Still raining, but should clear up later tomorrow and then a very small chance of rain for next week. So it looks as if I'll be out on the tractor plowing the veggie garden tomorrow in a bit of drizzle. Maybe not if it's too wet as the tractor isn't 4WD, and although the buggy is, it can't pull the tractor out of the mud if it gets stuck as it's too heavy and Noddy would be no help at all. Previously I've used the truck to pull the tractor out but that's not an option if I don't want my husband to know I got stuck in the first place :).
Tackled the diningroom yesterday and got about halfway. The table is clear :) but we still had our homemade pizza in the lounge for lunch today. I actually made 2 crusts which I froze. Took one out yesterday to defrost in the fridge, and assembled a fresh pizza today. Tomato base, onions, yellow pepper and mushrooms over the whole pizza, 3 kinds of cheese on the half for Herbie, mozzarella, cheddar and parmigiana plus homemade Sweet Italian sausage and then artichokes and anchovies in my half. After baking I add my cheese fresh, just cheddar and parmigiana as I don't like the cheese melted. The few times we buy pizzas ready-made, I order the cheese on the side. It's a Shaw family thing :) and the pizza parlours think we're nuts.
Daisy May doesn't have mastitis anymore :) so we're back in the milk business. Got nearly 3 gallons from her yesterday but all of it is leaving the farm. I should have about 2 gallons for our drinking, feta and yoghurt tomorrow though. Want to have yoghurt when dad arrives as he hasn't tried mine previously.
Oy vey, where is my head ? Realised today that although I'd written out the cheque to renew my drivers' license and the registration for the van, I'd neglected to tear it out the cheque-book and pop it into the envelope with the other paperwork. I was so busy getting a copy of the insurance and filling in the license paperwork that it was just overlooked and the mail was taken this morning. So will have to toodle-doo down to the Secretary of State on Monday. Sometimes I just exasperate myself. That's so different from South Africa again. Here I'm renewing my drivers' license and a car registration BY MAIL. Could also have done it on-line. Maybe I should look into that tomorrow instead. I know that Lansing will send it back as the payment wasn't included and I don't want to pay penalties because it's late.
Have had 2 blasted smoke alarms beeping for about 24 hours now. They were taken down, one by the guys who did the air conditioning last week from the basement, so I threw them away. Last night I wandered around the house trying to find the beeping. Discovered that you have to pull the backs off to turn something, or use a screwdriver to break something to deactivate them, but if you pull off the back you remove the instructions (they're 10-year alarms, both different so I can't pull off the one and follow the instructions on the other). I'm cautious as it says they contain radioactive stuff. Otherwise I'd just bash them to pieces with a hammer ! Left the one in the tunnel overnight, the other was in the kitchen rubbish bin. This morning I threw them both in the rubbish in the outside bin but can still hear them. Herbie said he heard them this morning but couldn't find them. I said in the rubbish bin and explained my trepidation. He's sleeping now and I'm considering how to deactivate them before the animals and I go mad. They're on top of the bin outside in the rain. I turned them over but they're still beeping every few seconds.
Later :
Success ! Pushed the screwdriver through the paper. The first one I tried was off-set which is why I couldn't figure it out. Took them into the shed, ear-piercing screams from the one every 2 seconds, the second was sort of hiccuping. Found a screwdriver, and twisted those babies off. Peace reigns supreme on the farm again - except for the sheep, cows, roosters and geese :).
Fetched the girls from the pasture and they came running to the tinkle of the bell on the bucket. I didn't even have to call. Dolly stately bringing up the rear. Her udder seems to be getting huge and her belly was well rounded again. Wondering when her calf is due. I calculated July, think latish. She slipped in the mud and went down, but she's OK. Must remember to keep Anni further back when it's muddy and raining. But she went straight down to the lower barn where I've been putting a little grain in the feeder for them, Daisy May was there too by the time I'd climbed down the ladder. Such good girls. Filled the trough with newly cut hay, will see them in the morning.