Another comic

Again, click comic to make bigger.

Logan made these with my aunt when she was visiting. She had a program on her laptop for doing comics. This is the last one. Logan had a lot of fun making them.

It's hard to be a frontier woman....

My son is so brilliant! We went out for pizza tonight and Mark got a pitcher of beer, so I had a few, which is rare for me. I was feeling a little buzz and we were getting ready to stop at Dairy Queen for some ice cream and I was complaining about still needing to milk the goat when we got home. Mark always refers to my farm stuff as my frontier woman stuff. He was saying well the frontier women did it, and I was saying I thought it was easier for them because that was their life. They weren't trying to balance frontier life with "normal" life. I was trying to explain to him why I thought it was harder and Logan came up with the perfect way to put it.

"It's hard to be a frontier woman when Dairy Queen is 5 miles down the road"

No time to read

I haven't had time to read many blogs for the last few days and won't have time to read for probably another 4 or 5 days. We've had a steady stream of visitors the last week and a half, so I've been cleaning non-stop it feels like. We have our last visitor for awhile coming tomorrow, so cleaning again today and then the house is going to hell for about a week! The goats of course take as much time as we'll let them.

But the main thing taking my time has been an online training class I'm taking. I'm going to be teaching for Kaplan University online and I have to do a training class before I can start teaching. This class is taking up WAY more time than I thought it would. I've taken online classes before, I'm a really fast reader so they usually don't take that much time. But this one is mostly videos and I can't make those go faster, so it is just taking a lot of time. I'm spending at least 4 hours a day trying to get through all these videos. Add in the assignments and it is a huge time committment. I have to have it all done in 2 weeks, I'm hoping to have it all done by the end of this week.

So, I'm not ignoring you. Just no time right now.

Poor Kudzu

Kudzu laid this 85g monstrosity this morning. Poor girl!

A comic by Logan

Click picture to make bigger

Happy spring

Here are the things blooming on the farm today. The daffodils are already done blooming.


Does anyone know what this is? I think it is really beautiful.

Been busy

I can't believe it has been almost a week since I updated. Sorry! My dad was here this weekend which involved 2 late trips to the Atlanta airport which is 1 and a half hours each way. Friday night we didn't get home until midnight and Sunday night we got home at 9:30 pm but I still had to milk the goat, so it was late by the time I was done. Last night was spent recovering. It was a great visit with my dad, but tiring!

Things are going pretty well with the goats. I'm settling into a routine, I still can't say I enjoy it, but it isn't so bad anymore. I still think I should be getting more milk, I'm getting about 1.5 pounds a day between 2 milking. The woman I got her from said she was getting 2.5 pounds a day out of her. I'm not sure why I'm getting so much less. Will her milk production keep going up or is this where I'm peaking? It is enough for us and the baby, I just hate feeling like I'm failing! I want to do a post about my milking routine soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Orion seems to be doing well. He isn't as hyper as I expected. He is active but not crazy like I've heard and seen. Is it because his only goat company is an adult who is calm? Would he be more hyper around kids? When we visited 1 goat farm the babies climbed all over Logan's back. With Orion if we sit down he generally climbs into our lap for cuddles. He does jump on stuff, just not all the time. I'm a mom so I worry about everything. I want to be sure he is healthy.

I went to look at some sheep last week and will be getting 2 adult ewes and a ewe lamb in a month. The same woman had someone back out on some of her other sheep and now has a mom and her two lambs available. She offered them to me and I'm trying to decide if I want them. I don't want to overwhelm myself, but a mom and her 2 babies may not be too much to handle. They are ready to go now. I'm just not sure. This farm life can be stressful!

Aren't I cute?

Blue eyes are the cutest.
Is this what they mean by biting off more than you can chew?

I'm learning to eat hay but most of it ends up on the ground.

Tip toe through the tulips (I know they aren't tulips).

Smells like spring.

Fun with goats

Orion took all his bottles today. I think he was backed up yesterday, I noticed poop impacted in his rectum. I scooped it out (sorry, TMI I know) and he pooped normal today and ate like crazy. At what point do you stop worrying all the time?

Logan has had fun playing with the goats.
Aurora likes to nibble Logan's ear. She does it whenever his ear is low enough.

Visiting the chickens was fun. No one knew what to think of the other.

Jumping on the dogloos is a lot of fun! Orion loves to jump.

We take trips to the creek and play on the logs. Logan and Aurora play king of the mountain. Orion wishes he was big enough to play too.

More cute pictures tomorrow. I have some great ones of Orion! Aurora is now giving me 12 ounces (by weight) at each milking. It should be about 16 ounces per milking. Hopefully we will get there as we both get used to each other.

Really worried

I'm really worried. Orion didn't take his afternoon or evening bottles. He showed no interest at all. I need reassurance or advice. He is with Aurora all the time, I guess he could be nursing off of her, I haven't seen him do it though. She's never nursed a baby and he never nursed from his mom, so it seems unlikely to me. He isn't acting hungry, I don't think. Shouldn't he be crying and trying to nurse everything if he was hungry?

At the place I got him from he was drinking milk from multiple goats mixed, maybe he doesn't like the taste of Aurora's milk? Should I try again later tonight, maybe with cow milk? Should I separate him from Aurora for the night to see if he eats in the morning? I'm really not sure what to do. What should I be looking for to see if something is wrong? I'm really stressed!!!

They're here!

Orion ( sorry the picture is sideways, Blogger is doing it again. And I'm too tired to try to figure out how I fixed it last time it was doing this)
Aurora

Logan has been taking his responsibility as feeder of Orion very seriously. Orion adores Logan now and follows him everywhere.
I've been taking my responsibility as milker of Aurora very seriously. It isn't easy and I wish I had gotten 2 kids instead so that I could settle into being a goat owner before taking on milking. But, look at the cool milk stand Mark and I made!

We got the goats Thursday evening and got them home at dinner time. I should have told Mark I wasn't doing dinner, but I didn't. So, I was trying to get the goats settled in and make dinner at the same time. We thought we would keep the in the garage for a few days before moving them out to the run-in. However, they were both crying so loudly we had to move them that night. They weren't together at the last place, so they didn't know each other and were both very lonely. They are getting to be friends and are doing better when we aren't with them, but they still cry a lot. They are very people attached.

So, Thursday night by the time I got them settled, which was an ordeal since we weren't prepared to have them in the run-in and got dinner prepared, I was exhausted! And thinking I had made a big mistake (I think this whenever I get a new animal). Friday went better. I milked Aurora for the first time and it went pretty well. I also got a make shift stall made up in the run-in that I'm much happier with. Friday evening Logan had a martial arts thing that usually ends at 6:30, but ran until after 7 so we had to rush home to milk and feed Orion. It was after 9 when I finished all that and I was exhausted again.

Today we've been home all day. I've milked Aurora twice trying to get her milk production up a little. I think she's holding back on me since I'm new to her. I also ran poultry netting on a few of our fences because the chickens are getting into the garden. I planted 25 strawberries, 6 raspberries, 6 blackberries and a cherry tree. The blackberries were hard to plant because I had to dig holes in the yard which required using a pick ax to get through the clay. Needless to say, I'm tired! I still have to milk Aurora one more time and feed Orion before putting them to bed. Oh and make dinner. Luckily, Mark is out of town so dinner can be a simple affair.

Overall, we're enjoying the goats. Logan loves to run with them, they follow him wherever he runs. Orion is sweet and Aurora is warming up. She cries a lot. I don't feel a real bond with her yet but hope it will come. It is beyond muddy here since we had 3 days of rain followed by 6 inches of snow. So we are filthy whenever we spend time with the goats. We now both have farm pants.

I'm feeling like a real farmer now and it is exhausting!

Chicken video

Mark posted a video of the chickens chasing Logan around on his blog. Here is the link: http://mconeal.tripod.com/blog/ It is cute.

