajillion trillion hours.  Factoring in the number of children home from school (4) multiplied by the number of goats (6) that need to be fed (2X daily) and watered (3X daily) and the average number of chickens (22) that need to also be fed (1X daily) and watered (2X daily) added to the sum of this...

this...

this...

and this...

 

EQUALS....

Yeast donuts dipped in butter & granulated sugar....

What?  They're baked not fried, so you know, HEALTHY...

One little teenager minus SIX donuts...not one stinking ounce gained...brat.

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

That's just how I roll...

Questions:

If you have to repeatedly and somewhat vehemently deny that you are a hoarder, are you indeed a hoarder?

If you have a drawer specifically for rolling pins, do you have too many rolling pins?

Why do I have six rolling pins? 

When you realize that you have too many rolling pins but can't get yourself to part with any of them, does that denote a need for intensive therapy? 

and lastly...

Would you like to stop by for pie?  Awesome, I'll get rolling...

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

A Lovely Afternoon With Jake...

The sun was shining this afternoon, so I dug out my skis and headed down into the woods with Jake. 

You know in previous winters when I've been down in the woods or out on the pond I always wished that I had a dog to keep me company.  And now, lookie there, I do.  Isn't that nice?

He doesn't get very far from me. 

Though he did veer off the path to investigate this beaver house.  Right about now the Beaver family is looking up at their ceiling wondering what the heck is happening.  Our family feels your pain Beaver's.  We truly do. 

The snow sleds haven't been out on the pond, so we decided to trust their instincts and turn around. 

Slowly we returned home.  The only sound the glide of my skis and the flump-flump of Jake's paws in the newly fallen snow. 

Or not...

Jeesh.

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

Expressing myself...

Calendars are like tatoos.  There are so many to choose from and you really want to get one that speaks to who YOU really are.  And they last forever and make you look like you need a really good bath and a hug.  Wait, no that's not right.  Anyway, what was I saying.  Oh yeah.    I was going to get a goat calendar...like this one from Margaret at Nanny Goats in Panties. 

Or this Border Collie one...

Or I could have gotten a Chicken calendar

Or a Mad Men calendar...

It is so hard to pick just one, but this is the one that I finally got...

And this picture is in it. 





I LOVE Betty White and I used to love goats.  Go read the FARM BLOG to see why the love has faded.  This is still cool though.  Betty White is holding a goat.  Holy Moly. 

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

Was it ever warm?

We spend our summers wishing it would cool off and our winters wishing it would warm up.  Why are we never satisfied? 

Visit the Farm Blog to see how we're all handling it....