Hooves

Just a quick note recordkeeping.

Caesar, Sir Nick, and Daphne had their hooves done today. NO major problems, except Nick was a jerk. Nice and clean with the snow on the ground. Now it's all gone after 50'sF today-back to muddy soup.

Monday

Last night was bitter cold. The single paned window behind my bed was solid frost on the inside this am, so I knew it was cold. A look at the thermometer at 7:30 am when taking Peko out for his business showed 9F, and the wind was howling out of the east, with gusts to 40mph.

I let Loosey the goose out as usual, and he raced out, flapped his wings three or four times, and collapsed on the snow, shivering. Wow.

I fixed up some lukewarm water for him, and set it on a pile of hay. He was so happy! Tonight I picked up a bale of coarse hay from the local everything store, and spread it out extra thick in all the houses, giving Loosey and extra thick layer. Then I closed up his house as best I could, and did the same for the main chicken flock.

The rooster, Bloody Baron, one of two which roosts in the trees, looked especially cold today as well. The Firebird noticed him in Loosey's house this afternoon, shivering. I figured it was a good time to catch him and lock him in with the main flock. They hang out during the day, so I figured he would be ok there.

You should have heard that rooster scream when I finally cornered him. You would have thought he was heading for the chopping block. He did finally settle down in the house with the rest, so we will keep them all shut in for a few days until he figures out he can sleep there at night.

One less rooster crowing outside my window!

I missed the chance to grab Duke of Tails. I am going to secure the lower building and try and catch him and his two hens and get them in there. The hens are sleeping under one of the goat houses, so they should be warm enough tonight. I just ran out of daylight. I need to fix the door where the raccoon or fox tore a board off to kill my nesting hen this summer. Once I get that fixed, the remainder of the outdoor chickens can go in there.

If Lou looks cold again tomorrow, I am going to try and rig a house within the larger chicken house for him. I am not sure what the roosters might do if I stick the goose in there loose. The goose rules the roosters outside, but they could gang up and corner him in the house.

Warmer weather on the way for Wednesday-near 50, then back to cold weather again. A temperature roller coaster, according to the local weatherman. Oh fun.

Friday

Yuck. I crawled under the house and put in the last two posts under the center beam. The chainsaw started right up and ran great.

I smashed my right hand (in a heavy leather glove) a good one moving the utility pole for the cut. Somehow I caught the hand between the post and the stump as I was swinging it onto a log for the cut. I thought I broke my hand. I just have a big bruise on the third knuckle at the top of the hand now, and it is a little tender but not broken.

The first post went in nice and tight and level. Still, I was covered in old dirt and sprinkled with fiberglass bits from the insulation in the floor under which I was working. Nevermind reeking of creosote and chainsaw exhaust.

The second post was just a tad short, so I had to fiddle with the rock footer. Then it didn't go in quite flush, but it is a big beast and it was a good as I could get it.

I decided to quit on the posts. The Southeast corner post seems pretty solid on the last beam, and that can be reached from the outside. Only trouble is the ground is frozen,-good enough excuse to leave bracing that beam until spring.

Then I decided to drop some trees in the goat pen. I hayed the goats in the near pen first so they wouldn't get in the way. I dropped out a clump of maples that had been girdled. Cricket came down to check it out-twice. When I shut off the saw, she and her little Anna circled the downed trees maaing questioningly. "Where are the leaves?"

Sorry, you'll have to be happy with the bark and buds, dear. Feeling sorry for her, I tossed another flake of hay over the fence. She is low goat on the totem pole and needs an extra flake so she can eat in peace.

Oh yeah, I stink chainsaw gas, creosote, and other goodies. I am trying to motivate to wash up. I wish the house was a bit warmer-colder today with more cold tonight and maybe snow Sunday.

I dug the Christmas boxes out yesterday and Willow put all the house stuff around. She is bugging me to make the wreaths and garlands. So that is next on the list, as one wreath will be mailed to Florida and I want to get it on the way soon.

Hmmm wash before or after the sticky pine sap? :P

Wednesday.

used up two kinds of wormer on a few of the goats.

Caesar got the last of the SafeGuard.

Moonshadow, Cricket, and Derek got the last of the Morantel Tartrate pellets. I drizzled some molasses over it. Cricket ate it right up, Moonie and Derek needed to be convinced with a little grain thrown in. Will buy more and dose everyone in a couple weeks.

Tuesday

Busy couple of days. Put a big push on to get the rest of the wood order stacked. That early dusting of snow, now pretty much gone, worried me. Hard to stack wood that has an ice glaze, and I hate to dig it out of the snow cave that happens if I leave it in a pile under a tarp.

I was sure that I was shorted on the order, but I was wrong. Looks like it was about right. 2.7 cords on that last order, about 2/3 cord left of S's order, 1/3 cord left of last year's, plus a small pile of goat wood. Hopefully it will be enough.

Oh, yeah, it's all stacked. I was shooting for four days of stacking and did it in three-2 days worth of stacking today just to get it finished.

Jenny (Genevieve) had her hooves trimmed today. She has major pockets between both front clews. I tried to flatten them out as much as possible, but one was quite bad and it would have required taking an awful lot off. Boss would have gone further, I am sure. I hoof and heeled it and will try and keep a good eye on them. Maybe go in for another touch up in a week or so.

Caesar, Jenny, Moonshadow all are showing loss of pink in the inner eyelid. Everyone is due for a worming, but I think I will use up the last of the wormer on those three and then hit them all again as soon as I get some more wormer.

Peko had a bath.

Missed a phone call tonight, no message, so I hit *69 to get the number. Was an out of state area code, sounded familiar, so I reverse directoried it. Was given a name an address, right down to the street address. Well, that didn't sound familiar, so I googled a bit tonight.

No kidding, within 15 minutes I was on a family blog with pictures of a young couple and their kids. Plus I had their phone number and home address. Isn't that scary? That just creeped me out!!!! Don't they ever watch those crime shows? Ack.