Do you remember in the movie "Emma" when Emma and her father are going to a Christmas Eve party and they go to pick up Mr. Elton. Now as you recall, Mr. Elton is in love with Emma (or thinks he is) while Emma wants him to marry her friend, Miss Smith. When they pick Mr. Elton up he asks...

Mr. Elton - Where is Miss Smith?
Emma - I have some sad news. Miss Smith is ill and cannot be with us this evening.
Mr. Elton - A sad loss to our party. She will be missed at every moment. However, I feel, and I hope you will concur, that small parties are the best. I would rather fall short by two than exceed by two. And how fortunate that the snow comes now instead of yesterday, when it would have made our party impossible! Now, THAT would have been a real cause for sadness, would it not? (Not to Emma's satisfaction.)

Well, later that evening, around the fire Mr. Knightly and Emma are talking together. Mr. Elton walks up and sit right in the middle of them and says

Mr. Elton - I hope I'm not intruding.
Mr. Knightly - No, no.
Mr. Elton - But I cannot stop thinking of Miss Smith's condition.
Emma - She will be happy to know of your concern.
Mr. Elton - How could I not be concerned? The whole situation is most alarming! There is nothing worse than a sore throat. Its effects are exceedingly bleak. And that is why I must, in the presence of your friend, ask you to stop visiting her!
Emma - What?
Mr. Elton - You are putting yourself at risk, and we cannot allow that, can we Knightley? I mean, is this fair?

I'm sure you know the scene well. I sure do!!

Anyway... as Miss Smith, I am in this the sad predicament, for there is "nothing worse than a sore throat", as I well know. I have been suffering from it for the past two days and am more than ready for it to go away. I have done sooo much to try and get rid of it but, alas, nothing has helped much. I guess I just have to let it run it's course. Just wanted to let you know!

The new arrivals

Guess what!!!?! Susan just had her babies!!! There are three does, all alive. I think that they are just so cute!!! Happy day!!!
We are bottle feeding all of our kids because they can get CAE (caprine arthritis encephalitis) from nursing and because the mamas make better milking goats when they don't nurse kids. So there is sooooo much feeding to do!! Just right now they are all lying down and it's all quiet. It's so nice not to have to watch them and to hear NO bleating!! But it is very fun having them here!! What a joy they are!!

Rochel Bambi

Yoshiko

Nasira

The "bestest" time - they are all sleeping

Baby announcement

I would just like to introduce you to the
two newest members of our happy little home...

Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa

They were born around 2 pm on
Saturday, May 16th, 2009.

Luke
approx. 6 1/2 lbs and14 1/4 inches high

Leia
approx. 5 lbs and 13 1/2 inches high

We are so very happy to have them in our home!!
(see previous post to see pictures)

picture post

Just had to post some pictures of the most adorable kids ever!!!!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

Leia, the princess
Lukey, the most handsome goat ever alive
Fast asleep

I just love watching them eat and walk and sleep. I love them, oh, so much. I'm so very grateful that they are alive and well. They are just too cute!
Oh, soooo cute!!

- The Dandelion War -

I'm in a war. My opponent is very small yet very powerful. It may seem sweet and docile but don't be deceived, this enemy is not one to mess with. It has the ability to multiply very quickly and so you must imagine my great alarm to best this beast whilst I still can. This great enemy is... the dandelion.

{Now, don't get me wrong. I like dandelions... in their place. They are very cute and have many useful purposes. For instance, young dandelion leaves are used in salads. The root is very medicinal. You can even use dandelion milk (the runny white stuff) on cuts or scrapes. It is a very wonderful plant, but not when it covers the whole lawn. Now back to my tale... }
And so yesterday I took is upon myself to dig all the dandelions out of my section of the lawn. I used my faithful and trusty dandelion weeder - which I dubbed Zahir (pronounced zah-HEER and which means "helper or supporter" in Arabic). It took us over an hour but in the end, we succeeded! As in all great battles, we had a rather large pile of deceased dandelions. Not wanting them to decay on the lawn, we fed them to the fowl of the air (aka - the chickens).
And so this is the tale of my war with the dandelions. It is far from over. In fact, it has just begun. We have yet to see who shall be the victor in this great battle. And this summer shall go down in history as "the year of the dandelion war".

My grand feat - conquer the dandelions

My weapon - Zahir

The great pile of the deceasedThe fowl enjoying their feast