family and fun – Rural Ris

Honeymooning in Scotland–Day 5

The next morning on our honeymoon was early. We ate breakfast in our hotel’s sunroom and headed out to Loch Ness.

On a whim we decided to by tickets for a boat tour of Loch Ness that we had learned about through a pamphlet. It was a fabulous decision! We chose the tour that would take us through the canal, loch, and to see the outside of Urquhart Castle. We were almost late thanks to the GPS, but made it! The tour took a total of 2 hours and was filled with great facts and lovely views! It even had a Loch Ness detector.

We used the camera as binoculars at times. This time, Garrett was actually taking pictures, though!

Our next stop was to explore the grounds of Urquhart Castle after seeing the outside by boat. We drove along the loch. Before touring the grounds, we stopped at the Nessie Cafe and had yummy sandwiches.

Urquhart Castle may seem like a bunch of ruins, and you may be tempted to skip it completely while in Scotland. DON’T! It ended up being Garrett’s favorite part of the whole trip and both of our’s favorite castle.

The castle is rich with history and has just enough standing to be able to imagine it in it’s glory days. Besides age, the castle is mostly in ruins because it’s last resident blew it up. You see, Urquhart was prone to raids by the McDonald clan and others. So, on the last of the raids, the owner fled, and blew the castle up as he left. Pretty crazy, right?

The great thing about this castle, is you can go everywhere. Nothing is off limits, and fabulous views surround you. Plus you can walk down to the loch and dip your toes in. After dipping his hand in the loch, Garrett claimed he had Nessie pee on him which was pretty cool. I married a goober!

While we would have stayed at Urquhart longer, we had to get to the next castle of the day–Eilean Donan. After purchasing a souvenir painting, we headed on. We did stop along the way at some cool scenery. It was different than other places we’d seen.

We also came across feral goats! I saw a sign that said look out for them, and just got out of my mouth, “I hope we see one!” Then, their they were! I was so excited I failed to get a quality photo, but as you can tell, they are hairy and have huge horns!

The best way to describe Eilean Donan was beautiful on the outside and weird inside. Eilean Donan is the most photographed castle in Scotland, and rightly so. Just look at it:

Inside, though, is a bit difference. Part of the oddity is that the castle was almost completely rebuilt in 1912 by the family who owned it. Inside was therefore, an odd mix of the 20’s, medieval, and a family home. While certainly not what I expected, it was still neat. They didn’t allow photography inside, so I don’t have any photos to show you of that.

It was now time to finally be on our way to the Isle of Skye. Wow, is all I have to say. We knew that Skye was supposed to be beautiful. It did not disappoint. These photos were taken just on the drive in! Wait until you see the next day.

We checked into the Portree Hotel. Super cute place in the middle of town.

The room was itty bitty, but beyond quaint and cozy. We walked across the road to the Cafe where we enjoyed a great meal of pork meatloaf with tomato spicy cream and fish and chips. It was one of my favorite meals of the trip.

We finished it all off with ice cream and a walk around town and the harbor.

We retired for the night to dream of castles and Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.

Tips:

We would highly recommend the Portree Hotel, but know that they don’t have a lift up to your room. It wasn’t an issue for us, but it may be for others.
Personally, I would choose to pay to see Urquhart and not Eilean Donan, but that’s just my opinion.
If you decide to go on a Jacobite Cruise, look up the docks before the morning of. They are not always recognized by the GPS. Refer to a good old fashioned map.
Highland Cows are pronounced Coos. We had fun saying that.

July 1, 2018November 30, 2018 by ruralris Categories: blog, Family, family and fun, Life, Personal, photography, UncategorizedTags: eilean donan castle, honeymoon, isle of skye, jacobite cruise, portree, Scotland, urquhart castle 2 Comments

Honeymooning in Scotland–Day 3

Day 3 started with an early morning to hit some last minute Edinburgh sights before heading to Inverness.

Our first stop was the Scott Monument built to memorialize author Sir Walter Scott. It was built during 1841-1844. While you can climb inside it, we chose not to due to time constraints and for the want of saving our money.

IMG_2488 (1)

Scott Monument is in Princes Street Gardens, so of course we had to walk along the paths. You can even see Edinburgh Castle from some of the paths. It was a fabulous last morning in Edinburgh.

