Prophetic Dreams?

I decided this afternoon at hay time to ask the Firebird to help me comb Nicolas. Nicolas is very difficult to comb, jumpy, and tries to butt you. So, two people are in order.

Goats shed their undercoat, or cashmere, at different rates. Nic has already shed his neck out-now we are working on topline and shoulders mostly.

I decided to tie him out in the woods where I put the hay. First thing, I sprung my ankle, and then tripped on the stone wall and fell face first. Luckily I had an armload of hay to break my fall. The goats were all crowding me as I tried to spread the hay. I should have taken it for an omen.

Nic was his typical jerky self, and we spent more than a half hour combing Nic. I was using a white plastic grocery bag hung on a tree to put the cashmere in. All of a sudden, the Firebird yelled, "Ani has the bag!"

Ani, a small Alpine wether, had torn the bag off the tree and was proceeding to eat it. I was off like a shot chasing that damn goat! Over the stone wall, yelling, chucking the wire brush and hitting his behind, and still he kept running and chewing. I watched the bag disappear and yelled for the Firebird to help me corner the goat.

Back in the muck pen, Ani finally turned as I said his name, and I reached over one of the little houses as he offerred the bag. I tore the bag out of his mouth and he prompty swallowed the rest. I have no idea how much fiber I lost to that pig, but a good chunk of bag is unaccounted for.

Shortly afterwards I recalled my nightmare the other night. I dreamed that a coyote was chasing Anaken through the woods and caught him just where I caught him this afternoon.

I suppose if any coyotes (the tricksters) were watching today, they had a good chuckle at my expense.

Busy goat day

This morning I awoke bright and early except it was foggy out. Snow fog. Not a good farm day, after all. I decided my goats weren't too wet for a comb, though. First I did Nic's feet since he was way overdue.

Then I combed Daphne and got quite a bit of fiber off of her. I had the Firebird helping, so I put him on Obi, then Moonie, then Ani. They were all giving him a hard time. By then I had moved on to Genevieve, who was being very good. Last year I could barely comb her, she wouldn't stand still and kept trying to horn me. Not this year-she has learned it feels good on all those itchy places!

Anyhow, I let the Firebird take Gen over and went on to comb Obi, Derek, Ani, and Moonie. I didn't spend a lot of time of any of them, but they are all shedding some nice fine cashmere. I love Moonshadow's-it is nearly black with white marble where he has the lighter spots. It is very short, but very fine.

I figure when I send it off for processing I might have them blend in Nic and Obi's longer cashmere. Or, if I have enough, I might separate the long from short, since the short is so extra fine. I need a pound minimum of raw fiber for processing, so I will weigh it over at the farm at the end of the season and decide what to do then.

Nic and Ob's and Ani's all have a lot of long guard hair mixed in, but the others have nearly clean fiber, so it may be worth doing it in two batches since one might not need the de-hairing process, which removes the long prickly guard hair.

Later the herd came out of the woods for a drink, and I noticed Nic was limping BADLY. He was fine when I released him earlier. I put on boots and coats and rushed out to see what was wrong. He had picked up some kind of stick-it might have been barberry-and had at least a half inch stuck right into the sole of one clew! OUCH! I plucked it out and doused it with hoof and heel, but I will have to keep an eye that puncture doesn't abscess.

He was much better once that was out. I couldn't help but notice he is loaded with cashmere and needs a combing too. Maybe this afternoon if I can get the Firebird to hold him.

SGT Pepper RIP

Tree 507 file photo
Word has reached me that the farm lost Sgt Pepper this summer. I will spare my reader the gory details, but he did get euthanized in the Boss's garden-she brought him home from the vet's and paid a farm call so that he might pass in beauty. He deserved it-even the help that hates bucks loved Pepper.

I would re-post the pic of me bent towards him with a kissy face, except it is on the other comp which is awaiting more memory for a new virus protection package. I don't dare transfer anything in the meantime. So here is a cropped pic from deep in the Tree archives. RIP Pepper-I am sorry you missed apple season. :(

Sgt. Pepper and Tree

Tree 608

Fiber Frolic 2008

Dave Kennard and the sheepdog (border collie) demonstration Tree
We had a great time at the Fiber Frolic today! The first thing we did was to grab an order of the most delicioius french fries (chips for my British reader). Thinly cut, cooked to perfection. Yum.

Then we tucked in to watch the sheepdog demonstration with Dave Kennard from New Hampshire. Dave runs about 200 head of sheep and 50 head of Boer goats on his farm, and brought 4 border collies with him, ranging in age from 7-14. The fifth was home with a broken leg in a cast.

We shared some curiousity with a few bystanders as to how herding the goats would work, and they certainly handle a bit different than sheep, but the dogs knew their stuff, as you can see in the above photo, where they have herded a mixed group of sheep and goats (notice the goats going in last and thinking about dodging away) into a chute.

