New Year's Eve

What is going on in your part of the country or world?  We've been experiencing mild weather and it's been sunny the last couple of days.  With the new year just a few hours away, I've been hit with a spurt of energy.   Something about a new year always gets me moving.   (BTW, the repaired Canon camera arrived today from its second trip to the Canon Factory Repair Center.  The shutter was broken, which is what I told them on the first trip to the repair center on November 29.  Grrrr)

Everything is brown mainly because it is winter but also because we did not receive a drop of rain for over 6 weeks.  It rained 7/10's of an inch on December 24.  We are grateful for every drop. Anyway, I started cleaning the "little" garden at the back of our yard.  It should be ready for compost by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. 

Check out the full blue tub, and I've cleaned only about half of the garden.  That blue tool on the right is great for getting down to the grass/weed roots and makes it easier to pull them out.  Strawberries, for sure, will be planted in this garden in January and maybe some carrots and spinach.

Maggie wants to help too, but she, unfortunately, doesn't understand where to dig.  Hubby filled this hole up yesterday afternoon.  Not only did Maggie dig out the fill, but she made the hole bigger and deeper.  We have about 10 holes of varying sizes throughout the yard.  We only had enough fill for two; both were dug out by this morning.  lol

This is the big garden.  Do I ever have a job in front of me when I tackle this one.  I want to have it completely ready by February 1 for the Natural Gardener's super duper revitalizer compost.  Last year we added 6 cubic yards to this site; this year I may up it to 8 cubic yards.   Our natural soil leaves a lot to be desired and requires a lot of amending. 

We had a delightful Christmas surprise:  two calves.  Aren't they the cutest?  We were not anticipating calves until May or June of 2011.  Apparently a bull dropped in for a visit without our knowledge.  The little brown bull was born December 18, and we've calculated that the black heifer was born within the last 4-5 days.  Generally, a cow will hide her calf for several days up to a week.  However, we saw the brown calf when it was no more than 3-4 hours old, if that.  Hubby was walking the dogs when he came upon the brown's calf mother and him.  Fortunately, Luc was off investigating something, but Maggie was right beside hubby.  They got chased by the momma  --mainly Maggie was chased-- and the rest of the cows ran over to see if help was needed. 

I hope all had a wonderful Christmas, and here's wishing you a blessed and prosperous New Year! 

Until next time, God bless.