We have kids!

Well the buck kid must have read my post about being well behaved, and he cleaned up his act. On Sunday, June 16, we came home in the CR-V with 3 registered Saanen dairy goats: the black momma, Lucille; her doe kid, Helen; and a buck kid from a different momma, Jack. Saanens are usually all white, the ones with color are called Sable Saanens. Full black Lucille is unusual for her breed, but it's not so unusual that she would have a white kid. Helen is wearing the collar so we can distinguish her from Jack, but as they are growing, Jack is built more like a boy, and Helen is developing some black markings, including a black stripe down her back.

Lucille was named by The Husband, and I chose Helen and Jack because they are family names related to a different Lucille, my Grandmother Helen's cousin. Of course I had to get permission from my Uncle Jack to use his name for a goat, but we might still change his name to Bucky Pizzarelli (the goat, not the uncle). That's another story for another day.

The weather has been kind of strange. Too hot, then too cold, then almost perfect like today, which is just a bit too breezy.

The little hen that lays the little blue eggs is still the only one of the 4 babies who is laying, and she is doing a great job of giving up those little treasures almost every day. It is the crazy summer season here by the lake, and Anna is selling my eggs in her shop faster than the girls can lay them. Watch, the babies will kick in just as the season winds down, and then we'll have to be more creative about using up all those good fresh eggs.

I wonder if goats eat eggs?

Such a proud momma I am!

I didn't think I would get eggs from the chickie babes for at least another month—but look what was in the nest box today! My first little blue egg! (Maybe this explains all the squawking and singing I heard from the girls this morning...) It is from the Araucana mix, the honey and grey colored one in the photos. Not only is she a pretty girl with interesting feathers, but she lays interesting eggs as well.

Red Meanie, who was attacked over a month ago by the dog across the street, is still recuperating with the little girls in their satellite coop, next to the garage. Maybe it's because 3 of the 4 babies are Rhode Island Reds, like herself, that she likes to hang with them. Or maybe it's because she wants to be as far away as possible from Ben (the dog). The babies are all now free ranging like the other big girls and Roo, but unlike the big kids, they don't travel far. Meanie spends most of the day with them back here by the house, only occasionally going out to the real coop by the road. Their favorite place to hang, all 5 of them, is under the car in the driveway (third photo).

I am nearing the end of my treasure hunt in Chazoo's barn. I did one more pick-through yesterday and found a few cool things, but I have been through almost everything already. There are some folks who are coming to buy a few more things next week (I hope) and then I am going to call it quits. When I finish I will post on here the fun stuff that I succeeded in selling on eBay and Craig's List, and let you know my total earnings. I am close to $300 so far, but I only keep half of that. Still, it is nice to be paid for having fun.

Goats are coming!

We went to Karen's farm today to meet the goats we are thinking about bringing to Lester's Flat. She offered us a doe kid, and a buck kid, both just a few weeks old. One was born the day before my birthday, one a couple days after. The black doe is momma to the doe kid, and the buckling belongs to a different momma, but he nurses off this momma as well.

We thought we might take all 3, but now that Karen has them all in together, the buckling is pushing the doe kid away from the milk. If they all work it out before Karen delivers them next Sunday, we could still end up with all 3, but probably will get only the 2 girls. Note to little bucky: behave yourself and you might get to come along for the ride!

They are sable Saanens—anything other than white is called sable. The doe kid, on the right in both photos, has some grey markings on her nose, back and tail, and she will probably get more grey as she gets older (don't we all!). The buck kid will probably stay pure white.

As for the closeup of the brown girl (I think she's an alpine) she was trying to convince The Husband that she should come home with us instead. She doesn't have any babies, so we'd have to take her and her BFF, the white girl in the background. She was quite the fresh girl, biting us both while we weren't paying attention. Quite the personality...and it almost swayed us both.

Still spring in mid-June

I prefer the spring-like temperatures in June to the 90° we had in May. I really thought that "spring had sprung", so I planted up the large pots (above) only to have the weather go from 90° in the daytime to 30-something° at night just a few days later. I lost about half of what I had planted. The apple trees that are always FULL of blooms were just starting to open their blossoms when the freeze came through and killed them all. This may be the first year since coming up here that we get no apples at all!

Thankfully there have been no further chicken health dramas, and all of the injured are recovering. Roo, with his naked, feather-free butt, has been somewhat humbled by his Jack Russell encounter, but not so much that he still doesn't try to kick me now and then. The baby chicks are almost adults now. It's good that they will start laying eggs soon, in the summer when all the egg-buying folks are here in the North Country. We are selling about 3 dozen eggs a week, and could probably sell more if we had them.

I put up an ad on Craig's List last week for "Fresh Ham and Eggs." Yesterday, a very nice gentleman with the last name of Meyer (my unmarried name) bought $78 worth of hams and bacon. He was kind enough to tell me that $3 per pound is too cheap, so next go-round with pigs we'll have to up the prices to $5 per pound, at his suggestion. I took down the Craig's List ad and will have to retrieve the flyers I posted around town—we'll save the rest for us and for friends. Some friends and family members have expressed their disgust at our sending the cute piggies to "harvest," but as Mr. Meyer stated yesterday, it is nice to know where your meat comes from, and that the animals were well cared for. He tries to buy all of his meat locally, and none from a grocery store, and that's an admirable goal, I think.

