Crappy Pictures

It has been pretty overcast here since I arrived.
BUT.....I tried to take some pictures inside the tiny house:

Old fridge built into the wall.

Closer view

Corner where my bed will be

Plenty of windows, though!

Spare windows that are destined for a cold frame project

Kitchen! But, alas, no running water or septic for the sinks.

My stove! Heat and cooking in one (once it is hooked up and cleaned off)

It's not much, but it will work for me and Siona.
Speaking of which.....

Siona checking out the snow and her new neighbors...

New neighbors. Named Cheese and Quakers.

The local waterfall in it's frozen Winter glory!

Today will be a busy day. After I finish this post, I will go out to do some more cleaning in the tiny house, try to hook up the wood stove myself and possibly get that king sized box spring and mattress the heck out of there!

I have been staying nights at dear friends, Timi and Jim's house, but I feel bad imposing on them...besides...I want to sleep in my own dang house as soon as possible!

So...off to cleaning...and I will try to take a few pictures while I am at it!

Let's Bring Everyone Up To Date...

What a month! Everything that could happen has happened!
Lost 2 alpacas, one rooster.
Okay...I can deal with that. It sucks, but I can deal.
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Then...a car wreck. Some idiot passed me on a double yellow line as I was in the middle of a turn into my driveway and ripped off my bumper, bent my tie rod and various other small damages.
So, been dealing with that and the insurance company, etc.
Okay....
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A cousin of the Darlin' Man passed away the start of the month. He was only 49, but he had abused drugs and alcohol from a young age. He died of cirrhosis.
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Then last Friday my Uncle George died. He was 88, he and his wife had been married 67 years, almost 68.
Uncle George was the last of his generation in our family. He out-lived all of his siblings. And was the longest lived of any of the men in his family as long back as we can trace! He had a long life and, according to those who were there, seemed "ready to go". He asked to be helped with a bath, saying; "I need to be clean, I'm not going dirty!", got his pajamas on, laid down in bed, sighed and was gone. A peaceful passing.
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Then yesterday, the Darlin' Mans son called to announce the birth of his first, a boy.

The Darlin' Man is now a Grandpa!
The Darlin' Man will be going down there this weekend to meet his new grandson.
Life goes on!
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The past couple of days were vicious cold, but today we will be in the 30s, tomorrow in the 40s (YAY!!!).
Spring comes...a little later than most folks out there, but Spring does arrive nonetheless.
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This morning:

Breakfast!

Champagne with her private spot.

 

Uhmm...it's Spring, why is there snow still here!?

Champagne graciously shares with Mambo the sheep.

Chaser, our new buck!

Surprise This Morning!

Look out my back door!

Yes, we have SNOW!!!
It started around 6:30am and has been coming down steadily since. The kids are thrilled, as it is supposed to stay cold all weekend...so White Christmas for us!

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Other news this morning....
Patches and Geordi left Frippery Farm this morning...headed to the Houston area.
A co-worker of the Darlin' Man wanted a couple of goats to give his father-in-law for Christmas.
The Darlin' Man made the deal, came home from work last night and told me (!) and this morning, before the sun came up, we loaded Patches and Geordi up for their trip.
I will miss goofy little Patches...

But even more...I will miss Geordi!

I helped load them up and made sure Geordi had his favorite snacks...bananas and cookies.
I petted them both....making sure I scratched Patches right under her chin...she loved that!
The little farm they are going to is 4 acres of lush green grass and plenty of bushes for them to browse. They'll be treated as pets...no fear of getting butchered. Patches won't even be milked! Just petted and given lots of good food and browsing.
I am happy we found such a good home for them...
Still, I cried. Geordi was special. We called him our "Homie". He is an affectionate little guy and loves his people!
Patches was such a goofy little goat. Not a good milker,but she was a good mama. She loved her sweet feed and getting her chin scratched would put her in a total state of bliss.
I cried over Patches, too.
I made sure they knew how to take care of her, as she is due to kid Dec 30th...although with the stress of the move, she may deliver sooner! We made sure they had some sweet feed and alfalfa hay, as well as some favorite snacks...the bananas for Geordi and sugar cookies and gingerbread for both. A couple of cut up apples for Patches.
Good luck Patches and Geordi....may you have happy lives in your new home!

Look What is Going on Here!

Snow on cactus? Check!

