Ragdollcatlady's Just a Little Patch of Weeds Farm journal

[ragdollcatlady]

So the stress of worrying about Katastrophe kidding is over. Yeah!!! She is the one that was delivered by emergency C-section last year.

After Little Italy needed a small amount of assistance for her first kidding, with her and Katastrophe being about the same age, I was really worried.

I did, absolutely decide that I really prefer older First Freshenings so I plan to breed everyone to kid after 18 months or so. Little kidded at 15 months and Katastrophe at 16 months. While they are OK and the kids were fine, StinkerBelle seemed to handle things more in stride. Also a FF but she is a 2 year old already. These 3 girls are all our first babies that were born here, finally moving us into the next generation.

My DS finally posted that he is alive and well! Yeah! He is working in Alaska for the summer! So excited for him. He has found some new friends and while exhausted, I am sure he is learning some really good work ethics in those 16 hour days. He did mention he misses snacks, so I am on the search for gummy frogs, and bone snacks, 2 of his favorites. He mentioned that he misses home. I'll take that as a compliment!

My other DS also called to wish us a happy 4th and also misses home. He is staying with my parents and looking for a summer job in the Bay area, 3 hours from here. Being my homebody I am not surprised he misses home, but he said he even misses the heat!!! To be fair, the kid has no fat so he gets cold easily. He mentioned that on 90 degree days up there, he still uses his scarf.... well they have a nice cool breeze!!

DD texted on the 4th that she and friends were having a party. She is doing well.

It gets really quiet around here with just one kid! I like having some one on one with my youngest...but this quiet house thing...not so much.

Of course Pearl keeps the chaos going. Like this morning when she fed the ducks all her food then was crying cause she was still hungry!!! Well what do you expect! Naughty baby goats shouldn't feed all the pellets to the ducks if they want to eat breakfast!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

DS2 got a call back from Kohls!!!! Hopefully that means he will be working for the rest of summer! it also means he will be living 3 hours away from us, but I hope he flies well and enjoys the ride. Being my least adventurous, this is a big deal for him.

Andy, my big boer buck had a huge swollen face today! I don't know if he swallowed a bee or got bit by a spider, but his normally fat face was twice as chubby....think bobble head style! Sorry, I really do love the big baby, but it was so sad and funny looking! Not good for me though as he needed 12 mls of Oxytet, and 3 of Banamine, and he cries when I have to poke him, which in turn makes me cry..... sigh....well, wouldn't you know that having so many neck wrinkles actually made this really easy???? I just grabbed a bunch of loose skin and injected, grab another spot, repeat, and again..... much easier. Being fat is good!!!

I sold Hazel the other day. Sad but good. She is going to a local family to be a breeder. They have 8 grandkids so hopefully she will have lots of snacks!

We started butchering chickens, so had tacos three times, stew, and plenty left for more. We butchered a mean silkie rooster in the name of science. He looked purple once the feathers were off, black trachea, black/purple bones and pigmented muscles and organs!!! very interesting!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

My truck just broke again!!!!

Check Gauges light came on and she was overheating just around the block from my girlfriends house after work tonight...... Antifreeze leaking from the bottom.....

me...

my wallet ...

and of course the AAA was expired so no free tows....

I called and left a message for the shop saying to call me when they get there in the morning and let me know what they find.... My BFF gave me a cup of coffee, a beer and then a ride home, and she will give me a ride to work tomorrow morning... Thankful for good friends.....and coffee.....and beer..... see!!!! silver lining!!!!

Oh and I got bit by a dog at work today. Even with the muzzle on!

But a coworker brought us all 25lb watermelons! so that was nice. And the boss and his wife bought us all Starbucks this morning.....

Me and coffee....we are going steady, in fact we are codependent.... I do the paying for (or making in the machine) and coffee does the whole caffeine thing for me....works out well for us.... I think we might just make it!!!

 

[babsbag]

Sounds like you had a rough day. Thank goodness for friends and coffee. Hope the watermelon is good, it is hard to find good ones

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Truck got fixed again. I went with bypassing some of the harder more expensive to work, to just get her road worthy again since I was desperate to have her back and my wallet is so over this hypochondriac of a trucks shenanigans every month....

