Our new buckling.

Well, the last time we went to Idaho (2 weekends ago), we picked up a buckling that I had purchased through from a well known breeder.  When he got out of his crate to get into ours (we'd met half way), he was bloated and began scouring very badly.  The owner said it was due to the daughter giving him way too much milk that morning.  Since his tail was clean and his crate was totally clean, I felt she was telling the truth.  Well, we've dealt with scours every since...

We have two adult does, three of this years doelings, an adult buck, a wether (this years) and this new buckling.  Our goal is only to produce the milk that we need for ourselves and mabe raise a couple calves and pigs every year.  Plus, have as closed a herd as we can (hence the two bucks). 

After battling the poor buck's diarrhea for 4 days, I finally did a fecal on him.  Sure enough, he was loaded with coccidia and worms.  I was told by some goat friends on the internet to treat the coccidia first, then deal with the worms.  I administered (as recommended) 2 cc's Vit. B Complex (for the thiamine), 1 cc C&D Antitoxin, and .8 cc SulphaDiMethoxin per day.  After one week, we'd progressed from water shooting diarrhea to splatty cow patty like.  Plus, I'd read up on herbs to treat the stomach and came up with this recipe (note- this is my own recipe and I'm still using it for the first time....  So if you choose to try it, I have no idea how it will work for you). :

For 2 quarts water (enough to mix the Re-Sorb electolites), mix;

1 small handfull (apx. 1/4 cup loosely piled fresh or 1/8 cup dried) dill leaves.

1 small handful (apx 1/4 cup fresh) peppermint

1/8 Cup dried basil or cinnamon basil

1 heaping tsp powdered ginger

1 heaping tsp powdered cinnamon

1/2 - 1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder

I'd also love to add some slippery elm but don't have any next time....

Bring water to near boil and turn off heat and let seep for 20 minutes.  Drain through a cheese cloth or like and cool.  Put tea in 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon jar and add Re-Sorb, mix well.  Place in fridge. 

Now, I'm feeding a 3 month old buckling (I've taken totally off of milk) one 20 oz bottle of this mix morning and night and at noon, he gets 10 oz. 

He has access to fresh, clean water at all times, along with a good quality loose mineral lix, sodiumbicarbonate, and good quality hay.

So, after one week, I'm feeling like I'm fighting a never ending battle until I can get rid of his worms.  So I called my vet and we talked everything over.  This is what he recommended and I'm doing now:

Keep Vit. B and C&D Antitoxin same dosage (by the way, only give the Antitoxin until you've reached 10ml.

But, we upped the DiMethox to 2.75 cc's for 5 days max.  I'll do a fecal today (day 3 after upping dosage) and see where we sit. And I gave him 3 ml (or cc's) Safeguard wormer. 

I'm also giving his DiMethox in the AM and I'm giving him (started with) 30cc's, now I'm up to 60cc's yogurt at PM, just before we go to bed.  I'll keep it at 60cc's until he's good again.

I noticed yesterday evening that his stool still had the soft cow patty look but there were little soft pebbles in it (yea!!!!).  Last night, he actually pooped a semi normal (still soft and in one clump, but there were many pebbles to the clump).  Today he's had both the cow patty with and without pebbles. 

Here's a picture of our new buckling after we got him home:

He has a lot of spots in his pedigree, plus lots of milk.  If we can get him through this, he should be a really nice buck for us.

Picture of my iris garden

This is actually just a part of it.  :o)

If I could change one thing, it would be the backdrop.  We'll be working on fences and such this summer.  Horses can be so hard on them!

Old fashoined orange poppies.  My grandfathers favorite flower.

This iris is supposedly "Lady Friend" but it doesn't exactly match the discription.  I'll have to do more checking into it before I know for sure that's it's true name.

"Kevin's Theme"  This iris proved to be very difficult for me to grow.  I actually thought it had died out, but to my surprise the No-id iris infront of the garden fence bloomed this year and low and behold....

More pictures of Iris

Obviously, these are my favorite flower.  A neighbor came over today to see the garden and she exclaimed, "Oh, just like my gramma's garden!"  I love hearing those words.  It's neat to watch their faces as the memories come back of their childhood.  In their minds, there "there" again.

This is an old historic named "Delight"

Another historic.  This one we've not been able to find the name for.  I obtained a rhyzome from Washington state and another here in Montana so I'm sure it does have a name. 

