I am beginning to believe that here in the country, the only time you get to take a road trip vacation is when you are acquiring livestock or equipment!!! Haha… But that’s okay, I’ll take either! I like a day away from the work especially when it’s beautiful, sunny and crisp out. And you get to drive through the country and see lots of neat things and end up at a farm, and a big downtown capital city! And you get the spend the day chatting and yacking with your beautiful daughters! It’s bliss, let me tell you.

We set out at the crack of 10 AM and were soon tootling down the rural highway after we got animal chores done. All the hoof stock had to stay locked up for the afternoon, which I’m sure they didn’t like, but we can have escapees and worry while we were on our little day jaunt. If we got too late, I’m sure we could have called our friends to let everyone out for a bit, but in the end, they were just fine with a day inside and good hay and a few treats to pass the time.

We got up to Jill’s farm and got the tour! I love seeing folks farms… you learn things and you get to also see that you’re doing things right, because, well, they are doing it too! She and her hubby and her 3 young sons are growing up on a beautiful farm with lots of critters! They have alpacas, llamas, goats, a dairy heifer and of course, bunnies!!! Oh yes, and kitties. Lots of kitties. Kitties seem to be a requirement to farm living! They had some beautiful calicos too! I’ve seen a lot of calicos at various farms this year. More than I think I’ve ever seen before! But I digress…

She had some beautiful alpacas and llamas there, and very friendly. We were watchful for spitting, but Jill said that they have only seen them spit at each other, never humans. Of course, there’s always a first time! haha… but thankfully, they were very nicely behaved. She also had a nice little flock of Angora goats and wow, they are beautiful. I am thinking about an Angora goat for our fiber mix… perhaps in the spring, with a couple white lambs to complete the Windhaven fiber assortment!!! We’ll see how that all goes! I will admit though, the Angora goat is beautiful to touch and feel, the fiber is to die for!

Oh but this little darling was to die for! She was SO adorable, her big brown eyes… a little Jersey heifer calf, just as sweet as could be. She came right over and licked my hand! We all fell in love with her. She was so darling. I can’t wait to add a mini moo to our herd! This girl was a full sized milk cow, but I think a mini will be much more suited to our homestead since we would be more into the butter and cheese production and some milk. 14+ gallons a day from a big cow! Wow… that would be a little much for us! We would HAVE to get pigs for that!

But the main reason we were here, at Jill’s farm, was so that this young lady could meet this young gentleman and fall in love. And yes, it happened in 1.3 seconds of Awwwww…. What a sweeeeet little bunny boy! He got handed to Jessy and that was that. She wouldn’t give him up. And he’s just so soft and pretty, and just so content to be in her arms. She held him for the rest of the visit! We got to see his momma and daddy and they were beautiful too. And his siblings! He is our little French Angora buck and perhaps in the spring, he might be our little rabbitry foundation sire! Who knows! But he’s a beautiful little broken black and white bun bun and he is already spoiled!

His name is Cornelius, after a character who changes into a rabbit. Jessy has decided that her rabbitry name is going to be Pookah Bunnies… and since they love video games, all her bunnies will have names from characters in the games they like. Hey, sounds as good as anything to me! Odin and Ozzy and Grizelda and Gwen are all from a game about Norse gods and goddesses! Now little Cornelius is joining the flock! I finally got to hold him at home and he is just the sweetest thing. He already likes to be brushed and I think he will fit in just nicely!

After we said our goodbyes and got back on the road, we headed for the big city of Lansing, Michigan, the capital of the Great Lakes state!

And of course, being true hillbillies at heart, when we see a big giant plastic chicken, we just gotta stop and take a picture. It’s a given.

But then we ambled into the main downtown area and decided to wonder a bit in the big city of tall building and ended up at the capital building.

Very pretty building. I know that these beautiful buildings were build over a century ago, but I miss that we don’t build these kinds of structures much anymore. They are works of art, for sure, and just stunning. Some of these new buildings, they are so cold and modern, just after a while, boring. But a beautiful building like this one? Stunning. Majestic. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the great men and woman that had walked the paths and stood on these very steps… just neat. Love history and the vibes it sends.

I like this picture of Maggie and I… of course, Jessy was the head photographer for the day, I only snapped a shot of her and Cornelius… she took a ton of photos and Maggie and I just wandered about and soaked up sunshine and crisp fall air! It was beautiful beyond words. Just a touch chilly, and perfect for a sweater to snuggle in. The trees are starting to change and we had to point out a zillion on the trip bursting in beautiful oranges and golds and reds.

Everything around this part of lower Michigan and northwestern Ohio is just bursting with color right now. I can’t believe how beautiful our grass is! It’s the most rich green, almost a spring green with all the rain. What a weird year this has been, the delightfully pleasant and wet August has got everything in the plant world making up for the terribly hot and dry July! Kind of mixed up, but I have not minded. The last two months have been picture perfect. Jessy caught this beautiful monarch over some purple salvia and wow, just lovely colors. I can’t wait to plant a bunch of perennials in the courtyard garden next spring. I missed that for sure this year, hoping that there would be a lot of lovely perennials on our century farm, but really, there were not that many! Don’t worry, we’ll change that for sure!

