Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[the funny farm6]

on one of the facebook sights there is an ad for a 4 month old boar nanny kid for $600 without her papers, or $1200 with papers! but then there is a 2 year old (has had babies-good mom) for $200 and they look about the same. black with white moon spots. and there is a billy- same color for $500. but LOTS of people saying they are going to be having spotted babies this year. so maybe they will flood the market and the price will come down. (i hope) dh said maybe on the 2yr old if they still have her, and she has been runnning with a black spotted boar billy for @6 weeks.

his is the 4 month old

and this is the 2 yr old

i kinda like that she is a paint with moonspots!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Not sure why, but I couldn't open the pics....

The spotted/dapples goats are sooooooooo pretty. I passed on a couple really nice ones because they would only sell them as a herd of 8. I don't want 8 more goats and only 2 out of the eight were dappled. However - the price was good if you bought the whole herd. It broke down to $250 apiece and they were all registered and very nice goats. Guess I coulda got the whole herd and re-sold some of them, but who wants to lay out 2K right around Christmas only to be stuck with trying to re-sell part of them.

DH and I spent practically the entire day shoring up some new pens and moving chickens around. I needed to get them separated so I can either sell eggs or chicks in the spring. I can't even say how many wings I clipped to try and keep these guys where they belong. Oh my gosh, the roosters are soooo upset. They're huffing and puffing at each other through the fences. Sooo much testosterone flying around, lol.

I'm starting the countdown before I start a marathon cook-a-thon. I'm not making the entire dinner, but I am doing the turkey, the ham, the dressing, the gravy, a broccoli salad and roasted brussel sprouts. Oh, and I'm making at least 10 goody baskets that will have Cajeta (with apples, sweetie tangerines and pears to drizzle it over), Chex puppy chow and regular Chex mix. I was making another batch of Cajeta today. It was doing so well and smelling so good! Somehow I lost track of time while I was outside chasing chickens and I BURNT two pans of it....geeze louise. I can NOT believe I did that. Good thing I have a never-ending supply of milk. But what a waste of 4 cups of sugar.

I feel bedtime coming on.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

What a whirlwind the last few days. The whole fam damily convened at my parents house for Christmas lunch. There were about 25 of us. A Christmas miracle - no fights, no feuds, no fussing! It was the first time since my sister's service in August that we've all been together. Losing her was devastating, but the ripples from her death have all moved in a positive direction. She was the baby, I'm the middle child and I have an older brother. My sister and older brother never got along, but after her death I shared a few things about her that he didn't know. It wasn't my intention to hurt him, but it did make him regret being so hard on her all of her life. Finding out that he'd been unfair to her flipped a switch in him. He's always been fairly anti-social; having been become disabled young in life and because of his issues he's never felt very comfortable around people. He's making a huge effort now. He even told my grandchildren that he's always liked being around animals but that it's time for him to learn how to like being around people. It's nice to see him make that effort. He's a really good guy at heart, he lives next door to our aging parents and he's a huge help to them.

After the big get together I brought my grandbabies back to my house while my daughter and her S.O went to New Orleans for a few days. The weather has been horrible so we haven't been able to spend much time outside. Yesterday was very cold, but at least the sun was out. They reveled in the few minutes they got to go out with the animals. They gathered eggs, fed chickens and watered the goats. My granddaughter tried to butt heads with a Nubian and she lost tha battle, lol! She was up on one of the goat toys which is really part of a recycled round pen. We turned it up so that it's an arch and covered it with plywood and shingles for traction. It's about two feet wide and kids of all species looooove to play on it. However, the big goats are very stingy and don't like to share. Spooky, the crabby Nubian was on top and my granddaughter thought she could run to the top and scare Spooky off of it. Nope - Spooky does NOT scare easily. She stood her ground and my grand daughter pretended she was a goat and bent down and shook her head. Spooky was having none of it so she made a fake head butt of her own. There was no contact, but the look on my granddaughter's face was absolutely priceless. She told me that Spooky was really the Billy Goat Gruff.

Only 9 more days until the Grand Cayman trip! I am more than excited!! I finally found a dress - so that headache is off my mind. When the grandbabies go home on Friday I'll have to get into high gear. I'll need to see if I even have 5 days worth of clothes that I can take with me. I generally have 'go to work' clothes, and 'work outside' clothes and very few nice casual clothes. Plus - it's winter and I need to buy summer type clothes for the island -argh! Oh well, I'll figure out something.