Confused goats....

Mom...MOM! What the heck is this white stuff!?

Yes, we have SNOW! Not a normal thing here in El Paso. The newer goats (Nina and Lily) are just turning a year old, so they are VERY confused and a bit distraught. Lily, pictured above, is yelling her head off. I keep telling her to just go in her house and snuggle down, but she's not having it! She wants the white stuff to stop and stop NOW! I think I'll give her a wee bit of extra sweet feed this evening. Maybe with a full tummy she will calm down a bit and get to sleep tonight, poor confused thing.

Did YOU Prepare For Winter Storms?

The whole country is in the grip of Ol' Man Winter and I see news story after news story about folks getting stranded in their cars, leaving freezing homes to shelter at centers set up by their city, etc.

 Pictures of grocery store cleaned out by people desperately trying to buy supplies at the last minute are all over the 'Net.

What did your local grocery store look like?

I didn't go to the store...had plenty of food and water here and had plenty of things to do before the storm hit.
I am in El Paso and we have had black-outs, water mains bursting and natural gas shortages here, along with pipes freezing, fires, etc. to keep the city busy.
None of the above has affected my household yet and I am holding onto hope that we won't be affected.
BUT...before the storm hit, I prepared.
First and foremost, actually listen to your local weather report or look it up online. Forewarned is fore-armed for whatever comes your way!
Two days before the cold front hit, I washed and dried all the extra blankets we had in storage and placed them in the various bedrooms for easy access.
I put a flashlight beside everyones bed on the night stands.
I placed candles around the house in locations I thought would be appropriate.I put a pack of matches in each location as well!
I put extra straw in the goat pens and chicken coop so the livestock could stay warm.
I did buy a couple of extra bags of charcoal for the grill and positioned the grill on the back patio just in case we ended up having to cook on it.
Although we have plenty of stored water, I bottled up more---just in case.
In case the power went out, I put a cooler on the back patio near the door so I could put frozen foods or refrigerated food in it if need be.
Baked some bread and cookies in case we lost our gas.
Made sure all household members had ample sweaters, sweatshirts and long sleeved shirts clean and ready. Ditto for gloves and hats and socks.

By the time the snow started to fall here, I felt that I had done everything I could with my resources to prepare. We have stayed warm and well fed, as has our livestock.

Look at the word PREPARE.
PRE means "in advance of"....
We should all PREpare for situations we are forewarned about.
The economy is bad, so we should all PREpare for the possibility of losing employment by paying off debt and saving a *safety cushion* of funds "just in case".
A storm is coming so we should all PREpare for the possibility that we may lose electricity, gas and water.
If you have minimal resources, prepare as best you can...even some preparation is better than none!
Stay warm!

SNOW DAY!!!!

Normally, snow in El Paso and the surrounding desert region is a *dusting*. Pretty to look at, but nothing to get excited about as it vanishes within a few hours.

The picture above was the last snow storm we had. It stayed on the mountains for almost a day and a half before all traces vanished. As you can see, it had already retreated from the desert valley.

Yesterday evening, real snow started. Fat wet flakes that looked determined to set up housekeeping and stay for a much longer time! It snowed for most of the late evening and night as we got hit with the same storm system that is roaring across the rest of the US right now.

So last night, it looked a bit different outside...

And then this morning....

I know, I know...doesn't look like much to you folks in the Midwest or back East....especially the North East, but this is a HUGE snowfall for El Paso!
Schools are closed. Gov't offices---closed. A lot of businesses---closed.

My goats are horribly confused by all this white stuff sticking around, as are the chickens. I added extra straw to the goat pens and the chicken coop last night so all the critters could snuggle down and stay warm.
I gave all the animals an extra ration of feed this morning and added some fat to it...gotta fuel the internal furnace!
I did all the common sense moves last night...left faucets on a trickle so the pipes wouldn't freeze....but I bottled up extra water---just in case. Got extra blankets out in case the power went out on us. Positioned a picnic cooler near the back door. If the power abandons us, I can fill it halfway with snow, put in refrigerated items and keep them from going bad.

Since the schools are closed, Boy and Girl are home today. They greeted the news of the school closed with the expected squeals and shouts of joy, then promptly went back to bed, lol!
I am sure I can find things for them to do to keep them busy once the get up.
Hope the rest of you are making it through this storm okay!