This iris is one of the most common historics you'll find in people's gardens.  It's name is "Lent A Williamson"

Like Delight, this historic is pretty hard to find.  My daughter LOVES this one.  It's name is "Minnesota Mixed Up Kid"

Pictures of my garden and new babies.

I've been so busy, I haven't even thought about blogging...  Every now and then some of you would cross my mind and I'd wonder what you've been up to.  When I get the time, I'll read up in the blogs.  Hopefully you haven't been as busy as we have been!

I went into this spring with 3 does (goats) and our one buck.  The first doe gave us a set of twin bucklings (we've since sold one and the other, Ben, has been whethered and will be DD's pet).  The second doe gave us triplets!!  Two girls and one boy.  The boy has been sold and we'll be keeping the girls.  We've named them Cynthia and Rosemary.  This is Rosemary.

Here is Cynthia.  She's my baby. 

This is our latest (and last) baby.  We bought her dam, a purebred Alpine - just bred to a gorgeous Alpine buck.  We named the doe Matty and we've named this little girl Nayeli (native american for "I Love You").

And now for some iris pictures.  They are in full swing right now and are really putting on a display this year.  This is an old historic named "Belvi Queen"

One of my seedlings. 

Waiting on Ms. Honey Dew

Today is her due date so we're very anxious.  I checked on her two times last night, once at 1:00 AM and again at 4:00 AM.  Her ligaments were nearly gone at the 4:00 check so, from what I've read, she should deliver within 24 hours.  Here is a picture:

She looks huge in the photo, but when she stands up, she's really not that big side to side but her belly hangs pretty low.

This is Honey's first pregnancy and my first time being a Nurse Maid to a goat.  I believe I'm more anxious than she is.  :o)

I sat with her for about an hour this morning and I felt pretty sure she'd deliver today.  She was more uncomfortable than she has been and kept moving like she was in pain.  Then, she got up and started eating... 

Emily is as anxious as I am and so excited that today is her due date.  She just knows she'll have her baby(ies) this afternoon.  I hope she's right!

We have 4 rabbit does also due today.  So far, nothing from them either.  We got 3 inches of snow last night so I hope they all have their babies today or tomarrow and not in the middle of the night.  The temps are pretty cold right now at night..

I'll update as things progress.  The birth of anything is such a miracle!

Stress off my shoulders and Signs.

It’s amazing to me how much better I feel after writing things down and sending them out into the blog world. 

When I was 18, I had a mental breakdown.  In the support center, they taught us different ways to “get things out”.  The one that worked the best for me was to write letters.  I’ve never sent one, but I’ve found it does help.  Writing things down in my blog seems to help even more.  There’s something about writing it down and knowing people are going to read it that makes it easier to let go.  Knowing I couldn’t go to the people responsible for this made it hard to take.  But sharing it with you all instead made it a whole lot more bearable.  I went ahead and deleted the last blog that I wrote because it was something that I had to get off my shoulders, and now that I feel a lot better about it, I don’t want to re-read it or go back there again.

We’re supposed to get snow today and then a really cold snap is supposed to follow.  I would LOVE to see some more snow, but the cold I could do without.  It would be great to have a white Christmas.

  I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had time to blog.  The neighbors have been leaving us alone which has made everyday life SOOOOOOOO peaceful!  It’s been truly NICE!

  We lost our old TB stallion, Definite Signs last Thursday.  It was pretty hard to take!  Especially since there was nothing we could do.  We lost him to Pedunculated Lipoma. 

We’ll miss the old man.  He was a very gentle horse that Emily absolutely LOVED.  He stood 16 Hands so she couldn’t comb the top ¼ of him, but he would stand stone still while she was around him.  He love the attention from this small child.  I’m sure he’s welcomed in Heaven and is running those ever green pastures.  See you in Heaven Ol’ Man!

Moving inspirations and fears

My Internet Explorer has been keeping me from the internet until today when I figured out that by starting it with the add-ons disabled, I can atleast tour the web.

