Our goats now have new goat coats, and are they ever stylish! Warm, fleece coats, they are soft and comfy and they really like them.

And look how cute they are!

Best of all, they are so easy to get on and off because they have a velcro closure along the back, and they are relatively inexpensive because they are actually …ready? There’s the secret… they are dog coats! But they come in large enough sizes for even the biggest of goats!

Here are some pics…how cute are they?

You can even get these coats right from Amazon! Momma goat is wearing a size 28 (there is one size that’s even larger, a size 30) and baby (who isn’t such a baby any more) is wearing a size 24.

Here are links for the coats at Amazon, and below are the cute pictures!

Fido Fleece Goat Coat in Mom’s Size
Fido Fleece Goat Coat in Baby’s Size
Largest Size Goat Coat
Goat Coat for a Smaller Kid

Yes, it’s very cold here in Colorado, folks. And while our goats have little insulated houses to sleep in, they don’t have a nice heated barn, and so we were a bit worried about them.
And so, yes, they are wearing coats.
P.S. They are only closed in the pen at night when they sleep – otherwise the pen is open and they have free range of our large yard. These pictures were taken when we went out in the morning to feed them and let them out.

A Chinese man has deafened his girlfriend during the throes of passion by kissing her so zealously and passionately that the air pressure in her mouth dropped so dramatically as to rupture her eardrum.

According to a doctor at the hospital at which she presented, having been completely deafened in her left ear, “The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear.”

Ouch!

The report went on to say that “While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution.”

Wow, it really sucked to be her.

For years my signature (.sig) file on Usenet included that I was “looking for a carved oriental zodiac table.” In fact, this Google groups search reveals several hundred hits, all of them me. I’m no longer looking. After 20 years, I’ve finally got one.

It all started with a visit to the Asian curio shop in Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. I used to live just cross the bridge from there, and went to visit often. This particular visit, I saw the most incredible table – it was a coffee table, the bulk of which was carved out of a single piece of wood, with figures from the Chinese zodiac carved in very high relief down into the top of the table.

It was gorgeous.

The craftmanship was exquisite.

I WANTED THAT TABLE!

But at the time, it was waaaaay out of my price range. It was $1500 even back then, and I, a single mother supporting herself and her child, and putting herself through university, didn’t even have a spare $1.50, let alone a spare $1500.

I’ve been searching for that table, or one like it, ever since. Every few months I’d do a web search… every time I walked past an Asian furniture or curio shop I’d go in and ask them if they’d ever seen anything like it. I even called that store several years ago, and they remembered the table, and that it had sold to a doctor in North Carolina, but that’s all they knew – or I would have called that doctor and asked him to sell it to me.

Finally, about six months ago, and after 20 years, I gave up. I stopped searching, stopped going into the stores.

Yesterday, searching on Craigslist for something else completely (a work table), out of the blue this listing turned up in my search results. What were the odds??

There was my table.

Not the one from 20 years ago – but the same type of table – the same style, the same incredible craftmanship.

It had been listed that very day, at a firesale price because the young couple, with a new baby, needed to get rid of it.

Amazing.

And now it’s mine.

And so, my search is over. I am no longer Looking for a Carved Oriental Zodiac Table. I am now She with the Amazing Table.

Here it is:

We’ve been using this in our family for years as a vegetarian substitute for turkey on Thanksgiving. Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – including meat eaters, and even people who don’t typically like turkey – loves it! And it’s so easy! Just heat and eat!

Even better, it’s soy-free, very low fat, and has 14 grams of protein per serving!

So what is this incredible turkey substitute?

It’s the Quorn brand chicken ‘roast’ which, this year I see, they actually have renamed to be called “Turk’y Roast”! They must have heard me raving all these years about what a great turkey substitute it is, and this year decided to give Tofurky (yuck) a run for its money!

It’s about time. Because this product is a perfect vegetarian turkey substitute.

Most grocery stores carry Quorn products now in their freezer section – look for the bright orange boxes, usually near the veggie burgers.

Whole Foods has them on sale right now for just $4.99!

