BLF's first baby of 2010

Congratulations to Nive for her lovely little doeling out of Duke.



Nive didn't care for either me taking pictures or the location of the baby; I caught her hoof descending from above to tap her baby and make her get up.





Maya, Norwegian Fjord. P was trimming her mane today.

Putting in a lot of time at the farm-chores at my own place are piling up! Combing still going strong all week at both places. Mine are winding down. Obiwan, the angora cross, really should have been sheared. His combing is so long and drawn out.

Of course the excitement at the farm this am was the first goatling of 2010! Sugreca is due today so hopefully by the next time I work there will be a few more babies!

Bonnie is due soon, too. She always has singles, but I swear this year she is carrying twins. I combed her today. And also Emerson, the cashgora white wether. I tied him outside; the sky was a brilliant blue, and a light breeze about 45F. The fiber was pouring off him- floating away like dandelion fluff.

The red maples are still in bloom, now highlighted by the bright lime green of poplar's early foliage. I saw frog eggs in the marsh.

Wednesday

Yesterday I arrived home and thought, "where are my little goats?" Then I thought, "where are the big goats?"

I had a moment of panic thinking they were gone. The guy who bought my other goats had stopped in a couple of weeks ago out of the blue asking if I had more goats for sale. He had also knocked down my mailbox and not said anything until I walked him down the drive (after telling him I had no goats for sale) and found the mailbox standing in a snowbank.

"I wasn't going to leave without telling you."

Hmmm...

Well, I let him off the hook, even though I should have made a claim on his insurance. Now my mailbox is sitting in an ugly 5 gallon bucket filled with rock and braced with two by fours. Winter in Maine...

Anyhow, my goats were all down back and came running and leaping in a herd. The little ones decided it was time to join the big goats, I guess. Of course they went right through the electric fence several times, so I locked them back in their pen and they cried so loudly I put them back with the rest.

Badger was butted through the electric today by Jenny, but it was off. I didn't want to leave it on while I was gone and I had just stopped home briefly and saw it happen. Badger is a bit of a clutz and gets tangled in it (Piper leaps between the strands) so I didn't want to leave it on and have him get electrocuted if he got stuck in it.

I guess it's not putting off much of a zap. I tried to walk part of it and Badger got through it since they follow me everywhere. I walked the lower half today while they were getting their grain and removed a few small sticks. I'll try to get the upper half tomorrow.

The big goats have apparently all been zapped in the past, since they respect it even when off. I have been unplugging it in the mornings so I can hop it with their hay and leaving it off until evening. There's no snow to short it out, but there may be a problem in the upper section.

In the meantime, the little goats mostly follow the big goats and stay in. I swear Jenny was trying to shock Badger this afternoon when she pushed him through it, but it was off. He stretched the line and pulled it off an insulator, which I fixed this afternoon.

Oh, I just don't get enough of goats at my day job! LOL. Worked again today, combed a bunch of does and bucklings and wethers. Still working with my oldest, and a new lady came in today to help. She was good with the goats and at combing and seemed to have a bit of joie de vivre; so welcome to the farm, J!

Bucks Sweep

I found out today that BLF bucks swept the buck divisions in Virginia. It's a big show and it is considered International because they also have Canadian entries.

BLF bucks took first and second in every buck class, and in one class they took third and fourth as well.

The best part was two of the first place fleeces were combed nearly exclusively by my daughter Willow. Homer and Chris. Willow kept going on about how great Homer's fiber was and I didn't agree, but she also combed him diligently nearly every day we combed, so she got a tremendous amount off of him.

Plus I kept on her about her technique, and I was worried about how her combings came out, so those two first place finishes shows me that she did a great job! Of course the fiber is judged on length, style, and fineness (measured in microns), but also they look for things like matting and contaminants in the fleece.

So, if while combing you let the fleece build up on the rake or slicker, it can damage it by over packing it. Sometimes with the rake we pull the fiber off the rake and hold it in our free hand until we get a handful and then put it in the bag, so if you clench the fiber in a sweaty hand, that will mat it.

I couldn't wait to tell her, I thought that was really great!!

Tuesday

I think we are finished combing cashmere at the farm. We worked today and Boss said she wanted to have the combing finished today because it was supposed to rain the next three days.

