We spent the first part of Thanksgiving Day raking and doing a little yard clean-up.  The weather was el primo, high 70's, sunny, light breeze!  Shorts and t-shirt kind of stuff!  David and I being from the north, we completely appreciate the gift of having  this kind of day!  Since it was going to get cooler and damp today (Friday), we decided to put off the turkey until today.  I thought it was appropriate to post these pictures of these lovely roosters that we are "thankful" that they will be "giving" their life to be in our freezer soon!  They deserve the spotlight for a moment!  We have given them a "poultry perfect" life and they will only have one really bad day!  Just an FYI for anyone interested, these Sliver Laced Wyandotte cockerel's(5 mos old now), about 14 of them, have been co-existing with only minor bickering.  They seem to have quite a mellow attitude and very non-aggressive.  When they are not free-ranging, they are in the main coop with everyone else, about 50 in all, and they do well, keeping to themselves, not causing any problems.  We have been very happy with their nice personalities.  (And I'm sure they are yummy too!)  By the way, the second half of our day was spent, CAN YOU GUESS?....you got it! Watching football!  I remember when it used to be two games, now it's three!  Clicking to "Punkin Chunkin" during the commercials!  Whenever and whoever, turned this into a "Man Holiday"!    I did manage to make chicken parm, which came out great, if I must say so myself!       

The thing about having goats in the house, is that you've got goats...IN THE HOUSE!  Let me put it clearly,  we will be vacuuming shavings, probably for a very long time.  No doubt in 4 years, I'll move some huge piece of furniture and there will be a shaving from when we had "THE GOATS IN THE HOUSE"!  Ok, ok to all my non-farm animal friends, this isn't as gross as it sounds. (Well..maybe a little gross.)  We had baby goats, like Chihauhua size, in a pen, on our tiled family room.  We had rubber mats with shavings and hay, that I cleaned out everyday.  There poo is about the size of a LeSeur baby pea.  So before you judge, our goats were probably cleaner in our house than most people living in their own home!  You know who you are!  With that said, you will never get me to defend raising "farm animals" as "house animals".  It's only extraordindary situations that give any farm animal clearance to enter the human habitat.  We are having a lovely stretch of weather this week, and felt it was a perfect opportunity to get them outside.  They were in a barn before we brought them home, but did not have an adequate, safe place for them yet (long, boring story!).  Actually we still don't, but managed a temporary situation for them, until we can have their permanent space complete.  Hopefully this week!  So, our little ones were evicted from their cushy digs and reintroduce them to their true identity of being a goat!      

BRAVO!  to the beautiful Mouse Queen, Katherine!  Katie participated in a special story time presentation of the Nutcracker at Barnes & Noble today, with other cast members from the Columbus Ballet.  It was lovely seeing everyone in good cheer leading up to the feature performance on Dec 11-12th at the River Center.  Seeing all the proud parents with their little ones, made me very reminiscent of all the years ago we started taking her to dance, and the pure joy of watching.   I love watching Katie dance as much as I love watching the ocean!  Seeing your child do something they love in their soul is about as fulfilling as it gets for a parent.  I feel extremely grateful that David and I have had the good fortune to live in places that have had quality dance instructors that have nurtured her love for dance.  Starting with the New England Dance Conservatory in MA, Peridance in NYC, then onto the Atlanta Ballet and now at the Columbus Ballet.   

A picture is worth a thousand words!!!  Becca submitted a "Good Luck Zenyatta" Card for a contest Breyer Horse was offering.  Becca won in the 11-15 year age group!  She received the good news today that she won along with the new Zenyatta Breyer horse!!!!  Becca worked so hard on the card...check it out below! Way to go Bunny!!!

Yes, there are THREE new little girls in our family room!  We have been waiting patiently for the beautiful "Bambusa" doe at Little Tots Estate to have her babies!  Well, she had two lovely does and we are beyond thrilled to have a part of this wonderful senior doe in our herd!  The story goes...We were heading to Rusty Repp's to drop off our Honey for breeding and picking up the Bambusa doeling.  We also decided to acquire an additional doe so she could be raised with another peer.  It absolutely makes a difference on them socially, to be able to have the comraderie of other goats.  Anyways, when we got up there we were so taken with the little doe out of LTE Lobelia that we just added another!  Why not!  Warning to all.... these little Nigey babies are soooooooooo cute...prepare yourself, if you really think you can just have one!       

The three girls are currently "housed" in our family room until their pen is done outside.  Hopefully this weekend!  They get to come out a few times a day and run around, or I should say "zoom around like maniacs"!  It can get quite comical at times, with all their bucking and springing and "goat skating" on the tile floors! 

Oh My!  Our sweet, little Honey had a rendevous this past Tuesday with the handsome Woodhavens Farm Luzifer Blue!!  We are hoping for little girls early next April!  As you can plainly see, "Her Loveliness" is quite offended by Luzifer serenading the doe next door!

What a barn burner!! Everything we were hoping for, except that Zenyatta came in second to Blame.  But it was a great second!  This is how I saw it, Blame won almost losing and Zenyatta lost almost winning!  There is a huge difference.  Zen was gaining on Blame, just one more stride and the outcome would have been monumentally different.  What does it matter?  Well, it really doesn't.  Zenyatta was awesome for 20 races straight and I am positive she will go on happily with her pampered life not needing counseling.  Mike Smith (her jockey) on the other hand, will probably spend the rest of his life in therapy!  Lighten up Mike! You did great!  We all enjoyed the ride!

Today is a day, in my lifetime, that only since the great Secretariat, has captured so much enthusiasum in horse racing.  The beautiful Zenyatta going for her record setting 20th undefeated win today against the best boys in the world, at Chruchill Downs, in the Breeders Cup Classic.  Win or lose, it is going to be a moment to remember. If you haven't seen Zen yet, don't miss out!  Post time 6:45 PM Eastern on ESPN.  Zen is a perfect 10!  

Worked this week pulling everything in that is not going to like the upcoming below freezing temp's we are going to get this weekend.  I pulled an overflowing, 6 gal bucket of bell and banana peppers!  Love those peppers and, yum, so good for you!

Getting all the beds cleaned and doing our final week-wack, so we can do one last mowing for the year!  Yeah!! 

We NEVER miss an opportunity to vote!!! Katie is a HUGE political junkie and is very frustrated she is not old enough to exercise her future right to vote!  She always comes with me, watches me vote and proudly wears the "I voted today!" stickers they pass out after you vote!  I could go on for pages about how strongly we feel about our right to vote.