Tree trimmers - a blesing and a curse....

 See those thick lush woods?  Yeah...gorgeous to look at BUT when it is over head and all tangled in the power lines coming in to your house and across your driveway THAT is a SCARY sight!  I have been heckling the light company to come cut that crap for almost 2 years now!  And yes, it is THEIR job as it is on THEIR side of the pole - like for real, in the lines out over the street...um no, not my responsibility.  I pay them WAY too much $$$ to be risking getting electrocuted messing with all that and it was BAD overhead!  So I wake up LAST WEEK on Monday to a constant whirring whining noise...hmmm...I figure since they have been doing a TON of work on the ranch behind us that they are up to something down there and go on with my day...YES that whining whistling whirring noise is driving me nuts, but it ends pretty early in the afternoon and on with my business I go right?

So, Tuesday arrives with more of the same horrid obnoxious noise only closer. At this point I figure it HAS to be something on that ranch and I try to tune it out and move along ya know?

Wednesday gets here and LOW AND BEHOLD!  IT'S THE TREE TRIMMERS THE LIGHT COMPANY HAS BEEN PROMISING WOULD ARRIVE!!!!! Not just for me, but for EVERYONE - they sent a letter MONTHS ago now that they would be out and about clearing lines and NOW they are at my house, literally in front of my driveway!  I dance a little jig of joy, realize I should be dressed better with strangers about, and I get all bold and go ask them if they are gonna handle the stuff over the driveway, pointing it out to the man in charge and he says yes (keep in mind I was sweet as pie the whole time, offered beverages and such even) and then I go on with my day....until the noise stops...and they are gone....and NOTHING got done around the service lines into my place which was PROMISED in the letter they had sent months ago....hmmmm...oh well, they aren't done yet I figure.

Thursday I awake bright and early - cheered by the thought of FINALLY seeing a little daylight over the drive way and having those lines cleared.  Um yeah, no....NO ONE comes down here though I can hear them working just a short ways up...okay...now I am STILL super sweet and go out and ask if they need anything to get started, walk the NEW supervisor who was not there the day before down to show him and FINALLY at noon they pop up!

See that little bit of yellow out past my truck there?  Oh yeah - they pulled all sorts of stuff down in the driveway to get this handled!  Then...they stopped...FOR LUNCH PICNIC STYLE IN MY FREAKING DRIVEWAY!!!! Okay...so I can handle that - it is pretty shady there and it looks SUPER pretty right now all green and bright...cool deal....Mind you I am stalking their every move from inside the house - praying they don't drop a limb on a goat as the bucks are over there - and keeping in eye on the pig so he stays out of the way and such....tedious long day....

 Then, lunch over, they leave.  I go on with my day...the NEXT DAY I realize a few things:
1) They are gone - like gone gone, not around at all on the road here gone
2) They left me a TON of crap and limbs all over in stacks - no really look:

3) And HERE is where I get SUPER pissed - THEY CLEANED UP EVERY OTHER CRUMB, STICK, STEM, AND FALLEN LEAF ALL UP AND DOWN THE ROAD BUT DID NOT TAKE MINE?????? WTF?????? SUPER MAD!  But ya know.....at least it's done now right?

So...James was home this weekend (Mr Farmer has been gone all week and had to leave again this week for work) and he mowed and helped me haul all that to the burn pile. Sadly I ran out of pile before I ran out of limbs, I need to get the Smoke Signal lit again and then add the rest....shaking my head....But like I said....

At least I can see daylight over the driveway now and NOTHING is touching those power lines!  Gotta be happy about small miracles, even if they come wrapped in more work for me :P

Any day now!!!!!

They don't look ALL that big in that pic - but it sure was a pretty day yesterday :) But yes, as you can see by the title ANY day now baby goats will be here!!!! I am SOOOO excited!  I have 2 saanen does, one bred for nubian cross kids and one bred for straight saanen kid due the 4th of May.  And to be honest, saanens TEND to kid a few days past "day 150"...so most likely it will be any day next week.  BUT...goats CAN kid from day 145-155 so we are now on baby watch officially! I of course am in a state of "almost ready but not really" - I still have some things I need to prep. My "kidding kit" is all ready pretty much together, moms to be are all set with everything THEY need (like cdt booster a month ago and so on) though I do still need to shave udders (clippers died though) and I do still need to shuffle them to the "maternity ward" and all...

