Short Story - Wings

Wings

It was over. My enemy had won.

I fell from my domain and lay on the ground, breathing slowly. I could feel my mortal wound draining my life, and could do nothing but wait for the end. I could not call out to my family. My friends. Were they nearby? Had they left me for dead already?

The pain was ebbing and my eyes grew dark. I knew that death would soon take me and I resisted. This was not the way I wanted to die, overthrown by someone I had known my whole life.

I fought to stay conscious, desperate. What could be worse than dying, laying in the dirt, alone.

A shadow fell over me. My time had come. Fear stabbed my heart, when suddenly I was enveloped by warmth. I felt as if I was lifted from the ground, surrounded by smooth curtains of safety.

I took a deep breath, astounded. It was true then, what all the strange ones claimed. There was something, something at the end.

I was wrapped in comfort. I was protected from all. I was not alone. I closed my eyes, and I accepted it.


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The young girl looked sadly at the tiny bird that lay in her hands. She stroked the wing feathers, then left, taking it with her, to seek a burial place.

Not Enough Negativity?

Anyone who reads my blog knows what a big supporter I am of positive thinking, and how I implement it in my own life.

But is too much positive thinking a negative thing?

Sure, it sounds like a contradiction, but I had a bit of a revelation that has been brewing in the back of my mind, and connected it with other things I believe to bring you this new blog post.



I live with my husband and brother. Both are bull-headed young men with a lot of attitude. Most of the time they get along great, but sometimes they butt heads. During these times, I've learned to step away. Yesterday was one of those days, and frustrated and angry with their apparent inability to get along, I walked away and took a stroll down the road for a bit.

While I was walking along, I was angry at them, and upset that I didn't have a "normal" family like others do. A moment later, I was overcome with self-loathing for my thoughts. How dare I think such things. How dare I be ungrateful for what I have.

Shocked at my own thoughts, I stopped and rolled back the thoughts I was having. Was it wrong to be upset? Was it wrong to be angry?

No. No, it's not wrong.

It's OKAY to be angry/sad/upset over something. It's OKAY to wish for better. If we did not, how would we ever move forward in our lives? Strive for a brighter future?

If anyone ever tells you that YOUR problems are not "problematic" enough, that you don't have the right to be upset/sad/angry, then they are not worth your time.

It's when those feelings overwealm your good sense and prevent you from moving forward that they become a problem.

And with a new found sense of stability, I resumed my walk, heading home.

Recipe Post - Vinegar Cheese

Today we have, as promised, a cheese recipe! This is a very simple easy to make soft cheese. You can make it with whole cow's milk, or as I prefer, goat's milk.

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon milk
1/4 cup vinegar
Salt
Herbs/Peppers/Seasonings/Fruit (optional)

To start, we heat our milk. You'll need a candy thermometer that clips onto the side of the pot. I like a stainless steel pot. SLOWLY heat the milk on direct heat. You want it to slowly rise to 175 degrees F.

 

Once the milk is at the proper temperature, remove from heat and slowly stir in your vinegar. The milk should almost immediately begin to change. Cover and let sit for at least 15 minutes, and no more than 20 minutes. 

After 15 minutes, uncover and take a look. You should have curds and whey! The whey is the yellow liquid left after the curds have formed. Gently pour the mixture into a colander lined with quality cheese cloth or muslin. Certain linens also work excellent for this. Tie the curds up and hang them to drain for around 2 hours. The leftover whey can be used to make other types of cheeses or fed to dogs, pigs, or chickens.

Once your cheese has hung, remove it from the cheese cloth into a container. From here, you have free rein! You can mix in whatever seasonings you like, or peppers, onions, garlic. Even fruits to make it into a sweet cheese. You can crumble it, or press it into a block. Once mixed, you refrigerate it, where the flavors will meld together.

This cheese is good for 7-10 days in the refrigerator.

PSA: Turtles

A good reminder to us all.

As you drive along this spring and summer, please watch out for our reptilian friends! As the season progresses, turtles, snakes, and lizards will be on the move, looking for new homes, mates, and places to lay eggs.

Please avoid running them over when safely possible. They are apart of our world, even if you are not fond of reptiles.

Do not take risks to move a turtle or other creature off the road unless you are safe. Turtles, lizards, and snakes all can bite!

Use a long stick or pole to gently prod a snake into crossing a road when safe. Pick up turtles, staying out of reach of their heads, and put them on the side of the road they are pointed. Use a pole or stick on lizards as well.

Whatever you do, do not pick up the reptile and take it home with you. While turtles, snakes, and lizards make marvelous pets, the place to get them is not from the road. They belong in the wild and are an important part of our ecosystem. Do not bring turtles home and release them somewhere "safe" either. Most reptiles, especially turtles, are adapted specifically for their own territory. When taken somewhere new, they often will try very hard to return home, perishing in the attempt. Snakes and lizards tend to fair better in these circumstances, but turtles need to stay "home."

