Guess What I've Been Doing?

I woke up this morning in my super cosy warm snug nest, and looked out the window to find...

SNOW! And not nasty Massachusetts snow that you have to shovel out of the damn driveway - nice fluffy Oregon snow that you can frolic in.

And eat.



Alison and I went on a nice long walk through the back-blocks of their property, and I tasted a few trees here and there. Delicious!



Here's some general shots of pretty pretty things. I actually took some very cool ones on Mike's camera, but haven't got around to stealing them yet.



This is heading down the driveway.



The barn. How amazing is that sky?



Anyway, apart from winter wonderland expeditions, there's not much else to report. I've been offered a teaching job in Thailand if I want it.

Thoughts??

Dreamy Days

When we went in to get the Mouse House groomed the other day, we hung out in their "primo" waiting area which serves sub-par coffee and sells delightful gifts.

Including this little number. Don't tell Michael - we're getting it for his birthday.



I know what you're thinking. WTF? It's a small cream coloured vase, in which sits a small selection of just delightful fake plants, which are nestled around an egg. Who - WHO? wouldn't want one?

Yesterday I went to Eugene with Jay for a look around. It was a great little city. Here's an art installation from the school of architecture at the university. I have applied for a job there.



Naturally, after a couple of days of high level excitement, there must be a day of rest. Which the goats have fully embraced as a philosophy.

In Which Hugo Gets a Bath

I would have thought that a tortoise would like having a bath in a wheelbarrow, but turns out I'm wrong. That's turtles.

Hugo was rudely interrupted from whatever it was that he was doing this morning by Ali and me, who were determined that he be spruced and retired to his winter quarters.

I really wish I'd taken a photo of Alison's bum sticking out of his burrow while she dragged him out, because it was damn funny.

Here's Hugo waiting for the water to be nice and warm. Dusty, isn't he? Not for long!



Oh, so much better... We had to empty the water out and change it, because he was soooo grubby.

And by the way guys, just for future reference, land tortoises do NOT appreciate a bit of simulated wave action. He hissed at me and disappeared inside his shell. Sorry Hugo.



I decided to get a photo with him anyway, since he was a captive subject!



Poor Ali's back. 75 pounds of grumpy wet tortoise is not good for one's spine.



Aaaaah... Safe in the winter palace! This place is the pimped out tortoise chateau of dreams, I'm telling ya. TWO heat lamps, plus it's in a heated room in the shed, a dogloo to live in (the answer is in the name. Think about it a bit, and I know you'll figure it out) and a newly dusted personal accommodation unit to enjoy.

Plus, apparently soaking in a bit of warm water will loosen up his normally staying put for the winter bowels, and he'll be taking a nice tortoise crap some time soon.



The fun never stops at the farm!

Saturdays with Jody

What's on my agenda for today? Well, I slept in rather late due to a night of listening to the coyotes yelp in the field next door and I'm just on my 2nd coffee now.

Ali and I have to move Hugo to the barn, because it's too cold for a tortoise to be out and about. By the way, I don't think he's the brightest spark in the packet because he once stretched his neck out sooooo far past a barrier, that he managed to reach a live wire that was part of the mechanics of heating his burrow. Onto which he put his EYEBALL. Which was instantly cauterized, and now he's blind in that eye. Dumb arse tortoise.

Yesterday I scrubbed all the mats and fixings of the car so that they could go back in without me gagging. I guess I also better check the mousetraps again.

I'm going to do a little snooping (on Tinternet) around this area of Oregon where I applied for a job at a blueberry nursery! Oh, just imagine it. Jody and an enormous blueberry farm. Jody rounding up blueberries. Jody eating most of their stock on the sly, and sinking the company...

I'm also planning an extensive road trip! More on that later...

The Mouse House

Things I found in the car today:

• 3 mouse nests
• a bottle of Windex
• 15 pens
• a 3 litre puddle of mank in the trunk
• 4 tooth flossing instruments
• 294 (ish) poos
• 1 moldy box
• 6 moldy floor mats
• 1 dead chocolate bar
• a plastic spoon
• 4 cents
• a golf umbrella
• an assortment of napkins
• 1 mouse (alive)
  

Yuck.

Heyyyyyy....

The weather from Massachusetts seems to have found me. It's snowing! I got up this morning and this is what I found.



The hummingbirds and I are NOT AMUSED. Ali and I are about to rug up to the nines, and go out to move the billy goat and the ram into the shelter. There are a few de-bollocked males among the rest of the goats, and they're feeling the indignity of having a functioning male around. We're expecting a few feathers to be ruffled. Or, since they're goats, I guess we're expecting a few goatees to be twisted.

Yesterday we went out and about, and saw this on the other side of the fence at the Costco parking lot. It's a Nutria rat! Pretty cool, right? They're about the size of a fat Jack Russell, and look a bit like a large Guinea Pig with a ratty sort of tail.



