Life on the Ranch

     We had a fairly big rainstorm last night . . . thankfully. It has been a really dry year. It will be interesting to see what kind of winter we get. It is hard to imagine that it could be white from snow in just a month or more.      We have been going around and making sure we are ready for the cold to hit. This has involved making sure there are shelters in all the animal pens, building hay feeders, taking a good look at our herd and making sure all are going into winter looking good. We have decided to sell off some of the animals that we really do not need, nor do we need to be feeding all of them through the winter.      Speaking of selling animals, we have collected quite a few bucks so if anyone is looking for a good, proven Mini Nubian buck, shoot me an email and I'll let you know which ones we are thinking of selling off.       Here are a few pics from last winter: Here are a few pics to show ways to keep ...

Internet has to go off . . more later

The Buddy Walk went real smooth! We arrived with plenty of time to pull in, unload and get all the animals set-up. At this point, I am pretty tired and I am falling asleep here at the computer . . . sooooo, just a few pics for you all. More tomorrow, Lord willing!      Here is a pic of the set-up we managed to pull off for the little animal area we had: Here is a picture of Canuck & Ez: Here are a few pics of some of the kids who were at the Buddy Walk enjoying the farm animals My one daughter was in charge of the Reece's Rainbow table:  We managed to find time to do a few line dances!  Now, what question do you think I asked the gentleman in the kilt?

     Tomorrow is the Tulsa Down Syndrome Buddy Walk  . We are all pretty excited about it. We have been making some final preps today - blowing up balloons, getting papers together, making sure we have all the animal supplies we need, cameras and hay bales. We have had a slight technical difficulty in getting the livestock trailer lights to work with our truck. My son has been out there for several hours trying to get the connection right. Thankfully, we have a back up flatbed that we can make work to haul all the animals and gear on, if we have to.      Since I have a houseful of folks showing up right now, I will make this short and just add a few pics form last years walk.

      For the upcoming Tulsa Buddy Walk, there are groups for the various kids with down syndrome. The name of Osiyyah's group is "O's Ranch Hands".  Here is a link to where you can read about his group, and a little bit more about him - O's Ranch Hands      The past few days at our house have involved getting ready for the Buddy Walk. We are in charge of a few tables at the event. At one area, we will have a variety of our farm animals with us for the participants to check out. Tomorrow, we will be loading the livestock trailer and getting ready for the big day.      Also, a few of my daughter's are going to be in charge of a table for Reece's Rainbow  . If you check out my daughter's blog, Got Down Syndrome , she has various posts over the years she has done about Reece's Rainbow. Here is a link to one of her first posts about this group and what they do - Reece's Rainbow and Adoption  . If you have a heart for kids an...

     Well, I can't believe that this happened . . . I thought I had a blog post scheduled for yesterday and then found out that I didn't. So, here I am trying to make up. This post is called "Cheeser" for 2 reasons:      First reason - I am a Cheeser. The definition of a "cheeser" around this ranch is someone that blows it in some way. Hence, "I am a Cheeser".      Second reason - we like to make cheese from our goat's milk. One of the easiest and most common cheeses around here is Vinegar Cheese. You can click here - Vinegar Cheese - to see pics of the process. It is simple to make, and tastes great. Osiyyah likes it so much that he will often be found sitting at the table with the bowl of cheese and a spoon. He knows that it is a "safe" food for him because it is not made from cow and it does not contain wheat (his 2 no-no's). Yep, it is that good - it can be eaten by the spoonfuls. It is also quite good inside of enchiladas....

      What I am showing you by the previous blog posts that I have done, is that a little boy with down syndrome can do everything that a little boy without down syndrome can do. As you have seen, we do lots at our ranch - and, we include our little guy with down syndrome in all that we do just like we involve all his siblings.      When I was in the hospital after Osiyyah was born, I was told about all of the things that he wouldn't do. "He won't sit at the same time as other children. He won't walk at the same time as other children. He'll be a lot slower."  That is why we set out to write a book and that, is why, we entitled out book, Down Syndrome: What You CAN Do .      The past 5 years have shown us (as a family) that a child with down syndrome can do just about everything that all the other kids have done. Sure, he might be a little slower in some regards and, he might be a little more "trusting" in some areas and thus nee...