A Goat-Herding Shepherdess...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
For the past few days, Eric, Hannah and I have been Goat-Herding Shepherds and Shepherdesses. Do you know what that is? We were guarding our flock of five goats, (we didn't have the bucks out with us,) and it was fun! I was the first one to suggest it, and ask Mom if I could take them out to eat the apples from our crab-apple tree that is by the barn. I had them all off leashes for about two hours, and the only one who wandered off was Keçi, Heidi's doeling. Then I had to hook Chloe on so the others would stay by her. She is the leader in the her, so we have to hook her onto a lead when we take them out.
Well, yesterday evening, Eric and Hannah got them out and were taking them to the back to eat the 6ft weeds. I was called out there to help them stay together. We had to run after them once or twice to stop Chloe from running back to the barn. Then Mom came out, and Eric and Hannah went in. Mom wanted to take them down the hill where there was more weeds, after she took them by the poison ivy bush, much to my dismay. We have a tree and a bush that is covered in it, and the goats LOVE it, so we let them eat.
I had to haul the bucket of water down to where they were, down the hill. It was only half full, but it was still heavy. I had to hold onto Heidi's lead, to make sure she stayed close to us. We were down there for about an hour, just letting them eat what they wanted. There was plenty to go round, so no one fought over the weeds. JK! They don't fight over the weeds, they all share... most of the time.
We had to put the halter on Chloe because she kept pulling her neck back so we couldn't pull her. She doesn't like it very much. In fact, she hates it. We tried to keep it on her when we got it at first, but then, somehow she got it off in her stall and lost it. We couldn't find it for about two months, then Jocelyn cleaned out the goats' stall, and presto! there it was! She had that on since Mom came out.
She couldn't pull with her neck since we were pulling her by the nose. Ok, it wasn't the nose, but it was under the chin, where the halter clip-on ring was. We didn't have any more trouble getting her to come with us from then on.
The rest of the story is I was left out there when everyone else went in to watch them. I was running with the doelings, and singing to them, cuddling them. I love them, and didn't mind if I had to stay out there. Keçi was really the only one who ran around with me; she is the most personable. I think that's because she was the outcast when we was born. Since Chloe had just had hers, and Heidi was sick after having two dead bucklings, no one wanted her, so we were her mother.
While running, I found a green frog hopping under a ladder. It wasn't very big, but it was slippery. I lost it within five minutes. I was trying to keep it, but it jumped and I couldn't find it again. So I was content in sitting on a rock and started singing to them. Keçi came and wanted me to pet her and love on her, as did Belladonna, my goat. I gave the doelings some grass.
After a bit, I was told to take them in. Jocelyn went down and fed them. I took a shower. I was glad to finally get in the shower, because I smelled like a goat! Plus I had scratches on my legs from running through the tall (and short) weeds.
Then today, we moved the cage and put them out in the back. We put Heidi and the doelings in the cage, and hook Chloe on the outside to eat the weeds. We put Heidi in the cage because she always gets tangled up, but Chloe doen't get as tangled as her. Somehow, Keçi and Eámanë got out of the cage. The door was still locked when we went out to check on them. I think they pushed the side open and climbed under it. Another thing that we noticed was that Chloe had eaten Mom's plum tree! The leaves were GONE except for the higher branches.
Jocelyn had to come in and tell Mom about it. We had been trying to keep them away from the tree when we move the cage to where we put it, but we didn't see that it was in the reach of Chloe. So now the tree is bare... Ok, I think I covered every thing about being a Goat-Herding Shepherdess...
For more goat stories, go to Jocelyn's blog, Amusing Reflections of a Country Girl. You can read about her being a Goat-Maiden, Milking the Goats, and Goat Videos!
Oh, one more thing: does anyone like my new template? I got tired of the other one. I did change the font from Arial to Comic Sans MS on this template, and I fixed the links. I did it all by myself! I thought I did a pretty good job on it, don't you? But I am going to change it to something else soon, make my own design. I'll have Jocelyn help me with it, so leave a Reasonable Comment and tell me what you think would make a good template design... I was thinking of taking some pictures of around our farm and making a template with them...what do you think?
Rachel
Don't forget to stop over the Milk and Honey Tea-House. I posted about the Kingdom books again!
I hope you have enjoyed reading the thoughts of a thirteen-year-old girl from the country."You can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens you!" Philippians 4:13
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Comments
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Wow...
Posted by Narniagirl
Wow! Your template is so pretty! I really like it. :)
Hmm...sounds like fun; being a shepherdess! LOL.
And, btw, I posted...
~SNG
Monday, August 20, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ElCloud
The carnival is up! Thanks for entering it. :-)
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ElCloud/376195/
April
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