This summer I re-met an old friend from high school, and the spouses hit it off, so....
Let's all go to the country in Oklahoma!
Makes sense to me.
Actually, Matt's mom, Gaye, lives on a ranch out there and he thought we might enjoy a visit, which we completely did. It was the best time.
It was just a laid-back weekend, and David and I had the best time wandering around, relaxing, napping, reading, and playing with and learning about all the animals. David really enjoyed listening to Doug tell us all about various things on the ranch, like his goat-milking system.
Really, not a lot to tell. Lovely, unhurried company, beautiful place, leisurely fun. We truly had a great time, and the best part was that David had a great time...one step closer to my dream of having some land of our own!
I'll let the pictures/captions tell the story - they do a better job anyway. What we did while there:
- horseback riding
- ATVing
- eating some kind of amazing goat cheese-thing Doug made from the milk of his own herd
- Beekeeping
- went out to eat
- shooting practice
The Lawrences have quite the menagerie, all adorable rescues. I was in heaven. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the cats, for shame. So: Roll-call!
This is Marcus. He is full of energy, which is evidenced by this picture, which is the clearest I have of him but it's still fuzz cuz that dog just does not sit still.
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| This is Daisy, quite possibly the sweetest dog on the planet. I thought David might try to hide her in the trunk and smuggle her home with us. |
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| Various goats - I can't remember all their names...shame. |
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| I think this is Elizabeth Taylor |
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| Bees!! |
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| Various chickens - I don't think he's named, so I'll just call him The Man |
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| Ponies - Chief, Cowboy |
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| More goats |
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| Donkey! |
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| This is Daisy's counterpart, Sam. He is a sweet boy too and loves to play. He and David would chase each other around the front yard. |
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| Double tummy-scratch |
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| Manly Time |
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| I love their cute barn! |
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| Hangin' on the porch |
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| More goats! Those plastic chain collars are genius. |
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| We found a bunch of eggs in the chicken coop. They had not known that their chickens have started laying, so they were who knows how old and we could not eat them. Instead, we used them for target practice. Really. |
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| Kelly, HorseWhisperer |
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| I love this picture, but there is that ugly rope going right through it.....grrr.... |
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| Go go gadget
Gimpshop! (Which is like a free photoshop for cheap people such as
myself) I am pretty proud of myself and this outcome, considering I only
vaguely know what I'm doing. I mean, look at that! Shazam! |
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| Fresh eggs |
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| I'm feeling very rural right about now |
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| Patiently waiting to be fed |
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| Kelly's taking care of business. |
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| He's the man |
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| This poor guy, I thought he was so pretty, I followed him around and took maybe a billion pictures, none of which are very good. Oh well. |
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| The house! Love the front porch |
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| Can't even be left alone to chew |
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| Ha ha! Tongue. |
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| Halfway decent. Thanks for putting up with me, Chief! |
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| The herd by the milking shed |
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| Elizabeth Taylor is vocal and bossy |
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| Although she's also pretty cute. |
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| They so wanted to play with the goats. |
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| Hi Cowboy! Sorry I made you run around - thanks for carrying me. |
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| Buds |
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| I felt like Cowboy looked at me a lot like this, mildly put out by my existence. Possibly because I put a saddle on him and made him run around while I tried to remember how to ride. Oops, apparently I no longer have any riding muscles. Sorry boy. |
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| David made a friend - check out that solar panel in the background! |
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| "Hi! Do you have treats?" |
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| I really enjoyed the rocking chair on the porch. Certainly on my list for future house/ranch |
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| Gaye let me take a picture of her - Cowboy seems to prefer her company to anyone else's - horse or human. |
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| Yes, that IS a goat in the chicken house. |
The we put those eggs to work via target practice for both guns and arrows. We also used water bottles. I think my favorite was the 'bear drill' that was awesomely narrated by Matt.
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| Lining up her shot |
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| Gaye knows her way around a gun |
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| Robin Hood! |
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| The famous concentrating squint |
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| My noodle arms couldn't even DRAW the bow, much less shoot it. I don't think anyone else had any trouble...for shame. |
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| David had to help |
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| Kelly was a good shot |
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| David and I somehow managed not to embarrass ourselves, and I am going to pretend it was skill instead of luck. |
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| Goat hut! |
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| Bee suit - ready to go |
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| I felt ridiculous, but so very glad for that hat thing. |
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| The hives |
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| Hello, bees! |
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| Goodnight, bees |
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| Doug is like the honeybadger. He just doesn't give a shit. Gets all up in there with the bees |
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| Checking sugar levels - i think |
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| Getting down to the honeycomb |
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| Removing a panel |
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| honey! Work little bees, work! |
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| Whoa, lots of bees |
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| The queen! Somewhere. |
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| This is what Doug uses to get the honey out of the hive - it is an extruder, and I believe it works via centrifugal force. If my backyard wasn't so small and I didn't want to have friends, I would totally get my own hive. I want bees someday! |
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| Baby chickies in their incubator area |
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| Doug explained with detail about what this is and how it worked, which I have completely forgotten. I thin it is a cream separator. All I know is it looked antique-ish and I got excited. |
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| Out to eat at a cute local place |
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| It was actually pretty good, but due to an unfortunate font choice, it make the goat cheese option a little awkward. David ad I laughed like the idiots we are. |
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| I might ride everything that looks like a horse. Also, I love how I am just SO WHITE the flash reflected off my face so you almost can't see my facial features. |
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| Just hanging out before the car ride home. It has taken me so long to ost this, some of those goat are about to kid! I want to go play with goat babies! ha. |
Oh my gosh. Look at those adorable faces. I have such cute nieces and nephew. Honestly, it's kind of intimidating.
