SOMETIMES I NEED TO SMACK SOMEONE

I really don’t like the people in the the hippy town. They are rude people who want to graze through the market and then go listen to free music. They reach into my sample cheese with THIER BARE FINGERS and grab a gob of cheese and then think they can move on to the next sample… AFTER THEY HAVE PUT THEIR FINGERS INTO THEIR MOUTHS WITH THE LAST SAMPLE. I actually gave a woman a dirty look tonight when she pulled this stunt and she looked back at me sheepishly and apologized, sort of. I promptly asked her how she would feel if she were the next person who wanted to sample the cheese…. I am going to make a fairly rude sign for that market or stop giving out samples because this is just fucking gross.

I am feeling kind of off about the hippietown market.

No Friday Bigwig market this week cuz of the 4th which lends me a little independence to make a long overdue batch of feta. I hope.

I need to go to a potluck at a farm on the 13th to meet the two alpine does that Paul is trying to convince me I should bring home. I told him to bred them and I will take them in milk without kids attached. I then learned that the winter market will likely be two Saturdays a month this year so more milk would be very very good… Gotta look at those two does. Besides, Paul has highland cattle. I don’t like cattle but I find highlanders absolutely enchanting with their rasta hairdos and mellow ways so I want to go check them out too.

Now I need to go to bed. MB is due again in the morning and it is getting embarassing that I am yawning so much lately.

DRIPPING

It is raining. Humidity made manifest. It seems this summer will be a steam bath of sorts with the next week or so forcast with the chance of thunderstorms each day with tomorrow being the least likely. I’m tired of this. It made my desire to swim and lay in the sun today impossible since it kept clouding up and raining briefly.

There are other things but I feel as if mold is forming on my brain and I can’t grasp my thoughts anymore.

BREATHING PEANUT BUTTER

That is how A. describes what we have been doing around here for the past two weeks. Humid just doesn’t get the point across.

The college town market was slow again yesterday. I really hope the economy isn’t that shitty but I suspect it is at least on it’s way. I now carry smelling salts for use each time I gas up the truck. Soon even those will be inadequate to cope with the despair at the pump.

Let’s not get into depressing topics.,……

Ummmmm…..

The yearlings are doing a bit better with getting on the milking stands. Too bad Minnie, Shanti, and Rainbow won’t even consider jumping on to an evil metal milking stand. Soon, I hope all will be settled in and MB will be able to milk solo. I long for the day I can just pack my coolers and go on a market day.

A. is planning her birthday party with enthusiasm. She decided a bigger party on the weekend is the way to go this year. We had a great time year before last when we had a combination kid’s party and grown up party and she wants that to be the way of it this year. 7/26 is the date and it will take all the 25 days to prepare. Note: start doing prayer circle, ritual, deals with the devil for a bright sunny day that day….

Dixie is huge and has decided that barking at every little thing is her prime directive. I understand this is her guarding instinct kicking up a notch but it really sucks at 4am. I actually went out on the deck the other morning to see what she was barking at but I didn’t see anything. I did hear something though.

There is a breeze today and I can sort of breathe the peanut butter right now. I don’t know if it will last though so I better do the gotta dos before I need a respirator again.

 

ICKY STICKY BUT NOT SO CRANKY

Have I mentioned lately how humid it is… yeah, I thought so. Luckily the sun didn’t really come out today and create a sauna at the market although I didn’t spend much time there myself. Instead I ran errands and spent money on farm supplies and pool accessories. Bright green pool lounge, teal/cornflower blue bikini, bright orange and fuchsia with dashes of bright green towel….. Dairy detergents, hay bags, goat collars, teat dip and fly traps. Gotta love my shopping lists, eh? While I was spending money LA was making money at the market and I brought home nearly empty cheese coolers that I now must haul off the truck and put contents away. Too bad I ate and am ready for my nap.

Tomorrow the heat is scheduled to return and I hope to use the pool purchases very effectively…. after a morning with MB and the goats and the little cheese that needs to be packaged for Sunday’s market.

Market season….. what a freakin’ crazy ride!

WHAT A FRICKIN WEEK

A pink eye to a raspy voice to a heaving tight bronchitis feeling chest to nearly no voice to an upset stomach to complete exhaustion. Is this week over yet? And while I am asking questions… what the fuck am I doing awake at this time when I have to get my butt up early tomorrow for market prep?

Did I mention the vacuum pump going noisy again? How about the goats who just don’t want anything to do with the milking stands or the yearlings that are slow to catch on so I have to lift their heavy asses up onto the stands?

