I could post

I haven't been logged in to blogger in forever.  I thought I should post since I am here. :P

What should I post about?  The beautiful flatbread my daughter mixed and kneaded and rolled out-the falafel I made and served with the flatbread? The lettuce the Firebird picked out of the garden? The delicious spicy pepper relish that made up for the blandness of my falafel?

That I accidentally killed one of my six guinea hens/cocks moving them to a bigger pen, and have no idea what happened except maybe it had a heart attack?

The great fishing expedition the Willow had a couple nights ago or all the others she got skunked on?

Wondering why the three goats I put on the lawn in a light drizzle lost all their guard hair with in a week?

The parade of deformed vegetables I have come across in the food chain this summer?

Why the weathermen forecast heavy rain and thunderstorms for the day and evening and I have yet to see a raindrop or hear a grumble?

Why the clouds look so high and strange, information is scant on Ison and Fukushima, 100 meteors an hour from the Perseids worked out to be two in a half hour (for me)...

Actually, that was pretty cool, laying a thick fleece on the lawn last night, the grass (meadow) being so high I had to pat the top to find my coffee cup in the dark, but the stars were brilliant, the milky way trailing...the amount of stars visible with my "nocs was breathtaking...

The mosquitoes weren't even biting.

I saw more satellites than meteors.  I saw one satellite that was letting off little flashes and I wondered if it might have been the space station emptying the garbage chute.

Happy Birthday Mr.Boss and Willow's schoolfriend, Happy Full Moon too.

Well, as usual I have had a busy week, helping out in a small commercial kitchen making delectable Maine made products.

I spent one day having some cars repairs; the aging Subbie having been making protesting noises out the front end, a CV shaft needed replacing and I was praying it wasn't also the Ujoint going.

Thank goodness it was just the rattling heat shield, which my mechanic removed by cutting my electric fence wiring job I kept improvising.

The CV joint was another adventure-the passenger side is apparently impossible to get to and they threw in their share of improvising, causing me several moments of panic before I decided to retreat into the pile of yesterday's news I had picked up for the brooding guinea keets.

***

Today I had agreed to work at the goat farm for girls enjoying the holiday weekend.  Piece of cake, right?

Well, B&B guests left both Mr. and Mrs Boss busy, so I was left with Mr. Boss' share of the chores, which include feeding the wethers.

Wethers are neutered bucks, and it is my opinion they never stop growing.  Those boys are huge.  Several of them could easily be ridden to the capital and back, although by the time they reach that size they are rather elderly, they don't lack in spirit when the grain hits the trough.

Mr. Boss, being a tough man, even though into his 70's, chooses to feed the wethers en masse, putting down two window box style feeders on the fence. Inside the wether pen, meaning one has to go into the pen to dump the grain.

This has never really been an issue for me, the boys are pushy as is the wont of goats in sight of anything yummy, but despite being eligble for AARP myself, I have managed fine in the past.

Mr Boss over the years has had his share of tumbles, and Mrs. Boss put me in my place when I once defended a repair I made to a hole when I explained I was worried for Mr. Boss.

"He can take care of himself," she had replied.

This past winter Mr. Boss had a huge gash in his forehead which the Firebird had noticed-when I was in the barn he kept it well covered with several caps until he bent down to pick up the dog dish, the hat slipped over his eyes, and he pushed it back over the gash and I saw it.

He looked at me and I said nothing, (for a change, I am known all around for my big mouth as my reader can readily understand)

Shortly after that, I had asked him, because the chore was falling to me, how he fed the wethers, and he described how much grain, where to hang the feeders, and then said, and "then you just try and stay on your feet!"

So I presumed the gash was a result of the boys and the ice and so on, in my own head.

At any rate, now you have the background information, today I had to feed the wethers.

I suppose I made them wait a bit longer than they are accustomed-I had asked Mrs. Boss if I should feed them right away or clean first, and she had said to clean first.

Well, being dandelion season, also known as "pis en lit" or pee the bed, the barn was soaked, and I spent some time before I got around to feeding the boys.

I went through my usual routine, and when I dumped the grain into the feeders there was a crush of 6 big- well over 200 pound-boys with horns... with me in the middle.

One of the places a feeder is hung is a two foot high bit of hog panel. One or more of them gave me a big shove from behind, and I went head first over the hog panel and saved my head by catching my palms on the cement on the other side.

