Midnight Babies

Our neighbor was out checking on her horses late last night and heard baby goats crying. She went to check and Pansy had had her babies in the shed. She called us and we went out to get them since the weather forecast was stormy and cold.

So in the middle of the night, we (with our neighbor's help) lead Pansy and Billy and carried the babies to the barn. Pansy is not used to the lead rope, so I started out by dragging her, then our neighbor took over and even carried her part of the way. Pansy probably weighs about 50-60 pounds. Surprisingly, she did not struggle while being carried. Our neighbor is a woman, which begs the question, "Just who is the Pansy here?"

Pansy seems to be a better mother than Hyacinth was in the beginning. She had the babies all cleaned up and doesn't kick them away when they try to nurse. The babies are two boys (I think). The white one is really showing his boer roots. I don't know where that little fawn one got his coloring. It would be interesting to know their bloodline. They sure don't have much of their sire in them.

Having all the goats in the barn, as well as the pouring rain, is putting a crimp in my donkey weaning plans. I don't have an empty stall now, so the only way I'd have room for a donkey is if I put Pansy in with Hyacinth, which would probably be OK, but if we don't get a break in the rain, I won't be going out there trying to get Henry in the barn.

Weaning

My neighbor suggested that I borrow her horse trailer to move the donkeys when it's time to wean (in two days). Of course, they won't go in it, so I'm not exactly sure how it will help. Neighbor brought the trailer over and parked it in the donkey pasture. The idea is to feed them in it so that they be comfortable with it, then on the designated day, they'll go in to eat and I'll just close the door behind them. Easy peasy!

Not.

The trailer wasn't moved in until last night. Today was the first day I tried putting their food in it. They wouldn't go in - at least not while I was watching. If the food is gone tomorrow, I'll know that they snuck in during the night. In any event, two days is not enough time to condition them to the trailer.

I think the best plan is to get Henry and Kip into separate stalls in the barn and let them pitch their I-want-mommy fits in a safe, enclosed environment that I have easy access to.

There are multiple problems with this plan. I'm mulling over solutions. In the meantime, still trying to get the halter on Kip.

Tom is still dealing with water heater fall-out. The new heater was installed today. We have very good insurance. State Farm has always done right by us. Of course, it helps to have an agent that is a member of the church. We've been told that they will pay for the replacement of all the damaged carpet rather than just having it cleaned. Since the carpet was installed in huge pieces (like our whole master bedroom and bath was installed as one whole piece rather than cutting it at the doorway), we will be getting a great deal of new carpet. And since the water heater guys really dirtied up the stairway carpet, the insurance company will pay for new carpet there, too. Of course, we have a deductible, but we might actually break even or better because we were going to have to have the carpet cleaned anyway.

So, even though this event is terribly inconvenient, we might be better off for it.

When It Rains...

I was thinking as I was writing the To Do List entry that things are going too good and I shouldn't be writing that. I was too smug. Well, I wasn't really smug because I was aware that something must always go bad as soon as things are going good. Was I right?

First, the Dodge truck broke down as Tom was driving it in town towing a trailer. Something to do with the fuel system. Thankfully, he was close to the Dodge dealership and could leave it there for repair. Big money.

Then, last night the realtor called Tom. The house was being shown to a prospective buyer and there was water dripping from the ceiling of the master bedroom. For those not familiar with our previous home, there are no pipes above the master bedroom. There is only another bedroom above it and above that - the attic, which contains the hot water heater.

Tom had to rush to the house an hour and a half away to check things out. The hot water heater has come to the end of it's lifespan. Hot water heaters do not die alone. They like to take part of the house with them. The water has leaked through the ceiling on the second floor, soaking a large area of ceiling, wall, and carpet; down into the first floor, soaking more ceiling, wall, and carpet. Tom soaked up as much as he could with every towel in the house and turned all of the water off.

He went back today to pull up the carpet and take out the carpet pad. Tomorrow he has to go back to deal with the new water heater installer, the insurance company, the carpet company, the dry wall repairer and whatever else needs to be dealt with. Big money.

Tom went out to load up the Dodge for tomorrow trip back. The truck is dead.

On another note, Wednesday is a full moon. I never knew anything about full moons and never have paid attention to them. Who knew we had a full moon every month? I think. Anyway, those in the know recommend weaning equines during a full moon. It's time to wean Kip and Henry. Wednesday is the scheduled day. I'm not sure how we're going to accomplish the separation, but we're going to give it our best shot.

