Dog Greeters

This is what it looks like when we come home every day... well, when it's still daylight out. All our dogs gather at the gate to greet us. They have all learned to stay inside the fence when the gate opens.

I'm cleaning today. Working on the living room. And feeling a bit melancholy today. And tired. And overwhelmed, as usual. I had to work yesterday, and I will have to work Monday through Friday again next week.

I bought some pretty material to make a "scrubs" top for my boss for Christmas. She's already given us our gifts, but I haven't brought them home from work yet. I hope it won't take too many hours to sew it together.

I am hoping to get my snowman display set up at work soon and will photograph it for my blog.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Hannah, Rest in Peace

One of our dogs died today. We adopted Hannah from a no-kill animal shelter back in November 2000. She was in heaven out here, chasing squirrels and birds and lizards. I saw her this morning before we left (at 4:30am, it was dark) and she was alive and seemed fine, but she looked at me kind of funny. Also, my dh says she was acting clingy the past couple of days, but she didn't seem like she was sick or anything.

When we got home tonight, it was after dark, and dh asked me if I'd seen Hannah since we'd gotten home. We were out milking. I hadn't seen her and when she didn't come for "milk time" we decided to "walk the fenceline" to make sure she hadn't somehow dug her way out and escaped from our yard (thus endangering our other dogs as well). We got about 1/4 of the way around our 3.5 acres, and dh spotted her. She had already passed away several hours ago. We aren't sure what happened. She doesn't look injured... it isn't really the time of year for snakes... poor girl.

All of our dogs respond differently to outside stimuli. Hannah would never bark at humans. So we knew if Hannah was barking, then it wasn't a person prowling around outside. It was most likely a dog, or it also could be someone on a horse. She wouldn't connect the person on the horse. That will be a definite loss.

Unfortunately, we were never able to break Hannah of her desire to kill chickens. We cage our chickens carefully, not only because of Hannah but she was part of the problem. She taught all our other dogs to kill chickens. They have never been like Hannah though. She was obsessive about staring at the chickens and drooling, biting at their pen, trying to break through. Hannah was also terrified of storms and thunder. When we first owned her, she would run away. And she couldn't find her way home, either. We were finally able to teach her to scratch at the door to come inside when she was frightened. Then she would be very clingy and trembling like a leaf. It was difficult to not give in to the urge to hold her and comfort her - which in dog language only encourages the poor dog to continue in the neurotic behavior.


Hannah was the alpha of our pack of dogs. It has been interesting to watch the dynamics between our dogs. It will be interesting to see how the order shifts.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Lots of lazy dogs, lying around in the morning before it heats up.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Milk Time

[Place your cursor on the bottom right corner of the right page to turn the pages of the book]

Once upon a time there were five puppies who loved their raw goat's milk. All five puppies were very good and anxious for their milk so they all learned to sit and stay seated until Mommy poured the milk. It sometimes took a minute or two for them all to get seated at once, but they were able to do it. Good puppies.

Mommy finally poured the milk for the good puppies. But now Mommy had to take a picture of all the good puppies, so they had to wait longer for their milk. Mouths were watering and one puppy, the only boy, gave Mommy a mournful look, begging with his eyes for Mommy to say, "OKAY!" so everyone could have the delicious milk.

Finally, Mommy said, "OKAY!"

All the puppies started lapping up their milk quickly, except for one little puppy who had learned many weeks ago that Mommy leaves some milk in the bucket. When Mommy saw that this little puppy had learned that, she began leaving this little puppy's share of milk in the bucket. None of the other puppies have figured this out, even the little boy puppy, who is very smart indeed.

The End.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Wow, Time Flies

I honestly do not believe three days have passed since I posted last.

I'm feeling quite a bit better, but still not 100% myself. Ds2 and dh are working together tomorrow, so I'm supposed to have the day off. I'm looking forward to it, as my garden needs some serious weeding done and of course there are hundreds of other things I need to work on! I always have to remember to pace myself and don't get too ambitious for I can only get so many things done in a day's time.

Oh yeah. I posted last on the day I was off work. That's why I forgot. I went to work on Wednesday and tried to get three days worth of work done in two days, plus handle a crisis for a co-board member who was on vacation in another country, attend two board meetings, deliver invoices that were lost from July, and on and on! I was asked to attend an event today for a coworker who has won disabled employee of the year, and also was asked to attend a board/staff meeting tomorrow. But I asked to get out of it. I'm glad I did because I'm still tired.