Got to see some lovely cherry trees around the capital building and that was really pretty keen. We wrapped up our visit and got back on the road. We didn’t want our bunny boy sitting in the car too long alone. Of course, he was in a carrier and had a little towel to keep him comfy and warm, but still, it was time to hit the road home!

We are homebodies, and that is just fine. Some folk have so many things going on, here and there, sports and activities and such, I don’t know why they even have a big old house. They just never seem to be home. Just a bit in the evening and then to sleep. And with the morning sun, they are off again. I think that would kill us. We love being home. We like spending time there. We like getting out and seeing the world, but it’s always a comforting feeling to be back on the road and headed for the barn, so speak. The cradle of our hearth and home. The girls both fell asleep on the ride back, which reminded me of the days when they were just little critters… the excitement of the day had worn them out and they would snooze contentedly all the way home after an adventure. Of course, in this cause, it was just because I had woken them at an unnatural time for them. Hahaha… teenagers! Well, I guess Jessy is no longer a teenager, but she still can act like one!

We stopped in Jackson and got carry out Italian at Fazolis and couldn’t resist a little bite or three in the parking lot! The majority of it made it home, though, it was sure good and we were very happy campers!

Everyone was very happy to see us return. The goat boys were hamming it up and just so ready to be let loose to wreck havoc on the place! Cody was really happy to be let out of his spacious, yet boring pony barn. I think if I can swing it, I’m going to get him a Jolly Ball for his bedroom. I had stacked up some straw bales and some hay bales high in his barn, but the little wort had fun today knocking them all down and opening up one to spread all over the place. I guess he was complaining about the housekeeping services, since I hadn’t mucked out his little potty area this morning! Hey, I figured he would be fine, he’s such a good pony boy and just uses a little corner of his stall area! And him being not that big, it’s never really that much. But he had done a number to the bale and had it ALLLLL over the place! Haha… bored pony = trouble!!!

However, with a carrot, he was totally over his snit and my best little pal immediately. The girls were inside fussing over Cornelius, so I spent a little time outside, visiting my little minions and soaking up just a little more sunshine!!! Oh, how good that feels after a week of rain!!! And everyone is feeling frisky in the crisp fall air! As they were all playing around, Cody spooked Timmy, whom flinched into me, and knocked me to the ground! With my little half scream at the whole 20 seconds of chaos, it was SO funny to look up and find them all immediately at my side and staring down at me as if to say, Ooops… sorry Mom…. Are you okay? Even a couple hens and Bucka Roo were all there! I would like to think that they were concerned for me and my welfare because they love me. However, since Cody started to nudge my pocket where I keep his horse cookies, I suspect that they were just going to strip my body for treats if I was dead and carry on. Haha…My laughing made them all decide I was okay and upon righting myself again, I was found to be whole and sound. Silly beasts!

Isn’t Bucka Roo just a beautiful bird? I can’t get over how pretty he is. Such a nice rooster….

Timmy hamming it up for the camera. He likes to have his picture taken, especially if he thinks there will be a goat cookie as a reward. I found these awesome hard horse/goat treat/cookies at Tractor Supply and they are so nice and handy as little bribes. Cody really likes the oat and raisin flavored ones. They were only like $4.00 for a big bag and we have only made a small dent in them. You can slip a couple in your pocket and they are so much better than just bread or crackers or whatever, so it seems for us now. The birds love the bakery outlet bread and such, but I think the hoof stock is getting just cookies now and then and a carrot or some other goodie like apple or such as a rare treat. They would all eat until they were sick on anything that smacks of grain or sweets! And we’re trying not to overdo that for sure. But also, treats and bribes are good to establish a nice bond and acceptance with them too, which I really want. Easy goes it, is our new mantra.

Our new recepie for grilled goat! Haha… Bryce is practicing bad fire safety. Of course, it’s not a fire, but he has to goof around with the fire pit. Shesh…

Of course, on the way home, there was a ton of people selling pumpkins and Indian corn and such, but when I saw this fellow and his birdhouse gourds, oh my gosh, I had to stop. I have wanted one of these forever!!! I tried growing them one year, but they rotted on the vine, very wet year. And I loved his Indian corn too, especially the little ones! I love that you can stop and get all these cute and wonderful garden delights for $3. What a deal! It’s not fall, if you can’t decorate with a little harvest colors! The big corn is going out on the front porch and I think the little corn will go inside somewhere! It’s so darling! The fellow said that it would take the gourd about 4 months to dry out, but that it would and get all hard and ready to be drilled and worked with by January or February! It will be hard to wait that long, but it’s cool…

Well, it’s off to bed for me. Got a huge week ahead of us, orders and rocks and practice and all that. We need to finish the bunny hutch this week so Cornelius has a real and official home. We got most of the plasticing up… and have the chicken barn door to fix. Got to stock up on winter hay and straw as well… and move some of the stuff from the pony barn before Cody decides to wreck it all! Bad pony…. And most of all, we need to get the corn stove installed and running… it’s getting COLD at night! So it’s going to be a busy week of sunshine and hard work… can’t wait!