Goat Life, And Other News

Goats are awesome, even when they are being obstinate and strong-willed. I know, back in 2016, we had said "never again" after losing the last of our 4 back then, Sadie, but just 6 weeks in with our new babies and I can't imagine being without them. 

Such distinct personalities too:

Sunshine, definitely little miss obstinate with an "I'm going to do whatever I want to" attitude.

Solomon, "hey I love everyone, oops there's my blackberries, bye". He LOVES blackberries!

Max, "I love everyone too but I love daddy the best!"

And then, our poor little Maisie, who is very shy and even after 3 days with us isn't sure that she can trust us.

Although, when I sat and held her today for some lovings, she actually looked at me and didn't try to hide her head in my armpit, so that's progress.

Plus she follows Sunshine around and even approached Mark, tentatively, when he was sitting down on the driveway, so - again - we seem to be making headway slowly. I just want her to be a happy goat and feel safe with us.

Meanwhile, over at the property in Belton, the boys had fun being outside their goat field. They chased the tractor and scared the poor stray mama again. All it took was a loud bleating, and she scarpered.

She'd been happily eating her food and only about 5 or 6 feet away from me. I'd even been talking to her, telling her she was safe with us, telling her she was a good girl and then - one loud bleat - and off she ran. She came back later with another female and they stood watching me. Knowing there were 2 coming around today, we put out extra food.

Hubby put together a milking stand today, for milking later on but -for now- for me to use for hoof trimming as that'll put them at a height where I can sit and do it. I'm not stable enough to try to stand and bend over. Thinking ahead, and trying to figure do-arounds for things that I know will be a problem for me.

Tomorrow hubby has his eye surgery, they say they won't be bandaging his eyes but he will see blurry tomorrow, and for the next few days after that will look like he's been brawling! Big black eyes apparently. They are trying to open up his squinty eyes as they think they're limiting the light getting into his eyes, and that's affecting his sight. Hopefully this will help improve it.

I'm nervous that I'll get lost en route. We know that is one of my many talents.

Welcoming Maisie

So, this afternoon, we picked up our latest little one, we're going to call her Maisie. She is 8 weeks old, and a Boer/mini Nubian cross and she has BLUE EYES! She snuggled down against me, in the car, while we were talking and then snuggled into Mark while I was driving. We assumed she'd be like the others (and cleave to us as the only familiar thing) when we set her down, outside the car, to meet Sunshine. Aha! Not so, she decided to go explore ... but away from us and just ran farther when Mark tried to catch up to her. Sunshine managed to "call" her back though

and they are both now together in the pen. As you can see from the pic, there really isn't much difference in their size right now, but she will probably grow to as big as Solomon and Max are at the mo, but Sunshine won't grow much more at all. 

The boys are getting on well, and they went walkies again today, over to a shady bushy area that will eventually be fenced in as an additional grazing area. They follow the tractor ... until something else takes their attention and then we have to double back to get them following us again.

Hubby Took The Goats For A Walk

 I say it over and over, I love my crazy life. I know it's not for everyone, but to me, there's something peaceful and calming about being around goats. Not always, Nubians can be noisy (and our bellow for mama and daaaad) but they are so loving, and so funny sometimes. I failed to get a pic (I was at the wrong angle and couldn't get the car turned around in time) but today Solomon chose to entertain me by getting into the chicken hutch ... and then on the upper layer where the nesting boxes are. I honestly don't know how he manages it, but he does!

Today, a day earlier than planned, we picked up Max, our newest baby. He is gorgeous, I've never had a Nubian with

spots before, and he is very soft-coated. He already follows Mark around, and comes to me for lovings. 

Mark took them all for a walk, to forage around the property and be goats, since

we treat them as our babies and pamper them. I drove alongside taking pics. Sunshine was a bit bossy with Max and kept butting him away, not sure if it was just because he was new or a spot of jealousy over him 

stealing "her" buddy. Sadly, she won't be hanging with her boy any more as they are getting to an age where things can happen, and I don't want babies having babies. So, Solomon and Max will now hang out together, and 

she will have a new buddy tomorrow, another Nubian but a little girl who we'll be calling Maisie. For today though, these three had a blast foraging around the property, outside of the goat field.