I have been reading two books that I feel God has led me to.  “Profiles in Faith” by Harold Sala is an amazing book which tells about 50 people who, by following Gods lead, truly made a difference in the world.  I read the following passage in the book of Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  In the Profiles inFaith book, Sala speaks about Abraham.  He begins by saying< Risk your money on dice and they call that gambling, risk your money on the stock market and they call that business.  But risk your future on God, and they call you a fool.”  This really spoke to me as we are planning on moving to another state in late spring of 2008.  This new adventure is scary to all of us and I find it very sad that I’m leaving loved family, friends and the place that has always been home to me.  However, 3 ½ years ago, Virgil and I were beginning to feel the pressure of needing to move somewhere away from controlling people and find freedom that we’ve never had.  We prayed and asked God to help us and he opened our eyes to a very small ad in an Idaho paper that was for 5 acres and owner financing.  We’d been looking for another place with more land (than our then ½ acre) and buying the places that we liked were out of our reach for one reason or another.  Plus, the last year had been especially hard for me with my family and I really wanted to move AWAY.  Then we find this little ad and both of us felt an overwhelming urge to call right now.  After speaking with the seller, DH made plans right then and there to go see the land on Saturday (this was Monday or Tuesday).  It was a long week for us!  Finally Saturday came and my bidding words to him were, “I trust your judgement.”  He called late Saturday morning to tell me we’d bought the place and the owners sister had another 5 acres adjoining it also for sale with the same terms and low payments.  We went ahead and purchased that too.  We couldn’t believe the blessings that had just taken place!  Everything had come together so easily throughout all of this, we knew that it was God’s will and a prayer answered.  The more I leaned about Idaho and the area which we were moving to, the more my heart burst with happiness.  I often cried while researching as it all sounded wonderful and a place where we’d be happy.  Then we drove over the following spring and found a lot of snow, mud and a long way to power and phone (we were told ½ mile, but we’ve since measured it and it’s only 1000 ft to phone and 2000 ft to power.  Anyway, the road was nearly impassible and we had to walk to our land.  We were dishearted and decided that God must have wanted us to use this land as a turn-over and make enough money with the resale to buy someplace more liveable.  Another year passed with things growing worse in our little town which increased our stress and our need to move.  So we began looking into selling the land and buying another place.  Again, we found nothing but closed doors for one reason or another.  Anyway, we started noticing that the places we were most interested in, were very similar to ours.  So we again took the drive (to measure exactly how far power and phone were) and to again look at the roads and re-think all of this.  I have to add, that both of our vehicles were not running very well and we planned on renting a vehicle for this drive.  When we arrived to pay in cash, we were informed that they only took credit cards.  We were appalled!  We’d driven an hour to get to the rental place, and there we sat.  I told DH that I felt we should continue on and pray.  God again answered our prayer and our car sailed there and back.  We again felt that God really wanted us to live on this land and so we are truly devoted to getting there this year. 

  We have found nothing but frowns and people saying there’s no way we can do this.  I have listened to them at times and felt like they’re right, but then I read a scripture that sometimes screams at me and I am again reminded that with God leading the way, ALL things are possible. 

In another part of the story, Sala goes on to say, “Can you imagine some of the conversations that must have taken place as neighbors said, “We see you are packing up your family, Abraham.  Where are you headed?”  And Abraham says, “I’m not sure; I just know that God is leading me.” “Uh-huh.” comments a friend.  “How are you going to take care of your family>”  Abraham shuffles his feet and says, “I don’t know, but I am sure God will take care of us.”

That’s how we feel too.  Except for us it’s family who think this is nothing but a dream.

I’ve lived in this small town for 30 of my 36 years and I can whole-heartedly say that this move is very scary to me.  BUT, living here is even scarier.  We are victims here, and starting anew someplace with the knowledge that God has led us there is a comfort.  The sunrises and sunsets will be missed, as will the mountains which I’ve called home for so many years.  We have good friends here that will be missed and my gardens won’t be the same as I’ve been told you can only grow cold weather crops there.  But we’ll have so much more.  We’ll have PEACE and quiet.  We’ll have new friends to make and won’t be burdened with people marking us because of bad family or a vengeful neighbor.  The hurt that I’ve felt this last year as people whom I thought were friends have turned their backs on me because of something they’ve heard has been horrible, unbearable if I really think about it.  I’ve known these people my entire life and for them to do this…..  I just never thought it could ever happen….  Anyway, it has, and because of it, we’ve felt the need to move even greater than before.

  Since our last trip over to our land in Idaho (last July), we have been busy getting as many things taken care of as we can (like bills paid, and our vehicles running well).  Our truck needs a new engine so we’ve been pursuing that.  We’d like for everything to be ready in April so we can be free to go in May. 