We finished off the little grey wether at the main barn, the last one of the main herd still shedding. Then Willow and I hustled up to the hill and worked on Jacolby and Ursula's boy. R came up and said we were needed to hold pelts for photos down by the cottage. We went down and took turns holding up pelts for photos.

Someone wants to buy some for costumes, so Boss was taking the photos to show what was available.

Then we went to the bucks, R weedwhacked while Willow and I cleaned and set up. I took a horn tip in the lip from Monarch while I was collaring him. It hurt but I didn't even get a fat lip. Darn, and I thought it was cheaper than collagen implants.

We combed and finished Homer, Hjalmar and Duke. Duke has the nicest fiber and has produced bags and bags this year. If I was starting a herd I would pick him as one of the herd sires, for sure.

Poor Willow filled her rubber boot with water while trying to lug the old water to dump in the ditch, and had to change into her clogs. Then she was combing Homer and started shrieking. Yep, her buddy Homer urinated a huge shower all over her. Homer got Boss last year, too. Glad it wasn't me. I had to swap combing slickers with Willow because she thought hers had pee on it.

We left without any fanfare. There are still a few bucks with some fiber-I guess someone else will get to them, or not, or perhaps we might do one more day next week if needed. Willow still wants to go back and visit.

On the home front, we planted tomatoes, zuccini, summer squash, all our flowers we bought, and morning glories. I planted pole beans and gourds. Willow tried to help with the latter, but the mozzies were so bad she ran back to the house. That was Saturday.

Today the morning glories are up, and I had the job of tying the strings to the telephone pole. That is a picky job I don't really care for, but it looks so pretty when they are blooming.

The mixed greens are nearly ready for early harvesting, and the peas are coming along too. I still need to get some potatoes in and plant pumpkins. I have been putting off the pumpkins since last year something ate all the seedlings. I blamed slugs, but it may have been turkeys.

Last night we had frost warnings and all I did was swear when I heard it. The tomatoes and morning glories looked fine, so I guess it missed us. Knocked the mozzies back a bit, anyhow, although they were attacking me this afternoon while I was stringing the morning glories.

I dropped a few trees in the goat pen this afternoon. First the chainsaw kept stalling out, but I finally got it going. Then I hung up a good sized oak and had to rope it down. The Firebird was keeping me company (I like to have him there to call the ambulance if I do something stupid) and he told me to just drop small trees after that.

Of course I saw a big fir later I wanted to drop, and nearly had it on Nic's head. I had to stop and have the Firebird run and get some hay to get the goats away so I could finished cutting it down.

That was about enough for me. I had some more I wanted to take out, but I could see a breeze riffling the tops of the larger trees, and I am too chicken to attempt that. Besides, I felt like I was already tempting fate with the way things were going.

I am jonesing for some fresh tobacco. The kind I smoke, Bali Shag, is having a power struggle trying to get re-listed as pipe tobacco to avoid the huge new tax. So all the stores are out of stock. I have been smoking all the bottoms of cans I had been saving for a rainy day, and boy is it stale! I may just have to take up smoking a pipe at this rate. Maybe it will keep the mosquitoes at bay...

Catch up

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week since my last post here.

The Farmer's market went well. We arrived bright and early at the farm Saturday morning after stopping by an abandoned farm to snap a few early lilacs.

Ok, sounds like stealing, but in reality it does help keep the bush from getting leggy and promotes more blooms for next year.

Mr. Boss promptly informed us that the swedish meatballs fell apart, but that couldn't be helped. And we needed to pick up the extension cord from Prescott. I brought a 100 footer of my own, but the cord still needed to be retrieved from the now abandoned Prescott Farm, so we loaded up and went on our way.

Mr. Boss headed to the local store to get some dreaded plastic forks and plates for the fragile "meatballs" since toothpicks would no longer cut it.

We stopped at Prescott and picked up the cord and grabbed some flowering quince to go with the lilacs.

We managed to set up the tent, table, plate warmer, etc, and then discovered we had no meat price list, so Mr. Boss and I had a bonding moment winging it on a piece of paper I had brought for sales tallies.

Surprisingly, we sold no fiber products, and although the meat was out of sight in a cooler, we sold out of ground chevon twice, thanks to the swedish meatballs, lingonberry jam, and my not letting any prospective customer getting past the table without offerring a free sample of meatballs. Then I had to explain they had fallen apart as I revealed them in the pot. :P

Everyone that tried them like them. Some folks couldn't be convinced to try goat. Their loss.

