I freely admit that I am easy to entertain. It doesn’t take much to make me laugh. Hubby pretends to be above silliness most of the time, but, lately, he’s been enjoying googly eyes, though, and he sometimes does other stuff, like happily make goofy faces for pictures, that convinces me his inner silly-boy is struggling to be set free.
During our last trip to Belgium, when we went specifically to see Annelies and Yves’ new house and “just” visit with them, as opposed to gallivanting together to some other destination(s) as we had on previous vacations, we took a little day-trip to give our friends a break from unpacking/organizing. They’d only officially moved in about five days before we arrived.
One of the things I’d always wanted to do was see a Belgian beach town. I know that beach towns in the UK are nothing like American beach towns. Annelies told me that their beach towns are not really very picturesque, But I wanted to see for myself. So we went to Knokke Beach.
It was early Thursday, October 5. The latitude of Knokke Beach is 51.35′, which is pretty far north. In North America, the rough equivalent to that latitude on the Atlantic side would put us around the northern tip of Newfoundland Island. On the Pacific side, that would put us well north of Vancouver Island. So it was cold. Windy, too, unfortunately.
After strolling around a bit, we were all freezing and hungry, so we ducked into that cute cafe for lunch. I left the table to find the toilet, leaving my phone behind. Later, I discovered that husband of mine had taken a couple of pictures while I was away, enlisting the help of our friends in his shenanigans.
Those pics made me giggle, so I decided to share them with you.
Funny, right? Our friends have their own silly side!
I am, and have always been, the picture-taker. Annelies takes a lot of pictures, too, but I’m usually the one that makes people pose next to interesting stuff or in certain spots for pictures. And it’s always me who has the selfie-stick, if I remember it, and long arms if I don’t.
On the day we drove to Knokke (pronounced like kuh-no-kuh), we also stopped in the town of Sluis (pronounced like slew), which is in the Netherlands, just so we could say we’d gone to the Netherlands, too. We’d only driven through that country previously, and had once briefly visited the spot where Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany meet.
I was delighted to see they had a cow statue.
In Sluis, there was also a windmill. Nothing says “we visited the Netherlands” like a photo with a windmill, right? That cow photo could have been taken anywhere.
The conversation probably went something like this…
“Oooh, look. A windmill! We HAVE to get a group photo with the windmill!” I probably said.
The group would have groaned collectively and Annelies would’ve said something like, “A windmill? Really? Why?”
“What do you mean why? Everyone knows windmills are synonymous with the Dutch!” I probably said, by “Dutch” meaning inhabitants of the Netherlands or the country itself, not speakers of the Dutch language.
“Should we all buy clogs, too?” she may or may not have asked, sarcastically.
I would have already been seeking the perfect spot by that point while they chatted amongst themselves, good naturedly (I think) bitching about this weird photo thing I always subject them to, cracking jokes about the number of pictures I take, Mike again remarking how much money we saved when we switched from film to digital images, etc.
“Okay, here’s a good spot,” I would have said, pretending to ignore their complaining. “Annelies, stand there. Mike, get next to her. Yves, beside Mike or in the rear.”
“Where will you stand?” Yves would have said, pretending to be concerned about getting me in the frame while secretly plotting the optimal spot for him to stand while making photo-bomb faces, or doing something else unusual.
Here are some of the lovely images we ended up with that day…
We never did end up with one where we are all smiling normally, but that’s okay. Images like this have become “classic” group photos, marking the various holidays we’ve enjoyed together.
Here are a few of the others…
First, from Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, taken in September 2011.
There’s usually a story behind the pics, too, but I won’t bore you with those details. It’s just significant to the four of us, and seeing these images instantly brings it all back.
Here are a few more of my personal favorites, from Kutna Hora, Czech Republic in September 2016.
There are MANY more. It would take me hours to find them all.
I’ll end this post with an image that still holds the record for Annelies’ best photo-bomb ever!
Posing for photos may sometimes seem tedious, but I have found that it’s almost always worth it in the end. For me, anyway.
One thing I’ve always enjoyed about having a blog is being able to look back and see what happened, when it happened, etc. But I posted so infrequently over the past year that I can’t even do that! It’s sad, really. Not sad as in “OMG, I’m bawling my eyes out,” more like “damn, now I have to look back through old pics, e-mails, and/or calendar entries…” Gasp!
