Winter Prep Continues

We've been busily working on winter prep for a couple days now. All the windows in the house have been sealed shut with removable caulking and our bedroom and upstairs bathroom windows have also been covered in heat shrinkable plastic. We still have to add the heat shrink plastic to Jess's room and the guest room.

We won't bother plastic-ing the downstairs windows, they've been caulked shut and that will do, I think.

A guy from Rogers cable finally came today... no not to bury my internet cable, I couldn't be THAT lucky (plus the ground is frozen) but he moved it... he tried running it under the driveway through the culvert, but couldn't get through there. The culvert is quite low and I imagine filled with "stuff". Yuck.

I finally talked him into running it along the overhead wires, across the driveway and then down the big evergreen tree in the front yard. It then runs from the tree parallel to the driveway along the front lawn to where it comes into the house. Now I hardly care IF they ever bury it.. I managed to not run over the cable on the other side of the yard with the lawn mower for the whole season, I imagine I can work around this. I'm happy now that it no longer interferes with the driveway. Now the snow removal guy can come when needed and I don't have to run out and disconnect the internet before the cable gets chewed! Yay :)

I also moved a small pile of scrap wood that was out by the new goat shed that had just been sitting there. I just threw it into the raspberry patch for now, but at least its out of the way of the snow removal guy.

The weekend before Shawn's surgery we also put up some tposts out near the new sheds to help keep the snow removal guy from hitting the sheds or catching the edge of the rubber mats I have out front. I think we're all set for him now :)

I still have a pile of "stuff" to move out of the yard next to the white shed... some plastic skids, some chainlink fence, a couple bags of soil... nothing major... I'm hoping to find space in the white shed and put it in there.

Shawn also clipped off the pop cans off the electric fence for the winter, so they won't fill with snow and ice and drag on the wires... he did that before his surgery.

I don't think you can ever be READY for winter, but I'm doing my best to plan and be as close to ready as possible. I'm sure I'll forget something vitally important... just not sure what that will be... YET :)

I'm A Bad Not-Updater

So its been almost 3 weeks since i updated. Time just flies.

Lots of things have changed, but more has stayed the same, which is how we like it :)

We got a new goat last weekend from a local horse boarding facility that was not really looking after his needs. His feet were pretty messed up, I already posted pics of them to the FHH album. We renamed him Grover to fit in with our theme and it seems to suit him. I gave him a good trim this week and now he's moving around quite a bit better and is peppier. The first couple days he spent a lot of his time laying down.

Grover is also quite afraid of brooms, shovels and pitchforks and the first time I found that out was when I was done trimming his feet and I had the other 2 boys locked out of the shed and I thought I would sweep up the nasty hoof trimmings before I re bedded the shelter(I mucked it out before so I could have a nice work surface, right on the rubber mats instead of on the straw).

I took the broom and started sweeping and poor Grover went ballistic and ran blindly around the shed and tried to climb the wall to escape. I stopped right away and only continued once I had turned him out with the other 2 and even then he moved far away from the door while I did it. He's been slightly better since, but he doesn't hang around if I'm working, unlike my other 2 that are always right in the way, trying to eat the tools and stuff!!!

He's also enjoying treats here... at first he was sure I was trying to poison him with a carrot, but he quickly figured out that carrots bits are yummy. Now he's almost as grabby as the other 2 when I have treats. Tonight I took them eat a feed bowl with banana, carrot bits and some peanut butter muffin that I made yesterday. They all inhaled and looked for more! Spoiled? My goats? ha... never! ;)

Shawn finally got his wisdom teeth removed on Monday... all went well and he's recovering nicely. He's more sore now at the end of the week than he was right after, I imagine since the swelling has decreased now there's a bit more pain. Mind you, he's not taking the prescribed percocet, either, just ibuprofen and tylenol, so that's not bad.

