Lambs!

Well here are a few pictures of the second batch of twin lambs. Hannah Montana's baby girls.

bea- EWE-tiful weekend!

We had a very eventful weekend last weekend. Fun, but busy busy! I went to a baby shower on Saturday that was absolutely cute! Lots of fun baby girl stuff. Margaux went with me and was pretty good, except for a short stint when she needed to go down for a nap.
Then we had dinner with some friends that night. Margaux wants to play with the bigger kids so bad, but right now she is settling for watching.
When we returned home, my father-in-law (Pappy/Grandpappy) knocked on the door to tell us our first lamb was born. Matt got dressed and went to the barn. Sally Pearl had a baby girl. They laid her on her side, and low and behold a baby boy! Twins!
The next day, Hannah Montana had lambed. Twins again! This time two girls. Our original flock of two sheep is now six! Both Momma's are being good Mommas. Babies are healthy and starting to hop around. They are so cute and soft and cuddly. They are Suffolk/Dorsett mix. Suffolk sheep are solid black at birth, but Dorsett's are white. That is why the babies are speckled. I have video and more pictures to come. Our new ewe, Lammy Gaga, has about 6-8 weeks left before her lamb (or lambs) arrive.
Sunday and Monday was consumed with us purchasing a new truck. Monday I also was able to visit a friend that welcomed home a precious baby boy. Her son Austin is adorable and it is so crazy how quickly I've forgotten how small Margaux was just 6 months ago.

me and Sally's baby girl

Momma Sally Pearl, baby girl on left, baby boy milking on right.

shaky sheep cam

Matt gave me a tiny little video camera from Christmas this year.
We have had a ton of fun with it already. Here is a very rattled and shaky video of the frenzy that ensues at feeding time with the goats and sheep.

We had a happy holiday and are hoping for a good new year!

Well we had a wonderful Christmas this year. It came up on me pretty quick and I feel like I didn't get near the things done I had wanted too, but we had a good one. This year I sewed Matt and I Christmas Stockings. My Aunt embroidered our names on them for me. When I went to drop them off, my Grandmother said that I must have been expecting quite a lot in my stocking because they were huge! I think they turned out pretty dang cute.

I'll have to make another one next year for the baby. Oh, yeah… You heard me. Matt and I are expecting our first baby this summer. I'm a little over 12 weeks and have started feeling much better. I'm less tired than I was and I pinpointed a prenatal vitamin as the culprit for some of my nausea . We are super excited. We've heard the heartbeat and seen the little peanut on an ultrasound. As soon as it popped up on the screen, I said, "Oh look Matt! It already has your pot belly!" and he returned with, "Oh yeah… Well it has your enormous head!" but everything looked good. Baby is growing. As soon as I have a belly worth sharing, I'll post a picture. Right now I mostly just look chubby.

Matt and I wish everyone a wonderful 2010! It's going to be a big year for us!

Sheep headgear

So Little Peppermint has not learned. You see peppermint's horns have grown at an awkward angle. They make a "V". She can shimmy and tilt and cram her head through the fence, but once she's through she cannot get her head back out (because of the "V" shape). Often I would come home or wake up to find this.

Oh, and the noise she would make to get our attention was just heartbreaking. Well, we kept hoping that soon enough her horns would grow so big they wouldn't fit through the fence anymore, but that hasn't happened. The past couple of weeks we have been finding her stuck again. I have been so scared and terrified that she was going to get stuck and the coyotes would come up and get her. And the bigger and bigger she gets, the harder it is to weasel her head back out. We have been trying to come up with options to stop her. One was to cut her horns off or file them down. Cutting them off just sounded so painful to me, but it was seeming more and more like what we were going to have to do. Well I told my dad about it, and my dad said, "just duct tape a stick on her horns so she can't get her head through in the first place." Well, last week pep was up to her old antics and this week she is sporting a new look!

At first she was not popular among the others. They did not like her new app. The sheep tried to chew on it and she was harassed for a bit. But now, no one seems to notice. She has even learned that she can use it to scratch her back and clear out a little more personal space at feeding time.

Starting up and winding down (all at the same time)

Well, we have been busy. I have set up my little office. I've been going to court almost everyday (whether I have a case or not). I have stood at the podium and addressed the court. I'm movin on up! I have a few cases, one of which was a dozy and heartbreaker. And it was on my birthday, but I hope when we go back to court the situation has improved. I have my fingers crossed for my client.