Mr. Boss came to check on us halfway, and went back for more ground Chevon, which is how we managed to sell out twice.

We had tons of compliments on the lilacs, which we had displayed by the tent leg. Apparently no one else's were in bloom yet. Someone demanded, "are these yours????" Ack...what was I supposed to do, admit I stole them, especially when I was there representing the farm??? I pride myself on honesty but that was a tough spot. Serves me right, I suppose.

We bought some heirloom tomatoes from the plant lady, and chatted up our neighbors, the goat cheese lady, the pie lady (well, the bread lady, but she was down to one pie for an hour before she sold that and got to leave early) and the egg/beef lady.

Then we tore down and hit the end of the garage sale, and grabbed some more junk for the collection- a nice pair of globe lights, some hockey skates that will fit the Firebird next winter, and enormous spice rack with all the 24 glass stoppered bottles all for $3.

The book sale had ben ravaged and unless I wanted paperbacks in fiction, (I have too many already, that should go to next year's sale) I was out of luck.

Then I just had to unload back at the farm. Ha! The stand up freezer keep shooting all the meat back at me-I was so glad to get it all in there and hit the road home.

We've combed two days this week. Today we combed just at the bucks after moving all the cashmere down to the cottage. Bags and bags. Willow had a lot of stories to go with helping pass them out of the subaru to me waiting in stocking feet on the cottage threshhold.

"This is what we got off Mary the day she peed on my glove, " "This is what I got off Nive the day she butted me," LOL.

Poor R split his head open earlier this week working on a car after work. He was there today with staples in his head-right in his hair. I tried to give him a break and Willow and I did most of the heavy work.

When we got back to the farm-I had to give R a ride back since Boss is away-Willow hung with all the baby goats while I stowed our day's combing. Twenty-plus beautiful little baby goats, plus all our favorite adults...yeah, I gave out a lot of pats and hugs too.

Then the Fjord filly, Estrella , came down out of the field with some more goats. I noticed this am that she had gunk caked between her front legs on her girth line, so I started picking it out. I think it was goat pellets. It was glued right up to her skin in places, and that is not good.

So I kept plucking tufts of baby fur and goat poop off her tummy while she licked salt and chewed on my back pocket. Then, lacking a curry comb or shedding blade, I grabbed a slicker out of the combing bucket and brushed many handfuls of baby fuzz off her.

I finally went into the tack room and rinsed my hands. to be met on my exit by Estrella's nibbling lips. She is getting really mouthy due to hand-fed treats (not from me I know better with horses). I took my wet hands on pulled her upper lip and chin and wouldn't let her bite me-she was so cute.

Then I realized I had to pick up the chain saw from my chainsaw guy ( I yanked the cord out last weekend) by 12, so we tore out of there, and ended up also going to the garden center for some tomato plants and pansies Willow wanted for the windowbox...LOL yeah, 9 sixpacks and 4 pots later we were out of there. Pansies, alyssum, tomatoes, nicotania, geranium, petunias, and a cleome! I couldn't find seed for two years, but this year I will save some...

Oh yeah, and we got a new goose. A Toulouse Gander. Poor Lou didn't know what to do. We have had the new guy in a large pen all week and let him out today, and he is following Lou everywhere. Lou had never seen another goose. They seem to be getting along. At least, I officially bought him today when they didn't get in a fight when they finally were set loose together.

I wanted a goose not a gander, but there ya go...

And, one of our roosters came home from the neighbor!! He was so happy!!! I guess I will fix a place for him with his own hen-if I give him back (I gave her four) he will just run right back over here, and I don't want him in my garden. I hope the rest don't come back!

Thursday

Finally begged a day off from the farm to do some things around here.

Set a date for the saplings to have their year end testing to meet homeschooling requirements.

Trimmed some goat hooves-Anna, Moonshadow, Obiwan. Nothing too serious.

Obiwan is still shedding. I was looking up pygora goats and decided he is definitely an Angora cross with type B fiber. I think he has some dairy goat instead of pygmy, because he has adorable floppy ears. Anyhow, he took a quick slick and earned us several more handfuls of his long silky fiber.

Nicholas is still hanging onto the last of his cashmere. He hates to be combed and promptly butted me. Out of the eighty plus goats I work with he is right up there on the jerk list.

Did the laundry. Ugh. At least it is clean, dry, folded, and upstairs.