It was about time he got the teeth out, he was supposed to do it many years ago, but never had benefits etc... he had 5 wisdom teeth to remove and 2 of them were in a cyst in his sinus cavity. (Yuck!) Now once he's healed a bit, he'll go back to the regular dentist and get some work done on one of the back molars that was against one of the wisdom teeth... it has a cavity in it from the wisdom tooth being in crooked and food getting stuck between where it was hard to get out. Then he should be good to go for a while again.

Its been quite chilly here lately... at least it seems chilly to me... I've been cold all the time and am already wearing as many clothes as I did last year during the coldest weather... I dunno what I'm gonna do when it gets colder... freeze, I guess. I did get some nice long johns from Walmart (of all places!!) this year... they are black, come in "chunky girl" sizes and cost about $6 for bottoms and $6 for tops. I've been wearing them as pajamas also, they are so comfy :)

Buddy has been cold too... he's not as young as he once was... this week I ordered him a dog coat from Greenhawk and it came the other day. Its the same kind as I had for goats last winter... his is black (cause he's a tough guy! ha) and he likes wearing it. They are reasonably priced and wind and water resistant, I think overall a good deal.

I technically have enough blankets of appropriate sizes now to outfit all 3 dogs. The 2 younger ones don't really need them yet, but they might when it actually gets cold. Oliver doesn't have a really thick coat and when the wind blows he can get a bit shivery if he's not running around like a maniac. Pixie generally only gets cold feet, but she's not as young as she once was either and may appreciate another layer eventually.

I'm doubting that I'll blanket goats this year since they have a good shelter now... I don't think I'll need to... I hope I don't need to. Keeping them from undressing themselves is a pain :) When the weather is colder, I may just keep them locked up during the day to help conserve the heat in the shed... when its cold they don't go outside anyhow.

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Christmas is coming! It's like a month away! I think in general we're going to try to make it a little "leaner" Christmas than some...but there will still be a little something for everyone... just not overboard.

I have the vet coming this week to give the goats their shots... I would do them, but I vaccinate for rabies which only the vet can do, so she'll do them all for me... easier that way too, I often have to give them shots by myself and this way I can hold them still while she gets them. Plus, I like to have the vet just look at them now and then, at least once a year, to make sure I'm not missing something...another set of eyes and all that.

My internet cable is STILL not buried from last fall... I've been on the phone with Rogers all summer and fall and getting a run around. It MUST be moved before the snowplow needs to come and do our driveway. No way will they get it buried now, the ground is almost frozen. I had a brilliant plan that we would run it from the pole, through the culvert under the driveway and then just up the side of the driveway to the house. Seemed brilliant until we looked at it carefully and realized the culvert is very low and pretty much always under water... now ice. Poop.

Our latest scheme is I've scheduled Rogers to come out this week and assess the situation. What I want them to do is to run the cable back up the pole and along the overhead wires until its across the driveway and then run it down and across the front lawn. This would solve my snowplow issue and I'd be fine with waiting til spring to bury the damn thing. We'll see if I can sell the idea to the Rogers guy.

I found a local small engine repair guy through my mechanic up the road... I called him the other day about having our snow blower maintenance done... he came by about an hour after I talked to him and picked it up. We tried to start it to load it and when he pulled the cord we noticed it was just hanging by a thread... a very thin thread. He replaced that while he had it and did the maintenance (changed the oil, clean spark plug, checked belts etc, lubricate controls, inflated tires, checked gear oil) All that, plus he picked it up and delivered it for $81.95 bottom line. I thought it was really reasonable and great service. We had it back about 24 hours after he picked it up! So now our snow blower is ready and hopefully we won't need it :)

Our furnace guy is coming out this week to do a maintenance on the furnace and to get us set up with their maintenance plan. If nothing else, perhaps it will give us priority should our furnace go out like it did last winter, when my parents were here just before Christmas. He's also supposed to fix the furnace exhaust pipe and extend it so that maybe this year it won't get buried under the snow, which was what caused it to go out during that storm we got.

I'm sure I'm forgetting other very "important" updates, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
-- L

All Moved In!