Keep an eye out and be safe!

Insecurities

Most of you who "know" me, or read my blogs, probably believe that insecurity is not likely one of my character flaws. (Arrogance, on the other hand..)

And most of the time, you'd be correct. I am not insecure in my self, or my knowledge, or where I stand. I am firm in my beliefs, in my wisdom, in my own body.

But you'll be interested to know that even I struggle with insecurity on some level.

For me, it's the concept of change. I don't like it. I even fear it.

When change enters my life, it throws things out of whack. And so I abhor it.

You see, I operate on a rhythm, a schedule, a routine. I like things done a certain way, a certain order, each and every day. So when a change comes through or is being considered, things are not "my" way, and it can be difficult.

Yes, it sounds a bit spoiled, but routine is what grounds me to life. We are all different, and while this is a flaw in my build, I feel no shame for it, as you should not either.

So how do I deal with change? The same way I deal with everything. I take time to think about it. I weight the pros and cons of an upcoming change. I work through the details in my head until I am satisfied. And then I accept it. Of course, this works best with planned change. Unexpected change is far more difficult. In those cases I am working through it on the fly, improvising as I go along, until things settle back down and my routine rebuilds itself.

So that is my insecurity and how it is dealt with. Just about anything you are afraid or insecure about can be handled in a similar fashion. Take a step back and take control away from it. When you let fear or insecurity control your life, you are giving the reins over to irrationality and closing your eyes to what may come.

What are you insecure about? How do you deal with it now? Can you deal with it better?

My Writings

Many of you know that along with every other thing I do (boy I've got a mixed bag of hobbies, don't I?) I also write.

I have written stories and short novels since I was quite young. I have been praised and rewarded for it from the time I was in grade school. So why have I yet to fulfull my dream of being published?

Too many things on my plate, I believe. My motivation to write comes and goes. Sometimes I will stay up late into the night, writing furiously, letters flashing across the screen as I type, barely noticing the words themselves as the story flows forth.

Other times I sit and there is nothing.

This is one of those times.

Since I am releasing another short story piece by piece on my Deviant Art account (titled: Blind Love), I have decided to release my work in progress short novel on there as well, chapter by chapter. Perhaps the feedback, interest, and seeing it fresh once more will unlock the path through the rest of the story.

So for those of you who have followed my writings, please feel free to visit my page and seek out each chapter as it's posted. I will try to post a chapter a week, and of course, my other short story will be posted as each piece is finished. As far as I know, you do not need to be a member of DA to view my work, so no worries there.

Of course, all of my other art is there as well, my painted models, for your viewing please.

Thank you everyone, who has supported my art, both in painted form and in written form. I may not make any kind of profit off of it, but I enjoy doing it, therefore I will persevere.

Kidding Season Comes to a Close

And so, our 2012 spring kidding season comes to a close!

In October/November of last year, we bred (or purchased bred) eight does. Several were bred to a Myotonic buck in an effort to get some heftier kids and a meat wether or two to butcher. The rest were bred to our Nigerian Dwarf buck, Blizzard, and two does were bred to an outside buck. Finally, one outside doe was brought in and bred to Blizzard.

We started kidding in March, as planned.

We produced 13 kids total. 9 bucklings and 4 doelings. All kids were born live and healthy. A great year! One outside bred doe slipped her pregnancy early on and was bred back for June kids, so we do still have one pregnant doe running about. But for the most part, we are done.

We did notice that several kids needed assistance to be born, but there were no serious issues. We had quite a lot of flash and color by Blizzard - this is his first year covering a larger number of does, and I think he did an excellent job. I can hardly wait to start breeding all over again and see what we get next year, using Blizzard almost exclusively.

Most does are raising their young, but we are milking out Gypsy and Hope currently. Gypsy is giving a little over 20oz a milking while Hope is giving between 30-40oz a milking. Not bad! We are debating on who else to milk this year - we decided to dry off April after her buckling was sold because she is a hard keeper. Seven is raising a meat buckling so we won't be milking her I do not think. Juliet is still nursing a doeling, so we'll decide on her when the doeling is weaned and sold. Ruffian and Juliet I may milk long enough to break them to the milk stand to see if it tames them down any.

Yumi is the doe due in June, so we won't worry about that until the time comes.

This year is the first year we sold kids as soon as possible as bottle kids. It's tough letting them go when they're still tiny and cute, but it's better in the long run for us all. The kids are raised by their new owners and become very friendly and personable, I don't have to worry about deworming/cocci treatment/management of a large group of young kids, and I can milk the does sooner.

As it turns out, the only kid being retained is the kid from the outside doe brought in to be bred, and brought back to kid here. She's a stunning baby, sporting the best of the best when it comes to genetics from my herd, and we're very excited to see how she grows and turns out.

So that does it. Kidding season closes, but in a few short months, breeding season will begin! The air will be once more filled with a buck's blubbering - can't beat it! ;)