Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Flies

I heard not too long ago, that when we start to see flies in winter, we'll have an early spring. Well, I guess it should be spring right now. Because I have been seeing flies for about a month now. I just killed 2 at once! Love when that happens. Flies are just one of those annoyances in my life that drives me crazy. If there is one fly in my house, I cannot sit still until it's dead. I will follow that fly all around this house til I get it. They absolutely drive me crazy. Seriously, you can ask anyone in my family. And it seems that flies love company too. There are more flies when there are people over for Sunday dinner. All over the place. I can't even eat.

So, where is spring??? Bring it on!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Is she or isn't she? Hmmm...


So here is Sandy. From this angle she does look like she has a pretty good size bump going on there. She is a goat who will not have a full udder til almost right before she kids. So I can not tell by looking at her udder. But she does look pretty heavy underneath from the side view. I am SO hoping she is pregnant. But since she was so finicky about getting bred, I have no idea when she'd be due now. There were several times I knew she was in standing heat and I'd take her and Arlo into the stall together and I SAW Arlo do the deed. But then she's go right back into heat 21 days later. I don't know if she was just fooling around or what. I don't really think she liked the little guy. She always ran from him. I know he's got the goods because Penelope's kids are for sure his kids. No way they could be John Henry's kids.

So, here I go with the guessing game. In all the years I have had this goat, she is ALWAYS the LAST goat to kid. Abby was usually the first, then Sandy was the last. So we shall see. And I so hope that these will be Arlo's kids. IF she is pregnant at all. She could just be getting to that age where it's going to be hard to get her bred. I have been reading on a few other blogs about goats being bred a number of times and not getting pregnant. It's a bit frustrating, to say the least. Especially since it's getting a little late in the season.

I love Monday

I have always loved Mondays. When my kids were in school and my husband worked a "regular" job, they would all leave Monday morning and I went to work. I cleaned the house. I did the shopping. Ran errands, Paid bills. All by myself! I loved it. It was MY day to do all the things that couldn't get done with a house full of people. I just liked to clean with an empty house. Even when I worked I liked Mondays. I even went a year to Chattanooga State college taking a horticulture class and felt like I worked a full time job, I still liked Monday.

So this weekend, all 3 of the grand daughters were here. Plus their mother. Husband was not here this weekend. He was up around Pa. doing trucking stuff. Sat. my younger daughter came out and got all the other girls and they went to the mall, shopping! So I had all afternoon to myself. It was nice. A guy came out from Meanesville, Ga to look at Iris and Brie, the devil goats. I had put an ad on CL. I was at the point where I really needed to let these 2 go. It would be another 1 1/2 years before they both could have been bred and  started milking. And they have been really bad lately and trying my patience to no end. So I felt like it was the best thing for me to do. He did end up getting them both. And I did NOT back down on the price! I was SO proud of myself.

And Friday evening a nice home school family came out to see Trudy and her kids. They are wanting to start a meat goat herd. The 2 boys were so nice and polite. I was very impressed with them. It looks like the boys are the ones who really want this. They did end up getting Trudy and both kids. But the boys both fell in love with Ursula, one of Penelope's kids. So we decided they would go ahead and take both Trudy's kids, but later, when they are weaned, they'll swap the buck for Ursula. Which is great, because I really wanted to keep the buck for a meat goat anyway. So I feel really good about this family taking them all.

So all in all, a great weekend. Although now, we are under water again. It rained all night Sat. and all day Sunday. With more rain til Wed. So here we go again!

I'm going to make another post about goats. Again! I hope all of you who come here to read my blog never get tired of cute kids and lambs. Or pregnant goats rear ends and udders. But that's what it's all about right now.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

And they're gone!



All the kids and grands are gone for the afternoon!!!!!!! Just me here now. Yippie! What can I get into now? I'll think of something. I have a goat barn that is about 4' deep with hay that needs to be cleaned out really bad. Need to get on that.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! And good weather too.

Friday, February 8, 2013

10,005

That's how many page views I have had since I started my blog. That's probably nothing to a lot of you but it sure looks good to me.

So thank you all for looking at my blog. It means a lot to me. I hope there is something here to keep you coming back again.

Dogs, waiting on breakfast



Just look at these guys. They're waiting on breakfast. It was raining this morning so they all got to eat in the kitchen. Stella, the one in front, usually eats in the kitchen, while Bubba and Sophie eat out on the steps. I have to keep Stella in while I go feed the rest of the animals so she doesn't shale things up out there. These dogs are a mess. But I love them.

 And outside is Sybil  the cat, waiting on her breakfast too. I have 6 cats outside. They eat in the "cat room", which is next to the kitchen. There is a huge chest freezer out there that they had to have built that room around, because there is NO way to get it out. So the cats eat up on it. And I store my bread grain in it.

So happy weekend to you all!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Who's the oddball?


Can you spot the oddball in this picture. Well, there are 2, but the biggest oddball.

If you said the big ram, you'd be right. I had to move Abraham back here with the goats because the sheep are getting ready for lambs. And I didn't want him around when that happens. Does anyone with sheep leave the rams in all the time? Or the bucks? I have always taken the bucks and rams away from the ewes and does. I made that mistake one time with a doe that had just had kids and the buck would not leave her alone. It was horrible. I have never done it since. So I thought it best to move Abraham from the ewes now. He is SO lonely and misses the girls so much. But he's doing ok with the goaties.