Too Cold to be Cozy

Good morning! My Enter key isn’t working the way it ought so sometimes when I think I’ve gone to another line, I haven’t. It is quite annoying.

In the barn this morning, I was thinking about a couple of things. One, dogs are still disgusting, I’ll explain my line of thought in a bit, and two, life is much more simple in a barn.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not what you would call a dog person. I always thought that I liked dogs, and, really, I still do. I especially like dogs that belong to other people. For example, the Vaniman’s have had dogs as long as I can remember and I love their dogs. I like dogs that live outside most of the time. When it’s cold out, yes, the dogs should come in, but generally, I think they should be outside more than in and I think that good fences are a must (or one of those collars that keeps them close to the house). Why? Lots of reasons.

For one thing, and I think this is true only for some dogs but I’m not sure why exactly (it might have to do with the fact that some dogs have hair that keeps growing, must be cut periodically, and doesn’t seem to fall out much, and other dogs have hair that grows to a certain length and then stops, but they shed) smell bad. I have never been a fan of giving a dog a bath and that has not changed.

Second, on the occasion a dog pees or poos in the house, they don’t use a litter box. If you have carpet, I feel sorry for you but at the same time, I don’t. If you have hard wood floor, like we do, all I can say is, I hope the dog doesn’t make a habit of it because it will eventually soak in and then I really feel sorry for you.

Third, and I realize that this is entirely dependent upon the breed and the individual dog, they are too dependent and needy and in your face and have nasty habits (like eating goat and cat poop).

Three is enough.

We currently have only one dog, Misty. She is some kind of spaniel and she has decided that I am her person. This is unfortunate for her because I will never shower upon her the love that Paul does. She is one of those dogs that needs a haircut periodically and could use a bath every week. She is always under foot and has to go and see what I am doing all the time. If I go to the basement and she doesn’t realize I’ve moved from the kitchen, she searches frantically for me until she has found me (which often means I’ve returned to the kitchen). She, being some kind of spaniel, has sinus issues which I understand is a problem with the breed. This means that when she eats or cleans herself, she has trouble breathing and she sounds awful; something like a pig only worse. She likes to pee and poop in the house. I realize that this is partly due to the fact that Paul has had dogs that pee and poop in the house for years. We’ve been here for seven years and I’ve been cleaning up the messes for that long and I know that they were happening much longer because there are three spots in the house where the floor is discolored from it.

In spite of all that, Misty does have a sweet personality.

Cats, on the other hand, have a purpose (catching rodents) and Kitty is very good at it. They generally take care of their pee and poop by either doing them in a litter box or outside and they generally cover them up when done. Joseph has mentioned that it would be nice if dogs did the same thing and I have to agree. I understand that some dogs have a purpose. Some still work on ranches and many are companions for their humans. I don’t know of any cat that regularly needs either a haircut or a bath.

Cats make better midwives because they will observe from a distance and only intervene when necessary whereas a dog will be right there in your face which is often not the best course of action.

Life in the barn is so much simpler. Life is all about survival. While there are alpha and beta animals, everyone generally knows their place in society and for the most part, life gets on pretty well. I generally like barns. I don’t care for our barn but it wasn’t meant to be a barn, it was meant to be a milking parlor and as such has a different set up. Even so, there is an area of the barn that I do like. That part is where the goats live. The goats are my dogs. Each has her or his own personality and each has his or her own way of approaching me. The girls all like to have their heads scratched, especially Snowflake and Goldilocks, and they like to come up and stand close, kind of like they do with each other.

It is raining today so there is a coziness to the barn that is not present even in the house. The house would be helped if there was a fire and if it was less cluttered; clutter to me does not equate cozy. There is no electricity in the barn which is fine with me. Considering the fact that my three youngest boys seem to have a certain affinity to fire, which might be genetic, I probably should not be okay with having a lantern for light but I’d rather have running water in, or at least near, the barn than electricity. There is a window right by the milking stand anyway, so unless it is completely dark, there is some light.

The fact that there are windows, with panes of glass, in the barn is a bone of something, I’m not sure contention is the right word, for me. Barns, in my opinion, should not have panes of glass in the windows; at least not where goats are able to get to them with their feet. Cows are okay with glass. Horses might be but I can see how they might not be. Goats and glass do not equal a good combination. Windows with wooden shutters would be fine.

