Remembering my Michael 2007

June 29, 1984 - April 25, 2004

When I think back
On these times
And the dreams
We left behind
I'll be glad 'cause
I was blessed
to get
To have you in my life
When I look back
On these days
I'll look and see your face
You were right there for me
In my dreams
I'll always see you soar
Above the sky
In my heart
There will
always be a place
For you for all my life
I'll keep a part
Of you
with me
And everywhere I am
There you'll be
And everywhere I am
There you'll be

Faith Hill

Today is my 56th birthday

Today I'm 56. Last year at this time we had no animals, we were fencing and trying to get ready. This year we have 95 goats (two of which were born this morning) 2 dogs, that's Bear there with me, 6 cows and 5 cats and we're still fencing, not to mention building a house. In the morning we hit the ground running and don't stop till be get home. By that time it's all we can do to get dinner on the table and try and stay awake until dark. The commute is very tiring so we are thinking about plan B. More on that as the plan develops. Meantime the weather has finally broken and the days are warm. We've had allot more rain this year so far and that has been great for the ponds and the pastures. We planted some oats for forage and fertilized the front pasture to see if it makes a difference in how the grass grows. We've learned allot about hay management and we are developing our plan for feeding the animals next winter to cut down on the amount of wasted feed. It is a learning experience that's for sure. This Saturday is goat field day at Langston university which we will attend to learn more goat stuff. So much to learn it's amazing.

I had to include this picture because it just cracks me up each time I see them doing this. This is 32 in the front with her twins. It seems she is too busy to stop and feed them as much as they would like so they just latch on behind her. As she walks around grazing she just drags them along. None of the other goats do this. They all have their own personalities.

This is it for now. Next time I'll have more pictures of the going's on around the farm and the new things we've been working on. Till then.............

Framing, Frank, Babies and the Bear

So, the framing gets started. It really is something to see. These guys just get it done. Nobody stops to think they just do it. We are very happy with the workmanship, they really know what they are doing.

We wasted allot of time when we should have been doing farm stuff just watching these guys.

They were done in about 31/2 weeks, amazing.

This is Rory. He had to climb up there to check it all out. I think it's a man thing, believe me I was not walking around up there unless there was a real floor.

And we have a roof.

The windows arrived. That's when going smooth ended. Most of the windows have some kind of damage. So after much conversation, getting reps out here and holding us up for a week or so we seem to have resolved the issue. They will fix it and all will be well, we hope.

Mean time our friend Frank came out for his yearly visit. You remember Frank from last year and Frank's fence? This year we worked on new working pens behind the barn, fixing barn doors and we worked goats for 3 days, vaccinating, hoof trimming and worming, besides just the normal feeding and watering chores we do daily. Porter liked Frank. We knew we were about to have a bunch of babies and kept hoping they would be born while Frank was here, no such luck. The day after he left it started and we had sixteen babies in a week.






They are just too cute! We are still having babies but just a couple a week now. And then there's the kittens. We are going to try and have barn cats to help with the rodent population. My instructions were not to touch them. Fat chance, they are just as cute as the goats.

So they just might not be as good at being barn cats as they would have been.

And then there's the Bear and Max. Bear's on the left. The two of them love being in the house. Just look at Max's face. That dog would rather have love than food, not Bear.

Bear on the other hand has decided that he needs to be with us. But, walking doesn't cut it, so, every time we are not looking or even if we are, he jumps up on the ATV and we can't get him off. He likes to ride around on it or just sleep. We now have to drag him off or bribe him with cookies.

I let him ride around with me (just look at him, how can you make him get off) but not Rory. Sometimes we just get on quick and ride away before he knows it. And, I'm going to have chickens and Guinea hens too. I may have to get a little wagon so I can just pull everyone around with me. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

Well, we're up to plumbing, electric wiring, the fireplace and outside rock and brick. I hope I can post again before too long. Time goes by very fast. Till then.....