  In ending today, I would like to quote another book that I’m reading, “The Attributes Of God” by Arthur W. Pink.  Throughout this year, I have thought horrible thoughts and have felt that I have been failing God.  I have felt that this has been a test and I’m not doing so well.  So when I read the following, I felt my heart lighten and once again can only say, “Thank You!”

Chapter 15 “The Love Of God”

….”Jacob have I loved,” declared God, and despite all his unbelief and waywardness, He never ceased to love him.  John 13:1 furnishes another beautiful illustration.  That very night one of the apostles would say, “Show us the Father”; another would deny Him with cursings; all of them would be scandalized by and forsake Him.  Nevertheless, “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.”  The Divine love is subject to no vicissitudes.  Divine love is “strong as death….many waters cannot quench it” (Song of Sol. 8:6,7).  Nothing can separate from it (Rom. 8: 35-39)

Sweet Potato casseroles and Thanks!

We love sweet potato casserole, but this year I’d like to try a new recipe.

Now  I’m trying to decide which one… They all sound SO good!

Also, since this is the time for giving thanks, I would like to say, “THANK YOU!!!” to everyone who’s taken the time to comment here at my blog.  I have met some wonderful people here.

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Bake Recipe #78953

This is a must for Thanksgiving or your Christmas dinner table!. It has just the right balance of sweet and spicy! Cooking time will vary depending on the size you cut the sweet potatoes, you will love these!

by KITTENCAL

6-8

servings

1 hour 20 min prep

1. In a resealable plastic bag, toss cubed sweet potatoes and oil; add the rest of ingredients; toss well to coat.
2. Transfer to a greased baking dish (large enough to hold the potatoes in one layer).
3. Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender but not too soft (tossing with a wooden spoon or spatula about every 15-20 minutes).
4. *NOTE* careful not to overbake as the potatoes will become mushy.
5. Delicious!

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe #11599

This is a great holiday side dish

by Divinemom5

10

servings

50 min 10 min prep

1. In large mixing bowl,mix sweet potatoes,sugar,eggs,margarine,milk and vanilla.
2. Pour into 9 inch square greased baking dish.
3. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over potatoes.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes .
5. Can be doubled and baked in 9x13 dish.

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe #11924

One of many sweet potato casserole recipes. I think this is my favorite.

by Lali

20

servings

1¼ hours 20 min prep

1. Drain liquid from potatoes, place potatoes in lg bowl and mix well.
2. Mixture will be runny.
3. Add next 6 ingredients and mix until well blended.
4. Pour in baking dish.
5. Top with mixture of: brown sugar, pecans, flour, melted margarine.
6. Bake 350* uncovered 45 minutes.
7. *Note: use 5 sweet potatoes, boiled, peeled, and mashed if you’re not into a desert like casserole.

 All of these came from www.recipezaar.com

________________________________________________________________________

Which one... Which one.....

Snow for Thanksgiving!!

Let it snow, Let it snow, LET IT SNOW!!!!!!!!

It is still snowing… We have about 4+ inches and oh is it beautiful!  I’m listening to Christmas music right now.  I can’t help but get into the Christmas spirit when it snows. 

I’m going to put on a pot of apple cider with a couple of cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, bake something outrageously fattening, and crochet something warm and comfy.  There is such a peacefulness when it snows (unless it’s a blizzard that is).

  I’m looking forward to all of the snow we’ll be getting when we move. 

Rarely do we have snow like this before Thanksgiving.  And more often than not, we don’t even have snow for Christmas.  We love to do pretty much any outdoor activity that’s in snow, and we just don’t get to do them often here.

  We all have a cold, DS and I seem to have it worse in our bronchial tubes so I’m not letting DS outside right now.  He wants to play in the snow SO BAD!  DD, bless her heart, brought in a bucket of snow for him to eat and play in.  He’s been having fun and I’ve been busy picking it up off the floor. :o]  I’m hoping he’s feeling good enough tomorrow to play outside.  I’ve learned from experience that cold air makes coughing much worse.

