Friday

I finished getting ready for Badger and Piper! I built the little house today, and put the gate up in the car, put some hay in the back, and readied two little collars. I say readied because both of them had been chewed past the buckle holes so I melted the ends and used a hot nail to melt more holes. Burned my thumb-same one I smashed three times finishing the house! LOL.

I was going to buy them new collars but forgot to stop on the way home yesterday. Well, I am going to worm them too so I might get new collars when I buy the wormer. I am keeping them separate in an adjacent pen... hopefully until they are totally healed from the banding. We'll see-I have some bored big goats that will delight in tearing down the fence that separates them...I know, it has been patched many times from previous new arrivals! LOL

When little Anna was born, I had her and her mother separate from the rest and came home and the other goats had torn down the fence between them (different pen) and had taken little Anna in. Apparently Daphne was NOT to be denied her rights as grandmother! (she is the father's mother and treats Cricket like any good MIL would-she beats the hell out of her!)

I had some trouble with building the new house. I bought the better grade kiln dried 2X4's from HOme Depot for about $18 for 7 of them. I was swearing at HOme Depot this morning! yep, right out of the gutter! They were splitting to pieces and one of them was so warped the whole frame was crooked. I was fussy when I picked through them, I promise, I just forgot to check for warp since so many had bad ends. I would hate to build anything more than a mini goat house with them-in fact, I didn't care for using them for that, but I figured it would make the house lighter and easier to move.

I used rough cut hemlock the last time, and those are twice as big. I just feel it is over kill for a small house. The house is 4 feet long, 37 inches deep, and 2-1/2 feet high-well, from floor to ceiling. That sounds small, but I have another about the same size and three grown goats will crawl into over the larger ones....so for two little guys this should be roomy. IN fact, once I integrate them, I bet my bigger goats will take over that one! LOL.

I was out about $25 for the lumber and nails, and I scavenged the roof, floor, and siding from the big house I am tearing down. I could have used pine logs for the frame, but I thought it was too labor intensive to bother. I have a lot of small diameter softwood around...looking back on it, I sort of wish I had done it that way, but it is (usually) much easier to nail 2X4's-when they don't split and warp!!! LOL.

Well, I am starving! I didn't stop for lunch and had four pieces of raisin toast for breakfast. I still haven't picked the shrimp! I was going to do that this am while waiting for the temps to warm up, but I vacuumed instead. That took forever and already looks like I never did it...well, not really, but it was bad. Woodstoves and pets and hay chaff make messy rugs!

Food...I am thinking leftover pork roast sliced thin and slathered in a good barbecue sauce on toast, with mac and cheese and green beans...yum! *runs off to rummage the fridge*