Close, but no milk cow.

Last night we made a run to Oak Harbor in order to check out an 8 year old unregistered Dexter cow, with a month old bull calf. Both for $650.00!

Like many things that sound too good to be true, so it was.

I'm not sure if I spent too much time dealing with horse sales or what, but I expected the cow would be haltered up and ready for a once over when we got there, or at least soon after. This was not the case. In fact "Clarabelle" had been living relatively free of humans for the past two years with a pure bred Dexter bull.

While none of the cows bolted, or headed for the hills, getting close was a good 10 feet away or more at all times. The person showing the cows had very little to do with them normally, so there wasn't any chance he was going to try catching her. If we moved towards them, then they moved away, but we gazed hard from as close as we could.

Clarabelle is a fine looking Dexter cow, alert, glossy black, great lines, and horned, which we kind of prefer. But if catching her to look at would be a sure-deal rodeo, can you imagine catching her and trying to stuff her in a trailer?

The cow for Seven Trees, needs to be a tad tamer owing to our limited time and space. Maybe just a weanling heifer that we can raise up with lots of people time and handling.

Too bad, because we sure wanted it to be Clarabelle! I am certain that she'll find a fine home with someone though. The gent who showed her to us was a character, so even though we didn't get her we still had a nice chat before we left.


In the meantime we crossed Deception Pass
getting there, and it was a fine view of Mount Baker from the bridge.

The traffic zipping by on one side, and the low rail over the drop off gave us both that warning sort of "danger" don't fall tingle at the back of the knees. When you've walked a ways out onto the bridge, there are bronze plaques along the rail, to commemorate people who actually jumped off.



Here's the view out towards the straight. Amazing this vista is just a short hour away!






We returned home to this sunset from the back porch.

So while we didn't get back, having put cash down on that perfect cow... it was still a lovely adventure none-the-less.

Dexter, Guernsey or Jersey, the right cow's out there. We just need to find her!

Brew tasting 101

We've decided to start posting our tasting notes on some of the more interesting beers we sample. We'll rate all of them them from 1 to 5, with 5 being the AMBROSIA end of the scale.

Being that Germany brews some of the finest, and with us leaning towards more natural products; we started with two varieties of Pinkus organic beer, Pinkus Organic Münster Alt and Pinkus Organic Hefe-Weizen.

From this Pinkus website: The Pinkus-Muller brewery traces its origins to the family’s arrival in the Northern Germany town of Munster in 1816. At that time, Johannes Muller and his wife Friederika Cramer started a brewery and a bakery. Since their arrival there have been 150 breweries in Munster. Only Pinkus remains.

The beer is strictly organic, malt, hops, the works. Here they are poured, pre-sampling. Looking lovely aren't they?? They'd only be improved by proper German beer glassware, which we will endeavor to have the next time!














Pinkus Hefe-Weizen, all organic, 5.1% alcohol. Rating: 4
J, found it to have a mild, cidery-lemon flavor with a bread finish. A great hot day beer, light and lovely in color.

Pinkus Munster Alt, all organic, 5.1% alcohol. Rating: 3.5
D's notes are of a malty nose. It's both crisp and quenching. Another mild, but tasty, hot-weather beer that greatly complimented summer sausage and a sharp cheese.

These would also be good for those who prefer a less-hoppy, light beverage.

All in all, well worth the $3.29 a bottle for this organic German brew. Seven Trees says try it!