Aavron tilling the garden. Check out his long hair!

Ash with Brownie....he was such a good goat. More like a dog than a goat, really.

Ashley and Mariah at the Buffalo River

Aavron and Nash at the Buffalo. This was Nash's first trail ride. He did very well considering it was his first time out.

Isaac is scared to look over the edge at Forum, Arkansas

Exploring caves in Arkansas

And last, but not least...just in case anyone has been holding their breath waiting for the previously mentioned shower curtain that I made, here it is.

It's been a while since I have blogged. I can't really pinpoint one particular thing that has kept me away. Maybe it was the tragic death of Brownie (see previous post), maybe it's just that work keeps me busy, maybe nothing exciting has happened lately. I don't know. Nevertheless, I'm back. I can't tell you how many times I have thought about blogging and even kinda wanted to do it, but something just kept me away. It's kind of like when you have a good friend that you haven't talked to in several years, and you want to reestablish contact, you have their phone number, but something just keeps you from dialing the number. What is it? So much to discuss...having to apologize for not calling sooner, the renewed pressure to keep in contact once you reestablish it. Maybe it's just me. Maybe no one else has that hang-up.

The previous paragraph seems kind of silly now that I read it. I considered deleting it, but considering it is the only thing I have written since June, that would be bad.

Updates:

1. The ranch will be moving soon to an address within the city limits of Tulsa! This will probably only be for a few months until we can find a place that we like in the country. I'm excited because the new house is less than 5 miles from the hospital I work at and is closer to our clinic as well.  Many people ask what we will do with our animals. The ones we still have left (see update #2) are/will be at our friend Hughlene's house. She has a field with a loafing shed that we lease.

2. There have been changes to the ranch's animal population. After Brownie's sudden and tragic end, we decided to sell all our goats. We would eventually like to get more, we just need a better place to keep them.

We sold two of our cows (Linabel and Stewart). We kept Honcho. It was sad to me to sell Linabel (not just because she is my grandmother's namesake) because she was our first "farm" animal. Honcho is now hanging out with the horses. Mariah (one of the horses), has taken a special liking to him. Honcho has become an honorary horse in her eyes. She acts like she is his mother. Honcho has even started neighing instead of mooing. We still have our horses, Mariah and Nash. Soon (sometime in the next month), Mariah will have a colt/filly. We are hoping for a palomino colt. That would be the best possible permutation of coat colors and sexes.

We only have two nameless white rabbits now. They aren't really pets, if you know what I mean. We also have a turkey that survived thanksgiving. Easter is not looking like a good holiday for him. Along with the turkey, we have a couple of chickens.

Of course, Lucas and Isaac, the Brittany Spaniels are still with us. Those crazy dogs are not going to know what is going on when we get to the new house and they will not be able to open any door they want by nudging it with their noses (the joys of living in a house with doors that do not close tight). It's really not that bad, just a little awkward sometimes when you are in the bathroom. Lucas and Isaac had their first duck hunting practice this year. They both did well and hopefully, will get to go with Aavron on a real hunt next season.

Last but not least, is an unexpected family favorite: City Kitty. I never was a cat person (and I still would not classify myself as such), but City Kitty has won my heart. I really like that cat. You may remember the duo of Country Kitty and City Kitty. Country was the friendlier of the two brothers, and was our favorite. Well, we think Country's friendliness was the cause of his demise. We figure he walked right up to a coyote and invited him over for tea and cookies.  City has always been a bit more shy and reserved and stays closer to home. In the last few months, he has started coming into the house for short periods. Now he even likes to curl up on your lap and will take a nap with you on the couch. A week or two ago, he got into a scuffle with some wild creature. He had a lot of scratches and scabs and he injured his left front paw. We have babied him a lot through the ordeal and he has become even more friendly.

Addendum: I nearly forgot our newest addition! PIGS! Jimmy and Dean. They are Durocs and they are getting huge. I think they weigh around 190 lbs now. They have a date with the butcher soon. They are soooooo cute. They are finally getting friendly and they recognize the truck and get really excited when they see us drive up. It's so funny to see such a rotund animal running! Aavron and I did the honors of castrating them a few weeks after we got them. We decided we should have done it as soon as we got them. Those little guys were strong! It was quite a feat. It kind of made me feel more country to say I helped cut a pig.

3. I am now halfway into my second year of residency. Only a year and a half more! Second year is definitely better than first. Fewer months of inpatient care, fewer nights of call. This month I am on Nightcall. Meaning that Sunday through Thursday, I work at the hospital from 9:30 pm until around 8:00 am. I am responsible for handling any issues with any of my group's patients that may arise during the night, admitting new patients, running all of the Code Blues in the hospital, returning phone calls from our clinic's "emergency line", managing laboring moms, and seeing patients in OB triage.  I must admit that I was dreading this month. So far, I have been pleasantly surprised. I haven't had any nights that have been too crazy. Granted, I have been busy sometimes and have had to stay late, but there hasn't been anything that I felt ill equipped to handle. There also have not been any of the dreaded combos of a code blue during a delivery, or an ICU patient crashing while I have 3 ER admissions, etc.

4. Aavron has decided to pursue a career in medicine, again. He is currently working at a micro lab at a local hospital. He has returned to school this semester. We are currently looking at where he should finish his undergrad. There aren't really any good choices in/around Tulsa for public education. Our top pics are OSU in Stillwater and U of A in Fayetteville. We would both rather him go to Arkansas, but that dang out of state tuition is a killer. Also, it would not be ideal for us to be separated for a year. We haven't really decided anything yet.

That's it for now. I'm feeling good. I have returned to xanga. Who knows, maybe facebook is next.

 I thought that I had posted pics of the baby goats earlier, but I guess not.  So, better late than never, here they are. 

Brownie, a Nubian buck

Blackie (Brownie's twin brother)

Valentina and Frank (twin Mini Alpines)

We also had a set of triplets from our goat, Josephine.  We didn't take pictures of them, though.  They were really funny looking.  We gave one to Aav's uncle Ray.  He has seven children, so they are all spoiling her.

We sold all but one a couple of weeks ago.  We kept Brownie.  We sold the others (Blackie, Frank, and Valentina) at an auction.  They were all so cute!  I miss the others sometimes, but it's also nice just to have one baby around.  Brownie is our little buddy now.  He goes around the ranch with us while we do chores.  He's weaned now, but he was bottlefed, so he is extremely friendly.