Only one dog is visible in the photo-on the down command, eyeballing the sheep and goats to keep them from breaking left.

Then we made our way over to the Youth Showmanship ring, to discover there had only been one entrant and they were finished!!!!

We found Boss with a nice table of product, and Clarevonne with her triplets. Boss also brought four bucks to show in the adult buck division. She asked if we would give a hand, and I readily agreed. The young firebird took Grey, I took Hjalmar, Boss took Nishak, and an unlucky goat person took Chris, who spent the whole time in the ring rubbing his bucky head all over the guy.

Boss offerred to switch, but the fellow didn't mind at all. He knew Chris-he had just finished showing two yearling does that were Chris's daughters.

Chris won first and best in show (we knew he would take the first), Hjalmar took second, and it was funny, because when the judge said, "second goes to..." I stepped forward with Hjalmar and then she said, "Nishak" and Boss and I both exclaimed, "Nishak?!?!" and then the judge looked again at the scorecard and corrected herself to Hjalmar. LOL

Nishak took third and Grey took fourth. They were the only four bucks entered.
We had a ton of fun, although the little Tree was quite put out that she was too small to handle one of the bucks. She did get the chance to carry a triplet of a doe that was being shown by another farm from the pen to the ring.

The fiber goat community here is quite laid back and everyone knows each other-especially since Boss really started Cashmere goats in Maine. Even the judges started out their goat farm with Boss' goats.

I did find myself wishing that we had brought our Nicolas-he would have kicked butt in the yearling class, even though he has not totally shed out. I have a huge bag of fiber from him already, and his look is very good. Of course, he also is from Boss' stock. :D

The goats were only there for the day-tomorrow are llamas and alpacas and it supposed to be a very hot humid day, so I think we will pass on the show tomorrow.

Don't read superstitions before bedtime

TGIF! (Thank God it's Friday)
Right beforeI left home this morning I kicked the cat. Well, not exactly, more of a shove with the side of my foot. He was trying to make a mad escape out the door while I was calling goodbye to the Firebird and little Tree. The cat came here declawed-so he must be an indoor cat for his own safety.

After I gave him the shove I felt horrible and picked him up and had him purring in no time. Then I remembered it is bad luck to kick a cat, so I apologized to him. I should have knocked on wood.

I was halfway to the farm when I realized I had left my coffee. I had nothing else to drink in the car. I figured that was my bad luck-instant Karma. But, there was some good luck, because I realized in time to take the long way, which goes by a little market that sells coffee to go amoung other things. The coffee was awful, but at least I had a bevarage for the long hot morning.

Farmtalk:
Yesterday R and I finished hanging the gate , replaced a corner post, and finished the pasture division for the bucks. No combing, but I did help clean and grain the bucks.

Today I started off combing fat Clarke. He is so cute, with silky long white guard hair, but not much cashmere to speak of. I was mostly just prettying him up. He enjoyed it.

Then I saw AliGote had gobs hanging on him. He has a skin issue, so there was a ton of dandruff and places where it had matted. He had one big mat on the back of his neck, and he was so good I took off his collar and scissored through the mat in enough places to brush it out, and he was much relieved. I also gave him some Reiki, poor old guy.

One of the pushy wethers came over and Aligote walked off, leaving me empty handed. Boss put me on hooves. :(

I did Emerson's hooves; not too bad. Boss touched up at the end giving me a few suggestions since there were a few places I was unsure how to proceed.

Then we went to Jenny Nash, where Boss wanted me, apparently, since R was weedwhacking the fenceline, to wrap an apple tree with wire so the buck's wouldn't destroy it by stripping the bark. Sound easy?

Ha! That old tree was buried in the puckerbrush, with many old limbs laying everywhich way, and an enormous deadfall hung up right in the middle. Not only that, but the trunk was actually several, and leaning, and we had only brought a scrap of fence. What an awful job!

I dragged Boss over and she did help a bit and offer some suggestions, and I had more wire on the property from installing the gate this week. Boss told me to have R help me . Once I had enough wire and a helping hand, we were done in a flash.

After that, graining, cleaning, etc, I gave Zuess a quick slick to get the last bit of cashmere off him, and spent some time on Hjalmar, who STILL has a bunch of cashmere. So funny how they shed out at different rates.

Work for me at the farm is winding down-some busywork projects that need to be addressed, including more fencing at Prescott for the buck's winter quarters. That may not be finished by summer vacation; if not, it will be something to do in the autumn.

Now I have had a nice fattening lunch I think I will go feed the mosquitoes and water the garden. I hope we get rain tomorrow-it is VERY dry!

Crap I lost two pounds

First I want to edit in a congrats to Scott McClellan, former Whitehouse press secretary, who has released a book detailing the Bush administration's decision to design facts around supporting a war with Iraq.

The White House is already scrambling damage control, no surprise. Surely this book is guaranteed to bring a few more heads around to the truth- the catch is how many? Enough?

I had a follow up appointment with the Doc today for another manipulation.

