I'd just finished getting the goat food pan done and Mark whispered "look Rose" and I looked up to see 3 puppies skedaddling around the corner of the barn, and heading for the goat food pan!. I immediately started doing the dog food pan with dry and canned food and put that down, and they dived right on in!
Mama then came sauntering around the corner and sat by my car, watching them eat. They were so hungry they didn't care that I started stroking them. It was amazing!
I'm so proud of the stray mama for bringing them over. She looked at us like "ok, I've done my bit, here they are".
She waited for them to finish eating and then started eating herself, and then the puppies came back and were eating with her. Meanwhile, the one that we think is probably Mama's sister, came and ate from the other pan that we'd put farther out. She is not yet as trusting of us.
This is the runt of the litter. It's the only girl, and her brothers bullied her a bit while eating, so we've brought her home with us and have a 3pm appointment with the vet for shots, deflea (I bathed her in Dawn and got rid of a lot but I think there are still a few left) and a general check up, and to enquire about the cost of spaying. We're going to try to find a home for her through the vet office.
This is one of her brothers, and even well fed, he is still scrawny. He's the growly one when they eat. His twin is more complacent.
The other boy, slightly less gregarious, bit more timid as can be seen by the ears back, but happily sat near my feet and looked up at me.
Well-fed, they just collapsed in a heap near my feet and zonked. We'd have liked to have grabbed all the puppies but it would have been too much today. We were in my car and no pet carrier, because this was totally unexpected. I'm hoping to get the others over the next few days, and maybe it's better for Mama if we take them one at a time.
Then, it'll be asking help trapping Mama and her sister
so that they can be vetted and spayed, and returned to the property. They seem happy here and I worry how they'd fare in a shelter situation, so they can come back, live as they have done on our property and be fed and cared for by us ... with no possibility of future puppies!
Definitely a surprise today, and so thankful it happened, because I had honestly worried about how I'd ever find Mama's puppies, and I wanted to make sure they'd be ok before trying to trap Mama and her sister.
If anyone had told me, last week, that the following eight days would be such a roller coaster, I would have taken a pass. Instead, I went through a very tough couple of days, playing nursemaid to Mark after his eye surgery on Wednesday 17th June.
I struggled to keep up with his eye meds, putting the erythromycin on his eyelid stitches and the drops in his eyes, with me tottering around holding on the bed and then trying not to be leaning on him while I was doing the drops. If you'd been a fly on the wall it would have been funny, I can look back and seethat now. At the time, it was extremely difficult.
Then came Saturday morning. I'd let the dogs out around 5am (they are still on Mark's work schedule and he's been retired since January!) and then gone back to bed after feeding them and putting fresh water down. I woke up a couple of hours later to the dogs whining again, so got up to let them out again ... and found they were whining at Mark who was collapsed on the floor in the hallway bathroom, having been puking and basically passed out. When I went to flush the toilet, it looked like somebody had emptied coffee grounds in there. I've seen plenty of vomit in my life, and had never seen anything like it. I googled it really quickly and it said it was internal bleeding so I told him, "we've got to get you to the ER". I hosed him off on my shower seat then got him dried and dressed, and thankfully, Jel was just out of the gate and leaving for work so she came back, and she helped him out to my car, with him actually using my walker for support.
I got him to Hillcrest, and they immediately took him back immediately, into a room and got him on IV meds and fluids. The staff were brilliant, the doctor ordered a CT scan and then said he was going to transfer Mark to Memorial as he needed an endoscopy to see what was going on.
I left around 2pm to head down to Belton to take care of the goats and chickens, and was on my way back and called Hillcrest to find that he'd been discharged but was still en route to Memorial, so I headed to Memorial. When I got there, I needed valet parking but they don't have it on weekends, so I gave the security guard Mark's eye meds from home, and said I'd be back the next day (not realising that there'd be no valet parking then either, as they don't have it on weekends).
Apparently (which I didn't find out until the next day), he was admitted to Memorial at 7.09pm and promptly had projectile vomiting, scoring a record for distance and the height it reached on the wall ... with the nursing staff still talking about it when he was leaving! Because of that, and again it was the coffee ground looking, which is blood, they gave him 2 units of blood and did an emergency endoscopy at 1am, cauterizing 3 wounds, apparently one was an ulcer and 2 were vascular bleeds. They then clipped them, to ensure they had a second level of sealing.