November has come and gone so quickly, and I have been trying to get so many things in order. I'm getting really excited to get out the Christmas décor this weekend and I'm also excited about the Thanksgiving festivities this week. The year is marching right on past. It will be 2010 before we know it. The reality that my best friend from high school will be moving at the end of the year has set in too. She texted me this morning that her house had sold, which is great and sad news all in one.

In Matt news, he killed a deer yesterday! First off, my husband isn't really a hunter. In the 8 years that we have been together I have never seen him shoot a gun. I've heard stories, and he has shown me firearms before, but never actually fired them in my presence. About a week ago, I saw this beautiful buck on the farm and told Matt and the family about it. I had made the comment that Matt should try to get it before someone else does. I'm not usually in favor of killing the wildlife on the farm. I love seeing all the deer. I even like that every evening and every morning about 50-60 turkeys are roosting or wandering around in the field beside our house. But you see, other people, strangers, think that they can just hunt on the farm, well… because they want to. Basically we have a wide variety of people that trespass about this time EVERY year. I've literally drove by and caught them climbing through a fence before. They have a lot of nerve. Anyhow, Matt's dad knocked on our door yesterday afternoon, said he had seen the deer too, thought it was a good size and asked Matt if he was interested in shooting it. Matt decided to, and pulled one of his brother's rifles out of the safe in the house. Matt's late brother loved to hunt, so it was quite fitting that Matt used his gun, and shot a deer on his brother's birthday. He would have been very proud. So without any practice or even firing a gun in the last 8 years, Matt took one shot and killed his first deer ever yesterday.

Trick-or-Treat! Goats and Sheep!

Proud moments from the weekend

Saturday some friends and I participated in the race for the cure in Nashville. We were a part of the team "Myra's Milers" which was formed in honor of a friend from college's Aunt who passed away less than two years ago. I myself have had two Aunts that had breast cancer and have passed away, so I was thrilled to be able to join the team and participate this year. The event was really great, and if I'm correct, "Myra's Milers" was the largest team and ended up raising the most money. I thoroughly enjoyed the Race for the Cure, the weather was a little gloomy but it was nice and cool. I finished the 5K in around 30 minutes. I didn't really time it, but it was in that area. Honestly I haven't been running as much as I used to, but I ran the whole thing, and I'm not too sore today. Now I did tweak my back Sunday, but that is a whole different story and totally un-race related.

A few weeks ago my dad blessed our goats and sheep with a new dwelling.

They absolutely love it. We couldn't even get the roof screwed down before they were in it. This one will be much better in the colder months that are to come. It will keep the wind off of them and give them more protection from the elements. They have already gotten an upgrade on their house.

They got a front porch. Actually this abomination was our front porch up until last weekend. I kid you not, this was actually the unsightly entrance to our house. It looks just fine for goats to stand and poop on, but it did not look very nice on our house. It was old, it had nails that would work their way out of it. It was too small for Matt and I to even stand next to each other.

This is our new front porch, and I love it. We added about a foot and a half to each side. It also comes out much further. Not only can we stand next to each other on the porch, but we can stand next to each other on the steps if we want too. I put the finishing touches on it this weekend by painting the wood framing under the composite decking. We still have a lot of work to do to make the house more presentable, but this is a huge improvement. Another improvement you can see is the tin roof we had put on this summer. Apparently the pitch of our roof is really low, and every time a big storm came through (which we have had a lot this year) I would walk around in the yard and pick up shingles that flew off the roof and of course there was the leaking that would follow. Matt did a great job on porch, and we only yelled at each other once during the project.

Holy Sheep!

So the one of my previous blog post said that you might see my husband walking around. Well my husband read it and looked at the pictures and said, "I wasn't in any of those pictures". Therefore, I must clarify and post some that do contain my much neglected Husband :) It was a good show and Matt was a great assistant judge. My Father-in-law was a super great judge. And of course at the end of the day we brought home our two bossy, yet sweet, sheep. The show was held at the sleigh farm out near our house. They run H & S farms, a pick your own strawberry operation, in the spring and early summer. If you have never come out there for it you really should. This year not only could you pick your own strawberries, but you could buy strawberry cake, strawberry jam, and they also worked out a deal with Coldstone Creamery and had strawberry ice cream!

