a day with Jay and...

Well so much goes on in a day! This morning we did chores and then went into town. We went to the chiropractor, grocery store, second hand store looking for movies, grocery store looking for compost, and feed store. We found a watermelon and a couple pieces of bread which we gave to the animals, which was a nice treat. And at the feed store I met a man who is I teresyed in any extra hay we end up with. That will be a huge blessing!

When we came home the girls watched two I love Lucy episodes and cut out some Lucy paper dolls. They cleaned the pool and swam a little bit but it was a little cold. A is mowing currently.

A week or so ago one of our mother rabbits had babies a week, but she has lost two.  There is one runt that is very little and may not make it. Every morning I give the big rabbits as much hay and clover from the goat field as they can eat, to offset feed costs until we can butcher the 15.

About 3 weeks ago the girls found a baby blue jay, laying on the ground, with no feathers and eyes closed. They took him into the garage and were able to feed him wet chicken feed and keep it alive. Yesterday was the big day. We had friends come over for the day to play with 10 baby kitties and to swim. G and her friend made whipped cream and shortcake and picked mulberries for desert. Yesterday evening then, we let Jay go. This morning we heard him screeching in the trees waiting for breakfast. Because he is a non-migratatory bird it was acceptable for us to hand feed him. Now we are trying to help him figure out how to exist on his own in the wild. But right now, he thinks we are his mamas.


 I spent a great part of yesterday evening doing research on Z's diet. She has so many foods that she cannot eat because of a protein intolerance. At this point it is looking more and more like she can have no fruit and no vegetable. Possibly blueberries and cranberries and sweet potatoes are allowable. So hopefully dairy and eggs are okay for her . . .we have lots of those! Her allergy is called latex fruit syndrome or latex protein allergy. Anything that has a similar protein to latex causes problems. At this point, thankfully, she has more constipation issues than anaphalexis or throwing up!

I have been so excited, thinking we are close to potty training. Z never wears a diaper, and rarely do we have accidents. This morning she sure showed me! We were standing at the sink doing dishes and I realized it had been a while since she had sat on the potty. I took her off the chair and said" let's go potty. "She took me literally! As I walked to the bathroom she pottied all down my legs and her legs and the floor and did save a little for the toilet! Lol! This afternoon, after potting her, I double diapered her and laid her down. Quite some time later she was still in there fussing so I went to check on her. She had wet her diaper, and decided she didn't want it on. Now she's done this in the past, and I have been proud of her for knowing that her diaper was wet! However, this time she not only wet her diaper but took off all of her clothing and then pottied in the crib, on all of her blankets and silkies, through the mattress to the foam pad and it ran all over the floor as well. I guess she's not quite as far along as I had hoped!

This afternoon also showed the girls frantically looking for J, as it had rained all night and they were worried about him. We could not find him this morning and they were concerned. We walk on the trail for 20 minutes and when we came home they heard him screeching in the trees for food. They were very excited. He came to them and perched on their finger and they fed him. But that time the cats decided they saw a free meal. The girls were screaming and very distraught. We did manage to rescue Jay and put him back in the tree. For today...

This is the site of a true farm-girl in the making!! She loves her pink boots from Oma!

And the other pix is one of Jay, learning to fledge. Too bad its not as fun watching your children try to do the same. Somehow that is much more emotional!!

painting and friends

 After seeing the pictures you might wonder what we painted... The options really are limitless around here. We could paint the house or window wells. We could paint the rabbit cages or the chicken coop or the buck and doe barns...

The spring has been so wet and it's needed to be done for some time. The out buildings--- all of them-- need their annual cover. But it's been so unpredictable as to when it's safe to get out there and get dirty. Yesterday afternoon, after driving 30 minutes to breed to one of our rabbit does, I decided we would try.

 I bet you have not painted like this though. I had to put all the goats on lines away from the paint...as last year Lizzie was licking the wet paint off from the side of the building! Then, after getting the girls going on their sectioms , I stood on a milk stool from Mom and started to reach for the high spots. Meanwhile, the two baby goats were bouncing off my back and legs (literally) and nudging the back of my knees looking for milk and eating my skirt...Yes, I did finally get done, only nearly falling off once!

The girls did a fabulous job of painting. The hardest part was trying to get beyond the fence down low. We had to put the brush through the individual squares of fencing. That was challenging.

After a very hot job on thebbuck barn they all...including A and Z...jumped in the pool to cool off. I continued to paint and got the doe barn and chicken coop done...in only 2 shades of white! I guess the goats don't care, the passersby can't see it from the road, and I can't complain about free paint!

 We ended the day by grilling chicken and having macaroni salad and cole slaw with our pastor friend. Of course as he sat on the porch visiting with B, sipping on a drink, the goats were clamoring all over him, as the bottles look the same as the ones they get milk in. Sorry, Pastor!