The meeting on Thursday, we had a man come to speak with us. A man who I found, and who is going to be of great help to us in a project we are currently working on. He is volunteering his time to us, which is amazing. One of our group asked his motivation and he mentioned doing volunteer work through his church and I thought that was just really cool. I was thinking how lucky I got at first, then my coworker who is not a believer actually made a comment that made me remember that I don't believe in luck. I believe that God is in charge.

I've started a new business. Now I just need to find time to get some more images uploaded, and once I'm ready, I need to start publicizing. It's here: Herd Queen Productions.

It's 64°F out and by morning it will be very nippy, probably down into the fifties. I know. That's what I SHOULD do tomorrow. I should work on the milking shed and get it ready to milk in. Currently we are milking outside in the open, which is pretty awesome because I can see the stars in the morning, and can also watch the herd to make sure everyone is okay and not feeling poorly.

I will definitely wear a DUST MASK. I don't want to do what I did some months ago and kick up my asthma for days and days because of breathing in too much dust.

My little puppy, who is not such a little puppy anymore (he is 8 months old and weighs 70 pounds!!) thinks he is a big dog now and wants to sleep outside at night. Only problem, his hair is so short he freezes out there. The other dogs have long hair with thick undercoats. Not my LJ. I'd better see if he wants to come inside now.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Dragonfly Nymphs

A few days ago, ds2 noticed there was some kind of thing swimming around in the dog pool. It is a little pool that the dogs drink out of, and sit and lay down in to stay cool when it's so hot outside, like this cute fellow!

Ds2 came into the house and had absolutely no idea what he was looking for, but he began putting keywords into Google Search. Dh and he began guessing what it could be. From the start, ds2 thought it was a dragonfly something or other.

He actually was able to figure out that we have dragonfly nymphs in our doggie pool!!! Once he had a name for what we were looking at, I was able to put the word into Google Images and find many pictures of the insect to confirm that that was indeed what we were looking at.

So I noticed a lot of what looked like mosquitoes floating on top of the dog's wading pool this morning. It was getting pretty mucky looking and green algae on the sides. The mosquitoes had finally died down somewhat so I don't want them to get started again.

On the way to the grocery store, I asked dh if those insect things were still in the wading pool. He told me they were gone, they had died. He said he guessed they needed shade and couldn't survive being in the direct sunlight. I told him I'd seen what looked like mosquitoes on top of the water, and that we should clean out that pool just in case there were mosquito larvae in it.

When we finally got back home, I threw hay to the goats and started filling their water buckets. I observed the doggie pool again with the insects lighting on the surface. Armed with the knowledge that the poor dragonfly nymphs had died, I uprighted the pool and dumped out all the water. I saw a lot of wormy shaped things flow out, and I began to examine more closely. Because I know that if you see worm-like markings in the bottom of a water container, it is the mosquito larvae moving around at the bottom. So I started looking really closely at the water which was seeping into the earth. I noticed a lot of tiny -- like pieces of thread -- tiny, red worms.

I asked dh to come look at the red worms, to show him that I thought they were mosquito larvae. Then I saw a dragonfly nymph! I found two more! I picked them up and put them into the doggie pool. I then went inside to get the camera, so I could take a picture. To see if I could get a good closeup of one.

I got back outside, and there was LJ sitting in the doggie pool! So of course I had to snap a few pictures of him. After a minute or two, he jumped out and took off.

I was looking around on the ground again, to see what the mosquito larvae were doing. Since the water was seeping into the earth and it will be dry as a bone within a couple of hours, they have no chance for survival. While doing that, I found TWO more dragonfly nymphs!

So now we have a total of FIVE dragonfly nymphs. One of the things I read said they live in the water for one year. Ds2 tells me they shed their skins 14-15 times.

And I just now read that they are carniverous insects and help to keep the mosquito and fly population down. ACK! I just drained out all the mosquito larvae! Poor nymphs, now what will they eat!?

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Positive Pitbull Story

These dogs have a really amazing personality. I can't believe I've spent so many years believing the myths. Here is a heartwarming positive story if you are interested in knowing more about this breed. LJ is the happiest dog I've ever known. He's always happy and always smiling and excited about life. He is the one thing that makes me happy, no matter what my mood is. He just makes me smile and feel good inside. Here's another important article A Fall From Grace : The Story of the Pitbull.