I am still unemployed. All the “spare time” I thought I might have has been nonexistent. I’ve been “working” full days looking for a job instead. I seriously want to find the perfect job for me, not just accept the first job that comes along out of desperation. I’m a big girl, I learn from past mistakes as well as previous positive experiences.
All “work” and no play makes for an unhappy ToadMama, though, so I’ll have to look for something interesting to post about.
In the meantime, here’s some visual interestingness for you.
Believe it or not, I don’t walk around looking at stuff, thinking, “OMG, I absolutely HAVE to take a picture. I have to share it with my gazillion fans. I must, I MUST! I have to get this online!” Stuff just catches my eye.
What can I say? I’m a visual person.
That’s probably why I so enjoyed my time in San Diego last year. All I had to do was work, take care of one small dog, and take care of myself. I stuck to my Eastern Standard Time schedule, so I had lots of free time most afternoons. The dog got walked a lot and I got to amble around looking at stuff, searching for SD’s best street tacos, sampling a wide variety of local craft beer, enjoying various beaches, etc. It was awesome.
Below are a few images that captured my eye. I have lots more, including a series of shots of the coolest “ART” sculpture(?) ever! That ART thing needs its own post.
San Diego is a really colorful place. I hope I get to explore in a similar fashion again!
Did I ever tell y’all that I am very easy to entertain?
Have I also told you how much I like this local grocery store chain’s house brand mayo? It’s the BEST. Every time I visit my daughter, Amy, I buy some. I like it so much, I eat it right from the jar. It’s so yummy and good.
Or so I convinced the grandkids during a recent visit. While they were at school one day, I did go buy a jar of mayo. I promptly emptied the contents down the sink, washed the container, and refilled it with freshly prepared, cheesecake-flavored Jello instant pudding.
I told the kids about 10 times NOT to eat my “mayo.” And I made sure they saw me eating it straight from the jar, a big no-no for anything.
I left this empty jar in their refrigerator when I left their house to return home.
To the best of my knowledge, they have yet to learn the truth and think I’m really weird.
I fed them Feetloaf for dinner one night, too.
The toenails are small pieces of onion. Once I added ketchup and baked the Feetloaves, they looked REALLY unappetizing.
It tasted good, though. And I had Feetloaf sandwiches for lunch all week.
In other news… I have deactivated my Facebook account. It’s a time suck AND often depressing. I’d really rather spend spare time reading other peoples’ blogs and posting to my own. You know, when I am not job-hunting.
I kept Instagram, because I think that’s fun.
Honestly, I am not convinced anyone will miss me. We will see, I guess. In the meantime, I have so much stuff I can post about here. And I can read all about my fun blog friends instead of getting sucked into the Facebook wormhole of idiocy and doom.
Speaking of job hunting…I was thinking I’d have all this free time on my hands, but I always forget that seriously looking for a good job is itself a full-time job. Argh. But I am confident I will find a fabulous new job soon.
Spring is upon us! Or so the calendar says. As usual around this time of year, the need to get out of the house for a bit hit hard a couple of weeks ago. Since I work remotely and can use my cell phone as a hot-spot for WiFi, at the spur of the moment I decided to visit my Dad and work from his place in Pennsylvania (PA) for a few days. I was curious to see if anyone at work would notice a difference, so I didn’t say anything to my co-workers or bosses.
Hubby and I were in Baltimore on March 17 anyway — more than halfway to Dad’s — so it was only a slight diversion. We were in Baltimore helping my mother-in-law get settled in her new apartment. Mike had to be there way earlier than me, so he drove his car. I followed later with Belle in my car. Because Belle isn’t allowed to ride in his fancy-schmancy little roadster, I took his car to PA and he drove my car and Belle home to Virginia.