Heck, it doesn't SOUND like I am ready does it?  But, I mostly am - after a few kiddings you stay in a state of perpetual readiness I think, like a midwife on call.  Tomorrow I will get everything finalized and prepped.  I just don't want to go getting all excited and have them drag it out until day 155 with me sitting here waiting and all you know?

 Took this pic a week or so ago at the end of the day - That's Pomegranate and she is not even the widest of the 2!

 One of the "baby daddy" photos - CriscoKid, my puffy gentle marshmallow goat :)

 Pomegranate was trying to nap while I was taking her "big belly pictures" - she was less then pleased with my interruption of her "me time"

 Lucy....

And Lucy's belly!  She has REALLY gotten pretty big the last week or so!  She gave me twins last year and only looked half as large, so I am really hoping for twins again this year - twin does would be my preference of course :P

So....I'm nervously anticipating kids any day now and all excited and a-flutter already! I have absolutely been scatter brained like CRAZY the last few weeks since I realized we were coming up on kidding again.  You know, that moment when it REALLY hits you that soon you will be crazy busy with your hands full and no time for anything else? The moment when you have a mild heart attack?  Yup...that was me like April 8th and I haven't really stopped moving since then!

Stay tuned for updates on the expectant mothers :)

April please come back!

No really - WHERE did April go????  I just realized how crazy the last 15 days have been!  Oh my sweet good grief!

Taught a soap class and a goat class, went with a friend to pick up new goats (6 + hour round trip), had to baby sit the tree trimmers the light company sent out last week...still keeping an eye out for them to return....helped a friend with an emergency of the goat kind, helped another friend with her car problems, spent DAYS making new soap and NOW I am awaiting the arrival of baby goats who are due to be born practically any minute!  AHHHHH!!!!!  Where do I start????

I think I begin by turning back the clock...hands of time work with me here....okay...so soap class/goat class day:  It was a BLAST!  Met 2 new great awesome people, had fun, shared tips, tricks, and techniques, and I can't wait to see what they can create on their own :)  SOOOO excited to be doing classes again like I used to do once upon a time before we moved....

Then.....the ride to Hutto = new kids on the block.  No, really :)  New baby GOAT kids are here on our little dirt road!  Meet Hannah (the dark haired beauty) and Nugget (the blue eyed charmer).  Both are mini-nubian doelings and I can not wait for them to grow up to see what they can produce! SOOOO excited and met another great most awesome lady that day as well!

Then the next day had an emergency with another breeder who needed help - that was an all day thing...but it came out well...and then I was WHOOPED for a few days LOL.  I suppose I should post separately for other things huh?  Don't want anyone else as confused as I myself have been these last few weeks - April has been a crazy doozy!

I left my motivation at the market...

The flea market that is!  Had another really nice weekend out there and today I am feeling it! UGH :(

I got up, I fed stuff, I went back to bed.  I got up, I answered the emails I was behind on, I went back to bed. Now I am up again - it's way too late to run the errands I need to get taken care of desperately - maybe I should go back to bed huh?

I swear, the only thing that is a bummer about farming is the lack of days off!  You always have to feed everything, and check water and what not....even if you don't want to or don't feel like it. 

I guess a half way lazy day is better than a full blown working hard all day kinda day after a long weekend right?  Maybe tomorrow I will get something done in the garden and get some pictures up for ya'll :)

2 outta 3 ain't bad....

It seems I am having a "2 outta 3" kind of week.  First, I am driving on 2 out of 3 new tires because Mr Farmhand thought he was being clever hiding one on the spare....THEN I got 2 out of 3 goat pens all mucked out and cleaned for the spring time today - which is a whole other post to come....THEN I got 2 out of 3 pictures taken well when I was doing the girls "pregnancy photos" today...oh well, I will be okay with 2 out of 3.  Like, for example, if I get 3 kids when the goats pop next month and 2 out of 3 are girls, I will be happy :) 

What?  When the goats pop?  What's all that about you ask??? Well, my saanen does Pomegranate and Lucy are due May 4th to kid!!! Oh yes, SOOOO excited!  Lucy is bred to Starmaker for cross babies (part nubian) and Pom is bred to Crisco for all saanen kids!  I am REALLY hoping for one girl AT LEAST from each as they both gave me BOYS last year!

