It's Fair Time!

We are off to the County Fair.

The fair is a culmination of many months of work for my 4-H group.

Ranae will be showing three goats this year.

This one is named America.

This one is named Ester.

~ ~ ~

At the time of this picture

she was desperately looking for her triplets.

We told her not to worry because

 the triplets are also coming to the fair.

And last, but not least, Barnabas.

He is a LaMancha wether that Ranae loves to show.

We named him after a man in the Bible that was always so positive.

And that's how Barnabas always is.

Positive.

Kevin is also showing a goat named Lightning.

He basically looks exactly like Barnabas.....only much BIGGER.

So off we all go to the fair.

Wish us luck!

Spring has Sprung

A few years ago we had hawks nesting on our property.

And then two years ago a neighboring church about 10 acres away

let me know that the pair was nesting on their property.

I thought they might be back with us this year,

but could not discover where their nest was.

Happily, one day Ranae found it.

Close to our old barn in a very old pine tree

we saw the female fly to her nest.

Now we are looking for the fuzzy head of her newborn.

Maybe even two fuzzy heads!

The new chicks in town

 I can explain.

You see, I stopped by the feed store to just buy hay.....

and I was totally minding my own business.....

when the faint sound of "cheeping" came to my ear.

Can you believe that they had a breed of chick I have been wanting?

The Buff Orpington!

And they were all pullets!

What a dream come true!

I couldn't decide between getting 3 or 2,

so I asked the three kids that were with me,

who are, by the way, totally innocent,

how many we should get.

They all answered at the same time, "Three".

So, there are now three new chicks in our small farm life.

The only problem I see, is telling them apart.

As of this writing, I have not seen one difference in their appearance.

We plan to call them Henny, Penny and Jenny.

Indiscriminately:-)

The Runt

There's a goat in our house.

And it shoudn't be this one.

This is the one that's gonna need a little bit of our help.

The runt.

Her name is Cookie.

Because she was about as big as a cookie when she was born.

We are giving her little bottles of goat milk every day.

She still prefers her momma

but doesn't always get there before her two big sisters.

As our vet put it:

"Momma's only got two dinner plates."

And we couldn't believe it when Cookie's eyes turned blue.

They weren't blue in the beginning.

But now they are!

Out of 5 kids, we've got 3 with blue eyes.

I'm liking those odds.

Now, let's get these goats back in the barn!

Do you want people to think you live in one?

Wait.

Don't answer that.

Just hand over the goat to her momma.

Both momma goat and bottle momma,

wants those goats in the barn! :-)

Angel Babies

Angel delivered!

One buck.

One doe.

The buck has blue eyes and we call him Calhoun.

The doe we named Cocoa.

Mom and kids are doing well.

Thank goodness for a smoooooth delivery!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Kevin turned 17.

Another year older.

Another year wiser.

Ya gotta hope:-)