A century of life

I've always thought my PopPop was special.  I think all us grandkids (25 of us?) did.  When we were young he was a prankster and a story teller.  The stories were not always true, I'm certain of that.  As he got older he stopped teasing us and just became our sweet PopPop who still told stories we loved to listen to.  He and MomMom had 10 kids.  You would think having 10 kids would send them to an early grave but it didn't.  From the tales I've heard my mom, aunts and uncles tell about their childhood it's even harder to believe my grandparents could have made it to middle age.  Today is my incredible grandfather's 100th birthday.  Isn't that amazing?  He said he would live to 100 and he has.

Here he is in younger years.  Look how buff he was.

PopPop was a builder, a real fix-it man.  Even at 100, being nearly blind and deaf, he still has projects he thinks need to be done.  This fall he decided to tear out the windows on his screened porch because he needed new ones.  I doubt it's been more than 2 or 3 years since he's been on a ladder or on a roof he had no business being on.  When his children come to help him out he asks them to get him some grass seed or a hose nozzle or curtains or something.  I'm sure if he could see he'd have more projects going on.  Now he has to settle for mopping the floor and smaller tasks like that.  He loved to fish.  I wish he could still do that.

Yesterday our family gathered to celebrate his birthday.  I hadn't seen many of my cousins, aunts and uncles in years.  It was so much fun and even though PopPop couldn't hear or see much of what was going on he did know it was his birthday party and I think he enjoyed himself.  A fire truck arrived and he went out to see it.  When he touched it he said, "they're a lot bigger now".  PopPop was a volunteer fireman too.  He's the only survivor of the original founders of the Upper Makefield fire company.  He even helped build the original fire house.  Last night he made the news.


Seeing his smile at the end of the video brings tears to my eyes every time even though I've watched it at least a dozen times so far.

My mom told me he played guitar as a young man so I took a guitar to his house and put it in his hands.  He tried picking it a bit but I wonder what that's like when you can't hear.  He seemed to like doing it though.  He said, "I used to play one of these."  One of my aunts said recently he asked her, "do you remember this song?" and then sang all the lyrics to some song that was on the radio many years ago.  She said he knew every word and she had to sit and listen.

I wish MomMom could have been there yesterday too.

I have no idea what PopPop would say his secret to longevity is.  From what I've observed of him I'd say, be happy, keep busy, have lots of projects going on, do things you like, help people, look to the future and surround yourself with family and friends.

I better get off my butt and get busy.  I have lots to do and hopefully I'll have at least 49 more years to keep doing it.

A video to make you go "awwwwww"

How cute is this?

http://mashable.com/2014/05/21/goat-in-wheelchair/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Disorganized planting and moving animals

Many of the animals have been relocated again.  The goats and Keri are back to the field, this time sharing space with the cows and donkeys so I don't have to keep moving the milking machine back and forth between the goats and Raisa.  Also, there was a big hole in their fence here at the house and a few found their way out to eat the honeysuckle on the other side.  It's very chaotic at milking time and I haven't figured out a good way to manage things yet.  The goats, donkeys and cows coexist very nicely.  Keri and Raisa are still trying to decide who's boss.  Mostly they ignore each other.  If Keri chases Raisa because she's too close to the goats or me Raisa turns and chases her right back.

The pigs spent most of their winter with a whole 10 acres at their disposal.  Now they're fenced in a smaller area and I plan to rotate them around the 10 acres.  In the meantime we're planting food for them in most of the spots they've dug up.  Today we began by planting in the area they will end up in come Fall.  We planted watermelons, pumpkins and cantaloupe so far.  It's my kind of planting because there's very little prep work.  Wherever we saw dirt we made a mound and put some seeds in.

It's fun planting and not worrying about surrounding grasses.  I have no idea how many mounds we made today.  We didn't even put a dent in the bag of seeds or the field.

We also have corn and greens to plant.  I checked the 10 day forecast and there's not much rain predicted.  I hope we get some showers soon.  There's no easy way to water what we planted so far.

