This Tree...

I love it. 

It's one of my favorite white trees. A Sycamore. It's next door to Mrs. T's.  

It's beautiful.

Cinderella

Yep, just call me Cinderella. That's what I feel like most of the time now. Do this. Do that. Go here. Go there. I need this. I need that. I need, I need, I need... UGH! I am being pulled in SO many directions.

Last Thursday, I just broke down while driving my mom's car to lunch. Just let it rip! I cried, I screamed, I complained. We went to Longhorn because I had a gift certificate my brother gave me for Christmas and I was broke. Because I work my ass of for NOTHING!

And I had a huge margarita. With my mom sitting across from me. Who hasn't drank in 40 years. And I have never drank in front of my mom. Ever.  It was so darn good too. I couldn't even eat all my burger and fries, but I drank the whole darn thing.

That's all I want to do anymore. Drink. I have been buying different wines just to see which are better. I am hooked on Pinot Grigio from Cavit. Really good stuff.

I am a bit worried though, as we do have a history of alcoholism in my family. But right now, I just don't care.

I am hooked on Game Of Thrones. I listen to the music all day. It's beautiful. I have also been getting movies from thrift stores.

So, some people know I have been taking care of a lady I have known for nearly 35 years now.She's 100 years old. I love her. She has dementia. It's so sad. I don't understand it at all and it's frustrating to see her struggle with her memory and where she is. Just makes me cry.

But I do so much for her. And she gets mad at me because she wants to be in charge and make decisions and she can't even remember one minute ago.

I am in charge of all the caretakers. That's a head ache, especially when we only had 5 and 2 will be sick the same week. But we have really good people and they fill in when they can. But sometimes I have to stay. And it really confuses her. And we have to go over it all day, explaining why I am there and Betty or Emily or whoever isn't there.

And a few weeks ago, one of the weekend caretakers found some bites on herself and Mrs. T. I called her pest control people and they came out week before last to do an inspection. He found some evidence of bed bugs on the old sofa where the 2 caretakers sleep because they don't want to sleep in the bed provided for them. And he sound them in Mrs. T's bed.

The sofa was the first thing to get thrown out the door, along with every cushion and pillow on it. They we started getting ready for the treatment the following Monday. I don't know if anyone is aware of the amount of work that goes into the before part, but it's a LOT of work! Hours and hours and days and days of putting everything in plastic bags, cleaning out every closet in the whole 2 story house. Every picture off the walls. Even though they just found bed bugs on those 2 things, the whole house was done. All furniture was moved into the middle of every room. All curtains off windows. It just went on and on...

Then, it had to be all put back. Plus I spent hours at the laundromat. Lots of work.

He came back yesterday to inspect. Didn't find anything!!! They will do this every week for a month.

But we lost one of the weekend caretakers, because of this. So finding new people. Interviews. I think I found a good lady for weekends.

I am pretty sure where the bed bugs came from, since Brad said they hadn't been there but about 3 weeks. And that's when we started using an agency for caretakers.

Anyway, I am just complaining this whole post. But this is what I have been doing, every day. And not getting paid.

And we have our youngest grand daughter living with us. Since last April. She'll be 15 in 2 months. And she's driving me crazy!!!!!! Seriously. I will be moving into the little apartment at Mrs. T's for the summer. With my 2 kitties. I'll be closer to my mom there. When I told her ( my grand daughter) and my husband, she wanted to know who will be cooking. I just want to cry.

Just call me Cinderella... 

Ruby Nell and Nora Jane

So I got these 2 little cuties a month ago from a great animal shelter in Chattanooga. If you go on Thursdays, cats are just $5 each. Plus they give you all kinds of things for them, like food and toys and litter. AND, they are all spayed and neutered! Plus they are chipped and all shots. When I told mt husband how much I paid for them he said wow, that's some cheap pussy. Geeze, men!

They are my new studio kitties.

So this is Nora Jane, named after my favorite author. She's so sweet. She comes running to me in my chair and jumps up on my chest and snuggles.

And this is Ruby Nell. She's a purrer. All the time purring. Such a little sweetie. I named her after a famous potter, Charles Count's wife. She was an amazing artist. Did beautiful quilts. Some are still in museums. And I just always loved her name and said one day I will name one of my animals after her. And this sweet kitty is perfect.

They are usually in my lap, snoozing while I read. I love them!

Stella had to come over to meet the girls. They are so friendly and not afraid of anything or anyone.

  I just had to get this shot of Ruby 

Nora Jane on my lap.

This is Ruby Nell, NOT peeing in my sink.

Nora Jane

     

It's a mess in my studio now. Every morning when I come over here, I have to straighten up everything they've messed up the night before. Wool is usually everywhere. Or my little felted sheep. And I have no more whole snow people. They get up in the shelves where I kept them. Like a couple 2 year olds left alone for too long.

Been awhile.

It's been SO long since I've been here. I almost forgot how to post. But I got it now.

This is my favorite part of my road out here in the Cove. It's like a cool tree tunnel. That's what I feel like when I drive through it. A nice cool tunnel of trees.

I have been lazy for awhile. I have not read a book in years. But that's all I've wanted to do now for the past several months. I cannot get enough. I am really hooked on Nora Roberts at the moment. I want to read every single one of her books. I have actually been buying a lot of them from a used book store and thrift stores. The first book I bought of hers I found at a thrift store. It was one of her trilogy series. So I had to get the other 2 books. Then it started from there. She's an amazing writer. I recently got 2 kittens and names one after her. I'll put some pictures of them here soon. They are my studio cats. Always wanted studio cats.

