Happy weekend!

I wish I knew how to link up with another blog, but I'll just do it this way for now. Amanda Soule does this on Fridays, called This Moment. Here is my wish for you all. A peaceful wonderful weekend.

What is this??

While on my walk today, I came across this strange think. Back up the hill a little further, there was an old torn up tree stand. I walk back there a lot but not since last spring. It was not there then. I almost ran into it. It's just really strange. A soda bottle hung up in the tree with black electrical tape, upside down. I have no idea what it would be there for. No idea. There were no holes that I could see. The top is also taped so nothing would get out. But there was nothing in it as far as I could tell.

Hello

This was so cute! I was out there with the goats and the sheep all came around the house. Ursula went over to say hello to them. Phoebe did too a little after this. I love my sheep and goats!

It's been a beautiful day. I went for a walk out back. All the way around. Probably over a mile. Ended up at the old house next door. I put 3 new albums up on my Outback Farm FB page if you'd like to see them all. I can't put all those pictures up here. My FB has a picture of my Outback Farm sign, in Chickamauga, Ga. There seems to be about 5 other Outback Farms besides mine.

So it's been really quite here since Iris and Brie left last Saturday. I really miss them. But not enough to want them back. All the other goats have been SO good and have stayed inside the fence!!. I am so happy about that. So I guess they were the instigators all along. And such young goats too. I hope they are being good at their new home.

So what are y'all up to on this most beautiful day? It's supposed to be like this through Friday, then maybe some colder weather with snow flurries? Ugh. I just want this place to dry up!

Slimey ooey-gooey farm mud

Well, this about sums up what every square inch of my farm looks like these days. Slippery, slime, ooey- gooey farm mud. And to top that off, it's Georgia clay. So everywhere I have to go looks like this. But actually this is not too bad compared to what the rest of the place looks like. I just didn't want to gross you out this early. It's pretty bad out there. And I am usually worn slap out by the time I haul hay and feed and water to goats and sheep and dogs and cats. It's worse than walking in deep sand at the beach. I really should invest in some cleats or snow shoes. Something with leverage. Something that would keep me from slipping the whole way to where I'm headed.

So I am dreaming of some really dry solid ground, really soon. I do have stepping stones and boards down on most of the paths that the sheep and goats walk on. Just because goats hate getting their feet wet. It doesn't seem to bother cute little baby goats much though. They're so much like real kids, that stop at every puddle to splash. Just a little too cute. But I am so ready for dryness.

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!

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.