We made our way back to the hotel to retrieve our bags and hop in the car. I wasn’t looking forward to driving the streets of Edinburgh again, but we had gotten the bugs out of the GPS this time.

I’m happy to report, it was much less death like and minimal wrong turns were made. We did accidentally end up at Forth Bridge. The bridge was completed in 1890 and has been voted Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder. The only reason we saw it was due to a wrong turn. We were perhaps a little too excited about the whole deal.

Another happy accident was our lunch stop. We were trying to find something quick to eat, and typed in McDonalds in the GPS. I know, I know…who eats at McDonalds when in a foreign country? My only defense is we were travelling. We followed the GPS and arrived in the town of Pitlochery. The GPS lied. There was no McDonalds, but there was the cutest town where we had the best fish and chips at McKay’s. We walked around the little town, got some ice cream, and went on our way. Best stop ever!

As we drove out of the cities, the landscape began to change to rolling hills and farms. I snapped pictures through the window left, right, and center. Little did I know that this was nothing compared to what we were about to see.

The driving was much easier in the country, but the roads were quite narrow (I would later consider these roads wide).

We stopped at Dalwhinnie Distillery for a tour. The process of making Scotch whiskey is fascinating. Dalwhinnie was the highest (in altitude) scotch distillery in the world. It is normally quite cold, but we were there on a rare warm day, however, the mountains were still snow-capped.

We continued to wind our way through the Scottish roads until we reached Inverness. I fell in love with this little town. We had the most adorable hotel.

For dinner we walked to the city center and ate at Bella Italia. While we got turned around walking there and didn’t get the river views going, we certainly got them coming back. Wow! Those walks with my new husband were some of my favorites of the trip.

Along the walks are several pedestrian bridges to pass from the two sides of the rivers.

One of the bridges led to a magical little island with a wooded area and river views.

To top it all off, Inverness has a castle! It was all truly fairy tale feeling.

Tips:

It is ok to take wrong turns. Don’t freak out, but explore and have fun!
While long, take the walk to the City Centre in Inverness, especially at sunset!
Try Irn Bru soda. It is a Scottish drink and is similar to cream soda. Garrett loved it!

June 18, 2018November 30, 2018 by ruralris Categories: blog, Family, family and fun, Life, Personal, photographyTags: Edinburgh, highlands, inverness, princes street, scotch, Scotland, scotts monument, whiskey 1 Comment

NC State Fair–Part 3

An early morning dawned, as our last day of the NC State Fair came upon us. It was time to show some sheep.

Days before the show, we had washed and trimmed up the sheep to get them looking spiffy for the show. We brought four ewes–Sybil, Edith, Aspen, and Fifi. The boys were super excited. The wool sheep show is one of their favorites. The night before, they put together costumes for the costume class. You can dress up your sheep and yourself, but it has to be worked around wool. Isaac was a fireman theme because wool is flame retardant.

Gideon was an artist and explained how wool can take dye.

Both were cute as could be. Gideon won first and Isaac won second. It was a great way to start the show!

The next part of the show were the ewe classes. These classes are judged mostly on the quality of the wool, but also on the ewe’s conformation. Classes are separated by white and colored wool, and long and medium/fine wool. Isaac and Alec were both in the white, long-wool class. It made sense as Fifi and Aspen are twins.

This was Alec’s first time showing sheep. He didn’t mind it, but he didn’t like the height difference. At 6’4″ he did quite a bit of bending. Still, he looked like a stud.

Both the boys did good, but Isaac took home the blue ribbon with Aspen. Fifi and Alec got third.

Gideon showed Edith in the white medium/fine wool class, and won fourth.

If you went by color, you’d never guess that Edith’s twin was Sybil; however, besides the color, they look just the same. I showed Sybil in the colored, medium/fine wool class.

Sybil can have a little bit of sass.

And sometimes, we both toss our heads in disgust…

But ultimately, she still gets kisses.

She ended up pulling in a third. I was excited that the judge liked all of the girls conformation. He said they were really stout and well made. Because Isaac got first, he went back in for champion drive. Gid and I were also in the champion drive showing other people’s sheep.

Champion drive is against all of the ewes–white and colored, long and fine, old and young. Would you believe it, Isaac and Aspen were named Reserve Supreme Ewe!! I almost let go of the sheep I was holding I was so excited. This was the second year in a row that one of our sheep has received this honor. It makes it extra special that we raised these girls.

All in all, the show was so much fun, and super exciting!