Have chili simmering right now. We had broccoli cheese soup and grilled cheese sandwiches last night for dinner. That was a special request from my 6 yo grandson. Tonight is granddaugter's choice. She picked chili - good choice on a day like today. I'm having so much fun with them, but I was getting nothing done around the house. Today we decided that they could help clean up and they did a great job. I've been washing rugs and cleaning floors and this place needed it! AND, while I was running the vacuum I found out why the dog kept running in the house every time the door opened on Tuesday. I thought she was spooked by the weather and wanted in, but while I was vacuuming I found an 'offering' from her under the treadmill.....ewwwwwwwww. Have I ever mentioned what a wonderful mouser she is? That's the first mouse of the season; unlikely to be the last. OH - and she got a rat in the barn last night. Dang she's good!

Better get a few more things done while the kiddos are napping.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

The countdown is on for the Grand Cayman trip. Six more days! I spent all of today outside working on the critter pens. I put an automatic waterer in the Barred Holland pen. There's 21 chickens in there and they go through a lot of water. I also put up an extra shelter in their pen - they are soooooooooo stupid that they stand out in the rain. (no wonder they're endangered, lol!) I moved them into this pen just about a week ago, and I guess the little ungrateful feather brains don't like it. They were in a hoop house and this is almost twice as big and it's a pen off of the metal shed. Nicest pen on the place and they don't want it. They don't even go up under the shed to get out of the rain! So, I put up a tarp shelter where they hang out 'just in case' it gets nasty while I'm gone.

Next, I had to put up a self-feeder for the GP guardian. I don't know why the goats decided that her feed is manna from heaven - but she has to guard it with her life. I hung a feeder up high enough that the goats can't get into it. She has to literally stand up to eat, but I think that will be the solution. The pygmy's can't stand up as tall as she can and the Nubians will be in a different pen while we're gone.

Next- built two more shelters for two more pens of chickens. They all have small shelters in their pens now, but I wanted to have an extra covered area that I could use specifically for the extra feeders that I'm putting out. If there's a lot of rain while we're gone - I want their extra feed to be dry!

I've got extra hay feeders in the buck's pen and I've got a hay feeder for the Nubians that will hold an entire square bale + plenty of extra hay racks that area already in the barn.

DH has been so helpful. He's put together some extra feeders and waterers from buckets we got at HD. Sooo much cheaper than buying ready-made ones at TSC. He can be handy to have around!

It's supposed to rain Monday and Tuesday so I'll use those as shopping days. I need shoes, make-up, and some new 'bling' for the new dress. Have to find time to get a haircut too - ARGH! So much to do - so little time!

I'm stressed - this calls for some major hot tub time!

 

[snapshot]

I hope you have a blast on your vacation! Are you flying down or is it a cruise there? I am just getting back online here consistently and did not go back far enough in your journal to see which. Sounds like you will have all your critters battened down. I look forward to hearing about the trip!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks Snapshot!

We are flying down. My best friend is getting married there and I'm her Matron of Honor. She lives in Iowa, I live in Texas but we became best friends when she lived here and was my veterinarian. After her divorce she moved home to Iowa and even though we don't see each other often, it hasn't hurt our friendship one bit. About every other year we leave the guys behind and go on a girls trip somewhere. Since this trip is her wedding I guess we'll have to let the guys come along, lol!

 

[snapshot]

At least one of them! Have fun!!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Down to the final countdown...Grand Cayman in two days! Oh my goodness, I need to just hire a live-in farm helper! I have spent day upon day outside in the slop and muck prepping the critters. However, I do believe it will all be fine. I have a tendency to stress unnecessarily and be a little OCD about trip preps, lol. And not just preps - while I'm traveling you'd think I'm a totally different person. At home, I'm not quite a slob, but I tend to be very relaxed about things. On a trip - I can't have anything out of place in my hotel room. DH is always amazed at the change in me when we travel. And flying - grrrrrrrrrr! Especially out of the country.... I have to have my passport right at my fingertips at all times - I'm so afraid I'll lose it or someone will snatch it, or it'll just vaporize if I'm not looking, lol.

Totally filled the pig feeder yesterday. That was an adventure! Try carrying two buckets at a time - each weighing about30 lbs apiece - into a sloppy, muddy, slippery pen with two 130 lb pigs trying to 'help'. I don't think they will go through even half of it while we're gone. I have to admit, they scare me just a little bit, lol. I'm afraid that if I ever fell in that pen - they'd consider me food and I'd be gone! They're not mean, they're just extremely rambunctious.

