I have been researching self-sufficiency and gardening quite a bit and have seen many mentions of “weeder geese.”  I researched that a little more and it seemed like the perfect compliment to a farm and especially a large garden.  I knew that geese were vegetarian and also knew that they were very personable (just never to this person) and smart.  So I set out to order FOUR geese and found that my minimum requirement from the hatchery was eight.  EIGHT!  Ack!  I was on the phone with Hubby when I read this on the website and he says, “Well just get eight then.”  Excuse me?  Could you put my husband back on the phone?  What have you done with him?  So I ordered eight, and they arrived last Wednesday.  Annie and I have been completely involved with snuggling with little goslings now (and yes, she’ll correct you if you call them anything other than goslings.)

We had an unfortunate tragedy and are now down to seven.  We lost a little goose we had named “Minnie May” and since she was the smallest and the frailest, I had thought that it was possible we would lose her.  Annie found her, unfortunately, and had large tears – she has become the ultimate Goose Girl.  To see her with them, I am grateful my heart changed to accept geese back in to my life.  Of course, I can say that now while they’re small – we’ll see how it goes when they’re big.

Of course, who can resist such fuzziness anyway?  We’re just full of peeps and giggles here at Mud Ranch.

Annie and I have this great spot, high on the side of a mountain that over-looks town.  I caught a glimmer of Old Town last week and then noted a few days ago that the glimmer would be best at around 7 pm.  So we headed up around then and have to pass by some old settling ponds – look at what Annie spotted.  I had my big 300mm prime lens with me so snapped it on and got this shot before the couple darted off.

Not all that awesome of a shot as I was still in manual mode and the lighting was hard to adjust for, but I do like how you can see the blue in the female’s wings.

And this was the shot I was “shooting for” – pun intended.  The shot I got before was in the middle of the day when the light was more flat, tonight I got sparkle and that made me pretty happy.  In the picture is the “Old Bridge” which was built in 1901 and is still in service, the Old Hotel and a few other buildings from the 1800′s.  This was the booming part of town, built right along the river and within walking distance to the one room schoolhouse and the old Congregational church which are both still standing (the Schoolhouse is now a library.)

I turned around, almost directly behind me from the Old Town shot, and here’s our place.  Our barn in the far distance, and the house with the shop closer with Hank watching for deer or activity in the woods beside us.  It’s always nice to know a dog is on the watch.

And here’s our barn with the Mud Ranch flock taken with my 300mm prime again.  Quite a big difference, eh?  I love all the green, it’s so vibrant and the peacefulness of the evening just glows.

Annie, Hank and I all went back down to the settling ponds and took some more photos, this time of what was happening right around us.  Annie loves to race around the embankments of the ponds.

Then settle down next to her favorite dog – a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

And because things seemed extra special, I brought out a box that has been buried in my parent’s attic for ages.  Filled with old My Little  Ponies from the 80’s – Back when they were normal looking.  These two girls thought they had arrived.  Of course I had a lot of accessories to go with them.

There’s a snow suit, a clown suit and a couple dresses for the baby Ponies.  Dresses, shoes, hats and a saddle for the adults – oh, and a crown too.

I even go as far as having a high chair with a bottle.

They took turns feeding the babies complete with suckling noises.

Watching their little hands try and dress and accessorize their ponies was pretty entertaining.  Of course I got dragged in to that for a while… “Mom, I can’t do it!”

They were charmed for hours, which made for some fun observing time for me.

I am so thankful that I kept all my old Ponies.  Look at how charmingly beautiful they were back then… Now (see freak on the lower right with the yellow ‘bangs’) they’re weird looking, not innocent or cute but sassy and strange.  Their little bodies have a Barbie-doll curve to them, along with their legs being shapely, their heads are huge and their eyes are about to pop!  What’s wrong with things looking nice instead of bratty?

I did notice that the girls like playing with the older fashioned ones instead of the new one… And of course, Jessie is there, breaking them out of jail or something.

Pretty soon all the Ponies had “flying powers” and they took off.

And then crash landing…

…And taking off again.  All of which made for nice naps.  A plus for me!

Our little valley in the mountains tends to get socked in with fog and low lying clouds because there is so much dampness and of course the river and lakes help out too.  It really affects some people’s attitudes and when the sun comes out we like to take advantage of the warmth!

Hank always enjoys our walks and as we’re learning about acorns and small items we find on the trail, he’ll lay down and wait until we’re ready to go again.  Of course, once I snap a photo of him, Annie wants her picture taken too… Here she is running to pose with Hank.  Cropped, this would be a nice one of Hank but I wanted to leave her in the picture to show you just how fast my trigger finger has to be!

Then Annie mauls him and puts her stuffed black puppy in for a photo too.

It’s always fun to see all the little items we find, Annie found these herself, growing on the side of an oak tree which quickly became her castle.

It sits on the side of a hill over looking our meadow behind the house.  I told her she can peek out and watch for bad guys but she wanted to be the lady at the “milk store” (Starbucks) and I was supposed to get in line for a coffee.  She really does like to serve… But if that were me as a kid, there’d be bad guys.

Good ol’ Harry likes to come along too, he follows everywhere we go.  Here he is showing off in our castle.

So Annie had to show off too.

On our way back around toward the end of our loop I found the Dudes sun bathing… See everyone enjoys it when the clouds depart.

So we all spent some time soaking up the sun and watching Annie “build a castle” with dirt piled up on her pony.  I’m not so sure she gets the concept of castles yet, but that’s okay.

She made sure that I was going to post these photos on the blog so she could hear how everyone liked her castle – So do you like it?  Didn’t she do a good job?

Raider and I had some bonding time on either side of the fence too and he even let me scratch his chin.  He’s much too friendly for my taste, I’m very cautious with him and even have dubbed him “Hubby’s Sheep.”  But out of breeding season, he doesn’t try to pull anything too scary… He’s just too friendly. 

But he has some pretty fleece!

It was really very simple and so quick to make.  If you think you can’t make one, try it, it’s very easy and very quick.  I made two 20′ garlands in about 15 minutes, and that may be stretching it.  It was so simple.  You just start with a few trimmed branches and layer them together, wrap the wire around the very beginning and then make large spirals around the whole branch, adding more as you go and continue wrapping the wire. 

So I had to have Annie and Hank pose for you, so you could see how it looks.  I know it’d be a boring front porch without them in the pictures — Here’s Annies favorite “strangle hold.”  She sure loves her dog… So do we all.  I can hardly believe it’s only been one year since he’s been in our lives.  He was certainly made to be part of our family.

“I want to see the pictures Mom!”  Annie always wants to see her pictures after I’ve taken them.  Looks like Hank was interested in seeing too.

“Come on Hank!”  That dog is more than tolerant of Annie… We couldn’t ask for better.  He’s truly so sweet and so calm, just how any Collie should be.

Front porch posing quickly turned in to “Watch-me-run-around-the-yard.”  Of course, a pre-requisite was for me to take pictures of her racing.

Then of course, not far down on the list was to get Hank involved in the running.  Which he gladly obliges to.