I had to have her back because I was already registered and prepaid for CE courses at UC Davis last weekend and that is a 4 hour drive from here. I worked friday all day, drove to Sacramento and stayed with my grandma for the weekend, commuting the hour to the college from there for my courses. Grandma babysat a pair of sebastopol geese during the day for me on Saturday. I sold them on BYC to someone closer to grandma so I just brought them with and met at the Starbucks down the street after my classes. Of course grandma ended up disappointed that they showed up. She would have happily kept them if they hadn't! I guess not every grandma gets asked to babysit the geese for a day. She enjoyed watching them play in the water.

Oh and my kid let me know at the last minute that he had senior portraits last week too.... so I bought him a new shirt and tie and he wore his tux! Then, since I had to take an hour off work to get him there, he came back to work with me and just waited for a couple hours till I was done and I took him to the new Mediterranean restaurant in town. Delicious food and it was nice to have some one on one with him. Of course he looked handsome all dressed up!

I started butchering the meat chicks. After that it will be time to start on ducks. I am infested with ducks and we just had another 5 hatch!Good thing we love to eat them. I can't remember if I told y'all that I am now raising "beef" ducks....Since my DH has an issue with eating our ducks even though he can't differentiate the flavor from and thinks he is eating beef when I season it a certain way, I renamed my black drake Angus.... Voila! Now they are "Beef ducks!"

It is insanely hot and humid here these days.

Today the babies got to go out with the herd and Katastrophe and Stinker Jane are thrilled to be back with everyone.

I was super proud of myself the other day. I had been sorting through things and had 5 bags and boxes for donation to Goodwill. I went down and donated then stopped inside to look for dress suit jackets for my youngest. He has decided he wants to wear them to highschool this year. We found some for $12 and $6 and I bought 2 coffee tables for $30 ans $20 and some wooden picture frames for like $1.99 and $3.99.... I think I came back with as much as I left with! But I got great deals!!!

I am supposed to be cleaning my house right now....but I took a nap and now I am trying to think of other things to do instead.......

 

[ragdollcatlady]

So I finally have curtains in the kitchen!!! Yeah! I love all the windows in this house, but apparently they are all pretty non standard size wise. The 3 windows in the kitchen are all different sizes and I could never find similar or coordinating shades or curtains that I liked. So I finally made them out of tablecloths I found at Target that I just loved the pattern on.

The new curtains and doing some deep cleaning in the kitchen has me motivated to cook this last week. We have had tacos, fajitas and pico de gallo with veggies from the garden. I made green enchiladas yesterday and when I went to make cookies, I found out that my kitchen aid mixer has passed away! She was around 10 years old so I guess it was just her time to go, but still a sad day for the cookie lovers in this house! The first 10 years we were married I never made home made cookies because DH always bought store cookies. I don't like cookies or anything too sweet so I bake bread and fruit pies instead. Grandma had sent home ingredients for cookies one thanksgiving so I made them and then he asked for cookies every time he was home for "ever"! So I made a "big deal" about stirring the cookie dough by hand and he bought me the Kitchen Aid! He still likes cookies so maybe he will get me another one......
I came home with another dog ..... a cute little border collie mix. She is around a year old and I think she will be an awesome dog if I manage to train her right. She looks kinda crazy in the pic, but she is really sweet, just afraid of the camera. She does have one blue eye and one brown one. Her name is Wiley Charlotte Coyote..... She slinks around (border collie style) like a "wiley coyote" cartoon character, but she seems like a sneakier, slyer version of Charlie that horrible, no good, very bad dog that we lost a while ago. (He was a great with people but horrible mannered creature that I hated but my family loved.) Hence the Charlotte.... She was way better on a leash her third time out and is learning "go to bed" "wait" to eat, and she learned to use the double flapped doggie door in a day and a half. She is getting used to stairs and is learning to play with Leaky. Started her vaccines and got spayed already. My neighbor that was trying to help her find a good home offered to pay for all of that so that is a bonus. Also got her microchipped just in case she gets out. She sat my feet at starbucks today while my BFF and I visited over coffee for a few hours and didn't make a peep. She is pretty well socialized and I am very happy with that! The only thing is making sure to introduce her right to the farm animals and cats. As long as she is cool with them (no chasing or anything goofy) then she can stay. I don't care if she "rounds up" the poultry if there are no teeth involved and it is slow enough to not stress them, but I don't want anyone messing with my goats.... we will have to see .