* sorry about the dotted out kids faces, but you could recognize some of them.

The little kids really liked showing their lambs. Of course some of the lambs acted up, jumping, kicking, trying to run off and dragging the little kids behind, but they really tried their hardest to keep control. I had no idea that these lambs are around 100 lbs and stout. You have tiny kids trying to control a farm animal on a leash. I have a hard time holding our sheep and at least I out weigh them. Years ago, Matt won the top showmanship award when he was just a wee little guy. Apparently his lamb acted up. She drug him all over the ring. Literally he fell and was dragged through sawdust and dirt by a 100+ pound runaway beast. He said when she stopped he stood up, dusted her off and cleaned her up, walked her back over to the judges and positioned her for them to observe her body composition. Then once they were finished, cleaned himself off. He said he cried he was so terrible embarrassed, but he ended up winning, because he made his lamb a priority, regained control, and showed well… good showmanship.

These kids work so much with the lambs and I know that it must have been hard to let go of them at the end of the day. I'm 26 years old and I would have probably shed some tears when they sold off the lamb to well… you know… market. But that is how the program works. Except for Hannah and Sally Pearl of course.

I told you I'd be back

Okay, so the big quiz is now behind me and my Dad said I haven't be updating my bogg so here I am. The Bar exam. It was horrible, that is all I really have to say about it. I was really hoping after all the studying I would have some sort of idea. Well… No. Not at all. I also haven’t got back to a normal routine yet.
A few days after the big quiz, Matt, My parents, my niece, my two nephews and I went on our very first trip to Holiday World. It was so much fun folks. The wooden roller coasters are definitely going to keep a lot of chiropractors in business, but seriously fun. After torturing my spine and neck on 3 of the coasters, we hit the water park. It was a blast. I had the best time on the slides. I learned that my 6ft 6inch, well over 200lb Dad is the best partner when it comes to a waterslide. Basically, his large frame gathers a lot of momentum and really flings you around a waterslide. It was a really good trip.

We have new friends at our home.

First we got Peppermint (white face) and Snickers (brown face).

















And then about a month and half later we got Hannah Montana and Sally Pearl.



















The sheep came from the 4-H market lamb project. Matt's Dad was a judge, but he was (and still is) on crutches and he needed an assistant. That is why you will see my handsome husband walking around in the pictures. Matt's family had a pretty large sheep operation before the cows took over. Matt even showed in the State Sheep show, and the national North American Livestock Expedition. Anyhow, the little girl that showed Hannah, painted her hoof’s with nail polish, Pink glitter nail polish. Therefore… her name is Hannah Montanna. If you look at the hoofs in the picture above you can see the sparkles.

bar, basil, big moth

The bar preparation is coming along. I can’t say that I’m really excited about it or very nervous yet, right now all the studying just feels like a means to an end. There are quite a few interesting folks in my bar review classes. For example, Lady 1- She eats rice cakes, soybeans, and either a few pieces of dried or fresh fruit. But she is the first person to hit the door when we get our 10 minute break to go smoke at least 2 cigarettes.

I pretty sure that one, does not counter act the other.

Also here is some basil from the garden that I picked the other day.

It is now yummy pesto that I have eaten on toasted panni’s for dinner and lunch. I have also hung some to dry.

Here is something else I found on the farm on Saturday. We were moving this goat thingy (yes, Matt is getting goats. That story will have to be told later) and I see this gigantic moth on the ground. Matt picked it up and put it on the tree. This sucker was as big as my whole hand spread out. Apparently is must have just come out of the cocoon. Matt’s Dad told me what it was, but I can’t remember. All I know is that it was big, and I had never seen anything like it before so I thought I’d share.

I guess I’ll get back to my studying.

And to think, I thought I'd have more free time.

Postings will be infrequent and probably regarding random things for the next few weeks.

Bar review is pretty time consuming, but if you look I’ve added a new little ticker that counts down to the Bar exam. I thought that I would have free time by not working, but that was obviously a mistake. I’m in bar review from 9-12:30 then I get home about 1:30, go to the gym, get my butt home and study/review/take practice exam questions from about 3 to 6 or 7 pm. Right now I’m adding review material to my ipod so I can listen to it while I’m at the gym or whenever.