His nurse weighed me and took my vitals, and I whispered to her to make sure she wrote 130 down for weight and she chuckled.

The first thing Doc said when he walked in and looked at my chart, "What, you've lost weight?"

I had no clue-"What did I weigh?"
"128," he replied.

"Well, I took a big dump before I left for the appointment," I responded.

He's not buying it.

"Are you TRYING to lose weight?" he asked several times in succession.

I protested vehemently. "Hey, I eat good food-chicken alfredo for lunch-I like beer. I say this dead serious. "I like GOOD beer. Not lite beer even. "

I ask him what he weighs. 149. Damn, there goes that theory. We go around a bit about the weight issue-I tell him to tell me to go on a diet and I will gain 20 pounds. LOL.
(Ooh Golden eagle did a fly by as I type this-cool)

I tell him I blogged about it and the comment I received..
"What was that?"he asked.

"You can't be too rich or too thin and you're halfway there ."

This was greeted with a blank stare. Wish I had the cam. The baby bird did not like THAT worm. hehehe.

One thing I did find out sort of in my favor is that I am shorter than I thought-5'7-3/4" not 8 or 9 as I had supposed. (sure I am not a guy? hehehe*snickers) That makes the lower weight spread a little easier.

Finally we moved onto the alignment. This time I was prepared. When faced with the choice between a VERY loose pair of jeans that demanded a belt, or the tight Italian ones, I put on the tight ones. I had my manure free shoes tucked under the chair with my keys and sunglasses. I was no fun today. :P

A few different techniques today, and a good crack to the lower thoracic vertebrae and one to the cervical, some manipulation of the right shoulder that I broke years ago...
One thing I definitely recall as the most painful was, when lying on my stomach, he bent each leg to make my heel touch my buttock. The right quad was screaming! Then I started to get a cramp in a back muscle...I am sure I will be paying for that stretch for two days!

Farmtalk:
Boss is back from Sweden and P has had two days off. I helped R catch babies and grain the does and the bucklings today-yesterday I combed Sheba and Bonnie. Bonnie was a bit better about letting a human so close to her little bucky boy.

I combed Chris yesterday-the last little bit of cashmere that was hanging on his back legs which you can see as he is rump-to in the lower pic. Yes, my male readers will cross their legs to hear that I had to take scissors to the last few mats dangling very near "his boys"-

"No more dingleberries" I said as I snipped. heheh

Today R and I each dug a fence post for a gate to divide the buck pasture. I didn't tell the doc how I spent that part of my morning. :D

Willie and Monarch

Tree

I have to add this pic I took yesterday of Willie and Monarch. They are so handsome!

I look rather handsome too in my boyish clothes...lol. I was thinking later I wonder what R, who was cleaning while I was walking, would have thought seeing me slip on some little sundress or other for the pic! hehehe.

I know Chris and Leif would have loved it-they are the two black bucks making a beeline for me in the lower pic. I spent several shots having them chase me from the camera to the prearranged spot while the camera was on timer. The first three they are rubbing all over me getting scratches, and in this last one, I managed to circle around before they reached me.

Silly boys.

I finally had my muffler and tire fixed this morning. My trusty mechanic chased me down, returning my calls, and had me fixed up and on the road in a few hours.

I tapped on a friend for a lift and we hit the enormous garden center in the meantime.

Yeah, I should be starting my own tomato and pepper seedlings, but this year I just bought seedlings of several tomatoes, peppers, brocc and going to try brussel sprouts, as they did well for a friend last year.

They will have to wait until tomorrow to go in-I discovered a moose has taken down several sections of electric fence in the night, and left fresh tracks, which will take most of the rest of the afternoon to repair. So once again, the garden waits on the livestock.

But, hey, at least it's a long weekend!

Farmtalk

Yeah! Long weekend! Happy Memorial Day!

Took some pictures of the herd in the field this am before heading out to walk bucks and wash their feet.

Monarch was much improved. Leif and Lars have come up lame . I suspect sticks, as I removed one from Lar's front clews.

Walking the Bucks

Tree

Thursday feels like Friday. I wish!

I changed my first flat tire yesterday morning. Lucky for me I had the opportunity a few weeks ago when I was mired to familiarize myself with the jack and how to get it out of the car.

Unlucky me, I didn't know how to get the spoke hubcaps off the tire to get at the lugs.

I popped the center cover, and tried to prise the cover off, but it was obviously not going to come off. So I called a friend and ask him if he knew how to get them off. LOL.

He offerred to come by since he was on the road in a nearby town, but I said I would look for further instructions with the vehicle.

ONe the jack and spare(donut) cover, it said, "if car has spoke wheels refer to special instructions," with no indication as to where to find those instructions.

I finally looked in the manual in the glovebox, and it directed me to find a special key to unluck the hubs, which was in the glovebox. NOT in the glovebox!

I decided to search the boot, and did find the key, as well as my portable air compressor, which I thought I had thrown away, because I thought it was broken. I decided to try the compessor, and had to jack the tire up because it was so flat.

The compressor DOES still work, but air was pouring out, so I figured I had no choice but to put the donut on.

I took the key and tried to fit it in the hub, and it kept being uncooperative. Finally I had it lined up and engaged and cranked on it with a lot of torque, and when it let go, I sprung my wrist.

This was more than I could bear, and I threw myself on the dirt on my back, clutching my wrist and burst out sobbing with a verbal query to God as to feeling pretty sorry for myself.

A sudden light spatter of raindrops, a few hit me, and a breath of compassion, and suddenly I am filled with the fact that I can do it, and I do, I change the tire and put the donut on, and manage to only be an hour late at the farm.

Farmtalk:

It's been hide hair, and eyeballs at the farm the last two days, and oh, yes, Monarch came up terribly lame, so we did not walk the boys yesterday, and I irrigated his foot with hoof and heel solution.

First thing this am, I tackled one of the wethers, whose hooves were incredibly overgrown, and one had torn and separated from the hoof wall. What a mess, the poor gigantor (he's the biggest goat on the farm)shivered and kept putting all his weight on me, causing me to drop the foot, and him crash to his knee on the barn floor.

I was puffing and panting and cursing myself for taking on the job, green fresh goat manure from his feet....hooves are a gross job, no doubt about it.

Didn't help that I came out of the doctor's appointment lame as hell...Once those muscles that have been contracted are stretched out, they get sore afterward. I would have thought by today I would have been feeling grand, but an erratic sleep and active dream state weren't conducive to healing, apparently.

The good news is that Monarch was much improved on the sore foot today-the hooves looked fine, I think he took a stab in between the clews. I washed him thoroughly again and brushed Hjalmar, who is still releasing cashmere .

My own gang of goats need feet trimmed and the garden needs more work...there is the afternoon list. ;)

Canadian Geese 508 Tree

Taking the long way around to the farm paid off again this am. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite stretches of local road most times of the year. (In snowstorms and foul weather the snow drifts at the top and the backside is steep and curvy and prone to ice sheets.)

I had to turn around and go back to get this pic-the geese were quite cooperative, since they were so far away.

While downlaoding the pics, I had to reflect how lucky I am. Between the tornados in the midwest, monsoon in former Burma, and the massive earthquake in China, so many folks are spending the night with everything they have known gone...my compassion goes out to those folks in need.

Just to put it in perspective, one of the cities in China that was hard hit has a population like New York City, and 99% of those folks are camping out in the streets.

Farmtalk:

P was off at the farm again today, and I finished collaring the main barn while R grained. Then R, Boss and I herded the two little wethers, Pablo and Carmells' brown, into the stall with the three remaining 07 doelings. Well, we got Pablo in, but not the brown. He will tame up soon enough.

I then started combing. I finished off two ancient wethers who stared up at me with their teeth jutting out in goaty grins while I made them handsome.

Boss asked me to comb Bonnie, and while she was a pleasant comb while pregnant a few weeks ago, today she was glare eyed and jumpy, protective over her shy homely little single black buckling. I made a comment to Boss about his funky head, and had to restate it more gently when she replied sharply. Hehehe. Boss said he had been very large and Bonnie had a tough time. I didn't spend too much time on Bonnie today. :P

An exciting turn of events, Boss was purchasing another buck, and told me he was a mess and would need combing. As is usual at the farm, the folks didn't show on time, so R and I went ahead to the bucks , now at Jenny Nash.

R let them out for their walk while I cleaned. Boss showed up a bit later and said the folks had not arrived yet, and to go ahead and grain the boys, and gave me the names of two who needed their feet washed.

I had R hold up each foot for washing, since I tore my hand on a goat horn yesterday at my own place, and did NOT want to get the hoof wash on the cut, since it burns like FIRE on a wound. Works great on goat feet, though.

Next I singled Leif out for another comb, since he had streamers of cashmere hanging off his flanks. Usually that is a jumpy place for a goat to have brushed, but Leif and I are old hands now, and between the itchy shedding and the blackflies, he was more than willing to let me vigorously brush him.

Finally Boss arrived, followed by a pickup. The new buck, Chris, was tied in the back of the truck. Need a combing?!?!?!? He looked like one of those caribou or yaks or wild bison with the blankets of fiber hanging off them. It was unbelievable!!!!

R and I immediately took him over and chained him to the fence. I gave the new goat lots of scratches and small talk and a few corn treats and started trying to clean him up. It was sort of a nightmare! I think if it had been up to me I would have done some heavy scissor work, The cashmere had started to felt and was cemented into the tips of all the guard hair. I didn't want to just rip him, so I was tediously teasing individual guard hairs out trying to loosen the gobs of cashmere.

Boss started working on the back of the same side as myself-I was up at the neck and shoulder. Boss put R to work on the other side. We took three big bags off him in an hour and haven't begun to clean him up.

