The Kobayashi Maru

Points to you if you know what the title refers to. The unwinnable test on Star Trek that Kirk beat by cheating (sort of). Also:

This adorable kitten.

Found on a busy road, suffering from pneumonia, malnutrition and ear mites. This kitten was in an unwinnable situation. Just after getting on antibiotics it went downhill fast.

It was the weekend so we called the emergency vet. They said all they could do is put the kitten on oxygen and get x-rays done and it would cost $1000. a night minimum. Keep in mind we had had the kitten for 5 days at this point. I was already very attached, but a grand a night?? Just not even possible. I was a mess. The kitten can hardly breathe. Can't lay down, can't eat because every time her head goes down she can't breathe at all. What do we do?

Pick up some canisters of oxygen at the hardware store.

We propped the kitty carrier up and rolled up towels so she could rest with her head up so she could breathe, and piped the oxygen on super low into the carrier. A canister lasted about 45 minutes. We did 5 canisters in the first 24 hours. In between treatments I'd give her eye droppers of KMR and pedialyte. In the first day she hardly moved and I was not at all sure she'd make it. Believe me, I did not sleep. It was agonizing.

By the next day I felt like there was improvement, she was lapping more out of the eyedropper and seemed to breathe a little better. Another 24 hours of oxygen and milk/Pedialyte. By Monday she was eating again and we were both able to get a good night's sleep. This lucky, lucky baby cheated death yet again!

A trip to the vet after the last round of antibiotics (20 days total!) and we found out it's a girl! This whole time we thought it was a boy kitten. I'll admit it, I went right out and bought a pretty grey collar with a pink flower and bow on it. So her name is Kobayashi Maru, just Maru for short.

As for giving her up, no way. Not after what I went through to keep her alive. The other kitties will just have to deal with it!

Dec. 24 update: Izzy is dealing just fine but I couldn't deal with Katie's disappointed over the name. She says it just reminds her of Kobe (an awesome restaurant) and she hates it. So after nearly a month without a name. We settled on....Lucy. Honestly I think it fits her better and she already answers to it.

Roadie

Well, I had an eventful weekend...

Sat. riding at River Valley, this time with the book club girls + 6 of Necole's friends. We had a group of 15 total so no cantering. :( But it was fun anyway, and I got to spend some time with my girl Robin... isn't she pretty?

Just to get a visual of a 17 horse trail ride (we had 2 guides with us). You can't even see the beginning of the line. It was a ridiculous number of horses.

After riding we took off for Necole's for pizza and fun. Got home about 2:00 after rocking out on Rockband.

Sunday on the way to meeting mom & dad found a kitten in the middle of the road. On hwy 10. Stopped the car in the middle of the road and called him, he came running. Poor little guy must've been so scared. If they didn't stop he would've been killed, no question. It's a busy road.

Got him home and called me to come take care of him. He has 2 little marks on his coat where the hair was singed off, but not all the way down to the skin, thank goodness. Also has a respiratory infection. He's wheezing a bit and will have coughing fits. We think he might have crawled up into a car engine and that's how he got the singed fur and ended up on the road. Who knows though... He was also super hungry, took a chunk out of my hand when I was scooping out some cat food. I think he'd been without food for a couple of days.

He's feeling better today, got an appointment with the vet for tomorrow. Probably will need to go on antibiotics for a while, but that's ok. I think he'll make a full recovery.
We're calling him Roadie for now. It's cute and it fits. If you had a band he'd totally haul your gear for you and handle crazy fans.

Think we have a few leads on people who might be able to give him a home. Will have to wait and see how the vet visit goes. I'd love to keep him but with the 2 antisocial girl kitties we already have, it probably won't work out.

He's such a sweetie though. Will NOT let you out of his sight. Cries if he's away from people and just rubs all over you. He's sleeping on my lap right now his head rolled off the side of my leg. Adorable! I can't get over how tiny he is.

Last Call

Ahh Duluth. City of my soul.

I truly love this place. It's where we would take our family vacation in the fall before school started. Château Lavoux, where you fall asleep to the sound of lake Superior crashing on the rocks and have your morning coffee on the deck overlooking the lake.

Hawthorne Suites (now just called The Suites) in Canal park. Enormous rooms in a converted warehouse, pool where the loading dock used to be.

But most of all I loved the hiking. We must've hiked up and down every river along the north shore from Duluth to Grand Marais. My favorites have always been Tettegouche, and Temperence River. Although Devil's Kettle is amazing, Cascade is beautiful, Caribou is just a great walk, and everyone should see Gooseberry and visit Castle in the Park at least once.

