Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Was a good fight

but we lost our semi-final game. Our opponents were undefeated and playing on their home turf. The frost had kicked back the thick turf, but last night's downpour left the field a marsh. Everyone on our team had mud on them, some worse than others.

I'm looking forward to basketball season. :D




Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday

Water's back in the well, yay, and more rain coming.

We've had our hard frost, so all the tender annuals are gone. The foliage is still blazing. The Beech and Red Oak have come on strong with the cold- bright orange and red and gold.

I have been having some nagging health issues; racing pulse, short of breath, weight (and strength) loss, trembling. I bottomed out at 112 pounds, and eventually called in for a checkup. They took me in that afternoon.

After telling me that my size was the envy of all in the clinic and quickly changing it to I looked like a concentration camp victim, (shows where today's fashion leads us)
and noting that I am off the bottom of the BMI chart, hyperactive thyroid was diagnosed as the likely culprit. Basically the result is that your metabolism speeds up.

I go for loads of bloodwork tomorrow and a yet to be scheduled thyroid ultrasound in the near future.

Please say a prayer for me, I could use a little strength right now!

Another playoff soccer game tomorrow. We play an, as yet, undefeated team on their home field. Our star forward is out on academic suspension. The coach told the Firebird at practice today he is going to play him as forward and told him to shoot as much as he can.

I took my goats out for a walk on the property today for a little back to nature. The didn't act too ravished-obviously they've been topping off with all the falling leaves. We had a great walk down to the stream. I enjoyed watching their reaction when they saw the water moving.

Cricket has turned out to be the leader, and Badger the lagger. We went up and around the electric fence. I could tell they were happy to get to some of that stuff on the other side! I found a couple beautiful pieces of quartz. One of them was pretty big. I could barely lift it, but I insisted on carrying it to the fenceline.

Then I had one of those nasty short of breath spells where I felt like I was hyperventilating and tried to meditate to calm myself. The same thing happened loading at Home Depot a couple weeks ago and both times I thought "Ok, I going to black out and they are going to find me here."

*draws a little image of a toppled tree*

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thursday

I had an enlightening moment at the farm this morning.

There are two does visiting from New york for breeding. The three are down by the road in a horse corral. When I arrived, there was a nun in full habit. She was from New York, and had brought the does. We had a nice conversation, then I went about my usual routine.

Later, at break time, I had some grain left from the hill, and since the pen was by our break spot, I stuck my hand into the fence with some grain to make friends with the new does.

I had personally installed two strands of three inch electric horse tape over the 3 foot woven sire fencing to prevent the horses from leaning over the fence and destroying it.

Today I was wearing a pair of jeans that had the knee ripped out, and the bare knee was touching the wire fence, and then my chin touched the electric line. I was hit with 10,000 volts from my chin grounding out my knee, and was thrown several feet flat on my back, with a shouted swear. I laid there for several moments wondering if my heart was going to start beating again.

P and R came off the hill and thought the buck was out because they thought I shouted "buck!" ok, you get the idea. I took such a hit, there are three small burn marks on my knee and a good sized swelling along with some bruising.

The Firebirds soccer team made the playoffs and won their game today 4-1 in the rain.

I finally remembered to pull out my cam, but I had the speed settings off so anything moving fast is a little blurry. I sure don't see a future in sports photography! LOL

We are in all blue, the Firebird deetermined to keep the ball on the opposing team's side.


Here he gets some help from our ace forward.



On the way back from a goal! But why are their heads down?



Oh, they're a little winded!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Go Team!

The soccer season is winding down. Our team needed a win away last night to continue to the playoffs. There was no stopping them!

The score was 2-0 in our favor at the half. I wasn't too confident of a win because the last game we were 3-0 at the half and lost. But the team was on fire last night!

3-0, then another quick goal, 4-0, then 5-0! Just a few seconds left in the game, the home team kicked the ball towards our goal, and the Firebird on defense charged up to the ball and power kicked it. From the 18 yard line. Going, going....is it going OVER the goal? Then it dropped and *swish*! In the goal net from 82 yards!

It was an incredible kick! I was jumping up and down screaming. Tears came to my eyes! The whistle blew, our goalie came dashing out of our goal and jumped on Firebird, legs around his waist, thumping him on the back. The rest of the team mobbed him. The coach said it was astonishing. Team mates and parents came up to congratulate him on the way to the car.

Um, I'm not bursting with pride, or anything...lol

The Firebird modestly said the wind took it.

We won 6-0.

A make-up away game tonight, then the playoffs. Woot!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sunday

A beautiful day! But I am done in, and hope to get up the energy to do some stuff today!

I had a terrible stomach ache last night and went to bed as soon as I served the saplings supper. And slept for 14 hours. I feel weak and shaky!