Went to the farm to talk to Boss about the Farmer's Market details. That took quite awhile, and was pretty much common sense. I think if she just left the stuff and a price list I would have been fine, except for the freezer tour where she told me what meat to take. Actually she had already told me that earlier in the week, this time I got to see it. Having been a cook for years it was self explanatory, really, but I didn't let on.

I think it was more to reassure herself she had told me everything, and I had Willow along who was listening to it all as well, so she could probably handle it herself. She might, if I need to slip off for a cig, and I will since it will be over four hours. LOL.

I did take some notes on people's names. although one was just referred to as "the bread Lady".

Mr Boss was obsessing over the extension cord still at Prescott. Mr. Boss' contribution is going to be a pot of meatballs for free samples that will go on a pot warmer, which needs to plug in. I guess I should have offerred to run to Prescott and get the cord, but I figured it is on the way to the market if I need it on Saturday.

I am actually looking forward to the meatballs...I figure I will put them front and center on the EIGHT FOOT table!!! I am obsessing about having enough stuff for the table-a few skeins of yarn, some roving-the meat cooler will be in the shade-some knitting directions and recipe pamphlets..

I insisted on taking some pelts- we get two, although at $100 each we probably won't sell any.

Still, there is that GIGANTIC garage/book/perennial plant sale going on across the street, so who knows? I hope we sell out of everything! You'd think it was my farm products...lol.

Still combing

Tree50 9

Still combing cashmere at the farm. Mostly just cleanup-a few bucks still have major amounts of cashmere. By the time we get to the bucks, I don't have much more than a half hour to comb-so I don't get very far!

This is a pic of Mary and one of her twins. It had such a funny expression I had to take the pic, although there is a lot of glare off her shiny black coat.

Behind is the grey wether yearling. I combed him today and got quite a bit off him, and that was just his neck. So he still has quite a bit that will be releasing in another week or two.

Looks like we're still on for the farmer's market this weekend, selling goat meat and fiber. Hope the weather is good since I don't know how to put up the canopy. :D

Tuesday

We worked at the farm again Saturday. Uureka, daughter of grand old UUD, who recently went to slaughter, delivered her first kid that morning. A single, a beautiful light brown buckling who looks like his father, Monarch. I was happy-the first Monarch kid on the farm in two years. Hope he's a keeper.

At the end of the workday, I got into a heated dispute with Mr. Boss about my pay. Short again. He told me to speak with Boss, but I was too hot (pissed). I left, swearing to myself this time I was really quitting.

The next morning I sent a short email, to which Boss replied that it was an error that would be corrected. Humph. But she also said that Lois had dropped a set of quadruplets. Oh, she knows how to get us. We went back today and said naught about the "misunderstanding". Still, the atmosphere between us felt a little tense. P wasn't in a very friendly mood, either. By the time we headed to the big bucks I was feeling a little out of sorts. Boss had the bucks out for their walk, and R greeted us in a chatty mood, which was quite pleasant.

Willow then discovered the spring pool by the drive was full of tadpoles-she had been checking out the frog eggs late last week. We were thrilled.

Then we combed Homer and Duke in the beating sun-in the 80's (!!!!!!) today. Thankfully, we ran out of time quickly, and we had another day under our belts. As long as we get properly compensated for it...

On the way home, Willow spotted a pair of golden eagles less than a half mile from home. One went directly over the car and we had an excellent view. No doubt, golden eagles. Willow was in awe.

On the home front, I did Cricket's hooves Sunday.

Willow and Ursula's Boy

Tree409

New additions

Since two more does delivered and a new Fjord filly had arrived at the farm during our absence this week, I set the alarm early so we wouldn't miss the morning turnout and all the new additions. :)

We admired Lilymore's triplets-two grey and one black with white star, like his mother. The grey girl has a pink nose and exceptionally lite coloring and is quite beautiful.

Nive, who has kept everyone on pins and needles waiting for her to deliver,finally had a handsome set of twins, again, one grey, and one black. Lilymore is quite skittish, so we lavished attention on Nive and told her what beautiful babies she had.

Then the filly. P had the day off, so Boss said I could halter Maya and the new girl, but not to try and lead both in.

Finally a chance to be with the equines!

I slid the halters over my shoulder and Willow and I made our way out to the horses, who were out in the field. Both were easy to approach-I fed Maya chunks of crusty french bread-her treat, and easily slipped her halter over her head.

