Stella's Social Club

[The Sheriff]

You made me cry Diva. Beautifully said.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Diva, I'm so sorry for the hole in your heart.

I had to put down my prior dog and my cat 3 months apart. (they were a year apart in age) It was very difficult, but I try to look at all the joy they give us while they are here. I know someday, I will have to do it again with my German Shepherd, but hopefully we'll have many more years with her first.

 

[drumstick diva]

Thanks Mary & Kelly & Rinda- I didn't mean to hijack the thread. After that and 'other' strange things with vets, I have no confidence in them. I would never want to be dependent on them to heal or diagnose anything. So no dogs.

 

[debs_flock]

Rin Every one took a piece of my heart with them, till I was running on empty.

Ever since ,I just love on every dog I see , the neighbor's dogs, friend's dogs, relative's dogs.
When I am really feeling bad I go to Petsmart so I can pet some stranger's dog. It always makes me feel better for time - then I hurt all over missing mine again.

Diva, I currently own four dogs, from 11.5 years old on down to the Great Dane (notoriously short lived) at 4 years old.

I know that I'll never have more than one or two dogs at a time again. About a year ago I was dwelling on how much I love dogs and the fact that I was nearly 60. I burst into tears with the sudden realization that I wouldn't truly know more than another couple of dogs in my lifetime. You know, when you have that deep down relationship with them.

Dogs are that way, they take up a space in your heart like no other creature.

 

[mlm Mike]

Diva, you have a wonderful heart.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

We jumped into goats with both feet this weekend! A friend called me out of the blue who knew I wanted goats and offered us a steal of a deal so she could reduce her herd. So we have 3 does and 1 buck, all Alpines from good milking lines. Still trying to decide names.







And here's Merlin the Menace looking innocent:


Sad news was we had to say goodbye to our 11 year old Aussie mix. She had cancer in her jaw and had gotten to the point she wouldn't eat. My oldest daughter took it hardest but we took our time saying our goodbyes and talked about her being in heaven with the puppy I had to put down when we were first married (severe seizures with no identifiable cause). Izzy was with us for 9 years so definitely a family member.

sorry about that. we have 2 12 year old Labs that are starting to have a tough time. very saddening

 

[Happy Chooks]

For those of you that don't have a great view of the eclipse tonight, you can see it from the Slooh Observatory live feed here:
http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html

 

[1muttsfan]

Filled both my incubators last week. One batch of Swedish Flower Hen eggs from KYTinpusher came wrapped like this




Very clever! They were in bubble wrap inside the plastic eggs, then in a box with shredded paper.

Another was the Arkansas Blue egg layers, and the nice clear blue egg color and size are very impressive. Here they are (left) next to some CL eggs from my flock (right)

 

[speckledhen]

Tonight is winter's last hurrah, it seems. Well, maybe tomorrow night is also a bit iffy, but tonight, we're going down to near the teens for lows. I don't want to lose all my blueberries, pears and apples that have already bloomed out, but there's nothing I can do, no way to cover trees that are taller than we are so the rain we're getting will have to help with averting frost damage like when they spray the orange crops in Florida to prevent damage during a projected freeze. There are numerous tiny pears on my Moonglow, too, darn it! Just have to hope against hope that I will have those pears this year. Our usual last frost date is about the 3rd week of April here at my altitude, but 32* is much better than the predicted less than 24* (forecast says 24* but that is the town, which is 400 ft lower than I am). That may just do it for some of our fruit, unfortunately.

We only have cabbage, a cool weather crop, and garlic and potatoes in the ground so they should be fine, though Tom ran some opaque 6 mil plastic sheeting over the cabbage and potatoes anyway. Tom covered the rhubarb plants with buckets. We follow the farmers and don't plant other things in the actual ground until about May 1 or after most of the time.


ETA: at 4 p.m. it's SNOWING. Darn it.

 

[The Sheriff]

Just got Michael Ruhlman's new cookbook EGG. Love it! I used his method for poaching eggs this morning and it was perfect! I ordered two more signed copies to giveaway on my website, I'll let you guys know when.

Ignore the crappy pictures. I was just ready to eat!