The Goats are Gone

Not all the goats mind you, but the Criminal Element has been banished from the farm. However, they really didn’t get the punishment they so richly deserve. No, it’s more of a reward, since they were taken to a new farm with lots of little girl goats. Nirvana indeed!

They didn’t leave without one last escapade, however. Their new warden was supposed to pick them up one day last week. I left them in their smaller night pen, figuring he’d show up any time. The hours went by, but no one came.

About mid-afternoon I noticed one little buck goat, The Jumper, was out with the sheep. He’s an expert at leaping over fences! I figured if he was out, I might as well let the rest out, which I did. Then I waited some more, until finally the day was gone and it was close to dark, so I needed to get evening chores done. The new warden was AWOL!

The Farmer came home from work about the time I was finishing up chores, and was surprised to see the trio of troublemakers still here. We went inside, where I noticed we had a message on the answering machine.

Wouldn’t you know it? It was the guy calling to say he was going to head up to our place and pick up the goats. Too bad he didn’t call before I fed them! The Jumper had already vaulted the fence again and was running around with the sheep, so we had to round him back up, scoot the other two out of their pen, and get all three contained in the back of the shed.

Once we had them safely jailed, we waited for their New Warden. And we waited, and waited, and waited some more. I went inside to check the answering machine in case the guy had got lost and called for directions. There was indeed another message on the answering machine, wanting The Farmer to call. It turns out the guy hadn’t even left yet!

By this time it was totally dark. There isn’t electricity in the little shed, but we do have a couple of outdoor extension cords running out there, so I plugged them in and hooked up a trouble light so we could see.

With it getting so late, I needed to go inside to check on supper and left The Farmer to deal with goats and buyer.

FINALLY, the guy showed up and got his truck parked as close to the shed as possible. I figured two big, strong men could get 3 pygmy sized goats from the pen in the shed to the pen in the back of the truck, so I stayed inside.

I figured wrong, as usual! I stepped out on the porch to check on their progress. The first two goats were loaded, and the new Warden was bringing the third out of the shed. He had hold of one – just one! -- of the goat’s horns as he was guiding it to his truck. Mistake! The goat gave his head a twist to get loose, and was gone in a flash.

Remember, it’s DARK.

The goat ran towards the back pasture. There are no lights there. I saw The Farmer take off after it, while The Warden just stood by his truck. (I guess Wardens are used to letting the guards do the work.) I figured I’d go out and give The Farmer some help. I picked up a bucket of feed on the way, and headed towards the back pasture.

When I went past this guy’s truck, he decided he’d like to chat awhile. He told me what nice goats we had, and showed signs of talking until the cows came home (it’s a sure bet the goat wasn’t coming back without some encouragement). I finally told him I needed to help The Farmer and headed on towards the back pasture.

Have you ever tried herding goats at night? Stumbling around in the dark listening for goat bleats is not my idea of entertainment, though no doubt it would have looked highly entertaining to anyone watching, if they could have actually SEEN us!

I started shaking the bucket of grain and calling for the goat. I heard movements, and finally located the escapee. The Farmer had maneuvered his way behind the goat and was trying to head him back to the shed. Between the two of us, we managed to get the goat back in the lot and shut the gate.

The Warden was still talking. Maybe he figured we could home in on his voice to find our way back to civilization.

Once we had the goat cornered in the shed again, I asked these two big, strong men if they could get the last goat in the truck without losing it again. (Okay, that bit of sarcasm popped out before I thought better of it!) They assured me they could, so I headed back to the house to check on our much put-off supper.

I paused on the back porch to see if they actually managed to get the goat in the truck. When I saw the door close behind the last little goat, I breathed a sigh of relief. Three little goats gone, and hopefully things will be a little more peaceful on the farm!

And I wish the new Warden good luck with his trio of troublemakers!

Morning on the farm...

When I went out this morning to do chores, the little guineas were running around. These are the smallest and youngest of our many guineas.

They ran from the main pasture to the "back yard pasture"... mixing with the sheep and goats.

Everyone's after the same corn I threw out!

Small Town Perks

While getting ready for a trip earlier this year, I took my keys out of my purse, along with a lot of other stuff. We were flying, and I figured I’d lighten the load of things I didn’t need while on the trip.

Just one problem – when I got home, I couldn’t find my keys anywhere. I searched and searched, and finally concluded they were thrown out with the trash right before we left.