P had already told me over the phone that the filly wasn't familiar with bread, and I expected Maya to be jealous, especially over a treat, so instead I rewarded the filly with pets and quiet compliments before I slipped her halter over her nose.

I flipped the strap over the back of her head and was in the process of buckling it when Maya made a lunge with ears laid back and teeth bared. The filly jumped away, and I let go and got out of the way. The halter didn't drop though, since I nearly had it on, and I was much relieved that the filly let me reposition it and buckle it.

I took hold of Maya's halter and led her back to the barn with The filly following. Willow wanted to take the filly, but I directed her to stay well back since I didn't know if Maya might let fly with her back feet, although she is almost too fat to make that a possibility.

Then we were back in the front of the barn, and I asked Boss what should I do with the horses? Boss seemed much surprised, and the boys and she dropped everything, and the five of us went down back, with me still having a firm hold on Maya's halter. I was brooking no nonsense from her.

Boss said that the day before had been some trouble, and she thought that the horses were learning the new routine...I think Maya needs a firm hand and attention. I was glad I was able to help. :P

Then we went on to combing. Liselotte, Coretta, Bonnie, Emerson, Lincoln...on to the big bucks and the snakes (see treeocean.blogspot.com). There we combed the new guy, Cairn, and Chris, and Homer.

Later we went visiting, and spent several more hours outdoors in the glorious sun. Ouch, I feel a burn coming on.... :P

Hooves

Anaken, Obiwan, and Derek had their hooves trimmed yesterday. Obiwan is having some trouble with his toe tips.

Still combing, but everyone appears to be about finished except for Obiwan. Nic might have some more fiber on his body, but it is not releasing.

Thursday

Beautiful weather this week. 62 and sunny and 72 in the house feels like a greenhouse!
The kids are asking if the ice is out in the pond, can we go swimming?? (NO!) LOL.

We have been working on the garden-yesterday we turned over three beds. Today we cleaned out the chicken coop and the goose shelter. We gave our neighbor the four beautiful white roosters. They were fighting too much and the kids want to keep the old barred rock and his son for roosters.

Poor Loosey the Goose loved those white roosters! He was courting them! So I am going to have to get goslings if I can't find him a goose friend soon!

A friend went to Johnny's selected seed today and dropped off some stuff for us. I told him just get extra and we will split the order. Some of the packets we were splitting by hand-who needs 30 zuccinni or summer squash plants?

We combed again at the farm today. Four of us were on wethers this am. I took on Emerson-the jackpot. He just dumps all of his at once. Two huge bags full and he still has more. He was much better this year-and he has gotten sooooo fat! He was new to the farm last spring and skin and bones and jumpy. He was so glad I was combing him today! Awwww>

Can't wait to get the peas and lettuce and spinach in-but I think I will wait for the new moon, another week. It seems if I plant before that the weather is lousy. I might plant a little this weekend and again in a week and compare how they do.

Wednesday

The swallows are back at S's farm where we get hay. He said they were back on Friday, the day our Phoebe returned. S and I both heard Loons that day too. What a couple of kids we are-we yacked away about stuff for a good half hour.

Willow spotted the Golden Eagles today over at Prescott. Four of them. As she said, "Goldens" one of the boys replied, "naw, those are just hawks," to which I replied, "no.Those are Golden Eagles."

We whistled to no avail, although the Willow insists that they circled before they drifted out of sight. I figure that while they might not be able to distinguish the difference between a boy holding a manure rake vs. a high powered rifle, they still know a teenaged boy when they see one.

That location seems to be out of their normal range, although I have sited them the next town down. On the way home, I spied a small engine plane flying low over the mountains where I suspect they have been nesting. Has the eagle specialist with ME Fish and Wildlife finally followed up on my tip and been flying over their standard range? That might cause them to wander.

Combing cashmere-still happening. I set Willow right up with old poptart Jackson-just since he is still shedding and loves the attention. They make a cute team. One doe we combed today filled her small bag, and then I placed it in a 5 gallon bucket, since Willow took her over while I wailed away on poor Clarke's matts. I looked over and the doe's cashmere was overflowing the bucket. Phew.

