A Day in the Unfolding of the New Year

Trying to take on a few major projects while my work schedule is lighter, as well as help the kids with homeschooling and their own projects has kept me on my toes, but it has been quite rewarding. I will share more about the projects going on around here in the next few days. Okay, seeing how often I am too tired for blogging lately, how about I promise to do my best, but acknowledge they might be a bit late?

This blue Silkie pullet is one of a few new layers who have been contributing their first few eggs to the family here lately. This morning, she seemed bent on being broody, though she wasn't actually sitting ON the egg. Wyatt wasn't sure whether to be thankful she was making the collecting easy or explain how the whole broody thing worked, but since he was trying to get pens cleaned between storms, I think he was just happy for anything simple he could get!

Shine got to hang out in the house for a while with his buddy Shadow this morning. They haven't had as much of this time lately, since the rain and mud has led to some rather muddy hooves! On the flip side, at least the rain has the barrels mostly full again! Shine and Shadow sure enjoy the companionship, though, they were great friends when Shine was a house goat.

Later, Shine got to head down to visit friends at another 4-H club we compete with sometimes. A number of the youth are brand new to the group, but a few have grown up together showing as a group for several yers now. It is amazing to me to see them so grown up!

The older youth were examples and teachers, as they should be as Senior showmen. They also enjoyed laughing with each other and at themselves, I think!

Shine seems to be settling in to the showing thing, though he seemed to like raiding cookies from Bailey's pocket the best!

I think it is funny that after each trip off to training sessions, meetings and community outreach, both Shine and Shadow stop in the front yard to check all of the statues. 

I am not sure what they expect, but they are usually the only ones who move them!

FOr those of you following the saga of the lonely chick, I gave in this week and arranged for the little one to have some friends. A big thank you to Melanie for sharing some of her purebred Black Ameraucana stock with us, these will likely be te only new poultry stock until after county fair.The four little chicks have taken well to their new surroundings, and the slightly older Java of ours seems to also be taking well to having young charges to look after.

Some of the biggest news these days is that Miss Versie seems to be getting ready to kid. Bailey is spending lots of time out there, and we are tracking her progress. One interesting thing about her, Verse has taken in the last day to stretching out by climbing the fences of the maternity ward with her front hooves. I sure hope that means that the babies are settling well into proper position.

You can barely see Verse in this photo, she was in the corner of the pen after our last check. She really is a sweetheart. While I don't think kidding is truly imminent, I will head out there again in another hour and let Bailey sleep a bit. It never hurts to be on the safe side, these will be her first kids. 

On that note, I think I will squeeze in a short nap. While moping the kitchen is calling my name, I think it can wait a coupl eof hours and help me warm up after I traipse back out to the goat area in a spell. Hope you all have a wonderful night, I will share again when I can! Love to all.

What Have We Been Up To?

And the farm animals take over the blog! Clearly, the humans have been too busy to blog lately, with their homeschooling and church and cleaning pens and stuff, so we thought we animals would share a few words on what we have been up to around here!

We finally got some rain around here, and the "goosies on the loosies" as that house mama calls us like rain better than any of the other animals! Why? To play in, of course! But also, because weeds mean that we eat fresh greens that the other animals don't reach. Mama says that means we are brats telling everyone else about it, but we are the guard geese after all, so we should get some perks!

House mama, also known as the feed lady, she tried to pull some weeds down by her garden recently. We told her this was unacceptable, as they were the salad bar we hadn't gotten to yet. Finally, we got her to leave the piles for a couple days so that we could munch a bit before she did more work.

She still has more to prep for our eating. We are done with the other piles, so she had best get busy!

Just because the geese roam all the time doesn't mean they are the only ones with good treats! Despite getting our own salad bar in our pen that Wyatt keeps stocked and growing for us, we still get baskets of sprouts!

It is like a party when the red baskets come out in the middle of the day!

We even share with the guineas! (Well, most of the time, anyway!)

Breakfast time is the best time in our pen! Okay, well, we think we get the best dinner, too! We have the house mama and our Bailey trained to bring us bottles twice a day, and then Daddy Powerstroke lets us have the feeder . This is our look that says, "We are cute!" We know you agree, and the Brahmas that share a fence with us in the grow out pen sing along with us.

The house mama is always excited to see melons doing well. What we like about melons, is that the chickens get lots of melon and then they are in better moods!  They complain less about us singing at night when they are in good moods, and I think I heard this kind of melon called a honeydew...

Just in case you were missing out on some of my cuteness, I am Freedom's Prayer!  I am pretty sure the world is here to cuddle me!

Did we mention we are masters as coexistence? The goats might say we complain about them singing, but we keep our rooster in line, and also have a pet snake in our pen. If you look closely, you will see his tail over by the old feeder we like to stand on.

