I think we have a varmint!

The garage has been up and functional for almost 25 years.  We have NEVER had a problem like this before.  I am seriously considering a "game cam" to find out what has been doing this.  Our best guess is squirrels...  Not sure why all of a sudden they have declared war on the front vent of the garage.

This will NOT be a fun fixer upper project!  Old Goat has added some heavy wire mesh to the back side of the vent so the "varmint" can't get into the attic and cause even more damage!

 There are five other vents just like this one on the house and the back vent of the garage.

var·mint noun \ˈvär-mənt\
: an animal that is considered a problem
: a bad person

Full Definition of VARMINT

 1: an animal considered a pest; specifically : one classed as vermin and unprotected by game law

2: a contemptible person : rascal; broadly : person, fellow
See varmint defined for English-language learners »
See varmint defined for kids »

Examples of VARMINT

rats, mice, and other varmints
The sheriff in the movie gets revenge on the dirty varmintwho killed his brother.

Origin of VARMINT
alteration of vermin
First Known Use: circa 1539

Trance

It is a beautiful Sunday!  It's about 70 degrees, light breeze and finally SUNSHINE..It has been impossible to stay inside..

This big old girl is Trance.  She now has 100% of the guarding responsibility here.  She is 8 1/2 years old and weighs in at 150 pounds.  

It has taken all of us a while to get over losing her sister Beka earlier this year.  Trance is finally good with guarding again and she loves to hang out with her goats..

Cedar Wax Wings Migrating

Every year we have thousands of Cedar Wax Wings pass through our area.  They love the seed pods on the cedar trees, feed and strip the trees and leave.  It's a lot of fun to watch their groups fly in unison.  Of course they do make a lot of noise...which keeps our "local" birds upset...

Cedar Wax Wing Information

Leaves...Love/Hate

In the spring of the year we can't wait for the leaves to bud out.

In the summer we are SO happy to have the big old trees just full of leaves to provide the cool shade.

 Then fall starts to arrive, oh my the colors!

Leaves

by Elsie N. Brady

How silently they tumble down

And come to rest upon the ground

To lay a carpet, rich and rare,

Beneath the trees without a care,

Content to sleep, their work well done,

Colors gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly

Until they nearly reach the sky.

Twisting, turning through the air

Till all the trees stand stark and bare.

Exhausted, drop to earth below

To wait, like children, for the snow.

Then the fun begins... 

We are sure glad that our mower has a mulching attachment, and we have a leaf blower on hand.  No raking here.

Now we are ready for the SNOW!

Memory Lane

November 25, 1972 was a great day... Old Goat and I were married.  42 years later we are still going strong.

This Thanksgiving I went into the big city of St. Louis to spend time with my mother and stepfather.  They both keep a VERY busy schedule between family, church and the Battle of the Bulge Veteran's group.

Anyway, we stopped by the church late Thursday afternoon to do some quick decorating for an up coming event.  Walking around the "Old" church brought back some very fond memories of the events of 42 years ago.

The church was established in December of 1912 and it still has the same "country church" feel.

This is where our marriage began... oh SO long ago..

It's been a 42 year honeymoon.... 

Church Information

Blue Eyed Goat

It's fairly warm here today... 60 degrees..  I thought I'd try and get a few more pictures before my camera dies...  It's trying really hard.  I am now using the manual settings most of the time.   I got a fairly nice picture of one of our blue eyed goats and ran it through Photoshop... came up with this picture.

Baby it's cold outside!

The weather man told us this was going to happen... Weathermen lie a lot!  Not on Sunday...Started snowing before 8 a.m.

Still not noon...

Apparently I won't be going on any long walks for a few days.

Road trip to Granny's  The amount of snow varied a lot, pockets of heavy snow.  We had more snow at our house than Granny did, and it's only a 3.5 mile trip to her house.  A mile if you go through the fields.

Old mare Wendy sharing some grain with one of my "special" goats...

The critters are NOT HAPPY!  At least it will be gone in a couple days.  Goats have lots of shelters to keep them out of the wind and have dry bedding area.

Bird Nest and Adapting

Wow, guess winter is really here.  This morning it was 18 degrees with a light refreshing breeze... ha.  We are still in much better shape than our friends West and North of us.  We do have a little bit of snow in the forecast for this weekend..we shall see what happens.

As I went up to the barn this morning to take care of the critters this little used nest caught my eye.  I don't usually stop and look at a "used" nest but this one looked a little different to me.  It is amazing how the animals and birds adapt to their surroundings.  I have no idea what type of bird built this next, I guess that really doesn't matter.  What I thought was interesting is the fact that they used all the resources available to them.  Small twigs, grasses, dog hair, horse hair and goat hair to build their nest.  My camera is not the greatest for close up pictures but you should get the idea.  The long black strands are from the horse, the long white hair is from the dog (s), and the shorter fine white hair is from the goats.  All this in one little bitty birds nest..

Ready for Winter Outage

We are finally getting an electrical upgrade that we have needed for a long time.  

We have been lucky, in the 25 plus years we have lived here, the longest we've ever gone without power is 10-12 hours.    January 2007... horrible ice storm, we listened to cedar trees snapping under the weight of the ice all night long.

With this new box we will have a quick connect to our generator if needed.

We will be able to keep our generator in a "shelter" and keep the basics running if there is an extended electric outage.

With the upgrade came a new meter with main breaker switches.  

We are ready for winter!  Sure hope we don't ever have to use these wonderful additions!