Then I was in the inglorious position of feet on one side, hands down on the other, feeder under my stomach, and ass up in the air, with 6 hungry horned wethers trying to get the grain.

I couldn't go back with them behind, so I decided to pull my legs over the panels.

The first leg immediately became entwined in horns.

It felt like two separate goats' horns, and they were fighting over the grain under my stomach and here I was on my palms over the fence, ass up in the air, leg stuck between horns.

I thought of the guests having breakfast in the gazebo, "oh, breakfast AND a SHOW!"

Finally my leg was released and I finished crawling over the fence, picked up the grain can, and hobbled out of the pen without looking back, trying to laugh and not limp and muster as much little dignity I had left.

Mr. Boss seemed quite cheery when he poked his head out later...a nice little birthday present, Karma for calling your 70+ year old Boss unsteady on his feet.  Took awhile, but I think we are even now.

I told Mrs. boss what had occurred later, and she said, "no one said anything!" but then added, "It was quite the mob scene!"

I noticed the guests taking photos and video with some high-end equipment as they were leaving later, so I may "end up" on You-Tube in the future.  Literally.


****

Once all the farm chores were finally finished, I had to hurry home to take the Willow to a birthday party, which had come with the instructions, "bring bathing suit and boots."

The Willow is not a strong swimmer despite my efforts, nor had she had much riding experience other than one trip on the farm mare when the grandchildren visited,

"hold the reins like a hamburger," I told her-as I  had been instructed.

So I was a bit apprehensive.  I have found that a lot of parents were not subjected to the same safety standards to which I was growing up.

We have had rain all week, and rain today, so I called before the party for directions and to find out if bathing suit and boots were still necessary.

I introduced myself over the phone and asked to whom I was speaking and managed to find out it was indeed the girl's mother, whose name I was never  able to obtain.

I got directions, was left feeling a bit out of sorts, but attributed it to the fact there had also been a slumber party the night before and assumed the mother was short on sleep.

I thought I was lost, but we did arrive and I went in and introduced myself to the group of adults, never receiving a name in return, but being assured that was the party location and the girls were in another part of the house, I left promising to return at the time directed on the invitation.

At the appointed time I arrived and picked up the Willow, and she was no sooner in the car than she had her own tale of woe, involving another party-goer.

Several of the girls had gone to the barn to see the horses, and the Willow, being an experienced farm girl,had put on her boots.

Another girl, who had spent the night, had soaked her boots the night before, and today went to the barn in flip-flops.

The girls went into the stall.  The nervous mare stepped on the foot of the girl in flip-flops and tore the toenail right off her toe.

The birthday girl's mother did not, nor any of the adults, go to the barn with the girls, and one of the other girls carried the injured girl back to the house.

The other girls tried to call the injured girl's mother on the phone, and after several attempts, finally reached her and she said she would be there AFTER she went to the store.

The injured girl was still there when I left with the Willow.

Then I learned that Willow had, at some point, been on the back of BOTH the mare AND the stallion-with no saddle or halter, while they were in the barn.  No hard hat.

I was thankful I had told her that if she did get on a horse, to take a handful of mane and hang on, that it wouldn't hurt the horse, and if she fell off her butt or feet would land first, and no matter what, not to save herself with her hands (as I had done earlier in the wether pen).  I had a friend break an arm falling off my mare because she put her arm out.

So, call me an old stick in the mud, but I was taught, by professionals:

1.  ALWAYS wear a heeled shoe or boot in the saddle.

2. NEVER get on a horse without a hard hat or helmet.

3. NEVER get on horseback in a barn.

4. NEVER get near a horse with open toed shoes or barefoot.

5. If you have to walk behind a horse, speak and stay as close to their behind as possible, because if they try and kick you they can only bump you with their hocks.  You don't want to be three feet or more away because that is the impact zone.

6. Don't feed a treat to young ones from your hand, they will become nippers.  Put it in a bucket and let them eat from that.  If you do hand treat, keep your hands FLAT and fingers out of the way.  Fingers look like carrots!

These are safety rules for a REASON. Right now there is a young girl that will have a permanently disfigured toe because those rules were not followed.  And it is only luck that is the only girl to limp away with an injury.