And, while I have you here, I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Here’s what we’re having for our Thanksgiving dinner:

Brie topped with warm cranberry compote
Individual custard-baked-in-a-pumpkin (recipe available upon request)
Salad
Quorn turkey roast
Homemade whole cranberry sauce, cranberry orange relish, and cranberry-horseradish sauce
Maple glazed yams with pecans
Mashed Potatoes
Rolls
Pumpkin Cheesecake (recipe here)
Pecan Pie

(All homemade, except the rolls, and somebody else is bringing the vegetables 🙂 )

So, what are you having for Thanksgiving?

NASA announced this week that they have developed a water distillation unit that takes urine and filters and recycles it into drinking water.

That’s right – NASA has invented the Still-Suit.

The only thing suprising is that they haven’t done it sooner – can it really be that people who make it to NASA haven’t read “Dune”? Isn’t it a requirement for application to NASA?

Now, sure, NASA’s water distillation unit isn’t actually wearable – yet. But can that be far off?

NASA’s “water regeneration system” will, according to one astronaut, “make yesterday’s coffee into today’s coffee.”

I guess when you can’t have weasel poop coffee, human urine coffee is the next best thing.

So how does the water formerly known as urine taste?

According to Bob Bagdigian, the NASA staffer who managed the development of the Still, “..it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water. I’ve got some in my fridge. It tastes fine to me.”

Well done, but geez, give credit where credit is due. We all saw Kyle MacLachlan in that Still-Suit years ago.

It’s the first big snow of the season! I love living somewhere where we have seasons again! But it is true that removing snow from the sidewalk and driveway can be hard, especially with a bad back and hip. We only have a few major snowfalls every year, but now, when we do, we break out our awesome new electric snowblower!

The really cool thing about an electric snowblower – like an electric lawnmower – is that they are really lightweight, and easy to maneuver. It’s like vacuuming the snow!

All you need is the snowblower, and a loooong extension cord. We like to do our neighbour’s walk too, so we string together a few 50-foot outdoor extension cords, but most people could get away with just one.

The electric snowblower that we got is the Toro 1800 18-Inch 12 Amp Electric Curve Snow Thrower (Model #38025).

We chose this snowblower because of both the wonderful reviews that it gets, and how easy it is to use. In fact, with our first big snow today, using it for the first time, not only was I zipping up and down the sidewalk in moments, throwing snow with wild abandon, but our 11-year-old son was as well. It’s that easy. Just plug it in, squeeze the handle on, and instantly become your neighbour’s favourite neighbor (just be sure to aim the snow flume away from their front door!)

And it is totally fun to use! To aim the snow in any direction you just turn the crank handle to rotate the periscope-like snow chute to an infinite number of positions from extreme left to forward to extreme right, and all positions in between.

Fun, and effective! What more could you ask, right?

Here’s what Toro says about it:

“Toro’s patented Power Curve System employs a unique, curved rotor and a funnel-shaped housing, in addition to wide rubber paddles that propel the machine forward and clean all the way down to the pavement. This technology lets you move more snow in less time, and it virtually eliminates clogging, so you can be confident that your snow thrower will be ready the next time a winter storm comes your way.

With a snow removal capacity of 700 pounds per minute, the Power Curve lets you clear four inches of snow off a 50-by-20-foot driveway in just 10 minutes. The machine’s clearing width of 18 inches means that you can clear most walkways with just one or two quick passes. And with a snow cut depth of 10 inches per pass, you won’t need to repeat work you’ve already done, unless you’re in the middle of a serious blizzard.”

We ordered ours from Amazon (see link below) and it qualifies for Prime shipping, so no tax and no shipping – yippee!

Here’s the link – you can read all the reviews there too:

Our dog loves and is fascinated by our goats. Unfortunately, they don’t share the love, and when he’s outside with them, Momma Goat tries to smash him to bits, in an effort to protect Baby Goat. Dog thinks it’s a big game and doesn’t realize the peril he’s in, so inside he stays when they are out, and vice versa (no, the goats don’t go in the house, although they do try at every opportunity! They go into their pen, which you see behind them.)