Today we got the goat fence moved over to the new goat shed. They are officially moved in now. I added some pics to the goat shed album. They've been sleeping in the shed overnight though for a few days, since the snow storm the other night. During the day, I would halter them and walk them over to where the fence was and they'd spend the day outside... then just before it got super dark, I'd halter them and walk them back to the shed. Worked ok, but now things are more convenient :)

Now in the morning I just have to open the gate and the door and they can come and go all day long... at night, I shut them inside to stay warm and safe. There's a few more bugs to iron out with latches and stuff, but nothing major and I'll get those done this week. All the windows and shutters are currently fastened shut with screws, we'll get on to installing the mechanisms yet, but depending on the weather, we may wait until spring. I don't think we'll need the windows open before then anyhow! Plus, even with them shut there's lovely ventilation in the shed.

We also built them a new hay feeder today... nothing fancy, just out of wood. Hopefully it will help stop the excessive hay wasting. (Bert likes to stand on a new flake of hay that I give them and soon after that, pee on it. Then of course its no good at all and they scream for more, which they usually don't get... I'm a mean goat lady.) Bert seems to be a bit put off about it so far, but I'm sure he'll figure out he could just pee in the deep straw now instead... you know, like he's supposed to!!

We got the second inside gate hung properly this weekend also. We also moved the goat ghetto, the 2 parts of the goat shack (the cubes) into one area inside the electric fence for winter "storage". I cleaned up one huge lawn tractor cart load of dirty hay and straw from where the 2 cube shelters have been for the last few weeks. It was pretty wet and smelly and normally I wouldn't have left it so long, except I knew we'd be moving them soon and I was kinda busy doing stuff in order to get them moved. Oh well, I'm sure it didn't hurt them, its not like they were spending much time in the cube shelter lately anyhow, with staying overnight in the new shed.

We moved a bit of stonedust also... did the final grading around the goat shed... mostly just added some to go under the rubber mats at the front and back doors. We also put a load in the low areas of the tarped building and some on the grass (that I had sprayed round up on) in front of the tarped building. There's still another couple cart loads to be moved and we'll put them on the grass in front of the tarped building too and try to make it more like a driveway.

I'm cooking a sirloin roast for supper tonight... it was on sale at Farm Boy. Hopefully it will be good enough, its not a cut I buy usually, but it was $3.99/lb.

We still have small amounts of snow left around... where the drifts were in the fence line and in other areas. Its spotty, just here and there... the rest melted. Its pretty darned chilly again this afternoon... we came in around 4pm and there was a real nip in the air already!

The dogs are doing fine... Buddy is moving a bit slower these days... I think the cool weather and his NEED to chase Oliver around are making him a bit sore. He was feeling much better in the summer when it was warmer. I've been trying to keep him from chasing Ollie by having them take turns outside, but it still happens sometimes that they all go out together. Buddy has also had a sick tummy for the last few days. I gave him some pepto bismol yesterday and that seems to have helped quite a bit.

I think that's all what's new around here.
-- L

Goat Shed Doors Are Up!

We got both doors hung this weekend. I posted pics to the FHH "goat shed" album. One door was very easy and straightforward, the other needed to be adjusted slightly using the dremel tool. They both work fine, open and close... now they just need some hardware on them. We did put a hook and eye on each door just too keep the wind from ramming on the doors and either breaking the doors themselves or the hinges.

I got a bit more hardware cloth up, I just have one more large fiddly piece to put up... possibly tomorrow, I'll see what I feel like doing and if the weather will cooperate.

I lied when I said all the painting is done.... there's a bit more to do... we added some 1x2 to the inside of the door frame to act as door stop and then the few places we had to modify the door needs touch ups too. Nothing too much, but not officially done!!

We still have to find gates for both ends... the gates will cover the doorways and swing inside (the doors swing out) and keep the goats off the doors and will hopefully allow us to come and go and not let the goats escape easily.

