Recycling, a Good Deed and Snow!

As the Covid-19 pandemic surges across the USA and the world, we have become even more cautious in our day to day lives.  I’ve even backed out of my physical therapy for my new knee for the time being.  I won’t lose the allowed sessions…but I’ll be doing my exercises at home until we see just how bad the situation becomes.

We look at every visit to the grocery store as a risk situation and the number of ‘safe’ friends and family is extremely limited.  So, when we come across something to do that can be considered a relatively safe activity, we jump on it…for our personal sanities sake!

So we were off on a drive to a nearby destination with no likely human contact…

Of course, we almost immediately established human contact!  We missed the turn at our destination and drove on down the road to a spot where we could turn around.  That’s when Laurie spotted this little 2+ year old towhead walking down the middle of the road.  He was focused and while he let Laurie hold his hand during his journey, he wouldn’t get in the car and he wasn’t much of a talker.  We went several blocks along the country road with me trailing them in our car.  Finally he came to a house where he announced that the dog barking at them was his.  About that time, his dad and older brother roared up on an ATV.  The dad told Laurie that they’d been playing around in a nearby creek and the little fellow just disappeared.  Apparently he’d just decided he was done and wanted to go home…

On to our original destination…a farm in the country.  A post on Nextdoor had requested that when folks in the area were done with their Thanksgiving pumpkins and gourds, this family would like to have them as supplemental feed for their rescue animals.  They gave their address so we could drop them off and they also offered to drive by homes to pick them up.  Looks like they had a great response with more to come.

These goats certainly seemed to like their special treat!  They actually had their heads inside the holes in the pumpkins.  These 2 basically ignored us…

There were several goats and this one was willing to pose for the cameras.  We also noted pigs and cows in adjoining fields…

Then this fellow showed up… Another member of the goat herd who is responsible for the herd’s protection.  He didn’t bark, he just kept a wary eye on us…

It turned out that the first dog wasn’t the only member of the ‘herd’ who was responsible for security.  This handsome guard dog hung out in the area until we departed.  The threat to goats in this area is coyotes…

Then I noted another barnyard variety at this farm.  Two emus occupied another nearby pen. 

Emus are the second-largest living bird by height, surpassed only by the ostrich.  Emus can reach 6 ft. 2 in. in height.  Emu farming in the US and around the world was quite the rage about 20 years ago but the numbers have drastically declined.  They are primarily raised for their low fat meat, leather, feathers and oil.   Interested in raising emus?  Check out the possibilities at the American Emu Association website: https://aea-emu.org/.  I looked on-line and found that I could order various cuts of emu meat for between about $5.50 up to $20.00 a pound. 

Right on cue!  We woke up on December 1 to see the results of our first ‘snow storm’ of the year.  Loudon county Tennessee averages about 6 inches of snow over the winter season.  This dusting came to about a half inch and it quickly melted.  Winters are a breeze here as compared to our previous experiences in the Chicago area!

This is our ‘flat’ Christmas tree.  It was actually a display item in a local gift shop that they’d readily agreed to sell us.  We loved it because it was small and flat, taking up a minimum amount of space.  Best yet, it was pre-lite.  We decorated it the first year with many of our favorite ornaments…and now we just store it (ready to bring out) in our Christmas storage closet right off our living area.  It was one of the best buys we ever made!

Note ‘Grandma Beth on the shelf’, actually on top of her old china cabinet.  She’s watching to ensure that we’re behaving as Christmas approaches.  No elves on the shelf this year as we don’t know where they might have been or who they might have been exposed to!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave