Christmas Time is Coming

Well our predicted little ones came at the beginning of the month.

Thankfully only one mom was caught in July.  They were healthy and a good size.  We may end up keeping both of them.  One male and one female.  Brad has managed to de construct the walls in the barn so it is basically 2 rooms now with 4 pens in the middle for birthing.  We have put the new mom and babies in with the 4 smallest ones that we had and they occupy one room and the rest of the goats occupy the other.  I'm regularily getting 1-2 eggs now which is plenty for us.

Taylor asked for a computer or dog for Christmas, so we got him his dog, that he has wanted since we knew we were moving to the acreage.  After 3 days he decided it was too much work and wanted us to take her back..Ugh!  So guess who is looking after a  10 week old puppy?  She is cute though.

Our house has been decorated also.  The girls put the lights on and Rachel and I decorated it.

They actually did a fairly good job.  It is our first 'real' tree in several years.  I forgot the mess the needles make.












Now if I could just get the house cleaned before the Day...I'm not sure that will happen with this many animals... Geesh!  I'm really hoping my strength by next spring will be such that I can oust all these animals except the one dog (lack of hair for outside life).  I just can't stand the meowing at the door.  Tomorrow is baking day.  Amanda and the girls and mom, Danielle and I are planning on baking here.  Now mom sounds like she is backing out.. We'll see if she shows up.  I have to get to town today to buy baking supplies and also to get Taylor's paperwork for his job in so he can start.  Although it is snowing pretty good right now. I hope it doesn't continue too long.

On Sunday we celebrated Justine's 21st birthday.  She is quite excited to be that age.

 

Well I better get off to get chores done so we can head to town.  Till next time.

Winter is Arriving

Another month since I posted.  Oh my goodness...

Construction or should I say destruction down at the barn.  Brad is removing walls and stalls.  He just wants a big open barn that is better for cleaning.  He can use the bobcat then instead of  3 or 4 of us with shovels.  He plans to leave one or two stalls for birthing.  I have done a head count at the barn and we have lost more goats than have been recorded.  I'm not sure how but nonetheless there are 12 less than we thought.  We have kept back 4 little ones.. An aquaintance of mine was suppose to take two for pets, but she never showed up to take them, so they will be staying.  They were just too little at the time to send to market.  They will have to wait until the next round.
Well I am routinely getting at least 3 eggs a day.  Awesome!  I don't have to buy eggs anymore..There is still something in barn trying to eat them though because there is usually a hole in one of them.

Today the wind is howling, well all night really.  There is a skift of snow on the ground and it looks soooo cold.  It is suppose to go down to -27°C tomorrow night so we'll have to wait and see.  I can see it happening and I always feel so bad for the outdoor animals when it does that.  If the temps are dipping that low already it is definitely going to be a bitterly cold winter.  Yikes.  I wish we had stalls in the upper barn for the horses.

Nothing has been done with any crafts except the purchase of new items.. Geesh! I'm going to take my mom's quilt in to be quilted soon.  That will be one of her gifts for Christmas.  I also found a cross stitch that I made for her quite a while ago.  It just needs framing, so that will be her other half.  I did join two Christmas Ornament Exchanges.  I have one finished and sent off and the other is at least started.  Mail date is Dec. 4 I believe.  Better get busy on it.  Hopefully some more progress on something will be done on this terribly snowy/windy day.

The two remaining kittens are gone now.  The house is back to normal if you can call it normal.  Rachel has applied to college, so we are hoping to hear in the next couple weeks whether she is in or not.  She'll stay living at home working this winter and next summer, then head off in the fall.  She has found a job for the winter and so has her boyfriend.  They are set.   Danielle is going for her road test next week.  She wants a job and doesn't want me to have to drive her.  Our play was good.  People enjoyed it anyway.  We had 6 performances--wasn't sold out at any but a good turnout.  I'm glad it's over, but am interested to see what play is picked for next year.

I guess that is it for now.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures for next update.  It think it adds to the blurb.

Update

It's been a little while since I've updated again.  Boy time sure slips away.  The yard is covered in leaves and the trees and pretty much bare.  The days are chilly with a titch of warmth left in them.  Halloween is coming upon us soon and I'm not sure if my kids are doing anything this year or not.

The final batch of baby goats are being shipped tomorrow.  The barn will then be emptier awaiting the arrival in the spring of the new babies.  I haven't been as attached lately to this batch.  They go out to the pasture all day and I really don't see much of them anymore. An aquaintance of mine has requested to buy 2 babies from us for herself as pets.  Brad would like her to pick them up right away--so I guess I better call her today.