So we're not quite done yet, but we're getting closer... at this point if we had to, we could move the goats in... but I'd really rather wait until we have the gates up... the door hardware on...the hardware cloth up... the final grading done outside... we're going to put a couple skids with rubber mats on just outside their door to help reduce the mud and give them a dry place to lay outside when needed. An eye hook for the water bucket needs to be hung... a hay feeder installed ... 2 tie rings where I could tie them inside to trim their feet or give shots... mineral and baking soda feeders need to be hung... all that "interior decorating" type stuff :)

I made a pot of soup earlier which we ate for supper... it was turkey with veggies plus we had a leftover prime rib bone from a roast I cooked the other night so I tossed that in and then pulled the meat off at serving time. It was definitely a soup kind of day... quite windy today and not really warm, but we didn't get any rain til after 5pm tonight, so a much nicer day than Saturday where we had heavy rain all afternoon and evening.

Not much else new around here... hanging doors took enough time that we didn't have time left for much else! :)

-- L

Dang It's Cold! & New Pics

So it seems that late fall has now arrived. Its cold and windy and has been raining (sometimes thick rain, but not quite snow... unlike some other places in Ontario!)

I've been working on the shed some more... installing hardware cloth over the windows and openings to keep birds and critters out and to encourage goats to stay IN.

I'm hoping to paint the first door tomorrow when its SUPPOSED to be sunny and a bit warmer... its a bit chilly today to paint.

I put up a few more pics in the FHH album... some in the goat shed album and a new album with a couple pics of the 3 dogs...gives a good idea of how much Ollie has really grown!

That's about it for now!
--L

It's Been 2 Months...

since we started the sod breaking on the goat shed. As of today, I'm all caught up on painting again, thank goodness, since the weather for the next few days looks iffy! Sounds like a long time to be constructing a shed, but I think its not bad considering we've only worked weekends and evenings (which are getting SHORT!)

I put up some more pics today of the trim being all painted and showing the beginning of the first door construction. We probably would've finished the first door today, but we ran out of the right length screws, so I'll need to pick up more. (Wish I'd thought of it when we were AT Home Depot earlier today!!)

I'm hoping to get the doors painted before installation, but we'll see how the weather cooperates.

As for things left to do on the shed... the hardware cloth can go up anytime now, over the windows and in the spaces between the roof trusses to keep birds and other critters out. I need to move some stone dust and finish grading.

I'm going to move some of our skids and rubber mats that we have set up for the goats inside the electric fence that is no longer electrified and put them just outside their door to the shed. It'll help keep them from churning things up outside the door and will give them a high-ish, dry-ish place to lay, which they like. Also very easy to just sweep up the poops and keep clean :)

The plan is to get this all done and the goat fencing moved over to that area before Shawn has his wisdom teeth removed the middle of November. I think it's doable, assuming the weather doesn't screw us! We'll see.

That's it going on around here... no time for much else! :)
-- L

New Pics Posted!

I posted new pics to the FHH album... I added to the goat shed album and I made a new one with some pics of Ernie and Bert eating thistles.

We got all 10 windows/shutters hung today and they turned out pretty well, I think. I still have some trim painting to do, I didn't get it all done this week, it takes a while for all that fiddly stuff. I'm hoping I get work on it tomorrow for a while... maybe while Shawn works on starting to make doors for the shed.

It was quite a cool day today with a good stiff wind... it was quite nice to get the windows and shutters up to help break the wind while we worked on the rest! Its nice inside the shed, I'm really happy with how its turning out! There are imperfections and maybe a couple things I would do differently if I was doing another, but mostly its been pretty smooth so far.

Its supposed to be -3C tonight, so I'm glad progress is happening on the shed, we're gonna need to put those goats in it soon!! Though they have a good layer of straw and unacceptable hay in their little shack that they snuggle into, so they have it ok, really. It will be a nice treat for US though when they get moved... doing anything inside their shack with them is a pain now that they are bigger. Its only 4 feet tall which was good last year when they were tiny... left lots of room for us. I'm pretty sure this year that Shawn and I and 2 goats could not all sit in there without someone shedding blood or something! We've not tried it though ;)

Oliver is all back to normal after his surgery.... everything is healing up wonderfully and I've started letting him wrestle with Pixie in the yard again. He's been getting pretty ansty and is very happy to let off some steam!

