Mom and her new dog, Abbyelle (Abby)

Yesterday, my family worked on getting my mom's fence finished so we could go get her new dog, Abby. Her back yard was fenced on all 3 sides, but not connected to either the garage or house. She lives right behind the big park in town, and there is a creek between her and the park. So lots of people are there all day. And sometimes kids walk through her yard and through the back gate to get to the park. Not any more.

We put up 6' privacy fence. But the gate that needs to go to her back yard is really wide. So we just put up a fence to get it all enclosed so we could let the dog out free. We'll have to figure out a way to make a gate that won't be so wide for mom to be able to handle. Meanwhile, she can go through the garage for now. And Abby has the whole back yard to play and run in.

There have been some break-ins near mom and she was getting a little nervous being there alone. Abby is an American Staffordshire Terrier. Or a Pitt Bull. She's 1 1/2 years old. We found her at Mckamey Animal Shelter in Chattanooga. She's been there most of her life. She had a foster family where she stayed about 6 weeks. So everyone was very happy to see Abby go to her new forever home with mom. Someone actually paid the fee for her. They were all there yesterday, including the foster mom, to see her off.

We stopped at Tractor Supply and took her in with us to get her a big bag of dog food and some treats and some tennis balls. Which she loves. This little girl will be spoiled before too long. But very much loved and cared for. The foster lady said Abby slept on the bed with her. So mom is letting her sleep on her bed. They had a really good night last night, their first night together. Mom said Abby slept all night. She was worn out from her big day.

She will be a good companion and protector for mom.

Louise the big brown cow.

Louise in the stall. She takes up the whole 10x10 area. She's HUGE!

I put her over here on this side so she could start eating all the tall grass. Then I'll bring the sheep and alpacas over in a few days.

I was putting the chickens up for the night a little early, because I was getting ready to plant my kale, collards and radish seeds. I had tilled this morning. I wanted to get the chickens put up so they wouldn't go in the garden and start scratching up what I'd just done. BUT, Black Bart and 2 of the hens would NOT go inside the coop. Louise was still laying in that same spot and I guess Black Bart was just a little scared of the big ole furry monster. I don't think he'd been this close to her. And right next to his coop now! So he and the other 2 hens took off in the opposite direction. So I had 1 hen in the garden while I planted. I could tell they'd already been in where I'd tilled. I had to go get Louise up and away from the coop so I could get those bad chickens in. I did finally get them in. Where they will stay for a few weeks, til the seeds sprout and start growing.

It was HOT out there! I was thinking how the end of August heat is so different than the end of April heat. Like April is new and we welcome a little heat. But by the time the end of August rolls around, we are ready for some coolness again. I am anyway. A nice cold shower helps a lot!

We have to go to my mom's in the morning. She's getting a dog from McCamey Animal Shelter and they want her to get her yard completely fenced in. Because this dog is very strong and she kind of pulled mom while she had her on the leash. So they were concerned about mom. So we will be putting up 3 sections of fence in the morning, then going to meet Abby's foster family. Everyone at the shelter is so happy for Abby. She's been there the longest of any of the dogs. She will be a good dog for my mom.

Hope y'all have a great weekend.

So that was fun!

 I had to spend the day with Mrs, T. today. So I brought all my wool I had just washed, along with my carder, so I could work on that while I was there. It took me all day to hand pick and get just that one pink tote ready to card. I got 4 batts done later. I'll start making wool dryer balls with this wool.

I found a lady to come tomorrow to meet Mrs. T and check things out there. She'll stay all day and then get to meet Mary, who will be there at 5, so she can tell her about night time stuff. So hopefully she can fill in or take a few days a week.  Had a call from Betty, who was really shaky and her daughter was coming to take her to the ER, Which she has not been to yet. Really frustrated with her. So she can't come to work tomorrow. Which I want her to be well before she comes back. Or get on some kind of wellness plan and take a few weeks to get it all worked out. She may not be able to come back at all. So this lady will be a fill in for her. Emily still has this awful migraine going on too. So enough of that already. Between me and Mary, we'll get through the week. And I love Mrs. T and love hanging out with her.

So got home and got all my ingredients together to make this charcoal facial soap. I was so excited to make it because I have never swirled before. Like had 2 different colors and all. I have watched a lot of videos and kind of had the procedure down. SO I was ready for it.

Got my lye and water mixed up and in the sink. Got all my oils measured and in the pot on the stove. Measured my EO's. I used rosemary and peppermint. Got the charcoal measured up. Then re read the instructions real good again, just for good measure. Got the lye and oils to 100. Got them stirred up together. Added the EO's. Then stick blended a bit. Got the soap separated into 2 containers. Added charcoal to one and French clay to the other.

Then the fun part: layering the 2 soaps! I wish I had just left it like this now. But there will be more later on.

It ended up like this. Too much black. I should have had the lighter color on top.

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And this is what it ended up looking like. Now I have to wait til when I get home tomorrow evening to check on it and unmold it and cut it up. I can hardly wait to see what the swirls look like. You know I will take pictures and show it off. It was really fun. And not at all as hard as I was thinking. Or complicated. Thank you, Youtube video soap people! I am so much a visual person so it helps to actually SEE something being done first.

And had to get my little soap drying rack over to the studio to put all these new soaps on to dry. The top is the pumpkin spice, then patchouli, then the chamomile, then the peppermint and then on the bottom is the coffee-oatmeal.

The re milled soap I made is still soft. So IF it ever gets hard enough to take out of the mold, it could take months to get hard enough to use.