This Tree

I love this tree. It stands all alone in the middle of a neighbor's pasture (except for that dumb cow that wouldn't move) and has that funky twist in it's trunk.

To Do List

I've about had it with this excessively windy weather. It is very unpleasant, but warm today, so I could at least do a few things outside.

I'm a list person. I like to keep a to do list going all the time because some days, when I'm trying to decide what to do, I can't remember anything that needs to get done. I also like to write it on a nice clean piece of paper. A to do list on the computer just doesn't satisfy. When we had the hired guys working on the house, I kept a list for them so they could check off what they had done and wouldn't always have to ask me, "What next?"

On our to do list right now is:

Build chicken coop
Build garden shed
Weed/fertilize hay field
Finish baseboards
Paint bathroom vanity (in progress)
Build shell of barn apartment
Organize garage
Install new front door (which should arrive any day now)
Shop for drapery fabric
Mulch garden
Make tomato soup
Finish goat fencing pastures
Halter work on donkeys
Paint powder room ceiling (in progress)

I also try to prioritize the list partially. Some of the things aren't urgent and can be worked on any time, but our priority now is to build the chicken coop and my garden shed. The garden shed is partially built, since we're just going to enclose one of the loafing sheds and put shelves in it. Oh, and I'm going to use some of the saltillo tiles taken out of the house as a floor in the shed. I'm very excited about this garden shed. I think we might even reuse a couple of the windows and a door that we took out of the house when we remodeled.

I add to the list as things come up and it feels so very good to be able to cross a project off the list. This evening Tom and I are going to Lowes and I hope to find some organizational tools to use in the garage.

On another note, it has become quite easy to move Hyacinth and the kids to and from the barn/pasture. We stroll out in the morning and they graze along the way. It doesn't take much coaxing to get them to the pasture and the kids run right in the gate like they know where to go. Then in the evening, I can hardly walk fast enough to keep up with them on the way back to the barn. Seems that once they know the routine, they're happy enough to go along with it. There is no more flopping on the ground and pouting and it is an enjoyable quiet time for me in the morning. It will be interesting to see if Pansy is as agreeable to the routine as Hyacinth is.

Rose seems completely recovered and her head is finally healing. She's still quite a bit smaller than Cosmos, but she doesn't let him push her out of the way while nursing anymore. In fact, she even pushes him away sometimes.

Bossy Goat

A goat-raising friend said that he mixes diatomaceous earth with his goat mineral as a de-wormer for his goats. I've been chemically de-worming mine so far, which involves syringes and/or eye-droppers and more medicine on me that in the goat's mouth.

I did a little research on the internet, and it seems that there are other people who use diatomaceous earth for that purpose. Now, I don't know if my goats have worms or ever had worms and I don't really intend to try to find out. But I have read that goats have worms and that they must be de-wormed regularly or they could die a slow death - especially mothers of newborns. So I've been dutifully de-worming.

Tom and I decided to give the d-earth a try and I bought some little buckets to screw onto the walls of their sheds and stalls in which to serve the mineral/d-earth concoction. I quickly installed one in the empty stall after moving Hyacinth and kids to the pasture. Then I went to install one in Billy's loafing shed. What a project.

I barely made it across the field to the shed without Billy knocking me over. He is getting so aggressive. Not mean, just pushy and trying to assert his dominance. When I finally got to the shed and tried to install the bucket, Billy had his nose stuck in everthing and was climbing all over me. He's probably about 100 lbs. now and it's no small thing to have a 100 lb. goat pushing, shoving, and jumping all over you.

So I trooped back across the field, having to hold onto Billy's ears to keep him from ramming me, to get my rope out of the golfcart. I tied Billy to the fence and let him wrestle with the rope while I went back and finished my task. Should have done that in the first place. Good lesson learned.

Wind Shields

This is the new golf cart cover that Tom found. It so happens that it also fits on his tractor, so he got two. It really helps keep us warm while we're driving around.

Please!

Help me convince my husband to build me some gates.

More of The Visit

So here's my little entourage. And what's farming without a stylish hat?

Outlaw's Visit

I usually hate, hate, hate to have my picture taken and certainly would never voluntarily show a picture of me to anyone. So why am I posting pics of me for the whole world to see...assuming the whole world were interested in looking at my blog?

Well, my in-laws came to visit and they took a bunch of pictures of me, the animals, the farm and one of the back of Tom's head. So, either FIL is a terrible picture taker (sorry Sr. Tom) and didn't capture me close enough to make me look awful, OR he's really good and made me look halfway decent. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure...A little game of goat jump-rope and a surprisingly squeamish Anne helping me doctor Rose.