Kevin was also moved.  He never seemed to fit in with the other pigs.  They picked on him so he stayed away.  He liked the goats more but I didn't want him rooting on the side of the fence the donkeys and cows are on.   We couldn't have him digging up what we're planting so he's now living in the old buck pen.  I feel bad that he's alone.  Yesterday Baxter spent some time with him.  They seem to like chasing each other.  Maybe having Kevin on this side of the road will keep Baxter at home.  He really likes visiting pigs.  Moving him was a no brainer.  I opened up the back of the station wagon showed him a bowl of food and in he went, with just a little help from me lifting his back end because he was too short.  He rode nicely and followed the bowl into his new fence.

The mammoth donkeys are closed in a smaller space around their shelter so they can't eat too much and founder.  The ribbon I have around them isn't electrified but they don't seem to know that.  The goats can walk freely under it so the donkeys can still have company.  They like having the goats with them.  The kids stand with their front feet on the donkeys legs to chew on them or check them out.  Willo and Jaz don't seem to mind a bit.

Four little chicks are living in our basement till they're old enough to move outdoors.  Only 4 of 9 eggs in my incubator hatched.  I'm going to put some more in in a few days.  Maybe I'll have better luck.

Farm Days

Today Yogi Bear's Jellystone Campground had a Farm Day.  Everything had a farm theme.  The campground is just a mile down the road from us.  It's where Roxie (as a piglet) was kissed for the first time in their pig kissing contest.  Today Cricket and Little Girl got to visit the campground.  I'm not sure if they were kissed or not but they got lots of cuddles and scratches.

 The children loved giving Little Girl a bottle.

Cricket did really well on a leash.  Little Girl never strays far from people so she didn't need a leash.

Neither seemed to mind being away from the herd.

Baxter had a pretty fantastic day too.  He discovered the wallow.

I don't think the pigs knew what to make of him in there.

He's had a bath but he still stinks.

Censoring

Sometimes I say or write things I later think, did I really say/write that?   I hate that I can't un-say something or take back an email or text that has already been sent.  I can go back and delete a blog entry but then I wonder if anyone read it.  James has mentioned to me many times I should write a book about things that happen here on our little farm/homestead.  I've been writing down funny things people say or do who I meet here on our farm.  He suggested the title Uncensored Homesteading.  Uncensored Karen could be embarrassing and dangerous.  Take last night, for instance.

All it takes is a little encouragement from a friend and a little wine and who knows what may pass my lips.  James played keyboard with our community orchestra last night.  It was unusual and awesome because they were playing while the Dance Theater Of Harlem performed.  I don't know anything about ballet but I did enjoy watching these talented dancers.  There was no ignoring the male dancers' bodies on the stage in their very thin tights.  Even a few males (straight males) in the audience commented to me how impressive they were.   James doesn't know I took this picture of him after he was done playing keyboard and got into something more comfortable than his tux.  He looks much like those dancers.  James, I hope this doesn't embarrass you.

After the performance we went back to some friends' house and we were talking about the men in tights.  I began to say something but then stopped because there were 2 couples there who don't know me.  When I cut myself off my friend, Lornie, said, "oh, go ahead, say it".  So of course I did.  "I felt sorry for the xxxxxxxxx guy performing with the xxxxxxx   xxxxxxxx guys in tights".  Sorry for all the xxx's.  James censored this for me.

Maybe I should keep another blog and not tell friends or family about it.  One that only strangers may stumble upon.  In this blog I could write whatever goes through my mind, no censoring, pondering, editing whatsoever.  This way I wouldn't embarrass anyone and I could still humor myself.

I was very proud of James last night.  He played beautifully and, as always, behaved much more beautifully than his wife.  I may delete this blog posting in a few hours after I've had more time to think about it.

Five years, 1,857 pages, 239,319 words later

That's how long I've been blogging.  Actually, May 8th is Holes In My Jean's anniversary but I may not blog that day so I thought I'd mention it now, just in case the date passed me by.

