- Thread starter
- #871
Ridgetop
Herd Master
THE RAINS HAVE COME! We are still muddling along although I have not had time since Thanksgiving to get on line with my BYH friends.
Thanksgiving came and went in a massive rainstorm (and blizzards through the mountains). DD2 could not get here for Thanksgiving because Big Bear was snowed in and the roads closed. Our Fort Worth, TX, friend, Kris, drove across the desert from Palm Springs and hit a snowstorm for about an hour on the way! We have gotten several inches of rain already, and another storm coming in next week! I hope it keeps raining off and on for the next 4-5 months so we will get forage. The storm also broke over the Santa Barbara fire. That fire had moved into the hills and was not contained. Lots of people evacuated. BUT it not only rained on the fire, it SNOWED! Put it out, thanks be to God.
I relented and allowed the 3 grandchildren to sit at the grownup table. I had threatened them with banishment to the kitchen after the harrowing episode with the sheep. They love sitting in the formal dining room on special holidays with the formal linens, sterling silver, china and crystal so they were devastated by the ban. For some reason they love eating with special dishes, silver , etc. where they have to be on their best behavior. I use my Waterford crystal and since my mother bought Waterford tumblers and juice glasses 55 years ago in Ireland, (why juice glasses I don’t know) I use those for the children. You are never too young to learn to appreciate nice things. I always wash the sterling silver and crystal by hand, but this year I ran the Waterford through the dishwasher. If it breaks, at least we can enjoy it until then. A childless friend inherited her mother’s crystal, her grandmother’s crystal and her mother-in-law’s crystal. She told me that after years of being afraid to use it and not wanting to wash it all by hand, she decided to just use it and run it through the dishwasher. Nothing broke, so she enjoyed using it and just ran it through the dishwasher. I decided to do that this year. It came through just fine, so I now see lots of fun times using it without handwashing. LOL
In our family I have been the only cook for years. This year my dear friend gave me a new electric turkey roaster, still in the box. It is the big white kind my grandmother and father-in-law always used (although the new ones are not quite so large as the old ones). Lois had purchased it, used it one time, and never used it again since she decided that at nearly 80 she shouldn’t have to cook any more turkeys. She brought it over and DS1 and I used it this year. We loved it! I was always afraid of the cleanup. Daddy used to do the turkey in a big roaster, and it was soooo good! Mine are good, but his seemed juicier. (Maybe because I didn’t have to cook it myself?) LOL Anyway this roaster is smaller than Daddy’s, but we managed to fit the 24 lb. bird in it. I know this roaster is smaller because it says “up to 22 lbs.” I remember when I was a child my grandfather used to get 30 lb. birds, and I myself 40 years ago never bought anything smaller than 26-28 LB. BIRDS. You can’t find those sizes anymore because the automated plucking machines won’t fit them. A judge told us that at the Fair one year when our entire 4-H club’s turkeys were DQed for being too large! They were the best looking birds but he said they were too large for the mechanical processing machines!
I had been dreading the cleanup but we lined the roaster pan with foil which helped and added water which I always do anyway. it cooked beautifully. DD1 saw it and said it will make it easy for DS1 and me to do the turkey when she hosts Thanksgiving since we can just bring the turkey over in the roaster!!! LOL
Bad news. I need a knee replacement soon. 25 years ago I got pinned between a truck and trailer and tore my knee cartilage/tendons/whatever is in there. No srgery but I was in a cast for several months. No physical therapy but it seemed to be fine until this year. I am having so much trouble now with it that it is affecting my hip, ankle and back. Apparently, the torn ligament has weakened and caused or allowed the kneecap to rotate somehow. The knee doesn’t want to bend properly and often has started collapsing under me. I am in a lot of pain which doesn’t help when I lay floors, get up and down on ladders to paint, etc. Let alone standing on my feet all day cooking etc. It does get better when I stay off my feet makes it difficult to do any sheep operations. Hopefully I will get my sheep equipment set up with extra pens and chutes which will help.
More coming since this is only through the end of November.
Thanksgiving came and went in a massive rainstorm (and blizzards through the mountains). DD2 could not get here for Thanksgiving because Big Bear was snowed in and the roads closed. Our Fort Worth, TX, friend, Kris, drove across the desert from Palm Springs and hit a snowstorm for about an hour on the way! We have gotten several inches of rain already, and another storm coming in next week! I hope it keeps raining off and on for the next 4-5 months so we will get forage. The storm also broke over the Santa Barbara fire. That fire had moved into the hills and was not contained. Lots of people evacuated. BUT it not only rained on the fire, it SNOWED! Put it out, thanks be to God.
