My last post was in May, it's now July!! The rain has been unbelievable, it rained for 30 days straight. We had big plans for this summer including getting the next three pastures fenced in and runningg water and electric to the animal barn not to mention building a house. So far the fence and lines are not done. We are unable to get into the pastures with the tractor because it will just tear it up. We are not complaining (much) mind you, at least the grass and the trees are growing. It's still better than the drought. The good news is the house is moving along and we should be able to start sheet rocking by the end of the month. I still hope to be in by winter. 
Of course we had to put them to work, except William who had to go to a real job everyday. We cut him some slack and he got pet everybody instead.
We had thought we would put them over in the boy's pen and give Max and Bear a little time to get used to them. That lasted 1 day. We now know that dogs can climb. Sally is able to climb up the gate and jump through the opening at the top. Sophie is small enough to just walk through some of the gates that are not wired filled. So, they spend their time with the dog boys and pretty much do what they want. Did I mention that when we are working on the house and the doors are open ?they're in, Sally likes sleeping in one of the closets, Max in the safe room and Sophie wherever when she gets tired of playing. Bear still prefers outside which is amazing to me since he is the only one of the 4 that was raised in the house. Such is life.
A lot of stuff has been going on. We had company in June. Debbie and Kathy were here for a week along with my nephew William. William is on tour with the play Wicked, and the four of us along with Rory's mom and dad, went to the city, Oklahoma City that is, to see it. It was great! Will came out to the farm every day before he went to work. He loved it. Kathy is a farmer at heart and a major animal lover. We had no trouble getting her out to work on the farm, in fact the trouble was trying to get her to come home at the end of the day. Debbie is a different story. Good thing we had cats as a bribe
Of course we had to put them to work, except William who had to go to a real job everyday. We cut him some slack and he got pet everybody instead.
It was vacination time so we had Debbie opening syringes and record keeping plus herding goats. Kathy filled syringes, did some herding, talked to the goats, gave them treats and love to help them through the trauma. It took us 3 days but it was a job well done.
And then there was real love. Kathy thought it would be a good time to brush the mats out of Max. Remember this was a dog that we couldn't get near when we first got him. Well, Kathy spent a week brushing him. He was in heaven. I know for sure that Max would be a house dog in a second if we would let him. If you would just pet him all day it would be okay with him
And then there was real love. Kathy thought it would be a good time to brush the mats out of Max. Remember this was a dog that we couldn't get near when we first got him. Well, Kathy spent a week brushing him. He was in heaven. I know for sure that Max would be a house dog in a second if we would let him. If you would just pet him all day it would be okay with him
While everyone one was here we thought we might add to the menagerie, so we took a short raod trip to pick up Sally and Sophie.
We had thought we would put them over in the boy's pen and give Max and Bear a little time to get used to them. That lasted 1 day. We now know that dogs can climb. Sally is able to climb up the gate and jump through the opening at the top. Sophie is small enough to just walk through some of the gates that are not wired filled. So, they spend their time with the dog boys and pretty much do what they want. Did I mention that when we are working on the house and the doors are open ?they're in, Sally likes sleeping in one of the closets, Max in the safe room and Sophie wherever when she gets tired of playing. Bear still prefers outside which is amazing to me since he is the only one of the 4 that was raised in the house. Such is life.The weekend after Debbie, Kathy and Will left we went to Rory's family reunion down in Madill Ok. A great time was had by all and it was a nice break for us. Well, you remember about all the rain? Goats don't like rain. Up until this time whenever it rained they would all stampede to the barn. Sometime when we were gone they discovered that the house was open. Judging by the amount of presents on the floor it must have been right when we left. When we got back to the farm there were 97 goats in the house, some in every room. They looked quite comfortable too! It was also quite eveident that the cows thought the garage was a nice place to be. The nursery was in the storage room above the garage, we know this because as we were chasing everyone out the babies came bounding down the stairs. We had quite the cleanup and immediately started baracading the doorway and the stairs.