Big babies and another JRT attack

The little girls are getting big, but not big enough to start laying eggs. We have 3 Rhode Island Reds and one Araucana mix, otherwise known as an "Easter Egger" because it lays funny colored eggs—blue, green, aqua or even olive. I think you can figure out which one she is in the photo!

In the smaller photo, you can see a red baby compared to a Red Meanie. Since being attacked by the neighbor's dog, Red Meanie has taken to hanging out with the babies. I can't blame her for not wanting to go back out front with the big girls and Roo (you can see her tail feathers still haven't grown back).

Just yesterday, the same neighbor's dog (Ben, the adorable JRT from across the street) is probably the bad boy who attacked my poor Red Momma and Roo. The Husband was mowing out front and found a trail of white feathers, a lot of them, leading to the farm next door. Roo is the only white chicken we have... None of the chickens were anywhere to be found...

First he found a bloody Red Momma (the one who was pecked naked by her sistas) and then the rest appeared from their hiding places, including the ornery Roo who was missing his tail feathers, all of them. At least we know that he was trying to protect his girl, and got his butt bit in the process.

Red Momma is recovering, but she laid a bloody egg today, so I worry that her injuries are more serious than we can see...

The big fish, the big razor, and the really big Vampire Mickey Mouse!

Chazoo's barn and house, which are adjacent to our property, were for sale since before he passed away last summer. It came off the market, and his daughters are now ready to put it back up. Just recently they sent me keys so that I could go through all the stuff that is left in there, and try to sell as much as I can. LOTS of stuff, that's why I haven't been on here lately!

I get to keep half of what I make—which was the inspiration for putting some things up on eBay, something I have never done before. (The 8-ft tall inflatable Vampire Mickey is up for auction with only a few hours left...get your bids in early!) I've also been bringing back a few things for us, mostly some old local history books and other funky things like an old set of pool balls. I had my eyes on the big fish in the big photo, but The Husband wasn't feeling the love for it, so I quickly found a home for it with Cousin Greg. At least the big cool fish won't end up in a dump somewhere.

And, tell me what this big old heavy metal razor was for? It weighs a ton! There's lots of real treasures in there for the picking...but I am not sure that any of them are really worth anything...

The price of Chazoo's Farm is down to $50k for the barn, 2 beat up old houses, and 4 acres. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that some history-loving folks will see the beauty of this place!

Finally, thanks to all who have asked, Lester is still hanging in there, and doing better than expected—back to being his old Pester self!

Happy Birthday, OR Sis!

This is your virtual birthday card, Jo. Hope you have a great one out there in OR. Found this pic of you looking fabulous (and surprised!) just coming into your wedding shower. Hope you like it better than your "noody" pic from last year!

Sophie in the spotlight

Sophie was feeling a bit left out with all the Lester posts. As usual, she spends most of the day napping on the sofa. She's still sporting her shaved belly from the ultrasound she had back in January—evidence that Lester isn't the only old dog in the house.

Both are doing well. Things have calmed down at Lester's Flat, just in time for spring weather to finally kick in for good (we hope). Lester is peeing in the house less often, and waking me at night less frequently. In fact, Sophie is picking up the slack and waking me a few times on her own just because she can, which might explain why she spends her days sleeping on the sofa!

We did have some excitement (on Little Sister's birthday) where Ben, the Jack Russell terrier from across the street, grabbed Red Meanie (hen) and tried to make a picnic lunch out of her. She was very much beat up in the process, but is now recovering nicely, feathers growing back. And the baby chicks are babies no longer—they are about the size that the others were when we got them last year. We still have them somewhat separated from the rest; they are keeping Red Meanie company in the satellite coop/chicken hospital.

I have to get some photos of the babies soon, but Red Meanie is not quite ready for her photo shoot... Stay tuned.

Lester

Regulating the dosage of the phenobarbitol will hopefully prevent future seizures in the poor old guy. He had another last Friday (April 20) this one with a bloody nose. The vets are suspecting a brain tumor or lesion, which means he probably doesn't have much time left, but as long as the seizures stop and he is relatively stable, he gets to hang around with us a bit longer. As far as I am concerned, as long as he is still enjoying his walks and begging for food, he is my big old guy and not the poor suffering dog that you would think he should be. The down side is that he appears to be blind in one eye, mostly deaf, peeing out of control, and losing more and more use of his already aching back end. Hang in there, Lester!

The weather has been cold for spring, with snow flurries, hail, sleet. There have been a few great days here and there, but nighttime temps have been in the low 30s and even 20s.

Since I have been getting up several times a night with the big old dog, I am praying for warmer temps to make both of our lives easier.

Happy Birthday, little sister!

My youngest sister is the only person I know who treats her own birthday as if it were a national holiday every year.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY little sista! Hope you had a very enjoyable day receiving all of those phone calls and texts.

BTW, my hair used to be that curly!

The Old Guy rallies

Lester had a total of 4 seizures since the last post. He is on a low dose of medication to prevent them (phenobarbitol) and it must be working because he hasn't had a seizure since Easter Sunday at 3:30 am. He has good days and bad, but I think now that our friend Dr. Lucy has straightened out the dosing, the Old Guy is on the mend. We still don't know what is causing the seizures, and that could be any number of bad things, but at least my old pester's personality is coming back.

We had a nice long walk on this lovely spring-like day. We went to see our favorite mechanic, who keeps a big box of big Milk Bones in his office. Lester wanted me to post these photos so that everyone can see he's back to normal. Let's hope that normal lasts a good long while!