My Uncle and Aunt came last night and brought me some squash so today has found me canning squash pickles.Here is the recipe. Very easy.

8 cups of sliced squash

2cups diced onions

2cups diced bell peppers

1 40z jar pimentos

4 cups of vinegar

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup salt

2 TB mustard seed and celery seed

Put the squash, onions, bell pepper, pimentos into a bowl, pour 1/4 cup salt on them and cover with ice water. Let sit for 2 hours, then drain. Put vinegar, sugar, mustard seed and celery seed and let come to boil. Add squash mixture and return to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Then put into hot jars. After I put my into the jars I then turn the jars upside down for atleast 10 minutes after that I return to the upright position. These are good on vegetables or just to eat with crackers.

I also sliced some squash and put into freezer bags for this winter I can have fried squash.

This is the side of the barn/shed. I have been gathering up my Granfather's and Great Uncle old tools and been hanging them on the side. I had a pretty wreath hanging on the door but the wind and goats have manged to undo it. So, I plan on making a new one next week. I just love the old door. The wreath had a bunch of yellow sunflowers on them. My flowers that I had in the tubs also were a victim to the goats. Oh well, maybe next time they will make it.

I went over to Mom's this afternoon for I had two little girls that contacted me about showing so we went and picked two out for them. So now there will only be 4 goats going to the sale in the morning. I made some pepper sauce and canned it and also got a mess of peas out of the garden, just enough for supper. Looks like for supper it will be fresh vegetables, peas,stewed potatos, fried green tomatos, ripe tomatos, cornbread and sweet tea. Just something about the south with fried green tomatos and sweet tea. yum yum

Today was cloudy with a good chance of rain but it looks like we may have missed the rain. We are planning on going back to the waterway tomorrow. Let's hope the rain holds off for that.

We are home!!! We had a wonderful time playing out on the water and camping yesterday. Lamar and I are well-done. We both kept sunscreen on and still ended up looking like a lobster. We enjoyed the day with Tessa, Brian, and Kasey. We rode with them for awhile in their boat then got into our boat and cruised up and down the waterway. Lamar did try some fishing but wasn't able to get a bite. I sure would have liked to have freshed fried fish for supper but maybe next time. I believe we are going back this weekend. Emily wants to go and I have asked my Uncle and his family to go with us.
I got the new goats home today. I also put my two little ones in with them and seperated their mom. They sure have been doing some calling. After a day or two they will settle down and things will be back the same. I just don't know if I will keep them in the pen they are in now for it has put my milk goats in the back pen and away from where I do my milking. I may move them around tomorrow.
Here is a recipe for Goat Milk Fudge:
2 cups of sugar
2 1/2 squares baking chocolate
1 cup goat milk
1/4 tea salt
1 cup nuts, chopped
1 tea vanilla
1 Tbl goat butter( I used regular butter)
mix the sugar, chocolate, goat milk, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring sonstantly.
Bring to 236 on a candy thermometer, or to soft-ball stage.
Remove from heat, add the nuts, vanilla, and goat butter. Beat until creamy and thick
Pour into a buttered dish and cool. Then cut into squares.

Today found me just doing the normal routines here at home. I washed a few loads of clothes and hung them out and I was able to pick a mess of fresh purple hull peas. Lamar got the yard mowed and I guess I needed to run the weedeater but the rocker just kept calling me to come and sit so that is what I did. David ended up going over to his friend's house and shucking corn with them. Lamar and I went to the grocery store and picked up a few things for tomorrow. We are planning on going to the waterway with the boat and tent. We will play out on the water and then come back to our place and camp. I so enjoy going out there. It is very peaceful. We are right there on the water. We went out there and camp not too long ago. I imagine we will ride the waterway in the boat , find a nice spot to stop and he will fish will I bake for a while in the sun. Don't worry, I bought sunscreen. Funny, this will be the first time I can ever remember putting on sunscreen. That little scare I had with my ear got my attention. I use to be the one who layed on the tanning beds and layed out in the sun. I use to think I had to bronze and golden year round. This year, I lily white and the only thing that bothers me now is having to put on a bathing suit. So if you read or hear about the beached whale here in Mississippi don't worry, they have just spotted me.
I hope each and every one of you has a safe and wonderful 4th of July. I have only 11 days left with Jon Brandon before he leaves. When I stop and think about the days that I have left with him I get this awful feeling in the pits of my stomach and my heart breaks.
Until we chat again
Laura

As you can see in this picture, we are adding on to the goat pen. This pen will be where the little ones will stay. It will hold the 5 little ones that will go into the show ring this year. Lamar worked all day yesterday on it and finally got it finished. It has a two gates on it, one that goes from one pen to the other and then a gate that goes into the pasture. So, they will be able to roam in the pasture but come evening time they will go back into their pen. You can see my two little ones standing with their mom. They are boer cross. I bred my Nubain doe to a reg. boer billy. They have the traits of the boer and will be breeding stock come next year. I have found out that breeding like that throws out some of the best meat goats that come in the arena. I will show them this year but will not sale at the end of the season for I want to keep them. I believe Shelby will place highly this year. I like the way she is built and stands. She is deep in the body and stands perfectly square on her feet. Like you drew a box for her to stand on. Wheezer is a little on the small size and she may turn out to do fine but Shelby is the one who I'm putting my money on this year. She will also be the goat for showmanship. She holds her head up and stretches out. She is calm and that is one of the traits I look for to enter in showmanship. David doesn't show in showmanship for it makes him nervous but Emily can go into the class and either win or place next to it. Some have that kind of gift and she knows how to work a goat in the ring and how to keep her eyes on the judge at all times. She knows what he is looking for when she enters and she does it. A lot of judges wants to see if you have control of the animal, if you can set it up correctly, be prepared to go left or right at the drop of a hat, just a calm look on your face and that you enjoy it. Sometimes the judge may ask you questions and I just draw up when they are talking to her for you never know what she may tell. lol David does good in the weight class and there isn't alot of pressure in it. So he just shows in the weight classes.

This is 'Lady' who is a toggenburg. I get around 2 quarts a day off her. When I let her out of the pen she goes right to the place where I milk her. She just stands there waiting on me to put her feed out and hook her collar up and she is ready to be milk. When I get through she heads straight to the gate and waits to go back in. She is the boss of the herd. She doesn't like it if you start showing the other ones any attention. She is the hog attention getter. She is very loveable. The only trouble I have with her is she HATES dogs. She will run after them. Why, I don't know. She was first oned by the Amish but a friend of mine bought her and when she kidded this year she lost her baby. That is why I have her and milking her.

Had a barrel race Saturday and ended up winning the adult class. The show was cancelled after the adult for it started raining. Saturday was also our anniversary and we went out and ate and just mainly enjoyed the evening together and talked about the 4 years that we have had together. Some good and some bad but we survived and our love grew stronger.

As you can see my garden is doing pretty good considering what little rain we have had. One end of the garden does grow faster than the other. Which is okay by me, for it allows some time between matureing. I'm having trouble with my new blog. when I go to post it shows for my title and then that's it. Not able to post. Will have more later on.