  Our 2 year old nanny goat isn’t feeling well.  We let them out Sunday so we could clean their pen and barn before the snow hit.  Well, they decided to nibble on the old straw for the ducks.  We kicked them out when we saw them eating it, but I’m pretty sure it gave her a tummy ache.  She wouldn’t eat anything yesterday morning, so we went around picking anything I knew of that would make her tummy feel better if she’d eat it.  We offered her some mint, cedar, and willow leaves.  She really went to town on the willow leaves, then later in the day she started eating some hay.  This morning, she nibbled on her grain during milking, but she’s still looking a little sick.  I pray that she’s back to herself soon.

  We got our Christmas shopping done already!  I’m SOOOO happy to have it done.  Now we can avoid the rush and our selection was awesome.  The gifts are even already wrapped. :o)  We had to so the kids wouldn’t stumble upon them.

  Well, that’s all that’s been going on around here…  The neighbors are still their sociopathic selves, but they just got a hefty fine from BLM for stealing boulders yet again, so they’ve been pouting and pretty quiet, until this morning when my shoveling the snow away from my mailbox was taken as a threat by the wife so her husband had to hop into their suburban and drive by very slowly.  Course, by the time he went by, I was already back in the yard and didn’t even look at him. 

  To end on a lighter note, I’m planning on making a few pies tomarrow for Thanksgiving.  We always spend Thanksgiving with my mom and step dad.  My mom makes the BEST main course (turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, string beans, and macaroni & shrimp salad).  I always make pumpkin pies and then whatever sounds good.  This year DD wants apple pie, DH wants cherry pie, Pecan pie sounds wonderful to me as does a new recipe I found called Kona Banana Cream Pie.  You can find it at recipezaar (recipe # 202442).  Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!  We’ll see how many pies I actually get done. :o)

  If I don’t  write again until after Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Muffins

Man these are good!  DD ate 12 yesterday….

Pumpkin Muffins (another recipezaar recipe by Nurse Di)

1 C Pumpkin

2 eggs slightly beaten

½ C Water

½ C melted butter

1 ¾ C Flour

¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ C Sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ginger

¼ tsp ground cloves

Mix all ingredients together until well blended.

Fill muffin cups ¾ full

Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 30 min.

Carved pumpkin pictures

Here are our favorites:

Coyote howling, Happy Feet (the penguin), horse running

Wolf

We had a ton of fun - even though we carved for about 5 hours between yesterday and today.

Chickens for the homestead

We have young chicks, pullets and layers everywhere!

This year we’ve raised more babies than we ever have, and the only thing we’ve done is collect eggs from the hen house and put under some of the setters.  Some of them just disappeared and emerged 21+ days later with a clutch of new chicks.  But while feeding them this morning, I wondered what breeds other homesteaders like.

We started out with mainly americana’s (auracana’s), then we started having fun every year and buying a few different breeds.  Along the way, we purchased two silver speckled hamburgs (also known as the Dutch everyday egg later).  Now, we have a lot of hamburg crosses and I must say that for the homesteader who wants a free range chicken to eat up the bugs and who does well scavenging for themselves, I’d highly suggest hamburgs or hamburg crosses. 

We purchased some silkies a few years ago, first starting with black ones and white ones, then cutting way back on the blacks (VERY dominant color!) and bought a blue hen and a couple browns.  Silkies are well known for their broodiness and will set on eggs 12 months out of the year (no kidding!) which is one reason we have youngsters running all over right now.  So out of the many breeds we’ve tried, for those like us, who want great egg layers and love to free range, plus setters/brooders who’ll hatch anything you put under them, hamburgs and hamburg crosses, auracana’s and auracana crosses, and silkies are what I’d recommend.

But then I love a colorful flock too, so if you like odd ball colors, get some polish (topknots), auracana’s (which are probably my favorite chicken) and come in a wide range of colors, buff orphingtons, golden comets (probably the best egg layer there is IMO), silver laced cochins, blue andalusians, and black australorps.  All of these are very easy to get along with chickens (meaning they aren’t crazy flighty, they don’t peck on one another (like barred rocks which I would NOT recommend) and they are easy keepers.

  We are busy carving pumpkins today.  We carved 3 yesterday and will carve 3 more today.  Here is my favorite roasted pumpkin seed recipe:

1 C Pumpkin seed

¼ tsp butter

Melt butter, then add seed and stir well (coating all seeds).  Then sprinkle with:

powdered garlic, powdered onion, and seasoning salt.  Can also add powdered ginger and garlic salt too. 

Bake at 350 F, turning every 15 min. or so, until golden brown.