***

Happy Full Moon

The downslide of August

Lost one post during a cracking thunderstorm out of the Nor'East-atypical for this time of year. I thought it would miss us, cursed the touchpad blue when it highlighted then deleted unrcovereably several hard-typed paragraphs, then blessed the powers that be when the storm barrelled down atop of us with seconds between lightning and thunderbooms.

Now to recover lost thoughts and not highlight and delete again in a random moment....

The Firebird made the high school varsity soccer team, yeah! He's subbing second string right mid, not my favorite place for him since he is so agressive with the head butting of the ball, and I am convinced that someday in the near future the soccer heads are going to realize that this is simply NOT good for the brain, and ban head contact.  I mean, you can't touch the ball with your hand, but you can slap your brain silly banging the ball into the goal..and this is "football"...jus' sayin'.

And being one of the underclassmen, I am totally comfortable with his low starting rank, I knew that to be a given if he made the upper team. For the team to function well, he needs to be accepted by his teammates when the team knows he can do it, he will get more field time. And, as a parent, the less time he spends on the field with those strapping 17-18 years olds the better his odds are of surviving the season...:D

The Freshmen parents were telling me they were a bit frightened of the Firebird during summer soccer. I remembered the year before watching him join all those big boys in high school, and sympathized.  But the Firebird is big for his age now. He just went through a big huge health scare causing me to pull him from the NorthEastern soccer invitationals-but everything looks good now except for some seasonal allergies.

****

We've had fleas really really bad this year.  I have always knocked them down with two frontline treatments and blamed flea-infested visitors. This year I Frontlined at the first sign of a flea.  Then repeated in a month, while the flea population exploded. Now it was ourselves that were the carriers. I saw fleas hopping off my pants in the doctor's office.  the dentist's office, Lord help the laudramat, (where I think we got them this time)

The cats caught on quick, and refused to touch the floor upstairs. Then downstairs. The dog stopped coming upstairs and whined on the steps. The trick to Frontline is that it gets in the animals blood stream and stops the cycle after the flea bites.  Well, my animals ain't no dummies, because they were NOT going anywhere near those fleas.  Pity the stupid humans, who took another month to dance across the floors eventually taking to tiptoeing over the furniture and end tables and quickly wiping legs off into buckets of soapy water or keeping a vacuum handy in every room and vaccuuming three times a day.... OMG!!!! Thank God it's been beautiful 80's because forget pants and socks...unless you want to spray insecticide on them.

I contemplated malathion, onced used successfully on a bedbug infestation that took care of every insect for ten years. (forget the 30 day half life on the MDOS)  I contemplated bombing. I thought about the stuff on the shelf at Wally world for spraying everything in your house for bedbugs and fleas,..(probably developed after I called that big chemical company 10 years ago about their perimeter spray and told them I was using it and they kept repeating, "we don't recommend it for that use" and I finally said, "well, I am using it!"

We got just about everything those two years-we had all been living rather reclusively and then I was in University and the Willow in day care and the Firebird in the public school system. Oh yeah. I was never sure if that violent intestinal upset was a roto virus or a stray flick of campylbacter jejundi I flicked across the lab table from my innoculating loop...but it was the threat of head lice at day care that had me pull at least two of us out of that public bacterial swamp lol.(In other words, I stayed at home until Willow was ready to go to Kindergarten)

I had a friend recommend Pine Sol on everything for the fleas including carpets and furniture with a spray bottle...which I meant to buy today and forgot, dang., It is two week's past the second month treatment and I think they are tailing off a bit...I hate ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, black flies, bedbugs, lice, any of that nasty stuff. Obviously something must be bugging me... hehe

***Like the price of feed, for instance. I swear to god the price of a fifty pound bag of layethe cornpellets was $16.50. Yes there is a drought, but corn was $ 6 for a 40 pound bushel . So how the heck is feed that high?

I bought a 50 lb sack of whole corn. I had stopped graining the goats for a couple weeks when pasture was good, and thought I would just give a bit of corn to supplement.  Then I ran out of layer pellets for the chickens at the same time. Ok, this is really cheap to say, but it cost me $4 in gasoline to get that bag of feed 10 miles away, so I decided to tide the (free range ) poultry over on the corn  in the meantime.