And since I have not yet figured out how to post pics with captions under them, I'll continue the pics in another entry.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Bleh. Even though the sun is shining bright, it's cold here today and the wind is howling. Tom and I went to the First Monday Tree Blowout sale to buy some fruit trees. They advertised that all trees with white tags were $10. What they didn't advertise that the fruit trees with white tags were $15. That was kind of a bummer.

We tromped around in the howling wind and chose two Barlett Pear, two Bruce Plum, and two Golden Delicious Apple trees. When we got home, I looked in my Texas Organic Gardening book (Howard Garrett) to see of there were any special planting or care instructions. The first thing I read was that we should avoid planting Barlett Pears. Hmph. Well, it's too late now. I guess we'll just plant them and see what happens. Apparently, they are very susceptible to a disease called fireblight. There's nothing like doing your research after a purchase.

It wouldn't be so bad if we had made the mistake for just ourselves, but our neighbor wanted us to get some trees for her, too. She originally just wanted some oaks, but when we told her we were getting fruit trees, she changed her mind and told us to get whatever we were getting for ourselves. So now we each have two problematic, possibly useless, pear trees.

Sing Along

Spiderman, Spiderman,

Does whatever a spider can.

Spins a web, any size. Catches thieves- just like flies.

Look out! Here comes the Spiderman.

Morning Walk

Everyone eats grass on our morning walk to the goat pen.

Got Milk?

Hmmm, I think milking is a bust this season. There is so much that we don't know.

It's been hard to get more than a few ounces out of Hyacinth. In my reading on goat websites yesterday, one of the dairy owners said that she doesn't even bother to milk her first time "fresheners" (to freshen is to have a kid and start producing milk) because they often only produce enough to feed their kids. She waits until their second or third freshening. Then she can usually get up to a gallon a day from the good milk producers.

So, I should have gotten a doe that has had kids before if I wanted milk this season, which I did. I'm wondering if after the kids are weaned, I can continue to milk a little from her until it's time to dry her off?

Also discovered that you cannot stagger the does so that you have one in milk all year. They are seasonal breeders, so after they are bred, you have to stop milking them until after their kids are born. Basically, there is no milk production during the winter. Which is a good thing, actually, because who wants to get up on freezing cold winter mornings to go milk goats? Not me. Also, the milk can be frozen up to a year, so it is possible to store up milk for the winter.

...Later That Day

Larry and Terra came over this afternoon. Terra raised goats in high school, so we asked if she had any ideas on how to get Rose to eat. She did and she did.

Terra had several little tips and sat down with Rose to feed her the bottle. She discovered that Rose had a HUGE wad of cud in her mouth/throat, so Terra dug it out. We don't know if that was the whole problem, but Rose was able to finish the bottle, with Terra's help after the cud was removed.

So, she's better for now. At least she has milk in her tummy. We'll see how she does tonight.

ETA: After church, Tom, Meagan, and I went out prepared to milk Hyacinth and give Rose a bottle. But Rose jumped up on the milking stand with momma and started nursing. We decided to see if she could do it. She was having a little trouble, so I stuck my finger in her mouth and pulled out a wad of cud about the size of a muscadine. After that, she was able to nurse almost normally and filled her little belly.

I'll talk to the vet about why she's having problems with the cud. Maybe her rumen (whatever that is) isn't working properly.

Still Standing

Rose is still standing... like a little scarecrow. Meagan thought we may be able to dribble milk into her throat with an eye dropper, so she has gone to town to get one.

Trouble in Goat Land

Rose has had a setback and is not doing well at all. I'll be surprised if she lives.

Wednesday and Thursday, she was perfectly fine, frolicking all over the place. But Friday morning, she was very lethargic, huddled in one spot and shivering just like before. She is very skinny and is not growing like Cosmos is. I don't know how much milk she is getting since Hyacinth won't stand still for them to nurse whenever I'm around. I thought she was probably letting them nurse when I wasn't there because the babies seemed to be thriving.

I held Hyacinth still (no small feat) so that the babies could nurse and I could observe them closely. It looks like what is happening is that Rose is not getting the whole teat in her mouth and it keeps popping out. So while Cosmos is sucking vigorously, Rose is constantly searching for the teat and only getting a little sip every once in a while. Then when she actually latches on tenuously, Cosmos will shove her out of the way and take the teat that she had.