My new chickens have started laying eggs--well at least one of them.  Our eggs are all peewee size and we do have some tweeking to do with the nest box as some of the eggs are getting crushed.  They are suppose to roll away so they don't get crushed, but the weight of the chicken pushes the other end of the wire mesh up and squashes the egg on the wooden perch.  Very exciting.

We have 1 outdoor kitten out of 7 that has survived thus far.  We'll see if he makes it all winter.  Of the 3 I brought in I still have 2.. I was hoping they would be gone.  Surprising really that they are still here, they are so cute.  Well they'll have to go out in the spring if noone takes them.

I took a quilt class and made a little wall hanging.  It isn't quite done yet.  I just bought a button for his nose yesterday. I also have to create the hanging case for it.  Maybe today.. I also just ordered a bunch of little cross stitch tucks.  6 of them.  I'm going to make them up and have them for the Christmas Market next year.  I always say I'm going to have stuff and never have it.  I'm bound and determined this year coming to make stuff for 2012s market.  Dishcloths, cards (stitch and paper), tucks, and who knows what else.  I'm even going to have a special storage space for it all., then I can book a table early spring and go for it.  I'm going to start a dishcloth today.
Justine and Eddie's wedding quilt won first prize at the fair for the category -first quilt ever, machine stitched--  It was the only entry in that category but who cares.  I also won for my paintings.  It was quite enjoyable and that brings me to my crafting goals number 2.  I aim to create for as many categories as I can to enter next year.  Cross your fingers that I havne't made too lofty of goals.

I think Rachel wishes to stay home for the next little bit.  She was going to move in with friends a couple hours away and just work, but I think she has now just decided to stay home.  She aims to go back to college in the fall, so she'll move then.  Woohoo...

Danielle and I are in a musical drama and the performances are coming up quickly.  I'm not sure about pulling it off.  I havne't had a chance yet to practice my part on stage--hopefully on Sunday that will happen.  I really should learn my scene and rehearse my lines.

Taylor is coming along with school.  Not are energetic as I'd like, but nonetheless it is getting done.

That's all for now..

Autumn

Well a definite chill is in the air.  We are dropping to 0°C at night.  Brrrr!  Actually right now we are at -1°C.  It is suppose to go up to 19°C at some point today.  The trees are all starting to shed their summer glory.

It is sad really, but wonderful at the same time.

My darling daughter number 2 has decided to move out and live with friends until next May when she'll pop back in to repeat her summer job.  Not sure when that is happening, but I imagine before Halloween.

We also have a repeat customer at our house.  Ember has come back to live with us.  She is having issues regarding her house training and my eldest is tired of it.  So Justine passed the problem on to me.  Hopefully we can fix it or I'm not sure what is going to happen.  Changing diapers on a dog is not happening.
This is Ember

We also had a neglected batch of kittens come in the house to be bottle fed.  We're not even sure who they belong to outside, but we have an idea.  At any rate another week or so and they'll be ready for new homes.  I hope I can find some homes for them.

On the farm end:  We lost another mama goat. She died the same way as most of the others that have died.  Just wasted away.  She lost her baby quite a while ago from neglect and I wonder if she didn't know that she wasn't well and that's why she let her baby die.  Who knows.  It's almost time to put the bucks back in with the gals, so we need to get rid of the rest of the babies soon whether they are up to weight or not.
The last of our roosters will be butchered in a couple weeks.  It is time.  We don't plan to heat the chicken coop and it is getting quite cold out there.

Crafting?  Well I have managed to put a few stitches in a couple projects.  Today I will complete page one of my Love Is project for Justine's anniversary.

I should also make a bit of progress on my quilt.  I really would like to see it finished and put on the spare bed.  Andrew's vacating the spare room and my finished quilt could be timed to match, but I doubt it.  He'll be gone within a month and there is no way that quilt will be done that fast.  I'm taking a quilt wall hanging class on Sat.  Hopefully I'll complete it there and have a finished project to brag about. 

Well I'm off to check the animals.. See you next time.

Time for an Update

Well where to begin.  I guess I last left off with the wedding.  Since then we've shipped 46 kids to market with the rest heading there sometime around Oct. 1.  We've had a few minor illnesses with some but nothing serious.  The nice pasture grass is pretty much dead and Brad put in the hay bales.  So things are getting back to busy.  We'll be aiming to breed at least half sometime this month.

We said goodbye to 19 broiler chickens.  We had a nice day with friends and family butchering.

The first lucky contestant

 On we go...

All the pretty birds in a row

 

 

 

 

Having a wiener roast after.

