Yipeeeeee! Were getting a new barn!

I know, it doesn't look like much now...

But just you wait till the barn builders get here!

The girls check it out ,

and discuss amongst themselves,

" Well it smells nice, but can we EAT it?"

Maybe they'll be more appreciative later on, when they get to move out of here....

This old shack has gone  way past charming and quaint and has descended into downright shabby.( Although  I do have visions of potting shed/grape arbor/cobblestone courtyard in my head)

But first things first....let's build that new barn!

RIGHT HERE

Wow, nice view!

Just think, a harvest moon above, some hanging paper lanterns, and a really good band and the gals could have a right nice hoedown!

But for now, we're

just waitin on those barn builders....

Monday, rain , no barn building today.

Tuesday, rain, no barn builders.

Wednesday, rain, geeeez......

Thursday, 6:00 in the morning,Glory Halleleuah!

They're here!

 

My heroes!

I wanna smell that sawdust!

"Hummph...Who knows better than a goat gal WHAT a goat gal needs in her living quarters! I shall design my own boudoir  , thankyou very much."Firstly, I'll mark my walls. I'll need extra space for my 4 poster bed with the lovely lace dust ruffle and rose patterned bedrug."

   "Moving heavy lumber can wreak havoc on a manicure..

so I hired some extra muscle power ....

"C'mon toadie! Tote that barge, lift that bale! Slacker. It's so difficult to get good help these days.

 

   "When it comes to swingin a hammer, we goat gals really know our stuff, so, where's that nail again?"

 

"So, I've been working for at least 5 minutes, is it time for a smoke yet? Now, where was I, oh yes, I was thinking how lovely a little breakfast nook with a bay window would.. whaaaa? What are you girls eating up there? Hey, save some for me!"

"This heavy labor makes a goat gal work up quite an appetite.

I'll be back later, after breakfast, lunch and dinner!"

 

Yes, it's so difficult to get good help these days.

Thanks Pearl, but methinks the barn builders can handle things from here on out.

 

Here, will you just look at this! After only 6 days, my heroes have accomplished this much! Mind you, these are just two guys, using hammer, nails, and one saw,THE VERY BEST BARN BUILDERS in the county!

Day 12!

'"Can we move in now? I want the upstairs room!"
Not yet goat gals, there's still a ways to go.
to be continued...

Autumn....Trees...

 Alas....AUTUMN!

 

Autumn- the very word breathes of serenity.

Burnished golden and rust, the leaves float softly downward

to rest upon the earth

They are crisp beneath my footsteps.

With tails at full mast, the bushybottom squirrels frantically 

scramble from limb to limb greedily gathering as many green

acorns as they can stuff.

The acorns have emerged by the thousands from the  

Grand Old Oak.

I think on how many Autumns this stately tree has witnessed and how many generations of fuzzy little tummies

 his acorns have filled.

Sunlight dapples into the shade garden through the newly barren branches of the Mulberry tree.

The last to don her leaves in the Spring.

The first to lose them in the fall. Now she casts a long silhouetted shadow across the lawn of velvety moss.

 

 My desire for an endless summer fades as I inhale the

bittersweet coolness in the air-

and I am smitten-

and quietly at peace with this change of seasons....

just as the good earth seems to be.

A windfall of Iris and another stone wall

When my friend Angie offered me anything I wanted from the garden on the property she's selling, I never dreamed I'd be digging up over 700 Bearded Iris rhizomes...really good ones!

We've been busy burying these EVERYWHERE!

 

here,

and here,

and all around Pippity Squeekys cunning stone cottage.

My knees hurt...

but Fuzzyfoot gardeners don't have knees, they can dig all day.

We  still have to plant this load, but I'm running out of steam...

BECAUSE....

Did I mention.... that my friend also offered me all the stones on the property?

Enough to build this 23 foot stone wall!

Ouch, my back hurts.

Fuzzyfoot gardeners don't lift heavy stones.

And roosters don't either.

They do, however, use stonewalls as an attractive backdrop to strut their stuff.

I can hardly wait till next May when all those glorious Iris are blooming against that wall.

Thankyou Angie,

And thankyou Fuzzyfoot buns!  

Rain and drizzle make for prodigious Gazette reports

   Lovely rain here in the Hollow, some of us are delighted!

Jangles the duck is happy.

BUT,chickens hate getting wet. Some are smart enough to get out of the rain......

While others, like Jimmy and wicked Fidel just stand there in bewilderment. Perhaps, they think that if they just stand very, very still,the raindrops will miss them.  

,

Opal prefers the sound of rain on an old tin roof safely inside her humble, dry barn.

And Beatrix detests the smell of wet wool.....

But Pittypat the duck is happy....because there's nothing better than a good mud puddle. And ducks laugh at the rain!

The Geese prefer their mud puddles slightly more diluted, like the water in Croaky Toad Creek.

Of course , Fiona Goosefeathers is off in her own little world. Sometimes she thinks she's a duck, sometimes she's a goose, and sometimes she thinks she's my sister!

She REALLY likes me, especially when I carry her

around the yard and she thinks that she is flying.

But one thing Fiona never thinks is that she is a chicken....chickens are so uncouth.

 and they hate the rain.

 

But...... the ducks are happy.

Summer is here and it's time to shear!

Summer's here, time to shear!
Little buns, turtles and frogs think it is absolutely jolly when we have to round up the sheep and wrestle with them to get that wool! I love the sheep dearly, but the poor girls are so dumb... if only they could understand we are trying to help them COOL down and CLEAN up. Sophia is the worst. She wriggles and squirms and tosses her head about, every which way. She also has the most luxuriant wool. It is long and curly, silvery black... really quite beautiful, except for the disgusting parts.( Hmmmm, I will leave that to your imagination.) James does all the shearing and I do all the tidying up with the scissors. This time around, the blade broke just when we were halfway through the last sheep.... I had to finish the rest of the job with the kitchen shears. When we let them loose in the meadow, they kick up their heels and run around like wee lambs. They know they feel SWELL, but they don't know why... like I said, they are a bit dumb.

Sophia looks pretty crummy, doesn't she? Her wool is at least 7 inches deep, and the temperature is on the rise. She is a devil to catch and seems to know exactly when shears are near, even though we hide them behind our back and try to sneak up on her. All the other girls, who have already had their "haircuts", shout " Run, Sophie, run!" "Sophie is a scaredy cat!",C,mon Sophie, it isn't THAT bad!"
All the Webbytoe duckies quack and giggle as they splish-splash in the pond, "How silly sheep are, if only they knew how to swim like us, they could always stay cool!" Finally, we catch her and tie her to the tree. Let the games begin! She always wins in the end.... we are hot and dirty and sweaty, She is beautiful and clean and about 20 degrees cooler than she was an hour ago. She is a Lincoln-Finn mix

Is THIS the same little lady?