Yesterday we went to a local farm to get some goat’s milk.  I had no idea where I was going, which is pretty normal for me, so Vince went with me.  I’m so glad he did because . . well, this may surprise you, but sometimes I think he thinks I’m crazy!    He’s ok with having a garden and a few 25 chickens but he still breaks out in hives when I talk about getting a milk cow and a few goats.

Someone had told me about this lady and she doesn’t have a lot of milk . . just a few goats, but they had said her area was real clean and her kitchen was clean so I had asked for 3 gallons of goat’s milk.  I expected to get there and see a few goats.  Oh, my . . she had everything!!

I’ll just get the ugly part over with first.  These two turkeys were butt ugly!  I don’t know about that blue face.  Maybe with Memorial Day coming up . . and that red thing hanging down, they’re trying to be patriotic.  She said the blue sometimes changes . . I guess for Christmas if it turns green and the other part stays red, they’d be quite the festive guys.  There’s a mama turkey somewhere on a nest.  I’m glad I didn’t see her . . three ugly birds might have been too much.

To make up for their ugliness, this guy decided to show all of his beauty!

The colors in peacocks are so amazing.  And, how would you like to be able to do that?  Just have all your hair stand up like you stuck your finger in a socket . . just by thinking about it?  I wonder how that works.  He wouldn’t come near us but he strutted around and made sure we saw him.

Then there were the geese.

There were guineas too.  See that one way in the back?  The goose on the left is Charlie.  As soon as he saw us, he left the others and came running.

He couldn’t get to us fast enough!  The lady assured use he was friendly so we squatted down and he came waddling up to be petted.  Only problem was . . when we got ready to go, Charlie was ready to hop right in the car and come home with us.  No, Charlie!  No geese at our house . . yet.

He turned and waddled away.  He was such a friendly guy!

They had just finished milking and the other goats had gone off to take care of business but this one was just wanting to get his head scratched.

There were lots of chickens and ducks, and a few cats and a dog to protect the herd and cows and I don’t remember what else but it surely was a fun place to visit!

Vince asked lots of questions and I think he wouldn’t mind having a few more farm animals and he’s starting to see that I’m not the only weird one who likes having them, even though they’re a lot of work.

Weekend breakfasts are probably my favorite meals . . unless we’re having boiled crawfish and no, we don’t usually have boiled crawfish for breakfast but it wouldn’t bother me one bit if we did!

During the week, Vince leaves home before 7 which means if we’re eating breakfast, it has to be on the table by about 6:15 and I don’t like eating that early.  I like to get up, piddle around, water the garden, discuss the night’s events with the chickens and then fix breakfast.  Eating breakfast around 9 works for me, then we skip lunch and have an early dinner.  That schedule is one of the things I’m looking forward to about Vince’s retirement . . which isn’t happening any time soon.

French toast, fried apples and bacon.

On my agenda today – clean the sewing room and make cheese with the fresh goat’s milk I got yesterday!

My husband loves to shop like no one else I know.  And he can sniff out a bargain like no one else I know.  When I need something, I make a list.  I keep lists on my phone . . Wal-Mart, Kroger, Brookshires, Target, Hobby Lobby, etc.  We don’t have a Target or Hobby Lobby so the things from those places just stay on the list til I get to those stores or, I order it and take that item off the list.  I rarely go to the store or mall and just walk around with nothing in mind  . . just looking to see what’s there.  Not my husband!

Vince can spend an entire day (or two) just walking through stores with nothing particular in mind to buy.  He picks up things and looks them over and puts them back on the shelf . . moves on to the next item.  I love him a lot but I detest shopping with him.

He knows how much I don’t like to shop so he kind of beats around the bush telling me he wants to go shopping . . the same way I do when trying to explain why I bought just one more pair of boots! 

He took off work Friday to have a longer long weekend . . to get more work done around the house.  Somehow I wasn’t surprised when he mentioned going to Abilene on Friday.  I knew it was coming.  I didn’t want to go; he did . . we went!  It’s almost a 200 mile round trip so we have to get everything we need in one trip.

There’s only so much stuff you can put into a Highlander . . and we almost filled it at our first stop — Lowe’s.  Vince needed more of the plastic fencing that he uses around the garden because he’s going to use that for the top of the chickens’ runs and Home Depot here doesn’t carry it. The Lowe’s had 6 rolls so we got those but they also had some heavy duty orange plastic fencing (like you see around construction projects) and it was greatly marked down so we got some of that too.  We walked out of Lowe’s with three shopping carts filled.

They also had their fruit trees 50% off and their berries 75% off.  75% off . . that was amazing.

Here’s what I think we ended up with:

• 2 Figs
• 2 Niagra grapes
• 3 Concord grapes
• 2 Raspberries
• 5 Blueberries

Charcoal was on sale so I think Vince bought 6 or 8 big bags.  Hunter ceiling fans were on sale and we had wanted to get at least three of those but we still had other stops to make and the car was filling up.

We stopped at Academy but after spending half an hour or so there, decided they didn’t have what we wanted so went to eat lunch.  We had planned to go to Target but knew there wasn’t room in the car.  I suggested we top and buy a pickup.  I even offered to drive it home and Vince could drive the Highlander home but that idea was met with total disapproval.  Big surprise there!

Then we went to HEB . . what a great grocery store!  We got as much as we thought we could cram into the car and sure enough, it was full.

It was a busy day but at least we didn’t have to make too many stops and we got a great deal on all those berry plants.

This weekend Vince will be busy building chicken runs and planting our new plants!