Slaughtering Day

Today Mark and Larry came over and helped Tom slaughter the two meat goats that were born last spring.  I really didn't want to see any of the process, but since Tom chose to hang them in a tree right next to the house until he can take them to the meat processor tomorrow, I was forced to look.

This is the only  picture I could bring myself to take.  Maybe next year, I'll be braver or more hardened.

I had to catch one of the goats for them and I felt like a traitor.  I used my come-to-dinner call, "Here goat, here goat.  It's OK".  Liar.

Far!

This is what we came home to tonight.  Don't be alarmed, it's not our house.  Some neighbors were doing a controlled burn on their hay field right across the street.  It was a bit scary to see, but they obviously had it under control.

Tom lit our burn pile so we could have a bonfire, our nieces could have s'mores and Meagan and I could have burnt marshmallows.  I caught the marshmallows on fire, risking scorched face, while my accomplished GSA leading sister, April, assembled the s'mores.  As usual, I forgot to get pictures of actual people, but here's a nice picture of our fire.  It's a good thing I don't attempt to make my living with photography.  We'd starve.  Maybe if I had a better camera?

As Promised

Hog limb from yesterday.  For the morbid among us, if you look close at the joint, you can see some honking big maggots (double click on picture to enlarge).

And, oh joy, Harry brought home the other leg this morning.

A lovely closeup Harry's hog hoof.

If I knew how to put a thought bubble in the picture above Harry's head, you would see what I saw as Harry proudly carried his ham hock, "Mom's garden will be the perfect place to bury this!"  Or, maybe the way Harry thinks, just a picture of the garden.

Yep, he's headin' in that direction.  Just as he was about to slip under the fence, I yelled, "Harreee! NO!"  He stopped and gave it some thought, then turned and headed for the mini forest.

I don't know if he changed his mind about the garden because I told him, "NO!" or because he didn't want me to see the actual burial.  He's very secretive, in his big dopey way, about where he buries his loot.

Limbs In the Driveway

I found the limb of a dead animal in the driveway today.  I think it was a hog leg.  Phew!  It was stinky and had big maggots in it.  I'm sure Harry is the one who drug it up here.  I threw it out by the barn, away from the house, but if I can find it again, I'll take a picture so everyone else can enjoy, if not the odor, then at least the bone, sinew, and nappy hair still clinging to it.

Yum, yum, what's for supper, Harry?!

Litterbugs

Why must some people throw their trash out the window of their vehicle?  Is it too much to ask to keep your own stupid beer can, water bottle, Twinkie wrapper, etc. in your own car until you get to your own home and throw it in your own trash can?  Some people are just pigs. 

Pretty Stuff

I bought this from local place that sells all kinds of metal art.  I'd had my eye on it for some time and finally decided one day that I'd just go get it and if it didn't look good in it's intended place (the master bedroom) that I could always hang it up on the front of the barn.  It doesn't look terribly big in the picture, but it's 40 inches across.

I hung it up in our still undecorated master bedroom.  I was afraid it would make the room look small, but instead it accentuates the largeness of the room.

And I'd found this mirror at a local store over a year ago and knew I wanted to buy it, but was waiting for it to go on sale.  It never did, but I was in a mood that same day and I went ahead and bought it for $179.00.  I was vindicated yesterday while looking at a catalog that I'd received in the mail.  They had that very same mirror priced at $349.00 plus shipping.  Now I feel like I got a great deal!

TIP O' THE DAY:  If you have a problem with flakiness on your face, wash it with T-Gel shampoo regularly.  **shrug** It worked for me.

A Big Thanks to Blogger.com

They finally made it possible and easy to position several pictures in one post with captions under them instead of me having to write one paragraph for several pictures and/or make a new post for each picture.  I don't know how long they've offered this, but I just recently decided to click on their upgrade and this was one of the features.  Yay!

More Babies, Freshly Born

I went out to the barn to feed the momma's this afternoon and this is what I found.  Two little boys (bah, we need some girls), still wet and minutes old.  I even helped Pansy expel the afterbirth since she was just letting it hang there.  I know, gross, but hey, I'm a farmer now.  When I saw the black one, I thought, "Who's yo' daddy?"  Billy's got him some powerful genes.