His former owners stood and watched and at first said that they had been told not to brush him as it wrecks the fiber. Then they said that the goat wouldn't let them brush him-but they never tried to tie him to brush him!

I put the exclamation point there, because I had to learn the hard way that if you need to do something to a goat, you need to collar and tie them. Sometimes I can check a foot quickly, but they know they are not tied and will not stand. Even goats that don't mind combing will generally run if I give them a swipe or two with the brush if they are crowding me while I am working on a tied goat.

Certainly the handsome boy had not been neglected-he is quite chubby and was very easy to handle, it was just a matter of them only having the one goat and not a lot of experience. Also in the folks defense, bucks smell. Not many people would want to start digging their fingers into buck hair. The woman even made a point to tell me that the goat's nickname was "stinky".

He will be "handsome"by the time we get him cleaned up. :)

Bluets

Bluets Houstonia caerulea

Tree

A long week so far at the farm! I started out combing a lot of cashmere off some of the wethers. Those old guys are so cute!

Then tragedy struck yesterday. ONe of the old guys was found down in the field in the morning in a bad way, and he was euthanized late yesterday morning.

M called me this morning for a ride, an I was happy to pick him up, as I assumed he would be on the gravedigging detail. Alas, I was put in charge of the "two boys", and since the compost heap is getting rather full, M led me well up the road into the woods by an old foundation, and pointed out several graves.

Dismayed, as I am quite aware what it is like digging animal graves in the woods, M picked a likely spot and we started root chopping. R showed up in a little bit, and we had hardly made any progress. It took the three of us at least an hour to dig the hole.

We put the rocks separate from the dirt for the top of the grave.

P showed up after a little bit and smoked cigarettes and watched us. She and I put the body, slung in a sheet, in the hole, and had to gt one of the boys to help us tug it into position, as one of the hinds legs had stiffened out. The goat, King, still had a large rack of horn. Once the weather warms time becomes of the essence in animal burials, so we had to allow room for his horns as we put his sheet-wrapped body in the hole.

The boys started to fill it right in, and I took a small hemlock branch and placed it over the sheet where the face would be and started backfilling the grave with the boys. Halfway through I thought maybe we should have got Boss but it was too late.

When we finished R offered me a smoke, and I had to have him stick it in my mouth and light it for me. I had been the major rock grubber and my hands were encased in sticky clay. I made the standard joke of having him smoke it for me as well.

When we arrived back to the barn, Boss and Mr. Boss were loading the two Great Pyranees in the back of a four-door SAAB(!!!!!!) to go to the vet, and Boss was heartbroken we had not come to get her for the burial. I still feel awful about it, and let P and R and M know next time to make sure to get Boss when we are readyfor interrment!

Then we agreed that today was the day to move the bucks back to the Nash farm. Yeah!! They actually have grass and large pastures there, although the black flies were unbearable!

I helped load thefirst four bucks and went ahead in my car to hook up the fence charger. Then I was left in position of goat watching until all the herd had been moved over. Tough job!!!

I sat outside the fence at the top where they were grazing and smoked cigs and drank cold coffee. I listened to the blue jays calling and watched a nicely colored land snail slurping it's way over a metal post lying in the grass.

Nature didn't stop when I came home. I decided to take a walk streamside now the floodwaters have gone done. This time of year, the marsh grass is just a few inches high, and the alders have yet to leaf out. The marsh is intersected with channels, some too wide fo me to safely broad jump without a wet foot( ask me how I know this). Today I had to find a few flood-washed logs to make questionable cat walks over some of the channels, determined to reach the lower corner, which I have yet to achieve.

At one place along the stream, a large maple was tipped across the current and still continued to grow, sending upward branches from its now-horizontal trunk. This has created an excellent place for the collection of flotsam and jettson, and I could not pass up the treat of balancing my way over the rushing streams; a fistful of maple buds in each hand for balance as I crossed the fastest part.

Once there, I saw the ancient bottom of a disintergrated skiff jammed upright in some deadfall. I tested one of the logs to see if it was going to sink beneath me and found it lodged firm. I crossed out over the current to tug at the rotted plywood skiff bottom, to find it brittle in my hands, and wedged tighter than I could manage without a swim. My knees got wet while I sat on the log with my feet tucked up behind me.

On the way back, I picked up a handful of freshwater clams shells I found in one of the channels, and paused to admire a wild male mallard swimming upstream.

I picked my way back through the marsh juggling the stack of delicate pearly clamshells in one hand.

As I moved away from the water, the air became hot and stuffy. The clouds are looming large and dark and I am hoping it is too early in the season for a thunderstorm!

Happy May

Well, April sure did fly by, didn't it?

Happy May. :)

I have had a busy week! Jen of all trades this week at the farm-combing cashmere, hooves,
cleaning, fence repair.