I'm not sure why she can't seem to nurse effectively. Maybe something is wrong with her mouth. Tonight I noticed that her jaw feels a bit swollen.

I've tried bottle feeding her, but she won't take a bottle. I've tried separating Cosmos from his mother and sister so that his sister can nurse without his interference, but Rose won't attempt to nurse unless Cosmos does. I am able to get her to nurse if I put Hyacinth on the milking stand so that she can't get away, but she still doesn't get enough because Hyacinth will wiggle and kick, which makes it even more difficult for Rose to keep the teat in her mouth.

At this point, I have done all I can. I called the vet today and I've done everything he suggested...and then some. It's very sad to watch her standing there all forlorn and shivering. If she makes it through tomorrow, I'll take her to the vet so he can check her out again.

Recovery Is Underway

I took Rose to the vet. Her head was a little infected. The vet said that when she was disbudded, the iron must have slipped a little bit and too much tissue was involved in the wound. Actually, her eye narrowly escaped being damaged or put out. We put a heat lamp in the goat's stall as per the vet's instructions to keep them warmer.

She got an antibiotic shot and I was given a steroid/antibiotic ointment for her. I've been treating both babies just in case. They both are much better today - came out of the barn leaping and running as we made our way to the goat pasture. They spent the day outside and everyone is happy.

Wait a Minute

I didn't sign up for this, not the brutality of farming.

Warning: Soft hearted or squeamish might not want to read this. I don't want to write it.

All the goat websites tell me "you do not want to own a goat with horns". Goat dairy goat farmers all say that the goats should be dehorned, debudded, disbudded. They can be dangerous; goats fight each other and sometimes will gore each other; even a docile, friendly goat might hurt a person accidentally; horns get caught in fences; especially Billy goats get aggressive and may use their horns, etc.

So following the prevailing advice, I arranged to have the babies disbudded yesterday.

It was horrible, brutal, terrible. I cried. I shouldn't have watched. But I thought I needed to so I could learn to do it myself. Now that I've seen it done, I know that I could never do it myself.

I chose the disbudding iron method (all methods are horrible). It's like a soldering iron, but it has a ring on the end rather than just a point. The iron reaches over 2,000 degrees. It is heated up, then pressed for 7-10 seconds onto the base of the horn bud, which is a little larger than a dime. It sizzles and sputters, burning through the flesh to the skull. The baby screams, but I discovered it's worse when they don't scream. The woman who performed the disbudding (a goat farmer herself) does an extra step because, "every time I didn't the horn grew back". (Horns that grow back are called scurs. They can cause problems because they are deformed and can curl up, growing into the skull of the goat and must be either removed or trimmed regularly).

That extra step is to take the end of the iron and burn/dig the little nub of horn until it pops off. Horrible.

After the deed was done, we put the babies back in with momma. They were quiet. Dazed. But they did nurse a little. That seemed to comfort them.

When I went to let Hyacinth out to graze yesterday evening, the babies were perky. They were running and playing at top speed, climbing whatever they could find to climb, leaping into the air like little jack-in-the-boxes. So I thought all was well. The only sign they showed of possible pain was an occasional pause and quick shake of their head, like, "ow, what's up with that?" then they were off again.

This morning, everything was not rosy. Baby girl is standing kind of huddled and shivering. She didn't come out of the barn when Hyacinth was let out. I gave her a few hours to perk up, but when I checked on her this afternoon, she was the same. Her little horn spots are not clean and healing like Cosmos' are. The top of her head stinks. Cosmos' doesn't. I think she has an infection so I'm taking her to the vet in an hour.

In the pictures, you can tell which is Cosmos and which is Rose. Yes, that is skull that you are seeing.

The Painted House

What Am I Doing?

Sometimes I have moments of clarity and I wonder, "What am I DOING?" I had one of those moments yesterday.

It took thirty minutes to move Hyacinth and her babies, Cosmos and Rose, from the barn to the pen. She wanted to browse along the way, which is fine, but...browse while walking, already! No, she wanted stand and browse, take a step, stand and browse, take another step...

And if I tried to drag her, she fell to her knees like a martyr. If I didn't give in, she flopped down on the ground like a beached whale, laying on her side, still grazing from the prone position. She wouldn't get up until all the grass around her face was eaten. **sigh** I need to learn to carry my camera.