Unfortunately, despite fluids, and the transfusion, his haemoglobin started dropping again, so he had another transfusion, and they kept him on fluids only just in case they needed to do another endoscopy. Thankfully, his haemoglobin did stay stable after that second transfusion, although it didn't really improve, so - right up until the day they discharged him - they weren't sure if he was going to need another surgery to make sure everything was ok, or not.
Meanwhile, Jel and Samantha helped me a couple of days with Sunshine and Maisie at home, and Dylan and Lily took care of the chickens, and Solomon and Max for me. Without them, I'd probably never have managed to do everything I needed to. My lack of mobility makes so much of what I do difficult without other people helping me with aspects of what I need to do. Opening the gate for the boys, opening their pen because I can't get my car close enough to be able to go down the car door to get the pen door; getting into the pens to get food and water bowls ... because the ground is uneven so I'm having to hold on to something and cannot pick them up; until you can't do things that you used to, it's hard to understand. It sounds like nothing and yet it's so much.
The good thing is that I brought him home yesterday, and he's doing ok. A bit doddery getting around, but def on the mend. I am very thankful for all the prayers, and all the help from everyone.
Suffice to say, I've got a whole lot of thanking going on.
Beginning yesterday, when the nurse at the opthamologist's office walked me out to my car and put my walker in the back for me (before bringing Mark out after his surgery) until today, when my grandson (Dylan) and great-granddaughter (Lily) came over to help feed the goats, chickens and stray mama because I was stressing about doing it with hubby being basically blind, and not supposed to be upright, right now.
Inbetween, my great-granddaughter (Samantha) helped me with the 2 girls here with feeding and watering, washing off a crate tray, and helping get the crate in from outside, since we have some serious weather coming in and their outdoor pen bed area tends to get soaked, despite tarps. So they are indoors, crated, bedded down, fed and happy right now.
I also have to thank my hubby for being patient with me. I have 2 speeds, slow, and "is she even moving?" so his CNA is def not speedy and is accompanied by grunts and groans of her own. At least I can put his eye drops in and the ointment along his stitches, he'd be poking his eye out trying! His coordination is def off at the mo. I'm also good for food, drinks, his meds and setting up his insulin shot at night (since he can't see to calibrate it), although I can't give him his shot, it gives me the willies. Itry, and as I often say, I can be very trying.
The worst of it is that it puts my heart rate up, all the back and forth, so I have to lie down to let it go back down, and the same with my BP. I don't even take it until I've lain down for 10-15 minutes, so that then, even if it's high, it's not high enough to spook me and raise it all the more. A girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do!
Now, about to let the dogs out, before the rain comes in, and then rest for a bit. I deserve it!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The stray mama was back again today, she may not be people friendly, but she knows we are a food source, and she comes over to watch us, makes sure we are busy, and then eats. She doesn't like us talking to her, but I do it anyway in the hope that eventually she won't be so afraid. At least she trusts us enough to come for food, so I guess that's good.
Hubby planted out my tiger melon, and cucumber seedlings and (possibly) one watermelon today.
He dug the trench to put them in, and then laid cardboard below weed barrier fabric, and then put mulch on top, to create a "pathway" alongside, which will also be a better drained area for when they fruit later on, and hopefully help prevent them from rotting. I took the pic mid-work and forgot to take another one at the end of it.
So, Solomon and Sunshine are too smart for their own good. Hubby had them out to browse ... and where do they run? Straight up onto the front porch where the goat feed is! Noisy, too, when you tell them no and drag them away. Awww, my babies.
Last, but one dose of Albon today, then take a fecal sample to the vet a week from Monday to follow up and make sure Sunshine is totally free of it. Only then will I bring our next little girl home. I don't want to risk a 7 week old getting it.
Today we were over at the property and lo! My snow peas have flourished. I opened my car door and picked half a dozen pods and ate the lot there and then. Oh, they tasted awesome!
Unfortunately, my beans haven't fared as well and don't seem to have grown at all, despite being planted at the same time. I'm going to have to try again, I guess.
Tomorrow, I need to plant out my tiger melons, and my cucumbers. Today, we really didn't do much. We went over to feed the stray dogs, our chickens and water the bees, and Mark worked some more on putting my new recumbent stepper together.
I didn't see the geese at all, which was disappointing. Watching the babies growing lights up my day. They are about a week old now and getting a decent size.