Ds1 and I have an appointment at the dentist's today. Both of us are going to get our teeth cleaned.

Ds1 has gum disease already. It is something that affects people with Down Syndrome. I didn't know that when he was first diagnosed and I felt really guilty over it. His gums actually are looking better since his last cleaning. Although I still have to fight with him over brushing his teeth. It's more a matter of making him do something he doesn't want to do. We've tried things like stickers, and I thought about giving him a quarter every time and saving up his money to go see a movie. But it takes energy to brush and floss my own teeth, let alone doing someone else's. I just wish he would brush his teeth on his own, without my having to daily prod and coax.

Ds1 is a master at avoidance. He will even move his schedule around to where he's sleeping during the hours I'm awake and he'll stay in his room until I'm not home. If I insist, he will cooperate, but it's hard for me as I've never been a coercive person. Ever since I was a youngster of ten, left home alone to babysit my younger siblings and expected to make them behave. They traumatized me, I swear. They would do things they shouldn't do, on purpose. I'd chase them down, catch one, be whaling on that one with a belt (yes, unfortunately) and they would be laughing and screaming while the others were taunting me and laughing and pointing "You can't catch me, you can't catch me" and then of course if the house was a wreck when the parents got home, who got in trouble? Me, of course. And that was when I knew that I never wanted a job where I'd have to control anyone. I used to look at the bus drivers and feel sorry for them. I felt sorry for teachers. Especially when other children were acting up. I'd just cringe.

Anyway, I hope he will cooperate for the hygienist today, while I'm getting my teeth cleaned at the same time. I am pretty sure he will do fine.

I leave you with a pitbull smile from LJ.


Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

No Obvious Focus

I don't know what my blog will focus on, if anything. I know that some having knitting blogs, but I can't seem to find enough time for knitting again, lately. So I write about whatever strikes my fancy. Dogs are a big part of my life lately. I am studying and learning all that I can, in order to have a successful group of dogs.

I am tired this morning. There is so much to do. I need to trim the goats' hooves. Four sets of feet need to be done. I just don't have the energy to do it. I went to sleep late last night, that was a mistake when I know I have to get up around 5am!

But I sat here to write about Daisy. She has been the most irritating of all our dogs. Today is the 5th or 6th day that I've made their breakfast, made them all sit and stay. Daisy has always been extremely evasive (almost typed invasive). She would do this really annoying thing of wagging her rear at me, while her face is twisted around looking at me, as if to say, "Kiss my butt, you can't catch me, you can't catch me." But today... for the first time, she actually came to me for breakfast. I was still looking for LJ, so all the dogs were present, but him, and so when I finally got him rounded up, she had walked away and was acting evasive again. I spoke to her gently but firmly, to come to me. She gets so afraid, she has to pee. She peed and walked to me. I am so proud of her. I did tie her so she couldn't leave.

Now usually, she won't eat her food until very last, and then finally starts eating. Today Tessa wouldn't eat. The rules are, "Sit and Stay" and "Eat your food now because I'm the pack leader." Well, Tessa just sat there looking submissive. She didn't take even one bite of food. So when everyone else was done, her food was taken away from her. It won't kill her to go without a meal, they have an evening meal, and tomorrow she will be more anxious to eat her food.

Dog Whisperer was on for five hours last night. I taped all the shows. Watched some of them.

I have a lot to do today. I am tired, WHINE! I haven't had breakfast yet. I was having trouble figuring out what to have. Now I think I know what I'll have. Some chicken tenders fried in coconut oil. Maybe that will help my energy level.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Mighty Jaws

Chores took me longer than usual this morning. I guess they usually take about an hour, but this morning they took two hours. The picture you see to the left is the result of my forgetting the baby goat bottles within LJ's reach. Now I need to find a new nipple before lunchtime.

L is doing great this morning. I thought I'd try milking her, but she refused to get on the stand, so I put her back into the yard. Sometimes we have to fight with them to get them onto the stand, but I just didn't have the energy this morning.

