Baby Pictures

Captain Chaos

Calliope in rear and Hazelnut out front

Polka Dotted Pirate

A Present Farmer

I have never felt more like a farmer than I have this week. I am either milking someone, feeding someone, giving calcium to someone, or cleaning up something, while still working my full time job. I'm busy and to-the-bone tired.

Cora Belle has had a rough recovery from having her quads. At times I didn't know if she was going to pull through. As a result I am bottle feeding her babies with Alice supplying the milk. Alice, unbeknownst to her, is feeding 7 babies. She still thinks she only has two.


Cora Belle has turned the corner and is starting to act like she is going to stay amongst the living. She is feeling so good now she is fighting with Alice through the fence, bending a few wires and loosening a few boards. A good sign.

So my mom couldn't have picked a better week to show up with a gift bag when we got together yesterday for lunch. Wrapped in tissue was a framed certificate from Future Farmers of America awarding me Chapter Farmer on March 16, 1976.

It just took me 36 years to feel like a farmer.

Skeleton in her Closet

Yes I know you think Cora Belle is perfect. The typical overachiever. But Cora Belle is not quite perfect. In fact she's a bit dysfunctional. She has taken a huge dislike to one of her little daughters. With three of the babies she is June Cleaver, with the little buckskin doeling she's Joan Crawford minus a coat hanger. She just bites ears. Tender young baby ears. Cora Belle won't let Calliope nurse or come into the goat house if she gets caught out. I had to intervene. Now all the babies are in an X-pen and I control the milk bar. Seems to work just fine for both of us.
Cora Belle believes in using playpens with babies.

Now I have two little bummers. What's the world coming to?

Cora Belle's Quads

Yes, 4. She is in shock too. Two boys, two girls. With all those kids underfoot you are always stepping on somebody.

I'm Next

Any day now.

Deuce-Rejected

Poor little Deuce is odd man out. Alice will not take care of him. Luckily she tolerates him and does nothing more than walk away and glare when he tries to nurse.
So he can stay with his brothers, the chosen ones.

A Saint Patrick's Day Miracle

Last night when I went down to check Alice and her boys I found Deuce, the second born, cold and unresponsive. The other two were warm and lively with bellies full of milk. Deuce was cold and lifeless. I wrapped him in my coat and brought him into the house. I laid a towel in a cardboard box, put him in it, and set the box close to the wood stove. He lay flat out on his side barely breathing. I petted and massaged him and encouraged him to live but my gut told me he was on his way out. A few times, Hubby would say, "I think he's gone." I would put down my knitting and feel his chest. I could barely feel his heart beat...but just barely. He had no reflexes and lay with his eyes open. Just like he was already dead. I checked him right before bed and imagined his heart was beating a little stronger. But maybe I just imagined it.
I stoked the fire and went to bed knowing full well he wouldn't survive the night. He just couldn't.
This morning I got up extra early because the dog wanted out. I let the dog out and then went over to pick up the box and set it outside, sure that the kid had died. I lifted the box and a head popped up and said,"Maaaaaa" I almost dropped the box I was so surprised. I ran in and woke Hubby and told him to listen.

"Maaaaaa."

He did live and seems just fine although Alice won't have anything to do with him which is probably why I found him cold and almost dead. So now I have a bottle baby. I took him back to Alice because he likes his brothers and I think it is always best they grow up with other goats but I'll be feeding the little tyke.
Alice only does two babies, apparently.

My Three Sons

Meet Alice's boys....



Uno Dos Tres

Did you hear that?

Star Milker

I'm sure most of you are getting tired of me going on and on about Cora Belle. Cora Belle this Cora Belle that. Blah Blah Blah.

But I am very proud of my locally grown girl. After a year of hard work, mostly on Cora Belle's part, she not only earned her championship in the show ring, she has also earned herself a star as a milker. She may have even made it into the top ten milkers in her breed if it hadn't been for the stress of showing and a few vacations on my part....oh and I dried her up too early. Her numbers are that good.

So I would like to thank Herron Hill Dairy for allowing me to buy Cora Belle when they didn't want to sell her. I would like to thank the farmer at Herron Hill for mentoring me through the process of rediscovering goat shows and pushing me to put CB on milk test. When she didn't know something she found someone who did.

I would like to thank Cathy Reaney for taking on the task of being my milk tester and doing it so well.

I would like to thank my family who put up with me saying, "I have to get home and milk the goat" or "I can't go because I don't have anyone to milk the goat."
I'm afraid there is more of that to come.