At the big bucks, Willow worked on Chris, just 'cos she loves him and he is still shedding. R seemed surprised at how much Willow combed off in him short time. I was working on Mauro, who has that bit of an evil streak. He stands nice as can be and then moves like lightning and tries to "get you". He didn't get me today, and occasionally I scratched his cheek and rubbed his horns to bring him around. I still kept out of reach, and, thankfully, I think he is finished producing cashmere for this year. :P

Boss is picking up a 2 year old buck on Friday, and Willow and I were quite excited. The rest of the crew grumbled .

Willow and I have agreed to work the opening day of the Farmer's Market for Boss, who will be going to an Agricultural Fair. The day also happens to fall on the annual huge garage sale/library book sale next to the Farmer's Market, so that should be quite the event. Willow and I are already planning what to wear. Or, at least, I should say, she is planning on what I will wear. She definitely has the better fashion sense.

I told Boss I was planning on going with a dress, and she said that we ought to look like farmers. I said it would be a country dress, and then asked if I should just wear work clothes, if that would be better for business. She said to wear whatever I wanted.

Damn retired Psychiatrists. LOL.

Friday

Well, it's been a busy day! Should I add that it started off with more regurgitated cat food on the stairs on my way to coffee? Jingle has just got to stop eating mice-they are obviously not agreeing with her.

Busy at the farm. Ironically, my border photo of the farm shows Pablo in the fore-Boss took him for combing herself, as she is separating his fiber white from coloured. Fine with me-I tend to comb all over and am rather careless about separating, besides, I had my hands full.

Nasrim again, and I had Willow on Carlos, the caramel wether second near in the photo. Willow raved about how sweet he was, and then wandered off to admire the babies. Still only five romping about. Bonnie tried to get Boss when Boss climbed into her pen to wash her hooves after yesterday's trim-once Bonnie realized Boss had no interest in her baby (Willow's favorite), she settled down.

So, I moved over to take over Carlos, and managed to tease out a bit of cashmere clumped on his neck. Barbaranna, one of my favorite does, third back in the pic, was waiting for Boss to do her hooves, keeping us company in the box stall.

When she went, I released Carlos, and moved on to Clarke, a big fat white wether with long guard hair. Willow has nicknamed him, "The Cornmaster". He is reknown for breaking into the grain room and nearly stuffing himself into a coma.

His rear is totally matted dreadlocks, and I have been working him for two days trying to get the cashmere off his neck and midline, and alternating slickers full of guard hair off the mats. Still not done.

Then we moved onto the buckling hill with P, and she took on Rue, and I took on Bibbles. Yeah, we have missed the sun; by 10am it is picking up strength and two days of it is giving my face a bit of a glow.

Then I met the crew over at the big bucks, and took on Mauro. I set Willow up with Zeuss, after trying to help the boys find a short in the electric fence. Boss hadn't asked me to look, and since I was there to comb I left them to it .

Chriss started giving Boss a hard time while she was working on Zeuss's hooves, so I collared him and was bringing him through the fence while Willow had taken on Mauro. Then something happened. I missed it, but it involved Willow getting dumped off the five gallon bucket she was sitting on. I am not sure if he tried to butt her or just jumped and bumped her off. I think she was covering for him,(since I couldn't get a clear story) but thankfully she was unhurt except for her pride.

Boss took over combing Chrissie, and I sent Willow off to the farm pond to check out the croaking frogs. I was still on Mauro. Once or twice I cleaned my slicker and reached over and swiped gobs of cashmere off of Chrissie's neck when he had his head back showing Boss where to comb with his horns. It was funny watching him pause in mid scratch while I swiped his neck. He was in Nirvana. LOL.

Then the hounds next door discovered Willow at the pond, and startled her, so back she rushed through the swamp, filling her boots with water. TG it was time to call it a day.

Back home I spread some well rotted manure on the "lawn". We played some soccer with Peko in the driveway, and it was easy to see what happened to the lawn last fall. In no time the drive was churned up into loose dirt. When I have the drive fixed, I think I will just have them dump a load of gravel at the end and throw Peko's ball on top. It will be spread out in no time.

We took the goats for a walk in the woods. They were astonished when I dropped the gate and stepped back. They rushed out and started gobbling all the little bits on the ground, and then moved on to toppling small firs, and finally started walking and nibbling only the select bits. Once we reached the marsh, they bolted back up the hill to the goose grain, much to the chagrin of the goose, who latched onto Moonie, honking and flapping.

Then the goats moved on to the grain sludge the Firebird has been dumping out of the goose water all winter, and that was enough for me. I put the goats back in.

