New Puppies

So Aaron's family dog had puppies last week. She had 4 boys and 3 girls. They are so cute, small, soft and helpless. The kids all decided to name them after breakfast cereal like Captain Crunch, Rice Krispies, etc. I came up with Golden Graham which I thought was pretty clever since they are Golden Retrievers. It will be fun to watch them grow up and see all of their little personalities come out. New life is so amazing.

Starting a New Year

Say Hello to Vanessa 7847. She is one of my favorite cows from the dairy. She had to have a C-section because she was to small and the bull calf was too big. Both did very well. Even though I had to give her shots of anti-biotics for a week so that her incision would heal and not get infected. She was an ideal patient. This leads into my point later on about cows and their dispositions. She was not raised any different than the other cows and yet she loves human attention.

This year is already much different than last year. After working on and off at the dairy for 7 years, I decided it was time for me to move on. I had a lot of mixed emotions on my last day of work. I was going to miss the people I work with and all of the cows. I was there when many of them were born and actually named most of them. It is sad to say goodbye to all of my babies. There are a few that I will not miss, Sabrina 827, Vanilla 947 (your daughters where not the nicest heifers either) and all the other cows that would kick at me(you know who you are). I should really write a book on cow characteristics and behavior. You can't tell me that a cow who is totally friendly like Pippin 767 who stands there and loves to be have her back scratched was raised any differently than Cei 808 who would rather kill you than look at you. To have a daughter who spent under an hour with her mom, grow up and have a very similar personality whether it is nice, mean or indifferent, is no coincident. You can't tell me that is not genetic. I'm telling you my book would be a NY Time Best Seller. I can see it now, "I Kick, Therefore I am going to be Meat."

So with no more full time work I was wondering about what to do with my time. I went to Florida for a week to visit the Tyree's and have a nice relaxing vacation. It was perfect. While I was there I got a call from the dairy herd vet. He was offering me a part time job working in the vet clinic. So now I work on Tuesdays and Fridays helping out where ever I can. It is nice to have some work but not to have to go everyday. I still take care of the animals at the farm twice a day so I can get my daily animal fix. Life is pretty good right now and I'm enjoying spending more time with mom, Susan and the boys. It is nice to have them so close.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love snow. Not so much driving in it but I love that it makes the world white. Just like being in the temple. Granted the next day most of the snow looks gray and yucky. But for those few hours after it falls and before all the roads get cleared it is so beautiful.

We had our first big snow storm of the winter season today. We must have gotten at least a foot of snow this afternoon. It was so crazy. I woke up and we had no new snow but several schools where closed already. Well, it started snowing at about 8:30 and then the rest of the schools sent the kids home. I left work at about 1pm and it was white out conditions. I don't think I got above 25 mph. When I got to the farm I had a big job ahead of me. Plowing the driveway. All I can say is I'm so glad that we have a tractor. It took about an hour to get it cleared. Then I went and feed the animals which only took about 20 minutes. By the time I finished that I needed to plow the driveway again. I finally got home after 3pm and took a very long hot shower. My toes are still tingling from being so cold.

It finally stopped snowing about about 5pm right after Aaron finished snow blowing at the hotel. He also got out of work early today since all the libraries decided to close. I guess you don't need tech support if your are not open. I think he really likes that job.

So now I'm in my nice warm house listening to Christmas music and enjoying the Christmas tree lights. I love this time of year. If I had my own world we would always have Christmas lights. Every month would have a holiday with it's own color of Christmas lights. Maybe they would match the gem for that month. That is a fun thought.

One Year Anniversary Trip to Long Island

For our one year anniversary we went to Long Island to visit Aaron's grandparents and aunt's. We had a wonderful time. We got to spend a few days down there. We a fabulous dinner at Aunt Margie's house. It was so great. Home made sauce and meatballs. A true Italian meal.

To pay for our room and broad we raked up the leaves at grandma and grandpa Zsembery. it was nice to see them and hear some of their stories. It is so nice to have grandparents again. Mine have all passed on and I miss the wisdom and history that is now gone with them.

After driving home on Monday we went to the Palmyra Inn for a wonderful evening together. We ordered pizza and watched some movies and had a wonderful time together. I love having such a loving and fun husband. He brings such balance to my life.

The Passing of a Pearl

I had a horrible day today. Nothing major happened but nothing seemed to go my way. I even managed to pinch my hand as I pushed my cup holder back in when I got to work. Have you ever had one of those days? I kept thinking to myself "I should have never gotten out of bed."
On rainy days I go to my parents house and feed the animals before going to work. Everyone was happy to see me and get some hay. My oldest pygmy goat Pearl has been sick for a few months now. She has bad days and I give her some medicine to help her not be in pain. She has been isolating herself for awhile now which is never a good sign for an animal that likes to be in a herd. This morning she was in the stall by herself and I gave her some hay and then I was off to work.
When I came home after work she had died. It is so sad to lose a pet. I'm grateful that she is not in any pain anymore and that I was here to bury her. I now realize why I was having such a hard day.
I will miss Pearl but I'm glad that she can run and not have any pain.

Happy Halloween!

No Trick or Treating for me this year. I will be handing out candy at Susan's house since she has a new baby and does not want to have to get up hand out candy. It should be fun. Tony is taking David trick or treating so that leaves me and Benjamin to answer the door. He is dressing up as a cow. Maybe I should dress up as a herdsmen. HEHEHE

Peaches, Peaches and more Peaches!

Aaron and I where about to get 4 five gallon buckets of peaches for free a few weeks ago. So what does one do with so many peaches you ask? Well, you put a moving in and sit in the kitchen and cut up peaches for about 3 hours. Then you put them in the frig and the next day you can them for hours on end. We ended up running two caners and had about 36 quarts when we finished. It was so crazy. I'm still not convinced about all the canning stuff. I did make a really yummy cherry peach pie out of one of the cans that didn't seal right. So I guess there are advantages. Thank you Sister D for pick the peaches for us and thank you mom Z for delivering them. I think our kids will enjoy them since I have a felling they will be around for a few years.