I guess that's a sure way to loose your enemies and know who your real friends are!

So, stop on by for some hard work, a drink, good food and some laughs...and maybe the pool! Just be sure you bring old clothes. Between the goats, mud and paint I cannot guarantee a clean departure!

1 hour disaster

 Today was a busy saturday. I took the sheets off my bed, washed down the bedroom walls to  get rid of the cobwebs, cleaned out the turkey run, helped butcher Ferdinand the turkey, and then came in to shower! (Cleaning the turkey pen consists of using a pitch fork and scooping very wet and very stinky slop. All in all a very stinky job!)

This afternoon  I cleaned  the house. I wiped down all the dog hair/dust-laden floors and wiped down the cupboard fronts. I even bathed the baby in the kitchen sink!  I did the dishes, picked strawberries and lettuce and spinach and weeded the garden.

Just before supper I strained the milk and put it in a bag for the freezer. I spilled half of the bag ...on the floor, on the salad vegetables, in all the drawers and inside the cupboards.  The dog was licking up the milk and Z came to check out what was going on. Her feet slipped from under her and she fell flat on her back with her head in the milk... so after having given her one bath today she needed her second!

 After supper I deboned the turkey and put it in a glass dish. As I poured the gravy into the container I heard a a dripping noise. Come to find out the gravy was not going in to the glass dish, rather it was going all over the cupboard and all over the inside of the cupboards and the doors and all over the floor --running down our uneven floor towards the floor vent.

 I got to clean my kitchen again for the 3rd time today... it should be clean!!

As I was ready to put Z in bed I realized that the sheets were not on my bed. They were still in the dryer, and actually they were still damp. I opted to put damp sheets on the bed so that I could put the baby to bed and go take my shower. Now at 9 o'clock, after having fed the baby goats I think I'm ready for bed myself!

this is the longest 24 hours ever!!

This morning continued the trend Of the last few days. More forest fires then I can possibly put out.

I took a benadryl last night because my allergies are bad, and I thought I would be able to sleep. I slept until 7 this morning and didn't get out of bed until 7:30. What a wonderful way to start the day! Of course, this meant that I did not get my chores done and I did not have myself ready for the day. Therefore,  I couldn't work with everyone else in an undivided mamner. Lesson learned.

In the meantime I went out to the barn to get Millie so that A could milk her. On the way out of the barn, I noticed that she had a big bloody spot on her udder. Come to find out, our other goat got nasty with her and she has a gouge that goes all the way through and it was dripping milk. Normally I will try to take care of injuries here at the house, but this was beyond my scope of ability. I do not want to try to do stitches. I have tried castrating a cat, with very poor results. I leave those sort of things for the vet! In the meantime, A is out of commission because her wisdom teeth, G was supposed to be working on chores, & M was supposed to be watching the baby and doing inside work, and Z fell out of the rockimg chair. We had floors to sweep, beds to make, laundry to fold, dishes to do, breakfast to make, baby's diaper to change, baby to get dressed and fed, all of us to feed, and chores to do.

Instead, I called the vet and got an appointment for her to come out. I was thankful to be able to get dressed and wash my hair before she showed up! We spent the next hour working on cleaning and stitching her up. In case you don't know, when a goat has a tranquilizer, she snores and falls asleep on her feet. And 125# of me trying to hold 100+# of her on a slippery milk stanchion is pretty funny. Millie was hardly standing on her own four feet and as I was holding her up, she was drooling all over my arms, and she was snoring. Her tongue was sticking out and she was weaving her head .It was quite a sight to behold! I imagine she was wonderimg "is this real life?!"

 So now I have 3 shots to give her a day for the next two weeks, & I have to keep our horned goat separate from all the rest so that she does not injure anyone else. This means moving all of the goats around and now bottle feeding the 2 babies so that we can sooner move our horns goat to a new home.

 After a quick lunch, I was able to lay the baby down, to go out to the barn to get the 2 baby goats, to bring them in, to try to nurse them, and keep the dog away from them.

Needless to say I feel like I'm losing my mind today.  trying to deal with special diets and special needs on top of normal life is most days too much! Of course anyone reading this would say my life is not normal! To which I agree. However, I don't think normal exists for me at this point in life.  I know God has placed me in this place at this time for a specific purpose for him. I just wish I knew how to do it in a manner worthy of him, and in a patient manner! If the kids and kids would just cooperate...if I would just learn a little bit quicker than s..l..o..w..!!