I saved the pages in a Word document, that's how I know how many pages and words I've typed.      As I was saving it I saw so many things I'd written and forgotten about.  Some of it I'm proud of and some of it I wonder what I was drinking when I wrote it.  Just kidding, most of it still sounded like something I'd write today.  I guess we don't change much, do we?  I may not have changed but the farm sure has in 5 years and it's kind of fun reading about the new additions and how I look at things.

I still spend lots of time doing things that accomplish very little.  I moved the chickens back from the big field closer to the house and they're back to pooping all over the goat barn.  I discovered some of them were laying their eggs under the barn so today I spent a good 2 hours removing siding (waste of time) and then a floor board to get the chickens and the eggs one of them was sitting on out from under there.  Next I blocked all their doorways to get under the barn.  At least I hope I did.  Because chickens don't frustrate me enough, I have 9 eggs in the incubator right now.

It seems like there's so much going on right now.  I'm anxiously awaiting Mickey to have her piglets, though I have no idea when she's due.  The goat kids are old enough to go to their new homes. It's been an interesting kid year.  It seems the moms are sharing kids more this year.  In this picture the kid on the right doesn't belong to the mom it's cuddled up with.

Last night when I checked on the goats before bed I saw kids nursing off moms who don't usually allow strange kids to nurse from them.  I guess they're indifferent at this point.  This morning I had a hard time getting milk from one of Tila's teats.  I felt a small stone in it and it was blocking the flow of the milk.  I saw the kids weren't nursing that side either.  Later in the day I took a little dental floss stick and stuck it into the end of her teat and moved it around.  I removed it then squeezed and a large white lump came out and the milk flowed freely.  That was very satisfying.

I've learned that it's important to milk Raisa all the way out if I want to get all her cream.  I'd read that the cream is the last thing you get when milking.  Kind of like the way cream rises to the top of a milk bottle, it must also stay up top in the udder so it's the last to let down.  I saw proof of this yesterday.  I got almost 4 gallons of milk from Raisa and the last gallon was way yellower than the first 3.  The gallon on the left is the first one from Raisa, the middle one is the last, and the 1/2 gallon on the right is goat milk.

Raisa's cream makes very yellow butter.  It also makes very yummy ice cream, which we enjoyed again tonight.

Kevin Bacon still hasn't bonded with the other pigs, though he hangs out closer and closer to them.  I'm pretty sure he, Cooper and Cato (the bucks) are good friends though.  It's kind of cute the way the 3 of them are always together.

Baxter continues to escape the fence when he sees me in the field.  I got a phone call from someone telling me they had him in their car.  They were right out front of our house and he jumped in her car when she opened her door.  She said, "he's the sweetest little guy".  Yes, he is.  He's also a very active little guy.  She returned him to our driveway.  Today as I cut the grass he ran along side me for the longest time.  Then he did sprints around the yard, tumbling now and then, I guess because the grass felt really good on his back.  This was followed up by a dip in the creek.  He's the happiest pooch I've ever met.  I wish he'd stay in our yard though.  I think he and Kevin Bacon have also become good buddies.

The big donkeys are shedding like crazy and Raisa's calf, Windsor, stays an arms length away from me.  I don't know why I make him nervous.

All is well at Elk Cliff Farm and I look forward to 5 more years of blogging.  I wonder what I'll be writing about then.

The goats are excited about our geo-thermal system too

Our very old oil furnace broke 3 winters ago and James and I couldn't decide what to replace it with.  We heated with wood as best we could until we finally settled on a geo-thermal heat pump.  This winter was cold enough to convince us we had to do something before next winter.   The digging began last week.  It took them two days to get the very long, very deep trenches dug and pipes put in the ground and covered up.

There were 2 trenches that were 300 feet long so they had to go into the goat field to make it a full 300 feet.  The kids loved the dirt piles.  I thought they might fall in the trench but they never did.


The only one not happy about this work being done was Keri.  Usually Keri loves all people.  She's an in-your-face kind of dog.  She hated these men.  I think it had something to do with them bringing that loud, giant piece of machinery in with her goats.  She barked and barked and barked at them so I had to lock her up in a separate fence.  I was a little embarrassed.  I said things like, "she never does this".  I'm sure they didn't believe me.

