This and That

I celebrated another trip around the sun by going out to eat with my folks and gorging on delicious mint vegan birthday cake. There is a local gal who makes wonderful vegan baked goods and my goal is to try every flavor of cake she offers (which is quite a few flavors). Thanks for the birthday dinner Mom and Dad!

 

Last spring I planted 40 strawberry crowns and this year I'm basking in strawberries! They are nice big ones too. I love growing my own food, it's very satisfying knowing what isn't sprayed all over them.  The artictic freeze we got in February took out 90% of my thornless blackberries which was quite the loss but there are new canes back there and I should have berries next spring. The cherry tree gave us a lot of cherries for the first time this year which is fun.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy getting sushi with my Greta? We usually go hit the thrift stores and then off to sushi. It's a fun tradition.

Our outdoor kitties just turned 9 years old. They are really good cats that have stuck around for nearly a decade. The key to keeping barn cats alive is to lock them up each night. They get locked up in our shop where they have beds and food and litter boxes. There are too many night creatures out there (we just found a dead bobcat just a few hundred feet from our driveway on the dirt road). Happy birthday Minnions!

If you decide to sit on the couch then you are deciding to become a comfy dog bed. Our dogs love nice warm lap.

We've been trying to do new things locally just to get out of our ruts and support local business. We decided to try the new Mexican restaurant and boy with the kids enjoy it! They ate and ate and ate. Good times!

Zoo!

 It's so nice to be able to get out and go to the zoo again! We loaded up into out little electric car on a mild spring day and had a lovely day seeing the animals. Did I mention we actually had a spring this year? So many weeks in the 60's and 70's this year. It was so nice! I can't say I ever wear layers to the zoo, it's usually 90 degrees and we sweat from one animal house to the next. I'll take it though! 

We were excited to use the fast chargers at the zoo which were just installed. A nice perk is that they are usually right up front and empty. 

They put treats on the ledge.

My favorite part of the zoo is the goats in the petting zoo. All the babies everywhere!

Released!

We finally did it. We fenced in the front three acres of the property so the goats will have a large area to graze and perhaps we won't have to mow around 300 walnut trees. We've been attempting to finish it for years and never start early enough in the season before the oppressive heat starts. But this year we were motivated! It sure helped to have a beautiful spring for a change......generally it goes from winter to summer in about 2 weeks. 

 

It took a couple of months but we got it done just in time for the goats to have a lush new pasture to browse from. Goats are not grazers like cows and sheep, they are browsers like deer. They pick off the tops of weeds, vines and low hanging leaves. This is great for our abundance of poison ivy. I let them loose for the first time and they went directly to the nearest tree covered in the nasty vine. 

 

 

I hope they are able to keep the area eaten down.