I figured it was a nuisance, but what I didn’t realize is how much of an EXPENSE it was going to be. Replacing car keys, with their special transponders in the plastic top of the keys costs $75 for one key. I thought that was bad, but when I checked on replacing the key to our safety deposit box at the bank, I was totally blown away to learn it would cost more than twice that much. It seems I’d have to pay for the locksmith’s trip to the bank and his time to re-key the lock on the box. At the time, I told the lady at the bank I’d go home and redouble my efforts to find the second key.

So what has this got to do with small town perks? Fast forward to this week and the lady from the bank called Tuesday. She was wondering if I could make a trip to the bank Wednesday morning, as the locksmith was going to be there. She figured since he was already there, she could get him to rekey our box – NO CHARGE.

Okay, first of all, this kind lady remembered my problem all on her own, and it’s been a couple of months since I talked to her.

Secondly, she made the effort to get hold of me, not once, but twice, as I discovered when I checked my answering machine.

Thirdly, she not only did all that, but she really doesn’t know me, yet still helped me out by making a way for the key to be replaced without the huge expense.

I’ve never gotten that kind of service from any bank in a “bigger city.”
No, I think it’s the kind of perk you get when living in a small town.

Small town perks – what a blessing!

The Criminal Element

There are criminals on our farm. Yes, they are professionals at Breaking & Entering, always looking for a weakness in the fencing or gates. They are called GOATS. (And a lot of other things I'd best not repeat here....)

Yesterday evening after their warden, otherwise known as The Farmer, went off to choir practice, I grabbed my camera to go outside and look for some good photo opportunities. Little did I know I was going into investigative reporting, and would catch the criminal element at work. The dogs are on the left watching the goats. The llama is in the back watching. The guineas are on top of their pen looking. Everyone sees the criminals at work!
Yes, right before my eyes, I saw the brazen little beasts had gained entry into the aviary AGAIN, and let the peafowl loose AGAIN.

They’re lucky it was only a camera I used to shoot them. Rotten little brats!

It would seem that yesterday morning I must have only slid the latch over on the door, and neglected to flip it downward to let it catch in the notch to lock it. Mind you, this bolt does NOT slide easily, so it never occurred to me it would be any problem if I didn’t latch it down.

Well, I was wrong. Apparently the goats bounced against the door enough that the latch worked loose, and they must also have bounced enough that the door bounced open, and they took advantage to get it WIDE OPEN. Then they went in, and all but two of the peafowl went out.
Here we go again! Fortunately, Young Son was home, so I went in and enlisted his help. We’ve done this so many times, we figure we can call ourselves Professional Peafowl Herders, or maybe Professional Peafowl Wranglers. We’ve certainly got enough experience at rounding up the wandering peafowl, thanks to the baaaaaad goats who keep finding ways to let them loose.

Our first task was putting the goats back in a pen and out of the way. Then we started looking for our wandering fowl.

We found a couple of peahens just sauntering around the yard, and a couple more in the guineas night pen. The peacock was in the chicken’s roosting area.

After we got all the peafowl we saw running loose back in the aviary, we discovered we were still missing two peahens. We walked all around, looking up in the trees, and discovered nothing but squirrels. We were about to give up when Toby started barking. He had discovered a peahen in an enclosure made by wiring upright pallets together to make a fence around my lilac bush and trumpet vine. (And in case you’re wondering why we did that, it was to keep the same B&E experts from stripping those plants bare of bark.)

Anyway, we cut the wires between two of the pallets and opened them up. Experience has taught us it is better to gently, slowly, ease the peahens along in the direction you want them to go. Trying to net them or hurry them along usually results in peahens HIGH UP in a tree where no man (or woman) has gone before.

About the time we got that peahen in the aviary, we heard that loud whoosh of wings that heralds a large bird overhead. There came the last peahen from somewhere across the road, and landed in a walnut tree close to the aviary.
By this time it was almost dark, and she showed no inclination to come down. The guineas were a bit disgruntled because that strange fowl had taken up residence in their roosting tree, but eventually decided to join her.

She spent the entire night in the tree, and it was the middle of the morning before we looked out and noticed her communing with her sister through the netting next to the aviary door. Once again the Professional Peafowl Herders swung into action, and got the last stray fowl into the pen. Yes!

If there's something strange in your neighborhood (like peafowl), who ya gonna call!??
Not the Ghostbusters!

You need the Professional Peafowl Wranglers, at 1-IRO-UND-EMUP!

Cades Cove - Cable Mill Historic Area

First, a little history -- the first known people in the Cades Cove area were Cherokee. They called it Tsiyahi, meaning otter place. They used the Cove to gather food and hunt. Later, pioneers from Virginia and North Carolina settled in the Cove.

Gristmills became the first industry there, followed by blacksmith shops, wood workers, storekeepers and distillers. By the 1850’s, Cades Cove supported about 132 families or 685 people.