The digging is done and now we wait for the inside equipment to come and duct work and interior mess to begin.  We're not going to know how to live with heat and air conditioning.  Or maybe we'll wonder how we ever lived without it.

I think 2 or 3 of the goat kids will be going home with one of the men when the job is done.  His wife came to see them this week.  They will be pets for their grandchildren to play with.  They really want LG, my bottle baby.  

Kevin

I belong to a VA farm bartering group on Facebook.  It's fun seeing what people put on there.  One day I saw a Tamworth barrow for trade.  The young lady was interested in trading for lots of different things, one of them being goats.  I have lots of goat kids that need homes this year so I said I'd be interested in trading 2 kids for her pig.  Actually, now I'm thinking the ad was on Craigslist.  Whatever.  She was two hours away and I wasn't really interested in driving that far since I didn't really need another pig.  Strangely enough, her grandparents live just minutes from us and she makes the trip this way pretty often and said she'd deliver Bacon.  That's the name she gave the pig.  I've decided to change his name to Kevin Bacon.  I think he has a strong resemblance to the actor.  Don't you agree?

He took to the name right away :)

I thought this summer we might have a pig roast and if we were going to do the slaughtering ourselves it would be good to start with a pig I hadn't raised from a little guy.  I'm not sure it's going to be any easier though because he's a friendly thing, rolls over for tummy rubs just like some of my other pigs and follows us around talking.  He's smaller than I expected him to be and super hairy.  I've never owned a hairy pig.  He's the color of Raisa.  Unlike our other pigs, his ears are erect.

Being the gracious hostess she is, Roxie promptly welcomed him by tossing him 8 feet in the air with her nose.  He didn't seem too upset by it.  Later the large black hogs chased him and were biting at him.  Baxter took his turn showing him how great his herding skills are.  Today I see they're leaving him alone and he's grazing closer to them.  It will probably be just a matter of time before he's sleeping with them, making their quarters even tighter.  It's funny how they choose to sleep all crowded together.  These arrangements will probably change soon.  Mickey appears to be heavy with piglets.  Every day she gets rounder.  She seems more winded and stares off into space.  Her udder is not developed yet so I really have no idea how soon it will be but I'm going to guess in the next couple weeks.

It's going to be fun having little spotted pigs running around.

Arrowhead Lodge

Have I ever written about Arrowhead Lodge?  I can't remember.

Four miles south of our house and up the mountain a ways is our cabin, Arrowhead Lodge.  It's what brought us to VA 16 years ago.  We bought it as a vacation get-away and then moved here about 5 years later.  I think that's right.

We moved to the house we're in now 8 years ago.  James can correct me if I'm wrong.  I'm bad with dates.  We go to the cabin/lodge every now and then, mostly when we have company staying there or if  James wants to practice piano.  Tonight we had dinner there.  We cooked out on the bbq pit.  No meal tastes bad cooked on this stone pit.

It was a lovely evening and Possum Run was hopping like Easter Bunny on a mission.  This creek is just out the back door of the cabin and there are 4 bedrooms just above it.  It's a great noise to be lulled to sleep by.

When Adam and his cousins were little we used to play Pooh Eggs in this creek.  Do you remember the episode of Winnie the Pooh when Pooh and his pals played Pooh Sticks?  The object of the game is to drop  sticks (or plastic Easter eggs) into the creek on one side of the bridge and see whose stick/egg comes out on the other side first.  In the case of the eggs, they often got caught in eddies and took forever to make it out without being helped along.  I feel certain Adam and his cousins have fond memories of this like I do.

Every now and then I tell James we should sell the lodge but on nights like tonight I'm reminded of how many special times we've had there and wonder if I'd miss it.

Wrestling for milk

Raisa's little guy, Windsor, is doing great.  He's a friendly little thing and seems to like us.

It appears he's only nursing on one quarter so her udder has grown to great proportions and it looks painful to carry around.  The past 2 nights we decided we should milk and relieve Raisa of her burden.  To get her in the barn we have to carry Windsor in there and put him next to where we want her.   I couldn't get a good picture of this.  I'm going to have to train him to a halter and lead because soon we're not going to be able to carry him.