This trip we got back to our roots, sort of. Just the immediate family and just a weekend trip. Up on Saturday, home on Tuesday. Ok so that isn't a traditional weekend, but still, our trips lately have been 7-9 days.

It was amazing to go back to all the old places and find them pretty much exactly the same. Rock doesn't change much, even in a decade.

The difference came in our after hours.

Irish car bomb. Offensive name perhaps but oh so tasty! Half a glass of Guinness, a shot of half Baily's half Jameson. Pop it in the beer and drink it fast. Like an alcoholic milk shake.

This was at Green Mill in Canal Park. I highly recommend the bar in the evening, Chris the bartender is the best I've ever met, plus we had great conversations about brain tumors, the ability to cross ones eyes and books.

We also tried Old Chicago- noisy and not so much fun. And an Irish pub further up the hill- great atmosphere but horrible specials. The Long Island has SPRITE in it (blech!)!

So Green Mill became our jumping off point for other shenanigans. Like walking across the lift bridge to find out if the other side was, as Kip asserted, Wisconsin and not an island. Katie and I both knew he was wrong, but the most fun was finding a small hotel, getting the guy to unlock the door and asking where we were. Yeah, it's still Minnesota and most definitely an island.

Also saw a big ship go under the lift bridge at about 10:00.

Gorgeous with the bridge all lit up and the moon shining down.

We got to go out to Castle in the Park where the Gooseberry river empties into the lake, and Katie found this amazing little spot where you can sit just above the waves and soak in the sun. The words Kay's Cove were carved into the rock. I love the ancientness of this place.

At the mouth of the gooseberry we stopped and set up the camera for a pic.

Also got one at the lower falls in Gooseberry.

My room had a great view of the Irvin. LOVE The Suites. The rooms are incredible and it has the feel of the lake, maybe just because we have so much history here.

A Renaissance Day

I haven't been to the renaissance festival in probably ten years. We planned to go last year, but ran out of time. So this year I made sure to get a costume, and convinced Katie to get one too (it didn't take much convincing.). I love dressing up, it's silly and childish but I LOVE it!

That's how I ended up wearing snake skin stiletto booties, a fedora, and a miniskirt to a karaoke party, when I can't even sing. And why I gave myself Vulcan eyebrows to go to a Star Trek party even though I only knew a handful of people there. I just can't help myself!

So you know I'm going all out for the Ren fest. I found this awesome bodice thingy and got it for fairly cheap, along with a cotton crop top to go under it. Leggings from target (clearance, baby!) and a cheap piratey hat. Katie got me a fantastic silver bracelet. I got ostrich feathers from Kohler & Dramm wholesale, and the crowning touch, my piratey dagger, that I love...probably a little too much.

Katie's outfit was a costume that we added a few touches to. A felt hat from Target with the side pinned up, ostrich feathers added, along with a ribbon and rhinestone peacock pin. She got so many compliments on that hat! She also bought different leggings than the ones that came with the costume, different boots too. Add some jewelry and of course... weaponry!

She looked awesome!

So on to the festival! Nervous at first, but that didn't last long. Get a crossbow into my hands and I'm all over it!

Oh yes, the liquor helped.
Mead and wine. I think the Egyptian mead was my fav.

OH and the turkey leg, LOVE! Even better than the state fair.

Did I mention I really love my dagger?

Now, our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

SO! Fall is coming to Minnesota.

I was not prepared. Although we did get a few days warning about the frost coming so we got to harvest pretty much all of the sensitive crops before it hit.

And I have to say, it was nice not doing it in 30* freezing drizzle like usual. Plus Phia came out to help, which was AWESOME. I don't know if y'all know this; but, help is helpful sometimes.

Now we just have all the stuff that we put in weeks or months ago to dig up, like potatoes and carrots, and the other stuff, like leeks, (we have a ton!) onions, shallots, Brussles sprouts, cabbage and winter squash. Plus some misc. stuff like greens and herbs.

I just read Dreams of Joy by Lisa See. It's all about an idealistic young Chinese woman going back to China during the communist era. Super interesting, especially since I'd never read anything about what happened there during that time. Even though it was a novel it was well researched and that almost makes it better than reading real accounts, at least I can say these were fiction, not real people that were suffering. Even though real people did (and are) suffer(ing).