Most of the buildings that are now in the Cable Mill Historic Area were moved there from other locations in the Cove with the exception of the blacksmith shop and the gristmill. The John P. Cable Gristmill still operates today, grinding flour and corn weekdays 9am-5pm.

There were several buildings there, and it was quite an interesting place. I have several pictures - to check out the slide show, just click on the picture below, and it will open a new page. Click on the thumbnail-sized picture in the upper left corner, and that will start the slide show.

I enjoy seeing how farmers lived in the past, and some things are still viable today, but I wouldn’t want to go back to such labor intensive work to do everything!

Traveling through Cades Cove - The Scenery & Wildlife

Late one afternoon of our trip to Gatlinburg, The Farmer asked if I wanted to go somewhere and take pictures, like up on top of Clingsmans Dome. I decided I’d rather take a drive through the Cades Cove area. I’d read somewhere it was only about an 11-mile loop, so figured we had plenty of time.

However, it was further away than I was thinking, so it took us somewhere between 30-45 minutes to even get there. We stopped at a station at the beginning of the loop, picked up some information, and got started.

My first inkling this was going to be a longer “project” than expected was when I read during the fall tourist season, traffic could be heavy and it could take 2-4 hours to complete the loop.

Uh-oh. Now whose bright idea was this? Oh yeah… mine…

The scenery was lovely, even though the leaves on the trees hadn't changed colors for the most part.

It didn’t take long to spot some deer.

In fact, we saw numerous deer at various spots throughout the drive.

We also saw wild turkey (picture in previous blog entry), but never saw any bears or foxes that were mentioned as possible wildlife sightings. Too bad, I’d love to see a bear in the wild.

It was a pretty drive, but it was busy, and with people stopping to look at the deer and stuff, it took a long time to travel those 11-miles.

There are also various old buildings, and we stopped and looked through the Cable Mill historic area, located about half-way through the loop. Stay tuned for a description and pictures, hopefully coming soon!

Cades Cove - A Preview

Yesterday afternoon we went to Cades Cove, part of the Smoky Mountains National Park. I took some pictures of the scenery and the few animals we saw.

Three wild turkeys cross a pasture.

I'll write more about the excursion after we get home, and post more pictures then also. Right now I have limited time, and slow internet access.

So enjoy the preview, and more to come!

Butterfly Bonus

We stopped at an overlook one time to look at the mountains. Next to the railing, there was a butterfly flitting around the flowers. It was rainy today, and a little cool, so it was flapping its' wings like mad, I presume to stay warm.

It finally stayed still long enough for me to get picture.

Rambling to the Smoky Mountains

Today we headed east toward the Gatlinburg, TN, in the Smoky Mountains. It was a cloudy day, and we got into rain, so I didn’t really anticipate any picture taking today. However, when we got close to Gatlinburg, the traffic slowed way down. We soon discovered why - there was an elk grazing in a pasture by the road, and people were stopping to take pictures.

How could we resist? We slowed down long enough for me to snap a few shots too.

It seems the Great Smoky Mountains National Park started re-introducing elk in the park here in 2001. When you look close, you can see he has a radio collar around his neck and a tag in his ear.
What a regal looking animal!

Riding the Rails from Skagway to White Summit Pass

Day 5 of my Alaska trip found us in Skagway. We took a train trip on “The Railway Built of Gold.” Why is it called that? Well, a brief history lesson…

The discovery of gold in 1896 in the Klondike triggered a stampede of people hoping to get rich. Some thought the gold nuggets lay on the ground, ready to be picked up. An estimated 100,000 headed for the Klondike in such haste they earned the name, “The Stampeders.”

To reach the Klondike, Stampeders had two choices, the steeper Chilkoot Trail, or the longer, but less steep White Pass. (Trust me, the “less steep” part is relative!)

Many chose White Pass thinking pack animals could be used and make the trip easier. They were wrong. The trip was too arduous and the horses were generally in the hands of inexperienced owners. Before it was over 3,000 horses died. (Watch the slideshow for one of Dead Horse Gulch.)

In this era of railroading, it was natural to think of building a railroad over the pass, but it was a daunting task. Blasting through granite, plus dealing with the steep slopes and deep snow, made it almost impossible.

But they did it.

Because of the tight turns, a narrow gauge railway was built. The rails are just 3’ apart on a 10’ wide road bed, which also helped lower construction costs. Over 450 tons of explosives were used, mostly black powder.