We made it home just before the storm hit, and got Sushine and Solomon in. She was diving into the alfalfa as I was trying to herd her in, she is a little monster! And she knows it. They are both so loveable though, I can't believe I thought my goat days were over, when we lost the last of our former 4, Sadie, 10 years ago at 12 years of age. Here we are, starting all over again!
To be honest, I never thought I'd live to this age. Between family genetics (although my mum is now 88 and has passed ages that her forebears never reached) and my "wild streak" riding motorbikes, I'd expected a much shorter life. I'm def thankful God saw fit to let me stay in this world longer, and I have lived such a life, and experienced so many things - good and bad - yet they made me who I am, and have given me so many memories to look back on.
I was born in 1955, 10 years after WWII ended, and yet - in England - rationing had only stopped the year before. I grew up with favourite foods like bread and dripping, rabbit stew, and (yuk!) wanting the Parson's Nose off the roast chicken that served the whole family, and with leftovers, on a Sunday! I remember my mum liking her pig's trotters, and how fish and chips became a favourite Friday night treat (it was payday!).
My school days began at George Tomlinson, and were absolutely smashing, didn't ever let us think that because we were East End kids it was an excuse to go nowhere. No, they taught us we could do, and be, anything we wanted to be, we just had to work hard. That was our key out of the "poor" start we all had. No inner city "can't do" allowed back then, and our teachers and parents would tell us "there's no such word as "can't"! "
Whitsun, and Easter, I used to go on "touring" holidays with my nan and granpop, down from London and through Hampshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. We explored burial barrows, museums, old tin mines, and various beaches and fishing villages. We travelled through the Doone Valley because R. D. Blackmore's "Lorna Doone" was one of my favourite books. I had various "I-Spy" books
to go through at different times, which had me identifying all sorts of things I saw as we went to dofferent places, and Ladybird books
to help expound on some of the things I saw. "Stone Age Man in Britain" was one of my favourites back then. I credit both of them for a lot of my all-round knowledge, and they gave me the premise I used all through my daycare days - that learning should be FUN!
My first marriage was a disaster, and only lasted 5 years, and then I was on my own for 8 with my 3 children. I struggled, but somehow made it through. Then married Mark, and we've now been together 40 years.
I've now lived in places I'd never dreamed of, when I was growing up. I came to the USA and lived in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and now (def my favourite) South Carolina - so much history here, and I love my history even now. I spent 3 years in Germany, and visited Luxembourg, and Amsterdam in Holland. I've stood where famous people have stood. I've been in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and finally understood the full depth of the family trying to live in that space without being discovered. I've been to places where battles were fought, and imagined the hardships of foot soldiers even attempting to get through dense forests and cane. I surprised myself being able to translate (from the French) almost all the labelling in the museum in Luxembourg (missing only maybe 4 words) some 18 years after leaving school. Not bad, I thought.
I sailed on the QEII 3 times, meeting some amazing and interesting people - an Iraqi millionaire widower with no family, who had made his money arms-running in the 60s, a gold dealer, and
(my favourite) Simon Williams, the actor. He and I sat and chatted many times on the Lido deck. I was there scribbling my poems and stuff, and he would just come and sit with me. We'd laugh and talk about everything under the sun.
I'm so blessed to have had those experiences. Seeing the Statue of Liberty, as we sailed up the river on a grey, damp morning, made me realise how all the immigrants who'd gone through Ellis Island must have felt. It's something I'll never forget.
On one sailing, I read some of my poetry (out of my book, "Twilight") and was mobbed by about 30 people afterwards, wanting MY AUTOGRAPH. That was a trip, and (very unprofessionally) I giggled too much while chatting to them.
On my last trip, I had the help of 1960s pop group, The Mindbenders, to try to figure out a song from my childhood. Took us awhile with my off-key humming but we got it in the end.
Other memories, oh boy, my best friend, Olga, and I. We were nuts together, so many laughs (and sore feet). We hitchhiked all over, to get to dances and concerts. Some of the stuff we got into, you just couldn't make up. Yes, in one sense it's good that they didn't have cellphones back then, but in another, it'd be fun to have proof that we DID do what we say we did.
Then there's that "you're never too late" thing. After 20 odd years of wanting to, I finally published "The Storybook Witch" and then went on to publish some other children's books as well. Who'd a thunk it?