I relented and allowed the 3 grandchildren to sit at the grownup table. I had threatened them with banishment to the kitchen after the harrowing episode with the sheep. They love sitting in the formal dining room on special holidays with the formal linens, sterling silver, china and crystal so they were devastated by the ban. For some reason they love eating with special dishes, silver , etc. where they have to be on their best behavior. I use my Waterford crystal and since my mother bought Waterford tumblers and juice glasses 55 years ago in Ireland, (why juice glasses I don’t know) I use those for the children. You are never too young to learn to appreciate nice things. I always wash the sterling silver and crystal by hand, but this year I ran the Waterford through the dishwasher. If it breaks, at least we can enjoy it until then. A childless friend inherited her mother’s crystal, her grandmother’s crystal and her mother-in-law’s crystal. She told me that after years of being afraid to use it and not wanting to wash it all by hand, she decided to just use it and run it through the dishwasher. Nothing broke, so she enjoyed using it and just ran it through the dishwasher. I decided to do that this year. It came through just fine, so I now see lots of fun times using it without handwashing. LOL
In our family I have been the only cook for years. This year my dear friend gave me a new electric turkey roaster, still in the box. It is the big white kind my grandmother and father-in-law always used (although the new ones are not quite so large as the old ones). Lois had purchased it, used it one time, and never used it again since she decided that at nearly 80 she shouldn’t have to cook any more turkeys. She brought it over and DS1 and I used it this year. We loved it! I was always afraid of the cleanup. Daddy used to do the turkey in a big roaster, and it was soooo good! Mine are good, but his seemed juicier. (Maybe because I didn’t have to cook it myself?) LOL Anyway this roaster is smaller than Daddy’s, but we managed to fit the 24 lb. bird in it. I know this roaster is smaller because it says “up to 22 lbs.” I remember when I was a child my grandfather used to get 30 lb. birds, and I myself 40 years ago never bought anything smaller than 26-28 LB. BIRDS. You can’t find those sizes anymore because the automated plucking machines won’t fit them. A judge told us that at the Fair one year when our entire 4-H club’s turkeys were DQed for being too large! They were the best looking birds but he said they were too large for the mechanical processing machines!
I had been dreading the cleanup but we lined the roaster pan with foil which helped and added water which I always do anyway. it cooked beautifully. DD1 saw it and said it will make it easy for DS1 and me to do the turkey when she hosts Thanksgiving since we can just bring the turkey over in the roaster!!! LOL
Bad news. I need a knee replacement soon. 25 years ago I got pinned between a truck and trailer and tore my knee cartilage/tendons/whatever is in there. No srgery but I was in a cast for several months. No physical therapy but it seemed to be fine until this year. I am having so much trouble now with it that it is affecting my hip, ankle and back. Apparently, the torn ligament has weakened and caused or allowed the kneecap to rotate somehow. The knee doesn’t want to bend properly and often has started collapsing under me. I am in a lot of pain which doesn’t help when I lay floors, get up and down on ladders to paint, etc. Let alone standing on my feet all day cooking etc. It does get better when I stay off my feet makes it difficult to do any sheep operations. Hopefully I will get my sheep equipment set up with extra pens and chutes which will help.
More coming since this is only through the end of November.
5 of them are bred by my Lewis while the other one is bred to a Texas ram. I hope they lamb before we leave the end of January, but their udders are still small so I expect the will start dropping their lambs as soon as we are on the ship for our cruise! It’s their way! LOL 
I noticed that the ewes need their feet trimmed so I think I will get my sons to help me set up the tilt table on the field and start doing hoof trimming when I return from my cruise in February. I won’t do the pregnant ewes at this late date in their pregnancy in the tilt table since I don’t want to roll them over in case it displaces the lambs and causes lambing problems. After they lamb will be fine. They have been out on the big field so their hooves are not that bad. Yay! I can use another piece of equipment. I will let you know how it turns out. I should have taken pix of us weighing the sheep so you could see how wonderful this scale is. Next time.
Yes, my sister-in-law said she had her knee replacement done immediately when she was told she needed it. She said it has been great and very little recovery and PT needed. She was really encouraging me to have mine done. She said that most people wait so long that there is a lot of damage to the knee and other bones by the time they decide to go for it. Right now I don't have any pain but once I start doing a lot of my normal activities again, I'll be in pain again. I don't know if I will be able to ride, but at lest I could do more walking again.
, so not a keeper, but he was 9.6 lbs. and healthy. The ewe has good bloodlines, will produce well, and lambs easily so all good. The lamb was born in the field, early am, no problems. Rika was happily munching the afterbirth when DS1 came up mid morning to chide DH over not noticing that there was a newborn lamb in the pen when he fed! LOL First the hearing goes, then the eyesight! LOL
I can't wait until the elections at the end of May. Then I will be free! No guilt feelings about my long trip to Texas or having to arrange stuff in advance when I will be out of town. I can't serve another term as president (2 years is the limit), and I have told the Board that I will not serve in any other position either. I have been on the Board for 6 years now and I believe that new blood needs to come in each year. It is better for the club to have new ideas and not stagnate as organizations do when the old guard refuses to give up their power. I am currently dealing with some problems with a member. I had to warn him in person about his behavior, and now I have written a cautionary letter - the first steps in removing someone from the cub membership if they do not shape up and play nice with everyone. When the Board asked if I needed any backup, I told them I had raised 5 children and no longer knew fear! LOL
