There is a reason

I am 78 years old. I love to cook and spend a great deal of time in my kitchen. The addition I am planning will increase my linear counter space from 17.5 feet to 28 feet. That sounds like heaven to me! I went from a 4,000 square foot house on two floors to a 1900 square foot house on THREE floors!

For five years now I have been trying to squeeze 20 pounds of you-know-what into a 10 pound bag, and frankly I'm tired of that. But really, just because I have to go to the garage, the bookcase where I keep my cookbooks, the drawer in my china cabinet and the front hall closet as well as the normal places for ingredients and cooking gear on baking days, there is no need to make this investment. It appears that on the day I turn 80 I am no longer going to have any desire to bake. Or so I have been told by a couple of people recently. So why spend the money on an extension?

I was whining to my daughter about it, justifying it by saying it is my money and I'll do as I please. And then she reminded me of what precipitated this building project in the first place. When I had foot surgery two years ago, I found out just how difficult it was to live on three floors. 

I love where I live, my view of the river will still light up my life even when I am too old to hop in my kayak. But it is unreasonable to believe I will be able to navigate three floors when I am 95 years old. So I came up with the idea of adding on to the house so that I could have a full bath, laundry room and bedroom on the first floor. So that's what I am planning. The architect pointed out that I wouldn't need that floor plan for a few years (hopefully), and so the project became a living room extension, and while they are at it, an extension of the kitchen as well. And there will be an extension of my walkout basement underneath the new addition (all above ground), so that means more space for inventory for my ever growing skin care business. Business has doubled in the past year, and I am really feeling the squeeze in the soap room. I will have a workout area, too. Right now my exercise equipment is being used to hold boxes of jars and paper supplies. There is just no room down there!

Anyway, enough of a long story. The next person who questions why I think I need a bigger kitchen at my age will be told that this is an extension so I can remain in my house when I can't navigate three floors anymore. Spend it on the house now and get some enjoyment out of it -- including a bigger kitchen and a living room extension with a fireplace -- or wait until I can't live here anymore and spend it on assisted living. Easy choice, hey?

My view

New calf

The new calf is not suckling.  Mother is not sure what to do.  I should think this would be instinctual, but this is two heifers that have freshened, and neither one would let their calf nurse, both very concerned and loving mothers, but just not catching on to the nursing thing.

I hand fed the calf last night, got about a cup and a half of colostrum down her throat.  I also allowed the older calf to be in with them, in the hopes that the bigger calf would latch on and Mama would get the drift.  I'm about to head out this morning, just waiting for sunrise.

I'll check to see if the goose came back, too.  It is not looking good.  The food I put out for her is untouched.  The three geese that we penned up by the pond to lure her back home are so happy that they are not making much noise.  I deliberately annoyed them a couple of times to get them talking some goose talk. 

It troubles me that she is out there in the wild.  I hope she is all right.

The wandering goose

I took food and water down to Androo's geese this morning.  The goose is back.  I didn't see her, but I heard her, very definitely.  She is hanging around, and that is good.

Next step - leave Androo's geese in the pen another two days, then open up the pen so that she can join them inside the pen at night.

Last step - try to figure out who is dating whom!!

The grand experiment

Still no geese.  And the female hasn't been sighted in over 24 hours.  Today Androo and I built a fence around an old trailer that sits beside my pond.  Then we put cracked corn in a bowl, threw some straw in one corner inside the trailer, got a big bucket of water and headed over to his house to pick up his three geese.

We brought them to the new pen and unloaded them.  They will be making goose noises, and our hope is that they will attract the two missing geese.

One thing we think happened is that we didn't get the pairs right when we split up the geese at my house on Monday night.  The geese ran in two different directions.  Had they been mates, they would have left together.  So my guess is that each of them is trying to find their true mate.  They will probably show up at Androo's tonight, while Androo's geese are now here at my house.

If the goose (the female) shows up but no gander (the male), then Androo will leave one of his ganders for her.  If the worst happens and nothing comes of this, then all three geese will go back to Androo's (and probably with wrong mate but hopefully they will get over it).  And when I buy a new pair in August, when Mattie says the next ones will be ready to leave home, at least I will have a proper pen.  So much for letting them run.  It just didn't work, not with all of the ponds and wetlands around here, and of course without the proper mate.

Many lessons learned.

Lost

Still no camera.

Still no gander.

It appears that the goose is living in the wetlands between my and my neighbor's farms.

I am sad.

Why farmers walk with their heads down

While I was married, my then-husband felt it was his duty to improve me, often telling me how to talk, dress, cut my hair, pick my friend - and how to walk!  He criticized me for walking with my head down.  Yes, he was right, I often did that.  I really did try to keep my head up and look straight ahead, but it didn't feel natural to me.

One evening we were at my mom and dad's farm, and when we left, he criticized the three people in the car because he could smell manure.  "Who has manure on their shoes?" he queried.  We all looked.  We were all clean.  Then my daughter quietly said, "Have you checked your shoes?"

Since all of us swore our shoes were clean, what could he do but stop the car and check his own shoes?  There, on the bottom of one shoe, packed neatly from the front of the heel all the way through the arch, was dog poop!  We tried hard not to laugh.  I don't think we succeeded.

I said, "Now you know why farmers walk with their heads down."

Here's another case in point.  This evening, the milkers told me that they saw a goose in Paddock #17.  I headed down there with some bread.  I want the gander to stay here, and I'm not above bribery.  Still only one of the pair is to be found.  And as I said, I was pretty sure it was the gander.

He didn't want the bread.  He half flew, half walked away from me, out of the pasture and into the pond.  I watched him swim away from me.  He wasn't tempted by the pieces of bread that I threw his way.  I turned to leave, with my head down, of course. 

There on the ground, about three feet from the edge of the pond, was a magnificent goose egg!  I would have missed it if I hadn't been looking down.

Obviously, the one that is left isn't a gander!  Androo has a goose and two ganders, so I may be buying one of his ganders, but I continue to hope the old boy is going to come back home.

Goosed!

Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

Yesterday, Androo and I went to an Amish farm near Nappanee and picked up our geese.  Andrew got two ganders and a goose, I got a pair.  We stopped at my place first and managed to wrest the pair out of the cage in Androo's car.  Driving 35 miles home with five geese in a cage was an experience.  I will spare you ALL of the details, but it was noisy!

My two geese took off, wandering around and honking mightily.  It scared the calf.  I had buttoned up the chickens first, since I didn't really want to deal with a poultry competition.  The two of them seemed okay.  I let the dogs out.  Tashi ran at them, but I commanded "leave it" and she left them alone, came back to my side.  Then the geese headed down towards the creek.  One took off to the east, the other to the west.  

I didn't see them again.

I slept poorly, waking up several times and wishing I had put them in the barn just for the first night.  This morning at daybreak, I heard a goose honking.   I think it was the gander (the guy).  He was honking at his reflection in my sliding glass door onto the lower level patio.  I went outside and he ran from me, but hung around the patio door for about a half hour.  Then he disappeared again.  I suppose he is looking for his mate. 

I hope they find each other.  And that they both find the farm!!