And that was that.  We're having another butchering day in Oct.  Kevin and Amanda's birds will be ready and so will our roosters.  I saved back 13 hens and 2 roosters, but we may keep less than that.

Mom, Danielle and I spent a couple hours last week making some cards.  This is the start of the monthly meetings that were suppose to happen starting last January, but somehow never did.  Anyhow ...

The first card is one of the 2 we made.  Danielle has the other card picture on her camera.  The second card is one I made after I got home.  These are from a kit from Annie's Attic.  Each kit makes 8 I believe, so there will be enough to split.  Amanda may join us too.

Speaking of Amanda.  We're going to the city this week to finally get to a health food store, knitting store, teacher's store and homeschooling store.  woohoo.. going to be a busy day.  We have projects that we need to get supplies for.  All the stores are entered into my GPS already so we should be good to go.

Danielle and I also auditioned for a musical/play in the nearby town and we both got in.  We went to a practise last night to do a read through.  Our parts will be emailed to us this week.  Quite exciting really.

Well I guess that is as updated as it gets for now.  Time to get on with the day.

It is over

Several things have ended in the last couple weeks.  The main one is the bottle feeding.  We are done for this season and it feels so good to just go check on the goats without having to spend an hour down there making and feeding bottles.  They are all doing fine at this moment and we are preparing to take the biggest ones--we're hoping 40 pounds and up to the market on Monday next.  A friend is coming out for the week to have his vacation and to help Brad with things around here.
Second is the chicks.  They are no longer chicks and they are ready for butchering.. Unfortunately that isn't happening until the Labour Day weekend.  They are huge and eating us out of house and home.
Third was a short lived episode with ducklings.  An aquaintance called and said they had run over a mama duck and had kept the babies, but couldn't anymore would we be willing to look after them.  We agreed.  We placed them in the nursery room in the barn.  Day 2 -One duckling died. (well really disappeared), Day 3 -3 ducklings died. and Day 4 the last died.  I haven't a clue why other than maybe it just got too cold in there at night or they didn't know how to get their food.. don't know.  I feel horrible that they all died after being rescued, but what can one do?

Nothing has happened on the craft front as I've had company and can't really do much. I did manage to put a few stitches in a project but that is it.

The main event:  The Wedding!  It is over and done with--not paid for yet, but hopefully tomorrow.  The grooms parents foot the bill for the catering and we 'need' to pay them back.  They weren't suppose to pay it, but the facility we used isn't being run in the most organized way at the moment and the bill wasn't brought out until everyone else had left.  I assumed they would mail it, by that point.
Here are a few pictures from the event.

Till next time.

Summer Fun

Some shower pictures for you.

 Eddie's mom, Danielle, Rachel, Justine, Jillian, Me

 The cake made by Heather Stern

 Missing 2 bridesmaids

The bow and ribbon hat, created by nana and grandma

  

Well the niece and nephew arrived with the mother in law and things are going okay.  Everyone is getting along with everyone else thus far.  I've had my other niece over for a few days and both girls are very energetic about doing chores with me.  They both love bottle feeding the baby goats.  We are down to 1.75 cups once a day now and hopefully by the weekend these ones will be done.  I have a hard time weaning them. Oh the latest orphan we had also has not needed the bottle.  As near as I can figure he has managed to find someone to allow him to nurse.  There is no way at his age of 3 weeks, now 4 , that he can be so full all the time from grass and water.  We had to force him to take the bottle at first, but now we don't even try.  We check his belly once a day and he always seems to be full.
     The older babies are all going to be taken to market on the 15th of August.  It will be hard to say goodbye to them.  Then we'll have a semi empty barn for about 8 months until all the babies start coming again.
    We did find the one remaining kitten of the 4 and found that yes, that dead kitten from the other post was indeed one of ours.  I'm hoping my brother will take the baby and possibly his older brother/dad.  That particular mom is pregnant again and that doesn't make me happy as she is such a tiny/weak cat.  I have to get these boys off my property.  I don't believe it is any neighbours male coming here.  One of our other outdoor cats is getting ready to pop anytime also.
     The chicks are getting very close to being butchered.  By looks we could do it now, but in reality we have another month and a bit.  I can't believe how big, how fast the broilers got.  Boy do they drink the water up.  Between all of them they drink a 5 gallon water bucket every day.

Well the wedding plans are almost done.  The only question I have at the moment is whether the caterer/owner is supplying munchies and beverages for the dance or not.  We aren't suppose to be bringing food into the facility, but I don't recall if they take care of that or not.  I'll ask Justine and if not, we'll have to pick that up.  I have to yet purchase pop and coolers.  There are no bar facilities so we have to have coolers full of ice.  I hope we can figure it all out.  So nerve wracking.  I don't think I was like this at my own wedding.  I'm going today to talk to a hair dresser and see what she can do and possibly have her do it today if she can.  My nails get done on Friday at noon.  I will pick my sister in law up from the airport and we head in to get them done.  She is also having some put on.  Fake ones I mean.

