Good News!

Had my dr's appointment today, and good news!...during my exam the dr. said I had no fibroids, no fibroid tumors, no tumors at all, and no cancer.I just laid there and said "thank God!"

I do have what they call "polycystic ovarian syndrome"...and am going to take some meds for about 10 days to help with that, and also get some blood work done related to this little thing...but Thank God it wasn't and isn't anything serious. I am so happy! Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts. Really appreciate it.(I've posted my "Bluebirds of Happiness" Collage today to commemorate this happy news)

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Another good thing happened today... my hubby got me a baby Peking duck! The little thing is only 10 days old today, and is so teeny tiny, only about 5 inches tall at the most. It is half the size that Daffy was when I got him as a baby. This little gal/guy is so tiny it is amazing. It's little beak is only about as long as a thumb nail and only about as wide as my pinky nail. I will for sure post pictures tomorrow.

I have named it "Sunny"..because my day turned out to be rather bright and with good news, and then the little duckling as a surprise..I felt the name "Sunny" was appropriate.

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Well..this week was "try new/different foods" week. After trying the buffalo burgers the other night..last night we tried quail...again purchased from our local Publix. 4 quail for $7.89 which averaged close to $2 per person for the meal.

The meat was very tasty...but quail are tiny, and you don't get much meat at all from it. But for something different for a change it was nice. I think though that for the price..I'd rather get cornish hens and bake those up...for more meat.We all agreed that we preferred the buffalo burgers though the best, as they were more filling.And easier to eat than the quail, and more meat for the money.

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Oh..and yes..I will post pictures tomorrow of the yo-yo garland also...along with a few ideas for easy homemade farmstyle ornaments.

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Well..that's all this evening.

Thanks for joining me in "blogland"

Have a great evening.

~The Garden Goose~

We tried it....

We tried it this evening..and we liked it.

What is "it" you might ask???

Well..."it" is... grass fed,organic,hormone free buffalo meat.

Wow! It was delicious too.

We bought a pound of it at our local Publix meat department in the "Greenwise" section of the meat department display.

I prepared burgers from it by adding only one egg, and simply using a little salt and pepper, and putting into a pan that was sprayed with extra virgin olive oil.

A very lean meat and almost tasted like a steak, but in burger form.

I payed $6.99 a pound for it, and could have easily gotten 5 juicy burgers from the pound, but made 4 ; 1/4 pound burgers instead.

I figure if I can get 5 burgers from the pound..that I am looking at about $1.39 per person..that is about what one could expect to pay for a greasy burger at a fast food place that is full of who knows what?? and maybe has even sat under heat lamps all day..bleccckkk.

...but with the buffalo meat..it is organic and grass fed meat with no preservatives or other unknowns in the meat...and what a difference in taste too!

We don't eat beef related products very often here..mostly we eat chicken..but we will certainly buy the buffalo meat again the next time we have a hankering for a burger.

I definitely recommend giving it a try.

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Had a nice day here today. Had to stop by the feed store to get more duck feed for "Daffy". I found out that they will be getting in a shipment at the end of the month ..of baby chicks..

Aracaunas, Rhode Island Reds, and Buff Orpingtons.

The Aracaunas are the type that lay the easter egg looking eggs...in blues and greens.

Yes...I will probably go back and get an aracauna chick.

As I know my children would love to see the easter egg looking eggs. I know my oldest daughter Naomi would probably like to make craft items from the blown colored eggs too.

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I'm working on crafting a few Christmas gifts for both my mom, and my mother in law, but alas..I cannot post the images here because..well..the recipients like to peek in on my blog to see what I'm up to..hee hee.

I did finish the yo-yo garland that I mentioned a while back..it wound up being about 5 yards long or so.

I'll use it on the tree this year of course.

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Well..I hope that you all have a very lovely weekend.

~The Garden Goose~

Quackers at Lake Caroline

Here are some of the photos from the trip to the duck pond/lake. Lake Caroline in our downtown area.

If you see the baby ducklings ..you can see why it was a bit hard to resist, but the mama duck certainly was being a good mama though. I have heard that the muscovy ducks make good sitters and mama's. A lady that lives next to the lake said these little baby ducklings were only 6 days old on the day I took these pictures.(Wednesday)

Hope that you all have a lovely weekend!

~The Garden Goose~

woohoo...we are number one!!!

Woo-hoo! We are number one!

When typing in the phrase ...small town living... on Googles web search...our online e-zine shows up in the number one spot!

YAY!

For a long time we were in the number 3 spot. Out of curiosity I typed it in this evening and we have now landed the numero uno spot!

yippee!

We are currently working on the Dec./Jan.2008 issue.

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I hope that you all are having a wonderful week thus far.

