Sunday was our day to do hooves on the mommy goats. As I was doing chores I looked over the fence and saw two new baby goats. Since it was a cool, damp day , I gathered them up and put them in a stall. As Mother came alonge reluctantly,I notice that I am holding two more boys. That makes 15 boys and 5 girls.







Umbilical cords are cut and iodine applied. The babies each get a shot of bo-se and covexin 8. Mommy gets fresh hay and water and wormed. When I am sure the babies are drinking they are left alone to get acquainted





Now I started the day with doing hooves. Goats need to have their hooves done about once a month but realistically they get done every two to three months. My girls were done in January. So their hooves were pretty bad.







We get them in a pen . Buddy, my farm helper and I each grab a horn and flip the girl to the barn floor. He does the front feet and I do the back. 19 goats later, we are tired and dirty but my girls are walking on flat feet again.







Later that day we took the corgi's to the park to get them acquainted with the real world of people and children. Mr Weasly does great but Hermione is still fearful of the noises.

Pizza at the Farm?

We had pizza delivered to our front door and egg plant parmigiana. Fifteen years of living in the isolated country, with my city friends visiting and having no place to call in food or to eat out, we finally got a pizza delivery place and the food is good.

So how come two people who love to cook ordered in pizza on a Thursday night? I volunteered to help a friend with shearing. She has arrhythmia and can't shear her own sheep. My job was to help with the skirting of the fleeces--a job that I love.

The temperature was 80 degrees and we did not get started until high noon. 50 sheep later it is hot and I am dirty. A shower, glass of wine and dinner is looking wonderful. BUT the shearer decides he wants to do my two goats- Lemoney and son. Lemoney is not the easiest buck to deal with. Buddy and I manage to get him to the shearing room before the shearer arrives.

By now it is 5:30, and that glass of wine on the kitchen counter is calling. This is a new shearer and it is obvious that he does not know how to shear goats especially a large angora Buck with an attitude. But at 6:30 we are all through with the shearing. Buddy and I are going to finish by doing hooves and moving the boys to the lower pasture. We fiqure it would be easier when he is tired.

By 7, the boys are all sheared, hooved and moved. The pizza has arrived and as soon as the girls are put back in their pasture , I can have my wine and food. But what is that moaning in the upper pasture.? #17 is having a baby and is having trouble. I have to pull her baby which is the 14th boy born this year. We move her to the barn and watch as a goat gets it's head caught in the fence. By now I am so tired that all I can do is laugh.

By 8 0'clock, I have showered and am sitting at the table with my wine and pizza. What a relief not to have to cook dinner.

Our neighbor bought us some delicious moral mushrooms for breakfast. They came up in his fathers yard. Spring brings many surprises.

My studio has taken on a new name--The Wren House. I am allowed to share it with the wren family. Bert and I spent one morning rescuing baby wrens that had left their nest in the attic but did not have sense enough to stay off the floor. My book on tape was interrupted by mother and daddy wren's lecture to their kids. I think they all survived except the one Charlie, the cat, brought into the mud room.

The greenhouse is bursting with plants waiting to move into the ground-- tomatoes, parsley, cukes and lots of flowers. The scented geraniums are the fist scent one smells as the greenhouse door opens.

Hermione has graduated from puppy school and well start agility on May 8th. Mr. Wesly is not doing well with the home schooling. It is his owners fault.

Have 18 baby goats on the ground--13 boys and 5 girls. They are really late this year and I will have to work hard to keep the worm population down. Think I will try to improve my sheep herd. They only had two babies this year.

Things that Happen

Things that have happened since I last visited this blog. I have 17 baby angora goats on the ground and running all over the barn. Only one bottle baby so far.



The weather has been warm and the tree swallows and barn swallows are back. The birds are carrying feathers and fiber in their beck in order to build their nest. Charlie.the cat, is making notes on the location of each nest.



Our pond is full of bass and blue gill and I have been fishing. Bert's daughter Diann was here and we fried the fish but the best was the stock we made from the heads, bones and tails. I made a fabulous soup from it- Mushrooms, couscous, garlic, rice vinegar and two kinds of cheese that with the home made bread from my friend Abby --What a meal!!



One of the most fun things I did was join Raverly, a knitting and crocheting community with lots of fun groups. Oh, Yes, I am working on a new hooked piece, socks [always] and a sweater. More about that later.



And in my spare time I have read several wonderful books-- the book thief , and Mudbound to mention two of my favorites.





Sunday, my friend Marijke and I went to the Kennedy Center opera. Rigoletto was wonderful.