Crafting has been null since my company arrived, well I did manage to get a few stitches in one of my pieces.  I also managed to spend more money and had my niece pick out colours she liked for a future quilt.  I'll have to get on that one first thing this winter.  She's already expecting it in the mail.. lol..  It is going to be a rainy afternoon here I think, so maybe I can get something done somewhere regarding crafting.
Amanda and I never did find the yarn store, so that will be added to our next trip along with a GPS.

I'm presuming the next post will have some wedding pictures for you, so see you then.

Getting Closer

Closer to what?  The end?  I don't know, just seemed to be the right title for today.  We have another mom down and out at the barn.  I sure wish we knew what it was?  Brad thinks worms.. We really need to get them on a better worming system.  Unfortunately this is our last mom to have a baby which means if she doesn't pull through, and Brad suspects she'll be gone this morning, then we have a 3 week old bottle baby again.  Just when I was weaning the last 3 starting Tues.  Ugh!! anyone want to buy a bottle baby.  He is really cute.
In the house animal department, Alana has successfully had her kittens, which turned 3 weeks old on Wed.

Aren't they so adorable?  They are also up for grabs.  They will be litter trained indoors, but will probably have a strong mousing instinct.  It runs in their family.
We lost a kitten/cat the other day too.  We cannot determine if it was one of our latest outdoor kittens or a stranger cat.  However, we cannot find our remaining 2 outdoor kittens so chances are good that , that is who it was.  I'm not sure what happened to it, but I am trying to be able to say with some flippantcy "That's farm life".
Taylor and I accomplished our major task yesterday of mowing the yard.  It only took 7 hours spread into 2 days.  I push mowed part of the front and back yards and Taylor push mowed the rest.  I then used the riding mower for the rest of the yard.  We do have one more little strip along the driveway to finish and I'm hoping Taylor will get that done today.  It is hard dodging branches and birds, gophers, dog toys and mice.  But it is done.  Now at least it will look presentable for our company tomorrow.
This morning I awoke at 5:17am to Taylor's cat (who went out last night and wouldn't come back in) meowing to be let in, then magpies fighting over the dog food that was left in the dish.

They are huge loud birds for those reading that haven't heard of them.

Today is city day.  My sister in law and I are heading to the city for groceries and shopping.  Since I only have grocery money there isnt' going to be a lot of shopping happening, but she really hasn't been there so it will be an experience.  It will be a really great day for travelling anyway as long as it doesn't get too warm.--no air conditioning.  Brad and Kevin are heading to the gun show in town, so everyone will be happy, except the goats as their barn really needs cleaning.

Tomorrow is Justine's wedding shower.  It is very exciting.  2 weeks and 1 day until the wedding.  Hopefully I'll get some good pictures.
Well I guess that is it for now.  There are no new advances on the craft front other than Amanda and I are going to try to find a yarn shop in the city and try and pick a pattern to make this winter.  Hopefully in August at some point I'll have the drive to really get going on some projects..

Till next time,

Summer

What a gorgeous, sunny, warm day.  Beautiful.  Barn chores done without much glitch.  We have one bottle baby who has discovered it is way easier to zip through the electric fence to come into the office to be fed then to walk all the way around the barn.  Wait until he is too big to just zip under it and he gets zapped for his zipping...As the straw under my feet was squishing as I walked I realized this weekend is going to be barn cleaning again.  Ugh!

On the way back from the barn I thought I'd snap a few pictures.

 A busy little bee

 Some nice blossoming alfalfa

A large bit of wild flowers.

Then further along I thought I would send an update of my chickens.  Unfortunately all I got was one picture before my camera battery died.

As you can see they are getting pretty big.

Nothing else much happening.  The day flies by and nothing seems to get accomplished.  I found out Brad's mom, my niece and nephew are due to arrive at my house on the 17th.  That is the day of Justine's wedding shower. I do still need to get a gift.

My sister in law and I are going to create a craft 'to do' list for this winter and then hopefully buy all the stuff we need to do it and maybe have a craft afternoon once or twice a week.  That should make the winter more enjoyable and even planning Christmas stuff with a friend/sister is going to be wonderful.

Well I should get off here for now and check on Taylor's school stuff and pretend I did something today.

Ta ta.