Mostly I'd like to thank Cora Belle for coming into my life when this empty nester needed something to do and something new to think about. You saved my mind.



So ladies and gentlemen, I give you GCH Herron Hill CJ Cora Belle.

Blah Blah Blah Blah.

Scenes From The Farm

We are experiencing the calm before the storm. Nothing much going on so there are no stories of my own to tell.

Alice has about 2 weeks to go. Blue eyes are expected.




Cora Belle is due at the end of the month and I am looking forward to some buckskin babies...and hopefully a little dalmatian one too. Her daughter Wedding Belles is due April 5th or so. Wedding Belles is cooking up a pretty little coin purse udder. Hopefully her momma's capacity is going to go along with it.



Riot only appears to be due at the end of the month.



And Willow.......



She is my shadow.




We love her.

Rest in Peace Davy

You will never know how much I loved you.

Happy Valentine's Day

To all my family and friends, especially the two in CA, I love you. Hope everyone has a good day. I know I will. I get to spend it surrounded by kids and candy....I think we are making coffee can ice cream in kindergarten.

She touched me

She took her pellets straight from my hand....this is huge people.

I Touched Her

While giving her a treat I touched her cheek with the side of my hand. Then as she ate I stroked the side of her neck with the back of my hand.
It felt as good as I thought it would.

Out Standing in Her Field

Bliss and Pepper Ann's Great Adventure

As you know I have been waffling back and forth about selling Pepper Ann and Bliss. I could not make up my mind if I wanted to sell them because both are very nice girls and it is always nice to keep the does and see how they mature.

Then I got a nasty email (at work) from a neighbor about my farm. She complained about the bawling goats and the horrid smell. Now mind you, I have owned my little farm for over 20 years and she has been there about 10, choosing to build her home at the back of my farm. This is an area of farms. Most people have at least two acres and some a lot more and most have animals.

I was really hurt. I thought she was a friend and never once did she say anything to my face. I think what hurt the most was that I take great pride in taking good care of my animals. I really worked hard on this place the last couple of years and it is neat as a pin. I keep the pastures and stalls clean and there really isn't a horrid smell. But to be sure I invited people over to have a smell, people I knew would tell me the truth. I even asked a neighbor that lives next to her if he could smell anything. The answer always came back "No"
I had my son's best friend, a sheriff, come and see if he saw a problem. The answer again "NO"

So I have chosen to ignore her nastiness but still make sure my way of life doesn't impact anyone too much.

I decided I could sell a couple of the young ones and cut down a bit on the herd. So on a day when I was snowed in I placed an ad for Pepper Ann and Bliss with hopes they would go together. It is always nice when two from the same herd go together and they have a buddy...a sleeping buddy. It is easier on everyone involved.

I had barely written the ad and posted it when a wonderful gal called me and inquired about the girls. They are a 4H family and show at the fair. They already have a Nigerian doe and wether and were looking for a couple of does for the kids to show. They have 5 acres and a proper barn. You know how I love me a proper barn!
So this morning a darling little goat boy and his mother came and picked up Pepper Ann and Bliss. Pepper Ann being the smart girl she is knew something was up and didn't want to go but she will be just fine in a few days and will get a whole lot more attention there than with me.

So thank you nasty neighbor for getting me off my butt and sending the girls off with a new family that will love them and show them.

Anyone want to come take a whiff now?

How's the llama training going you ask...

Slowly.

Willow is quite a little charmer. She is playful and curious. She is getting very comfortable in her new home with her goat family. She shows signs of being protective and you must admit she's easy on the eyes.
But.....
She still doesn't want to be touched never mind haltered and led. I don't know how to progress. I don't know if I should lock her in her little house and force her which could lead to someone getting hurt or if I should try to wait her out. Training a llama is nothing like training a horse or dog. A part of me wishes I had gotten a halter trained llama but then I would miss out on Willow's big brown eyes and her funny playful ways. She also has fabulous fiber that looks brushed even after a rainstorm. I really really like her.
So, once again, I will rely on the internet. I found this training guide and plan to give it a try.
Wish me luck. I still feel like I have to overcome the horrible memory of catching her and bringing her home. She has to learn to trust me. She may never trust Hubby, the llama wrangler.

Yodel eh hee hoo

Willow loves the small hills on the farm that used to be motocross jumps. She stands on top and looks down on her kingdom.

26 & 27

My daughter-in-law turned 26 on the 26th and my son turned 27 on the 27th.
Happy Birthday you two.
I love you.