We do not get into the whole scary part of Halloween.  We focus on the happy things that surround fall harvest.  We LOVE raising pumpkins and gourds and we LOVE carving pumpkins.  So today is a fun filled day at our house.  Plus, DD loves making costumes and showing them off.  This year she’s a cat.  We cut out and decorated her mask and I must say that it is beautiful. 

Have a SAFE Halloween everyone!

Could it be Big Foot?

Have you guys seen this?

Hmmm….  What do you think it is?  http://thehendricksreport.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/jacobs-creature-brings-up-the-age-old-question-are-we-all-nuts/

I’m guessing either a chimp, someone dressed in a monkey suit or it’s a Big Foot.  Wish whatever it was would have looked at the camera when it flashed.  I’d like to see the face.

Learning as I go...

Someone once told me that goats could and would breed at very early ages (2 months!) so naïve me just figured that Happy Feet, our billy, would easily get the job done at 5 months if he met the weight requirement (70 pounds).  Well, he bypassed that weight over 2 months ago and I didn’t give my whole goat plan a second thought.  I’d breed our two does in October or November, the kids would be 2-3 months old when we moved, which was old enough they wouldn’t get too stressed with the move, and still young enough to take all or most of their dams milk so I wouldn’t be tied down with milking, and everything would be peaches and cream.  HA!!!!  Well, good ol mother nature once again has humbled me.  Happy Feet, as much as he’s trying, just isn’t quite there yet.  Both of my does have just completed another heat cycle and I’m pretty sure neither was covered.  :o(  So, my big plan is out the window and down the road.  Infact, so far down the road that I may end up at Elaines house (who raises Nubains).  I guess we’ll see what next month brings, but I really do NOT want these does to stay open for another year.  The whole reason we got them was for their milk and I couldn’t image going a whole year having to buy milk.  I think I’d buy another doe (bred!) than go through that!

So, as much as Happy would like to think he’s top dude around here, he’s still got a ways to go. 

Lesson learned!

First snow in pictures

We’d heard that we were supposed to get snow last night, but yesterday’s high was nearly 70 so it was hard to believe.  Well, this is what we woke up to. :o]

We LOVE snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DD took this picture.  It’s now our screen saver. :o]

This is our hen, Snowflake (named by DD (who is going through a faze where everything is named snow something or after a flower)) trying to stay out of the snow.  She is a blue andalusian cross.

Plum tree

Front left – Amas, Front right – Ulie, back – Akisha

Bad time of year to be a baby chick.  The mother to these had spent the night in the secret garden so they had to travel through snow to get anywhere.  I caught the mom and two babies and put them under the shelter.

On a bad note, last night Chipper tore half of his stitches out.  The wound must be really itching as he will NOT leave it alone!  I think we’re going to revert to the old rinsing it out 3 times a day with water and pray the remaining stitches hold!

Emergency trip to the vet.

What a night!  DH and I decided to clean up the hay that the deer had stomped into the mud late last night (about 10:00 PM) while the kids were sleeping.  I had to open the two gates in one of the pastures for him to drive the truck through.  Chipper was in the pasture that we needed to get through and he met me at the gate.  He hadn’t eaten any of his hay and seemed agited.  He normally greets me with a soft nicker but this time he barely made a sound and kept pushing me around.  I petted him and tried to comfort him, not knowing what could be upsetting him.  But DH saw it as he drove through the first gate.  He rolled the window down and said, “Did you see the cut on his chest?”  Thinking Chipper might have scraped himself, I glanced down at his chest and couldn’t believe my eyes.  His right peck muscle was tore open with a huge flap of skin hanging down.  I grabbed the flashlight and could see a large puncture hole as far up as I could see.  I shined the flashlight around us to see if I could see what caused it and noticed the metal post that had been straight up and down holding Charges pen in place was now bent over.  I knew exactly what happened.  Chipper must have got to playing with Charge and rared up and came down on the post.  YEOW!!!!!  Well, this is a no-brainer.  We need to get him to the vet.  The thing that worried me the most was how far in the post had went.  Of course, the vets we normally use couldn’t be reached, so I called a specialist whom we haven’t seen in 7 years because he’s pretty expensive.  They just built a brand new facility that’s a lot closer to us, so that would be helpful. 