This one was totally ignoring us, and munching its way around the area.

Organics

I love shopping for groceries here. They're really into organics, and even normal old supermarkets have vast swaths of organic products! It's great.

After the culinary wasteland of My House in Boston, and a year living in Taiwan, this is heaven.

Opals and Hooves

When the agenda for the day includes trimming the toenails of 15 goats and giving them all vaccinations, the smart young lady hides out in the heated part of the shed with the rock cutter...

Ewan and Tom helped Ali with the pedicures, and I helped Mike change the faucet on his stone washing sink. Then we cut some rocks. It was SO COOL.

Here's Michael in his arty sunbeam.



Little do they know that there are not fun things happening on the other side of the gate!



Oh - this one is kind of random. It's for Tracy. Begonias! Ali and I went to the begonia house the other day. Sorry it's sort of awkwardly in the middle. Blogger isn't the most convenient when it comes to dealing with photos.



Here's Tom and Ewan torturing goats, Alison trimming, and Joey (foreground) supervising.

Joey is a very good supervisor. Here he is, making sure that Tom doesn't give the girls too much vaccine.

And this is Tom and Alison doing all the hard work, while slack-arse Ewan sits back and relaxes. That is so typical of him!



Meanwhile...

Sneaky Jody was hanging out in the heated back room, polishing quartz and opals. This is me not grinding my fingers off.



The result. This was my 2nd go, and Mike says I'm not too bad.



Anyway, that was my Saturday. We rounded off the evening with a trip out for Mexican food, where Mike regaled us with filthy jokes, and the woman at the next table was also a Kiwi. What are the chances??

Right now, Tom and Ewan and Mike are downstairs watching basketball, Ali is in her office surfing the net, and I'm in the living room listening to Pal snore and thinking about removing my belt so the food baby has more room to move.

Goats and Sheep and Squirrels - Oh My!

Ewan is visiting, with his friend Tom! They are cruising around the US at the moment, experiencing the seedy underbelly of various west coast cities and trying to share hostel rooms with as many homeless and/or insane people as possible.

Not sure why, but they've decided to stay with us for 1 more night...

We've been having all sorts of outdoorsy adventures so far, including the dramatic rescue of a billy-goat and a ram (okay, it wasn't really dramatic. We just went and picked them up.) from Corvallis. God, am I glad the boys were there! That billy-goat stunk to high heaven and was HUGE. But they just hustled him onto the truck, grabbed the ram by his legs, and heaved him in after.

I held the alfalfa, and tried not to breathe through my nose.

Then we hightailed it back to Salem, where Ewan and Ali spent the afternoon trimming their hooves and worming them. Double yuck. I made dinner.

Today, if Ewan has his way, we're hunting digger squirrels. Flee, squillies, flee!

Corvallis

Went into Corvallis today, for a preliminary look round. It was pretty cool! Smaller than Salem, heavy on the Vegetarian restaurants (hooray!) and there's a big university. It's for all the practical science stuff, like vet school. I saw a nice brick building that said 'POULTRY' on the front. Thought that was pretty funny!

I drove there and back, through acres of grass fields and stands of fir trees. It was beautiful - not that I was really looking, because I was, of course, resisting my antipodean compulsion to veer suddenly onto the left-hand side of the road.

Also met my 3rd cousin Hannah.

Keep Off the Streets

I'm going to attempt driving on the right today.

Salem residents: you have been warned.

Vitae Springs

Here's some pics of Alison and Mike's place! This is the view from the front deck, at sunrise.



Some trees. Hey - it's Oregon. This is top quality stuff here!



Pal, guarding the territory (from me) and generally surveying her Queendom.



One of the goats! So cute. They're all very friendly, if you like having your hair nibbled and your coat bobbles chewed. Also, if you go in there with a bag of carrots, be prepared for anarchy.



More trees and a bit of the garden closer to the house.



Pretty good, right? There will be more...

Oregon and Jody - Together at Last!

I've safely arrived in Oregon, and am happily living among the... uh... Oregonos? It's a hell of a lot warmer than Massachusetts, and the Willamette Valley is currently covered in beautiful morning mist.

Alison and Mike's house is amazing! They live just outside Salem on 60 acres of land. There will be pics at some stage, don't worry. So far I've taken a couple of the sunrise, (yes, unbelievers. Jody was up at sunrise.) and quite a few of Pal (their dog). She's awesome! We're going to have adventures, I just know it.

I haven't explored Salem yet, apart from the bit where I got dropped off the shuttle bus. It seems to be not at all what I was imagining. It's spread out and there's lots of strip mall stuff. Oh well - it IS the west coast...

Anyhoo, in conclusion: My next grand adventure has begun.