Finally, I got the bright idea to loop the lead rope, which was attached to her collar, under her chest behind her front legs. I could prevent the falling-to-the-knees and belly flops and drag her along at a reasonable speed.

By the time we made it to the pen, the babies had given up and laid (layed? lain?) down in the grass to take a nap. I shoved Hyacinth in the gate and ran back to get the them, while Hyacinth made a dash back out of the gate. Thankfully, she's not one to run off (like Pansy) and the lead rope was still on her so she was easily recovered.

Taking the Babies For a Walk

The Stand that Tom Built

I searched for weeks for a milking stand, to no avail. So Tom (with Paden's help) built this. Now to train Hyacinth to stand still on it.

Knock Down Drag Out

OK, Tom and I are butting heads over names. I told him, after he named Buffy, Hilde, and Billy that his naming days are over. All of our goats (except Billy) will be named flower names starting with Hyacinth and Pansy. He is insisting that we name the goats after some friends from church, Jack and Tammy. But I'm the one with the registration powers and the babies will be named Cosmos and Rose.

Jack, if you read this and have any inclination to have a goat named after you...just remember that you owe me one for including the herd of goats in the mural.

Oh, and BTW, we were mistaken, there is one boy and one girl. Don't laugh.

So Far, So Good

Tom and I went to bed around 10:00 last night after dealing with the babies all evening. Then we got up at midnight to go check on them, expecting to have to hold Hyacinth still so they could nurse. We crept quietly into the barn, peeked over the stall door and saw that one of the babies was nursing on it's own and that momma was standing still. We decided that we'd leave well enough alone - after all, God created them to do that kind of thing without our "help". So we went back to bed.

I've had what I think is an awful reaction to my tetanus shot - terrible nausea, chills while feeling hot, and horrible aches and pains. My whole body hurts, even my skin. I've diagnosed myself with the aid of google, but I could be wrong and actually have the flu. I haven't had the flu since...well, I can't remember the last time. Anyway, I'm so glad that Hyacinth has taken to her mommy duties. Tom and I went out to the barn to check on her around 7:00 this morning and both babies were nursing on their own. Thank goodness. I don't think I could handle this situation feeling like I do. I could barely drag myself out to the barn and have spent a good deal of the day laying on the bed fretting about all the things I had planned to do today.

I called the vet this morning to ask about the one baby's ankle. He told me to splint it with a piece of PVC pipe, leave it on for 24 hours, then take it off. Since we had already splinted it with a toilet paper roll, and it was holding up good (she was able to walk on it this morning), we just left it on and will take it off tonight and see how she does.

Twins!

Hyacinth had her babies today. They are tiny and cute. Of course, I was in Dallas tending to the other house. Tom was at the farm alone with everything happening at once - repairing the truck, receiving the piano that I had sent with the movers today, trying to get the babies to the barn. He missed the actual births, just heard the tiny bleating out in the pasture, went to check and there they were.

Hyacinth is not being a good mother. We're having to hold her still while the babies nurse. I don't think they've had their fill yet, but with Hyacinth kicking and wiggling and the babies not strong enough or adept enough to nurse efficiently, it's impossible to get their tummies full. As far as I can tell, both the babies are girls (good for resale value) and they are almost identical, except one is bigger than the other. The bigger one has a problem with her front foot. She can't hold it straight to stand and walk and ends up walking on the front of her ankle. Tom and I put a little cardboard cast on it. We'll see how that works.

I think tonight, maybe the next few nights will be typical new parent nights since we'll have to check on the babies and see that they haven't starved to death. Bad Hyacinth.

Oh no, OH NO!

I think Hyacinth is going to have her baby within a couple of days. I'm not ready!

She has a discharge and other bodily changes. The goat websites say that a discharge usually appears a couple of days before kidding. I don't know if she had the discharge yesterday or if it just started today.

Goat babies are going to change my life, rock my world, make me get up early on freezing mornings to harvest milk. What have I done?!

Manicures and English

Are all the manicurists in the world Vietnamese, or is it just in America?

Sez Hilde...

"Does this halter make my ears look big?"

YeeHaw!

Husbands Are Good

My wonderful husband saved the day again. After Carpenter tore down the wall, got the shelf off, and put the wall back together, Tom told him not to touch the shelf and to go home.

Then, tonight he enlarged the holes (I realize this may not make any sense unless one sees the actual design) so that they would slip onto the rods easily. He leveled everything all out. The shelves are up and the dishes are on it. It is finished.

How?