Yesterday, when the mama dog came around, she was HUNGRY. We normally put 2 large soda cups full of dry dog food in the pan for her, but we'd bought some canned food since it's so hot, and I put 2 cans in with the pan of dry and mixed it up. She snuck in while we were busy and ate the whole lot. Since I have no idea how many puppies she is feeding (and she is still feeding as she has very saggy half-filled tears when she comes over) I want to make sure she's getting enough nourishment.

Mark popped a couple of solar fans in the goat pen, so that they have air circulating, and they also now have a mineral lick that they have free access to. He also mowed some of the next field down, which will eventually be the girl's field. The mowing is a never ending job, since the total grassy area is about 5-6 acres.

We're heading out in a mo, to get some straw for Sunshine's bed tonight, and some frozen bones and ice creams for the dogs. Yeah, we'll never be rich cash-wise but we're rich in far better ways. We have all these furbabies who love us dearly, we are well-blessed.

Despite A Late Start ...

 We managed to get a lot of running around done, and things taken care of. I did, however, totally forget Tractor Supply. No worries, I'll deal with it tomorrow, saith she.

First stop, he voted. We stopped by his precinct and he got that done.

Second stop, I paid my June month at the Outlet Store in Fountain Inn. I had a check waiting - $38.70! My writing may never make me rich, but it feels good when people buy my books for their little ones.

I was going to bring my books back with me but decided to leave them in the store until the end of the month and to advertise them on FB daily, to hope to push some sales.

On the way back through to Mauldin, I hit on the idea of Andy's. Their "ice cream" is a custard, so has protein in it, and he had it with banana and strawberries and then whisked into a milk shake ... and managed to drink it down slowly without choking or it getting "stuck" as it went down.  As basically the first thing he was able to eat, I was glad it went well, and had some nutrition for him.

Then we went to Publix so that Mark could pick up his meds. He had been on the phone with the VA for over an hour and a half, and the VA doctor approved the endoscopy that the Urgent Care doctor had put in. He also prescribed pain meds for Mark, who came in and is now napping (which is good).

He should have had an endoscopy a couple of years ago, as he had this kind of problem before, and the gastroenterologist had been having him come in every 5 years for a colonoscopy (because his dad died of colo-rectal cancer) and then had sent a reminder to book both (it being about 10 since his previous endoscopy). Mark's primary care person at the VA wouldn't do it though. It took 6 months or so of continually asking before she even considered the colonoscopy ... then sent him a ColorGuard box instead because he's "not high risk". There are only two choices, she is either lazy or incompetent, but what's not high risk about his dad dying of colo-rectal cancer? How much of a higher risk is there? Plus, if she had ok'd the procedure with the gastro-enterologist who'd known him and done his ops for about 15 years, he wouldn't be going through this now, as the beginnings would have been found 2 years ago. Now it will be a new person who doesn't know Mark's history or have all the pics and notes from his previous ops. At least though, he will get his oesophagus blown out, and the ulcerous tissue sorted. I just hate that this could have been avoided had she done her job properly in the first place. End of that particular rant.

We went all the way up to Pelham Road, to the place for the part I need for my upright walker, and they don't have them in stock, so Mark found it on Amazon, and tomorrow we'll make sure the sizing is right (that walker is over on the property) and then just order it from there.

I "fancied" Oriental House, so as we came back down Garlington we stopped and picked up take out. Chicken, green beans and onion in a Cantonese sauce (that I had them add carrot to) for me (lots of leftovers for another day), and an egg drop soup for him. He had maybe a half, and again it went ok, so he has the rest for later. Suffice to say, I've found a new favourite dish!

I'm just enjoying the peace, and listening to him snoring. At least he's not hurting when he's asleep.

Wide Awake And Can't Sleep

 Ugh, it's 4am and I've been awake a couple of hours and am dead beat, but sleep is eluding me in these, the wee hours, of this morning. One would assume that the 5 hours in the ER would have tired me out, I felt tired when we left, but no, now I am wide awake.

I'm not worried about hubby now I know that he's going to be ok. Oesophagitis is fixable, even though he's in pain from it. The CT scan ruled out the rest of the bad things that I was afraid of. The last couple of days, with him dealing with issues swallowing, food feeling like it was stuck under his diaphragm and other pain, had me worried that I told him, "we're going to Urgent Care". They sent us to the ER so that he could have a CT scan. They gave him some morphine for the pain and he is sleeping well now.