What I thought was interesting, and what got me on to this in the first place, is how fragile our food resources are. Even with CRAZY weather this year, (that made us buy tomatoes from other farms to can because we didn't have enough of our own) we STILL had a ton of food come out of the ground.

But, that's only because we were allowed to grow a wide variety of crops. And use our own judgement in what to plant, where to plant it, and how to cultivate it. I can see if someone else with less or no experience on our particular piece of property was to come in and try to survive...well, good luck!

Anyway if you do want to read Dreams of Joy you should know it's a sequel to Shanghai Girls.

How did this turn into a book review?

State Fair

Went to the State Fair with Katie today. I never really liked the fair until I went with Katie. I hate wandering around aimlessly in large crowds.

I like eating crazy food, seeing a billion different breeds of chicken, and paying exorbitant amounts of money for small quantities of alcohol. Ok not so much the last one...next year I'm bringing a flask. But the rest of it was awesome.

Love me some turkey leg!

My once a year corn dog was well worth the wait.

Katie even found a FREE cookie on the ground! (yeah, she didn't really eat it.)

Chocolate covered jalapenos...not great. Gave me the hiccups immediately.

Modern Game bantam cockerel. This super curious guy was totally checking out the camera.

CUTE little Serama. Cool color, I've never seen it before, like dun duckwing or something.

Sweet little Sebright hen.

Next month we hit the Renaissance Festival HUZZAH!

Type

Ok, so I'm an INTJ. That's Briggs Myers for Introversion iNtuition Thinking Judgement. Still confused? It's a personality type, you can look up Briggs Myers Type Indicator and take a free test (or several) online to find out what type you are, if you're curious.

I was pretty surprised at the accuracy of the description. It's not like a horoscope or something that could be applied to anyone and would fit. In fact it was a bit of a revelation to find out there are other people like me, when so much of my life I kept hearing how 'wrong' I was for not liking to meet new people, talk to strangers etc... I was 'supposed to' smile! Be happy! Play with that kid I just met. Yeah, no. Bright colors and loud noises never made me happy as a child, in fact they're extremely stressful.

A quick overview of the type; one of the rarest types accounting for only 1%-4% of the population, most INTJ's are male, so I'm double rare. Categorized as a rational type thinker, also known as Masterminds.

INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake Dang straight! I don't care if it fits in with your customs or ideas, if it works, it works. INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. Both perfectionism and disregard for authority may come into play Honestly if you are incapable of being in charge, or you know less about a subject than I do, I'm not going to do things your way, I don't care what position you hold. Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel ... This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals. LOL! Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. People should have a reason for doing things the way they do, most apparently don't, WHY??

Anyway I found a forum full of INTJ's and the topics they discuss and the way they discuss them is just insane, it's like looking into my own brain. Here's a quote from one on what annoys you:

People who think small children with sticky fingers and a coating of whatever they've eaten in the last few hours covering their face and clothing is cute. It's not. It's gross. Please clean your offspring.

YES!!! Thank you. It's not that other personality types aren't annoyed by the same thing, but really, who would bring it up?

Who would start a thread on why humans are obsessed with hair? Or The amount of time we should spend thinking about other people.

On that last one, most INTJ's answered: Why think about them unless you are currently interacting with them? or

in general I'd take a shot in the dark and say that, in terms of what is best for both the species as a whole, in terms of compassion promoting survival of the group, and the psychological health of the concerned individual, maintaining what could be considered a healthy level of concern would be characterized by:

1.) Careful consideration of the necessity and benefit of any anxiety, the effectiveness of any actions catalyzed by the anxiety (assume the 'best' course of action was taken in light of the perceived threat).

2.) The evaluation of the risk to the thinker versus the risk to the object of anxiety. This could be broken down further to include the relative value of the individuals relative to some standard, and I'd probably say the continuation of the species as a whole, taking into account the possibility of future contributions in all relevant fields, blah blah blah, but I feel like I'm already taking this too far...

I picture this situation as a sort of hypothetical equation with dozens of variables which all represent the individual details of a certain situation.

That about covers it.

August

Well, here we are in August again. I'm sitting in my filthy work clothes, too lazy to go shower right now. It was actually not to bad out today, still humid, but cloudy, so no burning sun making life miserable.

The horses and chickies are all doing well, no one is sick for once.

Chocobo the little rooster is being a bastard to the hens, but he's still young, only a little over a year old. He will settle down and by next year should be way more mellow. I just hate seeing all the hens with their bare backs. I would make them wear jackets, but it's been too hot.