First, Pomegranate:

From the side it's not too bad huh?  Now look at a birds eye view of that gut!

Yup, she is one wide load!  Got good fetal movement and udder building going on and I am getting excited! Then, we have Lucy, my Lu Goose, my sweet girl (who is actually a mega bitch when she is bred!)

Of course she has perfected the art of laying on the side where the babies are at - but she's still pretty big!

With a face that sweet you would never guess in a million years she has been out there tossing the nubians around for weeks now!  She won't let any other goats get near me - so jealous!  She was like that last year too...it's always a good sign she is bred when she gets SUPER mean since she is normally very laid back! Also, see that dirt on her shoulder?  She was helping me clean the pen today by knocking stuff like my rake over - what a peach right?  But I love her Sooooo much!

So yes, excitement is starting to build, babies are on the way!  Just a few short weeks and they will be here!  Usually I have names all picked out by now, but I have fallen behind :(  I've been so busy making and naming SOAP that I haven't gotten to goat names yet! Hmmmm....it's a "D" year - AGDA thing, I'll explain later when I remember haha! Anyways, I name kids using the year  is for ADGA...so "D" names...someone toss a few my way!

3 Tires and One Lucky Possum!

So, last night I made 2 batches of soap...got the first one done and put it to bed in the freezer (it's a soap thing) and as I was making the 2nd batch I got to wondering:  Hmmm...Mr Farmhand said he bought TWO tires last week...we bought ONE before that....Now I should see THREE new tires but I can only account for TWO!  Wait a minute...Well, I was already making soap and couldn't wander off from it, so I figured I would go walk the truck when I went out to put this loaf of soap to bed in the freezer as well...

So...I finish my soap and back out to the freezer I go.  I stick it in there, and as I come walking out headed for the truck what to my wondering eyes does appear????  A TINY BABY POSSUM!  And not alone - oh no - there are four, yes FOUR, of my barn cats surrounding it!  Now, had he been "playing possum" or at least dead looking, I would have left the cats to it.  But this little fella - who seriously fits in the palm of my hand - was FIGHTING to live!  Okay, I'm mean, I'm hard core, I'm brutal about the facts of life and such.  But when I see such a tiny thing holding off four cats which are WAY bigger than it is, well...I get all soft.  Peter the Possum was fighting to live so I intervened!

I scooped him up by his tail, paused for a moment because I had JUST FOUND the third tire! Then I imprisoned him in a bucket, safe away from the cats, while I looked around. Nope, no mama possum to be seen...not nearby at least.  What to do eh?

Well, I called the neighbor who knew what to do and walked him down there to her...Lucky little fella made it through the night and is on his way to doing well, drinking goat milk and sleeping in a mitten!  He will be turned over to the proper rescue type people from what I understand...I know, possums are technically a nuisance of sorts.  But he wanted to live, so he was saved!

And that missing tire - Mr Farmhand had it put on the spare and it is under the truck!  Seems he is forcing my hand into buying two more brand new ones...but seriously, the new tires are LONG over due!  Now to have a day to get outta this house and run some real errands further than Trinity!  What a lucky Possum though!

Goat People = My Favorite kind!

Got a call from another goat herder tonight - one I had never really talked to before besides online - and spent THREE HOURS on the phone!  No really - three hours chatting herds, and goats and gardens and fodder and everything with a total stranger!

Goat people really are my favorite people - better than horse people even! It's crazy the stuff you can pick up from one phone call.  There's so much to share and learn and I just love them!

Add another "friend" to the list - someone to call when you can't figure things out (because goats are like that...sometimes not even the best vet has the answers, but ask another goat person).  Someone to call when you're looking for just the right goat...just someone else to call :)

I love my goat people and that is all I have to say tonight!