Which brings me to today and the past few days. I've been sick, courtesy of Daniel and his buddy, Jayden, who gave me the dreaded lergy - rhinovirus - during the school runs. Sore throat, bunged up nose, thick head, and fevers, finally resulting in a doctor visit. Thankfully, my Vick's regimen, lozenges, vitamins, mouthwash etc has all helped me make it through, as a virus just has to run its course. I'm almost there, today is much better than the last few, that's for sure.
Also, Sunshine's poop is doing much better. Goat poop is supposed to be little balls, like rabbits. The coccidia gave her diarrhea which can be fatal in goats.
Sorry for the poop pic but thankfully, our efforts before the vet (giving her probios and electrolytes) and her sassiness, helped her stay alive, and now, 5 days into her Albon regimen, we now have solid poop (albeit more like dog poop) but we can see the divisions that (hopefully) will become those little balls by the end of the next 5 days.
Both she and Solomon are bonded to us, she even tries to get in my car with me! They follow Mark all around the yard, and browse the weeds and grasses as they go. They still both love the blackberries the best. The man I was due to get my Nubian doeling from is going to hold her an extra week or two, so that I can make sure there's no coccidia for her to catch when she comes over. I'll know after we have a fecal done on Sunshine 2 weeks after her last dose of Albon.
Today, lunch was Cava, later, we'll share carrot cake from Publix (my birthday freebie) but it's a somewhat lazy day. We may go down to the property, if the weather holds, after hubby goes gleaning, we'll decide when he gets back.
Dear sweet Murphy has had a field day with us these past couple of days! Exasperating and frustrating, just one thing after another going wrong. UGH!
So, yesterday, we woke up to Rover having one of his icky tummy bouts. He has such a sensitive stomach, so he gets grain-free, pumpkin, probios, and when it gets really bad, a prescription anti-diarrhoeal that the vet gave us. I hate seeing him when he gets like that, he hunches and is obviously in pain, and he is such a good boy. We cleaned up a couple of accidents and then ...
We went to let Solomon and Sunshine out, and lo, her pen has little heaps of pudding consistency poop again. I've checked everything the online vet said and we are pretty much down to it's the new home/food/stress causing it BUT I wanted a fecal sample done to make sure nothing insidious is the underlying cause. Called 2 emergency vets, they could not even chheck a fecal sample for me as they only do dogs and cats, basically. I was so upset, I sat and sobbed. I felt so helpless.
So, this morning, I called and made an appointment with the nearest farm vet who's actually about 30 miles away. For 2pm.
I had a topsoil delivery coming between 9 and 10am, so rushed this morning to be out of the house, showered and dressed, by 8am so as to be ib Belton by 9. The guy arrived at ten past eleven.
Again, I was well stressed, had to drive back to try to get everything situated for Mark to take Sunshine and me to do the school run and grab Daniel. Lo and behold, dogs messing around in the car, Mark coming through the gate, slams on brakes, and Brunel smashes into the key and breaks it off in the ignition. Couldn't find the spare, the dealer needed the vehicle there to cut a new key, and the truck is stuck in the gateway.
I had to call the vet to cancel, Mark hunted for an old key that won't do anything else but will start the car, so - now that he can start/drive the truck, he's going to Batteries Plus to get a new one cut.
I've called the vet back and we now have an appointment for Sunshine in the morning at 11am. Hopefully the vet will say she's ok just a goat with an icky tummy. I'm going to have him do her CD&T while she's there tomorrow, though. Get that over and done with.
She is such a little sweetheart. I just worry about her and I don't want anything to happen to her.
So that's how the last couple of days have been, I am so hoping tomorrow is better.
It's been a pretty awesome week. Some ups and downs, but overall, pretty decent. We've been going over to the property every day and just doing different things while we're there. Everything brings us closer to the day when we can say "ok, we're done" and move in ... although money (or the lack of it) means that the inside won't be done for at least a year, maybe two. It is what it is, and patience is a virtue as they say so I guess I need to have it.
Hubby's bees are doing good, although the one hive is quite aggressive. He has to suit up to even do their water tray. They fly around him and chase him, even after he's used the smoker to calm them. This evening one got inside his glove and stung him. The other hive is far more placid and lets him get on and do whatever he needs to.
Our site gleanings are going extremely well (and he's building up quite a stock of wood and boards for future projects) as is his pallet collecting. The latter is re-inforcing the current wire fencing around what will eventually be the goat field. Once it's done, I'm going to paint it black to make it match the barn and bring everything together.
