Day 24 Christmas Eve on the Homestead.

Christmas Eve is usually the day where things don't go just quite right.  For me , it began at work.

Someone left my chair decorated with Christmas cheer.  It was slow....very slow. Teams were sharing goodies they brought in.  My whole team was lucky enough to all have the day off.  It gave me time to really read email and clean it out.

Half way through the day our neighbors call to see if we lost any goats...huh? Not us but if you don't know who's they are we can hold them until you find the owners. I wasn't home but still working. I call  home and one of our friends and her nephew had just arrived with a plateful of cookies.  Dude said hop in the truck we are going to pick up some goats to hold for someone.  Never a dull moment.

It was fun for my friends who came to visit and drop of cookies to see our day. I drove up about this time.

Right then the honey wagon was pulling into the yard... you know the poo packer or in this case the Turd Hearse.  Company is arriving Wednesday and we don't want any issues.  Ah, the luxury of owning your own land, septic and leach field.

I went running out there to take pictures and learn about the process when half way there I was hit with the smell!  The guy pumping it out looks and me and says, what?  Ohmy, I don't know how one does that turdy, uh, dirty job.

Just then my friends say it's time to leave... smiles and head out. They are such wonderful friends and great sports! 

A big thank you to our neighbors Terri and Blake for rescuing and finding the owners of the goats.  We found out the names of the pygmy goats were Chaos and Fury.    ...and we were able to meet our new neighbor Alex! 

The rest of the evening was laughter and family. 

Merry Christmas everyone.  Sleep well. 

peace 

Day 11 Goats

We moved here thinking we would raise Alpaca but ended up beginning with goats. We have raised Nubian, Boer, and Alpine goats.  They are fun, naughty and extremely smart... and at times the males, can be scary.

We loved every one of them.

This is Ethel and where it all began. She was raised in a human crib in the house while we went to work. She had been living with an elderly woman with a weak heart. The woman had her in the bed with her lined with piddle pads for the wee kid.  We decided to take on the goat hoping the woman would take her health as more serious than a goat's.  Ethel did not want to leave the woman and screamed when we took her from her and home with us.   Ethel learned to love to ride business chairs on wheels.  She would run and jump on them sending them flying across the room while we remodeled and ripped out walls in the house. 

This is Fred. He wouldn't behave at all when we first got him... until we found he spoke only Spanish. At that point he began to understand.  Do assume they are all ornery … they might simply speak another language.

Goats do not have upper teeth. 

Ethel was the best mom!

She loved to party!

Fred was always curious of how the humans lived.

Ethel LOVED to ride in the car.  This began on a day we had to outrun a tornado and we were not going to leave her behind.

Yes, there were once a few trees on the back lot... until the goats discovered them.

This is Norman.  A very sweet male . He didn't last long as he got a goat disease and had to leave.

My favorite kissing goat is Angelo. Oh how I loved him.  He is now someone's pet living in Brighton.

Angelo and his brother Patch.

Ethel had many children. Here are a few, Two Socks, Heidi, Ethel, Angelo and Patch. 

Then we got Nubians to make cheese and milk.  

 Then we got Nubians to make cheese and milk.  Pepper , Running Water, and Peppy.

This is Skippy. He was full of love .  He eventually became a stud on an Alpine milk farm. 

Norman often prayed in the sunlight. (or is that Son Light?)

Running Water.

Felonious... a very gentle guy. 

Peppy talking to Libby.

We enjoyed the time we raised goats. 

peace 

Moving toward our goals

I have begun to move toward some of my goals. Dude has his own such as getting calves and setting up a model train but here are few of mine.  But, as every day begins we will begin the blog with our morning feed.

We had a few visitors looking for a handout. 

We keep all our feed in the shipping container. 

The geese were rather talkative and I thought they were hissing at me but later found the dog had come in with me and was eating goose poop. 

They were very disapproving... as they should be. 

Dude began putting the roof on the bird house.  This will be for starting out our chicks  - hens, turkeys and meat birds plus an area for milking the goats out of the cold.

As you can see it is very dry here and we are almost in drought. We get small  minute rains or snow but nothing that sticks around.  We are having an unusually warm winter. 

We are getting spinach with the warmth still. 

and cilantro. 

Everything else is waiting for spring. 

I set goals for myself at the first of the year, put them where I can see them daily(the refrigerator at home and my desk at work) and I am not wasting time to meet them. 

Here are how a few are coming along. 

1 - for learning to build something, I found an easy table for Dude to teach me to built.

2 The bird house is above and Dude is whittle away at that one getting the roof on. We raise all the chickens we eat throughout the year and hens to lay eggs along with a few turkeys.

3  Getting new Nubian goats for milking, is already in the works . We sold our other ones to pay medical bills and we are just waiting for the sale of the horses this weekend.  We can't spend money we don't have. 

4 Save $5000 this year.  I found this free printable tracking sheet here. It will require discipline and no more stops for caffeine on the way to work or going shopping at lunch. 

I am feeling inspired and hopeful for this new year.

peace