Our day wasn’t over yet, though. The boys had ride tickets left. We all got to ride 🙂

And with that, 2015 NC State Fair was over for the Lintons. It was quite the ride (literally and figuratively), filled with so many memories. Despite it being a lot of work, early mornings, and stress, it is always one of our favorite parts of the year.

November 25, 2015November 25, 2015 by ruralris Categories: family and fun, Livestock ShowsTags: livestock shows, NC, sheep, State Fair, stock show Leave a comment

100 Years of Family Farming

Our farm was recently recognized with something pretty exciting. After some research into farm and land records, we put an application in for the North Carolina Century Farm certification.

The Century Farm designation is in recognition of 100 or more years of continuous family farming. Started in 1970, the program aimed to identify farms that had been in a family for 100 continuous years. To be eligible, records had to be presented that showed that the farm had passed to a blood relative of the original owner for a century or more. Of the 52,000 farms in North Carolina only about 3% of them have been honored with the designation of a Century Farm, and we are one! Isn’t that absolutely awesome?!

Our farm started in 1895 when Bettie Denning and husband David Jernigan bought approximately 150 acres. In 1909, Dave died. Bettie would later marry his brother, Jim Jernigan. Jim and Bettie never had children, but Dave and Bettie had seven together–6 boys and 1 girl. The girl was my great-grandmother, Harriett Jernigan.

A tract of the original estate was given to my great-grandmother when she married (approximately 45 acres). She and my great- grandfather, Owen Weaver, built a house on this land.

My great-grandfather cleared a large portion of the land with an ax, by hand. He pulled the stumps up with mules. On this farm land, they grew tobacco, soybeans, corn, and cotton. They also had chickens and up to 100 pigs. Mules were used to plow until 1956 when the first tractor was bought. It would normally take one week to plow 15 acres by mule.

My grandfather, Bob Weaver, and two older siblings, Elizabeth and Nick, were born and grew up on this plot of land.

001 (2) — Papa on a retired US Army Horse.

Papa helped with the farm work until he was 18. At this time, he joined the US Air Force. He would eventually be stationed in Scotland where he met my grandma, Sylvia McCabe.

They married in North Carolina in February of 1966.

In 1978, they moved back to the family farm land where they built a house. At this point, my mom was 11 years old and her brother, Bobby, was 8 years old. The house was built on 14 acres of the original tract of land.

Grandma, Mom, and Uncle Bobby doing some foundation work on the house

Papa pumping water before pipes had been run to the house

My great-grandfather was living at the end of the road, still raising pigs (my great-grandmother died in 1954). The rest of the land was being leased out to a local farmer.

My great-grandfather cooking a pig on an open pit early 70's — My great-grandfather cooking a pig on an open pit in the late 60’s

July 1967-- — July 1967–Mom is the baby being held by my great-grandfather. Papa is to his left and his brother, Nick, is to the far left.

Today, my Papa and Grandma have acquired 40 acres of the original estate, and my family lives on 6 of those acres. Our barn was built by my great-grandfather in the early 1960’s to be used as a pack house for tobacco.

Papa has buildings that are comprised of a tobacco barn built by my great- grandfather in the early 50’s. My great-grandfather died in 1988, but his handiwork lives on.

The next generation of our family is now farming on the same land that has been passed down for more than 100 years. Papa is growing a pecan orchard that has over 50 trees and rents out the remainder of the land for farming. We graze sheep and goats on 10 acres of the family land.

The honor of having a Century Farm is profound. In regards to why it means so much, I think Papa says it best,

“It is important to me to be able to pass down the land to my children and grandchildren, and for my future generations to know their heritage and where they come from.”

I am extremely proud to live on a Century Farm and to have such a rich history. Our roots run deep, and I love it!

August 30, 2015November 30, 2018 by ruralris Categories: blog, Daily Farm Life, family and funTags: black and white, century farm, family, family farms, family historyk, farm, NC, vintage, Wayne county 5 Comments

Kerr Lake 2015: Linton Family

My family just got back from the week we look forward to all year– the lake! We spend a week at Kerr Lake near the Virginia Border with our camper and boat. It is a chance for us to get away and get some family time in. We definitely learn to be close with 6 of us crammed into one camper for 7 days.