24 hours

I am not kidding you. This all happened in one 24 hour period.

 first of all, C is very sick. After making multiple calls back and forth to the doctor and pharmacy I was able to get the prescription called in, transferred, and paid for. I was able to find someone to bring C to pick up the meds, and was able to give her instructions on how to cope with her illness. Lots of hand washing needed.

In the meantime M & Z& I went into town for an eye doctor recheck. Z played very nicely with a little boy there, which reminded me about how much she needs a sibling her age to play with.

I picked one quart of strawberries and we all enjoyed a bowl of homemade goat ice cream with fresh strawberries. Lots of face and hair washing needed.

In the afternoon, I put on my scrubs and went to the goat barn for labor and delivery for our goat. She had two babies, a boy and a girl. I had to help clean the nose off the male, and deliver the afterbirth. At the same time, G & M went out into the pasture and played tag with all older baby goat. Lots of hand washing needed.

That evening there was a fox in the yard. I was nursing the baby when one of the girls started screaming. Looking out the window, we saw that a Fox had one of our chickens in his mouth and was taking her down the yard. We were able to scare him off. You would never know ,however, that he didn't eat the chicken, as there are more feathers on the ground than there are on the bird. Come to find out he tried for one of our other hens first because there's another color chicken feather all over the yard as well. Bill went out with his shot gun and caught sight of the fox twice but was unable to scare it off permanently.

The girls also found a baby bird maybe a blue jay, who still has down and not real feathers. They have put it into the hamster cage in the garage, and are feeding it baby chick food and it seems to be doing quite well. Lots of hand washing needed.

This morning, while feeding the goats, oue buck threw up all over me. He decided that he was angry that I would not let him eat Olive's food. So he regurgitated his food, a lovely green grass color, and proceeded to drop it all over my arm! Lots of hand washing needed.

This morning I was getting ready to feed the animals and had a gallon jug of milk that had been in the garage  for sometime. It was quite expanded because of the heat so I thought I would release the pressure from the bottle. As I opened it, the air rushed out quickly and I had curdled milk all over me and the freezer and the wall and the floor and . . .yuk! Lots of hand washing needed.

A had her wisdom teeth taken out today and she is pretty miserable. That leaves me to do all of her chores this week...plus my own and take care of the rest of life. Thank goodness B is willing to help!

Last night we sat down, as a treat ,to watch an episode of Green Acres. If you ever heard the song you know that it's kind of an earworm...But the first 2 lines are: "Green Acres is place to be, Farm living is the life for me." After the last 24 hours, I'm thinking of changing the song to: "My house is the place to be...if you use goat milk soap so free(ly)" It's a good thing I just made three batches of it. Sounds like I might need it!

hen- pecked

No...I am not talking about B!! I am talking about the animals. The word "hen-pecked" takes on new meaning when you have hens.

 a rooster will pick his favorite few hens, leaving the rest alone.  boy I'm telling you, the hens that the rooster likes are missing a great majority of their feathers on the back of the head and neck. They are hen-picked.

I did not know, however ,that ducks will do the same thing. Who knew that ducks could inflict fatal wounds on a poor, small drake? They were merciless. And poor Columbus succumbed to the cold and the loss of blood, feathers and pride.

I guess it's true that the smaller, weaker ones-both people or animals- are picked on and teased. Both humans and animals have the capability of cruelty. Only humans can choose to mercy and love. Guess that makes us quite high up on the food chain...good thing because I think we should have duck for dinner!

turkeys and turkey prayers

we have turkeys! these are beautiful black and white heirloom turkeys! We were so excited when we got our first pair. After having them for a few days we decided to let them out so they could free range. Wouldn't you know the turkeys were wild enough that they took off! All of us chased the turkeys around all of our fields, under the pine trees, across the road, and into the neighbors field over the course of the next two days. How difficult should it be to find a black and white turkey in dead brown grass? Actually, it was very difficult to see! At one point, we almost stepped on the turkey! And of course she got away.

Well, the next morning after we decided to give up the chase, we were talking about prayer and how we can talk to God about what concerns us. So we prayed about finding the hen. We found the Tom and saw the hen that day but couldn't catch her. Thankfully we had had the talk about prayer, because that night M had crossed eyes and they just wouldn't straighten out. Her vision was double and it was very frustrating to her. When she went to bed she prayed that God would help her eyes to straighten out and "it worked".  She was so excited.  Now I was upset that God didn't bring Isabel back as an answer to prayer.  He had a bigger plan because we were able to talk about prayer and what it means for the girls in their lives every day. God's bigger plan was that we have this conversation and see answered prayer for M before the next day came

. . . Isabel showed up at the coop the next day! Sure gives a good meaning to the phrase "wild goose chase." It's about impossible! For sure! And, FYI, the turkey will lose all 18 her tail feathers if you grab her! Ask me how I know...!!