After examining Chipper, the vet said the post had only went about 4-5 inches in.  He washed and flushed it really well (thankfully it didn’t have any foreign matter in it!) then sewed layer after layer until he finally stapled the skin together.  He put a drain in it as he said it would drain a lot and probably have a lot of swelling for a few days.  I’ve seen a lot of animals stitched up and he did a fantastic job.  I believe Chipper was in the best hands we could offer him.  He was a trooper the entire time and even loaded extremely well considering he hadn’t stepped into a horse trailer since he was about 4 months old.  We got home about 2:30 AM and then had to get a pen put together for him.  I’m going to clean up the barn today so we can stall him if we get any moisture. 

We are all tired today and the horses are still upset.  I think they know we took someone last night but they haven’t quite figured out that everyone is here.  It’s amazing how, even though most of them are separated, they all consider themselves a herd. 

We went up the creek and retrieved our game camera yesterday.  Here are some photo’s: (I had the camera pointing downward for smaller game like bobcats, mountain lions, and such).

Hee Hee, I love this one.

It took me about 30 mintues to figure this one out.  Anyone want to take a guess? :o)

Dreaming...

I find myself dreaming all the time about our new home in the woods. 

DH and I have the same ideas for our new place.  We want a lot of windows on the south side of the house, for one.  The house we’re in now (well, mobile home with an addition) doesn’t have many windows and the winter can get so gloomy.  I have a semi large window on the west end of the addition that seems to germinate seeds relatively well, and the house plants that are there grow well also.  But the thought of having large windows where we can bask in the sun on cold days really makes me smile.  I would love to grow sedums and orchids someday too.  We visited Bush Gardens in Florida a few years ago and I was in awe of the orchids growing all over the rock walls.  I would love to re-create that if I could…

I often imagine myself sitting between the windows and stove crocheting or reading a good book and glancing out the windows at the wildlife (deer, elk, birds, etc.) or the kids playing in the snow (we’ll have a lot more snow there than we do here).  Every year DD dreams of making snow men and sledding but only every 3 years or so can we do them due to lack of snow.  We do get the cold though!  Minus 30 F is common for here, but where we’re moving, the temps are much more mild in the winter.

DH and I are beginning to draw up plans for our barn.  We’d like to house as many of the animals under one roof as we can.  We have such a gorgeous view from our land, we don’t want to obstruct it with a bunch of sheds and such.

We also have lions, bears and wolves where we’re moving so a good fence is also in the plans.  5 foot no climb is on sale at our local hardware store right now and we’re going to buy 4, 100’ roles.  We’ll have a strand of electric wire about 2 ½ ft high along the outside of the fence and mabe another along the top.  I think this will help with our goats leaning on the fence too.  Hopefully the kids can play outside without me worrying about predator critters.  The animals will all be locked up at night to keep them safe, and I think we’ll install a few motion detector lights. 

We’re not going to have power for the first couple of months so things will have to be run from the generator and solar.  We’ve thought about going totally solar, but we use so much power (two freezers, one fridge, washer, dryer, hot water tank, etc) that we just don’t think off the grid living will do for us right now.  However, the downside to bringing power and phone in to where we live is it will increase the value of the property around us and we may get neighbors….  Hmmm…  So we keep tossing ideas around about that one.

  Well, it’s breeding season for the goats.  I’m trying to get our doeling, Honey, bred this month.  Since I’ve never had goats until this year, I’m just learning about their heat cycles and what to look for.  I don’t think Honey has cycled yet this month, atleast I’m hoping she hasn’t.  Every day she’s in with Happy Feet (our Nubian buck) for the day and I put her back in the does pen with Mrs. Paign at night.  I’m hoping Happy (who is also a youngster but seems to know his stuff) will know when Honey is in standing heat. 

Anyway, I know things never go exactly as planned for me, but if I can get Honey bred this month, and Mrs. Paign bred next month, the kids will be taking most of the milk during the time we’ll be moving.  That would be SOOOO nice, not having to milk during that time.

Well, I’m actually boring myself, so I’ll go for now. 

*This photo was taken this summer.  I just found another disk with more flower photo’s.  Man I take a lot of pictures!*

Today up the creek pictures

We didn’t know if we were going to make it up the creek today, but we did.

It won’t be long until the trees are bare, which is always a touch sad for me, but until then, they are absolutely stunning.