This is Lucy with her jacket. I miss her.

There are a few girls in my current flock that are snuggly, but none like Lucy and Ella were. Beauty is a neat little hen. I've wanted Sumatras for years, ever since I first saw them on feathersite.com. Reading about them I expected a flighty little bird who is half wild. Beauty broke that perception. She's so tiny but just full of attitude.

She likes to be spoken too and will cock her head and talk back. She's one of the only ones who will come to the edge of the roost and demand attention when I'm in the coop.

Went to see Cowboys and Aliens last Friday. I really liked it, although that may have had more to do with the ridiculous amounts of Kraken I snuck into the theater. Really though, booze make any movie better. And Kraken is a new fav. I mean really, who can resist such a piratey rum?

Well I digress, oh wait, can you really digress when you have no aim? Hm...

Yeehaw!

One awesome thing about this summer is Phi & I have been riding 4 (?) times already. River Valley Ranch is Chaska is the cat's ass. Phia discovered it a few years ago and we usually go at least once a year.

The first time we went I was not expecting much. I've been to a few over the years and most are just a walking trail through the woods on dead broke horses. Kinda like sitting on a merry go round, but slower.

I was happily wrong! The trails are incredible, miles and miles of them along the Minnesota river valley, up and down some amazing hills and during rainy times through monster puddles. It also helps when they know you've owed horses and will give you a guides horse. I chanced on Robin this way and have requested her ever since.

Our last group ride.
Me & Xena, check out the mud on her chest! Robin just had her hooves trimmed so was out of commission for the day. Xena was fun, although half gaited so when she went to trot and canter her pace was really weird. She didn't have the usual cadence because she kept switching between trotting and pacing.

Phi & Chester and me on Robin, my all time favorite girl.

Awesome view of the valley.

I have seriously considered buying Robin. I haven't bonded with a horse like this since El Bee, my friend's pony who used to race in Mexico. Her gaits are so freaking perfect! She breaks into a trot and it's so smooth, and boy can she run!

First time we went out this year it was just the two of us and the guide, so we really got to run. The guide Codie was having problems with her horse so he kept veering to the side of the trail, when Robin saw that opening she went for it. It was awesome. She's super speedy but never out of control and she listens really well.

I adore how she watches her feet and stays focused on the trail. My old riding horse Joe was such a sightseer he'd be looking at mailboxes, trees, birds, and he loved big trucks. If he saw one parked he'd want to go sniff it. I love Joe, but when you only have an hour to ride, it's nice to have a horse that wants to make the most out of it and doesn't test you by veering off trail or snacking along the way.

If we didn't have Dex, Ben, Candy and Skylar I might really make an offer on her...

Summersrule

I was trying to think of a title for this post when Summersrule popped into my head. It's from the book series the Riyria Revelations. Let me be clear, I ADORE this series!

I came across the books when I downloaded the second in the series, Avempartha (which is still my fav), for free on Amazon. I was interested right away, but by the end of the book I was totally hooked. I remember reading until 3:00 in the morning because I could not put it down. I immediately bought the rest of the series with no regrets. They're some of the first books I ever paid for on amazon.

There are five books out currently. He was self published and designed the covers himself, very impressive. Just before the last book was set to be released he got picked up by a big publishing company. They're re-releasing the books and re-packaging them so the first 2, second 2, and final 2 will be bound together. Which means that I have to wait until January to find out how the series ends.

I was disappointed at first, but honestly, I don't want the series to end. He's created such a perfect world, I want more! The main characters Royce and Hadrian are interesting and unique, the story(s) is/are fantastic. The supporting characters are absolutely amazing. It is an instant classic. I would put it on par with The Chronicles of Narnia. I like it better than the Lord of the Rings series.

You know how even some books that you like have bits in them that you don't like, scenes that just hit you wrong or are annoying? I loved this entire series, not a bit I would say, uhhh. :/ I don't know how to express it better than that. I'm reading them all again and will probably read them again before the last book comes out.

It has been so long since I've read a book that I really like much less a whole series. Case in point The Hunger Games, very cool series but the ending....what the heck?!

Ok review over. Summery; Riyria Revelations, Michael J. Sullivan, and especially Avempartha, freakin' awesome.