First day of school tomorrow for my last kid. And he is a senior! Oye! My kids are old! Good thing I am still young!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Today started with quite a something..... I woke up really early, groggy, tired and still wanting to grab just a little more sleep. The dogs were barking as they heard DH leave for work and I thought I would let them out real quick to go potty, then I would catch a few more zzzz's before milking and feeding the farm animals. So I ran to tinkle before letting them out, only to find Lady Bug cornering something fast and squirmy behind the toilet!!! But when you gotta go, you gotta go! So I faced the other side and prayed Lady Bug wouldn't chase it over my feet. Never peed so fast in my life!!! We managed to corner the creature...turns out it was a lizard.... a giant lizard I might add!!! all of 5 inches, but to a slow firing brain in the wee hours of morning, I was sure he was 5 feet long! I had grabbed a plastic pitcher thinking I could trap him and use a paper to slide under the pitcher to transport him outside.... but he had other plans. Apparently DHs underpants, in a pile next to the laundry basket (clothes don't actually belong in a basket now right?) were a much more appealing option for this little creature!!! so I carefully tucked the creature and underwear into the pitcher, ran to the front door, gave a might toss, and flung the pair of undies straight over the rail and into the garden in the front yard!!! someone is going to have a mighty question or two as to why there are underwear in the garden.....

One heart attack down.....

So now I go let the crazy animals out to do their business, look out the window to see if Wiley is actually peeing or watching the ducks and geese instead (we have issues with her going out to go potty, getting distracted by her "job" watching the birds and forgetting to go until she comes back in the house.) Instead I see Leaky ripping feathers out of one of my young pullets!!! I start YELL.I.N.G.!!! and run outside to send him on a first hand mission to mars and ALL the dogs hustled out of my way like never before! I grab my little chicken and check her out quickly. Thankfully he really was just pulling her feathers out so she only has a few very small injuries, missing a lot of feathers, but is structurally fine. DS1 woke from the dead by my "sweet" voice telling Leaky where he could go , came running out to help and we brought Leaky back out and made him submit to the injured chicken by making her "dance" on him until I was satisfied he got the message. Took her inside, applied raw honey the her injuries and hooked her up with her own feed and water in the big pen so she could recover peacefully (after one more dance on Leakys head.) Leaky has killed a couple chicks before, but I think it was by accident. He would catch them in the dog yard and bring them to the porch, mostly uninjured (except of course for the whole dead part). I think he wants to play with them like squeaky versions of his "babies" (stuffed animals). When he is out in the big yard with me and all the birds, he runs around ignoring all the birds looking for chicken poop and compost scraps to eat.

And then I asked DS to please feed and water everyone for me so I can go find some clothes to wear since apparently everyone got a free show today !

Anyone got a morning to beat that?

 

[ragdollcatlady]

No lizards in flying underwear or chickens getting plucked by dogs this morning....so that is a good thing!

DS1 got home to milk with animal chores 10 minutes into them, but he brought a friend to help and then DS3 missed the school bus so I had a truck full of boys this morning.... reminds me of last year.....sigh!!! Good times!

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Chores today, included goat maintenance.

It is time to copper, BoSe and trim hooves in preparation for breeding. I had DS1 help me start with the boer girls. We did the first 3 and my hand already had blisters that were opening! OUCHIE! But I took a break and we went back to do the 2 little boer girls. We were able to weigh them. Bellini weighed in at 80 lbs and her sister weighed in at 72. After we were done with them, I mentioned that of course my hand was done with trimming hooves, but I still wanted to at least try and give the 2 big bucks their copper and BoSe. That was a little adventure in itself. So Rocky snorted at me about 5 times....every time I offered the copper smudge wrapped in leaves. (I put the contents of the copper bolus in a teaspoon of peanut butter, added a splash of molasses and a bit of slippery elm to make a thick ball, then I rolled in a small amount of the chicken scratch to try and hide the smell, and wrapped the whole shebang in persimmon leaves like a goatie egg roll.) That is how we got Andy to eat it last time. Rocky was NOT impressed. I went into the pen and offered it to Andy...He scarfed the whole thing down in a second flat and came back to ask for more! So I went back for a regular bolus and we popped it down Rocky against his will.....sorry dude, that's the way we roll around here!