On July 4th we had a surprise. We were not expecting him but here he is the Rocket Man ( It was to be Roman but Barbara came up with Rocket and we liked it better)
On July 4th we had a surprise. We were not expecting him but here he is the Rocket Man ( It was to be Roman but Barbara came up with Rocket and we liked it better)
He is just the cutest thing. We can't get too near him because his mother is very protective and she is very large. But, as the days go by he gets more curious and gets closer to the fence. Seems that when Sam's bull was visisting there was some hanky panky going on. We thought he was too young but we were wrong. Now we're hoping that he got around and the other two will give us a surprise too.
We are now done with the rough in for the electric. Sam has taken a job as a truck diver to we had Gary as a 
replacement. We liked Gary and as soon as Max and Bear discovered that he came with potato chips they liked him too. Actually they liked him anyway but the potato chips didn't hurt.
My sister in law, Barbara, came to visit in July. It was her first visit to the farm. She had recently had shoulder surgery and I thought we should try and take it easy, go shopping, hang around that kind of thing. Fat chance! We ended up spending 12 hours a day on the farm one night not leaving till after 8pm. We let her sit around the first day but after that, well.......... It was time to worm the goats. So now Barbara is a goat herder too.
replacement. We liked Gary and as soon as Max and Bear discovered that he came with potato chips they liked him too. Actually they liked him anyway but the potato chips didn't hurt.My sister in law, Barbara, came to visit in July. It was her first visit to the farm. She had recently had shoulder surgery and I thought we should try and take it easy, go shopping, hang around that kind of thing. Fat chance! We ended up spending 12 hours a day on the farm one night not leaving till after 8pm. We let her sit around the first day but after that, well.......... It was time to worm the goats. So now Barbara is a goat herder too.
After we showed her how to drive the RTV there was no stopping her. She became part of the cleanup crew and really did a fine job of cleaning up the junk around the house and depositing it in the burn pile, in one of the gullies, not to mention sweeping up the house and bagging a lot of that stuff too. One of the main reasons for her visit was to come with me for the annual walk to remember sponsered by the compassionate friends, a support group for people who have lost a child. This year it happened to be in Oklahoma City. We walked to remember Michael. There were about 1500 people attending the conference. On that walk we passed, and decieded to walk through, the memorial at the federal building. It is a beautiful place but heartbreaking just the same. I'm so grateful that she came, would have been tough to do it alone.
Now the house. We are making progress and really seeing difference. Terry the Brick man has been spending a good amount of time with us and the outside is looking good. +
We are finishing up the inside stuff including insulating the garage. Doesn't look like much but believe me it was a kller. I really didn't know I could sweat so much.
We are finishing up the inside stuff including insulating the garage. Doesn't look like much but believe me it was a kller. I really didn't know I could sweat so much.
We have been cleaning up the inside and the outside. We are pretty tired. Then in the middle of this we got the call from the hay girl to come and get it. We spent 14 hours that day picking up three loads of hay and stacking it on pallets, covering all with this huge tarp we had made.
It was a tiring day but it's done now and we don't have to worry about hay for the winter. In my spare time (ha) I've been reading books on Management Intensive Grazing, MIG for short. Very interesting stuff. Seems if you do it right you can produce enough forage that you wouldn't have to buy hay. Probably will take a few years to perfect but you know I've got to try it.
And then there's the Bear. What can I say, he's a teenager now and I swear he's ADHD. He's berserko man, like the 5 year old you dress up to take out and 2 minutes he's a mess. Remember when he was white? He still is underneath all the dirt, but you gotta love him. He's still the sweetest boy.
This is breakfast time on the farm. You'll notice that Bear is eating by himself on the other side of the RTV. He has to eat over there because he doesn't get along well with others at mealtime.
He is such a brat!! But, we love him. He's the one that comes with me on my walks around the farm and if I ask him if he want to go for a ride he'll climb up in the ATV and ride around with me. He's a sweet boy most of the time.
So that will do it for this episode. The sheet rock will be delivered tomorrow. I still hope to be in by Christmas.
I'm trying something new on the blog this time . I always wish that I could get more pictures posted and this may be a way. With any luck at all there should be a slide show at the end of this, let's hope so. If not we'll try again on the next one.