During the span of the week, a lot happened. There were the staples of hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire, hammocks, and fishing, but there was also exploring abandoned buildings, ripped bathing suits, chiggers, thunderstorms, and picture perfect sunsets. All in all, it was the perfect family vacation 🙂

Kerr Lake has been a family destination for my whole life, going back to even when my mom was a girl. With a view like that, how can you blame us?

The lake is the result of the John H. Kerr Dam. In past years, we have walked across the dam. On the other side is the Dan River.

Kerr Lake is filled with all sorts of wildlife. One of my favorites is spotting bald eagles soaring in the sky. While this is not a bald eagle (I couldn’t get a decent photo), the osprey is still an awesome sight!

Geese came right up to the campsite too. Gideon decided to chase them with the kayak once. They did not appreciate it at all.

A tradition that we always have is to visit the local marina, grab some ice cream, and feed the fish and the ducks bread.

This guy is just the coolest to me. Dad thinks he is fugly, though.

Afterwards, we go and look at all of the sailboats docked at the marina.

Of course with so much water at our fingertips, we enjoy it as much as possible. That may involve kayaking or swimming.

Although we fish every year, we almost never catch anything.

Except for the floating dead one.

We are all about some tubing and knee boarding . We can get kind of crazy on the tubes.

While tubing leaves me sore in the morning, knee boarding does it even worse. As you can see with the following string of pictures, wiping out is not always pleasant.

This picture cracks me up to no end.

During our water excursions, we typically stop off at different islands to explore. At one we found old abandoned buildings. It was quite mystical.

On our last night, we had a campfire. The boys are little pyromaniacs, but I think their favorite part is dumping water on the fire to douse it.

Frisbee, walks, bike rides and of course cooking out are all on the to do list.

Mom and I like to read and bask in the sun.

Dad and Alec are basically obsessed with their hammocks.

Poor Alec wasn’t just about relaxation. He not only ripped his pants, but he also got chiggers.

Grandma and Papa always bring Bojangles to us when they come back with the other truck to pick the boat up. It was so good seeing them, and homemade pineapple ice cream made it even better.

Just in case you wanted to see a few more candids… you know, because I haven’t included enough pics as is 🙂

Kerr Lake was the perfect vacation, and might I add, that I love my Linton family time oh so much!

August 2, 2015 by ruralris Categories: family and funTags: family, Kerr Lake, lake, NC, vacation Leave a comment

The Fort

The boys have wanted a fort for quite sometime, and these past few weeks their dream came true. I am amazed at what my dad can engineer all by himself. Using a lot of stuff that we already had (telephone poles, pallets, windows, and tin) as well as a few bought items (plywood). It took a couple of Saturdays and nights after work to get it done, but the end product is fabulous! Two-stories of handmade awesomeness. The boys have padlocked the door, so only they may enter, decorated with chairs, a table they made, and a rug. Upstairs, they have drug cots up to sleep in once it ever gets cool enough. On days they spend in there, you can see them hauling a cooler full of ice and drinks with them.

It is a special thing built by all, engineered by dad, wished for by the boys, and where imagination runs rampant. It is “The Fort.”

June 30, 2015 by ruralris Categories: family and funTags: boys, building, construction, dads, diy, family, forts, hammers, kids, nails Leave a comment

Meet the New Faces of Food Network–The Brothers

Our family is heavily involved in 4-H, and one of the things that we participate in every year is presentations. It has taught all of us kids to learn public speaking skills and confidence–something that I have been extremely thankful for over the years. This year, was the boys’ first time doing a presentation. Following in their older brother’s footsteps, they chose to do the outdoor cookery category. In this section, they have to actually cook a piece of meat for judges on charcoal grills. Do you know how cute a 9 and 10 year old are grilling? Let’s just say they could be the stars of Food Network.

It isn’t just about grilling some scrumptious food, though. The kids have to field the judges’ questions about what temperature to cook the meat to, why they wear gloves (side note: Mom was quizzing Gid on why he should wear gloves, and was trying to get him to remember the word salmonella by thinking of fish. He had the worst time picking the right fish. If you hear him say the flounder disease, you know what he’s talking about), grill safety, and even nutritional facts about their meat. When they age up to senior level, they have to give an additional presentation discussing the industry and more for a chance to go to nationals. Impressed yet?

