Same Old Stuff

I have been writing my book for the past month and I am really getting some great ideas. I have a book called "Writing Fiction Step by Step" that is helping me some perfect my book. I am really trying to be positive that I can pull of an actual book, and eventually a seven book series. Speaking of books, a friend of ours, Jeff Benedict (also an author of several books) teaches a class at SVU. He is having a guest speaker, Brandon Mull, this semester. He invited me to come to his class that day to listen to him. For those of you who don't know who Brandon Mull is, he is one of my favorite authors; he is currently writing a series called "Fablehaven". It's a children/youth series, but it's fantasy so I have to read it. I am so excited to get to hear him speak at the end of September. I am trying to rub this in Charlie's face since he is a fan of the series as well, (and my mother too!)
We have our goats now too.They are named Cameo and Topaz...they came with the names. They are both does and we are looking to breed them in November. Another friend of ours said he can help us find a buck to sire the kids. So hopefully by February or March we will have our own milk (a goat has to have a kid before it can produce milk...some people don't realize this so I'm answering it before it's asked). Milk is expensive, it costs more for a gallon than gas does - nearly four dollars!
Our chickens are now giving eggs as well. We have some small rose colored ones, and some tan eggs too. Our Americanas are giving us blue and green eggs too! It's really fun to see what Spencer brings in every morning and evening. Our ducks have been laying too, but Ida (our dog) keeps eatting them. We had to build a house that she can't get into so we could keep the eggs for ourselves.Meredith is just the little artist! She loves to draw, paint, create, you name it, she wants to try it out. She can draw animals now...they are somewhat recognizable...her favorite animal to draw is a cow, followed closely by the horse. And she remembers days later what it was suppose to be, so it makes sense to her at least.
We've reached the stage where it's hard to understand what she's trying to say to us. She slurs her words and sometimes they don't seem to make sense. I feel so bad not understanding her, I know she's trying to communicate, but it makes no sense! I would hate to be misunderstood all the time.
Spencer's new job started two weeks ago. But school hasn't offically started yet, not until Tuesday. They have eight students so far for this special needs school. The name of the place is Rivermont. It's small with lots of teachers and councelors to help the kids on a more intimate level. It should be interesting. He is the only guy and there is a lot of drama with all the women. There will be another guy working there, and he and Spencer are friends...we go to church with them, so it should help. Spencer needs other guys there or he might go insane!Meredith loves the animals. We just put her inside the fence and she will play forever. And I don't have to worry about her getting out...it's electric. And trust me she knows better than to touch that fence! We all touched it and she will not soon forget how that feels. It hurts. But she's more interested in herding the goats in and out of the barn, or trying to rake up the straw. She loves to feed them too. She always goes out with Spencer in the afternoons to feed the animals and gather eggs. Today she held about five chickens. She is an animal lover. It's nice to have her with them while you're out in the garden. That way she's not stepping on the tomatoes, or eatting all the raspberries. It's a lot of room for her to play in too.
The goats like to taste us...it feels like they are trying to eat your clothes. They grab a piece of the fabric and start to "chew". But since goats only have teeth on the bottom they obviously can't eat your clothes. They will sit there and gnaw at it, but all it does is accumulate goat spit. They bleat all the time and even headbutt the dog when she nips at them. They are going to take some time getting use to millking...very jumpy when you try to touch their utters. We are planning on getting 2-4 more pretty soon. So we should have some ice cream all the time, as well as fresh butter and heavy whipping cream. For free! All it costs is $13 for the bag of feed and that covers for maybe six months! They just eat the hay in our field, and the leaves off of bushes and trees, the especially love the thorny plants and weeds. Xavier is doing really well. He is such a good baby. I get compliment on him all the time. He is beautiful and chubby. He only wakes up twice a night and he sleeps a lot during the day too. He is just a big eatter. He loves to smile, coo and suck on his fingers. He's drooling a lot, so we think he is beginning to teeth already. He has learned how to roll over from his belly to his back and he always looks so confused and startled as to how he got in that position.
Well, I have about four more pictures, but they are not loading. It's been about fifteen minutes and they will not pop up. I'm sorry I will have to try tomorrow. That's basically it. It's getting late here and I'm falling asleep. I will try to update on a more regular basis from now on.