A huge pizza and half gallon of ice cream for dinner-I took beer instead of the ice cream-hey, it's Friday, what the heck...

I type this praying for rain to move in before morning-Boss wants us back tomorrow if the weather is good, but I want the weekend off. The weather looks great for all next week, so there will be plenty of time for combing then. Still, if the sun rises in the morning, I may go for some more combing. C'mon rain. (did I really say that????)

goat talk

We wormed all our goats yesterday morning. I was not sure what they weighed, so I took the scale out and pre-weighed the Firebird and myself, expecting that we would pick up the goat and then subtract our weights. We started with skittish little Anna, the youngest, who had never been wormed. Of course her eyelids were bright red, indicating that she was not anemic, but I was going to worm them all anyhow.

Anna's response to people is to play passive. She curled up on the ground and glued herself there. The Firebird couldn't budge her. Talk about dead weight! I managed to get her in my arms, and then couldn't get to standing, so I had the Firebird help me lift her. She weighed 65 pounds!

Then Derek was on the small house roof, so I scooped him up, he being the next smallest, and he weighed nearly a hundred. Combined with my weight of currently 137,
(my Doc would be dancing with glee), we nearly topped the scale, so I stopped weighing goats and started guesstimating. Phew, got that job done!

Today we worked at the farm. The day did not start well at home, beginning with cat vomit on my favorite rug (I refer to these as omens of a "cat puke day") and sure enough, things were helter skelter at the farm. We ended up on the buckling hill for two hours combing the little guys. The first ones were easy enough-then I had saved Jacolby for last.

The other time I combed him, he yelled so hard I had to release him. So of course today he started in yelling. I started singing to him..."Mr. Pitiful". This caused him to increase the tempo of his screaming. Maybe he was just trying to drown me out. Finally he settled down enough to comb quietly. Phew, my arms arm aching, and I already agreed to comb the big bucks tomorrow. Ha. I think I am ready for a nap.... :P

farmtalk

Cashmere combing season

The Farm Boss followed up an earlier e-mail with a phone call this week about combing. Clever lady, she called when the power was out and I was unable to screen my calls. Ha.

The saplings and I had already discussed what the modus operandi would be if I should have to go back to the farm. But I told Boss when she called that I would have to discuss it with them and would call her back later that day. The saplings were gung ho with the plan-it was myself who had reservations, so I delayed calling Boss back until this am. Today was to be the warmest of the week, and I told myself if I awoke without the alarm clock I would ring her at 7.

Dang my internal clock! I awoke bright and early, and rolled over and caught another hour of sleep-still plenty of time to ring her-so I did and agreed to work this am.

Since I am homeschooling this year, Boss offerred both kids could come with me, but we had agreed that the Firebird would stay home working on schoolwork, and the Willow would come with me. The Firebird is the strong man on chores, but doesn't comb. Willow is fully versed on animal talk and loves to comb.

The Firebird, true to his middle name, is also a nightowl, so I expected him to sleep in as usual. Nope, he rolled downstairs just as I was finishing our own goat chores and was readying to leave.

That saved leaving a note, so I gave him instructions and the Willow and I headed out. Four dirt roads and two stretches of tar, and we arrived at the farm. The old Great Pyranees, Balloo, came right up to me wagging his tail, and the ancient wether, Ali Goatee, right behind. Much to Ali Goatee's delight, I gave him the last bit of raisin bread toast I had in my hand. He wasn't letting me out of his sight for the next two hours!

Willow tucked right in on combing with me on Sugreca. I thought we would start with the worst, since Sugreca was a nightmare for me last year, climbing the walls on her chain, and P told me that she was bad for the boys already this year. Willow pre-empted me, and went up to Sugreca and spoke softly and caressed her cheeks, and that goat was very easy to comb!

After a bit, we gave Sugreca a break and I picked one of two yearlings, Buffy's girl, Bella. I thought she would be wild, and again Willow wove her magic to such a degree that I left her solo with Bella and went back to work on Sugreca.

Willow worked right along, and eventually Boss moved in with Lois from the next stall. Willow couldn't wait to show Boss how much cashmere she had combed off Bella and Boss checked it out. Willow later confided in me that she thought Boss was pleased how nicely combed the cashmere was, and not all balled up. We have been working on her technique at home.

