Pansy's Kids

I  know kidding season and new baby goats is kind of old hat now after three seasons, but it's still fun for me to see how the babies are going to come out each year.  There seems to be an endless combination of colors.  Pansy has always had twins, but they are always fraternal rather than identical and this year neither of them resemble Billy.

Times Three

It's a rather sad day for us on the farm today. 

Daisy Goat had triplets early this morning.  She didn't come out to eat with the other goats, so I went down to the shed to check on her expecting that she probably had her babies.  There were three, but two of them were dead.  They were big healthy looking kids.  I don't know what happened, but I expect that she just had them so close together that she couldn't get them all cleaned up in time.  I feel bad that I wasn't there to help her.  The babies probably would have survived.  I'm kind of beating myself up over not being attentive enough.  I knew she was going to have them just at any minute.

The one that lived is a boy.  He has Billy's signature frosted ears, but the rest of him looks like his mom, as did the other two.

Daisy's teats are HUGE and the baby doesn't seem to be able to get them in his mouth or find the tip.  He just keeps trying to suck on them halfway up.  He can't even do it when I show it to him and squirt him in the face.  So I looked up on the internet what to do if this happened.  The sites I read said to milk the mother out some to reduce the size of the engorged teat so the baby could latch on and he'll figure it out in a couple of days.

As far as I could tell, he hadn't been able to eat all day, so I milked Daisy for a few minutes and got about 10 ounces.  This is an eight ounce bottle, which I filled and fed to the baby.  I had to force it in his mouth, but after he got the first gulp, he sucked the whole thing down.  He still wanted more and I tried to get him to latch on to his mother, but he still couldn't do it.  I guess I'll be getting up in the middle of the night to do it all again.

When we drove up the drive coming home from church, we saw that Pansy had her babies while we were gone.  Two boys.  In three seasons of having baby goats, we have only produced one surviving female.  I guess Billy has the boy gene or something.  Hyacinth should be having her baby soon.  Hopefully, she'll have a girl.

I think Daisy is going to produce huge amounts of milk and she was sooo easy to milk - nothing like when we first got her and she was a wild and kicking.  And nothing like obstinate Hyacinth.

Random Pics

Cauldron of pansies. 

I found this old cauldron out in the field on our property.

Butcher block countertop installed by Tom.

The rest of the kitchen, almost done.

Bathroom painted and caulked and ready for the vanity to be moved in.

Tom's office finished and ready for him to move in.

Craigslist find.  Mini chandelier to hang above the kitchen sink.  It was black when I got it, but I spray painted it white.  Turned out great.

Time To Clean Up

The apartment is built; the trim is finished; the sawing is done; washer/dryer and fridge are in and hooked up; butcher block counter top is in. I can't tell you how good it feels.

This doesn't mean it's all completed, but knowing that we can clean up all the mess of sawdust and bits of lumber and put away the saws and tools is a great feeling.

I caulked Tom's office on Thursday. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and it turned out great.

Things left to do or have done:

Caulk the rest of the trim
Finish painting trim in all rooms and bead board in the bathroom
Scrub the floor
have the granite fabricated and installed on the remaining kitchen cabinets
Have hot water heater installed and all sinks hooked up
Have shower and kitchen backsplash tiled
Paint both sets of bunk beds
Hang chandelier above kitchen sink
Hang bathroom light fixtures
Finish modifications to the pie safe bathroom storage cabinet
Move furniture in

Celebrate

Farmer Liam

Grandbaby Liam's First Visit to the Farm

Hi, my name is Liam.  I'm seven months old and I came to visit my Pops and Shelly at the farm.  This is Shelly.  She's my grandma, but she doesn't want to be old, so she told me to call her Shelly.  Pops doesn't care if I call him Grandpa, but Shelly said to call him Pops anyway.

My daddy didn't feel good, so whle he took a nap (I didn't need a nap), Shelly took me on a tour of the farm.  I sat on the big red tractor.  I think I'll be driving it soon.