The goats are crazy and smart, and fit in with us well. Little Miss Sunshine just loves to frolic, and kicks her little legs out sideways as she dances around. Solomon is more sedate and just struts around. He, like our darlin' long-gone-but-never-forgotten Rammy before him, has two different cries, one for Mark that sounds like "Daaad" and the other "Maa-ma". Sunshine and Solomon discovered the blackberry bushes and those little munchers are clearing them really well. It seems a lot longer than 2 weeks ago that we brought them home. In another 3 weeks we'll be picking up another little girl, a Nubian, who my great-grandson is calling Maxie. She and Sunshine will be companions, and I'm looking for a Nigerian Dwarf buckling to be Solomon's companion. I'm hoping to find one that has a white band between 2 black ones, so that I can call him Oreo. We shall have to wait and see how successful I am in that search.
The wild roses are in bloom, out along the hedgerows, so we've taken some cuttings that I hope will root so that we can then plant them over some of our perimeter fencing eventually.
We have 2 pairs of geese with babies, 1 pair appears to have 4 and the other has 3. Sadly, they are not people friendly, they waddle back down to the creek when they see us drive on the property,
The stray mama dog that we've been feeding is also very shy BUT she's sneaky. The other day she was trying to drag the bag of dog food out of the barn whilst our backs were turned, and then today, while we were down with the bees, she took the pan we had put wet food in, and absconded with the whole pan! Sneaky little madam. She is very timid though. Even when I'm talking to her gently, and her knowing we put the food there for her, she runs off.
Hubby's been trying to catch up on mowing - there's just so much space to mow that by the time he finishes it all, the bit that was done first is already a couple of inches high again.
Today I re-mopped in the barn where we had already cleared the dried mud, and mopped, before. Just trying to keep the dust down on that bit until I get the rest scraped, swept and mopped.
Tomorrow, I have a young lad coming to help Mark with the pallet fencing, and then Sunday I'm supposed to have another helper coming. It's just too much for one person to do, and I'm physically not capable of doing so much. Sweeping and mopping, I do sitting and rolling around on my desk chair. I water my outdoor plants sitting on the porch with a hose, and I have to use my upright walker to get from the car to the chair. Moving from one side of the porch to the other, I hook the hose over the brakes to drag it to the chair on the other side. Where there's a will, there's a way, but some things are definitely beyond me physically - hence getting hubby some outside help for a lot of things.
I had a bone scan on Wednesday, and despite more pain and less mobility, apparently my osteoporosis has not worsened and I have not had any further bone loss in the past 5 years or so. That was a relief, to be sure.
Another good week though, such a blessing, for which I am extremely thankful.
It's been a really nice day but, boy, did it get hot! We took Brunel and Lightning over to the property today, as Mark was reinforcing the wire fencing around the "field" that we are going to use for the goats.
The reinforcement of choice (FREE!) is pallets and they are perfect. My goal, eventually, is to paint them black (I'm planning on black iron railings and gate for the front and just want everything to match). I think that will make my "farm" look more cohesive, rather than a hotch potch of different colours and styles. I'm even wanting my red shed repainted black and white, before we take it over there for me to get my train layout set up in.
We had a pleasant surprise yesterday, when we found that the geese had 4 babies.
Unfortunately, when I parked about 50 feet from them, they decided to take the babies into the creek and around the bend, so that I couldn't see them. Trying to take a pic from afar, the babies are well camouflaged in the grass, but are just behind the goose on the left.
The privacy trees are growing well, probably 2" taller than when we planted them back in February. This pic makes them look much closer to the barn than they really are.
What's funny is that from a different angle, the row of trees looks so much closer to each other. They are actually spaced 3 feet apart. I was parked by these when I was taking the picture of the geese.
But everything is coming together nicely, slowly but surely. We go over every day to feed our chickens and the stray mama, and do the stuff that needs doing with my plants, the bees, fixing the tractor and mower or whatever, and - now - the fencing around the "field". It has the wire fence
all the way down to the neighbour's house and barn (seen at the back in this pic, which is actually down by the road). My mate, Kwacha, mowed this last weekend and you can see the difference between what's in the field and where she mowed. Mowing is going to be a many day "thing", as we have about 6 acres of what was, once, horse pasture, and it just keeps on growing! Eventually, once we have a full herd of goats, we're hoping they will keep most of it down.