And I'm so happy that I was keeping Pansy in the barn with Hyacinth.  It's raining and yucky outside today and if Pansy hadn't already been in, Tom and I would have been out in the rain bringing goats in.  Yay for planning ahead!

Another tan one like last year.  Pansy is an attentive mother.  Much more so than Hyacinth.  She was nuzzling, licking, and muttering to them contstantly.

And she stands very still while they nurse instead of kicking them in the head in her haste to get away from them.  In this pic, you can see that the umbilical cord is still very fresh.

Baby Sittin'

Awww, just look at that sweet face.

Baby tried to nurse again.  Harry was very patient.

Harry decided to join in the grazefest and see what all the fuss was about.  No, he's not just sniffing, he really is eating the grass and did for some time.

I Kid You Not!

This morning...baby goat tried to nurse on Harry.  Harry stood very still with a hilariously baffled look while baby goat nudged around under him looking for the teat.  The look on Harry's face was priceless.

Annnd, for the first time ever, Hyacinth showed concern for a baby.  She saw her baby standing under big Harry dog and muttered worriedly a couple of times.  When the baby continued to nuzzle Harry, Hyacinth walked over, nudged him out from under Harry and led him away.  Maybe there's hope for that momma yet.

So, kick me. I never have my camera when I really, really need it. OK, so don't kick me, but at least remind me to get my camera before I ever leave the house.

It's a Boy

Hyacinth's new baby was born today.  When I went out to feed the goats, I noticed she was noticeably thinner and knew right away that she had given birth.  I ran down to the shed halfway expecting to find it dead because she had just left it there.  But it was fine, just laying in the sunlight shining into the front of the shed.  I am so glad she only had one this year.  Since she was such a bad mother last time, I was afraid we might have to go through that again.  Also, since she had mastitis last year and one side of her udder stopped producing milk, I thought that side was ruined for good.  But, her whole udder is very full and looks normal, so that's great.  Maybe I'll get lots of milk this season after all.

And this is why we had to get rid of all but two roosters and for the past couple of days we've had those two penned up separately from the hens.  This is what they do to their backs.  We let the roosters out today and penned up two of the hens with the worst wounds.  This is why I need to learn how to make chicken jackets!

Weird that somebody stole two of our Medina for Governor signs.  Was it meanness or did a Medina supporter want a sign for their own yard?  I suspect it was meanness.  I can't imagine a Medina supporter stealing a sign.

Spam. Bah!

Why do people spam blogs?  What a colossal waste of time and energy.  I just spent about an hour cleaning spam comments off my blog this morning.

Go Ahead, Make My Day

Now THIS brightened my day up considerably. I love flowers and this was a lovely thank-you from our weekend guest. Thank you, Edwin.

Motley Crew

Tom's friends arrived at the farm for a weekend extravaganza of guy talk. I felt smarter just being in the same house with these brainiacs.

An added bonus was that I was able to feed them dozens of our excess eggs.

Hallelujah!

I've finished the living room drapes. Finally. I am so glad that is over with.

Now I have to psche myself up to start the bedroom. :o(

I Should Get a Blobby

Don't worry if the heading doesn't make sense to you.

But, wow, I have three followers! I feel just like Ugly Betty with her six cat-loving weirdo followers. And I'm sort of eligible since my last name is Spanish in origin.

Chicken Sez

"'ello, what's this, then? 'ave we all gone on 'oliday?"

(This must be read with a Chicken Run English accent.)

Harry Sez

"Awesome!"

Winter Wonderland

We got record snow here in TX and aren't likely to see it again in many years - maybe in our lifetime. It's beautiful...and even quieter than it usually is here. I tossed on a coat over my PJs and slipped on my boots just to run out and take a few pictures, but when I got out there, it wasn't terribly cold and was so beautiful that I ended up staying out much longer than I planned.

A Few Things...

I can't remember when we've had such a long stretch of miserable weather. It has been overcast and/or raining for weeks. Everything is sodden and I seriously need some sunshine in my life. Pearlie doesn't want to go outside to potty. Today she has held it from 5:30 this morning until just now, 4:00 pm, when I made her go out.

