ari's knee surgery

Ari tore his CCL earlier in the summer but it did not heal so he had to have surgery to fix it. He cannot be let off leash for two months.

it was really hard because i could not tell ari what was going on.

sad boy

ari doing one of the many things he should not be doing...

Spot

May 6, 2010 - June 28, 2010

my little friend

2 days before she died

Engagement Rock

Ben proposed to me while backpacking near roundtop off of carson pass.

starting to unpack the car

it was beautiful! everything was still covered in snow. we were able to ski most of the way to our campsite.

ben and ari

ben proposed to me at the rock in the background of the picture. he tied the ring around ari's neck!

I'm engaged!

skiing the next day

ari relaxing after skiing

ari taking a nap on ben!

ben making breakfast

having a burger at our favorite burger place in tahoe after skiing out!

Marguerite

marguerite has decided that she wants to be a mother (this is not good because she has stopped laying delicious egg and all she wants to do it sit on eggs). we have moved her into one of our rabbit hutches with wooden eggs and a big comfy nest. she comes out once a day to eat, drink, and go to the bathroom. she does those activities frantically so she can get back to her eggs! we got this great idea that maybe she would want to be the mother of the chicks! we put two of the chicks in the rabbit hutch with her, they immediately went under her wings so i went and got two more. after an hour ben and i checked on her and we saw four little heads peaking out from under her wings (it was the cutest thing ever!). since she could handle four we stupidly decided to give her the other four. we put them in then after a few minutes she got up screaming and ran out of the hutch (i think she was a bit overwhelmed). we brought the chicks back in the house and a few hours later we introduced two chicks again and a hour after that two more. two hours later we found four chicks huddled in the corner of the rabbit hutch. whenever they moved marguerite snapped at them. now we have all eight chicks back in our laundry room and a hen who is trying to hatch a wooden egg...

the wooden egg in the nest we made for her (this was done to prevent her from sitting on every egg the other girls laid)

Marguerite the broody hen...

the peeps!

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Matilda

Baby Goat

at the farm where we milk goats, maestro, one of the goats had a baby boy on wednesday. i think he is the cutest baby goat i have ever seen. i want to keep him but ben says no!

maestro making sure i am taking good care of her baby.

Troutmere La Honda

Brief Summary of Troutmere Farm (where we live):

We gave some eggs to the neighbors. (That’s good!!!)

The neighbors live on compound of shacks and junk owned by a man notorious for dosing monkeys with acid in his back yard. (That’s weird…)

A few days later, the neighbors gave us fruit salad!! (That’s good!!!)

The fruit was drenched in cool whip and mixed with colored marshmallows. (That’s weird…)

The chickens just ate the fruit salad, and they will use that caloric energy to produce more eggs!!! (That’s good!!! And weird!!!)

Another week in the woods… 1500 fish were delivered on Tuesday. They look a little surprised as they all rushed out through a 18-inch pipe, but we think they’re getting settled.

view from the bottom of the driveway

our log house

side yard - where the chickens and bun lives

looking down the driveway at the garage

girls playing in my compost pile!

trout pond in the background

Elkus Ranch

Elkus Ranch Half Moon Bay

Amanda, Angie, Natasha, Veronica, Kayleigh

food for the pigs

laughing goat!

The spitting lama...