The boys had already grilled at the county level, and were now competing at the district level. Gideon is still a Cloverbud, so he was non-competitive. Isaac was a junior and ended up winning gold, so he will be headed to state next month. They were both cooking turkey tenderloin. Now, I used to be a only turkey at Thanksgiving kind of girl, but when we started grilling turkey tenderloins for these presentations, I reevaluated life. It is so very good, especially if you follow their recipes (see below). I know I may be partial, but I think my brothers are just too cute and ever so talented.

Isaac and Gideon have very opposite personalities. Isaac is more quiet and Gideon is sassy, so it is only fitting that their recipes parallel with their personalities. They have been kind enough to share their special recipes with you guys so you too may enjoy turkey this summer. Here is Gideon’s. It is has more of a kick.

Issac’s is more subdued and sweet.

Not only is it delicious, but turkey is also nutritious.

And don’t forget, turkey needs to be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit and to wash your hands after handling raw meat lest you get “flounder diseases.”

I hope you enjoy the recipes and be sure to look out for Food Network’s new faces–The Brothers–coming soon. 😉

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 by ruralris Categories: family and fun, FoodTags: 4-H, ag blog, family, food blog, Food Network, grilling, recipes, turkey Leave a comment

The Family Garden

Let me start by saying that this is a late post. I promise we are not just getting to planting a garden. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I want to share our family garden with you.

Every summer, we have some sort of garden. We don’t plant all of the same things every year; however, we do have our staples. The must haves for the garden include: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, onions, okra, and eggplant. We have experimented with gourds, pumpkins, watermelons, beans, corn, carrots, lettuce, and the coolest–loofa (if you are looking for something fascinating, plant loofas). When it comes to the “experimental” list, we don’t plant those every year, just when we get a bee in our bonnet.

I will say, that I am not a plant person. Sometimes I think I could be, but then it quickly fades. I LOVE picking the produce and of course eating it is great. So, even though I don’t really have a green thumb, I adore our garden. It is an entire family affair getting it planted and taking care of it. I love that aspect about it.

I really think more people should garden–even if it is a few pots of plants. Not only does it provide yummy delights, but is healthy, and really highlights where food comes from.

Stay tuned for updates on our garden and our favorite recipes from the garden! And without further delay, here is the (late) family garden.

Potatoes went in the ground a week before everything else.

After the potatoes, we planted everything else.

giddd — Gideon’s middle name is Bob after my grandpa. They like to tease and say Papa is Bob the first and Gideon is Bob the third (his uncle is Bob the second)

June 1, 2015June 1, 2015 by ruralris Categories: Daily Farm Life, family and funTags: family, fresh, garden, local, produce, veggies Leave a comment

Almost Free Food, Frog Legs, and a Tractor Parade–All at the Got to Be NC Festival

I love when a few of my favorite things combine together to make a fun day. Last Saturday, my family and I went to the Got to Be NC Festival.

This event is held at the NC State Fairgrounds and hosts a ton of North Carolina vendors and products. There is a tractor parade, flea market, rides, and games. One of my favorite parts (actually it was the BEST part) was trying lots of food. One of the great things about the event is you can pay $2 for all-day access into a giant building filled with food vendors that are giving away all sorts of free food. FREE FOOD! After writing that, I’m realizing that the $2 negates the free part, but it is basically free and so very worth it. Even cooler was the fact that all of the food was NC based. There were peanuts, hot sauces, mints, wine, dips, Bright Leaf hot dogs, and so much more. My favorites had to be Cherry Orchard Food’s pretzel dip mixes (we got the buffalo bleu and chili, cheese, bacon flavors) and the pickled green beans and Bloody Mary mix by Bruce Julian. Of course, I could have stayed at the Bright leaf hotdog station forever, but I feel like that is a given. Gideon was in heaven with all of the hot sauce samples (the boy absolutely loves hot sauce and has never found one he couldn’t handle). Isaac was obsessed with Sunshine Energy drink. Thankfully, he didn’t get wound up off of the samples. All in all, the $2 was absolutely worth it!

I paid another $2 to try some very odd food. I ordered deep fried sweet tea. It was essentially a doughnut drenched in very syrupy tea. While it wasn’t bad, it was too sweet for me. Daddy ordered frog legs. Now, if you know me, you know I HATE frogs. I am utterly petrified of them, yet somehow, for some reason, I ate a bite of the frog legs.

did i really — Obviously, I was thinking about what I just did…

I know. I may be going insane, but it wasn’t half bad until I actually thought about it. Then it wasn’t so good. I can cross it off my bucket list, though (not that it was really on it). Adding to the craziness, was our photo bomb guy. Do you recognize him?