Here "Free range" means the birds get to be outside. Not running around the yard. Which is what free range means to me. Anyhow, my birds get daytime access to an enclosed pen, where they get the stray bug or worm and lots of garden thinnings plus their grain. Well their grain for their 2-3 eggs a day was getting pretty high.  A bag lasts us about ten days for the two ganders, 7 hens or so, three roosters...so when you get a couple dozen eggs for $16.50 that is sort of pricey. Free range (sic) or no.

So they were on corn and thinnings for two straight days.  The first day I soaked the corn overnight and then put it in the blender.  Poor blender. Corn milk. That took while.  The chickens thought I was nuts when I put it in the pan.

The next day I realized I had this ancient grinder that I have used to grind leftover meat bits for the pets(real ground chicken, yuym)
So I did the dried grain in that. The grain did grind, every full stroke forward I had to do a half stroke back to free the whole kernels up, and it took forever and I felt I was skimping everyone. So we threw in some crushed stale potato chips and some raisin bread crust ( don't all children hate crusts to the delight of their animal friends?)

Anyhow, while the whole corn is preferable for the goat's digestion, I preferred the ground product for the poultry, so I decided to give in (to modern convenience)and buy the pellets today.  When I arrived home I looked at the ingredients:

Processed corn by-product, Plant protein by product, and then vitamins. What the heck?????BY_PRODUCT?!?!?!?!

The Willow came in tonight with four more eggs. Our eggs prduction on straight corn doubled for two days.  Screw the over-priced by-product crap!!! I am going with grain and a handful of stale frosted flakes!

Anyone for breakfast? :D

We'll have it on the patio- the fleas aren't so bad out there.

Tuesday

The Phoebes are back.
"phoebe, phoebe" greeted me at yesterday morning when I awoke.

I had a Mercury retrograde day today. I am still convinced it is Monday, lol. first, I overslept. Somehow I shut my alarm off instead of hitting snooze. I am a chronic snooze button user, so I can immediately go back to sleep. Luckily I awoke 5 minutes before I had to leave for work. I was starting coffee and Willow, who was staying home, down with a bug, said, "the goats are out. "

Ok, I won't bore you with the details of how much fun that was (not), but I am afraid of what the neighbors think of me shouting like a wild woman at errant goats at the crack of dawn. Oh yeah, the neighbors must have heard me.

I was about 15 minutes late to the farm, and was paused outside the gate trying to huff down a cigarette before I went through, (no smoking inside the gates) and my ex-boyfriend's co-worker drove by, honking. Now I knew I had to drive by the two of them working at the rock lot on my way home.

I walked over to the upper gate, still nursing the smoke, and there was a small pile of shavings and some blood and a few white feathers, and I thought, "something tragic happened here."

Boss was coming down from the house and I queried her as to the evidence, and she said, "we had the old gander put down."

I imagined a gun to the back of the head, and felt sad for the "oldman", at least 15 years old as just as a guess. I saw the barn cat circling licking his/her lips (there are two gray and white long-haired, both neutered, male and female, and I can't tell them apart- nor would their teeth and claws allow me to attempt to do so)

I thought I , or someone, should clean up the evidence, and followed Boss into the barn for some tools, as she said, "a lot has been going on..." and gestured, and P said, "Bonnie and Dancer had their babies!"

Which was so exciting I forgot all about the loss of the gander. Bonnie has had boys for the last four years. She is a super-attentive mother. In fact, she sort of was adopted by one of Lillemore's kids last year, who would sneak-nurse her while she was raising twin bucklings of her own.

One year she wasn't bred; she fought with one of the mothers so badly because she didn't have her own babies. Bonnie had her ear split so severely it still dangles in two pieces.

Every year at the three-month mark, Bonnie's boys have been taken from her across the hill for weaning, since bucklings can breed a doe when they are three months old. Well, I have always felt pretty sorry for her and have wished to find her with a girl for the last couple of years now.

Bonnie had twins does this year! They are out of Prince, a tall brown and tan, blue- eyed, side-horned buck. And I am sure at least one of the brown doelings will have his blue eyes.

I have joked that this is the year of the blue eye. Last year was the year of the wattle.

The other surprise was beautiful black Dancer with the long fringes had a pair of gray does out of Grand Champion, currently on the injured list, Homer, who Willow showed when she was 8 and who is also the sire of my Badger.

