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.

Early Morning Fog

Oh My!

A storm is coming and it's supposed to get cold, so I moved the goats back into their regular pen where Tom and I had renewed their bedding, nice thick and cozy.

I had to move their water bucket and food dish before I moved them, so I first picked up their food dish and flung it over the fence to be cleaned. It landed upside down and I noticed that the rim on the bottom was stuffed with hay, as usual. I thought I had flung it hard enough so that the hay would fall out, but it stuck there like glue. I pulled out a tuft of hay and what lurked under there? What is it that was holding that hay in there? Ack! A big fat BLACK WIDOW SPIDER had made a web and stuck hay to it. And I had put my ungloved fingers in there!

I am so lucky that black widows are not aggressive. Otherwise, I surely would have been bit. That is so scary. I must remember to where gloves when I'm sticking my hands in dark scary places.

First Fall Harvest

I picked my first zucchini yesterday. They're little, so I probably picked them a bit too early, but Howard Garrett says they are very good and tender when picked small. The peas are making lots of peas, but I'm not sure when to pick them. I remember shelling purple hull peas when I was a kid, but these peas don't look like those. Should I wait until they are dry and purple? Will they even get dry and purple?

We also need to get the summer garden section ready for planting Hairy Vetch. To do that, I need to get the tomato vines out of there so Tom can mow and plow. But the tomatoes are still making like crazy. I think it's too cool for them because they aren't ripening well, but I still feel bad about cutting them down.

Trash

Why do people do this? This is the eighth old tire we've found out in the field.

Deep Dark Forest

Here are some pics of our little forest.

Kitten Pics

We finally took the plunge and brought my desktop to the farm and it works great! So far.

So, here are the kittens. That's Jasper with Pearlie. S/he just wants to rub up against Pearlie the way cats do, but it freaks Pearlie out. Then there's picture of Jasper's skunk stripe. Last one is Alice.

No Pics

I haven't been blogging much recently because my internet connection at the farm is so terrible. And I can't post pics because I've moved my camera out to the farm, but not my computer so I can't download (upload?) them.

I got my barn cats...kittens...last week. They're so cute; black and white. One looks kind of like a skunk. Meagan named them Alice and Jasper (with a nod to the Twilight series that she's reading). I took lots of pics, but alas...

Anyway, the kittens are supposed to be living in the barn, but I'm afraid that snakes will eat them since they're so little. I've been keeping them in the breezeway of the house. It's fairly animal proof and I can close it off to the rest of the house. I think Pearlie would die of frustration if the kittens had free access to the house. She seems to think they are toys. They look like her toys, feel like her toys, squeak like her toys, and play the same games that her toys play, but they move on their own and I don't allow her to bite them. She is a very confused dog. She'll probably be relieved when I move them into the barn in a week or so.

Henry has grown into the halter, so it's on him full time. He still resists being led, so that's something I'll have to work on. I tried encouraging him to walk along beside me by offering him a sugar cube, but he wouldn't have it. I even put it in his mouth and he spit it out. Maybe sugar is an acquired taste for baby equines. The grown-ups sure liked them. I also bought some apple flavored equine treats to bribe the donkeys with. I'm not sure that was a good idea. When they got a taste of those, I thought they were going to run me over trying to get more. I had to keep pushing them away so that I could lead (drag) Henry around.

Donkey Training

My neighbor told me that now is the time to start halter training Henry and she loaned me her training halter. I carried it out there with me for a couple of days to let him get used to just having it around. Then I put it on him and left it on for just a few minutes. He did resist a bit, but it was easier that I thought. I expected him to be far stronger than me and be able to pull away, but surprisingly, he wasn't and I was able to hold him still long enough to get the halter buckled.

Since the halter is made for a horse, it is too big for a baby donkey, so I didn't want to leave it on him for very long when I'm not around. Today I left it on for about four hours, but had to take it off before we left the farm.

My fall garden is starting to produce. I thought at first that hardly anything was going to grow because it took several veggies a long time to sprout. But things are looking good now. I've got several baby winter squashes and lots of Southern Pea pods. The bush beans, cucumbers and zucchini plants are getting pretty big. I had about decided that the carrots weren't going to come up at all, but I noticed today that there are a few tiny sprouts that look like carrot leaves. The corn still looks very pitiful. I doubt I'll be getting any fall corn.

Moving Slowly...or, Slowly Moving

We've been moving our belongings out to the farm bit by bit. The first major thing to go was the washer and dryer. When that was moved, it pretty much meant that we were living out there. Last weekend we got the beds, sofa, and a few other things moved. This weekend's goal is to get the dining room furniture moved.

Almost all of the baseboards are installed. I've been filling the nail holes, then I have to do some touchup and clear coat on them. After that, we can call it done.

Up there is a picture of my (much smaller than I'm used to) closet. I tore out all the original bars and shelves and put in a closet organizer to make the most use out of the small space.

Stubborn Henry

Henry is already showing a stubborn streak. He wants whatever it is that his mom is eating out of that bucket even though he doesn't know about eating food yet.