The past couple of days have been busy, over on the property. My grandson, Dylan, and great-granddaughter, our miss Lily, came over on Sunday. Dylan helped Mark and did some mowing,

Miss Lily and I hung out with the goats, and she had a blast, feeding chickens, feeding the stray dog, sitting on the tractor with Sunshine (yep, the goat jumped up there and Miss Lily went up to hang out with her). The weather was hot but there was a breeze, and it was a beautiful day.

Mark's been working on the enclosure for the goats,

and we now have a nice hay rack in the pen that the 2 boys will be in after this weekend. Mark was putting it together in this pic. We pick up Max on Saturday morning. We met him earlier and think he and Solomon will have fun together.

Sunshine's new companion, Maisie, also arrives on Saturday.  She will only be 8 weeks old so we'll be keeping a little bit closer eye on her for a couple of weeks until she knows she's safe, and is settled.

The stray dog saw Solomon and Sunshine for the first time on Sunday and freaked out.  She started barking and backed away, we think she was trying to figure out what they were! She did end up eating though, and watched them like she watches us. She'll get used to them, she's a chow hound (poor baby) and nothing is going to stop her coming for food.

We hooked up with a new vet, closer to us and deals with large and farm animals, so on Monday, Solomon and Sunshine go for their CD&T shots. Max has already has his, and Maisie will have to wait another couple of weeks, and will be getting disbudded at the same time, under anaesthesia.

Noon - well, I managed to nap awhile, and then woke up and we are now having a rainy day. Hubby took his shower, I don't shower in storms, so here I wait for the lull, so that we can then get our day's to do trek started.

I have to pick up a new arm support for my upright walker as the other decided to split. That's heading in one direction, towards Greer, but then I have to loop around to go to Fountain Inn, to pay my boutique fee and pack up my books. On the way to Greer, I have to do a stop at Tractor Supply to get another sack of goat grower pellets, a red bucket for the boys' feed and a storage container for it as well, a bale of straw and a bale of hay. Getting ready for separating the boys and girls this Saturday. 

Saturday will be another busy day, going first to Belton to pick up our new boy, Max, and then to Fountain Inn, to pick up our new little girl, Maisie. Then the fun begins! It'll be great having 4 again. We missed having goats, it has been 10 years since the last of our previous 4, Sadie, died.

Today Has Turned Out To Be A Glorious Day

Despite a rough start (courtesy of Lowe's) the day ended up coming together pretty nicely. The Lowe's shenaningans began yesterday, when we placed an order for another animal pen. They had 1 in stock, for "same day" pick up. Yeah, ok, so their definition of "same day" is different to mine. We waited for the email/text to say "come and get it" ... and neither came. So I called, it had been about 5 hours, and 7.30pm so our plans to head to Belton and get it up weren't going to happen. The lady said it was there ready to pick up, so Mark headed to the store ... only to be told that he couldn't have it as there was no manager on the floor, and a manager had to let him have it! Yeah, that was weird. So, Mark came home, and when we went to bed, and the store closed, still no communication from them.

I woke up this morning, and gave them a call when the store opened. The manager was frazzled, and said she was understaffed, but she'd check into ot and call me back. An hour later, I called again as I'd received no callback. They could not find the item, the best they could figure was that our order came in as the only one in the store was sold to someone else, and that the inventory wasn't updated. She did say, she'd transferred our order to the Woodruff rd store and for me to call them. 

The lady there was frazzled and did her best ... but lo and behold! Their "one in stock" was gone too! Lowe's really needs to work on their inventory update system.

So, Mark cancelled the order and we went to Tractor Supply ... the pen was paid for, and loaded in about 10 minutes! Thank you, TSC.

We headed over to the property, and Mark set about putting it up in what will be the goat field. We let our 2 chickens out to free range while we were there.

I drove down to the bees to grab the hose, and drove back up to the front porch with it so that I could water all the plants up there. I may look a bit silly, driving a Kia Soul, with the driver's side door open, dragging a hose but hey, where there's a will, there's a way, and I have my stuff to do around the eventual-farm/homestead just like hubby does.

My grandson stopped by with Miss Lily, and he chatted with Mark, and helped him a bit. Miss Lily came in my car with me and we went to look for the geese, and drove up into the fenced in goat-field-to-be to give grandad a drink. Later she picked peas off the vine but was a little bit grossed out by me eating them, pods and all.