I keep wondering how...why? How can I find so many terrible contractors? Why can nothing be done simply and without incident? Why do all my house projects turn into disasters? Do I have something stamped on my forehead that says, "Cheat me, mess up my house,"? Am I trying to do things too cheaply?

Then I have to remind myself that this is the nature of remodeling. Nothing goes right.

And I had a good reminder last night while watching TV, a show called, My Amazing Remodel.

A husband/wife bought four apartments in a Chicago highrise and remodeled them into one 3,300 square foot home. Their original budget was $800,000.00 and the completion was estimated to be a year. Five months after their forecasted completion date, they were $200,000.00 over budget and not finished. They didn't do anything cheaply, they bought the best of everything, they paid big time contractors...but everything still went wrong. So I guess these kinds of things are equal opportunity, sparing nobody - cheapsters or spendthrifts.

Unbelievable

Un..be..lievable.

Carpenter came yesterday to install floating shelves on backsplash. He had currently installed metal rods through the studs and built the shelves with holes in the back for the rods to slide into. I told him 2 or 3 times that the rods didn't look level to me. He insisted they were. I stained and finished the shelves and they were ready to install. He made them to fit onto the rods so tightly that they couldn't be put on and tested. I was uncomfortable with that, but assumed he knew what he was doing. When, when, when will I learn not to assume that!?

So when I held the finished shelves up to the finished tile wall in place where they should go, I could see that there would be a gap where gap should not exist. Carpenter worked on that yesterday afternoon and this afternoon.

THEN, he put the top shelf on. POUND, POUND, POUND, BANG, BANG, BANG. He pounded the shelf with a rubber mallet and finally it was on. I was sitting here thinking, "I hope that's right because it is never coming off." He went out for a smoke. I got up to look. It wasn't level. Just like I said. It wasn't level and, to boot, he had knocked out some grout. So now the question is, am I willing to live with a crooked shelf for the rest of my life? The answer is, "No, I am not." One thing I learned in my other kitchen remodel is that the first thing my eye sees when I walk into a room in my home is the crooked thing, or the thing not done right. I can see that shelf from living room, the dining room, the hall, and the kitchen. I am not willing. I just am not.

"So, Carpenter, you know that's not level, right?" "Yes," he says, then he proceeds to tell me all the reasons that it's not level, none of them having to do with his capabilities. It's not his fault. It's the wall's fault, it's Tom's fault, it's the wood's fault, it's the weather's fault.

"So, Carpenter, what are we going to do about this?" We mulled over the possibilities. None of them good. Some of them with the possibility of destroying my backsplash. I want to cry. He tugs on the shelf. I want to punch him. He wiggles the shelf.

His solution: Go outside, take the paneling off of the outside wall, unbolt the steel rods, push the shelf off from the back, rods and all.

While he is outside pounding, banging, taking off the window casing, taking off the panel trim, taking off the paneling, I am wanting to call Tom and cry "Help!", but he's in a business mtg. in Dallas and I don't want to burden him. So the pounding, banging and other horrible noises continue. Then Tom calls! "What's going on?" "I want to cry." "Why, what happened?" And I relate the afternoon events.

Tom talks to Carpenter, then to me, then to Carpenter. I don't know what was decided but there are still horrible noises and deathly fear that my tile is going to be knocked off the wall. And Shelf still remains.

Pasture Junk

I am constantly amazed at what farmers will leave out in the field to rot. The latest find is this mower, which Tom almost ran over while mowing the pasture behind the pond. BTW, I didn't even know there was a pasture behind the pond.

He asked Cowboy Cory if it was salvageable, but apparently it was too old, too rusted, too terrible, so Tom resolved to take it to the metal scrap yard. Since the metal scrap yard doesn't take rubber tires, Tom spent five hours sawing off the tires. He got $28.00 for the mower. Then he took the old tires to the tire recycling place and had to pay the guy $20.00 to take them.

Tire guy: "I hate to take your money, why don't you just bury them on your land?"

Tom: "No, my wife doesn't want me to bury junk."

Tire guy: "Can't you just dig a hole somewhere where she can't see it and don't tell her?"

Tom: "No, she would know."

Talking Dogs

After greeting the tile guy, Reese, and his helper, Chance, with the usual fierce barking, sniffing, and tail wagging, Pearlie settled down for a nap on the couch.

About an hour later, she jumps up, runs into the kitchen and barks furiously.

Me: "Pearlie, what are you barking at?"

Reese: "The two tile guys working in the kitchen for the past hour."

Pearlie: "I forgot."