It took me less than 24 hours to realize I could NOT work from Dad’s. His home is small, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but he’s losing his hearing. That means he talks really loudly and keeps the TV volume at movie-theater levels. I was going to drive home Sunday evening, then I sent my friend Tracey a text about visiting her on the way home. I knew she had some baby goats I wanted to see. At that time she had nine baby goats with two more pregnant mamas due to give birth in the next few days. Once we got to talking about the state of affairs at her farm, I realized she was a little stressed, maybe feeling a tad overwhelmed, and could probably use some help. Knowing she has WiFi and a house that would be more-accommodating than Dad’s (high-speed WiFi and quiet space!) I volunteered to spend a few days, maybe even the week helping out at Turtle Tree Farm. Not only did she agree, she even said she could rearrange the feeding schedule around my working hours.
It did not interfere with my job at all. AND it was a fun, refreshing change of pace for me.
Tracey and her husband, John, raise and breed Nigerian Dwarf goats. It was awesome getting to see and help care for the goat babies. Two were only a few days old, four were about a week old, and three were about two and a half weeks old when I arrived. It was my job to feed the older ones.
I forgot to mention that all of the babies require bottle feeding. The Mamas are kept as dairy goats. Plus, when the babies are bottle-fed by humans, they become very accustomed to being touched and handled by people, which helps make them great pets.
Most of the babies will go live on other farms, so they don’t get real names. But this feisty girl reminded Tracey of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer’s girlfriend, Clarice. So that’s what we called her. We had to call them something. How else would we be able to keep them all straight?
Clarice was super-sweet, and VERY nosy.
Those photos are not staged. The goats really are very friendly, especially the kids. And nosy. Plus, they love to jump and climb. And there were nine of them in the stall with us! Plus Olive, who’d been due to deliver on Monday along with Willow. Olive had delivered early — on Friday morning, I think. Poor Willow was overdue and looking like she was about to explode.
That’s one of my favorite pics from the week. Tracey LOVES being a farmer. I must admit, it was fun being surrounded by animals, literally, all week.
I did not just take pictures all week. I had specific jobs I had to do. In addition to feeding the older babies, and helping with the smaller ones, I had to feed and water all of the adults, too. Morning feedings were the most-hectic. Once all the babies had been fed, Tracey milked the mamas while I stuffed all of the hay bags, distributed pellets to the girls, cleaned and filled water bins, etc. And remember, I was also doing my full-time job from the farm-house kitchen that week, too.
Yes, I was actually working.
Things really started to get interesting on Tuesday when it started to snow. We knew the storm was coming, and predictions of severity varied widely, so we shut the goats in the barn Monday night. The snow started around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday and didn’t stop until late in the day on Wednesday, after about 18 inches (46 cm) had fallen.
The good news about the snow? We got to make and enjoy Snow Cream! (A lot of Snow Cream. That’s snow, sugar, vanilla, and milk. YUM!)
We hadn’t had much snow at all in Virginia this past winter, so I was actually excited to see the snow. Except I had Hubby’s little sports car, which just happens to have tires designed for warm-weather use. No way I’d be going anywhere in the snow in that thing.
Things got REALLY exciting Thursday morning. When we arrived at the barn, we realized Willow had given birth to three kids, probably only within the previous hour or so. Two were huge, and one was tiny, barely hanging on to life.
We had to scurry to get the kids fed and Willow transferred from the stall with the adults to the nursery stall. Then we had to rig-up a barrier to keep Willow separate from the other babies. It’s important for the kids to nurse immediately after birth as that’s when Mama’s nutrients are most-beneficial.
The big babies were the same size as week-old kids! Meanwhile, their little brother was itty-bitty. Crazy size difference, really.
Look at that face! He was no more than a couple hours old at that point, still wet from the womb.
The cats don’t just happen along and take up residence in the barn. There’s a very specific method you need to use when they’re kittens to imprint the barn as their home. They, too, have important jobs to do. Mainly, they keep the barn vermin-free. They’re fully vetted, well-fed, and treated like members of the team.
When we got back to the house, I had to dig the car out. John was using the snow-blower and tractor to clear the driveway. It’s a LONG driveway.
I forgot to mention the three resident dogs. Pictured below are, Beatrix Potter (Bea) on left and Piper, the two chocolate-colored girls. George Bailey is in front. He’s 11 months old and a handful! He has a job, too. Impregnating Bea, who is expecting puppies on April 19.
They have to sit in that room and dry off a bit before tracking snow and mud through the rest of the house.