Oh no, I'm off on goat bloodlines now, boorrrinnng, lol

anyhow, Dancer and Homer's girls are adorable! As are Bonnie and Prince's. Bonnie looked so stunned, lol. i know had she feels-I remember learning I was going to have a daughter after two sons and I believe I had that look on my face as well.

Monday

LOL I almost put Wednesday for the title.

My thyroid is eating my brain.

Ok, no one wants to accept that as an excuse. I keep trying...lol

well, we had what my neighbor called a monsoon for the last 24 hours. Wheelbarrows full of rain,stuff blown all over, driveway and local dirt roads nearly impassable. Green grass on the lawn-I guess you can have below zero and still have green. but we are well above that today!

The geese were sooo happy to have full goose tubs of water and lots of puddles to splash in! And it was a treat to see the poultry nipping away at what little green they could find on the lawn.

The snowman we made yesterday is just a snowball.

The goats on the other hand, are another story. Mist the last two days at grain time, and the ones that need to be secured first refused to come out of hiding. If a goat lower on the goat hierarchy is tied first, the more aggressive ones delight in beating the snot out of the tied goat when your back is turned. So I don't turn my back, tie the ones that come, shake grain and try and grab the ones that come out of hiding before mayhem breaks out...lol

and then I hayed under the pines for shelter-you'd think three huge pines would fit ten goats, but no, my lovely little wimpy badger came back twice while I was cleaning the rain swept soaked houses, and finally I gave in a gave him some hay...and then his buddy came back and claimed it, so I put out more and then other goats came back and took that...poor sot, he's going to have to learn to kick their butts!

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!

Death Defying Day

I picked up my chainsaw from the mechanic the other day and discovered the reason I couldn't get the chain back on. He told me that he added a link to the chain so it would be easier. I guess when he put the wide bar on there the chain was so snug I didn't have enough slack to get it back on. So of course I threw the chain again yesterday but managed to get it back on.

I had never thrown the chain before; now that's twice in a week. I have several ideas why-the bar, the chain, or the bar and chain oil I was using. I picked up another gallon of a better brand of oil yesterday and I didn't throw the chain today, and I cut a lot.

I was working in the goat pasture and the goats had just finished their hay. So they chased me from tree to tree trying to get themselves squished. Nothing like getting a tree half cut and having two or three goats stand in front of it.

Goats are sort of funny-if you chase them to catch them or take something away they will run like mad in the other direction. But if you try and chase them away from something they want, they jump away and dart back as quick as lightning.

I finally found a couple of things that would keep them busy- a hemlock and an ash. I wanted to take a pic and title it "goat candy". Well, once they had something to eat, I cut a bunch of maples they had killed by girdling and that I hadn't dropped yet, so they were basically standing dead wood and nothing the goats would want to eat. Of course the occasional goat would hear the tree fall and have to run over and make sure, so I would have to move to a different clump where I could cut without dropping one on a goat. Slow going!

Well, that was a busy morning! I took an hour lunch break and watched the noon news and made a huge steak and cheese sub with fried onions, then I went on the roof.

I bought a 6 mil 10X25 plastic sheet for the Firebird's roof, and had been putting that job off all week. Oh yeah, we had a downpour Saturday and his roof leaked-almost took out his TV and he had to move all his books and video game stuff...lucky the weather has been good since, so this afternoon after using up all the excuses, I went up on the roof.

The roof drops 2 feet over a twelve foot run, so I guess that makes it a 1:6 pitch. I started on the bottom corner, precariously leaning over the edge to nail the wooden lathes on the drip board to hold the plastic on, careful to keep the plastic flipped up so I was on the roof and not the plastic. I scared a flying squirrel out of the eaves and as I watched it soar to a nearby tree, I wondered if I could do that by spreading the sides of my orange safety vest if I slid off the roof?

carefully, carefully, working from one side to the other, I finally reached the top side and figured I was going to have to get on the plastic to finish the job. I had already discovered that the knees of my jeans did not offer any kind of grip on the plastic, so I wondered what to do, and I decided to strip down to my underwear, figuring my bare skin might grip a bit better.

