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Folding Laundry - one of our never-ending tasks.
Holding the baby - everyone wants this job
Petting the sheep at the Borges Ranch
Taking Little Man out of the pasture for a couple of walks around the circular driveway. He only got ahold of one rose bush; he ate one flower and several leaves.
At the Jelly Belly Factory after going after Jackson who was following another family we met instead of going with us.
My favorite Baby Jelly Belly
Grooming Little Man
Oliver getting his hoofs trimmed via filing.I haven't blogged in a couple of days; we have been very busy with plain life and extra activities. Thursday was one of those days when we thought things would be calm but ended up being very active. We had visitors expected and unexpected. Jeff was coming in from work and couldn't even get in the gate for the back-up; UPS was trying to deliver a package, a lady was blocking the driveway, and another car was behind him who just followed him in asking for someone who doesn't even live here. He came inside and aksed if I would please go shut the gate and find out who this woman was. Turns out she was a trimmer, a horse foot trimmer that is coming to trim the horses hoofs. That was educational. We learned a lot about that and the whole idea of horses not wearing shoes at all. I liken it to either you vaccinate or you don't. Horseshoes are based on tradition? I haven't learned too much about it yet but it will definitely be something I'll investigate when we get a horse. Sarah Kelly especially asked a lot of questions and took pictures. We also found out that Oliver has foundered before and what they had to do to save him. He seems a little overweight now and the exercise we are giving him is very good for him and we like it too. We are cutting back on the carrots he gets as well.
After all the excitement I was tired; we'd been to the library that day and walked on a mile trail across 4 bridges to get to a park. This is just the best little town nestled around larger towns which means we get to live in a small town but have access to everything; the best of both worlds.
Friday, Jeff was off and we trekked to the Jelly Belly Factory not too far away. There are only 2 factories in the country and one is near here. The free tour was an hour long and fascinating for us. Thank goodness only Jeff really likes jelly beans since they cost $9 a pound! They gave each of us a small pack on the way out which amounted to about 200 jellies which the children enjoyed trading in the car all the way home. We had little papers with pictures and labels of all 50 flavors. He was the "dispenser" and gave out what everyone called for. They had much fun with this.
Before heading home, we drove through the Napa Valley area. What a beautiful country with all those grape vines of all ages and sizes. We were a little too late in the afternoon to take any tours but we can easily go back and do so. There were so many places to choose from we'll do some research about that first. The highlight of my trip, since I'm not a wine drinker that is, was a visit to Dean and Deluca. If you've never been to that store, check out, http://www.deandeluca.com/ There was a new store that had just opened when we moved from Kansas years ago and I haven't seen one since. I took Sarah Kelly in and she was mesmerized by it all. They have some of the neatest speciality items I've ever seen. I really liked a large composting container I saw in there. We bought some fresh bread to munch on for the ride back. We also drove by a house we had looked into possibly renting in one of the towns up there and I am so glad we didn't. It looked somewhat delapidated and the yard was not a yard but a field of grasses almost 2 feet high. And, yes, we know the rattlesnakes are prolific out here. That house has a pool but who wants to swim when the high is only in the 70s?
Saturday we spent time around our area. We visited the local farmers' market and found some interesting items. Spinach bolani topped with sweet jalapeno sauce anyone? I found it delicious and I don't even like jalapenoes. The children played on the playground in town which had enough green space for football throwing too. That afternoon after lunch (and of course picking roses in the garden), we went to the Borges Ranch, an old dairy and cattle ranch which had the original house and farm buildings from 1901. We took a ranger-led tour which happens the 4th Sat. of every month. It was casual and informative. We learned a lot about the history of this area and especially ranching in this part of the country. There were animals milling about for the children to pet, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, pigs, etc... The funniest part was the lambs who are 4-H "projects". They have cut back on their food for the upcoming fair and the noise they made was unbelievable. I've seen a lot of lambs but not any making this noise; it sounded like a man moaning extremely loud and and adamantly. We laughed uproariously about this and since yesterday someone will repeat the sound and we'll all laugh again.
After all the excitement I was tired; we'd been to the library that day and walked on a mile trail across 4 bridges to get to a park. This is just the best little town nestled around larger towns which means we get to live in a small town but have access to everything; the best of both worlds.
Friday, Jeff was off and we trekked to the Jelly Belly Factory not too far away. There are only 2 factories in the country and one is near here. The free tour was an hour long and fascinating for us. Thank goodness only Jeff really likes jelly beans since they cost $9 a pound! They gave each of us a small pack on the way out which amounted to about 200 jellies which the children enjoyed trading in the car all the way home. We had little papers with pictures and labels of all 50 flavors. He was the "dispenser" and gave out what everyone called for. They had much fun with this.
Before heading home, we drove through the Napa Valley area. What a beautiful country with all those grape vines of all ages and sizes. We were a little too late in the afternoon to take any tours but we can easily go back and do so. There were so many places to choose from we'll do some research about that first. The highlight of my trip, since I'm not a wine drinker that is, was a visit to Dean and Deluca. If you've never been to that store, check out, http://www.deandeluca.com/ There was a new store that had just opened when we moved from Kansas years ago and I haven't seen one since. I took Sarah Kelly in and she was mesmerized by it all. They have some of the neatest speciality items I've ever seen. I really liked a large composting container I saw in there. We bought some fresh bread to munch on for the ride back. We also drove by a house we had looked into possibly renting in one of the towns up there and I am so glad we didn't. It looked somewhat delapidated and the yard was not a yard but a field of grasses almost 2 feet high. And, yes, we know the rattlesnakes are prolific out here. That house has a pool but who wants to swim when the high is only in the 70s?
Saturday we spent time around our area. We visited the local farmers' market and found some interesting items. Spinach bolani topped with sweet jalapeno sauce anyone? I found it delicious and I don't even like jalapenoes. The children played on the playground in town which had enough green space for football throwing too. That afternoon after lunch (and of course picking roses in the garden), we went to the Borges Ranch, an old dairy and cattle ranch which had the original house and farm buildings from 1901. We took a ranger-led tour which happens the 4th Sat. of every month. It was casual and informative. We learned a lot about the history of this area and especially ranching in this part of the country. There were animals milling about for the children to pet, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, pigs, etc... The funniest part was the lambs who are 4-H "projects". They have cut back on their food for the upcoming fair and the noise they made was unbelievable. I've seen a lot of lambs but not any making this noise; it sounded like a man moaning extremely loud and and adamantly. We laughed uproariously about this and since yesterday someone will repeat the sound and we'll all laugh again.
Thank you for your comments and emails; we have read them all. And prayers for my friend Donna; I'm wondering if your baby came today? You've been on my mind a lot the last couple of days but especially today! And to all a good night....
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