Feb 12 2009

Ceasar and Julius: sold

Hooves again

Just a quick update-Julius had his feet done today. For a goat with such a bad reputation, he was a dear to work on. I did him by myself and he lifted each hoof in turn, breathing gently on my exposed back when I was bent over working on the front ones. The front were horribly long-his back ones just needed a touch up.

Still more little goats due to have their hooves worked on-will try to work in one a day unless the weather warms up. Bitter bitter cold forecast for the next few days.

Wednesday

Stayed up late last night, and paid for it when the house woke up early this am. Dang!

The storm was over, thank goodness! I decided to take advantage of the wet and work on hooves.

I re-touched all three big wethers:

Caesar:front and back. He needed evening up and looked much better. He was a total ass and I had to yell at him. He kept rocking and pulling and he is a big goat! He is such a nice goat otherwise.

Sir Nicholas: front and back, looked much improved over last time.

Julius: front and back. Had what looked like an old puncture in one front sole and I stabbed my hand with the shears trying to level it off. His soles are like cement!

Cricket: front and back. She had some high heels going on there! She tried to struggle but after wrestling with Caesar, she didn't get very far. Her legs are so delicate like bone china.

Then I worked on ditching out the driveway with the help of the saplings. We got the water flowing pretty well. The water was bubbling right up through the drive in some places. Yup, the ground is saturated. We also picked up misc stuff all over the yard and tidied up a bit. Yesterday I walked up the road and realized with the leaves down, anyone driving by can see the entire front yard which looked a terrible mess! So, I think it looks a little better now.

The pond is nearly over the top of the dam, and all the way up to the logs. I should have taken the camera over-I need to charge the batteries up and take some more pix.

So far just the three of us for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. The turkey is nearly defrosted. We will have turkey and stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, baked potatoes, sweet potato, carrots, and two pies. Pumpkin and chocolate cream. Yum.

I pried the door open on the old woodcookstove out back and left it open to dry out. I just hope I have enough short firewood to cook the turkey! I don't want to be fighting with the chainsaw tomorrow! The firebox is very tiny and it will take a 14" stick at the largest.

Well, that's today's update. Wishing any and all readers a blessed Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. If not, drop on in -we'll have plenty of food! :D

First Post

Photo Tree1108
I am creating this blog as an offshoot of http://treeocean.blogspot.com . This blog will function as more of a personal diary in day to day life. Weather, animal notes, personal notes. Anything worldly or earth-shattering will go on the other blog.

I have cycled back into goat hooves.

Julius was trimmed front and back Friday.

Obiwan had his front feet done Friday-need to do his back in the next day or two.

Anna,9 months,daughter of Cricket and Derek, had her first trim-she was very passive. Her feet were fine.

Sir Nicholas had his feet done yesterday. He had two problems. One back clew looked like it had a puncture awhile ago-trimmed the sole back flush and washed with H &H. A front clew's outer hoof wall was separated on the outside nearly up to the coronet. I trimmed it off and washed thoroughly with H&H. Hopefully it was torn by a stump and not hoof rot.

Cricket is in heat and Derek has claimed her. No more babies for those two-he's a wether now.

Started my period on Friday without any premenstrual symptoms. Yesterday I wandered around wondering how I could combine chocolate and chicken for dinner. I gave up and had a handful of chocolate chips as an appetizer. This morning I woke up feeling emotional and had tears in my eyes before coffee. Damn hormones.

It rained hard during the night. The ground is saturated. This morning I watched a black squall come tearing down out of the west-which just gave us a brief shower. The lower clouds were tearing by the upper clouds, which appeared to be at a standstill.

Tonight the clouds had bright spots that kept reappearing in the same location despite the cloud movement. Weird. Caught one on a pic I will be posting over at the home blog. (see above link).

Went to town for a few staples to last through the week. The temp was 50 there at noon.

The above pic is Obiwan. He is probably about 1 1/2 years old. I bought him at auction last summer as a weanling. He is most likely a dairy goat angora cross. His fiber does not have a lot of crimp, but he is very friendly and huggably soft.