Not much else new around here... just been darn chilly. Even though its been chilly, I think I will have to cut the grass again soon... once I have some time and its dry enough and all that.

--L

First Filling Replaced!

I finally got the first of my two ancient fillings replaced today. They are about 25 years old and in rough shape... not bothering me... yet... so a good time to get them done.

Anyhow, I opted for the nitrous oxide since I was nervous and haven't had any dental work since I had braces as a teen, other than dental cleanings. That turned out to be the best thing ever! I highly recommend it to anyone that's a bit nervous at the dentist. For me, it made a big difference ... normally I lay there with every muscle in my body tense and have a headache and sore neck and shoulders after.

It was easy to get and stay relaxed with the nitrous oxide and yet you're still totally aware of what's going on and able to follow directions. It's a bit like the relaxed feeling that sets in when you have a glass of wine, that period between being sober and before you start feeling actually tipsy. The nice thing about it is it wears off quickly and you can drive right away when you're done, no problem.

It turns out that I'm kinda hard to freeze... they gave me one shot (where they stick you once and then move it all around) and then waited a few minutes... NOTHING. So they gave me another shot, again with the move it all around fun stuff that they like to do... still nothing. Then came the 3rd shot and my tongue started to tingle. We waited a few more minutes and then they started to work.

About 2 minutes after they started the drill, I jumped in the chair, I could totally feel what was going on! Yikes! So they stopped and poked around with their pokey instruments and then gave me injection #4 and we waited. My lip got a bit tingly and they poked around again to the spot that made me jump and I jumped again. On came injection #5!! This time it went right in the base of the tooth... and I felt that injection the worst!! OUCH! Actually I felt each injection, which was lovely, as that's my favourite part (NOT!!).

We waited another 15 minutes and then they poked around and I didn't jump so they got to work replacing the filling. After about 10 minutes of work, they were done! I took longer to freeze than actually get the work done! Figures!! So now they've labeled me a "hard freeze" and I have to go in early for next week's appointment so we have plenty of time to get me frozen before my appointment.

See? I don't just have a difficult personality, I'm difficult in every way!! :)

Needless to say NOW I'm good and frozen and will likely be for a few hours, half my tongue, my whole cheek from just below my eye down to about an inch above my collar bone. Pretty nice!

I looked inside my mouth when I got home and it looks nicer with a white filling than the silver one. I look forward to having the other one done too, but I dread the freezing going in... but maybe the gas helps make up for it, a bit :) I also have FIVE small bruises inside my mouth where they stuck me with the needles. Quite lovely.

I think the new filling is a bit high and might need to be shaved down a bit, but I'll have to wait until the freezing comes out to be positive. They told me I can just pop in and they can adjust it if necessary, it only takes a minute and doesn't hurt. So we'll see, right now it feels a bit high, but then again, I don't really trust what I'm feeling with being frozen up so well.

Anyhow, that's it for now.
-- L

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Hope everyone is getting lots of turkey. I made our turkey yesterday so that we could eat leftovers for the rest of the weekend. It was about 21 lbs, the biggest I've ever made and it turned out well enough. Not quite as good as Mom's, but I didn't have to sit in the car a long time either. ;)

I made a mistake when I bought such a big turkey, my roasting pan wasn't large enough to hold it! So yesterday we made a quick trip into town to search for a very large roasting pan. We found one, its a non stick one though and I'm not sure I'm in love with it. It did the job though and was very reasonably priced, I can't complain.

Today we made a trip to Home Depot to get supplies for making the windows/shutters on the goat shed. When we got home, we started to cut the wood and assemble them. We got 4 completely done (ok they still need painting, hinges added and need to be hung, blah blah) a 5th is almost assembled (our drill batteries needed recharging) and the 6th, the wood is cut and ready to be assembled.