About midday, we decided to bring Bitty Baby into the house. Willow wasn’t at all interested in feeding him, so Tracey had to take care of him, otherwise he would die. Actually, it was touch-and-go with him for days because he was so tiny. (Thanks to Farmer Tracey, he pulled through and has since gone to live with his forever family.)
Just look at that face!
On Friday morning, Tracey was still in her bedroom enjoying quiet time as I was drinking my coffee. So, when the little guy started hollering, I picked him up and snuggled him on my lap for a while. Meow-Meow, one of three indoor cats, joined us, too.
Not many people get to sit drinking their morning coffee with a beautiful, day-old goat on their lap!
Tracey had to force formula down his throat. Literally. He just did not want to eat. But he sure did like hollering.
Below is another of my favorite captures from the week.
One is rarely ever alone at Turtle Tree Farm, inside or out!
Tracey did manage to get out to feed the chickens on Wednesday as the storm was winding down. As she re-entered the barn, a large wad of snow fell right on her head. She was not hurt, but she also wasn’t happy. Just another day at the farm!
Could things get any more exciting?
Actually, yes. During dinner on Friday, we were discussing our plan to spend a quiet evening sitting by the fire with wine, sewing. But when we got to the barn for the 8:00 p.m. feeding, we discovered that Myrtle Brown was in active labor! Never a dull moment.
We had to get Myrtle sequestered in the nursery stall and get the babies fed. Then we waited. You could tell we were making her nervous — Tracey’s granddaughter (age 17) and a friend had stopped by to see the babies — so we all went back to the house for a bit to give Myrtle her privacy. We returned to the barn about an hour later, not long before Myrtle started birthing her kids.
Yep, I got to see the whole thing! It was super-cool. The first kid was huge. Tracey said it was the longest she’d ever seen. Two others followed pretty quickly. Myrtle wasn’t doing the clean-up thing that mama goats are supposed to do, so Tracey not only had to burst at least one of the sacs, she had to dry-off all three kids, too. Once she placed them by Myrtle’s head, Mama started loving on the babies just as she was supposed to. Meanwhile, I was watching Myrtle and told Tracey I thought there was another kid coming. She said it was the afterbirth, which also had to be delivered. Poor Myrtle was making the weirdest faces as contractions wracked her body. The stuff that was coming out the business end looked pretty solid to me.
“I think that’s another one,” I said. Sure enough, Tracey reached down there and felt kid number four! She burst that sac, too, dried the kid off, and gave it to Mama. Four babies for Myrtle Brown! That meant 16 total kids in the nursery stall, plus two Mamas, a Goat Farmer, and the temporary Farmhand. Hannah and her girlfriend watched from outside the stall. What a way for two teens to spend a Friday evening, but they acted like it was all normal stuff.
The older kids were romping and cavorting the whole time Myrtle was in labor. They were also interested in what was happening in the neighboring stall. The barn was too dark and busy for many pics, but I got a bunch the next morning.
One of her kids was all black.
She’s such a sweet goat.
It was not a relaxing week by any stretch of the imagination — farmhands work hard! — but it was a good week. Since I wasn’t able to participate in girls’ weekend back in February, I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with Tracey. It would have been nice had Carol been able to join us, but she has some health issues that currently prevent her from driving and minimize her level of physical activity.
It was fun spending time with Tracey’s hubby John, too. I chuckle to myself every time I think of him returning from work on Friday, saying “Honeys, I’m home!” as he came in the door. He contributed to our eating really well, too.
All in all, it was one of the coolest, most-tiring weeks I have ever enjoyed. I am so grateful to have such amazing friends. I am honored that Tracey trusted me enough to play such an active role taking care of her precious babies that whole week.
I am hoping I get to help next year, too!
More pics are online in a shared Google Photos folder for those who are interested:ToadMama the Farmhand.
On April 24, I started this post, but never finished. The purpose was mainly to catch up and let y’all know I’d be leaving for my solo adventure on Saturday. As in LAST Saturday, April 29. But then I had the busiest work week ever, leading up to the trip, and never got around to finishing the post. So here it is…
Holy cow. How did it get to be so close to the end of April already?!? So much for me trying to get all of the 2016 vacation catalogued before my 2017 adventure begins.
