******************************NEWS FLASH***********************************

When I arrived home today from work, I let the chickens and ducks out. I then headed to the barn to check on the goats, this is when I saw the damage; someone during the day had ripped the downspout from the side of the barn. It was just hanging there by a small retaining strap. At the time of this report the guilty party or parties have not been identified.

The Prime suspects are as follows:

Suspect Number 1: Copperflats Margareta,     AKA “Miss Gita”                                              Code Name: Winey

Suspect Number 2: SliceofAlmostHeaven Hazel,       AKA “Hazel Wayzel”
Code Name: Goat Dancer

Suspect Number 3: SliceofAlmostHeaven Harriet,    AKA “Wussy Harriet”
Code Name: The Vacuum!

Suspect Number 4: SliceofAlmostHeaven  Betty,      AKA “Miss Betty”
Code Name Dumbo

Be advised that all suspects are now under constant surveillance to see if the guilty party or parties can be identified details to follow……………………………………………………………END

To answer that question, for myself, the answer is yes! When one of our goats is feeling under the weather, sometimes Michelle has to give them a shot. To help this go well I give the goat a big bear hug as she gives them it’s shot. So at times I hug my goats a lot!

Well that is how the goats feel about having their temperature taken. We give them two choices. We can take their temperature in their mouth, only if they have told us, (1) they have not taken a drink in the last fifteen minutes,  (2) promise to not chew on the electronic thermometer. As you might guess goats are not too talkative, and will not promise such things!

So plan B,  you put the probe “where the sun don’t shine!” . They are not big fans of this but in reality it is the only way to get an accurate reading. They look back at you and seem to ask “do you mind!!” We just smile and do the deed. It will  shortly be over.

You may ask; “What is that!?” Well that is that certain spot that all our animals want to be scratched. This will change over time but they still all want it. The goats are very bad for this, Harriet will rub on you hard, to the point she will almost knock you over. To the other end where they will hold their head a certain way and close their eyes as you scratch them. As you scratch them they go into a slight dreamlike state but they snap out of it when you stop!

Well after several months of waiting, our new hens started laying today. We got our first egg from the new hens. It is quite small, it is referred to as a “fart egg” since it will not have any yoke and just egg white. Over the next few weeks the hens will lay larger eggs and will start to lay an egg a day. The ducks are winging down on their laying for the year as they get ready for the long winter.

The goats have not been themselves for the last few days. The goats are blue, blue you ask, “What is that?” . Well they are missing someone so they are blue. Sue one of our doelings is gone, we traded her with a friend of ours. We will get some turkeys from her in the spring. So the goats being a herd animal, miss one of their herd mates. It will fade with time but for now they are just blue!

We have an electric chair of sorts here, the grass hoppers have found it the hard way. They will climb up on the fence posts and will happen to craw up onto an insulator. They are big enough to span the wire and the grounded wood. When they get to that point, you hear a loud crack and at night a bright arc of light as many thousands of volts of electricity course though the insect. The insect is dead after the first one. We then have to kill the power and then remove them from the fence. They are quite crispy by the time we find them!

As in pass years we have a great abundance of grass hoppers. As you walk in the tall grass you see them fly, by the hundreds they go flying to and throw. The ducks go into the grass and hunt them. They make a tasty meal for them. They feel very strange when one finds it’s way down your boot . Stopping and shaking out your boots is the order of the day!

When we got home from church today we went out to check on the goats. Their electric fence was shorted out. So out I went to checked to see what the problem was, that was when I saw it! Something had stopped by for a visit, something BIG. We are not sure what it was but it hit several hot wires and a few ground return wires. It got the full fury the fence charger for sure. As it broke free of the fence it broke a lower ground wire that in turn landed on a live wire shorting out the fence. It was not a problem since whatever it was long gone, but still smarting from the jolt it got from the fence. After Michelle and I both looked at the fence we feel it could have been only two animals that could have caused that damage. Ether a deer or a black bear, we have both in the area. The ground was too hard there to see any foot prints. so we will never know for sure what stopped by, but we know it will not be back!

Michelle, getting quite good at making cheese. She now makes a type of soft cheese, mozzarella, and yogurt. This helps with dealing with the extra milk we have. We have three does in milk now and get over a gallon of milk a day. So when we run out of room in the refrigerator she makes cheese. They whey left over from making mozzarella cheese can be used to make ricotta cheese or we feed it to the chicken and ducks mixed with their feed.

Michelle is also making whole wheat bagels from our own fresh ground flour. We recently bought a grinder for milling our own wheat. The beagles and bread she makes is ho so good!