We'll work on it again tomorrow and likely finish #5, #6, #7 & #8. We have two windows that will also have a wood frame with plexy glass in them for a bit of light, #9 & #10. We'll see if we get to those tomorrow or not. I posted a few pics to the FHH album in the goat shed album showing what they look like so far.

Then Tuesday, I'll have to get more paint and get started painting them and hopefully the weather will hold for me! It's been lovely weather this weekend and tomorrow is supposed to be nice again too... I could take months more of this weather for sure :)

Not much else new around here... same old same old. Ollie is healing well from his neutering on Tuesday... the incision looks good, no sign of infection or opening up and the swelling and bruising is starting to improve also. He acts like nothing happened except that I got really mean and am making him hold still too much!

I've started letting him off leash a bit in the yard by himself (so there won't be any wrestling!!) and he feels so good and has so much energy he sometimes just has to run and run and run. He tucks his scrawny little bum and just GOES! Its kind of a balancing act between him not hurting himself and allowing him to burn off a bit of steam. So far, so good. *Keeps fingers crossed* Not really sure how you're supposed to keep them still and quiet for TWO WEEKS!! That's insane :)

I did buy a prime rib roast at Loblaws (on sale) the other day and I think I might make that for tomorrow night's supper just for a bit of variety from turkey. We are enjoying the turkey leftovers though :)

Hope everyone enjoys their beautiful long weekend! *gobble gobble*
-- L

A Bit More Work Done Afterall

I posted earlier that we were a bit stalled out on the shed...true enough, except that I did finally motivate myself to go do a bit of work on it today. Its a lovely day out and I didn't want to waste it... who knows how many more there will be?!

I added a few trim pieces to the shed where I thought they were needed... nothing major, just finishing off a few bits here and there. Then I painted the triangle above the goat door blue to match everything else and painted all the trim I added and some that had been added before, the gray colour.

As of right NOW, the exterior is painted and done. This will of course change when the doors and windows get built, they will also need to be painted, but at least I'm caught up again!

I took pics of all 4 sides again and posted them... not that there's been any major change, but I'm trying to stay on top of the picture taking and posting.

I'm undecided about painting the kickboards inside the shed. They look ok now, brand new and all that, but I'm wondering if they would hold up better if I painted them and protected the wood. Goats aren't like horses that sometimes paint their own walls with their poop... its hard to paint with pellets ;) so I'm not so worried about poop stains.

I also wonder if painting them would keep the goats from chewing the wood... that's one way they are like horses.... they will chew... even a very flat surface they can scrape away with their sharp bottom teeth. Or would painting them just mean they'd be eating paint AND wood?

Definitely undecided. If anyone has any opinions about painting the inside kickboards or not, I'd love to hear them!
--L

A Bit Stalled Out

Our shed progress has been a bit stalled out lately. We've been busy with other things. My wonderful parents came for a visit last weekend to celebrate my birthday and Thanksgiving. Thanks for coming guys, it was a great visit!

Tuesday was Oliver's *snip snip* day... also known as the "Festival of Testicles" or "Brain surgery"... It went very well and he was home the same evening, a little groggy but happy to see us and Buddy and Pixie. Its a pain in my butt to try to keep him quiet and still... almost impossible. We take him out on leash with the other 2 dogs, but everyone tries to play anyhow, so we're taking turns who's in the yard and that's a pain. When Ollie is in the yard alone, I do let him off leash, he doesn't do anything stupid by himself and in fact is better off leash and alone than on leash and with the others. Plus, he's not real sure about doing "doggie business" on leash, so this makes sure he GOES! :)

His incision looks good so far and he still has some swelling that will go down over the next week or so. There's a bit of bruising also, but nothing major. He's hardly bothered by it at all, except to be annoyed at having to spend a lot of his time locked up in his crate. He's not started licking excessively yet either and I'm really hoping to avoid that part. We'll see what the next few days bring.

We're hoping to get a bunch of work done on the shed this weekend. So far, the forecast seems decent, hopefully it will stay that way!! We have 2 doors to build and 10 windows, plus work out exactly how everything will work, so I think that will keep us busy for the weekend, for sure.

