Well I finally saved up enough quail eggs to do something with them.  I had decided that I was going to pickle them.  I figured it would be like eating a large peanut M&M.  Two quail only lay so many eggs and with the weather (Winter) production is sporadic.  It got so cold for a while that the eggs were freezing solid and cracking, so I had to throw those out.  So on Monday I dug around on the internet for a recipe for pickled quail eggs.  Emeril was the winner.  He had hot pickled quail eggs.  I used the same recipe but only put one teaspoon of cayenne pepper (instead of three) and left out the two hot fresh peppers.  I added some extra garlic.  One of the tricks that most people posted was to let the quail eggs sit in a bath of straight vinegar for at least one hour to soften the shells.  They have incredibly hard shells and a very thick membrane over the eggs.  So I let them soak for three hours.  I had to let the bath steep for 2 hours anyway so it worked out good.  I made a single quart and then hot bathed it.  It actually sealed!!  Always a good thing.  Now I have to wait a month before they can be broached.

Annmarie took this picture from the door of the barn, momma was pretty antsy.  This was right after the lamb was born.  I will try to snag another picture soon.

The lamb probably only weighs about three pounds.  Very tiny.

I changed out the sink faucet today.  We were having issues with not having cold water at the kitchen sink.  This problem was attributed to the multiple supply line breaks we have had and the dirt that gets in the line every time it is fixed.  So I waited until I was sure the line was done breaking and changed out the faucet.  The theory was that since it only affected the kitchen sink it had to be a problem in the faucet.  This being a typical plumbing job for me, I had to run to town and buy some silicone caulk and new supply lines (old ones are too short).  I got everything installed and turned on the water, still just getting a trickle of cold water…  It must be in the actually supply valve under the sink.  This is a stupid problem to have.  On top of it all, our pump went out in our dishwasher on Saturday.  It is three years old so any warranty will have expired I am sure.

Well one of our sheep finally figured out how to give birth!  I went out yesterday morning to let the sheep out and there was a brand new baby in the straw, momma still had cord hanging out and had not passed the placenta yet.  For all  those curious souls out there, each baby lamb has its own placenta usually.  So we waited for her to pass that afterbirth and have another lamb.  It was not to be.  We got one little baby, a boy. (I was hoping for twins every time!)  We kept momma in the barn for the day to let the baby nurse as much as possible without having to chase momma down.  When I went out this morning I caught the baby and got my snuggles in.  Nothing like a three pound ball of fuzz that is 18 inches tall.  I will post pictures tomorrow.
Sarah and I spent all day yesterday finishing her room.  We installed the chair rail (painted black) and finished all the touch up paint, then rearranged all the furniture.  I still need to hang all the pictures and butterflies on her wall and we are going to install some sheet metal squares on the wall to use as magnetic/dry erase boards.  It turned out very well.  She did a great job.  We let her paint her mirror frame, and she is going to stain her two shelves and paint a small display stand (black of course).  She still has to decide whether to stain the shelves black or dark blue.  It turned out so well that Annmarie and I have already decided we are not going to change the color when she leaves and goes to college.  We like it!!  Well it just started snowing and I have places to be.  Pictures tomorrow.

I am sitting here on the computer laughing at teenager angst.  We have a young ram, Lucky, who is 7 months old.  He has been learning the ropes from our older ram.  All the ropes except how to actually mount a ewe.  All our female ewes used to be quite a bit larger than him.  Plus, they are all pregnant.  We managed to successfully integrate the five new ewe lambs and they are out running around the pasture.  The snow melted enough that we let them come out of the barn lot.  Those lambs are quite small.  Almost half the size of our larger ewes.  So Annmarie and I figured they were still babies.  I don’t think so now.  Lucky is out there trying to mount the poor little dark ewe.  He just won’t leave her alone.  But every time he gets up on her he quits paying attention to his surroundings and our adult ram runs up and butts him in the side with his head thereby knocking Lucky off of the ewe and back three feet.  But like any adolescent boy he just gets back up on that ride.  This keeps playing out over and over again.  The ewe finally ran off and everyone ran after her.  Sheep are not supposed to go into heat until they are at least six months old.  So maybe they are just tiny sheep.

Well it is official, we are really in the sheep business now.  Annmarie finished our new registration form to send out to buyers of our sheep.  I just addressed and stamped the very first one.  Very nice.  Of course we won’t have any more lambs for sale until our sheep squeeze out more lambs.  Our two pregnant mothers are huge.  Their bellies look like they are going to start dragging on the ground any day now.  So we expect them to give birth this month.  Now we expected that last month, but those bellies cannot get much bigger so I will go out on a limb and state that it WILL happen this month.  We will keep buying a few more ewes this year to enlarge the herd.
Our back creek is still running.  It had started to freeze over in the subzero weather we were having.  Today it warmed up over freezing for the first time in 10 days.
Sarah just about has her room painted.  The blue turned out very nice.  She is retouching the edges of the chair rail I am going to install this weekend.  We wouldn’t let her paint the walls black so we compromised with a black chair rail.  There is a small piece of ceiling trim to touch up also, but we needed the wall paint to dry so we could apply masking tape.  The amazing part is I am finally going to be able to finish installing her window trim pieces.  I have had the two pieces to install under the window sill since we moved into the house, but I had to patch the sheetrock first.  I just finished texturing and priming before she painted.  It turned out very nice.  I will post a picture after it is all finished.

I had to remove the top trim on the entertainment center to get it into the library.  It was a very tight fit! I did remember to reinstall the trim once it was safely ensconced in its new location.