We gave two of our roosters away, so we have two left. With four roosters and just nine hens, the hens were being abused. When we first started this farming endeavor with plans of getting chickens and I was reading in my chicken book about making jackets for the hens, I laughed and joked about it. But now I really do see the necessity for it. The roosters jump on the hens' back to breed and the hens get all torn up by the rooster's claws. This happens every day, several times a day. I'm hoping the hens will get a bit of a rest and their backs will be able to heal now that there are only two roosters after them.

I hadn't planned to name our chickens, but over time, in my mind, I've named the roosters. The ones we kept are Tubby and Hubby. Tubby, because he's the fattest rooster. Hubby, because since the beginning, he has hung out with one hen in particular. Tom and I didn't want to split the "little married couple" up so we made sure that Hubby didn't get butchered or given away.

Annnd, I sold some eggs yesterday. So far, I've just been giving them away. We have way too many for us to use and I enjoy sharing them with friends and family. But yesterday at church one of the women that I had previously given eggs to asked me if I had any eggs to sell. I had happened to bring a carton of them with me to church with the intention of giving them to someone, but she insisted that she pay for them and wouldn't take them otherwise. So...I took the money. **shrug**

Harry ate one of the apple trees that we planted this past spring. It's not enough that he has a whole forest of trees that he could gnaw on. No, he had to destroy our fruit tree. He bit it off right at the base.

Stupid mutt.

Dreary Days

We've had days of clouds and drizzle. Since I pretty much have to stay inside anyway, I'm working on the curtains for the living room. I've got them all hanging up, but they aren't all finished. In the picture, only the ones in the righthand corner are finished. The others aren't hemmed or stitched up the sides so they are still all wrinkly. I went ahead and hung them because they help keep the room warmer.

Honestly, I'm not crazy about them. I don't really want to hang curtains because I like being able to see out and when closed, they make the room seem smaller. Also, I thought the house needed more color so I got colorful curtains. But now that I have them hanging, I think I like the monocromatic look better. **sigh** Well, maybe when I get all my sewing stuff out of the room it won't look so busy.

From the Mouth of Babes

My friend stopped by for a visit today and brought her five year old granddaughter, Carmen. I took her into Tom's office with me to get her some paper to write on. Short conversation ensued.

Carmen, "This is a messy room."

Me, "I know!"

Carmen, "Who made this mess?"

Butchering Season

I mentioned to Tom that we should look up information on the correct time to butcher goats. One of our friends had a wild hog butchered at a place in our town, so Tom is going to find out if they butcher goats, too.

I googled it and found that about nine months of age is the time. Tom said that he read for Boer goats it's six months to a year. In any event, it is time. Pansy's boys are ten months old.

I've been dreading this. Hopefully, Tom can just take them to the butcher and bring them back in packages. Oh.

Whaaah!

Trying to weed the garden with a cat or two is nearly an impossible task. They can't just be "nearby", they must be right where your face or hands are at all times. Digging out a weed? Try getting past the cat body first.

And then, here comes Harry. He has to chase the cats all over the garden. Not out in the pasture. No, in the garden. And then, when I tried to chase Harry out of the garden, where he was plowing around like a tractor, he decided it was a game and called for more running and plowing. I was so mad at him that I threw the only thing I had available...my favorite pair of pruning shears that were in my pocket.

I threw. I missed. Harry said, "Nah-nah nah-nah naaaah-nah!" I saw the shears land on the other side of him, but when I went to pick them up...they were gone. Disappeared. I searched and searched. Tom used the big magnet-on-a-pole thingy (that we use to pick up nails and stuff ) to search and he didn't find it either. I know they are there. Somewhere. Rusting.

My Task This Week

Since we couldn't finish mulching the garden and the weather has been so beautiful, I decided that I'd work on cleaning up the fence line by the road. I've got about 3/4 of it done, but what's left to do is the hardest part - the part where I can't really mow during my weekly summer mowings because the ground is so soft and uneven, the mower gets stuck. The tractor get's stuck, too. So the weeds grow huge and out of control.

These are before and after pics.

