Harness Training

At the fair we are surrounding by so many "goat people".

It's wonderful.

We always learn so much more every year.

This year we learned how to harness our goat Lightning.

I had a harness and cart for this goat but we could not figure out how to put it on.

With expert help at the fair, we did.

By the end of the fair Lightning was hitched up and pulling the cart all by himself.

No problem.

The next step is putting a person in the cart.

~ ~ ~

Any volunteers?

Showing Goats

Ranae showing Adagio.

Kevin showing Little Dot. ( she's due in April)

Alex showing Delilah.

~ ~ ~

It was bittersweet watching Alex show this year.

He's a graduating senior and it's his last year with 4-H.

Not to mention, his last year living at home full-time.

~ ~ ~

Not to mention, that when I think of it I always tear up.

~ ~ ~

So please, don't mention it.

It's Fair Time!

We are now at the County Fair for the next 9 days.

Sarah is such a helper and will hold our baby goats

while her older brothers and sister clean out the pens.

Next year she will be old enough to show a goat at the fair.

Every year the fair gets better and BIGGER.
Half this barn is filled with goats.
The other half houses:
chickens,
roosters,
turkeys,
ducks,
geese,
quail,
pheasants,
rabbits,
and guinea pigs.

We brought 8 goats this year.

~plus Ester's four kids~

(They go everywhere with her.)

Someone told me they saw her kids on facebook and came to the fair to see them!

They attrack a lot of attention.

It's not every day that you see a goat with four kids.

Kid Time

Ranae with Ballerina, Bullet and Biscuit.

Ranae holding Biscuit and Believer.

Ranae holding Barnabas.

(Named after the guy in the Bible that was so positive.)

Kevin holding Blessing.

Ranae's First 5K

This afternoon Ranae ran her first 5K.

It was a beautiful day for running.

Warm and breezy.
The 5K was at the beginning of our famous night parade.

Do you see her in this crowd at the starting line?

Me neither.
My little 12 year old girl was in the mix ready to run.

Sarah and I looked on.
And she fininshed well with a time of 31 minutes.

She has already said that next year she hopes to beat her record.

Way to go Ranae!

Delivery Drama

Ester had FOUR kids!

Amazing!

But it wasn't without difficulty.

I checked on her at 1:00 pm and nothing was going on.

At 4:30 pm when Ranae checked on her there were 3 on the ground.

Alex looked in on her too and heard her bawling.

I then rushed out thinking why would she still be crying?

She has had triplets twice before.

And, low and behold, I looked at Ester and noticed something sticking out.

One hoof.

I touched it and my heart sunk.

A cold hoof.

I thought, "I don't believe this kid could still be alive."

I then checked the other three kids.

Two were dry and one was still wet.

That meant she hadn't been this way long.

Oh dear.

I thought, "What should I do now?"

Well......I called my husband and I called the vet.

Luckily Brian was able to get home and the vet had lots of advice...by phone.

So with the phone to my ear,

a goat book in my hand,

Brian and Alex assisting,

and Ester bawling with every push,

we listened and tried to save them.

At the time it seemed the vet was talking in slow motion.

Like... there... was... all... the... time... in... the... world.

She first said, "You have to determine if it is a front hoof or a back hoof."

I then relayed the information talking faster than a speeding bullet.

As we looked at the hoof it was a bit hard to tell which direction this kid was headed.

She went on to say quite casually, "If it's a back hoof you need two before you pull.

And if it's a front hoof you need to have the head also before you pull."

I repeated this info talking 90 miles per hour.

All the while I added tips and facts from the chapter on kidding in my goat book.

After much searching, and long exasperating minutes,

Brian located the head and the front foot together and started to pull.

Now it got even more interesting.

As I read through the book it said,

"Pull, but very gently, working with the doe; otherwise, hemorrhage might result."

The vet then slowly exclaimed in my ear,

" Now you're gonna half to pull kinda hard."

What!

Pull hard - Pull gently.

Hemorrhage???

Brian did pull him out.

And low and behold he was BIG.

And thankfully he still had the sack around his head.

Ester licked that off and he moved.

He was alive!

We all sat back and exhaled.

After doing this since 2003 I guess we were due for some delivery drama.

But boy do I hope we are done with that for a while.

Later, Brian would say that he was surprised how hard he had to pull.

So, just in case you ever are assisting a goat delivery.....

"You're gonna half to pull kinda hard."

~ ~ ~

This time Ester gave us 3 bucks and 1 doe (not golden).

Their names are:

Ballerina, Bullet, Biscuit (the runt) and Believer (the one that got stuck).

Baby Kids

I would like to introduce you to:

Barnabas and Blessing

They were born to Athena, our LaMancha doe, on February 12th.

Sadly, Athena passed away February 15th at the veterinarian.

I just cried and cried that day.

And my children went to school with a heavy heart.

~ ~ ~

We are bottle feeding her babies and so far they are doing well.

They both miss her.

Nothing's better than Mommy, but bottles will have to do now.

Living on a farm sometimes gives us hard lessons.

Difficult, sad lessons.

~ ~ ~

But sitting in the barn in the cool, early morning

with an empty bottle in my hand

watching Athena's two newest offspring jumping and playing

has me smiling through tears.

Life goes on.

Wether we like it or not.

Cupid was here

Valentine's Day 2011

The day Cupid solved the problem of,

"Which hot chocolate is mine?",

with these ingenious initial cups.

Cupid was also here.

And here.

And here.

That little guy with the arrows really gets around doesn't he?

Everybody Loves A Parade

Sarah was in our city parade today with her preschool.

(And this was my best picture because my camera battery went dead.)

We were spreading HIS love and soaking up the sunshine!

Oh yes, and waving.

...and waving,

...and waving,

...and waving!

Our Exchange Student

We recently hosted a foreign exchange student from Turkey.

(I'm sure he's from Turkey.)

(Even though his t-shirt says "Germany".)

He went to school with Alex.

He toured famous sites that make our city unique.

And he also went to other parts of our state like

Universal Studios and Cape Canaveral.
It truly was a good experience.

One that I would do again.

I have always been impressed by how many languages a person can speak.

And our student from Turkey was no exception.

He knew several.

When I expressed an interest in learning another language

my son Alex spoke up quickly and said,

"After a certain age it is harder for a person to master another language."

I stared at him with an open mouth.

What?

I thought, "Does he consider me a "certain age"?"

And I immediately thought: DON'T ASK.

I then tried to think of some witty, well-researched rebuttal.

(Because only well-researched will do.)

And since nothing came to mind, my only recourse was to say,

"Watch it mister, or there will be no pie for you."

I know.

It doesn't make sense.

But with a warm from the oven chocolate pecan pie sitting on the stove

permeatting the air with it's tempting aroma at my disposal

I knew immediately it was my best weapon.

~ ~ ~

Teenagers.

Ya gotta let them know when they've crossed the line.

Crock Pot Love

I must say that I LOVE my crock pot.

What a wonderful feeling to have dinner finished at 11 am.

The rest of the day I will be singing,

"Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.....Zip-A-Dee-Day

....my oh my what a wonderful day"

Sweet 16

My Kevin turned 16.

Wow.

I can't believe it.
Really, I can't.

I still remember him in diapers,

smiling at me and eating dirt.

(Long story.)

Now he likes cake better.

~Pumpkin cake with buttercream frosting~

to be exact.

Mmmmmmmmm.

Sweeeeeeeeet 16.