He is Anthony Anderson, an actor. He has played in movies like Transformers. He was at the festival, filming for a food show, and he totally photo bombed us! Too funny!

Our main point in being at the event was not food, believe it or not. My brother, Alec, and I both received NC State Fair Livestock scholarships along with 22 others and were invited to come to the shin dig for a ceremony. The scholarship is brand new, and was started with a change to the NC State Fair livestock sale. A percentage of the proceeds of the Sale of Champions goes to the scholarship fund. Awesome, huh? Alec and I were very honored to receive the scholarship and participate in the festivities. We met the NC Commissioner of Agriculture and got to ride in the tractor parade. Our families were able to ride in the parade too. It was perfect.

It was also a nice final hurrah. Garrett and his family (he and his sister also received the scholarship) were able to come to the festival. Garrett was leaving that day to drive to Illinois where he would be working as an intern all summer for Maschoff’s, a large hog company. I’m super proud of him, but it was bittersweet to see him go.

I jokingly told him I was now single for the summer. No worries, I’ve only gone on one date so far. They were short, blonde and cute. Don’t you agree?

The rest of the day was spent walking around and enjoying everything.

So, there you go–a quick recap of some of the happenings around. I strongly recommend the Got to Be NC Festival and definitely the $2 entry to try all the NC based foods.

May 26, 2015May 26, 2015 by ruralris Categories: family and funTags: agriculture, family, festival, food, free food, got to be NC, livestock, North Carolina, scholarship, tractors 5 Comments

Name Game and Babies

Every animal (minus the poultry) that has come on our farm has been named. For over a decade, I took the lead in naming everything. I even had a name book and have frequented baby naming sites solely for the purposes of naming animals. Some of my favorite names have been London, Cairo, and Fancy. Some of the more unique ones have been Technical Difficulties (he was always causing issues) and Slim Jim. Naming an animal was always thought out, and often times, they would go days without a name just to make sure their name matched their personality. It is one of my favorite parts of having livestock; however, my job has begun to be taken over by my little brothers recently. That is a tough pill to swallow.

It isn’t that I necessarily mind that they are naming the animals (I make sure I get a few to name), but it is more what they are naming them. The latest twin goats that were born are just an example.

Lady had her first set of kids this week–two big girls (11 and 8 pounds). They are really beautiful, and I was quite excited about how they looked. I felt that they should have pretty names, but Isaac and Gideon wanted to name them. I was ok with this and was hoping I could throw some good names they liked out there. I was wrong.

mudd — Mud Pie is on the left and Tres is on the right

I found the babies and called for the boys to come out and come look. The following conversation ensued:

Isaac: “Lady! Look how pretty your babies are. Aren’t you a good momma? Risa, Lady is my show goat, that means I name the babies right?”

Me: “Lady is yours but the buck is mine.”

Isaac: “That’s true. Can I still name them?”

Me: “We will talk about different names, but you can name them.”

Gideon: “Tres! We should name that one Tres. That is the number 3 in Spanish right?”

Me: “Let’s just wait until tomorrow to name them that way we can think on it.”

The next day while we were feeding, Isaac and Gideon came riding up on the golfcart saying “How are Tres and Mud doing?”

Me: “Who and who?”

Gideon: “That’s their names–Tres and Mud.”

All I could think was dear heavens, I’m going to have pretty little does named after wet dirt and the other after a foreign number 3.

Me: “Ummm… well… I was thinking since the mom is named Lady, we could do something like Duchess.”

Grandma: “What about Maddie and Tae? They are country singer girls that were on TV.”

Gideon: “No, no, Tres. Her name is Tres.”

Isaac: “How about Mud Pie?”

Me: “Why Mud?”

Isaac: “Her face looks like mud to me.”

Me: “Alright…”

Later I went in the house and told Mom: “I need a hug. I have baby goats named after Spanish 3 and mud.”

She laughed.

So, yes, I swallowed the pill, stepped down from my position as namer and relinquished the reigns to an 8 and 10 year old. I’ve had a good run (I’m still adamant that I get to name things; I just have to share, and the boys are good with this), and at least I could name some of the babies this year. Speaking of those guys, here are some updated pictures of all the little ones. They are growing super fast.