Monday, March 31, 2014

Spring has Sprung!

'Tis a stereotypical spring day in the Pacific Northwest. The rain showers come and go with their usual drama (which includes hail and rainbows). 
The daffodils are in full bloom.
My crazy Weeping Santa Rosa plum tree is open. Maybe I'll get some fruit from it this year.  
The grape hyacinth are reaching into the sky as high as they can (but they're still dwarfed by the daffodils) 
The other flowering trees are about to explode in blooms. 
The cat gives you a weird look... 
And there are new baby goats in the barn. ^_^
Yesterday, I posted about not knowing when our goats were going to kid since we didn't know when they were bred (all thanks to escapee bucks).  
Well, we've been keeping a close eye on the mamas that we figured were due soon. Mom peeked in the barn while on her way to do some other work, and there was no sign of impending excitement from anyone. They all just stood around chewing their cud and staring at the two legged food-giver. 
Hardly an hour later, there were babies. Two of them, to be precise. Twin boys. They were pretty much dry by the time we found them and had been nursing. 
We're still debating what to name them. We've been keeping a list of things we would name the kids if we had twin boys. Now that we have them, we don't know which names to pick! Lol! Should it be Thor and Loki? Sherlock and Mycroft? Merry and Pippin? Kirk and Spock? Calvin and Hobbes? We're not sure which ones to pick!  
All that was running through our minds was, 'This is how kidding is supposed to go.' Whenever you talk to other dairymen (or women), you hear all the birthing horror stories. Then you start to freak out. Oh please, Lord, don't let that happen! Thankfully, we didn't have to worry about anything with these two. :) 

I turned around after taking pictures of the babies, and there's Rita standing on a log wanting attention.
She almost looked like she was asking for her picture to be taken. 
I'm still just as cute as those two whiny things that you're holding in there! 
See? I can pose; they can't. I look like a statue. 

The babies were born on Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning (today), the first batch of meat chicks came in. When it rains, it pours. Everything happens at the same time. ;) 
Here we go!

Until next time!
SG

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Catching Up

Has it really been over a month since I last posted? Bad me. :slaps wrist: Hmm... What to write...

- We got the strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries temporarily planted in the compost pile just until we get the row work finished in their final landing spot.

- Daffodils are blooming! Time to get everything fertilized.

- I've been sewing up a storm. Want to see some of the projects? You can browse through them on my sewing blog.

- Mom has been wracking her brain to figure out the perfect chicken feed mix. It's amazing how much there is out there about chicken feed. And we need to get the chicken feed made pronto since the first batch of meat chicks arrives on Monday (tomorrow?!). I guess we need to get the chicken brooder area cleared out and ready for the newcomers.

- Some sadder news... We lost our blue-eyed buckling a few weeks back. :( He somehow managed to get himself strangled in the cross wires of the fence. We have no idea how he was able to get in there since it took two people to get him out. By the time that we found him there, rigor mortis had already begun to set in; he had been there for a while. All of our other goats wouldn't even go outside as long as the poor little guy was there. Even after we pulled him out and taken him to the back of the property, the does were all very somber for a couple of days.

- To help offset that depressing news, we're supposed to have baby goats soon! Although, we don't know which date the mamas are due since the bucks had gotten out a couple of times. :P We're just playing a waiting game now.