This morning we capped the week off by picking burdocks out of the bucks! Boss let them out into an adjacent field while R and I were preparing the Nash pasture for relocating. Apparently this field the bucks were in today is full of burdocks!

R gathered them in to grain once we were done cleaning, and our jaws dropped as the bucks filed in...many, many burdocks!

Some of them are old hands at burdock picking and seem to sense the picker is trying to help. Gingerman, for example, tilted his great white face up at me while I teased a handful of burrs out of his beard.

Some of them hate to be picked at. Monarch cried like a baby and I ended up holding him with a horn jammed in the fence so boss could get the burrs out. I found it too difficult to hold one horn in a hand and pick with the other hand.

Hopefully we will finish the other fence early next week and move the bucks to greener pastures!

The water levels are finally going down after our deluge. Part of the road to work is still barricaded, so I have been taking the long way around .

I saw the golden eagle today, and then immediately afterwards a Kingfisher on the power lines. Both would have been great photo ops had I managed to find the camera in the pile of stuff in the car. My groceries took a beating as I started flinging bags to get to my backpack, only to find the camera wasn't there...I assumed I had left it at home, and then recalled after I couldn't find it at home that I had packed another bag-buried in the groceries, grain, hay, etc at the time of the sightings.

*puts "clean out the car" on the weekend to-do list* :P

Nix's twins Tree

Farmtalk:

I worked four mornings at the farm this week; the primary cashmere comber at the moment.

I combed a lot of cashmere this week!

Old Gwydion, wether, gave off three sacks full. Cashmere, long staple, light, clouding all over the place! He was a sweetie to comb too, a little lame on the left hip, where I went slowly and softly. I spent an hour an a half on him, and he looked so excellent the next day!

The bucks I worked on this week were Leif and Hjalmar. Both jumpy litle buggers-need a lot of fake out persistence to get them to relax enough for certain places...(neck or butt, as a rule).

More wethers, too, fat Clarke (no kidding-he can trick the door to the grain room and stuff himself until caught and does it on a regular basis...) He was the first goat I met at the farm, so I like him and tried to convince him he likes combing, as well...I think I might have gained some ground, there, :D

Lincoln, aka "stinkin Lincoln", another wether that has a bad ass reputation. We seem to get along well enough, although he gave m a warning knock across both forearms with both large horns this morning.

Jazzy Jasper (my nic) with the long long long black guard hair that had gobs of cashmere tangled in it...needed a light touch clean up and looked so glamourous when I finished.

Kid alert: as predicted, many, many little Zeuss babies running amuck. Buffy, triplets; Nix, twins; Carmella, triplets; 5 does and two bucklings so far. Then, young R and I on doe wach for the last two close out mornings.

Yesterday we found Ursula looking imminent, but today still no babies. On close out check, we had to look for BOTH Ursula and Dancer. I found Urusla high up in the edge of the woods with two placenta covered kids-Zeuss twins! And yelled for R to bring the iodine (for dipping the navel). Too bad I forgot to add the hay and water-I volunteered to go down after that, and it was quite a trek down and back but we managed.

We searched but could not find Dancer. I went back out and found her by a stone wall, no babies, but soon most likely...

Next week off, so I hope to see lots of bouncing babies on my return. They are very funny to watch in the mornings as the mommas ease them out of the barn into the field. :)

Zuess, Lord of the Bucks 4/08 Tree

seven bucks

Seven bucks Tree

left front to back, right back to front:

Leif (broken horn), Lars, Sgt. Pepper, Will, Monarch (back, center), Gingerman, Shiraz, Prince Edward

Farmtalk

I had yesterday off from the farm. Following a trip to the post office to check on an expected package, I stopped on the back road to a private stash of hemlock branches the road trimming crews missed when they chipped.

With good reason-the spot had recently been over-enthusiastically ditched out, leaving a fifteen foot sheer embankment on the far side. Luckily yesterday the ground was still lightly frozen from the night before, so with a quick scout I was easily able to find a few toeholds to scale to the upper plateau where the brush was left.

The day before I had caused a minor landslide further down from thawing. I found myself thinking I would have been ticked if it was my land and the road crew had left it that way- open to erosion.

I had also made the trip armed with freshly cleaned binoculars and different settings for focus on the digital, and stopped in the middle of dead wood swamp for a few minutes. I am sure Mouse will scoff at me here, tales of his dedicated and hours long vigils for shots can't fail to inspire one ( to stay under the warm covers until well past daybreak, if at all possible, lol).

No sign of the hawks from the previous day, although I heard the nearby call of a red-winged blackbird, alarmed at my presence, (no, I don't speak blackbird , yet...)I twice thought that I heard the hawk call from the day before-up ahead in the tall trees, where likely a nest is being located.
The call ID would enable me to narrow down whether the birds were broad-winged hawks or red-shouldered hawks..the latter which favor swampy settings...still not sure, but since I travel through there several times I week, I will try and keep my eyes open! And now the binocs will be a permanent fixture in my daily grab bag.