Oh, and really frustrating dreams and the dropsies gone wild because my arms are all outraged with all the crazy lifting and miscellaneous twisting of bolts….

OK, I will shut up and go to sleep now.

PROGRESS

Well, the eye isn’t so evil today but I woke up with a seriously raspy voice. That got better after milking this morning so maybe I will live. Unfortunately A. is fussy. Can we please have a nice normal summer so the germ factor takes a hike?

In other news….. MB and I got all 8 of the yearlings onto the milking stands this morning. Without the use of peanuts! Of course we had to lift a good number of them and now I do have peanuts but it was a very good thing. I also repaired the vacuum pump so I don’t have to worry about it giving up the ghost midmilking.

I got a question about the wormwood in comments…. look at the name… it is an excellent wormer for livestock and that is exactly what I use on my girls. It has to be used wisely or it can damage the liver and it is also well know for what it can do to the nervous system although that is in a distilled form you may have heard of…. Absinthe. Another wonderful comment from a very clever mom on a roof mentioned the wonderful smell of the stuff and it is a bit fuzzy so it is a great place to put one’s face (does that sound obscene?)

I would like to put a huge request out to the universe to take this damned humidity and put it somewhere that is having a drought.

THIS REALLY MAKES ME SAD

I went to check the weather and found this sad news….. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b143767_george_carlin_1937-2008.html?sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

I can’t think of anyone with a more truthful and snarky outlook on life and human nature. The world will have a emptiness without his Words.

THE EVIL EYE

I have been having a problem finding time to update…. I spent Thursday and Friday of last week gardening like mad because it needed to be done and I couldn’t go to the bigwig market thanks to the cheese going funky from the power failure. The veggie garden is improved but will not be what I had hoped. The front gardens are tidy and annuals have been planted in the gaps left by the puppy digging holes. Mulch is redone on the garden along the front path but I still need to do the two beds against the house. I planted some japanese anemone that Kirsten gave me on the side of the house along with more annuals and I put the canopy up on the deck and planted some boxes with red grass and flowers. The place looks much better than it did which makes me happy.

What doesn’t make me happy is that I woke up with pink eye. No hint of it but when I looked in the mirror my right eye is all red and it is swollen so the eyeball looks sunken - YUCK! I feel pretty weird too. So many people are sick lately. Kirsten had a terrible head cold that gave her hives, MB had a sinus infection, a Hippietown market vendor had a bad cold and a customer yesterday was very congested. It is summer for cripes sake.. we should all be healthy.

Too tired to rant and my eye isn’t liking looking at this screen so that is all for now.

ON MY WAY TO BED…..

…. but stopped into to say hello. The lights stayed on and I went to the Hippie market this evening and it was good. I should have had more in my coolers but with the power out it had to be what it was. A. is a bit fussy and I am not sure why… the moon is full and the red tide is in for me so I do wonder if she is beginning to feel the pull of the tide on a very small and deep level. The goaties are still a bit off after missing yesterday’s morning milking although it could be the fact that Rainman milked tonight while I was at market. MB called in sick this morning but will hopefully be here tomorrow. This week is just a mess and it is only half over…. Somehow I am just dealing with it all and I still (perhaps foolishly) believe that it will all turn out OK no matter how crazy it gets.

I need to update about the concert (great!) and post the photos that are so overdue. I have to mention more of he same old stuff with a twist but that may not land here. A few of you know where it may end up though and that is all I have to say about that.

I acquired a new Artemisia Absinthe plant tonight and I am very very happy about it… I just loves me some Artemisias….. dreaming with eyes wide open and walking in a silvery land of song and rumbling sounds and motion set on edge….

Dream sweetly my dears….

LIGHTS OUT

Just when I was maybe going to find the time to write an update the remnents of a tornado came blowing through and put the lights out for 20 hours. Do you have any idea what it is like to lose power when one is running a commercial dairy? Now imagine my regret when I realize I never took the time to have my electrician come in and rig up the can cooler and cheese fridges to the generator. While you are at it picture a herd of milkers who have not been milked since last night because i had no cooler to store the milk in. My logic: the milk will stay fresh in the udder… for any of you who have nursed a baby I think you can sympathize with my goatie girls right now. Right now I am waiting for the can cooler to chill enough to go out an milk. I am also trying to free up the washer so I can wash the cheesecloth and hang the (thank the Goddess) big batch of cheese I used almost all the milk I had to make yesterday midday. I really thought I may have to blow off the Bigwig market in favor of the Collegetown market because the power wasn’t due back on until tomorrow noon. Thankfully it is back now (to stay?).

Stress anyone?

Note to self: CALL THE ELECTRICIAN!