Actually, speaking of energy... I went to bed really late for me, 11pm. I was very tired, but I was trying to get on top of our finances and get some bills paid, etc. I woke up starving hungry at 2:30am, ate some cottage cheese and went back to bed. My ds2 woke me again at 4:30am, said he and his pop were leaving for work. Back to sleep and woke up at 6:00am in somewhat of a panic. See, we'd separated Z from her kids much earlier than usual last night. About 4:30pm, instead of 6:00. So I had planned to get out and milk her closer to 5:00am. She was actually crying during the night at 2:30am, wanting to be with her kids or be milked (probably more likely the latter was more intriguing since it includes *grain*).

I felt like I was having a hot flash this morning. It was pretty cold out, probably about 60° or so. And I was in shorts and t-shirt. I could feel myself sweating while I milked. I felt really draggy tired, too. I thought I'd come in and take an early nap. Instead I got a brainstorm. I decided since we had a couple dozen eggs that need to be used, I was going to scramble some of them up for the dogs.

Besides LJ, the new puppy, we have four other dogs. I've been reading everything I can on the APBT, and I've been feeling concerned that we will almost certainly (at some point in time) have some aggression issues because our other dogs have some issues. Like one book I have says that "normal" dogs will pick a fight with another dog, and then it's natural for one of the dogs to back off -- our dogs do this. But if the APBT is antagonized, it will not back down and won't stop after the other dog says "Uncle". We took in my MIL's dog. She was a big dog, when they adopted her, the shelter told them she was yellow lab mix. She has since passed, but in retrospect, I think she maybe had some pitbull in her. We had problems with our "alpha" trying to be controlling over Jewel (MIL's dog). On several occasions they got into it real bad. Dh had to pull them off each other, it was scary. I anticipate this happening again, with LJ, if we aren't aware of what is going on. At least now we know to be on guard for this type of situation.

I watched The Dog Whisperer last night and I am just so impressed with his methods. I decided this morning that I was going to begin working with our "pack" of dogs as a pack. We have an "alpha" and I'm still not clear if that is appropriate. If the people are the alpha, then the dogs are all under the alphas? Is there then a pecking order of the dogs?

I got the eggs scrambled up and took five dishes outside. I decided to first deal with the worst of our dogs. She is a jerk -- she won't come when called, even if I have good stuff for all the dogs. Daisy is very evasive, she will run the opposite direction, in fact. Anyway... I got a leash and found where she was at, and walked past her, then turned quickly and grabbed her by her fur. She's not mean, just won't cooperate and does irritating things like walks in front of our vehicles when we are driving on our property (trying to leave through the gates). I'm afraid she's going to get run over one day, but she acts like she is so clever.

I tied her to a post, and went and got the bowls of food. She also won't sit when I tell her to. But she knew she couldn't leave, and I was able to make her sit, then I got everyone else to sit, including my 10.5 week old puppy. It took a minute or two to get them to all stay still. LJ was jumping up and down all over everyone, so I made him stop and got him to sit and pay attention. WOW. It was amazing!!!! I let them all sit there watching me for several seconds, maybe 10 seconds or so. I handed out breakfast and at first Daisy wouldn't eat her portion. Everyone else was slowly licking at theirs. The alpha tried to leave her dish and take over one of the others, but I did that poking thing with my fingers that Cesar does and made her go back to her own.

I was so amazed at the change in Daisy. Just one "pack leader" thing, and already I am getting some respect from her!!! After she ate, I let her off the lead and she was licking and licking me (this is totally abnormal behavior for her). I know that dogs lick the pack leader, normally she is lukewarm toward me, with no respect at all. Usually I'll speak to the dogs, saying "Good girls" etc., this time I just acted real stuck up and they were all looking up at me, grinning and focused right on me. Just a few minutes later, I was getting ready to go in, and Daisy actually approached me and starting licking me again (I made her sit first before I paid any attention to her). I can't wait to tell my dh about this! We usually feed the dogs twice a day, filling up their dish, but I can see it is going to be vitally important that we change our methods if we want to keep our new puppy and stave off aggression problems. You know, previously I would have thought she was kissing up to me because I fed her good food. And I guess in a way, she is... but it's not that simple. It's pack leader respect.