Tonight was a bigger battle than last night.  Windsor seemed content to hang out with us.  Raisa knew what we were up to and didn't want to share her milk.  When she did get in her stanchion and tied in she wasn't happy and threw a hissy fit.  Many times she tried to jump out the small window.  She didn't, however, kick me, which I appreciated.  James watched and said he worries about my head.  He said he can see why people choose goats to milk.  She's been pretty wild and a helmet wouldn't be a bad idea.  Each night we got between 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of milk from her and she still had more.   She's a very dairy Dexter.  We're not drinking her milk yet and this morning the pigs enjoyed last nights' bounty.   I wonder how long it will take for Raisa to relax about being milked again.

The goats are really producing well this year too.  I'm not locking kids up at night so I'm taking whatever milk they leave me in the mornings.  This morning I got 2 gallons of milk from 4 girls.  That's pretty incredible.  I wonder what I'd get if I separated the kids at night.  I'm having a hard time keeping up with all this milk as it is.  I made 2 batches of peppermint ice cream today.

I like the way Raisa's barn looks at night with the lights on.

Raisa's bull calf

I knew when Raisa didn't meet me at the barn this morning that she had her baby.  I went out earlier than usual because I had a feeling today was the day.  Sure enough, there was a little black bundle on the ground.  I must have gotten there shortly after the birth because he was still very wet and she hadn't passed the afterbirth.  I wasn't sure what to expect from her or the baby since I've never been around new mother cows or calves.  I was pretty sure she'd be ok with me touching the baby but still I was cautious.  I didn't want to assume she'd be like my goats.  We talked a while (yes, WE did).  I gave her some scratches then got close to the baby with little reaction from her.  Neither of them cared that I made a fuss over him.  I saw very quickly that he was not a girl.  And, yes, I'm sure this time.  I checked more than once.  I even held him in my lap.  Check out this adorable face.

Like Raisa, he seems pretty long legged for a dexter.  

We were gone most of today so I only got to spend an hour or 2 with them.  I took Raisa buckets of water and some hay so she wouldn't have to leave him.  She was still standing in the same place when we left 5 hours later.   We went to see a Shakespeare play this afternoon - The Merry Wives Of Windsor, at the Blackfriars Playhouse.   Maybe I should name him Windsor, Shakespeare or Blackfriar.  

I've also considered Oscar, Stanley, Backus or Monk or.......  

I'll get some more pictures of him tomorrow when he's dry.

How can I make Jiminy a feminine name?

This morning I let the goats out in a more lush part of the lawn to graze.  I sat down against a tree and watched.  It's very relaxing to watch goats graze, even when kids are using you as a jungle gym.  Jiminy followed Cricket across my lap and as he passed me I thought, hm, his back end looks more like a girl's than a boy's.  I picked him up, studied his underneath and oops, poor thing, I've been calling her a him for a month now.  Even now, knowing she's a girl, I can't stop seeing her as a him.

Looking at Cricket's face there's no mistaking she's a girl.  She has a very feminine face, I think.

It has taken me a while to remember Pessa's kid is a girl.  She reminds me so much of last year's Paul.  She's stocky and big.  Her name is Mrs. Butterworth.  She'll probably look much like Pessa when she's grown.  If we had more space I'd keep her.   Like her mom, she's very low key.

Three kids have already gone to new homes and 2 more have been promised to someone but won't leave until they're weaned.  The only doeling I plan to keep is Luti's girl, Lucinda.  She's polled, which means she won't grow horns.   Neither of her sisters were polled.

Another thing I find relaxing is sitting in the field beside Raisa listening to her chew.  I think she likes my company too.  I wipe her eyes and keep the flies from them.  Watch this video again and again and then tell me if your blood pressure doesn't drop.

I think Raisa is going to have her calf very soon.  Her udder is getting huge and her body is showing signs that it's getting close.  I really want to be there for the birth but I have a feeling I'm going to miss it.  I missed half the goat births this year.  That has never happened.  I'm slipping. 