DD and I took a hike and ended up at the top of a rocky ridge.  We bugled (just playing around) for awhile, course we didn’t get any bull elk to answer.  It was fun, though, and that’s what it’s all about.  On the way back down the mountain, Emily began beating on the top of a frisbee we’d found at the beginning of our hike and singing like a native.  I chimed in for awhile.. :o)  There’s something about singing to a simple beat while walking through the woods.  It seems to reach into the spirit and bring the singer a bit closer to your surroundings. 

Here, Emily is bugling.  She doesn’t know I’m taking the picture.

Here’s another view from our rocky ridge.

Another beautiful fall day.

Since my last entry

After catching a flu bug and being tired and dragged out for a few days, I’m back on my feet and ready to tackle the next project.  Last week was a busy one for us as we were animal sitting for some friends.  We couldn’t tell anyone as we didn’t want the neighbors to get wind of it.  That could have been horrible if they had.  I don’t want to even think about what all they could have done (and gotten away with!).  Anyway, no one knew and we had a very good time.  It’s nice to get to know other people’s animals.  They all have such different personalities.

  Chipper, the 2 year old gelding that was raised with Candy, is finally working through his grief.  Candy was his great grandma, and also his best friend.  He was very angry and in mourning for the first week but this week he’s calming down and accepting things as they are now.  The deer kept tearing down his fence and he’d quickly take the opportunity to go looking for Candy.  We have a son of Candy’s, named Charge.  He looks just like she did.  We finally had to pen Chipper next to Charge so he’d get it through his head that they were not the same horse.  He seems quite content where he is now, although he doesn’t want to be turned out with Charge.  When I turn Charge out, Chipper wants in his pen for the day.  Charge is still a stud and likes to dominate Chipper.  Nothing mean, just basically saying, “Look at how strong I am.”  Chipper wants nothing to do with it and I don’t blame him.  I’ve been taking more time for Chipper since Candy died as he’s just like his mother, Tess, and loves attention.  He was always a cocky little turd (also, just like his mother was at his age), then this summer, we had neighbors actually punching him (we caught them doing it!).  They’d lure him to the fence with goodies, then when he’d reach over to eat what they were holding, they’d punch him in the face.  I came totally unglued and chewed them out.  I had suspicions before catching them as Chipper was getting head shy.  He was starting to act like a horse that was being hit on, but I couldn’t prove anything.  After I had my fit, the adults left him alone, but I did catch some kids trying to run him with sticks.  I quickly put a stop to that too.  Anyway, Chipper is now doing much better and reminds me of his dam every day.  I can’t wait until he can run on 10 acres and really kick up his heals.

  Yesterday was exciting.  My mother had a gal there to clean her house.  While she was outside, cleaning the many windows, mom and Emily ran to town.  When they got back, they were met with a very excited cleaning lady.  She had attempted to move some tin that was lying on the ground so she could move her ladder and met with a very loud and angry rattle snake.  She had climbed the ladder and sat there until the snake finally slithered off.  Mom called me up, wanting me to run down and find the snake.  She couldn’t let her dogs out and didn’t want to really go out herself.  I took Benny, our faithful snake hater with me and we looked all over (and under) everything but never did find the snake.  He probably went down a gopher hole.  I can’t believe the snake was there.  This time of year, they should all be near or in their dens.  Guess he got layed up somehow…..

  Well, it’s about chore time and I need to get busy.

Bye for now.

P.S.  Here's a photo I shot with my Sony Mavica on Sunday...

Now they're waving....

I can’t believe those two! *I’m talking about our nightmarish neighbors here*.  Now they’ve started waving!!!!  We passed her on the highway on Sunday (she was out walking/exercising) and she waved.  DD, Emily said, “she waved!”  We decided she must have thought our car was someone elses.  Then yesterday evening, Emily and I were driving down the road and passed him (he was driving up the road, we were going down) and he looked right at me and waved.  If I was to read his expression and the way he waved, it was a “Got Ya” wave.  I truly do not get them.  I’m sure this is another little defiance against the “No Contact Order” but it falls right along the other little things they do, like talk to Emily (even when we’re with her) as they pass by (she hates this and so do we, but it’s not BIG enough for the local law enforcement to do anything about it.  They just think the neighbors are being nice….  I’m going to be spending the day with the sheriff on Saturday and will have a chat about these little things.  I’m not going to hold out hope of anything being done about them, but atleast she’ll be reminded of them.