My brothers and I celebrated our birthdays this October, and I baked two cakes! Real cakes, with gluten and sugar and all the bad wonderful tasting things. The cakes were a treat to eat, and also a treat for me to bake. We would have needed one hundred and nineteen candles to represent all our years!
Our traditional October birthday family meal is chili spaghetti, Cincinnati style, topped with shredded cheese, diced onions, and oyster crackers, and served by the fireside. This year, along with regular spaghetti and gluten free spaghetti, we served spaghetti squash grown in my garden, which has been stored in the root cellar.
I baked the squash halves at four hundred and sixty degrees for an hour, then scooped out all the squash noodles into the crock pot, topped it with ghee patties, and turned it on low. It worked pretty good! I hoped that if I skipped the real noodles and crackers, then I would do less damage to my body when I ate two pieces of cake!
It's hard for me to believe that October is already over. October was the check-in on Ernest from the equine adoption agency. I had to submit a picture of his body, from the side, and a photo of his feet. In January they will remind me that his vet check-up is due. If the vet says he's well cared for, then I think the adoption agency will be satisfied that we've provided a good home. Ernest has settled in well, and feels free to bray for food and attention! We can tell the two donkeys apart from their bray. Rufus sounds like a rusty hinge, and Ernest sounds like an old fashioned car horn.
Aa-ooga! Aa-ooga!
The new puppy, Sienna, likes to chase the chickens. Not with intent to eat or kill them, but she enjoys it when they squawk and flutter away. She's a ruckus instigator!
When the puppy is on the loose, Cogburn, the rooster, clucks and calls all twelve hens together and leads them into the dense weeds in the tree line. Most of the hens look ragged right now from the fall molt. They look like scruffy ruffians hiding in the weeds!
Look, a double rainbow!
The guineas are more brave than the chickens, so they don't run far when Sienna charges through their space. Wendigo knows to pay attention when the guineas sound the alarm, and you can see her turn her head and prick her ears when they start to call. She will follow them to the source of their excitement, and I've noticed the puppy following her lead. Guineas and great pyrenness make a good defensive team.
Pistol Pete, the ram, is growing a long shaggy neck ruff. He's very shy and won't let me pet him. When he sticks his head in his food bowl I sneak a few scratches between his ears. He gets offended, and ducks his head. He loves his daily pound of mixed grains, which I call cookies. Who doesn't love cookies!
Lambchop, the ewe, hasn't had her baby yet. When we brought her home, we thought birth was imminent, but she just keeps getting fatter! Sheep are pregnant for five months, so if her pregnancy started in July, it may be as late as December before we get a new lamb. The reason the farmer wanted to sell her was because she was pregnant out of season, and will give birth during the cold winter. My hope is that we can keep her lamb warm and help it survive despite being born in the wrong time of year. If we can keep it alive, and it's a girl, then we will have another breeder. Cross your fingers! Lambchop is getting tamer by the day, and will even stay lying down while I pet her. She's as soft as a cotton ball.
Do you know how I can tell it's getting to be winter? Is it the frost, or the dropped leaves? Nope. It's how many pictures I've taken of cozy cats!
The cats and I are patiently waiting for the first inside fire. Brandon has accused us of burning all the best, driest wood early in the year last year, so this year I'm wearing an extra sweater, and the cats are curled up somewhere snugly until real winter sets in. It won't be long!