The ten million dollar project was the product of British financing, American engineering and Canadian contracting. Tens of thousands of men worked, sometimes in shifts as short as an hour due to the extreme cold, to complete 110 miles of track with cliff hanging turns of 16 degrees, with two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles.

The railway climbs from sea level at Skagway to almost 3,000 feet at the summit in just 20 miles and has grades of almost 3.9%. This is the northernmost railroad in the Western Hemisphere.

The White Pass & Yukon Route was designated an international Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994. This honor is shared by only 36 civil engineering creations, such as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal.

That’s the highlights of this railway’s rich history. It’s interesting to read about, and thrilling to ride. You can’t really relate to just how steep the railway is until you’re riding along and looking waaaaayyyyyyy down. A 10’ roadbed doesn’t seem very wide when a fall would be so far!

The scenery is dazzling, with evergreens, mountains, snow and rivers. Bridal Veil Falls tumbles down a mountain far way, the bridges and trestles are awesome, and there’s even visible remnants of the trail used by the Stampeders.

At the top, a little building is still there that was used by the mounted police. They turned back any Stampeder that didn’t have a ton of supplies, the amount deemed necessary to keep a man going for a year.

There was just a lot to see and learn about. It was a thrilling ride!

Whale & Wildlife Watching Quest

Probably the best day on our ramble through Alaska was the shore excursion to watch whales. Okay, it seems a little strange to call it a shore excursion when we went right back out to sea, but we did switch modes of transportation and got off the big ship and onto a much smaller waterjet-powered catamaran.

We started by disembarking at Juneau, and boarding a bus to head for Auke Bay. Our bus driver was chatty and full of all kinds of information about Alaska. He would have made a good advocate for the Chamber of Commerce. When he talked about the climate, which isn’t the glacial cold you’d expect due to the fact it’s a temperate rainforest along the shoreline, it made the area sound like a great place to live.

He mentioned the money every citizen gets each year from the revenue off the oil fields in Alaska. He mentioned all the wildlife to be found. He had good things to say about the area… until he mentioned some of the costs of living. Aye yi yi! So much is so expensive because it has to be shipped – housing, food, gas… the prices are exorbitant! Guess I’ll stay in the south instead of moving to the far north.

The catamaran we traveled on had two decks. The bottom and part of the top were enclosed, but for the really good pictures, you needed to be out on the open deck. Of course, it was COLD out there. I said it doesn’t get as cold as you’d expect, but that doesn’t mean it’s not downright chilly out on the water in September!

I went inside from time to time to check on Dad and get warm, but most of the time I was out there taking pictures of the wildlife and scenery. And such sights!


The flash slideshow software doesn’t leave a lot of room for captions, so I had to be quite succinct in my descriptions of the pictures!

We had barely left the dock until we had Orca Whales on both sides of the boat. The guide said it’s not as common to see them, so I guess we got lucky. Further out we saw lots of humpback whales, sometimes half a dozen at a time. It was AMAZING.

The only thing that could have made it better would have been a whale or two breaching, and even “more better” would have been getting a picture of it!

We also saw a lot of seals and eagles and other birds. And the scenery was breathtaking almost everywhere you looked.

Oh, and I also took a mini-movie of the Stellar Seals, just to have an idea of all the NOISE they were making.

I’m not an experienced movie maker, but that should at least give you an idea!

If you’re ever in Alaska, take every chance you get to check out the wildlife, and of course, the scenery too. It’s positively awe-inspiring.

I'd head north again today if I could!

Cruising the Inside Passage

Trip to Alaska - Days 3 and 4 (September 17 & 18)

I guess this is a little confusing, because while these were days 3 and 4 of my trip, it was actually only the first couple of full days we were on the ship.


We made it to Juneau, Alaska, on the 18th, a Tuesday. We had our first shore excursion there, worthy of a slideshow all by itself... coming next from Alaska, Whale & Wildlife Watching Excursion!

Living in the Past.

What if???

The Farmer and I were at a restaurant this week that had paper placemats on the table. On one side there was a game called, “What if?” There were several thought-provoking questions.

One of them was, “What if you could go back in time? Where would you like to go and why?”

I thought about that for a while, mulling over the possibilities of living in times past, and discarding ideas almost as fast as they came to mind. While there were some interesting eras, I couldn’t come up with one where I thought the good stuff outweighed the bad. It might be okay to visit some of them for a little while, but I wouldn’t want to go back to that time and live my life there.

I guess I’m just a wuss, but I really don’t want to do without modern conveniences for any length of time. Indoor plumbing, electricity, tractors, wells with an electric pump, rototillers, stoves, computers… I like to be able to pick and choose what technology I'll use.

Nope, guess I’ll forget the time machines and stay right here.