There was a couple of hay deliveries, and I released Sugreca and started in on Beatrice. Willow hunted down her lunchbag with her hot cocoa out of the tack room, and then was promptly confronted by the pig, Laverne, in the aisleway. Well, that was pretty funny, I guess. Laverne is a really rare breed of pig-Boss couldn't find her a replacement mate-she is old and black colored. I used to give her treats like leftover sandwich crusts.

Well, Laverne stood in front of Willow sniffing that lunchpack and Willow's pockets and was snorting and gurgling...(actually I wondered if she might eat Willow-hahaha) Finally, Willow made her way byLaverne and into our stall and then Ali Goatee thought hot cocoa sounded good...so Willow went back to the tack room with the Old farm dog and a farm cat for company.

Boss and I caught up with who was gone-Uud, Sheba, Daisy-old does recently gone to slaughter, and all old friends to me. Bucks-Gingerman found dead a few months ago, Nishak gone to slaughter, Hjalmar off for breeding.

Boss did have a buck lined up for combing-Mauro. So we headed over to Prescott and I had a chance to see my old buck friends. Some seemed to remember me. Leif, Chrissie, of course, Duke, Prince. Chrissie took such a shine to Willow he kept rubbing his face on her stomach while she kept her hands firmaly in her pockets. LOL. Bucks have an ODOR.

I give in and give them neck and cheek scratches. Awww.

Willow and I helped clean, and I helped collar, and then Willow helped put all their dishes out-feeding time at the zoo-what kid wouldn't want to help? Then, she helped pick up all the dishes, calling all the bucks by name already. I think R was glad of the help today.

Willow did complain a bit at the end-Boss referred to it today as the "bitter end" with the bucks being last on the list, and we were late getting there. Willow said Mauro was being difficult and she had to hold his head to comb behind his horns. What she didn't realize is that he was being good for a buck! Sometimes one person has to jam one of their horns into the fence and then hang onto their head and the second person combs or does hooves...

Right at the end, R came up to watch and Mauro butted him hard right in the kneecap! I guess he had to take it out on someone!!

All in all we had a fun morning. I was paid very well, with the expectation that I will tip Willow out for her terrific assistence. We all need the cash (she is saving for a new bike) so hopefully we will have a few more mornings of work ahead of us.

This week the weather just didn't cooperate for combing at the farm. I spent one late morning combing my own goats this week, when the sun had warmed things up enough to work without gloves.

The temps were supposed to be in the 40's today, so Boss agreed for Willow and I to go in to comb. Two nights this week I have slept poorly, waking up every hour on the hour after midnight. Just long enough to roll over and check the time, but still, disturbed rest. Well, last night was the second night.

So, I am exhausted! We started off with little Beatrice again, and then moved up to the bucklings on the hill. I just love the bucklings! They are so cute! We combed Ursula's boy, and then I moved in on Bonnie's boy, whom Boss was combing, but she stepped away for a minute and I took him over.

Then we came down off the hill, and still the weekend boys were not ready to go to Prescott, so we combed a wether, Carlos. He was losing guard hair, so we didn't get much cashmere off of him. I was getting hungry and tired and needed some coffee and a smoke so I chatted quite a bit with P, who had also come in to comb. I kept looking out, waiting for the cue to go to the big bucks. Finally we left after 11. :(

I thought Willow and I were going to work on Chrissie, but when we arrived, Boss said Leif looked worse. Ugh. Leif got me in the eye socket with a horn tip last year. One of his horns is broken off quite short, but the other one really sticks out there. Everytime he flipped around to that side, I put a hand on the tip of his horn so I knew where it was. That made slow combing, since I need that hand to hold up the guard hair to get the cashmere beneath.

Whent he boys were finished, I agreed to give Boss a lift back to the farm so she could hold Leif in the meantime. She hung onto his horns, but had some trouble holding him still.

We got quite a bit of nice cashmere off him in a short time. His long wirey guard hair is very sticky, so I was using a lot of force with the slicker to tease the cashmere out. And after working on two bucklings, my arms are tired!!!

We found out today that Ali Goatee was put down this week! :(( He was quite old and Boss found him down back unable to rise, and had one of the boys father's come over and shoot him. Willow was near tears at the news. We enjoyed hanging out with Ali Goatee last week.

The sun is really melting a lot of snow out there right now. I should be out combing my own goats, but I am wiped! Peko is sleeping on my bed in the sun, and I think I might join him for a siesta.