Busy Times

We've had a busy couple of days! Some good things, some not so good things.

1. All of the turkey eggs have hatched for a total of 14 babies. We'll see how many live long enough to weigh enough to be butchered! The last surviving turkey of the first batch, was set free in the woods. It had a bad leg and the girls opted to let it loose and let it be a link in the food chain. Rachel is holding out hope that we'll see a full grown, limping, turkey come fall.

2. We had Minnie, our 17+ year old dog put down. It wasn't an easy decision, but we knew it was for the best. The last time the vet came out, she confirmed that Minnie's heart wasn't in good shape and neither were her lungs. She was struggling in the warm weather, and we aren't even into the really hot days yet.

3. We also had one of our cats put down. This cat was given to us because it had kind of "snapped" at it's former home, when a new puppy came to live there. Well, it had what appeared to be a nervous breakdown over the last few weeks. It decided that it hated every other cat that lived here and would stalk and attack them at all hours. This cat also started to become aggressive towards the chickens. (She was up to date on all her shots so it wasn't something like that) The vet took one look at her behavior and suggested that we do what was best for all the animals. So we had her put down the same day as Minnie.

4. We have found a home for Honey. She'll be going to Sam's cousin's farm on Saturday. She'll live on 20 acres of pasture and woods with goats, and four young children to ride her.

5. Bob Scalopini has his date with destiny on July 11th. While I wish we could feed him a bit longer, with all the milking goats going to the National ADGA show at the end of the month, there will be no milk to feed him. Our next calf we won't have that issue.

6. Hannah had her back evaluated for hyperlordosis. While she is a bit "swaybacked" the orthopedist felt it wasn't significant enough to warrant any further care.

7. Sam installed electric fencing along the outside bottom of the back pasture to discourage the coyotes. We've also now given Turk, the livestock guard dog, full run of the pastures. So far, no more loss of chickens at 4AM.

8. Abby completed her first goat camp week at the New London County 4-H camp. Tomorrow she leaves to teach the same thing at the Windham County 4-H camp. Instead of paying her, they are letting her stay at the camp as a Teen Leader for the week, for free! New London 4-H caught wind of this and, not to be outdone, offered Abby a free week of camp as well! She'll be attending that camp the day we get finished with the Windham County 4-H Fair.

Summer is starting to ramp up in activity, not the least of which is the National ADGA show at the end of July!

Another Buckling

Abby's doe kidded yesterday afternoon while I was at work. Dunkin Doenuts is Abby's favorite doe. This doe was the product of Abby's first breeding on her own with her own herd name. And so she was very anxious about potentially losing this doe.

She had Nathalie call me at work to tell me that Dunkin was pushing. I told her to call Mrs. Ski as a back up in case things got to scary for her. Thankfully she called her right away, cause Abby got scared when Dunkin, started really yelling. Being a first timer, she was less than calm, to say the least.

Dunkin ended up giving birth to a ten pound buckling with Mrs. Ski's help. Abby had a hard time choosing a name for him since she knows he will most likely be going to auction, unless she finds a buyer for him. She did finally settle on "Brownie". She also manged to find a potential buyer who is coming on Sunday to check him out as a pet and companion for another goat.

In other news, I have come down with strep throat! I am wondering why it is when you have a fever, you feel chilled? I just couldn't seem to get warm! Sam had me covered in about six blankets last night! I should be feeling better by tomorrow with several doses of the antibiotics on board. We are all just hoping it doesn't spread through everyone in the house.

Busy Bees!

So much to do... so little time....



We clipped a bajillion goats yesterday, so we have about 6 left to do today.



I think Hannah has washed and blow-dried all her chickens.



We picked up the crates we're borrowing from the Jones'.



Sam has his first physical therapy session this morning. The doctor yesterday decided to keep Sam out of work for another week.



Hannah and I will be heading up to North Stonington around 1PM to drop off the chickens.



After that we'll be going back over to Donna's to extract my honey out of the 4 supers I put bee escapes on a few days ago.



Thankfully the heat and humidity seems to have broken this morning so we won't be losing 6 pounds of water every time we exert ourselves!

The Cousins are Here! The Cousins are Here!

"The Cousins are Here! The Cousins are Here!" This was the cry we heard coming from the sandpile at my mom's yesterday as all the girls piled out of the van. Elizabeth and Claudia raced down the hill happily embraced their cousins. They hugged their Aunt and Uncle too.

Sam supervised the kids' swimming while my mom and I made lunch. The kids did more swimming after lunch. Mom loaded us up with all kinds of goodies: watermelon, cookies, cereals that normally don't cross my kids' paths, bread, rolls, and hotdogs. We left for home with the children already squabbling over who got to sit next to Claudia or Elizabeth. I think we have worked out a rotating schedule.

Yesterday before we had gone to mom's Hannah had found another chick that had hatched. This one was white with the brown stripes. It looks very much different from the other two. Hannah can't decide if she wants to keep them. I am trying to talk her into giving them back to Mrs. Gilchenok (from whence the eggs came), and we'll try to raise some of our own eggs. At this point she can't decide.

Today is clipping goats. Our plan is to go over and help Mrs. Ski in the AM, since she has 14 or so to do. We only have 4 left to clip (I think??). Hannah has 10 chickens to bathe, but Claudia is rather excited to help her.

It is a bit of "Country Mouse, City Mouse" here with the Kansas cousins. We were stuck behind a John Deere towing a hay baler last night on our way home from the 4H meeting, and our girls started telling Elizabeth and Claudia about all the different types and brands of tractors and pointing out the different ones that the farmers on our way home had. Later, when we got home, Abby showed Elizabeth the hay baler we have in our yard.

While we were driving home we saw some deer in a farmer's corn field. Elizabeth was telling the girls, " I can see deer at home in Kansas when I look out the window in my closet." Abby stopped her at that point with, "Wait a minute! You have a WINDOW in your CLOSET!?!"

I think Elizabeth feels the same "shock and awe" about having goats in the back yard that you can play with anytime you want...