"Where do you see yourself in five years?" Me:

Look at that tail floof. One of the reasons we picked Ransom was he had more white on his tail than his siblings. It’d allow us to see him better at night as we often work outside until dark. The white on a border collie’s tail was historically called a ‘Shepherd’s Lantern’.

Wow. Just looked at a video of an elk in our forest and it found Ransom’s Chuckit ball and started playing with it.

This goof jumped into the trailer and stood there waiting for me to take him somewhere. He’ll do the same thing if the truck tailgate is down. I generally keep him in the truck or truck bed when I’m driving around the property and he enjoys the ride.

I’m glad chainsaws chains are cheap. This guy ate 2 of them.

Our WA native cactus started blooming yesterday.

Rare video of a waggy coyote. They caught the scent of a mouse and got very happy over the prospect of a snack.

I told you this place is always crowded, we should’ve called for a reservation 😩

We started the plant paradox diet this weekend, trying to reduce stomach issues. It’s been amazing so far. Perfect digestion and no discomfort. The theory is Lectins are produced by plants to keep insects and animals from eating them. By avoiding them, your gut thanks you.

Cooling off in the shade next to a creek. Saturday was warm and I took several breaks to cool down and listen to the water.

They had to program openai to stop talking about raccoons because it was injecting them into conversations.

Tried making hempseed tofu last night. Turned out pretty good. It doesn’t have a ton of flavor at first, but finishes with a nutty cheesy flavor. The solids removed early in the process, were retained and mixed with a little salt and probiotics to make a nut cheese after it sits for 48-72 hours.

I just learned yesterday that you can peel a kiwi with a spoon. Way faster than peeling with a knife like I’ve always done. It actually makes them accessible as a snack at work.

Chai only shows up in one episode of Kevin but I think she’s the standout character of the season. They did a really good job portraying a collie.

This is what living with #add #adhd is like. I apparently lost focus while eating hazelnuts and left a cracked nut untouched on the cracker.

Collie flowers

Got a dangerously huge slab of granite for free and cut, ground, and polished this piece myself. We just redid this kitchen area with new storage and I wanted a glass or stone top to protect the wood. I’m really happy with how tied things together. Super satisfying every time I see it.

Ransom’s little whimper whines when he’s looking for something.

Bird sounds. Robins Jays Starlings

Best little farm dog. Whenever I move the truck and Ransom is outside, I always have him get in the cab or the truck bed. He was too dirty for inside, and the bed was full, so I told him to sit on the tail gate. I watched him the entire time and he was super good about staying in place.

We got a tiny version of his triceratops toys. Big one is Cera, medium is Tera, and smallest is Rita. This is him snuffling Rita for the first time, getting to know them. He does this with pretty much any new toy or treat.

This is Milka. She'll get around to chasing her tail eventually. But for now she is just getting to know it. 12/10 (TT: milka_collie5)

Stupid little gear that adjusts my favorite head lamp popped out somewhere in the lawn. Luckily it’s a set of 2 so I took one and made a latex mold from it. Mixed some steel powder and epoxy and filled the mold. We’ll see how it looks on Monday.

I’m never more productive than when I’m supposed to be doing something else.

Had a relaxing but productive weekend. Enjoyed another round of homemade sushi. We had Salmon, Tuna, Unagi, and Salmon Skin Rolls.

Ransom helping to clear debris from the stream. I’m not sure exactly why he does this, but we suspect that he may have been watching us clean up the property while he was a puppy. He targets exposed roots and loose sticks. Left to his own, he’ll keep bringing new sticks.

I asked Ransom if he wants to go play in the water.

Got some beautiful fish heading to the freezer for the frozen sushi protocol. Going to pull it out in a couple weeks for a giant plate of sushi. 3 lbs of sushi for $35.

Using my mini excavator to get this stump out. I’ve been doing more digging lately so I didn’t have the thumb attached. It was a bit precarious tucking it under and lifting it out.

Ransom playing with and wearing his blue ring. It used to be a pool toy but I pulled out the fabric membrane from the center.

Pretty rare to see a wild coyote wagging.

Ransom talking with PigPig.

Good boy is very aware of the pizza. While we eat, Ransom is confined to his bed if he wants to be in the room. He does it automatically now. Hops in bed if we’re eating. I almost always reward him with a bite or two at the end. The only form of complaint comes in the form of growing drool tendrils.

Couple cinnamon roll experiments from the weekend. We bought a commercial box of 16 frozen pieces of French bread dough and I’m trying to find other uses beyond just sandwich bread. Made a pizza and Pistachio, Almond, and Pecan cinnamon rolls.

Ransom was guarding the cinnamon rolls while I was working on them. He’s so selfless.

Washed all of Ransom’s rubber toys yesterday and set them up in a line. He went for PigPig. This particular pig has a thinner skin so it’s easier to grunt, I think that’s why it’s one of his favorite toys to talk to.

Perrito vinagre. Made another little dude. With a worse attitude.

Ransom also got a new style of herding ball with little grip straps on it. He had fun dragging it around the forest while we worked.

Fixed Ransom’s blue herding ball but the inflator died part way through. Ransom didn’t care. The extra fabric gave him more grips for thrashing.

This video of Ransom talking with Cera reminded him he had more to say.

Pretty happy with the truck repair after hitting a deer in November. Insurance totaled the truck, so I bought it back and fixed it myself. The corner of the sheet metal frame was pushed in worse than I thought but I got good enough by pounding and bending. Good excuse to replace the headlights too.

Seen this floating around and it instantly brought me back to my childhood. People were also crediting this as their intro into lofi beats.

Sometimes I get confused which way to read when switching between comics and manga. But the really confusing thing, when someone posts 4 pics from a manga on social media. Which tile do I click first? Bottom right? Top right? Top left?

Served on a jury last year in an emotional and explicit trial. We convicted him of breaking into his ex girlfriend’s house and raping her twice. We weren’t privy to his previous offenses at the time, but it wasn’t a clean record. The judge just sentenced him 20 years to life.

Another good holiday in the mountains. The New Years was rung in with a cool ice halo around the moon at midnight. Ransom got many many hours of off leash time. I used splitting wedges to make cottonwood planks which will get used around the property. Got the wasabi seed raft pinned in a spring.

Ransom beating up his herding ball. He’s mostly ripped the zipper off and uses it as a handle. He really likes this dumb thing. I’ll replace it when it eventually gets destroyed.

Had a good holiday in the mountains. We cleared up a bunch of the flood debris, removed more invasive species, and added more wildflower seeds to the river front. Ransom did exceptionally well off leash. 100% recall and staying close. Here he is tasting sawdust and investigating my work.

Been going through batteries lately and noticed a number of light weight batteries that show good voltage but won’t power a flashlight. I got curious and decided to x-ray a few batteries. Duracell and Amazon batteries are pretty solid. Not so much the other.