Hoping I had no unexpected visitors and no one would look at the house while driving by, I continued working in my underwear. Then I realized the plastic was still too slippery to be safe, and hoped I didn't fall off the roof and be discovered lying unconscious in my underwear. I figured out how to avoid kneeling on the plastic, but that meant kneeling bare-kneed on the mineral roofing, and that wasn't much fun, either. Finally I finished.

Then I put my pants back on and moved over to the flat portion of the roof and started putting black tar on some weak spots. I could feel the warm air coming up through the hatch and smell steak and fried onions from lunch. I started thinking about those darn flying squirrels, since the roof was littered with empty beech nuts, and hoped they don't gnaw the plastic sheet off the roof.

Well, maybe they'll just use it as a slip and slide...

Cashmere Goats

Here's one of the main herd. There are 37 in the main herd and 26 in this pic. Out for their morning stroll.



Bucks single file. I guess there are 13-15 in this pic, since some of the yearlings are still out of sight.First three: Lars, Prince Edward, Zuess.





The line spreads out: Monarch has the biggest horns-he's back in the pack.



I call this one, "Wait for us!" As the yearling bucks race to catch up to the big boys.

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...

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

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.

Monday

Phew! Been working hard the last few days trying to take advantage of the good weather.

Worked the last two days at the farm:

Bonnie has finally started to shed great gobs. Coretta just needed a clean up. Both does have new kids, so it gave Willow and I a chance to hang out with them while we were combing their Moms.

Coretta's black doeling is definitely my favorite. She has blue eyes, and I couldn't resist nestling her in my arms twice yesterday. She returned the affection by standing on her back legs and imitating my combing motions by pawing me with one of her tiny hooves. Willow got a great kick out of it.

Bonnie's little buck was the star of the show today. He is also black, with a white star,white front feet, a spot on his chin, and one on the tip of his tail. Very blocky little buck. Bonnie is quite possessive of him.

Sugreca dropped a set of twin bucks yesterday. One grey, one black, both with white stars. They have been sleeping while we were in the stall, and their Mom is quite skittish, so we haven't played with them yet.

On the home front, I was working on the raspberry patch yesterday, and my arms are still stinging. This afternoon we dug out three goat houses-quite deep in bedding from the winter. The goats all had to take turns trying to help. The saplings were great helpers. I had one tense moment with them when Willow started digging a giant pile I didn't want to start yet, and the Firebird kept leaving the backup barrow in the way. But, I got over it after a break and the kids kept digging and hauling.

Then the tire fell off one of the wheelbarrows, and while I was searching for a replacement nut, the Firebird mucked out the end of the big house. We still have the back half of the big house, the lean to, and more out in the pen to clean up, but after three hours all of us were done in.

Buds are just starting to come on the maples. We are so happy spring is here, although it means so much yard work! I am grateful my piriformis syndrome seems to be finally cured and I can do these big jobs without collapsing in agony. The kids are a lot bigger this year, and very hard workers. Wow. The Firebird must have hauled and dumped twenty wheelbarrows today, and the Willow dug like a little woodchuck.

Now three days of rain, and then maybe 70's for Saturday! Can't wait for then when we will do some planting in the garden!

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

more stuff

Still working on multitudes of things.

Finished Anaken's hooves, and did Derek's. Cricket is up next.

Had beastly high winds out of the south and driving rain night before last. In fact, it rained for three days prior.

Once the weather broke yesterday I was back at it-started winterizing goat housing (replacing stuff they destroyed this summer). Stacked some of the cord of wood which managed to get wet through two tarps. Worked on the V-match wall in the living room.

Focused on trying to finish up the Vmatch today. Managed to get a three bay windowsill installed as dark fell last night-put up the last of the stuff on hand today after some really finicky nit picky stuff above the windows. It would have come out better with the skilsaw for ripping boards-I was lazy and used the jigsaw, which cut the line a little wobbly. Like my car, it kept wanting to pull to the right. I suppose they are working in cahoots to bring me back from the far left. LOL.


I am short exactly 44 linear feet of boards-which is the amount the lumber company shorted me. So, that is another stop on the long road trip of things to do for tomorrow. I am sooo looking forward to putting the living room back together! I should go through the stacks and donate three or five boxes of books to the library and toss a few dozen video tapes-*puts boxes on the list for tomorrow*

We had a brief snow squall pass through this afternoon-tonight it is supposed to be around 20 F-with highs in the thirties all week. Brrrr.