So I was just watching Andy walking around and there is a small piece of something sticking out from the underside of his ear. We catch him and he has a scabby tear/wound on the underside of his massive ear, that covers about a third of the whole thing! My poor baby!!!! Change of plans. I grab some cleaning and bandage materials (for goats that includes all the duct tape available in the house) and I calculate out a dose of Oxytet and banamine for him. We did do his selenium too. After securing Rocky to the fence away from us, we secured Andy and I can't even tell you how much I appreciate that he is really such a sweet goat!!! He has to be easily over 250 lbs but a leash tied to a T post and my 130 lb human kid are able secure this huge animal only because his temperament is so good. I cleaned and bandaged the wound and taped his ear down to the side of his face to keep the bandage on. I love duct tape! And long bunny ears that are easy to tape into a more normal position to help keep him comfortable in the meantime. So we took one of the cattle panels that was from the market goats pen and divided Andy and Rockys room. Unfortunately for Rocky he will only have the big almond tree trunk and later in the day the crapfruit tree for shade (but I believe it will be sufficient). Andy gets the smaller 'half' of the space but he gets his 'house' since it is his house...and he sleeps in there most of the day and and night on a regular basis. I am so grateful I decided the boys had to get stuff done today! I can't imagine how long his ear has been like that, most likely several days, but he has gotten up and come out to eat every time I have fed and checked on him. I just haven't been up close and loving on him enough to notice the underside of his ear. With rut coming on strong, I can't do it in work clothes and it is already dark when I feed at night. He has been lying inside his house more, but when I go into the pen and coax him out, he has gotten up willingly and come to eat, like normal. Rocky gives him alot of grief (rut) so I just figured Andy was avoiding him more. He must have torn it putting his head through the back part of the fence when the neighbors girls are teasing. I can't figure out where else he would catch it that badly.

Since the goats took so long today, I almost missed the feed store...got there just before they shut the gates! I bought 400 lbs of poultry food that may not last me 2 weeks.... I need to find a way to buy it in bulk, but they don't sell my favorite feed in bulk, and I have to figure out how to transport it then too. At least in 50 lb bags, I can carry them myself if I have to.

On a very sad note, we had to put Hobbes down the other day. My son has had her for 10 years. I honestly didn't particularly like her, I mean, when I would go in to feed her when the boys were gone, she would just give me the stink eye, or meow angrily and run away. But she was good to my kid. He carried her grumpy self all over for years, watched movies with her wrapped up in his blanket like a fat kitty burrito, put up with him trying to leash train her so she go outside on the grass, and slept with him every night. She listened to his secrets and never told a soul. She was there through all his growing pains and tough times. I knew she was getting old and kind of looking like it, but the boys just brought it to my attention that she looked sick. I think her kid leaving to Alaska may have sent her into a depression which surely worsened her condition. I let him know I was going to take her to work and run some bloodwork to see how she was doing. Turns out her liver was in horrible shape. Most likely a tumor. I felt it was time to let her go. He is leaving for work in another couple weeks and with an extremely poor prognosis, I know she wouldn't survive him leaving again. This way they had the chance to say goodbye to each other. A couple times during the day, I would get a little teary eyed for a minute and the Dr would see me, get a little teary eyed too and say 'hey I thought you didn't even like her?' I would respond that 'I don't but she was so good to my kid. How do you thank her for that?' At one point, I was petting her and she was purring, I got a bit too emotional I guess cause when I said her name, she pulled away from me and faced the wall, telling me to go away....like usual. Durn animals! Of course she let him love on her all he wanted ........ I wouldn't ask for anything more.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Adventures of Wiley:

In just this last week she has taken Leaky out for a morning escapade, running across the road during morning traffic. Apparently someone didn't shut the gate right. My neighbor chased them home.

I got chewed out for her eating a plastic movie case, a canvas tablet cover and leaving teeth marks in the tablet.... I told DH that she was just channeling the horrible Charlie and getting back at him for the things Charlie did to me.... She is named after him and after all, why wouldn't he come back and convince my new puppy to torture me???? I wish puppies on all my enemies...and if I really don't like you, I wish 2 puppies on you!!!
She chewed up one of my new sandals and left more teeth marks in the chair..... She has several chew toys so it isn't for a lack of things to chew....
And then today, to show off how "potty trained" she is..... she pooped on her stuffed rabbit!!! I walked into the kitchen and thought I smelled something amiss.... apparently she asked BunBun to "hold" her "treasures" and never came back to retrieve them!!! So BunBun is taking a trip through the washing machine. I give her props for creativity and and "How the heck was she able to manage that?!?!" Aye carumba!!!