A date that included flowers, dinner and a hotel room ;)

It wasn't even our anniversary.  Isn't James a romantic husband?  So what if it was his publisher who arranged our date, he had 4 hours of meetings and I had to walk around our nation's capital alone.  Seriously, it was a nice time.  Our drive there was relaxing.  We were reminded what it was like to live in a big city as we approached DC.

Did I say our drive was relaxing?  Well it was until we got into the city and I was afraid James was going to have a fender bender or worse.  Having worked there in a past life (BK), he knows the city better than I do but still I was nervous and I bit my tongue (sometimes) as he changed lanes at the last minute and came this close [ ]  to hitting at least 20 people.  Just kidding.  He did get us to our hotel safely and I relaxed again.

He had to go to his meeting right away so I took the metro to the US Botanical Gardens.  When I got there all I saw was a small area of plantings and I was disappointed there wasn't much in bloom and there wasn't much to see.  Ahh, but once I discovered the inside gardens I was very pleasantly surprised.  There was an orchid exhibit, which was beautiful, a jungle room, children's garden, Hawaii room, a desert and a lot of other things to see but I won't try to describe them.  You'll just have to go and see for yourself. 

 It was cool and windy and after having lunch I went back to our hotel room to warm up and take a nap, something I wouldn't have done at home. 

We met some friends for dinner at Zaytinya.  That was probably the highlight of our trip and I'm not just saying that because they read my blog.  The restaurant serves Turkish, Greek and Lebanese cuisine mezze style.  Each of us ordered 2 or 3 dishes and they arrived one or two at a time on small plates placed in the center of the table for everyone to share.  It was delicious and makes me want to be more creative with my cooking, though not tonight.  Tonight we're having turkey pot pie, something you wouldn't find on Zaytinya's menu.  It was a nice evening.

We went back to our hotel room and watched HGTV's Selling NY and Selling LA.  We no longer have satellite at home so it was a luxury to lie in bed and watch TV. 

We left after breakfast and headed toward home sweet home, my favorite place to have a date with my sweetie.

The devil made me do it

I try not to embarass James more than a couple times a month.  No really, I do.  There are sometimes though, I get carried away and let loose and, well, I don't try very hard. 

Friday night we went to some new friends' house.  You'd think I'd be on my best behavior since I don't know them very well but it was such a friendly group and I felt very comfortable with them.  I truly think it had nothing to do with moonshine, though I'm not positive about that. 

After dinner a guitar showed up at the table and we began singing.  This is where someone should stop me.  If I know the words to a song I can't help myself.  Even if I don't know all the words it's hard to stop me, which was very evident in Tom's and my rendition of The Devil Went Down To Georgia.  Sorry, Tom.  I'll do better next time, if there is a next time and we're invited back. 

It was a fun night with fun folks and James assures me I didn't embarass him.  The month isn't over yet. 

Remember Darla?

For those of you who followed my blog last spring you may remember how I shed many tears over Darla, her struggle with an abscess and our many trips to the vet.

Here it is a year later and Darla is as healthy as a horse and has kids of her own.  Yesterday she gave me two little doelings, Ruby and Remmy.  They're like little wind-up toys.  They found their bounce way faster than the large nubian babies.   They don't have to be as careful, I guess, because they don't have far to fall.  Ruby is the white and grey one and Remmy is black with a startling face.  Remmy is the more outgoing one so far.

One young boy who visited this weekend said he could sit and watch them all day long.  For those of you who can't do that, maybe you'll enjoy watching some videos.  They were taken this morning when Darla's kids were 15 hours old.  The other kids in the videos are around 3 days old.  Look at the difference in sizes and agility. 





When I went out in the barn this afternoon there was a real party going on.  Just about all the kids were awake and playing together.  It was fun to watch.

Small, medium and large.

Farm visits begin when babies arrive

It's no surprise we get more company once the baby goats arrive.  The last 3 days have been very busy.  James was gone for 4 days but I have to say, while I missed him, I was never lonely.  I should have taken pictures of all the visitors but unfortunately I forgot.  I did get a picture of our last visitors this afternoon.

It's interesting to see which goat appeals to everyone.  Today, out of 11 visitors the most popular goat, hands down, was Otto.

I would have never guessed that.   ALL the kids loved him.  I really thought the long eared goats would be more popular but, nope, all the tiny-eared goats (mini lamanchas) were favored.  How can you resist this?

They're all irresistable.  When folks leave I have to count my goats to make sure none disappeared.

7 BOYS!!!

I'm a little tired so I won't write a lot but I will post pictures.  In less than 24 hours 3 of my goats had 7 boys.  That's right, no girls.  Luti and Pessa had triplet boys and Flower had a single. 
In this video Flower's boy wasn't more than 30 minutes old.  The mini lamanchas are so much faster up on their feet than the full sized goats.  This little guy's name is Otto.  I was going to name him Billy Joe because of the song that was playing when he was born, but then I thought it was a bad idea to name a goat Billy.

