The Rest of August

Thought I’d catch you up on some things that happened in the rest of August. I pulled a chain link panel out from Bambi’s pen. 

I replaced it with a gate panel. 

I added more panels and made a little pen to separate the bottle baby and his brother from Storm during the day. So there is a gate on the outside of the little pen and then a gate into the big pen. A small tarp on top to help keep off rain and shade cloth on the outside. 

Then last week Midnight looked like she was coming into heat and I decided it was time to wean everyone. So all four boys are together now. 

We’ve had some crazy monsoon storms but nowhere near the amount of rain as last year. 

One day I milked in a drizzle with thunder, lightening and sunshine all at the same time!

The flies have been crazy. This giant fly paper has made the most difference of everything I’ve tried. I’ve been putting it on old tomato cages, buckets, just anything handy. 

Digger is getting big. Still getting in trouble but sometimes he is good. 

Storm has a better rear udder attachment than her mom Bambi. 

Midnight also has a nice attachment although her tiny sideways pointing teats are hard to milk. 

First day of weaning all the boys I got two gallons plus a pint of milk. That may go down a bit as the girls adjust to the lower demand. 

Tobacco Bay is a new soap scent. 

There have been a few cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes in the garden but not huge amounts of any one thing. 

I don’t know exactly what happened but Digger managed to break the front door. 

He’s watching an ant. 0.0  Check out how long his tail is, it’s almost touching the ground!

Monsoon sunsets are the bomb. 

I was hoping September would be cooler but it’s actually hotter. I can’t wait for fall. 

Last Week

Digger is taking a nap because he has been a wild child and into everything!

I had planted some seed out front in the empty chicken pens. Dill and basil coming up. 

Lots of kale too. 

I really need an easy way to separate Storm’s boys from her during the day. Their pen is to the left. So I’ve been cleaning up junk piles to make another pen next to it. Not quite done. 

Digger alerted on his first rattlesnake. A good sized Diamond back.

I got a couple of lotion scents restocked in time for market on Saturday 

Oh Miss Chocolate!  See how she’s made a gap there?  

Yep just jumped right through it when I let Midnight out to milk. So she got tied up while I milked. 

Later I added some more sticks, weaving and wedging them in place. I know it won’t stay long term but hopefully will get by a day or two 

I got more shrubs planted. Even though I’ve gotten a little I’ve two inches of rain in two weeks the ground is still powder dry. 

Left the back of the van open and Digger tried to eat the feed sacks. 

And the rubber door seal

And not only does he dig dirt he digs water too. He’s grown a lot and is starting to hit that gangling stage. 

Grateful for the rain and slightly cooler temps even though it brings humidity and more flies. 

Been Run over by the Crazy Train

Had a lovely day Saturday at the Globe-Miami Farmers Market. 

Market is about 6 miles from my house. In the last 2 miles the temperature dropped from 89°F to 73°F as a large storm came through. 

Got home to find the creek running. 

And that the cattle panels over Posie’s pen had collapsed again. 

Because I got almost an inch of rain. Which is wonderful. 

So this morning I cleared some weeds and brush out of here and took down the roof frame off this old chicken pen. That part wasn’t too bad. 

Then I took the tarps off Posie’s pen and cut all the wire ties holding the two cattle panels. As I was feeding one panel over the fence part of it whacked me on top of the head. 

Then I was on the step ladder outside the pen pulling the second panel over and managed to fall off the stool.  Didn’t hit my head but gonna have some bruises on my hip tomorrow. Then I got the roof frame set up and a new tarp zip tied in place. Just forgot to take a picture of it. 

Posie was checking out her new roof after milking. Goats notice everything!

In the meantime Gazelle also came into heat. To spread out the love I took her over to visit with Bentley for awhile. 

Bentley is a fine looking fellow. 

Now remember Gazelle was one of the “Wild Girls” I bought last year and she hadn’t been for a car ride since I brought her home. While she was a bit hesitant she wasn’t as hard to walk down to the van and load up as I anticipated. Here she’s checking things out. 

And here she’s meeting Bentley. I think there will be some pretty babies coming up in December!

And of course all the usual feeding and watering, dishes and laundry to do. Then off to bed! 

Farmer Friday

Who says dam raised kids aren’t friendly?  Mine are all very friendly although not as pushy as bottle babies. This is one of Midnight’s boys. 

Argh! Digger! Can’t let you out of my sight! Played in the chard bed again!

Well. It looks like Chocolate wasn’t pregnant after all. She came into heat this week and spent a couple of days keeping Bashful company. If I don’t see another heat cycle in a couple weeks then I’ll expect kids in December. 

Esmarelda what are you doing? Digging for China?  There was no hole there and now it’s a foot deep. 

Didn’t get rain the other day but got a rainbow 

Trying to turn this packing crate into a hay feeder. Besides being in the way the goats kept trying to eat the screws. 

I added some pallet wood to help stiffen the sides and some 2x6 legs

Does it pass inspection girls?

Probably the only time they’ve eaten out of it like this. Gazelle and Chocolate usually stand it it. 

And in the meantime Esmarelda broke the hay feeder in her pen. Fortunately it was a pretty easy fix. 

Poor Digger   Got a wasp or bee sting. Didn’t stop him from trying to chew on everything in sight. He was fine and almost no swelling in a couple hours. 

I was a bit concerned that maybe he tried to play with this little king snake but there weren’t any puncture wounds. 

Mmmm. Gazelle objected to Chocolate being on the other side of the fence with Bashful and beat up my new cattle panel. 

Ugh.  At least 5 tries to upload now….

To Market to Market

Woke up at 3:45 to major thunder with a little rain but it cleared off quickly. Other areas got .5”   I haven’t checked but doubt i got more than .1”. Had a lovely time at the Globe-Miami Farmers Market this morning. 

Did the usual chores. Discovered Midnight’s pen has managed to rip down their mineral feeder. Sigh. Not much new or exciting today. 

It was still about 100° this afternoon but much cooler than earlier in the week. Well tomorrow is another day.