And just getting ready for winter here. We actually had some snow flurries a few weeks ago! And had the wood stove roaring. But the past week or so, it's been hot! I saw 3 dead snakes on the road yesterday, plus saw an old guy, shirtless, walking his little Yorkie. Plus people riding with windows open and tops down. November in the South!

Oh these animals...

they are amazing. It's been almost 2 days now since Audrey came to visit. The sheep are sort of ok with her, but still run when she gets too close.

                         But the boys, well, that might take a bit longer. Especially for Misha.

                                               

                                                   She likes Misha and follows him around.

He says, if I just don't look at her, maybe she's not real. So I'll just ignore her and maybe she'll go away.

But it's not working, Misha. She's real sweetie. And here to stay for awhile. You'll be just fine soon.

Isn't she just the cutest calf ever? We played hide and seek awhile ago, around the hay bale. She touched my fingers with her nose. She follows me when I'm out there. My husband talks to her and she likes him. I love this picture.

Rodeo at Outback Farm!

I had asked my friend Sarah if I could borrow her little Jersey heifer calf for awhile. Audrey is 6 months old now and needing to be on pasture. And I wanted a cow for awhile to eat what the sheep and alpacas won't.

So she called yesterday afternoon and said they were ready to bring her out. I figured it would take them 20 minutes to get here, a few minutes to unload her, then I would fix dinner.

Well, I should know by now that you do not make plans when it comes to animals!

This is my sheep and alpacas when they saw the trailer being backed down the driveway and heard the little cow baby mooing.

                                And yes, there is a calf in these fig bushes and 3 grown men.

I have this fence going across the driveway for when I move the sheep to the other side. It has a little place where the wire is all messed up. I had this thought that I should put something in front of it, but did not listen to me.

So we got the sheep to go to the far side so they wouldn't get out while we tried to get Audrey in. They were so good too! Stayed way up front.

And we let Audrey out of the trailer. And she took off through the little hole in the fence. Just as pretty as ya please.

That's when the rodeo started.

I called my friend Ron to come up and help lasso her, after about 20 minutes of chasing her all over the front yard. He and his wife Iasbelle came with a rope. He's got cows and horses, so I figured he could do this just fine.

 Not sure which video this is, but I took a few and this is not showing up for me.

It took another half hour to finally get Audrey caught and dragged across the yard from the fig bushes. 3 grown men, pulling and pushing this little 6 month old devil calf. It was SO funny!

And here she is, finally in the pasture she was supposed to be in a few hours before.

Misha was sounding the alarm and the sheep all huddled together. I had a cow with them a few years ago, so it's not like they'd ever seen a cow before. They are so weird.

Poor Audrey was so tired after, she laid down out there for the night.

This morning, she's doing great. And the sheep are still afraid of her. They'll be fine in a few days and she'll be a part of the flock. Isn't she beautiful?

                                                      And this is Audrey, herding them all.

                                                                  Hold 'em Audrey!

Never a dull moment around here. We had the 2 grand dogs for the weekend and Abby had come out to get them. I have to keep the chickens put up while they're here. They love chasing the chickens. So it was all nice and peaceful again. For a few minutes!

Really September now!

It is September now. And it has come in with some anger here. Woke up this morning and checked my phone to see if there were any messages. My daughter Abby had sent a message saying power was out in Flintstone. She lives on the same street as Mrs. T. Then a little later, another message saying it was back on.

I looked out the window and saw trees just about bent in half. Crazy rolling clouds moving fast. So got dressed, fixed a cup of coffee, took a few drinks of it, then ran out the door with the milk bucket.

Olga came out first. Got her settled in. Started milking. She lifted her right leg a few times. I can usually sense when it's going to happen and get the bucket out of the way. But the next time she got it. And I was almost done. Turned the whole thing over. Great, milk all over the floor now and the stanchion. So got her out, took the stanchion outside and hosed it off. Grabbed the broom and some more water and swept out loose hay with the milk on the floor. Got the stanchion back in. Grabbed Freya. Got what little milk she had and gave it to the cats. I've had the sheep out back with the goats, so haven't been able to let the goats out. So they have slowed down a lot. Which I am trying to get them to do, so I can go to once a day.

Then the sheep were acting crazy. So threw some alfalfa pellets and sunflower seeds in a bucket to feed them. Then later, I just let them back out to the front. There's lots of leaves and apples down that they were wanting. I opened the little side gate for the goats to go out to the "jungle".

Before I let them all out, I put hay in the racks. Little Galadriel came to me and just looked at me with her beautiful eyes. I felt her telling me to calm down. I named that sweetie right.

Yesterday, I tried to finish the bobbin of alpaca. I got tired. It's taking forever! So I started getting some wool ready for the next bobbin, to ply them both together. I want to make a sweater with this yarn. It's so pretty.

Then I realized how amazing it is that I have sheep and alpacas! Right here on my little farm. I can go out there any time just to pet them or talk to them. And get this amazing fiber from them! I just feel so blessed.

And this is so pretty to me. I love using the hand carders to make little rolags to spin. I finished that red basket up. I have 3 rolags of alpaca to spin, then on to the wool.

This is 14 sheep, 2 alpacas and 2 greedy goats at the trough this morning. Isn't that just so cool?

I also made some bug-off bars for a friend. Her boys love it and that's all they want on when they are outside. My studio smells good when I make things.

I'll have my 2 grand dogs this weekend. Daisy and Rousey, the Boxers. I love them. But my chickens will not have fun at all. Those dogs want to kill them!