Luti had her three boys this morning.  They have been sleepy most of the day and I worried one wasn't eating so I gave him a bottle.  He just can't figure out how to get her teat in his mouth.  He just licks it.  I call him Buffalo because his head seems a bit big and fluffy.  His brothers don't have names yet.  This first picture is Buffalo.

Look at the ears on the guy above.  One is always showing the inside and the other the back side.  I wonder if that'll change as he grows up.
Next came Pessa's boys.  She insisted in having them outside and wouldn't let me coax her into the barn.  Her babies were born in the dirt.  I keep wanting to call this lighter one a girl. 

I think I'll call this next little guy Felix.  This is my friend, Lindy Felix holding him.

I'm expecting Darla to kid in the next few days.  Is it too much to ask for one girl?

So far one chick hatched in the incubator today.  Another one is getting close.  

Hasenpfeffer and schinkenspeck burgers

That's what we had for dinner last night.

Still waiting for more babies

There's not much happening in the way of excitement here but it's been relaxing sitting and watching Poppy's babies explore the outside world and waiting with the pregnant moms-to-be.  The kids are very lively and have already seen a good bit of the pasture.  One of the little girls, Glory (short for Morning Glory, used to be Sambuca) will be moving to TN the end of this month.  I guess I need to start thinking about finding homes for the other 2 cuties also:(

Their little horns are growing like crazy so tomorrow we'll disbud them.  I've gotten much more relaxed about this but still hate it. 

Pessa, Luti and Flower could kid any time now.  Luti's udder is so big her legs hit it and it sways side to side.  She moves very slowly.  Pessa's udder isn't as large but her giant mid-section makes it hard for her to lie down.  She's very uncomfortable.  Flower, on the other hand, looks like she could wait another month but I know she's due now so I'm thinking she's only going to have one baby.  She still runs as fast as she always did and jumps up onto a 3 foot high wooden spool.  She and Luti were bred the same day but you'd never know it from looking at them.

Rest in peace, Foggy

This morning I found Foggy dead in his coop.  I'd like to think he died in his sleep of old age.  I had a feeling his days on earth were numbered because he had been sleeping later, standing in the sun for longer periods of time, his crow was weaker and 3 days ago I saw him lose his balance.  Yesterday seemed like a good day for him though.  I actually saw him mount a hen, which I hadn't seen him do in a very long time.  He crowed in answer to our other 2 roosters and seemed sturdy on his feet.  Yes, he was a little lazy but all the chickens seemed to be since it was a nice sunny day.  He loved hanging out in this roosterloo to sunbathe.

I cried as I buried him this morning in a proper grave.  He even has a headstone but that's mostly because Keri watched me bury him and I'm afraid she'll dig him up.  I will miss him, I really will.  I've never met a rooster as nice as Foggy.  If a rooster could be a gentleman, then that was him.

Goodbye Foggy.  It was an honor to know you.

Are you my mommy?

Clearly not.

Poppy's Triplets

Finally, some babies.  I've been reading about many of my friends' goats having babies and I was getting a little jealous. 

We woke up to snow on the ground and cold temperatures this morning.  I think we got 3 or 4 inches but most of it's gone now.  The snow stopped once Poppy's labor was in full force.  The first baby born was a boy and he was breach.  I had to pull him out.  The two girls followed quickly.  They're all very lively and took to nursing with no problem. 

Naming goats is fun.  This year I didn't really have names picked out.  I thought they'd just come to me.  Well, they didn't.  I did searches for names on the computer and said them out loud to Adam.  None of them stuck.  He said, "why don't you name them after my roommates?"  His roommates are all boys (Andrew, Sam and Corey) but I figured Sam and Corey could also be used for girls.   To make them a little more interesting I changed them just a little.  Each name could also be an herb or plant.

Meet Andrographis (Andrew).  Andrew has elf ears like his mom.  I think his coloring will lighten and he'll look much like her when he's grown.

This is his sister Sambuca, Sam for short.  Sambuca isn't an herb or plant but it's a liquer made from elderberry.  She's very colorful and has elf ears like mama and brother.

Every year Poppy has one gopher eared baby.  I love gopher ears therefore I love Coriander's (Cori) cute little head.  She looks much like Andrew except for the ears, pink nose and her coloring has more of an ashy tone.  I don't think she'll be gold like Poppy. 

Poppy seems very happy with them.  This is her 3rd time to kid.  The first time she had one, the second time she had 2 and then today, 3.  They're already trying to bounce.  I have to wait another week for more babies.  That's ok.  It gives me time to spoil these.