Jewels Of Autumn.

Autumn is my favorite season. The leaves change their color from green to yellow, red, brown, and orange, the weather's just beautiful, too. Geese fly past the house on their way to a warmer home (I don't blame 'em), calling to their neighbors as they travel. Here's a few photos of Autumn here, and a few random pictures, too:

My mom's fire (it had gotten a bit out of hand). I'm guessing it was her

welcome home message to our goats, who came home from their date that same night.

And this piece of work is the reason we have so many cats.

As you can probably see, he is cross-eyed.

Yes, we have a cross-eyed cat, it's hilarious.

Hava. Isn't she such a sweetie?

Our house.

A bitty caterpillar.

Leaves on a bush near the house.

Trees across the field.

Golden tree leaves.

A sea of gold.

A scarlet leaf, Autumn's specialty.

A Reason I THOUGHT I Loved The Country For...

The nice, peaceful quiet you can find in the country is so nice. Especially at night, hardly any cars at all (except when neighbors have a party, then cars go by twice as much).

But last night was, well, incredible....

Parker brings me into Abby and Ella's room, to their large window. He tells me to listen, so I listen quietly.... and I hear music being blasted across the fields, very, very, very loudly. At night. Yes, at night. You thought cars blasting music was bad? Wait until you get music being heard from probably across one or two fields, it was very nearly clear enough to make out words (I didn't make out any words, but if it got any louder, we might've been able to). But despite that weird happening, I still love the country.

Well, there's my story for the day. Enjoy!

What Do You Get When You Stick Two Female Goats With A Male?

I'll tell you (since you're prob'ly dying to know): Absolute madness. I have no video proof of our goats' new boyfriend, but, I have pictures. He went totally nuts when our goats were put in his pen with him (in a good way, he was supposed to go crazy, I think). I think he was seriously very bored with his other female.

Ain't he a beauty? Looks more like a Hyena, if you ask me.

He's not being mean, it's normal. I don't know what Ginger thought, seeing it's her

first time mating, he went after her first, too. Rosie hung out in the little plastic house they had set up.

So... yeah, that's always fun, our goats are out hangin' out with him. Except the male stinks. And we went to a friend's house right after. I don't think anyone noticed any smell, anyway....

And, let's see, we went to the fair. But I'll post pics of that another time. For now, keep your fingers crossed and hope our goats come back pregnant (I'm sure they will, but still).

Lessons Taken From A Movie.

It's always interesting to discover good lessons from movies. Like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I've found a few in Lord of the Rings, too. My mom pointed out one a while back, so I'll use it, too (if it's alright?).

~~~

King Theoden:

This didn't show up in the books, but it did in the movie. When Theoden, Gandalf, and all the rest approached Saruman in Orthanc, when Grima showed himself. Theoden asked him to leave Saruman, and join him in Rohan. After all Grima had done, Theoden was willing to give him a second chance.

~~~
Gandalf:

Willing to give aid to Faramir when Denethor was about to burn himself (Denethor) and Faramir alive. Willing to give advise to those who need it, and giving encouragement to the soldiers when all seems to be falling to ruin with no hope.

~~~
Boromir:

A man with good intentions, yet he shows us that no one's perfect, not even the good guys. Everyone is in need of forgiveness when they are tempted to do wrong. His protectiveness towards Merry and Pippin, even in risking his own life, is a good one, too.

~~~
Pippin (left) and Merry (right):

Two young Hobbits with a strong desire to pledge their service to others. Pippin- to the Steward of Gondor, Denethor, in payment of Boromir's actions that saved them, but killed himself. Merry- To King Theoden. Both were given leave to go, but neither wished to leave the ones they promised to serve, both staying faithful to the promises they made.

~~~

Frodo:
A Hobbit with a burden much too great for him, but still he kept on. He may have given up hope, but that didn't stop him from continuing on until all was done, until the Ring had been destroyed. Forcing himself to walk and climb even when he was exhausted.

~~~
Gimli (left) and Legolas (right):

A Dwarf and an Elf. Neither of their kind are extremely fond of the other, but these two set aside differences and became the best of friends, fighting side by side. Both sharing a love for Aragorn, too, and following him even into the Paths of the Dead.

~~~

Sam:
My mom pointed this one out. I agree with her. Sam's the best model of loyalty I can think of. He won't leave Master Frodo for nothing. The only time he left him was when Frodo sent him away. Sam stuck with Frodo to the very end, never losing hope.

~~~
Aragorn:

A Ranger of the North, yet heir to the throne of Gonder. Kind, gentle, strong, brave, and exceedingly merciful. What kingdom could ask for any better king? He would not up searching for Merry and Pippin when they were taken, he only relaxed when Gandalf reassured him that they were in no danger. He would not give give up the hope that Frodo was alive, even though he would have had good reason to after seeing the Mithril coat. And in book three, he gave pardon to Beregond, who had left his post without leave to rescue Faramir, and shedding blood in a place where doing so was forbidden. Those two things alone were to be punished by death. But Aragorn pardoned him from that, but sent him away from the city... to be captain in Ithilien, where Faramir lived.

So there you have it, lessons from both the books and movies. I'm sure they have many more traits, feel free to comment them.

A Fun Weekend.

Grandpa throwing Isaac into the lake. Not literally, of course!

The lake we rode our bikes around, such fun.

Toy snakes look great on Abby, don't you think?

An opening through the trees.

The path that usually has four wheelers running through. I walked it, this time.

And finally, this is what we've been up to:

Oh yes, we have painted our precious Dune Buggy. And yes, we got plenty of stares whenever we passed someone!

After An Almost Six Hour Drive....

We finally make it back home from an absolutely awesome weekend at the farm (see definition of the farm at an earlier post on the family blog), the trip up wasn't so bad, albeit long. We had loads of fun. I'll put up more pictures later (since it's kinda late right now), but here's somethin' to keep you all wondering what exactly we've done while on vacation:

Surely nothing could have gone wrong with paint and nine kids, right? Of course not.....