Reese: "That's OK."

Weedeating

Weedeaters are not made for girls. No doubt, they are designed by and made for use by males. They are too heavy, too long, too awkward, and they don't work right. Perhaps men have more patience with unreliable equipment than women do.

I've decided to take on the task of weedeating the fenceline. The picture above shows about a quarter of the fenceline that borders the road, which is my targeted area. It has taken days to accomplish this little bit - one side of the fence, even. I still have to weedeat the other side.

And why should it take that long? It shouldn't. Now, I have a little female electric weedeater, designed for the weaker ones among us. It's light, it recharges, the nylon line lets itself out when it needs to, it doesn't die, it starts with a push of the button. The problem is, it's for small jobs and doesn't last long.

The serious weedeating must be done by the male weedeater. To start it requires many yanks of the cord and adjusting the switches just so. It dies every couple of minutes, requiring more yanking and adjusting. If that's not enough to wear a woman's arm out, toting the 50 lb. monster around and trying to aim it at weeds without wrapping it around barbed wire is. In addition to that, the nylon cord is a constant problem - too short, too long, disappearing altogether - and banging it on the ground to get it to let out...don't even get me started.

Anyway, Tom has tinkered and repaired and modified and I'll be back out there again today, running back to him every 10 minutes so he can tinker, repair, and modify some more. Maybe by spring time, I'll have the fenceline cleaned up so it can all grow back again.

Backsplash

After much trouble and many delays (courtesy of Direct Buy and Daltile), my kitchen tile finally arrived. My tile guy didn't waste any time. I called him on Friday afternoon and he came to install the tile on Monday. It's done and it looks great. The only thing left to do is to install the two shelves that are ready and waiting. Tom even installed the light fixture over the sink. How wonderful it is to have light there now.

My only regret (I always have 'em) is that I should have chosen the lighter of the two mosaic tile samples that I had narrowed my choices down to for the bottom part of the backsplash. The darker mosaic has too much color and is so busy that the beautiful mother-of-pearl trim piece gets lost in the mosaic. **sigh**

Success!

Henry is submitting to being led with a rope now and I can put the halter on and take it off without too much fuss. I captured a moment of resistance to being tied up, but that's about as bad as it gets...a little pulling and snorting, then he's over it. I led him all the way across the pasture yesterday. My goal is to get him weaned and moved in with the goats by the time they have their babies.

Some progress is being made with Hilde and Buffy, the moms. They aren't freaking out and dashing away when I come in with the rope and halter and they will stick their noses through the nose piece to reach the treats I offer. Yesterday, I was able to keep their nose in the loop and put the longer strap up around their ears. Next step is getting it buckled on. I need three hands.

Exciting Purchase

Who knew buying...uh...chicken nesting boxes(?) would be exciting? I found these at the First Monday flea market and bought them for 35 dollars a piece. It's hard to tell from the picture, but there are two of them, each with ten nesting boxes. After we build our chicken coop, we'll install these inside and, hopefully, the chickens will lay eggs in them.

Take Me To Your Leader

With Goat

Hyacinth. Pregnant or not?

Nosy Goat

...and maybe a little help from Billy.

Loafing Sheds

The previous owner of the property had built partial loafing sheds. Mostly they were four poles with tin roofs. A couple of them have wooden sides half way up. We found that these were not enough shelter for the animals when it was both raining and freezing. They didn't seem to mind standing in the rain, even pouring, driving rain this past summer, but they were obviously miserable when they got wet and cold. From what I've read about donkeys, their coats don't shed water like a horse's will. They just get soaked to the skin. It didn't seem to be a good idea to let the babies get soaked with the freezing weather coming.

The sheds didn't do much more than provide shade in the summer because the wind blew through them, carrying the rain right along. So Tom's project as been enclosing the sheds on three and a half sides. It's much cozier for them and they hunker down in the sheds when the weather gets bad.

To enclose the goat shed, Tom used some tin that he got off the old barn. Then he bought some new tin to enclose the donkey shed. His plan was to paint the sheds to match the barn. I didn't like that because I'm sure that painting the sheds will be such a low priority that it will never get done, but Tom insisted that he will paint them. Then, we priced the paint and discovered that it will cost more to paint the sheds than to buy the tin already painted the right color. Sigh.

Anyway, Tom got two sheds done with a little help from me and more from Paden and his friend.

Cold Showers

When you have a propane tank, don't let it get empty.

I'm just sayin'.