This guy doesn't bother us hens, and our nesting boxes and new feeder are up off the ground. The desert comes with mice, so we let this guy wander around so the mice don't bother our nests, and in turn we nest up high and only try to sit on eggs up in the loft where Wyatt keeps our straw. The added bonus- the bigger our Wyatt gets, the funnier it is when he tries to get eggs from us up there! Then we all stand around in the door to our hen house and watch him... Did I mention bonus points for anyone who can get him stuck up there so he has to call for help?

Why yes, the chickens tried to take over! But guess what! We are just too cute to ignore!

My brother was being silly and trying to wrestle with our Dad, so I decided to play peekaboo from my favorite house. Dad also likes to pose. Don'e tell the house mama, but he leaves a pile of poop near where he poses on purpose. She says he wasn't well socialized before our Bailey brought him home, but Bailey says that means he will do just fine in our family of homeschool goofballs. Not sure what that means, but she always scratches our ears and brings us food. And, if we cry really loud, she will come out over and over to check on us!

Well, that is the world according to the bucks, the geese and the Big Pen. We dare the does and the others to outdo us!

Monday Evening Fun

Charlie and I went to get the kids at camp last Friday and Wyatt couldn't wait to get home to his dog! Excuse the very grainy photo, but it was dark, and I am still learning the flash on the phone camera =) Shadow and Wyatt were so happy to see each other! Shadow was crying and jumping and just so happy to have him home.

Shadow was happy to see Bailey, too, but there is just nothing like Wyatt Clay in her world. When we went to pick up the kids, we were met with counselors who invited her to stay for the remainder of the summer to be a counselor in training, getting her ready to be a counselor next year. Wow! So excited, but lots of time away. She will be home most weekends though. So after attending an all day college class Saturday, we washed everything and she went back to camp, leaving her animals with Wyatt and I until Friday!

Wyatt likes to tell everyone he doesn't like the goats, but we know the truth. Really, he just likes the bucks, and 4-H won't allow him to show just them, so he enjoys them here at home. While Let Your Light Shine is the crazy friendly bottle baby who is completely at home in the house, Freedom's Prayer is Wyatt's favorite, hands down.

During evening chores, I tend to let the boys out. Shine gets a couple bottles of milk, and the boys all get to visit with the other animals around the farm as they wander.

Uncle Obediah and Daddy Powerstroke watch the young bucklings as they explore and play. Shadow loves this time too, since some if the boys play with her and pretend to let her herd them.

When Shadow herds Shine or Obediah,  the run for the pen, and then when she turns to get Powerstroke or Freedom's Prayer,  they pretend to run up behind her like they are going to head butt her in the rear end.

Below is Obediah, pretending to jog for the gate to the boys' pen. This was right before he and Shine dashed together after silly Shadow. 

Once back in the pen, the boys play together, wrestling, butting heads, or turning their plastic houses into toys. 

While Uncle Obediah prefers to play  turtle, the bucklings like king of the mountain, or in this case, Freedom's Prayer was in the mood for rock the boat. 

Sometimes when I catch the animals playing, they stop and stare at me as though they are trying to look innocent. This time, though, Freedom's Prayer posed for the camera! 

The boys are growing up fast, but I think they have also been great fun for the rest of the herd and the whole farm! 

Playtime for the Little Bucks

Sometimes, you just have to rest up for the fun, right? 

After a nap in the computer chair, followed by a bottle or two,   Patriots Dream Let Your Light Shine was ready to go back out to play with his friends in the buck pen.

Obediah believes that playing turtle with parts from a plastic house is th best game ever. Second, in his opinion?  Hide and seek with the same thing!  Still, he is a good uncle and plays head but softly with the young bucklings too.

Daddy Powerstroke let's them play balance on his back, but I can't seem to get a picture of it!

Funny how they don't want to have their photos done with the fun stuff, as soon as I pick up the camera, they stand up and stare at me! 

Playtime With the Big Boys

Shine is too old to play with the does now without constant supervision, but really loves to play with the big boys. Daddy Powerstroke is kind and cuddly, and Uncle Obediah is the goofy rough and tumble uncle. Bailey was working in the doe pen yesterday, and I was seeing to ,y grow out pen a nd geese nearby, so snapped these photos through the fence (they all just want pet if we are inside the fence, so from outside was the only way to catch the fun!

Obediah rears up on his back legs, and Shine rears up too. Then Obediah drops to all four a few inches shy of a head but, and lets Shine heat but him.

Obediah allows Let Your Light Shine to push him all over the pen, as though he is winning  a great wrestling match! Shine loves every minute of it, going like gangbusters, racing around and acting all goofy tough. They talk and ma and play in the cool morning hours with great abandon.

