My Solstice baby turns 18

Forgive me while I interrupt this normally farm-centered blog to have a purely selfish moment of reminscence. You see, eighteen years ago today, I was deliverin' a baby.

Now - the poor little guy - as if coming into the world three days before Christmas wasn't hard enough, his mama insisted on dressing him like a zebra:

Picture proof to show that I was, indeed, the one to give him his first driving lesson:

He was a beauty, this baby:

And, for as long as I can remember, he has always done things his own way:

At an early age, he developed a strong love for pickles:

and animals:

He was, and continues to be, my boy with the impish grin:

He has experimented with many personal styles throughout the years.
(Those may or may not be my underwear he's wearing):



His hair has been an ongoing work of art:
This was the "blue" phase:

Followed by the "red" phase:

Somewhere in here was the bleached blonde phase (where IS that picture?!)
Followed by the extremely curly phase:

Then the extremely straight phase:

Followed by the still-straight-but-rather-matted phase:

Followed by the "afro" stage:

Followed by the "dreadlock" stage:

Are you keeping up?

Throughout the years, his love of animals has remained strong:




A child full of enthusiasm and self-confidence:

he is now a young man who loves to jump hurdles:

paddle dragon boats:

emcee school events:

volunteer for Habitat for Humanity:

and peform a lead role in the school play:


How fast the time went.
Is it wrong of me to be so incredibly proud of him, but desperately miss my little boy?

Happy Birthday, Aidan.
Thanks for still taking goofy pictures with your mama:

Donkey cookies

Yes, really. I made cookies for my donkey.

It was so easy. I added a few simple ingredients:

Mixed them all together:

Rolled them into little, bite-sized balls:

And after baking for ten minutes, voila!:

Little donkey nuggets of joy:

With warm treat in hand, off I went to find a taste tester:

When I offered one to Chester, there was little hesitation. He basically inhaled it:

Did you know a donkey's lips could get so long?:

I decided another opinion would be good. Toni didn't have to be asked twice, either:

Though her eating style is a bit daintier than Chester's:

Dolly was right behind Toni, ready to gobble up the donkey treat (shhhh, I didn't tell the llamas the treats were meant for donkeys...):

I'm sneaky in another way, too. I take these llama-hand-feeding opportunities to rub the soft spot under my stand-offish llama's chin. Oooooh, soft:

Kai was really the only one I couldn't convince of their wholesome goodness:

Moving on with my treats, I went off to find my goats. Pete and Reggie had no doubt that I had baked these just for them:

The chickens didn't care who they had been baked for:

15 out of 16 animals *loved* these cookies. I'd say these were a giant hit here on Critter Farm.

If you'd like to bake these for your special, fruit-n-veggie eating animal, here's the recipe:

Baked Donkey Delights

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 Tbs molasses
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup diced apple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees Celsius). Combine ingredients in the order listed. Form the batter into small balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Note: Because fresh, natural ingredients and no preservatives are used in this recipe, to extend their freshness you'll want to refrigerate the ones you don't use within the first day or so.

Me and my shadow

I really like to take pictures. I spend hours outside on our property, following my various animals around and snapping photo after photo after photo. So many of these photos never make it on this blog, because most of them are either blurry or too dark or only interesting to me, but sometimes, even though a picture isn't the highest quality, something about it tugs at me, and I decide I want to share it after all.

So. Here are a few shots that, even though they're not the greatest quality, I really like. A lot. The subject matter in all these shots? My beautiful donkey, Chester, of course.

I was photographing the llama girls in the pasture the other day when I noticed a presence behind me:

He nuzzled me a bit, but mostly, he just wanted to stand close:

This is what I saw when I turned around:

I hope this means he likes how I smell:

Chester has a few trust issues that we're working on. I'm hoping that lots of time spent and gentle attention given is going to help him to overcome some of his fears. Sometimes he doesn't want to be touched and petted and scratched - frequently, he just wants to be very close and sniff:

I'm ok with this:

A bit later, I caught Chet taking a little nap in the sun with his nose pressed to a tree:

He's a big one for eye contact, this guy:

It's interesting that some of my most favorite photographs aren't always the ones perfectly captured. More often than not, it's those spontaneous, blurry, sometimes overexposed pictures that squeeze my heart the most.

To glare

Glare
Pronunciation: \ˈgler\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): glared; glar·ing
Etymology: Middle English glaren
Date: 13th century

- To look with fierce, piercing eyes; to stare earnestly, angrily, or fiercely.
- To stare angrily or fiercely
- To stare with a fiercely or angrily piercing look

I was just thinking about this word and wondered what you thought.

Is this considered glaring?

What about this?

How about now?

Ok. I was just wondering.