Ok, so it was a bad joke

To those of you who believed my April fool's joke and were worried or mad, I'm sorry.   I seriously thought everyone would figure it out.   I received a few emails, FB messages, texts and a phone call from worried people.  Some saying they were praying for me or concerned.  Also, thank you for the virtual hugs.  I haven't had people this worried about me since I posted "Bad News From The Doctor's Office", as a headline 3 years ago.  Of course, several of you didn't take me seriously because you probably don't believe half what I say anyway, which is probably smart.

Last week I felt like quitting and I know I'll feel like that again but there are too many things I love about raising animals to let a few bad weeks make me give it up.

Lily's two wobbly boys didn't survive.  I'm certain they were premature.  They never did stand, had very soft hooves and had no teeth.  I've milked Lily every morning since her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  She seems to be doing amazingly well, though I watch her like a hawk, so sure she's going to come down with an infection.  She is a wonderful milker and so well behaved on the milk stand.  I'm so proud of her.  She's skinny as all get-out though and I can't wait to see more meat on her bones.

Sunday was another very bad day.  I think it was Friday night when I went out to feed the bottle babies in the middle of the night, I found I had left the extra lock off the feed stall latch.  Remember this?
http://holesinmyjeans-kpannabecker.blogspot.com/2010/09/im-slow-learner.html  Well, I'm still just as forgetful and this time it was more distastrous.  Not only did Luti open the stall but she removed the lid from the trash can and must have filled herself up until she was sick.  I'm sure everyone else helped themselves too but they didn't get sick.  On Sunday morning she was down in a very bad way.  She didn't even want to lift her head.  By late afternoon she was unresponsive and I could hear fluid in her lungs rattling.  I dosed her with Penicillin and Banamine and cried over her and begged her to live.  Luti's only 7 years old and I had hoped to have her around for at least another 3 years.  She's our herd queen and the other goats really rely on her.  I was so sure I'd find her dead the next morning.  I couldn't believe it when I saw her holding her head up.  She was still under the blanket I had covered her with the day before (it was chilly and windy).  She drank two swallows of water and I was never so happy to see a goat drink than I was then.  She couldn't walk because she was so weak but by afternoon she would walk 5 steps then fall.  By nighttime she could go 5 to 10 yards.  Today she's out grazing but she's still very weak and spends more time in the barn than I'd like.  She doesn't want to eat anything but grass and hay.  Well, she did eat a little garlic bread and crackers I offered her, but no grain.  She's also letting her kids nurse and I'm hoping they bring her back into milk because she dried up a lot while she was sick.  I had been bottle feeding her girls while she was down.  I felt very guilty about Luti getting sick because it was all my fault.  

Tila is due in a week.  She's our last girl to kid.  Oh, how I hope she has only one kid and all goes smoothly.  I'm tired of our kitchen table looking like this.  I don't want to see a syringe for a long time.

I questioned what kind of master I was to my goats this week and can't imagine how I could take care of them if I had to work outside the home and leave them every day.  I don't know why this year was so much harder.  A friend told me to expect a bad time of it every 3 years when farming.  I need to go back and look at my blog from 3 years ago and see what happened.

Happy April 2nd. 

I'm done farming

I've shed many tears and lost lots of sleep over that past week, stuff I haven't shared on Holes In My Jeans because I've been too sad to write.

I'm not going to go into detail except to say it's just too hard and I've decided to sell all my animals except our dogs and parrot.

I'll write more when I feel ready.  I just don't know what I'll have to write about.  

Hardest kidding season yet

If yesterday's blog posting made you want goats, today's post may change your mind.

When I woke up this morning Lulu's eye was not only cloudy but it was swollen.  I called the vet and they said they could squeeze me in at 4:00.  I had also noticed that Lollie's eyes were crusty and stuck shut so I was assuming Lulu had pink eye and had passed it along to Lollie.  LG's eyes still look fine.

Lily is the only doe I kept from last year's kids.  I couldn't wait to see how much milk she produced because her mom, Luti, is my biggest producer.  For some reason I didn't write down Lily's breeding date so I had a 3 week window for when she was due.  Her ligaments in her back end got soft a few weeks ago and I was having a hard time guessing when she would kid.  Her body behaved very different than all my other does pre-kidding.