I also learned last night from Cesar, how to deal with our other dog that has submission issues. I brought her in the house the other day, to do some work with her alone, where we could concentrate without all the other dogs all over us, and she was just like the black dog from the prison program. Backpeddling, with me pulling and coaxing, just like Cesar said people do, and that's wrong, lol! AND, she pees when she gets like that. I have decided I will work with her on leash like Cesar did with the black dog. All of our dogs are good dogs, they just have some confusion about who the boss is, I believe. I understand it is going to be necessary to make that plainly clear to them all if we hope to not have issues with LJ and the girls.

The really interesting part of this... I felt an energy charge from it. Cesar talks about energy... and how we have to direct our energy as pack leader. I'm anxious to learn more about his methods. Can't wait to get his book. Now that I've been sitting at the computer though, I feel my energy has drained... I am going to fix some breakfast and maybe take a short nap.

Until next time. :-)

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Clicker Training Day 6

Okay, I have to say I'm impressed. It's either the clicker training, or the dog.

Actually, since we have FOUR other dogs, I could try clicker training on them. I actually did bring Penny in the house and toss her treats while clicking. She has a problem with being submissive and I'm very concerned that this could become a problem in the future with LJ.

I purchased two books on the American Pit Bull Terrier; they arrived on Monday. APBTs are quite the handful of a dog to own. I had to buy goat's milk today from one of our neighbors... he was not impressed with LJ. His dog is a Border Collie with an energy level of about 10,000. That dog just runs and runs and runs and circles and yips and yaps and runs. LJ was intrigued and barking. I wasn't sure what I was seeing from LJ. Was it dog aggression? I called Laddy (the neighbor's dog) over to me and got him to settle down and stop running and dashing by LJ. LJ was just tickled to see another dog. He LOVES our other dogs.

Believe me, I can relate to the neighbor's apprehension and negative reaction. Just seven SHORT weeks ago I felt exactly the same way!! I would have no sooner chose an APBT for a pet than a rattlesnake! The APBT book I was reading this morning was saying that APBT owner's have to face this kind of negative reaction all the time, and it is vital to have a well socialized, well trained dog in order to set a good example for the breed. It is so important to socialize him, yet it is difficult finding places to take him so that he can meet lots of people, other dogs, etc. Although I have to say, hanging out at Wal-Mart seems like a good place. The one nearest to us has this waiting area where people wait for rides, or they just hang out. I would be able to introduce him to all manner of people within just a couple of hours. I need to make that a goal.

For a great deal of my life, I have tried to do the right thing, make the choices that would make everyone happy. But for some reason, I keep finding things to embrace that are so totally against popular societal norms. Like owning an APBT.

Speaking of doing the right thing and making everyone happy, and being accepted and loved... my blog is supposed to be one place where I can be honest and really be myself. So I am having a hard time sharing its existence with friends... because they are going to learn things about me that I may not have shared with them, because I am afraid they might not accept those things about me. I seem to have sets of friends that I can share certain things with. But my blog is supposed to be a place where I can share anything (within reason, of course) and that anyone can read. I chose to make my blog private, not in the public listings and I don't allow anonymous postings because all I was getting was spam.

But I digress... back to the boy, I couldn't help but fall in love with him. I explain his plight and introduction into our lives in this entry here: Chilled to the Bone.


Here was a picture of him, look how tiny he was, nestled in the crook of my arm. He weighed barely THREE pounds, TWO ounces.

Anyway, back to the clicker training. I missed doing any lessons yesterday (supposed to do two trainings minimum, three optimum). And none all day today until just a while ago this evening. He goes right to the "bed" every time (see the first lesson described in this entry Clicker Training) once I put it down, and now once I show him one time that I want him to do the "down" he does it every single time.

You know those really cool dogs that are really obedient? I've always wanted one of those dogs... I know it takes time and effort to train them, but I think it also helps if the dog is motivated and seems to figure out what you want him/her to do easily. So tomorrow night is Lesson 2. We'll see how it goes because there will be two other puppies in the class. Lesson 1 was orientation, with instructions for what to do at home for the next week. Oh and I was supposed to pick out ten things off this one list of things to introduce LJ to. One of the things we are supposed to accomplish in the next six weeks is go to 10 different people's homes. Well, I got one of those done today.