Matt is working on the farm A LOT. They have been cutting hay for a few days now. He has a sunburned neck, forearms, top of feet (because he wears chaco sandals for almost everything despite my warnings that one day he is going to lose a toe), and two lobster knee caps.

I’ll leave you with a picture of one of the calves. They are getting so big. Until next time…

Farm living is the life for me**

Yeah I know, I'm more of the middle of the road. I'm a little Mrs. Douglas (Eva Gabor) and Mr. Douglas. I loved being in the city, but I love being in the country too. When I was making frequent trips back and forth, I would get a rush that first step out of the subway from the excitement of the city. And when I would go home, I would let out a big relaxing sigh of relief at being back in Tennessee.

Anyhow... I wanted to write about the awesome things that I saw on the farm. Yesterday I saw a PACK of deer sprinting across the field. It was about 6-7 of them running full speed. They are so graceful and beautiful when they run. I absolutely love to see how elegantly and effortless they are when they leap the high fences.

Also, this morning a saw a flock of wild turkeys next to the house. This is not unusual. Some mornings they wake me up gobbling outside the bedroom window. We've also come home to catch a about 20 of them in the front yard. But this morning there was a big tom out there strutting his stuff for the ladies. He had his feathers all fanned out and his chest puffed to impress. Matt and I like to call them pilgrim turkeys because they look like the images we associate with Thanksgiving. Anyhow, I wish him luck in his courting.

**Green Acres theme song**

Spring Babies

We have been having babies born on the farm left and right the past few weeks. Some of them were born earlier in the year when it was super cold. It never fails that if it gets below freezing and the weather is bad, a calf is born. Last Saturday Matt, his dad, and a neighbor had to help one along. Poor little guy had alot of trouble, but he and Mom are fine. My father-in-law tells me there are a few more expected, one as late as the June or so.
Anyhow, when my friend and her family came by to see the cows a few weeks ago they had all sauntered off where you couldn't see them. So this morning, when I went out to feed the dogs they were hanging around, so I snapped a couple pictures.

Here are two of the smaller babiesHere are two of the bigger babiesThis is what Matt and I call "milky nose"
And here is how the nose gets milky. Notice the little one over to the lefts tongue :)

Hippity Hop

Easter was pretty relaxed around our way. Matt finished up his teaching portfolio. I did some studying, errands, projects, and such. We visited with both sides of the family and had some together time (we called it a “Matt and Shelby” day). The extra day off I had was really nice.

Friday we had some severe weather. The cats and I crouched in a hallway, while Matt stood staring out the window to see if he could see anything coming.

Here is a picture of our deck and the hail the came down with the storm.

And here is a picture of Meeper our cat curled up on Matt’s backpack.

We could buy these cats goose down beds and they would still lay on our things and coat them with hair. I tell you nothing is sacred in our house. This little booger has forced me to require that the bedroom door be closed shut at night. Otherwise I’m awakened multiple times during the night with what feels like a 15 lb paperweight on my legs, belly, feet, etc, weighing down the blankets and making it impossible to roll over and get comfortable. You think she would know how it feels after witnessing what Hans does to her when they try to co-sleep/nap.

Until she was banished, I kept smooshing Matt and whacking him. It’s been nice the past couple of nights, but I anticipate Matt asking to let her back in soon. He likes having her cuddle in at night and be sweet. Of course this is only because she lays on him for a few minutes and then, under the cloak of darkness, tiptoes over to harass me.

Preservation room- where they make delicious jams and jellys*

Last summer we had so much from our garden, and we wanted to be able to preserve as much of it as we could. So Matt and I learned to can. A have also decided to make jelly. We had an abundance of jalapeño peppers. So, I made jelly out of some. I love pepper jelly over cream cheese with crackers.

Over the weekend Matt and I picked apples off a tree next to Matt’s parents’ house. I made some Apple jelly and then made my very first attempt at baked apples. They turned out pretty good, and the whole house smelled absolutely divine!

I have a new appreciation for those that have been doing it for years. It’s pretty time consuming to us new comers, and can get pretty tricky with all the boiling water and hot containers that you can’t touch with your hands. Aunt Marilyn, I’m sure you have some wonderful recipes, tips, tricks, or advice that we would love to hear. If any come to mind, you have my email address, feel free to send me one anytime.

I have a feeling that quite a few of our friends may see a this label in a Christmas present this year.

*from the movie National Treasure.