Shooting and Shooting

I officially declared my camera dead last night, pulled its battery, memory card and tossed it.  It died the night I was chiseling the holes for my barn posts, but I had some hope of reviving it.  The nasty, grinding, squealing noise it made when I tried to restart it changed my mind.

I need a new camera and all the big holiday scams are coming up so please tell me what your favorite camera is.  I am not terribly fussy, but I do have a couple of criteria:

1. It has to fit in my pocket.  It doesn't have to be tiny, but I carry it around all the time so a  "real" camera is not an option.
2. It needs to have a rechargeable battery, not "AA" because of above.  I prefer rechargeable lithium because regular batteries never last more than a week.
3. I don't care about wifi, GPS, touchscreens, etc. I just want it to take good pictures.

Any suggestions??

I may as well be doing some camera shopping tomorrow since it is opening day of rifle season for deer and we all have to stay close to the house and out of the woods.  

The Buddy System

 The super scary insulated water tub finally made it all the way into the barn.

Just in time too as the weather has taken a sudden dramatic dip into winter.  Ben still had some concerns that the terrible water demons might come back.  Scary monsters which should not be confused with the frisbee demon.

After much careful thought and wary inspection, Ben finally decided to put his faith in the buddy system.  If Emma says it's safe, then it must be safe.

It's always good to have a buddy when confronting monsters. 

Old Man Winter

Rioting Protestors

This Fall, I have been trying, again, to get everyone to accept grazing muzzles.  All I can say is that I have finally found something that all the donkeys agree on wholeheartedly. 

And yes, Ramsey's muzzle is half off, Emma is in the wrong place and the fence is all messed up.  That's what happens when the populace starts rioting in the streets.

I finally fenced off the yard again and let them all out on the lawn, much to Connor's dismay (you can never please everybody).

There was much excitement at first at the joy of being loose in forbidden territory. 

The excitement quickly morphed into dismayed disgust and betrayal when they found that the muzzles worked on the lawn too.  There was much complaining, demanding and pleading.  I finally opted for the better part of valor and left them to hide work on my new shed.

Maybe by the time Spring gets here they'll have accepted the necessity.  One can hope right?

Comfort Food

I don't normally post recipes because I am a highly indifferent cook.  However, with all the chaos in the world (which I am not indifferent to, but neither do I have any words for), I thought we could all use a bit of comfort food. 

This is a super easy recipe that even non-cooks will like.  It allows you to consume large amounts of sugar-free, calorie-free, fat-free, gluten-free, guilt-free chocolate.  It has ZERO calories and may even help you lose weight and lower your blood pressure.  There are no dishes to wash and the ingredient list is super short.  All you need are two ingredients:

1. First, you will need a pair of these.

They come in a variety of flavors, just pick the one that appeals to you.

2.  Second, you need a chocolate donkey (you can substitute any other type of furry critter here, dappled donkeys also provide very nice results, but the chocolate really melts down nicely.)

3.  Apply the first ingredient liberally and firmly to the second ingredient and you will soon have a lovely pile of melted chocolate.  Feel free to consume as much as you like as often as you like.  It is guaranteed to make you, and your chocolate, feel better. 

Overheard Conversation

Taking the Devil's Word

After reading Ben's Tale Of Terror, you will understand why I have to make any changes to the water system very carefully and gradually.  Ben is fully stubborn enoug to die of dehydration before he compromises his values. 

My water hydrant is just on the other side of that barn wall to the left and the stock tank is just below it.  This winter, I would like to go back to using my insulated, heated water tub instead of the stock tank.

It was not big enough for four animals, which is why I had to use the tank heater last winter, but it is just right for the three donkeys.  If I can get Ben to drink out of it.

In the hope of convincing a very skeptical Ben that the blue tub is not actually filled with donkey-eating-monsters, I've had it sitting out in front of the barn for a week now so he can get used to it. 

I move the tub to a new spot every few days and Ramsey has been demonstrating its safety.  He loves the blue tub and prefers it over all other water sources, which just goes to show how fickle the individual preferences of donkeys can be. 

Ramsey is doing his best to set a good example for Ben.  Whether Ben will take the word of a Little Brown Devil is yet to be seen