Year of the Goat

Its all starting to make sense.

I was born in the year of the goat.

We moved to the farm in the year of the goat.

I love this letter for goat, and below is some info off a web site about us poor folks born in that year.

It really all makes sense now...

Except for the knack of always getting off on the wrong foot with people, the Goat can be charming company. You are elegant and artistic but the first to complain about things. Put aside your pessimism and worry and try to be less dependent on material comforts. You would be best as an actor, gardener, or beachcomber. Some Goats: Rachel Carson, Michelangelo, Mark Twain, Rudolph Valentino, Barbara Walters, Orville Wright.

http://www.wisegorilla.com/images/chinese/chinese.html

Find out your year here. Maybe it tells your story!!

Fine Weather Day

Yesterday was another one of those Mark Twain days - just wait a minute.

Can you tell what time of day? 11:37AM

If you are wondering when that bench is going to get picked up, so am I. Its been frozen to the ground since we got the ice on Wednesday.

Fifteen minutes before, it was almost sunny and I was gearing up to get a load of firewood from the barn, and then go work out a little. You know I need it.

I was all dressed up and suddenly the wind was howling again, and I couldn't see the end of the path to get there.
My little tractor art was whipping away, but hung in there.
After the snow dumped a couple of inches and filled in the areas that I had just cleared, I decided it wasn't worth trying to get out or get the wood. Soon enough, the sun came out to make it all look so pretty, but you can see the wind was still rearranging things.

Just Wait a Few Minutes

OK.
So this is my excuse for not getting anything out the past few days, but the very popular "Henrietta".
The weather.
I don't mind cold and snow, but this is nasty.

We had gotten more snow last night and then freezing rain on top of that. This morning, the dog, in his haste to do the morning duties, could hardly get moving again, once he stopped himself from wiping out on the ice. He looked over his shoulder with those whites of his eyes showing, trying to get me to help. All I could do was tell him "Hurry Up!". He did. Right there. Within four steps of the kitchen door. Not normally tolerated, but Border Collies don't know how to go slow, so in his confusion of trying to go slow, he just went.

Realizing that the dog's forty and a few pounds wasn't cracking through the ice layer, I worried about the little crazies trying to go outside and decided it was too risky. I was intending to let the adults out because the temperature had gotten above freezing, but then the sleety junk became rain. Then a downpour.
So I ended up spending an hour in the barn for goat lunch and recess. It was going to be ridiculous to take them, their grain and hay out. They would gobble the grain, a little hay and then stand in the shed all day. Half the hay would get wet and wasted. Inside, they enjoyed the hour, milling around, and then starting to get into things they shouldn't. That's when it was back into the stalls for the afternoon.

The Pussy Willow is not usually so windswept looking.

That would be the severe gusts bending it over.

Today's weather reminded me of the Mark Twain quote, "If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes".

At about 4 o'clock it was as dark as sunset. I had to check the time thinking it was time to feed the goats. Then more snow came and the wind was sucking it up into tornadoes and sending it down and across the fields.Next the wind started pounding and whistling. It was candle lighting time. Not for religious purposes, but it always seems that this kind of weather is where a tree or a car takes out a power line. Just like to be ready. Plus I like candles.

When I was double checking the quote, I found another fitting one for today.

"Shut the door. Not that it lets in the cold but that it lets out the cozyness."- Mark Twain's Notebook

And this is a great, humorous piece if you have the time to read it.

New England Weather
By Mark Twain
Speech delivered at the New England Society's Seventy-First Annual Dinner, New York City, Dec. 22, 1876.

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/arts/twain1.htm