I thought I had the GP dog's feeder situation all taken care of - but I underestimated the power of the pygmy! I had her feeder hanging about 4 ft high---she would put her front feet on a cinder block to elevate herself just enough to stick her face in the feeder. I looked out yesterday and one of the pygmy wethers was standing on the brick, on his back legs, and balancing himself while he ate her food. He was so dang proud of himself. For a minute I considered popping him in the head and letting HIM be dog food while I'm gone! Instead, I changed up her area and put a hog panel across the door to her feed area. She now has to jump in and out to eat - but so far - no goats have followed her in. Pygmies are pretty good at jumping up on things, but not so good at jumping over things. We'll see how long it takes for them to figure this out.... I'm not even sure why they like her food - there are NO grains in it. It's one of those premium dog foods that is salmon and potato - no grain. WHY does a goat want to eat fish?????

I haven't really made any new year's resolutions...but here goes: Continue my health quest. I'm pretty healthy to begin with. Nearly 57 yo, take NO drugs except a few supplements. I can still throw those 50# feed sacks on my shoulder and carry them out to the barn! Moved 9 of them the other day and I'm pretty proud of myself, lol. I've dropped 20 lbs since August, but would like to drop 10 or 15 more.

I've lived on this place for more than 25 years and a lot of my pens and barns are beginning to show their age. Everything is still functional, but beginning to have that band-aid and bubble gum look. I'd like to spruce things up around here. I'd want to replace the hoop house in the pasture with an honest to goodness hard walled shed. Nothing fancy, three sides and a roof....

I want to concentrate on the Kinders. Havn't seen the Nubians cycle again since breeding in early December, so I'm hopeful that we've got some on the way. The pygmies will be phased down - but not out. They are my first goat love and I can't abandon them! Besides - Pygmy milk is the best thing you ever tasted! It's got a higher fat content than the Nubian milk and I've just discovered that (besides being delicious) it makes the best butter!

That's pretty much it - except continue to try and keep this journey called marriage in a good place. My famous last words- "Sometimes it's more important to be kind than to be right"!

Gotta get outside...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Got home last night - finally! Yesterday was the longest, most boring day in the history of EVER! We had to check out of our room at 11a and our flight wasn't until 6. We'd already seen all the 'tourist-y' things so we went driving around trying to find Bill Gate's island get-a-way. We heard he had a house somewhere near the northwest area of the island. We drove around a bunch of back streets and finally saw, way off in the distance, a HUGE place on a point overlooking the ocean. It was quite beautiful, but I have no idea if it was his place or not. More likley just an out of the way resort.

After that we just went to the airport about 6 hours early. You can't even check into an international flight that early. They have the cutest, quaintest little international airport there. It's built a lot like a swiss chalet with high peaks and ornamental wood trimmings. But, best of all there is a little open-air restaurant on the second floor that has an observation deck where you can see planes coming and going. And - they make really good salads and cocktails! So we spent a few hours relaxing, eating, drinking, reading and watching planes.

We had a good time, the wedding was bee-you-teeee-ful! (but I'm glad to be home) Our flight back was quite exciting and not in a good way. About half-way through they told us there would be turbulence that would be increasing all the way back in to Houston. And it did! And the icing on the cake - the plane was struck by lightening! An absolute first in my flying history... and hopefully the last. All in all though, it was just a bright light that arced along the plane and a sound like when you plug in something that shorts out. Really scary, but only for a split-second. Heard lots of screams and even more prayers!

Went straight outside to check on all the critters. It's awful out there. We had at least 6 inches of rain while we were gone and some of the places that I had stuck some of the critters is really mucky and awful. I'm going to leave work early today and go do some more critter shifting. I had given two of my neighbors permission to go pick up eggs and NO ONE did. According to them the weather was too nasty to muck around in the rain and mud for free eggs... There must be at least 6 dozen eggs out there in muddy nests. If I had been home I could have changed out the shavings/hay in the nest boxes, but with that many days of rain and that many muddy feet going in and out.... sigh...

We're supposed to be dry until Saturday and it's going to start raining again - so I've got some work ahead of me. Oh well... that's farm life for ya!

 

[Denim Deb]

Glad you were OK! I don't like flying to begin with and can't even imagine being in a plane that got struck!

I hear ya on the mud. I hate it when it gets that bad out.