I always thought that the swamp would make an ideal sky viewing location at night in the summer--creepy and noisy and clear viewing! Maybe this summer....

Today I worked at the farm, and arrived to find Boss had penned Linnea and Bonnie for combing. Uh-oh. Linnea is really the most evil one to comb, being clever and crafty when she tries to bite or horn you, and lightning-quick, unlike fat Daisy and Lois from last week...

Bonnie gave me a tough time last year, but I had excused her attitude for fear and have tried to speak nicely and offer treats and scratches if I could get close enough, since then.

I debated a moment and decided to start with Bonnie. She was a delight to comb! She had me laughing out loud at one point when I was brushing the back of her neck. She tilted her head way back so she was staring at the ceiling, and I took it to mean in bliss...LOL. Even in the normal jumpy places she was fine...

Then I moved to LInnea. I put her right up on a doubled-short chain, so she had only about 8" of chain to the fence. Usually goats like to be combed on the neck-not Linnea. Anywhere on the neck or shoulder is fair reach for a bite or horning. I was squatted down, knees flexed, at arm's length brushing her with the slicker, when "Wham!" somehow she got her head around and knocked me full bore with her horns against my left kneecap.

I was in agony! I threw myself back into the corner clutching my leg spewing foul language!!!

When I recovered, I grabbed the near horn and jammed her other against the pen and brushed her fast and furious with the slicker-no more Miss nice guy...LOL!

My knee still aches....*swears again in head!*

Finally finished with the *** lol, we all helped Boss gather and load pine branches from a large downed pine in the front pasture. R and I took the job of snapping branches off the huge pine, while Boss and P loaded. Then we doled them out at the main barn and went on to Prescott with more branches, where I helped R clean, collar, and grain, and then combed Leif.

Managed not to get a horn in the eye, but..the knee aches...*wink*

Common Crow

Corus brachyhynchos

Tree

Catch up, home, thoughts,

Farmtalk:

First the farm. I am back at the farm alternating schedules of two days, three days. This week is a three day work week.

I have combed a bunch of goats! Today was Nasrim, a very pleasant grey doe with nicewhite fluffy fiber and short guard hair.

Then on to the bucklings on the hill. Two were scheduled for wethering via elastrator. I grabbed and collared Nix's small star for combing, but found myself drawn into the wethering, this time as a needed helper. R took the back position, which left P and a needed I on a leg. Last time R could handle both hind legs, but I had to remind P twice to pin the leg to the ground and not just hold it in the air where they can get some yanking behind them.

Boss was running the tool, and with a hand on a leg and one on the sternum to calm the goat, and also help press the body against R who was standing behind, I was in perfect coach position for Boss.

Although I have only wethered one of my own, I am not too squeamish and have a fair memory enough to coach boss which way to position the tool, watch for the nipples, etc...

While it might seem audacious to be coaching boss, she is, as much as I hate to admit it, showing the symptoms and is aware of them, of Alzheimers, or memory loss in the aged.

After wethering Pablo and Carmella's brown, I combed Nix's small star. Then I helped R in spring cleaning chores and went on to the big bucks over at Prescott. Today I landed Nishak and Shiraz, the latter of whom is a reknown vicious little bastard. Boss took a fiber sample looking for a reason to cull him. I did voice comments on how nice his fiber is-his personality is really the bad case, as he hurt boss on Tues while she was doing his hooves.

I am not sure what happened, but she gave several exclamations (rare for boss) and then nearly threw the hoof clippers before scraping hay until we were finished graining, when she had R hold Shiraz to finish.

The other buck that gives Boss a hard time is Prince Edward ("he is NOT a sweetie"-old blog).

I landed him for combing on Tuesday and we manage fairly well. He has beautiful bright blue eyes and likes cheek scratches and organic crunchy peanut and blackberry jelly on whole wheat-or course we get along! hehehe.

Prince Edward was the only comb for me on Tues, as the day started off damp, so I had opted to do buckling hooves. I went through the whole of six of them, not an easy task, as they can be difficult to catch and I was on my own on the hill. I did four sets of hooves in an hour and a half. ONe was so bad I had to call Boss back, because one clew had a puncture and the other was a mess.

Boss was cleaning it up(she is the BEST on hooves-I call her the "Mac Ridley"-a reknown farrier in these parts-of goat's feet)and I was leaning over the goat observing (I love to watch a good hoof trim!) when I felt a cool mist-I thought it was misting-and Boss let out an exclamation!!!

Homer, the grey buckling, was standing nearby giving us a goatie bucky golden shower with his urine!!! Yes, I still think it is funny! hehehe

Hometalk:

Moonie spent one whole day over the weekend jumping the fence-and finally I could stand now more and put him in with the bucklings. I thought they would kick his ass, but since little homeboy Derek, who grew up respecting Uncle Moonie, is lord of my bucklings, they all now bow to Mr. Moonshadow. Well, I plan to wether the lot of them soon.