I spent a few hours cleaning out the barn this morning so I had plenty of time to watch her.  I was sure she was going to have kids today.  I was right.  She went into labor about 45 minutes before it was time for me to take Lulu to the vet.  I knew that would happen.  The last kid showed its face a few minutes before I should be leaving.  When I saw the afterbirth after delivering twin boys I breathed a sigh of relief - good, no triplets.  Then she had another contraction and screamed as she pushed again, hard.  What she pushed out was not a kid.  It was her uterus.  James and I stared at it in disbelief.  It looked like a giant jellyfish and I couldn't tell what was what.

I quickly called the vet and told them I was due there in 20 minutes but had another emergency.  They asked if we could drive her there.  James wrapped Lily and her dangling uterus in a blanket and we were able to lift her into our station wagon/farm mobile, along with her twins and Lulu.  The vet showed up a little after we did.  He was out on farm calls.  He was so matter-of-fact and relaxed about it all.  Everything he did to Lily was done in the back of our car.  He kind of cleaned up and then with great effort pushed her uterus back in and then explained to us that he still had to turn it right-side-in.  I hadn't thought of that.  As he did all this he kept talking and answering all our questions.  After he got it turned right he got a hose and pumped water into it to weight it down.  Then he stitched her vagina closed with "the purse string suture".   The thread he used looked like a shoelace.  I couldn't see all this because I was in front of Lily holding her in one place.  James was in the back holding her backside up by her tail so he got to watch it all and asked plenty of questions.  He pulled some of the afterbirth out but told us to expect a little more.  He didn't pull the suture too tight that she couldn't pass the rest.  He told us not to forget to cut the suture sometime after 2 weeks.  I assured him we wouldn't be forgetting this.  A shot of oxytocin and an antibiotic and he said she was good to go.   Now we watch her and wait to see how she heals.  She doesn't seem at all interested in the twins.  I have her locked in a stall with them and I gave them their first colostrum I had in the freezer from the other does.  Lily didn't want to stand to let me milk her or let them nurse.  I gave her a shot of Banamine for pain hoping she comes around and warms up to her kids when she feels better.  I found her eating when I checked on her last so that was a good sign.  I also noticed the twins hooves are very soft like they're not fully developed so I wonder if they're a bit premature.  They're also slow to stand.  They're 5 hours old and I haven't seen them walk yet, though they are alert and wiggly.

The vet gave Lulu an antibiotic and sent us home with a syringe for the other two girls too.  He also put some terramycin in her eyes and I did the same to Lollie when I got home.

Right now I have 3 little diapered goats on the couch with me and that's nice.  We're all tired.  

Posing in PJs

I need to warn you, if you don't want a baby goat you probably shouldn't look at these pictures because after seeing them you're going to think you must have one..... or 2 or 3.  I went to Dollar General to get them diapers today so they could wander around the house more without me worrying they're going to pee on everything.  I couldn't get LG to stand still for a picture in her diaper.  I cut a hole in the back for their tails.

While I was there I also picked up some pajamas to complete the adorable look.   Modeling a multi-colored onesie  with jungle animals,  LG makes her debut on the runway.  

She wasn't the most graceful model.  She couldn't figure out how to move her back legs individually and lifted them both in the air at the same time.

Together Lulu and LG show how jammies with the feet cut out can be fashionable.

Lastly, Lollie wears a 3 piece ensemble, complete with matching hat that shows off her long ears.

I'm not so sure Lollie liked her outfit.  She was either crying or singing as she tried it out.

Lex looked very sad that I didn't bring him home any new clothes.

Playing dress-up is very tiring for little goats so, all wrapped up, they're now taking naps on and near me as I blog.

They all seem to be doing much better but they're not ready to re-join the herd yet, especially in this cold weather.  Yesterday I let them play in the basement and all they wanted to do was hover by the gas logs.  I had to put a screen in front of them because they wanted to climb on them.