Brickwork

It's been a month or so, but we finished the breezeway, which was previously a covered outside walkway/narrow porch between the kitchen door and the carport (turned garage) door. I'll post pics of the inside later, but in the meantime, this is a pic of the outside...where the two windows are is where the walkway used to be.

We discovered that the brick was Antique Chicago, which actually does mean antique Chicago. The bricks are from old buildings in Chicago that have been torn down and repurposed. It wasn't possible to match what was already on the house, not exactly, because obviously, the bricks used on the house 30 years ago were from a different building than the bricks we were able to buy now. An interesting thing I found out that the different colors on the bricks are caused by signs that had been painted on the old buildings. Like, if you get some with red or black or white, it may have been a Coca-Cola sign. Anyway, needless to say, our brick doesn't match, but it's very close and I don't mind. If you look closely, you can tell. The color difference would probably have been much more noticeable if I hadn't noticed and stopped the brick layer from using grey grout. The rest of the grout on the house is a dark tan. I felt bad because he was already starting on his third row of bricks. But who uses grey grout on a tan grout house? He was a good sport, though, and took it all down, remixed the grout to my satisfaction and did a fantastic job otherwise.

Oh, and we have a whole pallet left over. The place where I bought the brick estimated that I needed two pallets, but we only ended up using one. Then they wouldn' t take the other pallet back. Oh well, I'll just have to think of some fun project to do with the brick.

To Pick or Not To Pick

Apparently, I have no clue as to when to harvest my vegetables, as evidenced by the giant zucchini and now the giant v. tiny carrots. I read somewhere, Howard Garrett's book? carrot seed package? that carrots are to be picked when the tops are wilted. That didn't sound right to me because when I see carrots with tops in the produce section of the grocery store, they always have pretty tops. But I tried it anyway. I waited and waited and the tops never wilted. They just got bigger. So I pulled up a test carrot and it was enormous, so I pulled up several more. Some of them were tiny babies, some were normal sized, and a couple were freakishly large.

We, well, not me, ate some for lunch on Sunday. I made a roast for us and we invited the visiting preacher and his wife. I always put carrots in the pot roast. I don't like them, but the rest of my family does. I guess they were OK. Nobody complained. But I didn't use the huge ones. For some reason, I think that overgrown ones might not be good.

The goats and donkeys enjoyed the carrot tops.

Oh yeah, I harvested some broccoli, too. In the middle of December. Amazing!

Kamikazee Casualties

Awww! Yesterday, for some unknown reason, birds started crashing into the living room windows. I don't know what is different than all the days before when they didn't crash into the windows, but it was happening all day. Then, this morning, when a HAWK crashed into the window, it prompted me to go have a look. This is what I discovered. Two sad little birds, a Cardinal and a Woodpecker, must have broken their tiny necks in their headlong dash toward what they must have thought was a clear passageway through my living room. I taped a piece of newspaper up in the middle of the window in hopes that it will give the rest of the birds enough pause to save their lives.

Well, Surprise!

We got a surprise donkey today. We had given up on Hilde having a baby. She wasn't getting big a fat like Buffy did, so we figured there was no baby on the way. Then, all of the sudden, she had a baby by her side. It must have been born last night or in the wee hours of the morning. We don't know if it's a boy or girl. Hilde is being more protective of her baby than Buffy was and she wouldn't let me near it. Either way, in keeping with the Bosom Buddies them, this baby has been dubbed Kip.

Fire!

We got the fireplace all cleaned out and working. Tom found some newfangled fireplace grate, called Grate Wall of Fire, on the internet and ordered it. He installed it tonight and it's working great. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I can't wait for Thanksgiving to have a house full of family and a cozy fire...if it isn't 80 degrees outside, which is entirely possibly here in Texas.

Pickled Kitten

Fireplace, Extra Large

When we bought the house, it had a pellet burning stove insert in the fireplace. We thought, "Why buy pellets to burn, when we have enough wood to last for years?" So we pulled the stove out and are awaiting a chimney sweep's services. The fireplace is unique, in that it has tunnels built into it that lead to vents in both sides and the back of the fireplace. Those tunnels have fans somewhere in them that we can turn on with a switch. We're hoping that the fireplace will help to heat the whole house so that we won't have to depend so much on the heater. Chimney Sweep arrives tomorrow so we shall soon be able to test our theory.

I Bought These Today

I know, they look like something out of The Cat in the Hat, but they looked warm. For some reason, I feel like I need extra warm things out here in the country.