She got to see the stray mama, who wandered by looking for her food, but was too timid to venture closer with extra people there as well as us. Methinks we have a long road ahead of us with her but hopefully, over time, she will trust us enough to do what she needs to whether we are close by, or not.

This evening has been peaceful, we were outside and had Sunshine and Solomon out browsing, they are so sweet. They munched up and down the row of bushes and trees near our other front gate, while hubby was working on his pallets.

Sunshine is still tiny, but when she gets to eating, she packs it in and gets ROUNDER.

Solomon likes to show off "look mama, I can stand up on 2 legs!" 

This one caught them perfectly in the dusky sunlight, as they circled the tree trunk, chewing on leave from the underlying bushes.

Solomon is quite a handsome lad! He comes and stands in front of me sometimes for me to play with his ears. I LOVE Nubian's ears!

She may be tiny but she is a bundle of mischief. I love the way she gets silly and skips and dances, then just stops. She is a little character, that's for sure! She loves when I take her face in my hands and tell her how pretty she is.

I had said we wouldn't get back into goats, 10 years ago, after we lost the last of our original 4, Sadie, yet here we are, starting off another herd. 

Sunshine will just be a companion for the Nubians girls I'm going to get, as I've decided to only breed Nubians again. I am addicted to them, their noses and their ears just have me hooked! 

Solomon, like Rammy, who was my first goat when we had the L'il Foxes herd, calls differently for me and Mark. For Mark it's a long "Daaaa" and for me, a distinct "maamaa". When Rammy used to do it, nobody believed it when I told them, until they came over and heard him. He was my beautiful baby. I had to bottle feed him for a few weeks as he'd been a preemie ... but he grew! He had a personality like you would not believe. Look at that face, he was such a mama's boy.

A beautiful end to our day. Sunshine and Solomon are back in their pen ready for overnight, with their hay and a nice bowl of goat feed and sunflower seeds.

Ye Fencing Is Taking Shape!

Yesterday was a stressful one, over at the property, to be sure. Hubby fought the tractor, for a couple of hours, trying to get the lawnmower deck back on. A part had broken off of it awhile back, and my grandson had welded it for him, and then - when Mark had tried to put that part back on - the pulley broke. He'd got another pulley from Gus's, and was finally trying to put everything back together. It didn't slide onto the shaft the way it was supposed to. He gought it and finally got it on, only to test drive it and have the part pop off. He was so frustrated. Fought again trying to get it on and just as he was about to blow a fuse, it slid on perfectly! 

He then mowed a bit around the edge of the fenced paddock that we intend to use as the goat field, so that he had access to where he is adding to the original fence with the pallets on the outside, and intends adding an electric fence on the inside. It was so hot by that time, though, that we decided to cut it short and came home.

I watered in the melons and (poss) cucumber, and they are all doing well, perked up a lot for being transplanted the day before.

Today, everything went perfectly. We went early, so it was cooler. We filled up with gas, both vehicles (his truck and my Soul) at 85c a gallon, using our Spinx points! Can't complain at that, 20 gallons for under twenty dollars!

I'd intended painting some of the pallet fencing, but it was still damp with the morning dew, so I was lazy and just watched Mark for a while, and read some David Bladacci (The Collectors) the rest of the time.

He put in almost a row of mesh fencing

to divide across the paddock. We want to be able to keep our male and female goats separate, but also to let them graze other than just in "their" area, so that the greenery can keep growing.

It's coming along pretty well now, the tractor being able to pull the fencing along, and being able to pound the stakes in (have bucket will pound!). He's hoping to get that bit finished off tomorrow.

Today, as I drove up he dirt track, the 4 geese were there but - sadly - only 4 babies accompanying them now. I had to stop to let them cross, and then wait on a little dawdler, hopping along. I hate that they've lost 3, that's sad, but I hope these manage to survive. They are pretty safe on our property, they have their own creek and plenty of space to where they don't have to go near the main road.

The stray mama dog was over yesterday, being her sneaky self and trying to run off with the whole bag of dog food when she thought we were otherwise occupied.  Mark put some out for her. She watches us but doesn't want contact. We didn't see her today but put food out anyway. She knows she is safe coming there to eat. I just wish she'd bring her puppies with her.

Tomorrow is a new day, we'll be headed back over to get on and do more.