A plug for some friends' blogs

Two of our friends are embarking on a new adventure and I'm envious.  Terry and Sharon are selling their houses and almost everything they have and going to Europe for a year.   I can only imagine all the interesting people they'll meet and all the good food they're going to eat, not to mention great wine.  They're both very funny, outgoing ladies and I know they'll come home (if they come back here at all) with loads of new friends.

James and I have talked about doing this kind of thing, maybe for 6 months or so, but would need to find a farm sitter for that time.  Maybe there's someone or someones who'd love to live here while we're gone.... Jon?  For the time being we'll just have to live through Terry and Sharon.  They've both started blogs and I hope they'll update them often.  They don't leave till the end of April but they've started getting ready.  If you'd like to follow along here are links to their blogs.

Terry's - A broad abroad    http://terrybackusabroadabroad.blogspot.com/
Sharon's - Where in the world is Sharon Daugherty?   http://wwwsharondaugherty.blogspot.com/

Triplet neglect

Of all my 3 girls that had triplets, each one of them has decided she only wants to raise the 2 strongest of the three so I'm nursing the 3 runts/unwanted kids in a crate in our living room.  It's been very slow-going and stressful.  Every morning I think I'm going to find one or more of them dead in the crate, that's how weak they've been.  As of tonight, one of them is finally sucking a bottle enthusiastically.  The other two I either have to tube feed or practically force feed a bottle in their mouth and then they barely suck.  Tonight James did the holding and feeding.  It was a better night.

Yesterday I did something I'd never done before.  I gave the 3 babies enemas.  I could tell they were constipated by the way they were standing hunched up.  I used warm soapy water and held them over a towel.  I won't go into too much detail but I will tell you it was a very good thing I did it and one of the girls has got to be feeling much better and lighter on her feet.  I had no idea they could get constipated on goat's milk.  Needless to say, having the goats in our living room makes our house smell like a newborn baby's diaper.

After naming Jiminy and Cricket I haven't been all that excited about giving the babies names.  I don't know why.  I know when I sell them the new owner will probably change their name but that doesn't usually stop me from giving them a temporary name.  After 4 days in the house, I've decided to give the       weak little girls names.  This may be a mistake but I feel like it's a hopeful message to them.   Luti's little girl is Lulu, Pessa's big white girl is Lolly and Respa's tiny little thing (the first one I began nursing) is LG for Little Girl.   In 6 years of raising goats I've never lost one except for stillborns, and I don't plan on losing these girls so I'm pulling out all the guns.  I won't feel guilty if I lose one because I really feel like I'm doing all I can for them.  Tonight I discovered Lulu has a cloudy eye.  I don't know if that means she's blind in that eye or not.  She's the one who is taking a bottle now and thriving more than the other 2.

The other kids are doing really well and it's cute seeing them all hang out together.

My mom and sister have introduced me to the show Dr. Pol, on NatGeoWild.  As I watch it I realize how much of this stuff he does is stuff I've learned either by experience or by reading all the goat, pig and cow forums.  I hope I don't need to learn anything more this kidding season and the rest goes as smooth as silk.  I'll let you know of the 3 crate babies progress.

How many goats can you fit in one stall?

Every night at least 4 of the goats cram themselves into one stall.  None of the stalls are bigger than 6 or 7 feet by 3 1/2 feet.  The one they're in tonight is only about 5 feet by 3 1/2.  Usually it's Tila, Respa, Cato and Cooper snuggling.  I understood this when it was cold but tonight was warmer and they got 6 of them packed in there.  There's a lot of moaning and chewing going on.  I don't know how they can sleep with all that noise.  They don't need a white noise maker like I do.

Tila was part way out the door.

As you can see there's plenty of floor space available and other stalls but they choose to sleep together.  Tonight Lily joined them since her mom, Luti, had babies and kicked her to the curb.  Just last night they were all cuddled together and were inseparable.   Poor Lily.  She'll have her own babies soon.  Tila and Respa (mother and daughter) still sleep side by side even though Respa has kids.

Here are 2 more kid photos I thought were cute and forgot to include in the previous blog post.