Still Alive

Sorry there haven't been any updates this week.... we've been sick and I've been just getting done the bare minimum things, like getting everyone fed and cleaned up. Tuesday, Shawn took off work... we were both really sick and had had a bad night Monday night... we were both coughing like maniacs all night and ended up eating cup a soup on the couch around 3am in an effort to calm down the coughing.

So Tuesday, when he was off, we made the trip into the walk in clinic in Kanata. Its a very different experience from the urgent care clinics in Kitchener... much less busy... much quieter... they play a movie in the waiting room that you can actually hear... and you don't acquire many more gray hairs while waiting to see the doc.

We arrived at the clinic at 9:30am and then we were all done filling our prescriptions and ready to head home at 11:30am (plus we had to drive to the drug store in there, as they don't have one onsite at the clinic)... so not too bad at all. The doc said we both had bronchitis, gave us zithromax and a puffer for me (which i didn't fill, I left in on file at hte drugstore in case I decide I need it, which I don't think I do.)

We spent most of Tuesday afternoon sleeping and felt some better that evening. Shawn went back to work on Wednesday and is there today. Neither of us feel great yet... but better than Tuesday... still, I would've thought I'd feel quite a bit better by now... my throat still hurts... and my ears too.

The goat babies are doing fine and are settling in... the crazed "scream like you're being murdered" has subsided and mostly only happens at feeding time now.... or for a few minutes after I leave them to go in the house. They are eating well... pooping well... all the main things. They are very friendly and interested in everything you do.. so much so that I'm attempting to train them to not jump on me constantly and not to mouth me the whole time I'm in the goat nursery!

They would be far more entertaining if I didn't feel like death this week... walking out there a couple times a day to check on them, feed them and hang out with them is about all I can manage... its too bad we had to be so sick for their first week here... oh well.

As soon as Shawn and I can walk more than 50 feet without being exhausted, we'll start trying to teach them to lead. I bought dog collars and leashes for them... I had lead ropes, but they all have huge heavy clips on them that I thought were just a bit overkill. The collars need more holes punched and burned into the nylon before they will fit... again, once we have enough energy, we'll do that.

They did entertain me from the bedroom window for a while yesterday... they were running and chasing each other around and around the nursery pen, jumping obstacles, etc. Quite amusing to watch.

It's kinda weird to have such small livestock... I'm used to horses, drafts at that... and more distantly, cattle. The goats eat and drink almost nothing in comparison. A handful of hay (like a 1/3 of a flake) that would be a quick snack for a draft horse, feeds the both of them for about 1/2 a day. I'm not even feeding ONE full flake of hay per day!! And there's waste... they don't even clean that all up!!

I have an 8 quart bucket... smaller than those plastic flat back buckets that I have for horses and they drink *maybe* a 1/3 of a bucket a day... between TWO of them! For a draft horse, they would drink between 3 and 4 larger buckets of water a day!

They do eat a fair bit of grain, probably more than they should, but I'm not positive yet... I have 2 rubber grain pans, that hold about 2 quarts each... total per day they are getting about 4 quarts of grain, shared between the two of them... so about 2 quarts each per day, spread out in two feedings. (I'm sure I made that more complicated than need be!)

I would like to see them eat more hay and less grain, but that'll have to happen gradually and I'm working towards that. They also nibble the grass in their pen, but they are not grazers like cattle... they are browsers, more like deer. In fact, they are very much like deer. They would rather eat bark and your bushes in your garden than the grass. They love the dead leaves they find on the ground.

A couple people have asked if I'm enjoying them... and the answer to that is complicated by the fact that I've been so sick this week. I think I'd be enjoying them better if I wasn't sick and having a hard time mustering the energy to walk out there, never mind feed, water and clean up after them.

Hopefully, I'll be better by next week and will be able to give a more positive answer! :)

Anyhow, that's about it for now... time to go rest again.