Not much else new around here... fall is definitely here... some of our trees are bare or almost bare already, still some in colour, but we're definitely on the tail end here. Today is a lovely day so far, so I'll see what things I can get done today while still keeping an eye on Oliver.

--L

Oliver's Weight Update & Shed Roof

Our scale still isn't working... I haven't even gone looking for a new battery yet. I keep forgetting. Anyhow, I took Ollie to the vet today to get weighed for his October heart worm pill. I only had enough for the Sept 1 dose, since we knew by Oct 1 he'd be close to needing a bigger pill.

He's almost 6 months old now (we figure he was born the first week of April- ish) and he was 49.9 lbs. So its likely that by next Wednesday he'll gain another .1 lb and be ready for the bigger dose.

I looked back in my files to compare weights... Pixie at about 8 months (when we got her) was about 60 lbs.

I happen to have a copy of Buddy's paperwork from when he was neutered (from the Humane Society) and when he was neutered, he was 70 lbs. From the little bit of info we can piece together, we're pretty sure that Buddy was 8 - 10 months old when he was neutered.

Not that this gives us any real idea of how big he'll be when he's full grown, but I thought it was interesting anyhow. I imagine he'll be about Buddy's size when all is said and done. He's already taller than Pixie and is getting close to being as tall as Buddy.

Over the last two evenings, Shawn and I have put up the metal roofing on the goat shed. It's not quite done, we have to finish securing the edges and final details like that. Perhaps that will get done tonight, before the rain this weekend. Hope so!!

We've been taking Oliver out with us while working on the shed... he kept me company while painting earlier this week and then also hung out while we roofed. He's quite happy to be tied out near us while we work and chews sticks and chases bugs and stuff. He was a bit freaked out the first night I was on the roof. He was scared of me when I talked to him from up there, but he got over it. Oh the weird things we do.

I had a dentist appointment yesterday, for a cleaning and checkup and it went well... I do have to get my 2 fillings replaced very soon.. both of the teeth have stress fractures in them and I don't really want to wait and let them break. I have 2 appointments to get the fillings replaced in October, after Thanksgiving, so they just have to hold together until then.

Not much else new around here... working on the shed every evening doesn't leave us lots of time for fun or excitement... just the way we like it :)
--L

Yet Another Shed Update

We're still busily working away on the shed. I got all the painting done that can be done... there will be more once more construction happens. I spent about 5 hours on Monday, 6 on Tuesday and another almost 3 hours today painting it.

Tonight we also started putting up the metal roofing. We bought a roll of roofing felt the other day and we are putting it between the OSB sheeting and the metal roofing. We got about half the roof done before we ran out of daylight. It goes up remarkably fast, WAY faster than shingles!!

Shawn cuts about 15 feet of roofing felt and then passes it up to me... I take the staple gun and fasten it down before it can blow away... then I trim the top edge of the roofing felt... then Shawn passes one end of the metal sheeting up to me and I pull and he pushes until its in place. Once its in about the right place then I start screwing it down with roofing screws that have neoprene washers on them. I put in about 4 rows of 4 screws per sheet and then we do it again. Its awesome :)

Hopefully tomorrow night we'll get the roof mostly finished up... there will be some fiddly stuff at the end, but nothing major and it can be done from the ladder which is nice.

Tomorrow is a big appointment day... Shawn and I are getting our eyes tested in the morning... then later in the day I have a dentist appointment, just for a cleaning and check up. Rogers cable is also supposed to drop by at some point to figure out why no one has been around to bury our cable. I've been bugging them for quite some time now and just getting the run around. Love that.

The Carp Fair is on this weekend... not sure if we'll go... will likely depend on the weather and what needs to be done on the shed. So far, they are saying rain for the weekend, but they've said that before and we've had nice days... can't trust the forecast... especially not this many days in advance.

I think that's it for now.
--L

More Shed Construction

Shawn and I worked all day at the shed and got lots done. I posted a couple new pics to the FHH album for anyone that's interested.

