Merry Christmas to me!

Meet the new girls. I just got them today.




This is Z. That's what they call her. So I am trying to think of a Z name. I like ZeeBoo, Zeborah, Zariyah, and Zia. Can't make up my mind. But will probably just call her ZeeBoo for now. She is a 3 year old Lamancha doe. She looks a lot like my Abby but a bit smaller and she has tan lines on her face, where Abby's are white. And she has the white on her belly. She is not bred, but in heat. So the guy put their buck with her but he was so small I don't know if it worked. Or rather, if they made contact. I like this doe. As soon as I get John Henry back, he will go in with her.

And this is Truck. Her name will be Trudy from now on. She is 2 years old and is bred to kid in February. The guy said she was bred to the Boer buck. So I hope she has a buckling. This will be her first kid. The black one has had a kid before but it looks to have been awhile as she is very dried up right now.

This is a back view of ZeeBoo's udder, which I like already. I like the long teats. They said she was an easy milker.

I have them both up front in the garden right now til I can get the electric fence fixed out back. The goats are still getting through it. So when it is fixed, the new does will go in the back yard and the other does will go out back. That way they can see each other and hopefully get used to each other so I can put them all together.

Now I will be anxious for February to see how Trudy does on the milk stand. I'll have to wait til May or June for ZeeBoo, but that's ok. I am so happy I got these two. The people I got them from had got some turkey eggs from me a few years back. When I emailed her, she said she didn't answer any more emails because she wanted me to have first pick. So thank you, Sherri and Bill! Bill even followed me home with Trudy in his SUV. That was nice.

I now have 8 does and 1 borrowed doe. Looks like she may be staying. So 9 does.I will need a few pigs later to help with all the milk.

Just a few more days

I don't know why I wait til the last minute to do anything. I have been making jewelry the past few days for Christmas gifts. And bracelets and earrings. It's not that easy. Some of those beads are SO small. My step dad got me a jewelry tool set that has really come in quite handy. But now I need one of those lights that shine down with maybe a magnifying glass on it so I can actually see what I'm doing. I have reading glasses that help a lot. But still, it's really tedious work. But I do love the results. I love putting beads and little shiny stones and colors together to make a pretty necklace or earrings. I just hope they don't fall apart when someone is wearing them.

I am also making candles with some pretty little jars. I have had several bags of soy wax for awhile and a big 5 pound wheel of bees wax. That is the hardest stuff to try to grate or even cut. But I love bees wax candles.

Also am finishing up an afgan I was supposed to give my daughter and son-in-law LAST Christmas. I know, that's bad. But at least they will get it this Christmas.

So lots of little last minute gift ideas coming together. I really love making things for people I love.

I hope no one else is like me and trying to get a lot done at the last minute. But if you are, try not to get too stressed out! And have a very merry Christmas and a great new year!

Musical sheep. Again.

Last night, I noticed the 4 younger ewes jumping on each other and acting friskier than usual. So I went over and got Mr. Abraham. This is his first time in with the ewes. Ever. He's had to patiently wait his turn. The other 2 have been with the 4 older ewes and hopefully they are all bred now. But I did have to move big Darla over to stay with the other 2 rams because Abraham is her son.  She did not like that at all. And is still telling me so. She is VERY loud.

So last night, Abraham sniffed around a little. That's about all I saw so far. This morning, they are all just eating and grazing. Nothing much happening yet. I hope I wasn't too late. But that would be ok because 2 of the younger ewes are still so small. That's why I was waiting til later to breed them. And it would be ok if they don't get bred right now. I'll be keeping Abraham, so they could wait til spring.

Anyway, more goings on at Outback Farm. What's happening on your farms this time of year? It's too wet to do anything in the gardens right now.

Sharing the couch

Bubba, sharing his couch with Kansas this morning. She has to get up around 6 am to catch the bus for school at 6:40. This morning she couldn't quite get woke up so she came in and laid down on Bubba's couch with him. And he didn't mind one bit. He's keeping her feet warm for her. Good boy!

Love

Just love. That's all.

Finally, a tree

I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't like Christmas anymore. It used to be such a wonderful time for me and my family. I would have a tree in every room and decorations all over the house. We would have friends over for parties. Once I even had a neighborhood Christmas potluck dinner.  And when I worked at Ace hardware up the street, I had everyone over for deserts and I fixed everything. It was so fun. I used to bake things and take to neighbors and friends. I would make things with the kids. All our ornaments were hand made by me and my kids through the years. I still have them all. And now the grands are making them. It used to be fun. And magical. And exciting.

But now, I just feel like, what's the big deal? Why take down all the stuff that I have around the house and put up Christmas stuff for a month, then have to put it all away and do it over again? So much work. Ugh.

And since we moved way out here, no one wants to come out this far. So why bother? It's just us anyway. And I don't want to decorate for people passing by.

So today, I made myself go out back and look for a small pine tree. I wanted to at least have a tree. And a cute little scrubby Charlie Brown tree. And it would have to fit on top of the big huge dog crate in the dining room, because there is no room in this small house for it anywhere else. So I found this cute little scrub pine.

Brought it in and stuck it in my pretty antique metal apple bucket with rocks to hold it up. Put some water in it and a flat white sheet around. Went and bought a strand of 100 white lights because every strand I found didn't work. Then Heather and Kansas put up some of the ornaments. They couldn't be too heavy because the branches are not very big.

I think it looks pretty good. I do love white lights at night. And I will get some greenery and red berries for the front window and the buffet and mantle. And some candles. And that's it, folks. I'm done.


So Merry Christmas, y'all!

New website?

http://outbackfarm.webs.com/

I just tried to make a website. Still have some things to add.