Here, Obediah allows Shine to shove him, shoulder to shoulder, moving in a circle like he is spun off balance by the little one. Shine really needs the time with other goats, Obediah and Powerstroke are really missing their old buddy Huey. The play time is really important for all of them!

Every so often, they take a short break for a snack at the hay feeder. The bog boys share one side, leaving the other for the little one to have room. Shine just thinks he is such a big boy like his daddy and uncle! He prances around in between mouthfuls, tail wagging and singing to us as if to say, "Did you see that? I am BIG!" You just have to love the youthful exuberance the little ones bring to the herd!

Patriot's Dream Let Your Light Shine

My name is Patriot's Dream Let Your Light Shine, Shine's my nickname though. I am a bottle baby indoor goat. I like to cause trouble and play with Shadow Paws, the farm puppy. I love stealing food from the humans and cuddling up next to them. Sometimes, I pretend I just want to nuzzle, when really, I want to chew on hair. My caramel fur looks white, and the stockings give off the look of an x, when seen from the front. I follow Bailey wherever she goes, or at least try to, but she won’t take me to Youth Group.

I want to be a therapy goat, getting to go to fair and nuzzle with kind people was fun. Bailey once took me to Children’s Church, that made everyone happy and I got to make lots of new friends. My friend Daniel likes to tell people that I’m a Chihuahua, but I like to be a little goat.

I was born on March 26^th, 2014. My dam is Get Er Dunn Silver and my sire is Jaune Ranch Powerstroke.

Where Did the Weekend Go?

I think these photos were left over from Saturday. I was really enjoying the sunset while the kids and I were working on our special pen project and watering and doing evening chores.

I was also really enjoying the way the last rays of sun were extending further into the sky with each picture.

We didn't get much finished, but did make a little progress.

Okay, this one is likely my favorite shot of them...

Or maybe this one...

Charlie and Wyatt were supposed to be putting things away when it got too late to work. Then they talked me into trying on this hunting vest and Wyatt started messing around making funny horns with the cow horns we have been threatening to affix to Bailey's truck.

Okay, here is the vest. How much could I lose in all of those pockets?

I was working on putting some things away and the box from some leftover fabric had disintegrated. As a temporary patch, I used a big old ammo can.  It got me thinking, I could hide a lot of craft supplies in ammo cans and Charlie might not notice it was even there... 

The sunsets really are amazing out here. For those who accuse me of ADHD behavior, I don't know where you are getting it from...

On Sunday, we made a few stops on the way home from church. One was Bookman's, where Wyatt found a couple books. We also picked up a soaker hose. That project will be coming along later this week But while we were at Bookman's, we found a pigeon that is really fancy and doesn't require any feed. We thought it was perfect for a new 4-H project, but apparently it doesn't meet the breed standard.  Picky, picky...

We also stopped for tortillas. Wyatt was really enjoying the architecture a the El Rio bakery.

Once we finally got home and got things rolling, we did finish the main structure and roof of the special pen project. This will hold for a week or so while we select the right primer, but it is almost ready! In fact, the chickens moved in, and seem to like it for now. I look forward to not only checking this project off the list once and for all, but also sharing the photos of the final project. The kids have something fun planned for the next stage!

This is the hole in the kids' bathroom wall. The towel racks just don't do well in there. The kids have finally decided what to try next, and they think they like their Grandma's idea of going to well secured hooks. That being decided, Wyatt is learning to patch the wall. When all is said and done, I will share a separate post with photos of the learning process on this one!

Charlie is going to exchange some wood tomorrow, and we should get back on task with the doe barn project when it comes home. Because of that, all of the walls are not yet complete. We have had some extra bracing at the edges of the wood panels, and Shine has taken advantage of them to go visit the pens and come back tot he house. What a spoiled little guy! So Bailey got you all a couple videos to enjoy!

He is sure enjoying having the best of both worlds- the companionship of the goats, but the great house like alongside the dog and kids!

Well, that is not to say that we didn't take time to appreciate the reasons why we are free to be as silly and independent as we are.  We know all too well that we are the lucky ones. As a military family, we are blessed to be together and to have each other to drive crazy!  Our family has been military in nearly every generation since the war for independence, so our military tradition is a proud one, spanning several branches of service.

Well, we finished off the weekend with a much appreciated family dinner of elk round steak, roadkill potatoes and melon. I have also been trying hard to reorganize the house completely, so Charlie and the kids brought this into the house temporarily for me to work with along the way this summer.

As well as it will keep a lot of things organized, it is rather big, so hopefully I will be ready for it to move out soon.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Hug a veteran, love your family, and enjoy the coming week for all of the promise that it is. Love to all.

me