Star projects & fall foods

I have been so busy around here this week. I have been "winterizing" the animal house's, raking out pens, canning more of the flavored applesauces, taking as many nature walks as possible with Frog & lil' man, plus doing in home massage's- for free. I realy need to get some practice in and my cousins wife has graciously agreed to allow me to borrow her for an hour, a few times during the week. My hands and arms are so sore. I need to practice proper form....
~ We made our star projects -again-. The first ones were thrown in the bonfire by lil' man. I do not know why. I like the way they turned out. I used a grapevine wreath that was discovered hanging in the basement from who knows when. It was not a perfect circle which made it a little more difficult to create. The children helped find items during our last woodland walk to decorate it with, then we hung it on the front door. Panda made her own star for her room. we tied feathers on it like the ones in "A year in the country".

Rachel Ray has a magazine out now. She has a recipe for a wild rice, mushroom, & sausage soup. I make one similar but I use Uncle bens long grain & wild rice that has a 23 herb seasoning packet, 1 pound ground/browned maple sausage, 1 carrot diced up small, 1 big container of various mushrooms, 2 cups half & half, 3 1/2 cups or about 30 ounces of chicken broth. So yummy & easy to make. It is what I am making for our family picnic in Hocking hills later this month. I made it last night for dinner along with my homemade sweet potato dinner rolls and a warm celestial seasonings herb tea "tension tamer"( 5 tea bags) mixed with 1 frozen concentrate of lemonade and about 1 gallon of water. We ate on the back porch, enjoying the perfect temperatures for "dining out".
~ The girls are still not home. I do not understand what happened. I have been charting their heat cycles (which happen to have been a day apart for 2 cycles) and had it worked out that they would arrive on the 16th/17th day and come home in a week. They have not taken to their boyfriends yet. They are going on 2 weeks this weekend of their stay. Hopefully The girls will settle soon and I can go pick them up. May sound silly, but I miss my goats... I love those 2. I miss going out in the morning and seeing them waiting for me at the gate. I miss those Chia the boss sounds and the clink of my mischeviously sweet Cleo's bell. Its too quiet here now.....
~Tammie