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Paul and I went out to the downtown duck pond yesterday afternoon

.....a small lake in our downtown area that is home to quite a few muscovy ducks, a lone male mallard, a flock of about 7 geese,and other mixed breed ducks.... and lots of other waterbirds

...anyhow..one of the mixed breed muscovies had babies that were just 6 days old...(only 4 of them)

..yes..I admit with the weather dropping down into the 40's this week..I did have the passing thought of scooping up all the babies and giving them a chance...but..I didn't

...nature will take its course..the mortality rate on the lake for the little ones isn't very good, as we have seen the little ones before and gone back a week later and they are usually gone.:0(

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I did get photos though and will share them with you all in the next few days.

I will have to wait until the Spring to get a baby duck from the feed store..but I tell you it certainly was tempting as they are wild little ducks, although tamed to accept handouts if that makes sense..meaning they are a community novelty where folks over the years have dumped their ducks on the pond/lake to do what ducks and geese do...and feed them handouts.

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Hoping you have a good evening!

Thanks for joining me in blogland.

~The Garden Goose~

Butterflies in the Yard...

Here are a few images from my yard. We have Gulf Fritillary butterflies that show up in mid September and stay through October and November laying their eggs on the passion vine flowers.

I have a dr's appointment on Monday the 12th. ER doc said that I was most likely entering that next phase in a woman's life and that all my bloodwork and so forth was good, but that my hormones were probably just out of whack.

Well..I certainly hope that I can get through this stage with grace.

I felt anything but graceful the other day..ha.So..I'll be talking to my gyn on Monday.

Thanks for your kind thoughts and prayers.

Really appreciate it.

I hope that you all are having a wonderful week.

~The Garden Goose~

Hi friends....

I will be laying low for the next few days until I get a health issue for myself out of the way. I spent my Sunday all day in the ER..not what I had planned to do with myself..I had big plans on working in my new flower bed... planting roses..but my body decided it had other plans for me, and decided to play "wonky". So I wound up in the ER all day long.uggh.

I am o.k. now. Just really tired out and will need to see my Gyn in the next couple of days to get things straightened out.

All my blood work and other stuff came back good, which is a real blessing.

But until I get this out of the way..I won't be on here as regular. But I expect that it won't take too much to get this little "glitch in the program" straightened out and I'll be back to the regular scheduled programming in no time.:0)

I'll pop in here as I can to say "howdy"..but for the next few days to a week..I'll be laying low..literally.

Thanks for understanding. I care about you all, you are a bright spot in my day and I so very much enjoy sharing with you all.

~The Garden Goose~

November already!....

Can you believe how fast the year has zoomed right on by? I can't.

Christmas will be here before we know it.

Wow.I have to get on the ball and craft a few items and do a little shopping.

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Today I worked on getting my house back in shape..some days with 3 kids... and the usual hustle and bustle about that a family of 5 does..well..lets face it..the house can look a good bit raggle taggle. So..out with the vaccuum and mop and other cleaning supplies...and whipped back into shape in no time..well o.k...o.k. at least a couple hours and then it's back to looking clean again.:0)

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Oldest daughter and I got out to Joann's fabrics last night..I needed some more fabric to complete a set of country gingham drapes for my french doors.

Then we stopped at Books A Million to visit with a group of homeschooling moms..for the monthly mom's night out.

Of course I had to get my little magazine "fix" too while we were there.

I got myself the latest issues of: Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion,Hobby Farm Home,and Southern Lady.

Those are some of my all time favorite magazines to curl up with during my "quiet mommy time"... and savor the ideas and lovely images.

...Besides our magazine that hubby and I create that is.:0)

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I've been going back through the house doing some "clean out".Straightened the pantry today, and since our family is going "caffeine free" and "no more artificial sweeteners" ...I had quite a bit of tea varieties and splenda to get rid of.

That's just the pantry..ha.

I am going to tackle room by room... again.

I find it actually refreshing to go through these "whole house purge outs" every now and then.

It is amazing what can be accumulated and then never used/things that sit in closets and other areas just gathering dust.

And when you discover them again..it's sort of like.."oh..I didn't know I had that!"..or "oh..that's where I put that"..ha.

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Went to a few garage sales last weekend..and I was able to find a really nice steel cage..large kennel style cage..but with a tray in the bottom. I am wanting to use it in the Spring to house a few bantams. I have been trying to decide on what type of bantam hens I'd like to get in the Spring. Hubby and I have been talking about the health benefits of raising our own eggs, and growing lots of our own vegetables.
We plan on having a pretty good variety of vegetables this Spring as well.

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Wanted to share a website with you all that offers cute country graphics.... where you can create a few nice/unique Holiday gifts.

They offer little country clock faces..where you can buy the clocks at places like Walmart, remove the plastic cover, and insert one of the printed out country clock images to make a lovely gift.

http://www.karrenkountry.com/graphics/free.html

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Here's wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Thanks for visiting with me in "blogland"

~The Garden Goose~