Milking Shed

Yes. We are still alive, in case any of you were wondering. However, from the lack of comments, I'm beginning to question whether we have any readers. Our wireless router died, and I have heretofore been unable to pry the cord away from the other internet users in the family. :)

Since our milk cow (Daphne or Blackie or whatever you want to call her) is due to calve soon, Jacob has been anxious to build a shed for milking her. He and Dad began construction on Friday. Dad had to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday, so some of Jacob's buddies came over to help him. They got as far as they could with the materials they had, then ran to Lowe's to get some more boards. They were done in no time at all. Great job, guys!

Gotta love the expression.

This one too

-Tricia Ann

Snow Again!

And this time, A LOT!

I think we got about 6 inches, which is rare here in the Sweet Sunny South. The first day it was very dry and powdery, but the second day it iced over some...perfect for sledding!

Redneck Four-Wheeler

"Snow. I dig it!"

Uhhh...not sure what this one's about

Tally Ho!

Gimli refuses to ride on the sleds; instead, he chases them.

Mary Jane at a distance

Me with a funny expression in front of the yaks.

Sledding down the hill was apparently too slow for these two.

Nice shades.

"Put your feet on the knots, lean back, and hang on!"

Whooooo-Hooooo!

This is what sledding all day will do to you. :)

-Tricia Ann

More Wild Highlanders

We got two more Highlands yesterday. They are due to calve in the spring. So we'll have little fuzzy cows all over the place. These were already named when I got them, so don't blame me if you don't like their names. :)

We've had a couple people ask if we are keeping yaks. They do look a little like yaks, and we think it's funny. So, Jacob's been making up yak jokes for the past day or two. Sometimes they are funny and sometimes they are not:

What is a Nepalese bovine's favorite martial artist? Yak-ie Chan

What does a Nepalese bovine use to play tennis? A tennis Yak-it (okay, so Jacob didn't make this one up. Mom found it on the internet while looking for Gimli Report material.)

What is a Nepalese bovine's favorite Country singer? Alan Yak-son

...Anyway, you see what I mean. ;)

-Tricia Ann

This is Ellie.

I wonder if she's named after the Wooly Mammoth from Ice Age... :)

And this is Tartan.

Here is a better picture of Fluffy (what I'm calling her until Jacob decides to name her).

Wood Heater

Dad, with help from Jacob and a friend, installed a wood heater in the shop. I'm too tired to write much, but here's a picture. I spent all day helping Jacob work on his corral. I'll post pictures of it as soon as I can remember to take some.

-Tricia Ann

Highland Coos

Readers...moo cows. Moo cows...readers. Guess that takes care of the intros.

Highland cow with a turkey in the background...no wait, it's a mink. *Shrieeek* it's a bat!...oh...it's just a t-post. Phew!

The brown cow is the white fluffy spitfire's momma. To stick with the current naming theme, possibilities include Hilda, Olga, Rowena. jk

12 Stones Ingrid...er...eating out of a bucket.(I know. Profound, right?)

-Jacob

Snow!

It's been snowing a little bit for the past couple days, and surprisingly, there's still quite a bit of snow on the ground. Not enough to go sledding or build a snowman, though. The temperature hasn't been above freezing in over a week, except on Wednesday when it got up to 34 degrees...just long enough to pull back the row cover and pick some lettuce, carrots and turnips for the farmer's market.

Gimli loves snow, so I've been taking him out to play some. I think he'd spend all day out there if I'd let him. I took him with me when I went on a walk to take pictures. Here are some the ones I took.

-Tricia Ann

Here are some cedar logs waiting for Daddy to mill them into boards.

Pipsqueak doesn't look like he cares much for snow.

This is the top of our barn.

I tried everything I could think of, but couldn't get Gimli to look at the camera. I called his name, asked him questions, made funny noises, and I don't know what all; but he still wouldn't look towards me. I finally decided to try cat food.

He likes to play catch with cat food, so I showed him a piece and asked, "Are you ready?"

It worked:

In other news, Jacob and I got a ClearPlay DVD player for Christmas. :)

He's so goofy!

The Shop Is Almost Finished!

Christmas Pictures

We drove 6 hours down to Georgia, and 6 hours back. To amuse myself, I played with my camera.

After much coaxing, I finally convinced everyone to let me take their picture.

We had a great time with Dad's parents and my uncle. We all cooked breakfast together one morning. We had fun, and the food was delicious!

We also went to Mom's parents' house for Christmas Eve. I always enjoy seeing our extended family.

Dinner Prep

We always read the Christmas Story from Luke 2 before we open presents. Jacob and I used to read, then Ansley and Sierra read it when they learned to read. Now Ford does a wonderful job reading to us.

I almost didn't recognize Sierra this year. She's getting really tall.

Ford always keeps us laughing. He is constantly saying something witty, and he LOVES to open presents. :)

Sierra and Ansley smiling for the camera

Happy 19th Birthday, Jacob!