Goats and a Thunderstorm

Thunderstorm is putting it mildly. I finished the dishes around 10 pm last night just as the Firebird came down for a drink of water and a chat. I saw light flashing in the low cloud cover which has been persisting all week. First I thought it was heat lightning, and then I thought it was reflection from far away fireworks. I could even hear a distant, "Boom, boom."

Around 11 we realized it was an encroaching storm, as I tried in vain to watch the 11 pm news while the digital signal cut out with every flash. Occasionally the anchorwoman's face would freeze and we would laugh at her, then the screen would go blank. Making sense of it was useless, so I decided to go to bed.

The Firebird was directed to stay on the couch, since his second floor bedroom is right inside the drop for the powerline. Well, a few minutes later the house was shaking with the thunder crashes, and then we had a hit. You know, when the lightning and thunder strike at the same time. Crap.

I roused Willow from a deep sleep and put her down on the smaller couch and put my blankets on the floor. No sleeping at that point, though. Finally around 1am I decided it was safe for the kids to go back to bed, with the storm still raging to the east of us. I had farm and friends in mind, as I knew they were getting clobbered.

I looked out and saw the brooder light was off in the chicken coop, even though we (amazingly) still had power. I knew then the electric fence had taken a direct hit. Both extension cords are on the same GFI outlet, so I booted up and went outside and re-set the outlet. The light came on in the coop, but the charger stayed silent. Uh-oh.

Praying it was just the fuses, I tore apart the tool area twice looking for fuses so I wouldn't have to do it in the am. We had farm duty on the morning roster. Finally at 2 am after going over everywhere twice, including under the fridge (can you say, "ewwwww....?") I gave up. I did find 5 packs of sparklers for the fourth of July, though.

I knew the goats would respect the fence-most likely-for at least the morning, so we headed to the farm. I ran some errands afterwards and replaced the fried fuses and did get the charger going without having to replace it, and I did thank God. :)

I took a bunch of pix at the farm. Willow has been heartbroken: her favorite doeling is going to Colorado soon...She has cried several times over it, so I thought I would get their pic today.



Here is Lois, who yells incessantly in the morning until she gets her grain. I asked Boss if hay might help, and the result was Lois yelling with her mouth stuffed full, which did give Boss and I a good laugh.



Here is Emerson, a wether:





Jackson foreground, Jasper to the right, Bonnie behind, and shy Sandhja in the rear.




Here is Francis and Uureka's little first place buckling:




And one more of Willow with her faves: Coretta's little doe on the left, Bonnie's little buck on the right:

Sunday

Busy day!

Finally some sun again! So it made a good day for the farm!

Boss had Linnea and Bonnie in mind-neither one suitable for Willow, so I headed over to the wether pen and picked out Jackson, Lincoln, and Jasper as possibles for her. I brought Jackson right over, and Willow just loves him. He is a giant, and the joke at the farm is that he was raised on poptarts-he came back to the farm from another household. He was raised with rowdy kids (poptarts) and is very gentle for Willow.

I took on Linnea, very cautiously. She nearly broke my kneecap last year, so today I kept my distance, but actually, she was very good. She only tried to get me once. I got two big bags of fiber off her, and Willow combed a ton off Jackson, too. Then I brought the other two wethers over, but Willow said Lincoln wasn't releasing, and she didn't want to deal with Jasper's long guard hair, so she chose to hang with the new babies.

That's right, the babies have started arriving at the farm! Last week Coretta dropped a set of twins, both does, and Bonnie had a single buck. Then Dancer had twins, one of each, two days later.

I released Lincoln and cleaned Jasper up, and then moved on to Bonnie. I opened the pen after I chained Bonnie. She wasn't releasing much fiber, and then her buckling darted out of the stall and she started flipping out, so I released her. Dancer's babies were napping, and since she was the only goat not out in the field, I collared her and cleaned her up. She kept trying to get me, so I had to hold a horn in one hand and comb with the other.

In the meantime, Coretta and Bonnie had moved out of the barn, and Willow was hanging with them and the three kids. Bonnie has her hooves full with that little buck!!! He was romping with the little doelings, and Bonnie was having a fit!!! He would run and she would go after him with buggy eyes. Then Corretta's black kid was trying to nurse and Bonnie butted her because she thought it was her little black buck!

Finally we went to Prescott and I combed Duke. He was being very jumpy-finally I had one of the weekend boys hold him, and Boss worked on his neck while I wailed away with the slicker.

I found some pussywillows in full bloom as we were leaving, and they joined the vase of forced forsythia on the kitchen table when we finally arrived home.

I have been looking for at least one more goose for our lonesome gander. I found a couple of female pilgrim geese down in New York, but the price and the shipping is steep. We could get eight goslings for a better price from Metzer. Hmmmm-I don't really want a big flock of geese, so Lucifer might have to content himself with the chickens for company for awhile....