Seeing Green

Spring is finally springing at the farm. I saw the first of the leaves on the trees this week and I swear I could smell lilac, although that is impossible so early. After so many months with the windows closed I'm loving having them open all day long. And so is Spike the sparrow, he's parked on top of his cage watching the goings on in the back yard. The chickens have a special call if they see a hawk and I was surprised to see that Spike knows it as well. They call, he hides. It's very cool.

I spent a day with the little horses grooming off their winter coats. Ben and Skylar adored it. Sky couldn't resist lipping me when I rubbed her belly. It's the horse version on a dog waving his back leg when you scratch him just right.

Candy let me brush out her mane and all down her neck and back, I even got to rub her chest. It's such an improvement from when we first got her and she'd spook every time you walked toward her. Dex won't let me touch him period, so I just stood next to him for about half and hour and didn't even try to touch him. Eventually he reached out and nuzzled my leg. Just a matter of time and he'll let me brush him too.

The hens are laying like mad, close to 20 eggs a day. I have nearly 20 dozen in the fridge and am trying to give them away! My neighbor wants to buy 2 dozen eggs for his daughters biology class. They want to incubate them. I'm not going to sell to him. If they had a plan for the chicks after they hatch them, maybe, but I don't want them to be thrown out or given away to kids who have no clue how to care for them. Chickens are not disposable.

Beauty and Lily are broody, and since I take away all the eggs they've decided to hatch each other. I'll go to collect eggs and Lily will be on top of Beauty trying to keep her warm. Silly girls! Beauty is more into it than Lily anyway. Lily will spend a lot more time outside, so she's not 100% broody. If I did give her eggs to hatch they probably wouldn't, because she's not committed.

All of the vegetables are started indoors and growing well. I transplanted the eggplant into bigger containers this week and they look amazing. I'll transplant tomatoes and peppers next, I just need it to be warm enough for them to go out in the greenhouse first. I've run out of room under the grow lights. Hopefully we will be able to start planting outside this week. Potatoes, beets, lettuce, peas, and greens will go in first. I'm so excited for summer and fresh vegetables!

In other news the bee guy will be setting up his hives this weekend, the bees will be coming May 6. Also super excited for that, I hope I'll have some honey from our place for my book club girls this fall.

Now I'm going to go out and enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day, looks like we're in for some rain tomorrow.

Heated

I just had a heated argument with my sister in law as to whether or not it is ok to force medical treatment on the elderly/dementia patients. This argument continued for a good 15 minutes despite the fact that we were essentially arguing the same side.

I am unquestionably against forced treatment for any condition, dementia or not. The right to decide is a basic human right, death and/or suffering cannot deny. NO ONE can make decisions for ANYONE regarding anyone ELSE'S healthcare. Is this hard to understand?

I still think she is secretly for it (she used 'the what if they were children?' argument.) That does not fly with me, even as a child I denied that and as an adult the idea utterly sickens me. NO ONE can take that right away from me.

Google

I love google.

It has the answers, or at least a close approximation of them, for every question. For instance, tonight I googled 'does a kiln get hot enough to cremate a human body'. The answer is yes by the way. Even a low quality kiln reaches high enough temps to cremate a body quite quickly. One hour per 100 pounds body weight.

Also searched by me: is bone cancer hereditary? How much does it cost to set up a bee hive? Will you die if you inject soy sauce into your vein? Is the stone of scone real? Are there new (futurama/pushing daisies/firefly (I love firefly!) episodes?)? However the most searched question is "WHO IS THAT? What have they been in???

I have to say all of my google questions have to do with tv or movies I'm watching at the moment. Also, most involve alchohol.

However Google, or the human race perhaps, has failed on this one question: How much does it cost to start a crematorium?

The question has been asked at least once before, but with no answer. Google...you disappointed me.

Girls Weekend!

My friend Sophia & I took off on a girl's weekend last month. The plan: Eat, drink, hike. Mission accomplished!

Snow shoeing Carlton Peak

We saw approx. 1,000,000,000 deer. This one almost came up to the window of the car.

Best burger EVER! Rustic Inn & Cafe's bleu burger. Unbelievable. I would drive the five hours, just for this burger.

Snow shoes are fun! Rented for the day for $15 a pair.

Hiking without snowshoes was a bit dangerous. It wasn't just soft fluffy snow, it was ice.

The view from our room Cliff Dweller Hotel. It was a bargain to boot! Only $80 a night.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Canal Park in Duluth provided the caramel apple with chocolate and pecans. Mmmmmm.

Nothing like a flight of beer at noon, yeah baby!

