Been a while . . .

First, some bad news. Poor Speckle, the pet barred rock chicken, met her doom one late summer night. From what we could tell, some varmint sneaked into the barn and messed her up. We are still sad and still miss her.

Otherwise, things have been rolling along as they ever do here. I've been taking some photos, as you can see above. More will follow soon . . .

Taking homemade pizza to the next level . . .

So fun. Today for a late lunch we are having homemade cheese pizza. Using sauce from scratch: home canned tomatoes. Using homemade mozzarella, from our fresh goat milk. I'm also making the crust from scratch.

I'm sorry to report that a big wind came through and destroyed the hummingbird nest. So sad. Yet, I feel so privileged to have seen it.

The garden isn't doing as well as last year, but I have put up some green beans. This summer has been so cool. I don't think we've been past ninety degrees this past July, which seems unreal.
Doesn't seem like summer yet. Usually we have days that melt you the minute you step outside.

Now we are starting to see the barn swallows congregate on the power lines, which has to mean that fall is approaching and school will be starting soon. This past weekend, the kids found this gorgeous luna moth. These moths are my favorite. We looked up what host plant her larvae will enjoy most, and then relocated her to a walnut tree.

Lovey Dovey

We've had a family of Mourning Doves in our front Oak tree. This was the day before the last youngster in the nest fledged. I'm amazed that doves can raise any young, their nests are always so rickety.

For Shahan

We've had a new family move into the neighborhood! I stumbled upon this nest purely by accident. As you can see, Dad keeps watch nearby, and aggressively guards against any other hummingbirds from approaching his family's feeder, which hangs outside my kitchen sink window.

Her nest is not much bigger than half a walnut shell. You can see how well its camouflaged!

The garden is in and growing. Green beans, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini . . . we wanted to put in spinach and beets, but that might have to wait for a fall planting. Sounds like tomorrow we will have a long day of splitting wood . . .

spring '09

What a nice spring its been so far! Great weather for controlled burns, and here is a shot of our neighbor burning off his set-aside ground. All of our neighbors have burned their set-aside, and we got a really good, clean burn on our little patch of prairie, so I am really looking forward to seeing it green up this year.

We have a total of eight goat kids now, and we think some more are on their way. More pictures coming soon . . .

Hubby and I have the chance to travel to San Diego soon. I'm looking forward to seeing a totally different place than what I'm used to. Should be fun, and to think: four whole days without milking goats, washing dishes, cooking meals, doing laundry . . . whatever will I do?

A couple bucks

Here are the two latest additions to the herd. There were three, one didn't survive. It was also a buck. It didn't go perfectly smoothly for Sissy, but we have learned, and she is doing well. The black one weighed 7#, and the brown one 6#.

Kidding

Today at 6:13am

I don't know why I ever assume that I have these creatures figured out. Look at the word 'capricious.' It means unpredictable and flighty, in a somewhat adorable way, or something like that. The root is from Latin (or Greek) capra, which is goat - caprine, capricious, Capricorn . . . all have to do with goats.

These goats we have are pretty awesome, for the most part. They have each their own personality. We raise them by hand to be friendly to humans. But when that goat decides she won't do something, you may as well give up and try to figure out a way to bribe her. They aren't small goats, these Nubians - our wether stands almost shoulder high to me, with the older does only a little shorter. So when they dig in, they will not be moved.

Sissy was due on Monday. Yesterday, she started her labor - dripping goo, laying down and getting back up repeatedly . . . I really thought yesterday would be the day. This morning, still no kids. So then there is all the anxiety of, am I doing the right thing for her, should I have the vet come in . . . ? Am I going to have to reach in there and straighten or pull something out? (Which scares me to pieces, by the way) But no, she is still her vigorous, snarky self, so we just watch and wait.

Erika is due Saturday. She has been fighting ketosis. It makes her weak and shaky, and she didn't really want to eat. We know we can bribe her with raisins, so that helped a little. We've been treating her with proplyene glycol, which sounds nasty, but that's what you do for ketosis. Yesterday when I walked up to the barn to check on Sissy, I saw that the goats had found a feed sack to tear up. Right in the middle of the torn up pile was Erika, looking prouder and happier than she has in a week. I'll give her a feed sack to tear up every day if that's what it takes for her.

So I start this day not knowing at all what to expect. I just have to remember to trust God for the outcome, even if its not comfortable. I have to put all this anxiety aside and trust the goats to know what to do. And hopefully, sometime in the next day or two I will be able to show off some of those adorable baby goats. Nothing that is going to happen today is surprising to God, so I have to do my best for Him and trust the rest will fall into place.

Deer, OH Deer!

This happened NewYear's Eve, the Jeep is in the body shop as I write this. They popped up out from behind a ridge, near here on pavemet, in the middle of the ever-lovin day. I tried to avoid them, but they had a vendetta. Two does slammed right into the side of the Jeep. You can see each of their imprints in each of the doors. When I got safely pulled over, I turned and saw one laying in the road. I thought, well, maybe ate least I'll get to process this one, some recompense for the damage. I started to dial my brother-in-law, who I knew was closeby and would be able to dispatch the infernal creature and help me get it home. However, when I opened my door, she got up and ran off. I imagine she had fallen down laughing anyway and scooted out when the joke on me had played out.

Pa-Pa Joe

Last night my husband's grandpa ended his struggle at the age of 91. We're happy for him, sad for us. We'll miss his humor, his guitar and harmonica playing. As a former Methodist minister, he married Andy and I, as well as Andy's brothers and their wives. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for our family as we were preparing to say goodbye. E4 was happy, she was seeing Grandma June on the other side jumping up and down, clapping, saying 'He's here! He's here!' She probably had the domino table all set up and ready for him.