Here We Go Again---waaa

Well just when you think it is over.  The moms that I deemed not pregnant a couple months ago have started having their babies.  I pushed 12 out of the pregnancy area and into the common room.  So far in the last few days 6 have had babies.  One set of twins and the rest singles.  This morning the one little twin died.  I haven't a clue how/why.  We are also losing a former bottle baby.  She is just getting weaker and weaker.  I think the drastic change in weather patterns is reaking havoc on our herd.  B13 is also dying.  She we pretty much dead this morning, so by this afternoon I expect her to be gone.  She was a good girl and survived long enough to wean her baby.  She has been looking like death for months already.
Our little chicks aren't looking too much like chicks anymore.  They are quite large already and have most of their feathers.
The weather here has been fanatical.  Hail, sun, rain, thunder, lightning, rain, sun.. weird.  The poor goats don't know whether they are coming or going.

Craft wise nothing much happening.  I put a few stitches in on my quilt and finished up one of my monthly stitch alongs.  As I'm moving boxes from my old craft room to the new one, I can see just how much craft stuff I have accumulated over the years and that I really don't need to buy any more craft materials for several years.  I hope I can stick to just working on things I have.  The exception will be quilts.  I would like to do a quilt for all the family members here and I'll have to get more material for that. Although I have a good start on many members.  Tonight we just ran into a problem looking for glue guns.  Rachel needs one for a project she is doing and of the 3 I KNOW we own do you think we can find just one????? I found the glue sticks but no gun.  Can you talk about kaos and disorganization in my house.  Things have to change for the better.  Decluttering is going to have to be a priority.. Hmmm can I stick to that?

Well time for chores again so that is all for this time.

Round 2 ??

Here we go again.  One of our mamas that we deemed not pregnant surprised us on Sat. Yes, she had a little baby boy.  Thankfully he is a healthy little brute.

We lost 2 goats this week past.  One sick older one and one of our little baby boys.  He was partially bottle fed and soooo cuddly and adorable.
Andrew (Rachel's boyfriend) found an injured baby hawk and he put it in our barn.  We've left the pen door open a couple times, but the darn thing won't leave, so either he likes the smorgusboard of mice in our barn or he really is so injured that he can't leave. Here he is.

We've lost 4 chicks out of our 52--This is what they looked like at 5 days old.

Now they are looking like this at 12 days.

I'm still quite nervous about raising chickens so I hope it goes well.  If it does, I may have the nerve to do turkeys as well next year.

I usually do my laundry on Monday so of course that is what my second chore of the day was.. Gorgeous day too.. warm and sunny.. I hung the 2 loads of laundry and sure enough, thunder and rain.  Now they are on there until tomorrow if it doesn't rain again.
I'm hoping to be refreshed somewhat tomorrow so I can get back into crafting a bit.  I've had company for a week, plus trying to recover from my surgery so I haven't been doing much of anything.  Now I have a book to finish for my book club meeting and I need to get caught up on my stitching and quilting.  More company is expected on the Canada Day weekend as well as the arrival of Brad's mom, niece and nephew.  So I have less then 3 weeks to get things done before they are all at a stand still again.  I think my life is so boring, but I guess in reality it isn't.  It just isn't life like on tv.

Well time to change my clothes for chores again.  See you all next time.

New Order

I received some new threads today in the mail.  Sullivan's threads.  I had never heard of them until recently.  I printed off some freebie patterns and they called for these threads, so I wanted to check them out.  I'm no where near ready to start those patterns, so the thread will keep.  I also received some white ink for my card making kit and some new needles.
For my stay at the hospital I put 2 knitting projects and 2 cross stitch projects in my bag.. also some magazines and books.  I'm hoping to make some progress if not finish something either the mags, books or stitching.  I think the book and mag are no problem the rest...meh!
I guess that is all for this week.

Comes in Threes

Just when I report that all seems healthy don't we go and find a baby with his foot caught in a grate and it was broken.  Brad splinted it up the best he could and the little guy took off running, well limping at quite a speed.  Here is the poor baby.

We had another little guy not feeling well this morning, but upon checking this afternoon he seems to be a little better.  We'll give him a good look tonight.
My big boy Dino (cat) also had something happen to him.. found him laying in his bed with a puncture wound on his back.  It was perfectly round and oozing.

Brad thinks it may have been a worm or something.  I'm more comfortable thinking he rolled on a nail or got stuck in the barb wire.  Anyhow he is freshly wormed in case.
It seemed all the goats had a wonderful afternoon tanning and lazing around on the beach..

I wish it was a real beach and it was warm enough to join them.

I'm heading into the hospital for some repair surgery, so hopefully I'll be able to be back good as new in a week or so..