We worked in the drizzle again yesterday. I wasn't as soaked as I was on Friday. My pant legs were, though. I lost 13 bucks briefly in the woods. We had walked down a dirt road and they went in the woods and were browsing. Next thing I know, Willow says,"the bucks are gone"

I took off through the woods and told the saplings to stay on the road. I went up a mountain* and no sign of them. Finally I found 4 out of thirteen. It was wet and windy so it was hard to tell where the others were. Finally I spotted a couple. Goats stay on the move when they are browsing, so I was crawling under blowdowns and wading through newly filled vernal pools.

I broke through the woods and found myself directly across from Prescott. Those brats! They are not allowed on that side of the road, so they went down the road and in and cut back to their favorite illegal spot.

We got most of them going back, and I started tying them after I closed the gate. Willow pointed out I locked Nibbeola out, so she let him in. Then I realized we were missing Hippolytus. I sent the Willow and the Firebird back down the road where we last saw him. I collared and grained the other twelve, and still no Hippo.

I joined the kids and we walked way down the road shouting, "Hippo, Hippolytus!!" The Firebird went up in the woods calling. Finally I said, let's go back and release everyone else and wait to see if he comes back.

I walked all the way back to Prescott, and there was HIppo up the road. Somehow he got by us and was UP the road, not down. I shook the grain and he came running. Phew. Boss probably wouldn't have batted an eye, but I was a little stressed out thinking I lost 13 bucks.

I think I'll take it easy today.

*not a real mountain, a bit of a rise.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Friday



I finally got my cam going this week. I took a ride to Augusta for 10 bags of Quickcrete and tooks so many pictures I filled my memory card.

Today we finally had some rain. I mean several inches. R and I worked at the farm this a.m.. We were soaked through and through! I was wringing water out of my shirt sleeve and that was under a rubber raincoat- and it was high 40's so we were freezing! The winds gusts were up near 50mph-quite a wild morning!

Calm and mist now. My own goats are out so it can't be too wet! Goats like the wet even less than cats!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Another Sunday

Weeks are flying by!

Yesterday I took care of 71 goats, four dogs, 9 cats, 10 Geese, 15 chickens, a pig, two horses and a rabbit. I hung up three loads of wet wash.

We had scattered frost last night.

I cut about four inches off Willow's hair and trimmed her bangs.

Broke up with my boyfriend.

What's important in a relationship? Sharing of moral values, support, kindness, encouragement, passion; emotional, physical and spiritual.

"The plainest man that can convince a woman that he is really in love with her, has done more to make her in love with him than the handsomest man, if he can produce no such conviction. For the love a woman is a shoot, not a seed, and flourishes most vigorously only when ingrafted on that love which is rooted in the breast of another-"
Colton

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sunday

Lazy lazy Sunday! I'm house sitting for K, so I did manage to be slightly productive when I tucked the five does and two German Shepherds in for the night. The K family is at Fryeburg Fair this week.

Bosses were away this weekend as well; a show in Vermont. Mr Boss took two weanling does in the back of the Subaru; Boss took four bucks in the truck. Three wild ones and a rubbing pissy pest! lmao. (Chris, though I love him, once urinated on a handler at a show. Willow loves to tell that story! You also can't get a collar on Chris without him vigorously rubbing whatever part of you he can reach with his stinky face.) Saturday buck chores were a lot easier with only eleven and the trouble makers out of state. I do favor the yearling Bo out of Bonnie and Zeus. His bright blue eyes and white accents are so charming. He was reticent to go in the truck-I leaned forward and said, "don't worry Bo, you're going to a show, you'll have fun," while he looked at me with those bright blues, lol.

***

Three soccer games this week. Our last game was away and we kicked some serious soccer butt. We won 5-1. The first time we played the team, we lost 3-1, and our one was almost a mercy goal twenty feet from the goal on a hard foul free kick. (ok, obviously don't know proper soccer lingo...lol)

The Firebird was talking about the last game:

"Once I reached out and flicked the ball away as he(the opposing team player) was going to kick it and he kicked my foot instead and went over backwards."

"Another time I put my foot on the ball and stopped the ball and the kid flew right over it."

**

"They started to get afraid of me after that."

The team was on fire! They needed a good win! Yeah!

***
Well's STILL dry. The ground water table is very low! Don't let all those weather reports of torrential rains on the east coast fool you...we had a lot of wind, enough to knock out the power briefly early Friday morning and leaving me stranded on the downstairs couch in the uttermost blackness you can imagine...fumbling my way to bathroom and bedroom absolutely blind, hands out ready to crack a shin or step on a cat...but only a bit of rain late Friday-not nearly enough! Maybe rain tomorrow!

Color is high, although the wind took care of a lot of the early maple and ash.Beech is turning, looks like early color this year. Frost warnings up tonight.