Saturday Picnic Dinner at the Beach (Rio de la Plata)

Not a bad way to end the day...

Mini-Female Handler and her dog...

Whatchulookinat?

Excuse me, but do you have a problem with a dog wearing a sock?

Lazy Summer Days

Summer has arrived...

Summer has most definitely arrived and mini-Female Handler has embraced it full on!

(You'll need your volume up to hear the goats...)

Wind Farms in Colonia

It would seem that wind farms are popping up all over Uruguay but the truth of the matter is that they don't happen overnight.

With each new wind farm, Uruguay is closer to reaching its goal of having 90% electricity generated specifically from renewable energy sources by 2016.

This wind farm is off of Ruta 22 (to Tarariras) which can be reached from Ruta 1 in (departamento) Colonia. Artilleros is being developed by Rouar S.A. (a joint venture between UTE and Electrobras de Brasil).

When completed it will consist of 31 wind turbines generating 50 megawatts of electricity.

Joy

Nostra, the former stray Buenos Aires street dog, found by mini-Female Handler last year, taken in, nurtured and loved, who now has an almond orchard to race through, an endless supply of birds to chase, open land to roam and hunt, a soft special bed to snuggle up on every night, cats to boss (don't get me wrong, I get the better of her each and every time), and an endless supply of goat bones to gnaw on, is overjoyed to see mini-Female Handler as she arrives at the farm for the first time in 10 months.

The ups and downs of November

I didn't mean for so much time to go by without pawing away at the keyboard, but it did. I am highly distracted... These were the highlights:

- We lost two kids. Very sad... Needless to say they did not die of natural causes but rather they were prey for animals higher up on the food chain. Chochi's girl is the lone survivor. And she was given a name: Alita. Ala means wing in Spanish. Her ears look like wings, and because she is little, she got the "ita" on the end, or Little Wing. If you should start humming the lyrics to Jimi Hendrix' "Little Wing"...that would be ok.

Alita climbing the tree for the choicest of young leaves

Alita is a charmer, and we anticipate she will be a good milker. She certainly comes from the finest of stock.

- Senior Male Handler came down for a visit. I kind of like the fellow, and I think he kind of likes me too. Here he is learning the fine art of making cheese from clabbered goat milk.

The secret to an abundance of roses...

The secret to this living bouquet is...goat urine and goat berries...

Colonia del Sacramento was yarn bombed

It's not a bed of roses...

but it's pretty darn close...

You could say I'm content...

The ants go marching one by one...hurrah, hurrah....

WAIT, no hurrah!

In Cradle to Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things, Braungart and McDonough write about ants and specifically the leaf-cutter ant.

Ants also recycle the wastes of other species; leaf-cutter ants, for example, collect decomposing matter from the Earth’s surface, carry it down into their colonies, and use it to feed the fungus gardens that they grow underground for food. During their movements and activities, they transport minerals to upper layers of soil, where plant life and fungi can use them as nutrients. They turn and aerate the soil and make passageways for water drainage, playing a vital role in maintaining soil fecundity and health. They truly are, as biologist E.O. Wilson has pointed out, the little things that run the world. But although they may run the world, they do not overrun it. Like the cherry tree, they make the world a better place.

Leaf-cutters drive Male Handler insane (absolutely bat-shiester crazy). They are not just collecting decomposing matter, they are cutting leaves, healthy dark green leaves, attached to almond tree stems, and hauling them underground. They can strip a tree in two days flat leaving it naked. And the leaf-cutter nests consisting of a series of connected underground chambers can be enormous, encompassing the root system of several almond trees leaving the roots exposed. During any dry season, this can be the cause of death for a tree.  It's a matter of constant vigilance. Fortunately the leaf-cutters so far this growing season are focused on the other things and have not touched the almond trees.

A leaf cutter ant at work, and possibly two along for the ride.

Do these look like decomposing matter as described by Braungart and McDonough. I think not!

Overall, the book was excellent. My problem was really confined to the reverence given to leaf-cutters.

Bet you didn't know I was such a feline inteligente!

Uruguayan Goats Climbing Trees!

It was only a matter of time before the kids actually listened to me...the wise feline!

As you may recall, I mentioned in this posting that I thought the goats should learn to climb trees. Within 4 weeks of birth, they were climbing trees!

Next in their training is...flying goats. They'll need to learn how to get off the tree fast. It has been brought to my attention that unlike felines, goats do not always land on their feet...

Goat Milk

Milk is in abundance these days thanks to lots of good eating for the goats. Always at least 5L per day between Chochi and Timi. Female Handler (FH) keeps a spreadsheet (of course she does...) of morning and evening output. It's kind of a pain to get to on her computer, but I just know that there is a lot of milk in the refrigerator. They are using 2L ice cream containers for milk storage as they stack easy.

 

So...Male Handler (MH) is making cheese with all this milk. Three batches so far. They actually have an abundance of cheese right now, it's beyond crazy.

I don't particularly like cheese. I do like the the goats milk though and get to lick the storage container after the milk is gone which usually has some residual cream left in it. The problem is...so does Keika, and so does Nostra. Nostra can't quite keep the container on the dining room rug and ends up licking the container into the living room.

Some friends from Turkey who recently visited suggested goat milk ice cream. Now you're talking!

First downpour

First downpour for this one...

She could easily apply for a job as one of the Queen's Guards (the royal guards at Buckingham Palace), aside from the fact that ...
... she's a girl...
... she's underage...
... she resides in Uruguay...
... and she's a goat...

Minor details.

And then there were three ...

Happy First Day of Spring!

New leaves of a Palo Borracho tree

The trunk of a Palo Borracho tree - best not to lean on it

Brute Bro and Tiny Sis'ta

I prefer to climb trees over tires. I keep telling the kids that they'd be an Internet sensation if they just learn how to climb trees like the goats in Morocco who climb the Argan trees. They're not on board yet with my suggestions. Pity...