Fine Specimens

These are a couple of our roosters. We have three Rhode Island Reds. I don't know what kind the white one is. He's the one that was given to us by a neighbor. We thought it was a hen up until just a month or so ago when he started exhibiting his distinctly roosterly behavior and growing big glossy tail feather. The red one is the fattest rooster and seems to be the dominant one, too.

The Results of Wood Chipping

We were able to get about half of the garden mulched before the wood chipper broke the final time. It smells like a big hamster cage that has just been cleaned.

Farm Equipment Manufacturers...Bah!

Is it possible....for any farm equipment manufacturer...to make a product that doesn't break every time it is used?

I mean, it isn't like this is a new industry or like they haven't had time to get it right.

I'm telling you, every time Tom goes out to work with any farm equipment, it breaks.

Latest example...the wood chipper. Tom uses it to chip up wood and make mulch for the garden. A few months ago, he had chipped a few truckloads and we finally got around to spreading it in the garden this week. So he went out to chip more. He started chipping, but it didn't seem to be working very well and he decided he needed to sharpen the blades. Take machine apart, sharpen blades, put it back together - a couple of hours gone. Then it worked great and he was able to get another truckload chipped. We got that spread and he went to chip more. Then a belt broke. Take machine apart, replace belt, put it back together - another couple of hours gone. Then he started chipping again and a MAJOR part breaks.

Tom has spent the last couple of days taking the chipper apart to get to the broken part, which will not come off easily. Then he has to order the needed parts and put it back together.

This is how Tom has spent his week.

Fabulous Fifty

It's my birthday today. I'm 50. Ugh.

This is my birthday present from my very best friend from high school. My -- Main Street dragging, screaming over boys, crying over boys, going barefoot to the movie (what were we thinking? It was HER idea!), horseback riding, yakking all night, cutting class to go shopping, lamenting our single status, going to a concert and staying 10 minutes, arriving late and leaving football games early, be there for each other no matter what -- gurl fren'.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Our pond is frozen all the way across.

It has been below freezing for over two days. Everything is frozen. It's horrible. I'm ready for summer.

Hello! What's This?

I announced a few months ago that the last of the goldfish was gone - probably eaten by the raccoon that hangs out around that water bucket. I have seen neither hide nor hair...nor scale of any goldfish since that day. I've even emptied the bucket, washed it out and refilled it. No kidding!

So, it's freezing here and the livestock's water buckets have frozen. So today I sent Tom out with a bucket of hot water to pour into the buckets so the animals could have a drink. He went out and poured the water for one bucket, went and dumped the ice (and little bit of water) out of the other, then came back to the house for more hot water. I went out with him and while he was pouring the water in, he looked over at the pile of ice and said, "Hey! There's a goldfish!" And it's tail was flapping feebly.

He quickly scooped it up and put it in the water. It was able to swim around, but barely could stay upright. So, if we didn't kill it from dumping it out on the ground to suffocate, we might have killed it from putting it in the hot water.

So, where was that little fish hiding all this time?

No, really...

...it's not a guinea pig; it's not a tribble. It's a dog.

Mochiko

And you thought yeeeew were the cewtest.

Meagan's new pomeranian puppy.

Chicken Protector?

Things have been slow around here. Cold, rain, and snow has prevented a lot of outdoor work..or, rather, the desire to do outdoor work. It's much nicer to cozy up by the fire than to bundle up and schlep around outside.

We're cautiously optimistic that Harry has finally learned that he mustn't kill the chickens. He hasn't been agressive towards them in a long time and we're consistently leaving him out there unsupervised with them. In fact, they seem to follow him around. Maybe they're taunting him, maybe they like his company, maybe they feel protected, or maybe they're just too stupid to remember that he was picking them off one by one. Even the big white rooster (we thought it was a hen until he started jumping on the hens in rooster fashion), who was mauled by Harry a few months ago, doesn't seem to remember the incident.

We were averaging about half a dozen eggs per day until it got really cold. Now we get 3-4 per day, which is still more than we need. I have six dozen eggs in the refrigerator at the moment and I give them away to anyone who visits us.

Sad Harry

Harry is a bit sad this week. We had him neutered so he has to be confined for the next five days and he has to wear this collar for ten days so he won't lick and chew his incision. I don't know what's worse, the confinement and boredom or the neck brace. He's almost nine months old and 86 pounds.