Scrounging for hay-bought five bales for 4.25 each-ouch since I was paying 3 for organic!

Cleaned the chimney yesterday in high winds, but the stove was out cold and the stove had been smuttering for days it was so plugged.

That was quite a project-the lat time, in January, was a quick job. This time, I had re-arranged my bedroom in the interim, so I had to move the mattress and box spring to position the ladder for the hatch in the ceiling. I felt like comedy central trying to move the queesnsized mattress, sans handles, by myself, but managed to do it with out breaking anything.

Once on the roof, it was bloody gorgeous out-I was tempted to haul up a lawn chair and soak up a few strong spring rays, the hell with the wind...However, I bent to task and ran up and down twice yanking the chimney brush and enormous clouds of creosote despite the plastic shield I put around the bottom-can you say, "black snot"?

Then it was time to tap out the elbow. WTF?!?!? The thing fell apart. Good thing it was off the stove, and it was a decade old now...

That left the whole project in limbo while I ran off on errands, now including an elbow and reducer...think it ends there? Wrongo bongo...Then I had to bring it home and sheet metal screw the damn thing together...now, don't get me wrong here, any regular reader will know that I am pretty independent (can you spell feminist..lol)..but I did, at this point, wish for THE GUY. Yes, sheet metal screwing stovepipe is a man's job, goddammit...

Well, it was down to me, if I didn't get it all re-connected, it was going to be a chilly night, but somehow I half-assed it and yes, managed to get a fire going before nightfall. And, I think it is safe, so that is cool.

Politics: Al Gore has been a busy topic for me this week, with a CBS 60 minutes interview that showed me exactly WHY he did not run for president this time around. The last fiasco crushed him, and he found a cause in Climate Change to bring him out of the bottom of the pit.

Now Obama is claiming that he is willing to give Gore a high level cabinet post..(please don't presume that Al will go for another VP ).

I have seen that Obama will be our next president, and while his declaration of direct Al Gore involvement is encourging,Obama also indicated that Global warming should be addressed now, not in ten years. Still sound good? Well, the favored position of attack would be to trade carbon credits, and reduce consumption .

Since this leads to higher energy costs via carbon taxes, the spiel is to reduce and with possible intial tax recovery going to compensate poor folk that cannot afford the higher prices...while they are learning to reduce consumption...(obviously Barack has never been poor enough to know how to reduce consumption-which the poor already do....)

Guess that's all for now, folks...

Farmtalk

Bucklings lining up for combing
Tree

I combed goats at the farm today. I started off with two of the doelings. The first was not shedding much, so I moved onto a second, very wild doeling. Boss was doing hooves in the same stall, so she helped me collar the goat and got some special grain for her as a treat to help gentle her.

I moved very slowly and combed softly and got some very nice cashmere fiber off of her.

The bucklings were the priority, and I was just killing time until P and R were ready to go on the hill. P promised to lock all the bucklings in after graining, and Boss directed me to the one in the forefront of the buckling pic I posted a few days ago. The one I was combing is second in the photo-follow the chain, lol.

The little guy I was working on is adorable-he kept looking at me with that quizzical expression and tasting any part he could reach. Another buckling, little silver grey Homer, found my body to be the perfect place to scratch his face, and worked on my shoulders and elbows while I was squatting, and my legs and butt while I was standing.

He was obviously the next one in the combing line! (paybacks...hehe) The friendly ones, they change their tune a bit when you collar and chain them. HOmer's response was to keep the chain pulled taut , but he was not jumpy at all.

I worked him over with the slicker. He had a ton of hay chaff that had worked down through his hair and must have been a great source of discomfort for him! I was more focused on getting him brushed clean then I was for the cashmere.

His cashmere is very short, as is the case with most of the white goats, and he was losing the longer guard hair as well. I nearly filled his small bag by the time I was finished with him. He looked so much better all brushed!

As I was signing out with Boss for the week, she mentioned that the Prescott fence needed attention as one of the smaller bucks was getting out. I had disconnected one of the lower wires earlier in the season so the fence wouldn't short out in the snow, and I figured enough snow had melted the goat was getting out at the lower wires.

I didn't have any tools with me, so I was going to fix it tomorrow, but as I started to leave I decided I would just worry about it, and asked the boss to borrow some of her husband's tools to fix now. I drove over to Prescott and went into the ell to unplug the charger to reconnect the fencewires, and discovered that someone had stolen the extension cord!!!!

I just cannot believe people!!! To unplug the cord to the charger and steal it...grrr...In retrospect, I am suprised they didn't steal the charger as well, since that is more valuable
than the cord.

At any rate, I called Boss on the cell and told her what was up, and drove back over to the farm for another, her last, extension cord. I ran the cord and secured the doors to the place.

I was thinking on the way home that we should get a small padlock for the cord. That way if anyone wanted to steal it they would have to cut the plug to take it!