It has almost been a month since my last post. On one hand, it feels uneventful. On the other hand, a lot has gone on.
Let’s see, there was the visit to my friend Tracey’s farm, which provided a chance for three friends to catch-up with each other AND an opportunity to meet, feed, and love-on four three-week-old baby goats.
That was followed by another brief trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, . where my employer’s headquarters is located. I got to enjoy some face-to-face time with existing co-workers and meet a few new ones.
There were a few weekends of yard work, each followed by five to six days of very sore and achy muscles.
We even managed to squeeze-in a motorcycle ride on Easter Sunday!
When I was blogging regularly, I could look back at a variety of posts as a reminder of what happened, when. I’ve lost that. Now, I have to rely on things like Instagram and Facebook. Of the two, I prefer Instagram. Its only downfall being that images are not dated. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I love being able to keep up with friends and loved ones. I hate that there’s so much negativity. I’m torn between wanting to pull the plug on my Facebook account and maybe whittling down my list of “friends” to people I care about, with whom I share at least some sort of valid connection. There are many folks on that list who I rarely, if ever interact with. I suspect many of them probably have just unfollowed me (elected NOT to see any of my posts, often the last step before actually removing oneself from a friend list and/or severing the cord of friendship).
In other news, I learned a fun new word — pareidolia — after receiving an email from Ry (from Two Wheels to There) containing a link to a web page with a funny collection of images. In that case, the word refers to seeing faces in everyday objects, but it’s apparently an all-encompassing term to describe a “psychological phenomenon” wherein one perceives familiar patterns, like faces, where none exists. The image shared below is one of my favorites among a nice collection that made me laugh out loud on more than a few occasions.
There are lots of great pics on that page. You should check it out.
Finally, I am excited to say that I’ll be leaving on Saturday for my Big 50 Adventure. I figured I deserved to celebrate making it to my fiftieth birthday, and a solo adventure seemed like a great idea.
I’ve told y’all before that Hubby and I enjoy riding together, but we have different riding styles. He likes to cover long distances in short periods of time and I like to meander, stop often, and look at stuff. Oh, and take pictures, too.
Periodic solo trips are good for the soul. I’m not planning ahead either. All I know is that my first stop will be Monterey, Virginia (there’s a new LOVEwork there). I’ll plan the route as I go.
For those who are interested, there’ll be a Spotwalla Tracker Map. That’s how Hubby can keep an eye on me.
I have met some really cool people since moving to Virginia in 2011. It’s hard to believe it has already been five years! Well, not officially five until September 30/October 1, but that’s close enough. Sometimes it still feels so new…
But, back to me having met COOL people. One of the interesting localish ladies I’ve befriended is Connie Stevens Hilker. Some of you may remember her from this 2014 post of mine. According to the bio on Connie’s blog…
…I started Hartwood Roses, an educational rose garden in Virginia that specializes in rare and unusual antique roses. I know a lot about roses, old houses, carpentry and remodeling, and am an expert day dreamer. You will often find me working in the garden, planning a home project, building something, or hanging out in a cemetery …all of this has come in handy as my husband and I restore our historic home (built in 1848) renovate the outbuildings, and design the gardens.
She loves animals, too. She’s a supporter of dog rescue. She paints furniture. She’s just a really fun gal. And she’s married to a guy named, Steve, an artist who also seems like a cool chap. Here’s a recent pic of the two of them from Connie’s blog…
Aren’t they a cute couple? They’re grandparents, too.
Now for the point of this post… Connie and Steve hosted an open house/walking garden tour this past May. It’s an annual thing, I think. After seeing all of their preparations online, I thought it would be fun to go.
There was a map and everything. If you click on any of the images in this post, a larger version will open so you can see details.
I hadn’t told Connie I was coming. She was a little surprised to see me, but I think Steve was more surprised to see this granny pull into his yard on a motorcycle. I hadn’t met Steve before that day. Of course, I felt like I knew him to some degree through Connie and her social media posts.
It’s a big yard with a lot of different gardens and planting areas.
That’s an overview of the property. Isn’t it delightful?
Now for a bunch of pictures of their gorgeous roses.