Chicks Rock

We took a hike up to Rabun Bald. It is a two mile hike. For those that do not know, Rabun Bald is the second highest peak in Georgia at 4696 Ft. Our house is at 3652 feet. The path going up is around the corner from us, so we loaded up the goats and headed out. Tom of course, did not want to bring the goats, thought they would end up slowing us down. He realized quickly the goats loved it and Katie was the slow-down. He ended up carrying her most of the way back down. It was a perfectly beautiful day with a cool breeze blowing, sun shining and few clouds. Of course, we did not see any wildlife beyond a few snails. Contrary to Tom’s belief, the goats bleating did not in fact, attract bears.

I’m trying to upload some photos now.

Things to remember:
1. 3 year olds can’t really hike 4 miles up hill.
2. Even if they say they are tired, if something interests them, they have more energy that you.
3. Down hill is much nicer and much faster.
4. The tower at the top is fantastic, however, I will not be carrying my telescope up there any time this century.
5. The decision to make it so you can’t drive up was not a good idea, in my opinion.
6. Trail goats are cool.

So I was reading a few funny blog sites today. Specifically:
http://psychoticlettersfrommen.blogspot.com

and

http://www.whywomenhatemen.blogspot.com/

Where I found this little gem. Really, how do 5 guys get together to plan something like this, film it, then every single one of them decide it is AOK to upload to youtube?

I forced my husband to watch it. His comments? “Wierd.” and “That guy is so stupid, his last name is Cannon and he still feels the need to come up with a name like Pipelaya.”

I have seen the weirdest creatures since spring decided to get sprung. Oh, by the way, we have a new addition to the family. Tom found a box turtle that now has a very nice home. She doesn’t have a name yet, but she looks to be pretty old. Her shell around the edges is pretty beat up, but otherwise, she is a pleasure. Katie likes watching TV with her.

Anyway, on to the mutants. I’m digging out a small pond for the turtle and I find this thumb size freaky peach colored thing. It looked almost like a sand flea. It has pincers, and the body curved around. Unfortunately, It was damaged in the digging. After some googling, evidently it is a pupae of a beetle. A darned big one from the looks of it.

Today, Fathers Day, we had a picnic at the community park. The park has a playground and a great little stream as well as some rockin’ rocks for climbing. Tom was panning for gold while Katie was freezing her butt off but refusing to get out of the water. She likes wood. She likes throwing wood and watching it float downstream. She also likes throwing rocks. We actually went to 3 different waterfalls today. She is a natural climbing around the rocks. She does not like sitting in the waterfall itself though. The fact that it is about 65 degrees and the water is around 50 degrees might have a bit to do with it.

Sorry, freaks of nature. At the Rabun Branch waterfall, I look down in the water and it looks like there is a big flower bud in the water. I grab a stick and the bud swims away! I keep looking and see what has to be a 4-5 inch tadpole. I swear, it had to be almost as big as my hand. I told Tom, he didn’t believe it was that big, then he came over to see it. His words? “Holy Shit!” We couldn’t catch one as I was unprepared. Next time? I’m bringing my water shoes, some nets and my bait bucket baby!

In the little creek that runs along our property line, I saw a nice fat crawdaddy. He hid in the much before I could gather my sanity.

Evidently, I need a camera mounted to my head at all times. We saw zero wildlife for months, and now, every day it seems I see something else/new/huge/freakish.

No snakes yet. No bears yet. No coyotes yet. Excuse me while I feverishly knock on wood.

Well, my chicks arrived 2 weeks early so it has been busy as heck for me trying to keep baby chicks in and persistent goats out.   I took some pics of the coop and run.  It ended up being smaller than I intended.  I gave Ace Hardware 3 tries to order the right wire and they kept getting it wrong and I had to get something up quick!

Unfortunately, the run is pretty much all sun.  So I made a shadecrow.  She isn’t designed to scare, but to provide shade.

Also put up a swing for Katie, which she insists on calling the “Wheee!”  She is once again, a swing addict.  Although thankfully this time, the swing doesn’t require an endless supply of D batteries.

Tom has been job hunting like mad.  Needless to say, the job situation up here sucks.  He has some good leads, one for an actual network administrator, we should be hearing about that one this week.   I’ll start looking next week.

On to the pics!

Doodle Do

Shadecrow- (Yes, that was my prom dress and hey Kim, thanks for the wig!)

The Babies

And to keep you updated: KayKay loves baby chickens, baby goats, Go Diego Go, Max & Ruby and just absolutely adores The Wonderpets. Her summer vacation is filled with dirt, water, critters and lots and lots of outside. I really need to get a picture of her ready to go outside. It consists of shoes. Just shoes. I swear, our neighbors must think we never dress her since every time WE turn around, she has shucked off her clothes and is running wild. I dressed her 3 times before 11 am the other day and our neighbor Nancy STILL saw her naked.