Also, LJ is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday to be neutered. That is supposed to help with aggression. I know that a lot of people think owning an APBT is really stupid, because like I said, I used to be one of those people myself (it feels almost as if God has a lot of fun peering down at me and noting how I would NEVER own an APBT and he says, "Oh yeah? Try this on for size.") I am studying up on the breed and learning the facts, and we will have to deal with things as they come. Hopefully he will never become dog aggressive, but he could one day. On the other hand... it seems to have a lot to do with your leadership over your dog. I must order The Dog Whisperer's book. Also, the APBT is normally not human aggressive and he seems to love people very much. I just have to keep up the socialization until he is two years old! Quite a task to take on, but I am willing.

My birthday is coming, one more month and I'll be 43 years old. I would love to have The Dog Whisperer book and the DVD for Season One. I can never remember what I would like to have when my birthday is on its way. Also, Mother's Day is just around the corner. I already have my mother's Mother's Day card purchased. Now I just have to get it sent on time! All of my sisters are now mothers, so I will be sending each of them a Mother's Day card.

Boy, I tell you, some days I don't get a chance to write a thing, then other days I'm here again and again. On the days I don't get a change to write, I often think of things to write about, so that's why I end up posting a bunch of things in one day.

One more thing. I have a tooth that is bothering me. :-( The last time I had a sensitive tooth, I went to my dentist and he determined that nothing was going on. So this time I'm hoping the sensitivity will go away. I have two teeth that purportedly need to have root canals. I was told this was necessary at least FIFTEEN years ago. The same fillings have inhabited those teeth all these years, with no problems. I will not have root canals done, I have decided this based on limited knowledge from the Weston A. Price Foundation. There are two links here that give information:
http://www.westonaprice.org/nutritiongreats/price.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/healthissues/holistic.html

There is also a book on why to avoid root canals, I'm trying to find it now and not sure what you are supposed to do if you need a root canal!! I also have a mouthful of amalgam! I don't see that being taken out any time soon. I will have to ask on a list I'm on for the name of that book about root canals. I told my sister not to have one, but she said she guesses she is just too vain right now to worry about her health. :-/

I really must stop now. Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Uh... heeheehaaaheeheeeheeeheeee

That's me laughing maniacally, how do you spell maniacally anyway?

I was thinking a few minutes ago, this is my blog. If I want to write LONG entries, that's my choice. I don't have to care that anyone is falling asleep and they won't be able to drop my letter behind their headboard having fallen asleep from apparently sheer boredom.

So I took a vacation of sorts this weekend. Not the kind of vacation that anyone would consider calling a vacation. I was right on the spelling of maniacally, for the record. Anyway, I got to stay home this weekend, instead of having to leave most days.

So what that meant was I got to clean house and cook dinner every single night. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking for my family, but it sure does take a lot of time out of each day.

I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, things look more tidy. You couldn't say perfect, and most people would probably think things look messy, but there you have it, as Sticky D would say.

So the puppy we are fostering, as expected, I'm falling in love with him. He's very aggressive, definitely we should not keep him. But he is such a baby. He cries when he's tired, he wants to be held. He loves sleeping with me, with his face on my throat, of course.

I disbudded our first baby goat of the year. She did good. I did good. I have done three others, last spring. Two of our own, one of the lady who taught me. But this time, it was just me. I also gave two of our pregnant does a kidding clip. That just means we clip the hair around the bottom and the tail. After they kid, they have discharge, as females usually do, and clipping the hair prevents the gunk from building up and looking messy. We have never done clips before, but this year I did our first doe to kid, and it has been so much nicer. Before I'd have to get out there with scissors and clip the dried clumps.

Note to self. Follow the advice of goat mentor and do NOT use that yellow antiseptic spray stuff after disbudding. She says they will scratch their heads with their little hooves and the little doeling did just that. Next time I will not forget.

So this morning, dh and ds take our second vehicle to get two new tires and have the brakes checked. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, and when they called I decided to run down with a credit card. Nearly $800 for two tires and brake repair. They wanted to, in the end, put in a master cylinder for another $250. Funny, huh? My dh told them, "Sorry dude, but no thanks." He can do the master cylinder himself. Then when I started to go back home, my vehicle decides it is jealous and wants in on the action. The brakes on my vehicle start shuddering and grinding. I have not had any problems, save for some odd grinding now and again. So it was pretty bad, and I didn't want to drive that way. So they checked out my vehicle and as it turns out, I need the rotors REPLACED because they are too thin to grind, and my front pads are 95% gone. Interesting, dh just looked at my brake shoes last weekend and they looked fine to us. But, we decided to just have them take care of it. Dh could have done this repair also, and we could have saved probably $150-$200. That ended up costing just a couple dollars shy of $500.

