Long weekend in Paradise

I am finally getting around to posting the rest of the pics from a couple weeks ago.
But first a quick update on my own goats:

I thought it was time to put Jenny's Mom in with Jenny. They immediately got into a knock down, drag-out head-banger. Daphne is half Jenny's size, but she has been herd queen for years and she kept taking the high ground. Jenny wouldn't give up even though she fell down. I broke them up and took Daph out where she stood breathing hard for some minutes.

That means I probably will have to put one of the lesser does in with Jenny, but there is only one house and I don't think Jenny ever bunks with either one of the lesser does. And any of the wethers will most likely be able to beat Jenny up.

My other option is to start taking them on walks and letting her mix with everyone and see how that goes. She is not 100 percent yet as I could see in her bout with Daphne, but I don't like having to keep a goat separate.

Here are some more pics of Willow at the farm:

Willow and little Lori, her momma Lois behind, Maya mare in back.


Willow with Lori's "big Legs"


Willow and Jackson, the biggest goat at the farm.

Happy Mothers Day

me with Lori's "Big Legs"


me with Sugreca's boy


Willow and Maya


Willow with Carmela's boy


Willow and Jackson

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:

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.

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....