My only problem with the barn today had to do with the dog. She doesn’t like to go out in the rain but she loves to go out to the barn with me. She loves to eat the goat poop that has managed to get in the walkway. She loves to eat the goat toenails I’ve cut off the goats. Today she felt that it was perfectly acceptable to poop in the walkway. Can I say yuck? Yuck!!! There is a certain smell to the barn that has a lot to do with goats. But to me it isn’t an unpleasant smell (until it’s hot and humid in the summer). Dog poop, on the other hand, is an unpleasant smell no matter the season or humidity.

Good morning! Well, that was yesterday and today I have not been out to milk yet. It isn’t raining, either. But I did just let a brown bundle of over-anxious fur in and she is dancing around acting for all the world like she expects me to feed her when she has ample food and water in her bowls. Silly creature. What she’d really like is to get to Kitty’s food.

A cool little waterway we hadn't noticed last time we visited. The potential near this thing for hiding letterboxes is great. The only drawback is how close to potentially many people it is.

Yesterday  morning I got a phone call that didn’t bode well for my calling as Young Women President. All I will say at the moment is that change is inevitable and sometimes we end up really loving things we think we’ll barely be able to tolerate.

Last night I was perusing Facebook and found a recipe for baked beans. It was an ah ha moment for me because this recipe says to use a bean pot. I’m not sure I’d ever heard of a bean pot before but the really cool thing is that I have not just one, but two! I’d used them for holding sourdough and Amish friendship bread starters but they are not airtight and the bugs got in and so they really didn’t work for those things. I am not sure if Paul knew what they were for because when we arrived here, he had them up on top of the fireplace (I’m not sure you could call it a mantel) sort of as decoration. Now that I know what they are and what they can be used for, I plan on using one today to make baked beans.

Mirror Lake from the south end. I don't know what it is about Massachusetts, and maybe it isn't confined to MA, calling ponds lakes. Okay. Maybe I spoke before I should have. I just looked up the difference between a lake and a pond and the difference is: a pond is a shallow body of water that supports rooted plants throughout while a lake is deep enough that light does not penetrate all the way to the bottom. Given this definition, it appears that a pond could have a very large surface area and a lake could have a very small area. Given the shallowness of the mountains around here, I'm really kind of surprised there is any body of water deep enough to be considered a lake.

Last night after I made this wonderful discovery about bean pots, I went in search of white beans. I could find black beans, pinto beans, even kidney beans, but white beans were being elusive. While I was searching, I found, of all things, a sprouter in a box from Kitty Rolfe. I hope she really meant to have it with the stuff she sent over because I’ve been wanting one and will certainly put it to use. I brought up a jar of mung beans as well and will put those to use probably today as well although it would be good if I can get the house a bit warmer first to encourage growth. I did eventually find white beans and put two pounds on to soak before bed.

While searching for beans, it did occur to me that it might seem odd to some that I would want to make baked beans while we have cans and cans of them in the basement. This is yet another reason why I should be more involved with shopping because I would rather make my own baked beans than have them in a can. The only advantage to cans is that they are already cooked. Beans are so easy to cook and/or bake that I really don’t see that slight advantage as much of one. I’d really prefer to utilize the space by having something I really like and would rather use.

The moon was big and beautiful last night. This is before it was dark, obviously. It was very pretty out and a lovely ending to the day.

Currently I am thinking that Amena is not going to make the bus. She wasn’t up yet when I just went up to tell her it was twenty-five after six and that she only had fifteen minutes in which to get ready. I might be surprised, but given that she now has ten minutes and is just getting clothes out of the drier, I’m not going to hold my breath.

Yesterday afternoon Seth, Joseph and I went letterboxing at Coggshall Park in Fitchburg. I wanted to take Amena and Cedric as well but figured that we’d be able to go to Joanna’s to meet her kitten and could call that Family Home Evening. The only problem with that is that Joanna texted and said that Lincoln’s friends were over watching the Patriot’s game. The only problem with that is that Sunday is often the only day we can all go anywhere together at the same time. Anyway, we’ll just have to wait to meet the kitten and we successfully found one letterbox (we are now up to 32) and planted two (we are now up to four). Today is supposed to be up to 51° and sunny so it would be a lovely day to go hunting for more. If the boys get done with school early, maybe we can go find some of the ones at Dunn Park that we haven’t found or some in south Gardner.

Amena did not miss the bus and now it is time for me to go pay attention to the goats. Have a terrifical day!