Oh, weed eated the yard the other day. Found nothing but one frog and two hornets nests. Tom trimmed up by the road and found a box turtle! No fair! Turtle is now living in the chicken run. For the time being. I’ll probably let her loose soon.

The weather here has been just wonderful, as you can tell from the pictures. Even the hottest day so far doesn’t compare at all to Florida. We get a nice breeze through the woods and over the mountain so it never gets muggy…yet. Of course, we’ve had about a bazillion severe weather forecasts, mostly it is just rain, rain and more rain, unless it is snow or fog. There are always clouds in the forecast.

I’ll try to get more pics of KayKay. Maybe even some with her clothes on.

“On Fedex vehicle for delivery.”

Clear skies, husband out of town and a shiny new telescope, set to arrive any time.

Life is Good.

Well, according to People Magazine anyway.  If you didn’t think that space was sexy, funny or cool, you haven’t had the opportunity to see Neil Degrassi Tyson on The Daily Show, part 1.

In case you don’t know, it is his fault Pluto got demoted.

He really shouldn’t search Cafe Press for Pluto.  Some folks are bitter.  Well, I’m kinda bitter, but more gobsmacked that we can declare something NOT a planet.    How many astrophysicists does it take to change a planet? One really good, really convincing, really persistent one.

It’s official. I’ve lost my damned mind. But I got a sweeeeet ride!

Ok, got the camera, got the cord, got the computer, got the time.

Be warned, 250 uncategorized photos, been lost on the computer since Christmas.  Little bit of everything, and quite a bit of toddler nudity.

I think the whining and nudity phase are tied together somehow.  I hope both soon shall pass.  We went to Richard and Mandy’s today and Katie had her shoes off in 2 minutes and her skirt off in 5.  She spent most of the day with just a shirt on and refused to put anything else on.  *shrug* we live in the woods, she’s a mountain girl, if she can’t run around nekkid now, when can she?

Very little sun today and tons of clouds.   Rumor has it, spring may come soon.

I’m heading to Chattanooga tomorrow to meet Cathy for lunch.  I might be able to pick up some fish for my tank while I’m there.

Oh yeah, I have a spiffy Jeep Cherokee since my van blew up.  It is now officially a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Country 4WD Hello Kitty Edition.  Pics coming soon!  Thanks to my Mom-in-Law for the conversion.   Tom still drives it, I may have to take more drastic measures.

Link for photos:

http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq331/auntbeast/Mass%20Uplo

Well, I’m down one goat.  Cocoa got attacked by something and succumed to her injuries.  Now I have the lonliest goat ever.  I keep trying to catch a goat auction, but keep missing them.  It seems the later part of the month is the time for them.

My Light Brahma chicks arrived a few weeks ago and already they are almost as large as Katie’s chicken, who is about a month older.  I did procure a rooster, who has been dubbed Doodle Do since that is what Katie calls him.   He has convinced Sister (My remaining goat) that she is ridable and spends a lot of time on her back.  It is an odd picture since he stands taller than the goat.  These are gonna be some big, big chickens.  It won’t be long before the babies are ready to go with the big chickens.

My Jeep wouldn’t start, thought it might be the $300 part my mechanic told me about, but nope, it needed a battery.

I took Sister for a walk up to Rabun Bald yesterday, she did very well.  She’ll be a trail goat yet!  We didn’t make it to the top since it was getting late and well, I’m terrified of bears.   Sadly, my logic went towards the “bear will eat goat before me” direction, although, she wouldn’t be very filling for a bear of any consequence.

The damn bamboo type stuff is taking over, it grows damn near a foot a day and has roots like mad.  It is queering my plan for raised beds considering it took me an hour to dig my hose out of where they had grown up.

Katie is a chicken and goat catcher extraordinaire.  She can snatch up a chicken faster than you can sneeze.  Shockingly, she has not yet injured any of them.  Considering they started out as day old chicks, I’m impressed.   Either she is more gentle than I give her credit for, or the chickens are tough little contortionists.

Did I mention I finally got the fridge of my dreams?  It is a double door Coca-cola cooler.

The fan petered out on it, but we got it working again.  I absolutely love it.  Katie can reach everything, wait, is that a good thing?

Since the rule is everything that I own must break, I’m wondering what is next.   Please let it be my hot water heater.  Ours is a little one and I haven’t had a long, hot shower since I got here.  I always seem to run out of hot water.

I’ll get my camera, the cable and my computer together in the same place and when I do, I’ll upload some pics.