But for now, I can only sit.  It's time to get down now.  See how I wore the farm colors?  Red and tan.

Next, we went to see the goats.  Only Hyacinth would put her nose up here for me.  I kind of had the urge to bite it with my two teeth.  Billy didn't come see me 'cause he was busy eating hay.  Someday, I'll try eating some hay and see if it tastes as good as Billy thinks.

Then we went to see the donkeys.  This is Henry.  Wow, look at those ears!

I think he likes me.  Shelly doesn't usually let little people go in the gate because sometimes Kip and Henry get frisky and run and kick, but she thought it would be OK 'cause I can't walk yet.

Whoa!

We saw lots of chickens, too.  They love Shelly and they followed us all around.

I mostly liked Harry and Pearlie. 

This is the wishing well where the goldfish swim and wish.  I made some wishes, but I didn't swim.

I took a ride on the golf cart.  There was lots of good dirt on it.  When I get big, I'm gonna drive this bad baby.

We chilled on the patio in Shelly's new furniture.  Yo, yo.

Well, maybe I slept a little bit.  Just a ten minute power nap.

Birds

We've had a flock of Eastern Meadowlarks in our front yard for about an hour.  I don't know what they're eating, but they're very busy.

And some kind of woodpecker thrown in the mix.

You can't beat nature's colors.

I think I painted one of these in the oasis mural at the church building.  They probably don't evn live in desert oases where camels live, but hey, what do I know?  It was fun to paint.

Another Storm, Another Carpenter

Big storm rolling in from the west.  More snow and below freezing temps predicted starting late tonight.  Winter, be gone.

I hired another carpenter recommended by my friend, Netta.  He is excellent.  I couldn't ask for a better fit of the crown moulding against that tin ceiling.

Yesterday, he completed this room and tightened up all the baseboards in the rest of the apartment.  Today, he finished the trim in the green bedroom and the crown moulding in Tom's office.  He's good.  He's fast.  He doesn't charge by the hour.

Texas...What's UP?

This weather is not Texas weather.  This is not why people live in Texas.  Big snow two years in a row?  Extended stretches of below freezing weather?  Icicles hanging off Henry's brow?  This is just not right. 

Harry doesn't mind, but he does like to stay in the garage at night.

Sometimes, Harry can look downright regal.

I hope my fish pond isn't frozen solid.  How long will fish survive in a little pond with a frozen top?

He's a hardy little goat, but doesn't he look like a dwarf?  I'm thinking he's a dwarf Boer.  Is there such a thing?  He's just weird looking.  But he has a happy little smile on his face.

Misery

This cold weather is misery for all of us on the farm.  The goats are surviving, but they're keeping their tails tucked, and some of them have their hair standing on end - their version of goose bumps, I guess.  They stay in their sheds most of the time, so we stocked them with hay bales.  For some reason, Pansy's boys (the meat goats born this past spring, which should have been slaughtered already) are the ones who seem the coldest.  They shiver a lot. 

I'm afraid for Rosie goat.  She's so skinny and frail looking.  And I don't think she has much sense.  Yesterday when I went out to check on them, she was standing outside of the shed against the wall.  Just standing there alone and forlorn looking while all of the others were inside the shed, out of the wind, eating hay.

We brought the Nubians into the barn last night because it was supposed to be the lowest temp. yet.

All the water buckets are frozen solid and we have the water to the pastures turned off so that we won't have any broken pipes.  We have to carry water to each pasture twice a day.  Yesterday, Kip and Henry sucked down a gallon a piece as soon as I handed them the bucket.

It's 23 degrees right now and the high today is supposed to be 32.

I am so sick of winter.

Incident Report

Crime: Assault and battery

Crime Scene:  The Henhouse

Victim: Hubby LaRoo

"He just came at me.  He's crazy, I tell ya'."

Suspect: Tubby Malone

Witnesses:

Henny and Penny, "We didn't see nothin'!"

Li'l Red Hen, "Idiots."

"Will they be going on 'oliday?"