Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

We've been getting a little rain shower every day for about a week. Big storm just skirted us, wind picked up strong here and lightening off in the distance but just a little bit of rain at my abode.
Perfect for me.

I've never seen an instance of just one or 2 seed ticks. It was either none or hundreds.
For about 20 years or more, it's been none. Like Baymule, I'm pretty sure the seed ticks were destroyed by the fire ants and of course, the stock law and end to open range also played a part in their demise.
I'll take the fire ants over the seed ticks every time.
(seed ticks are just the larval growth stage of regular ticks..if you have lots of seed ticks, you are going to have lots of the bigger regular ticks soon)
Anything bigger than this, and they are either un-fed regular ticks or the nymph stage of regular ticks.


I haven't seen or experienced them in years, but I remember this type coverage well.

I think it is time to renew your fingernail polish there @greybeard.

Those fingers way too clean, un-calloused and unscarred to be mine.

@Latestarter nothing since Sat. All good there??

Maybe he doesn't want to get out of the hot tub.

he posted late last night in a random rambling thread..actually, early this morning..
https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/for-joe-and-mike.37980/#post-553791

He liked my post!

Sometimes I feel I'm a bit too verbose. Sometimes I ramble too much, possibly to distraction. There are times when I just don't have anything (nice/complimentary) worth putting to font. Occasionally, I just haven't had the time or inclination to sit in front of the computer so I'll read through as much as I can to try and stay caught up. My knee kinda locks up when I sit here for any length, as does my back. Right here, right now, tonight, I took a pain killer as my knee has been really complaining the past few days and right now it's not too bad (pain killer working).

Now WH, you know that I like almost ALL of your posts! Who could not?

The goats have been without hay for several days. Payday is tomorrow and where I buy my hay is cash. I pay for just about everything with a credit card and then pay max against the balance each month, so I don't normally have cash available unless I plan for it. This past batch of alfalfa went up in price, which he didn't tell me till 1/2 way through loading it so I got 2 bales less than normal. Even with all the fresh pasture, the goats still killed a bale about every other day. Feel bad that they don't have their hay, but damn... they get pellets twice a day and between the 7 adults and the 10 kids, I'm going through a 50 pound bag of feed about every three days. I cut them down tree limbs for leaves a couple of times a week, and they have over an acre presently to graze and browse in. They actually appear to be putting some weight back on. But they are being picky eaters and once again, I'm going to have to mow in there before it gets too out of control. The problem now is we are so dry and even at max height, if I mow, it's probably going to send everything dormant on me. The grasses that seem to be doing the best with lack of water also seem to be the grasses they don't want to eat Silly goats!

Time for the CD&T booster for 9 (oldest) of the kids and especially the 2 wethers that are leaving this weekend. The local TSC has been out for several weeks and were still out today so I drove over to Winnsboro (~25 miles) as they said they had some when I called them. So I get there and sure enough, they have some... but they can't sell it. Someone unplugged the refer and they have no idea how long it had been unplugged and the interior was room temp when they found it.
Why the hell didn't they tell me this before I drove there? So I called the Sulpher Springs store from the parking lot and they had some. So I drove there (another 25 miles) all for a 10 dose vile that cost $7.29... And I notice gas is back up to $2.75+/gallon... So I guess it cost me $25.00 in gas for that as well as the three hours in driving. Fricken goats are expensive critters!

Since the goats are on Ivermectin withdrawal and I can't use the milk, while I was over in Winnsboro, I swung by the Jersey Girl dairy and picked up a couple of gallons of fresh raw milk there. Last year when I switched over to goats milk, I had "loose stool" as long as I was drinking just that. This year no issue and since I've switched back to (store bought) cows milk, I once again have loose stool... Guess my system can't make up it's mind what it will tolerate. Sucks because I LOVE milk! TMI? Zero intention of giving it up regardless.

So got back home and it was getting dusk. I decided to do the 2nd worming for the adults (due yesterday) and the CD&T for just the 2 wethers. Got that all accomplished. Will give the other kids their CD&T booster tomorrow or Saturday.

It's bleeding HOT out there... and this morning I found 5 eggs and 2 dead hens So I'm now down to one chicken... I'm guessing a couple of the eggs must have been buried under the pine shavings and they uncovered them before the 2 died. Glad they at least left an egg before departing. So now I either have to deal with a single chicken or try to find a couple more and go through introductions... I didn't bother opening them up to find out why. One was normal weight and the other was pretty light. They had food, so not sure why she was as light as she was.

Mel has a small bald patch on the side of his neck. He's been "preening" it with his dew claw and of course with all the spit in his fur there he ends up with mud balls in his fur. I used my hair clippers and cleared away some fur around it so I could see what was going on and it almost looks like a poison ivy patch. I washed it down with dawn and clorox then rinsed and covered with triple antibiotic. Of course he kept after it so it's spread in a line up to just below his ear now. He does NOT like being wet/getting washed/getting rinsed/wet paws/any of that... Last night I dosed the whole area liberally with blukote (fungicide/antibacterial) and you can only imagine the mess that made on him and I both! This morning it was still wet and of course he wants to rub up against me...

He's really a PITA and baby about it and it's a struggle to get him, hold him, and do the cleaning. If I even look like I'm headed toward or near a hose, he will not come to me or let me get near him. He's been out with the goats now since yesterday at dinner time. I didn't bring him to the house today at all. I think his inside days are pretty much over. I need him to start really earning his keep in the job I "hired" him for. Having seen that pair of coyotes and them not seeming scared as they passed through my back pasture has me really worried/nervous. I need that LGD.

As a younger man, I thought a quarter million would stretch a long way. Today, just sitting here musing, I could spend twice that amount in short order and still not have everything done here that I'd like done.

As a young man, a quarter million was BIG money. Now......it will buy your a tract house in a subdivision that looks like all the others. We are buying hay as our hay guy told us that with no rain, they don't have enough for their own cows and we'd better get some nailed down. If we go into a drought, hay will be scarce and the price will shoot to the moon. They are going to haul it for us.

Now you need some more hens. It sucks that you lost two of them.

Latestarter said:

Mel has a small bald patch on the side of his neck. He's been "preening" it with his dew claw and of course with all the spit in his fur there he ends up with mud balls in his fur. I used my hair clippers and cleared away some fur around it so I could see what was going on and it almost looks like a poison ivy patch. I washed it down with dawn and clorox then rinsed and covered with triple antibiotic.

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I do not know if it would be right for whatever is wrong with Mel, but one of my dogs came down with a bald spot or 2 every year when it turned hot. I got a solution from the vet, that was sulfur based, and smelled like it as well. It always cleared the problem up within a few days and kept it from spreading. BUT, since your's spends time indoors, it might be a problem with both the odor and the yellow staining...