Fitgers Brewery in Duluth had an excellent lunch + booze! Does it get any better?

This is our second girls trip. Last year we went to Palm Springs for a week, amazing hiking there as well. Hoping it will be a yearly thing. Our dream trip would be Scotland...

Spring Things

With my access to facebook cut off, (thank you very much glitchy computer) I have so much more time to be here which is good... I think.

It's been a busy spring, mostly because it's been compacted into a shorter time period by the weather. It's hard to do stuff around the farm when it's 10* F and there's 4' of snow on the ground. There still is a bit of snow in places but it's mostly gone now and I have been working like a madman.

The new fencing for the chicken yards is almost all up. SO excited about it. It looks so nice, and best of all is mobile so we can move it around to give them access to fresh grass when they've trampled their current supply. My hands took a beating getting it up though, I'm going to have a few new scars from this. I actually cut every single finger on my left hand while putting the fence panels together. Quite impressive.

The chickies are doing wonderfully. They are just loving being outside all day long. The boys have even been getting along (so far). And we have eggs GALORE! They laid 27 eggs yesterday, incredible! Tim has been selling them at his new job, which is fabulous. Dad has been taking them to work and selling them as well, and mom brings them to coffee with her friends and unloads a bunch.

I checked egg prices at Rainbow and it was $3. for a dozen organic brown eggs, what a rip off! First off the organic label is a total load. It doesn't mean the feed is a better quality, the USDA inspects all animal feed. And it certainly doesn't mean the hens are treated any better. They're still crammed into tiny spaces or crates, that's just how they raise layers in this country.

My girls eggs are just better because they are FRESH and they have access to the great outdoors and grass. No guilt with these eggs, the girls get tucked in at night and snuggled during the day. Ahh, I love my feathered ladies .

On the other hand the little horses are a filthy mess. Spring is always muddy and actually it's been an okay year mudwise. Other years have been much worse. All the same, any mud at all and they will find it and roll in it daily, it's a horse thing. My obsessive need to clean just has to be put on hold until it dries up, it's pointless to brush them right now.

We did get their hooves done by a pro. Nice guy, lives right down the road. He did an excellent job and the horses even behaved themselves.

Random Idiom

You know the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs"?

Well the Danish have their own version: det regner skomagerdrenge. That translates to "It's raining shoemakers apprentices".

Those crazy Danes!

I am Immortal!

One achievement I forgot to mention in my year recap is the finishing of a 2 year project. It was called.... Winelander. An amazing combination of three buck chuck and a series from the early nineties.

The exact reason why we started watching it is lost in the fuzzy corners of my mind but I'm fairly sure it had something to do with a certain oddly accented star, the deliciously cheezy fight scenes and special effects...and sailor jerry.

A wonderful side point was the clothes oh the clothes. A glimpse into the heart of nineties fashion that would curdle the blood of anyone who retains the gift of sight. Shoulder pads and jackets with enough fabric to cover a small African elephant.

Our wine of choice morphed from Charles Shaw's Cabernet to his Shiraz. With random other brands thrown in every week or so. As the weather turned warmer we started in on Chardonnay but one thing was clear, white wine and Highlander don't mix! Our viewings went down from 3 nights a week to one, and finally we stopped altogether. A summer went by.

Once the weather turned our thoughts turned as well, back to our old friend. Aside from a loud and ongoing dispute about which episode came next (I am telling you Katie we did NOT see the ep. with that guy from SGU who hunted with a pack of rottweilers. How would I not remember that??) the rest of the show passed in a wine, cheese and fruit filled haze. It was magical.

Another year goes by...

Can't say it's been uneventful. Let's see...(in no particular order)

Fostering a puppy for a weekend

State Fair fun

Camping weekend

Fishing trip

Boarding a new horse

Best friend got married (I was maid of honor)

A new batch of chicks

Trip to Palm Springs

Think that's it. Let's have a pictorial review!

Casey was a gift for a friend of mine, but he needed to be kept under wraps for the weekend, so I ended up babysitting him.

Ah the chickens at the State Fair. Pictured are bearded, booted Mille Fluer D'uccles.

Camping at Baker Park Reserve for our 1000 White Women book club

Boyd Lodge fishing trip helped me hone my paddling skills.

Dexter is a Hackney pony who is staying with us until his owner gets a barn built.

Paul & Sophia May 7, 2010

Fifteen baby chicks!

Hiking in Palm Springs was amazing!!

Yep, it was a good year. :)