Evil Ben Dog and the Goat Boy

Ben, who used to be the cute Jack Russell Terrier that came across the street to visit, instead came back to attack our chickens. And this is not the first time. Previous times he really badly injured a few of the hens and the rooster. This time he killed one of the younger red hens, and 2 of the original black hens went missing overnight. I saw one of them wandering off with a bloody butt and one remaining tail feather. She came back the next morning, and I put her in Chicken Hospital (the dog crate in the garage). We found the other missing black hen dead in the hay bales back here by the garage a few days later. She made it back this far only to die anyway...

I am happy that I did not let the baby chicks join the big girls in the coop! They are getting close to full-grown size, but would have been no match for the formerly cute Ben Dog. I returned him to his owner and she swore that "this will never happen again". She was almost in tears, and so was I, but I can't blame her or the dog. My dogs are no angels either, they are dogs.

Tony and Rose, the big baby goats are getting really big! We were going to call the little one Little Rita, until we found out she is a he. We are trying to sell him/her, and are going to trade Tony for a different breed that we can then use to breed our girls next year. Little Rita doesn't need a new name if we aren't going to keep him. If we can't sell him, we'll just have to name him! That is him play-fighting with Jack in the top photo, and the handsome little guy by himself in the second.

Say a prayer for Big Rita. She made it home safely and then ended up in the hospital again. We are both happy that she had a (mostly) great week's stay with us up here. She said she truly enjoyed her stay, although I'm sure she could have done without the Woody-bashing. In my campaign to get her to eat more, I got her to drink a root beer float with me 4 nights after dinner. Now every time I have a root beer float I will think of her.

Río Rita returns home...or not!

After a troublesome start to her NY vacation, Rita is returning to her home in NJ. Woody and Sophie will certainly miss her! As will we!

Update 2 pm: Rita does not return home until tomorrow. We got as far as Oneonta, about 30 minutes into the 5-hour trip, and decided to turn around and come back. I knew there was a storm coming that would plague us the whole way to NJ, but I thought we could get out early enough to avoid the worst of it. It was so bad that we gave up and came back. Barring any major traffic nightmares, we'll leave tomorrow morning.

Río Rita meets The Freight Train head on!

The Husband's Mom, Río Rita, said her Dad used to call her that...something about an old song by that name. Woody the hound dog earned his name The Freight Train from the way he barrels up and down the trails when he's running loose. He's taken out my legs from under me, and also knocked over Bandit, Don on the Hill's dog.

The Husband brought Mom up here from NJ on Mother's Day. She was in the house no more than 2 minutes when The Freight Train came pounding through the back door and bowled her over, hard. I had him outside, and thought that Rita was sitting down (as instructed) before I let him in, but that was not the case.

Let's just say we spent a good part of Mother's Day in the ER when we should have been home relaxing with a glass of wine and the lovely ham dinner I had waiting.

Río Rita is healing nicely. To make up for his causing injury to Mom, Woody has been sleeping with her every night. Sophie even spent the night in there with the 2 of them on Monday when there was a thunderstorm that had her concerned for Rita's wellbeing.

I am taking Mom home tomorrow. She is down to 2 bandaids and about a dozen antibiotic pills. Stitches come out next week...

Ouch.

San Antonio Rose

We named the first 2 kids Tony and Rose, for my cousins in Dublin. In a moment of genius last night, The Husband said we should call them San Antonio Rose for they are Saanens Tony and Rose. All of our goats are Saanen dairy goats.

Brilliant, my dear...

Now what are we going to call the new baby girl?

Maybe Patsy...Patsy Cline seems to be the only female who recorded that song...

We'll see. In the meantime, here are a few pics of the month-old kids that I took last night while we were waiting for Patsy. I still haven't put all of my little movie snippets together, so you'll just have to trust me that they are fun to watch out there bouncing around. Pretty soon the new kid will be joining in the fun!

One new kid, finally!

Helen gave up what we think is a new baby doe today, around 7 pm. Almost exactly 1 month after her Mama produced a buckling and doeling.

She struggled with labor for about an hour and a half, and then I found the strength to help her a bit. From what I have read, most goats have normal births without much in the way of assistance, in fact sometimes the assistance causes more problems, like infections or hemorrhaging in the mom. But Helen kept pushing and pushing and only one little tiny foot was peeking out and going back in, so I grabbed the little foot and gave an extra tug while she was pushing. I got the foot and the beginning of the head, and then Helen was able to push out the whole little doe girl.

All of these photos are from just minutes after her birth. Helen, being the good momma she is, was very careful about cleaning up her new kid.

I am exhausted...as much by an old Sophie girl as the kidding...will explain tomorrow:

Thursday night there was a minor thunderstorm that lasted forever, like 4 hours. Barely any rumbling, lots of lightning. Sophie, even though she is mostly deaf, is still bothered by thunderstorms, so much so that she panted and paced from midnight on. I was so tired and frustrated by 4 am, that I gave her some doggie downer pills. The vet had given them to me for before her pedicures. Sophie hates getting her dagger nails cut almost as much as she hates the thunderstorms.

My glasses were upstairs, but I was pretty sure it said 1 to 2 pills, and that is what I remembered as well. So I gave her 2 and she was knocked out almost immediately—too quick actually. And then the effects did not wear off the whole next day! (Note to self: 1 pill next time!)

After the kid was born, I managed to get the old girl up and outside for a bit of a walk. She was still too sleepy to make it up the stairs to sleep with us when I went to bed, but she was up there in the morning and is now fully recovered. And so am I after a good night's sleep!