Taylor, the goat cleaner

This is Taylor, my great niece. She's a little city slicker. She's here visiting with her mother, sister, GiGi and aunts. She loves to help with the animals in the mornings. This morning, she helped feed the goats. Then she wanted to wash their udders for me before I milked them. She was trying to decide who to wash first.

                                                            She chose Penelope first.

                                                             
                                                          Then Zarah. She did not like this at all.

Then Sandy. Look, they have the same hair color! And apparently, Taylor thought Sandy was filthy, because she kept washing her "who-haws" over and over.

She finally said Sandy was clean enough to go back outside with the others.But just one more little spot right there.

Then she wanted to wash the little kids. They wanted nothing to do with that.

Taylor was a great little helper this morning. She also helped feed the chickens. I like little helpers.

Hens and chicks and baby goats

I got these hens and chicks a few years ago. And I found the hen planter to put them in at a little nursery in Tn. I didn't know if these were going to make it. Then they started to get green. Then I noticed these really pretty flowers. I love them.

I don't know if you can see it, but there is a volunteer tomato plant growing in this planter in my front window. It has flowers on it.






And this is Mariah's jaw. For those with goats, does this look like bottle jaw to you? I think it is. I have given  her Cydectin the first day, then Ivermectin, then Dectomax. And it's still there, just like this. So maybe she just has a double chin? She's half Nubian and half Boer. The other 2 don't have this.

 
The 3 girls together.They are so sweet. But very wild. Sandy's kids always are. Until they get older. I will probably keep these girls.

And I had a call this morning from a newspaper reporter. She wants to come out Thursday to do a little story on my farm. My friend up the road gave her my #. So she will come and do a story about the animals and soap and other things.

Also put an ad on CL for the LaMancha goats and had a call on them. She's going to come this evening to look at them.

Who needs a mop...

when you have 2 dogs who love goat milk?

Happy dogs!

Shearing the last 2 sheep

Finally got Amarillo and Adelaide sheared this afternoon. Poor girls have been miserable in this heat with those thick wool coats on. Now they are nice and cool and much lighter.


This is Amarillo. She was first up. She did great for her first time. But when he tried to get around her neck, she took off running!

So now she looks kind of wonky, but she doesn't care one bit. She's a happy ewe.

And Adelaide. She's such a sweet ewe. I love her. She was great. Never whined or complained at all. But I will not be able to use her wool. It was so matted and felted. I am going to look into getting coats for her and Amarillo. Their wool is just too nice to waste it.

We got the halter on her to get her neck. But the poor little guy that came with them got a little ride. She jumped up in the air and did a few turns, but for a city kid, he hung on for dear life! I hope he didn't sprain his wrist. These sheep. I just never know what they'll do. I was trying to trim Fionna and Leelah's hooves and they about went crazy trying to get away. But I hung on. It wore me plum out though!

Doesn't she look pretty? He coat is really wavy. And I don't think either of them are pregnant. Which is fine. We will wait til fall then. It's too hot right now to have lambs. And I don't think Abraham is too interested anyway.

Here's Adelaide, hiding behind the post. She looks a bit embarrassed, don't you think?

I am so glad we got them done. I am going to have to invest in some good shears now. I have the stand, which they used. I am so glad they used it and not sat them on their rears. I don't like that. And after reading someone's blog this week about her shearing horror story, I would never put my sheep through that again. Anything could go wrong. And I have sheared sheep before. I just need to get the shears next time some money comes in. I don't really like having to depend on other people to do things for me, when I can do it myself. And I think they will all be ready for another shearing in the fall.

What am I going to do now?

Guess what woke me up this morning?

Let me say, that in all the years I have had dogs, I have never had this happen. And I am 55. And I have lived in the country most of those 55 years. But I have never had this happen. It's probably come close a few more times than I'd like. But never like this. And it's really something you just cannot describe unless you're just right there.

So this morning, I wake up to the most awful, horrid smell. My daughter gets up around 5 am to get ready for work and usually makes something for breakfast. So I thought it must have been her in the kitchen and something had gone terribly wrong. I mean, it smelled like someone was roasting the most rotten onions and garlic. But even worse than that.

So I got up and Stella walked past me soaking wet. It brushed my legs. Then heather said it wasn't her fault, that she didn't know the gate was open when she let them out. And they came in smelling like that. But when I went outside, it didn't smell like that. My kitchen does. And after not even a whole day of Stella being so nice and clean and shiny.

Apparently, they got in a fight with a skunk. And of course the skunk won this one. It's not so much Stella. But Bubba must have been the instigator because he will never be coming back in this house again! I have no idea what to do with him now. He is disgusting. And I think the skunk is under my house near the kitchen. And it could be either hurt really bad or dead. Or not.

So what's a girl supposed to do? Why, cook up some good bacon and make a bacon and fresh ripe tomato sandwich on sourdough bread, of course! I seem to not have any good smelling candles on hand. I will be making some though, when I am done. So now the house smells pretty much like bacon. And who wouldn't want their house to smell like bacon? I bought a few tomatoes at the market yesterday and looked all over for bacon, but they were all sold out. So went to Whole Foods and got some. This is my all time favorite sandwich. And I wait a long time for "real" tomatoes just for this sandwich. I feel a little better. But still, have no idea what to do with Bubba. Stella is pretty much ok I think. But after her nice spa day, it kind of makes me sick.

Any advice for a dog with really thick fur to get the stench out? I asked the shearer guy if he could shave Bubba when he comes tomorrow. I'll check and see if he can. But maybe not now.

And I have a house full of company coming up from Colorado tomorrow for a week. 6 extra people. Staying here. UGH!

Before and after

 This is dirty Stella when I was taking her to my friend Jennie's for a shampoo and set. She was SO dirty and stinky and full of fleas. She didn't look too happy to be leaving home.

And here she is on the way home. She looks a lot happier now. She is SO clean. And all the white is shiny white. Even her feet are white and shiny. Her nails were trimmed. And her tail and rear and ever her ears. She's so clean I don't ever want her to go outside again. She looks like a city dog now. I got some Front line flea oil to put on her tomorrow.

And the bunnies are back out in their bunny tractor. I put some hard plastic pieces at the bottom of the door and screwed the door shut tight. I put them out before we left and when we got home, they were still in! And I cleaned the crate real good and put a clean blanket inside for Stella.

When we got home, Bubba nearly jumped her. I was afraid he wouldn't recognize her all pretty and cleaned up and smelling good. But he did eventually. I am going to see if the sheep shearer guy will trim Bubba because his fur is so thick and he's shedding like crazy all over the house. If he will, I'll give him a good washing and put the flea oil on him too.

Bad wabbits!

Oh, these rabbits! I don't know how many times I have had to chase these 2 girls. All over the yard. Kansas has even had to go up under the porch to get one. And she didn't want to. But she let them out that time.

This morning, that was the farthest thing from my mind, to catch rabbits. Again. But this time, when I went outside to feed everyone, I saw white out in the garden. 2 white things. So I knew it was those 2 bad wabbits right away. It took about 30 minutes, but I got 'em. Had to get a piece of fence and corral them. Of course, one got back out through the field fence. I put that one inside in Stella's crate.

The other one took a little bit more persuading. I finally got her into a corner where the chicken tractor was, with the black fence around her. So got her and brought her in with her sister.

And I am wringing wet with sweat. I have no idea what I will do with them now. Somehow, they are getting out of the tractor. I'll have to fix it before they go back in. Or else just get a regular rabbit cage. I hate to do that, because that means more money for feed. So I'll just try to figure out how they keep getting out and plug it up. These rabbits are very smart.

And they were eating my bean plants. Bad wabbits!