We're back and fire

We got power back about 30 minutes ago. I learned a lot about where we need alternatives during this. It was 45 degrees in the house last night! Hubby is opposed to using the fireplace for a few reasons, he is really sensitive to smoke, even when we go to visit people burning wood it bothers him. And he has known a few people whose houses burned down because of chimney fires.

He was convinced to light the fire last night if we didn't have power back, but yesterday afternoon, our neighbor's house caught on fire! From a chimney fire. The whole living room and master bedroom burned and the fire got into the attic and spread through the whole top of the house. He's going to need a new roof and is going to have to gut the inside of the house and rebuild. He just finished building the house 2 weeks ago and moved in 1 week ago. Now they are going to be out for a few months while they rebuild. Turns out another neighbor's house burned down 15 years ago from a chimney fire. So out of 6 houses on our road, 2 have burned due to chimney fires. I'll never convince him to use the fireplace now. A pellet stove may be an option, or we're talking kerosene heaters as a back up.

Our well is 600 feet deep, so a hand pump won't work. We may get a generator so that we have water when we lose power. We do have lots of water stored now.

It was really scary yesterday. Logan and I were out and were on our way home. We were behind a few fire trucks and didn't think much about it until they turned onto our road. Knowing there are only 6 houses on our road we were scared. My first thought was the older neighbor had a heart attack, but the trucks went past the 3 houses at the top of the road and headed back to the 3 at the end, one of which is ours. As we went over the hill, I saw smoke coming from the right side of the road. There are only 2 houses on the right, ours and the new one our neighbor just built. My heart stopped! We got a little further up the road and I could finally see our house and it was fine. Then I looked past our house and saw the neighbors house on fire and 6 fire trucks at it. With the power out they couldn't use his well, so they had tanker trucks to put it out. It took about an hour, but they got it totally out. He's in shock as you can imagine.

The house is a wreck since I couldn't do dishes and I had to shower at the Y today. But we are fine and things should be back to normal soon. I believe we will be getting the goats this evening. I need to call the woman, her road was totally undrivable yesterday and I didn't want to get them if we didn't have power. Maybe tonight! I'll post pictures of the snow soon.

Update

We ended up with 6 inches of snow! We've been without power since Sunday afternoon. We were finally able to get out today so we are at the library. We were supposed to get our goats today, but that ain't happenin'! They think it may not be until tomorrow that we get power back. We finally got phone back about an hour ago. It is damn cold in our house! So Logan and I are going to be out and about today trying to find warm places to be.

I realized some holes in our preps being without power for a few days. Some small that I will take care of this week. Some bigger. Water is going to be an issue. When we lose power we lose water. We have 275 gallons in our cistern but that water isn't good to drink without filtering. In a long term power outage, water will become an issue. Heat could be another problem. We do have a fireplace but no wood. The neighbors have lots of wood we can use short term, but again long term could become an issue. Cooking is another issue. We have a propane burner, but we would eventually run out of propane in a long outage. I think a wood stove would be our best solution but I don't see Mark going for it. So, I've got some thinking and planning to do.

I'll update when we get power back. I've got some great pictures and video.

Snow Update

It's really snowing hard now! As hard as it ever did in Delaware. And considering we never got any snow in Delaware last year, this is a real treat. I know you guys in snowy areas are laughing at us. But we've already gotten over an inch and it is still coming down hard.

Logan got some play time before the snow got really hard.
Here is our neighbor's pasture through the snow. We can't even see his barn!
Looking back at the house.
Here is where the chickens are hanging out. The smart one is in the coop. I'm going back out in a few minutes to put these 2 in the coop before they get stuck where they are.

Spring my ass!

Mark woke me up from a nap to tell me spring was here. There were a bunch of robins in the pasture next door. Less than 30 minutes later I looked out the window and saw this:

It's snowing! Here in Georgia!
The poor cows are all huddled together with snow on their backs.
We are supposed to get 1-3 inches so if we actually get any accumulation, I'll post more pictures.