Now do you understand the maniacal laughter? No, I'm not really going crazy. It's just once again, been a BUSY weekend and next weekend I need to seriously take a break. Going to work tomorrow is going to be like going on a vacation.

There's more, but now I have to go pick through some corned beef so we can have Reubens for supper. Cooked them using a recipe I found on the 'net for Beer Brisket. We don't drink beer or wine here, but have found it can add some awesome flavor to food.

So that's it for now. I think somebody (a cat) peed near my desk, it sure smells like it. They don't usually do that. Maybe it's the puppy that has them upset.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Chilled to the Bone

So we finally broke our drought record and it began raining. 144 days without measurable rain. During the last few months, we grew lax at our rain shelters for the critters, and so when I realized it was going to rain all day long I knew I had to figure out something for the bucks. They were already wet and it was cold. They used to have a covering on the top of their shelter, but it had holes in it. I ended up having to move them to another pen area altogether. In the process -- since like a dope I went out in shorts and a long sleeved shirt -- I got very chilled. I didn't feel cold while I was out there, but once I got inside I realized my shirt was almost completely soaked. I changed clothes and climbed into bed to warm up, but even though I felt thawed out I remained cold to the core. I finally got into a hot tub of water and kept adding more and more straight hot water until the water was very hot! I had to sit there at least half an hour until I finally warmed up. I imagine what happened is that the blood in my legs and lower body was warmed as it moved through my body parts that were in the hot water, then coursed through to the rest of my body. Finally I was feeling too warm, and started sweating. After I got out of the tub I climbed back into bed and slept for a couple of hours and felt very snuggly warm and needed to stay warm.

I crocheted a baby goat sweater for our first baby, born on Thursday. An uneventful birth. One single doeling born to our herd queen. She is tiny in comparison to what this doe produced last year. Last year she produced twin bucklings and they weighed 10 and 9 pounds each. The new little princess weighs just 7 pounds.

Because she was a singleton and sleeping all alone, while her dam was outside of the barn, looking in at her, calling to her, I decided to make her a sweater to keep her warmer since the wind was blowing and it was chilly in the barn. I'm really glad I made her one because the next day was when it started raining, and it was freezing cold out there. The little doeling was snuggly warm in her sweater.

I think about my blog occasionally, but most of the time it is just so busy that I don't think of it, and don't have the time.

I did not finish my billing at work, thankfully the lady who approves it on the other end is on vacation until next week. That was lucky for me.

Better get a bottle for the new baby. We have her on a bottle several times a day. She is still nursing her dam, but her dam has never given much milk and also has bacteria in one side of her udder. Staph aureus to be exact. I do not know if she had the bacteria last year when she raised her bucklings herself, but we were drinking the milk raw and it didn't kill us. So I'm sure it will be okay for the little doeling to have some of her mother's milk straight from the udder. I am also milking the doe twice daily, pasteurizing that milk for the doeling's bottles.

Last year's kids were skittish and not as people friendly as I'd like. I want a happy medium. Not Little Screamer friendly, but not as skittish as ours were.

We are also fostering a puppy for a friend that does rescues. He is caramel colored all over, except for a white spot on his face, a white tipped tail and white on part of his body. He is barely three weeks old. He sleeps A LOT. Yesterday he slept almost all day long. He loves to be snuggled and held so he can fall asleep. We are pretty sure he has pitbull in him, and we have always said we will not have a dog with pit bull. He certainly is mouthy at his tender age. He looks sweet when he's asleep but once he wakes up, he's all mouth. We are disciplining him to not bite us at all, and we don't allow him to growl either.

No one knows the lineage of this little boy and it is very possible that he is from long lines of aggressive dogs. My friend said she will take him back and place him when he is eight weeks old, but she was mostly interested in our fostering him because he was so tiny that he needed goat's milk. He took his milk from a bottle for a few days, but then weaned himself from that. He was a little bony when we took him in, but he's looking better now. He weighed 3.2 pounds when we got him and now weighs 3.9#.

Okay, out to survey the damage from the rain, and to milk and feed.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...