We didn't get the metal roofing up today, it was rather windy and the idea of hanging out on the roof with 12ft long pieces of sharp sheet metal in the wind didn't appeal to us... perhaps tomorrow. There was lots to work away on anyhow.

We finished up the roof trussing... we added another truss to each end with support boards so now the OSB sheeting is well supported and should be fine for snow load. It was kind of a fiddly job, cutting the supports and attaching them, but was not too bad.

Somewhere in the middle of this job, we heard Buddy barking in the house... his real serious watch dog bark so we went around the corner of the trees and saw a car in the driveway... it was the JW's again (they were just by last week and Shawn went out to talk to them, clearly he was WAY too nice to them since they came back this week)... anyhow, *I* was out this time and walked over to them (they were just leaving the front door and heading to the car) and asked "Can I help you?"

It was a young guy and a young woman and the young guy spoke and asked how I am and all that. I answered and then when I got closer and was SURE it was the JW's, I said "We are not interested. Take us off your list. If you ever come back here, I will call the police and have you removed!" and we walked back towards where we were working. Once I was there, I stood for a minute and watched them, then pulled out my cell phone and pretended to be making a call... they sure left quickly then!! Hopefully they got the message and won't return.

Then went took a break and had lunch (just bbq'd frozen burgers) and went to Home Depot, you know, cause there's nothing more fun than Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon... UNLESS your home depot also has half of its parking lot fenced off to be repaved. Just lovely. Friggen chaos.

At Home Depot, we bought some more lumber, a couple 12 ft long pieces and then some 1x4 for the trim work. We also bought 8 sheets of styrofoam (24 inch wide x 8 feet long) ... we ended up buying the white beaded styrofoam stuff, it ended up being cheaper per R value and will be fine for our project. We'll cut each sheet in half (so we have 16 - 4ft pieces) and then we'll have to trim them width wise also, since the sheets are 24 inches wide and our studs are on 24 inch centers. A bit of a pain and will be a bit messy, but luckily we have 6 acres for it to blow around on, so no big deal ;)

When we got home, we unloaded everything and started working again... mostly putting up trim boards. I think they look nice and really finish it off. Also cover some, let's say, imperfections ;)

We worked til about 5pm and then Shawn was tired so we cleaned up and called it a day. I was planning to make dinner, but then I decided I really wanted chinese food instead, so we went out and got a combo plate each for supper.

Now its about 8:20pm and I was planning to shower, but we're having a bit of a thunderstorm... quite a bit of lightning... I think I'll just wait a while til it blows over... I'm such a chicken :)

Hopefully tomorow the weather will cooperate and we'll get the metal roofing up... that would be nice to have done and in the past. Then all the rest of the work is not too high up... we can reach it from ladders which is handy. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I think that's it for now.
-- L

New Pics Added to the FHH Album AGAIN

I added some new pics today... a few pics of the heavy frost this morning... a couple of a shed on the property we'd never looked inside of before. There was a good size tree in the way (which we've been hacking bits off of to feed to goats for a while) and finally took it down far enough to open the door. Its in very rough shape and has a horrible lean to it, along with holes in the roof and an assortment of junk inside, nothing good.

I also updated the goat shed album as we finally got some wall siding up last night. We got one long wall done and the other long wall started. The other long wall will have its siding pieced to help reduce costs. I think it will look fine.

We're planning to insulate the shed and finish the inside with 2x something wood (2x8's maybe?) up to 5 feet. The finished solid part of the walls will be 5 feet with windows above that.

The window design we have in mind so far is (homemade) windows that hinge at the top and have a rod attached to them to open and close them. Kinda hard to describe, but the idea is that if the weather is foul, they can be shut and keep the worst of the weather out and then during nicer weather they can be opened to allow some breeze through. We'll see how it works out.

I'm not aiming for a warm shed, often warm also means wet, which is very bad for livestock. Dry and cold is generally ok, but wet... not good. I'm a freak about ventilation when it comes to horses... I think too many people seal them up too tight and then wonder why the air quality sucks and horses have allergies, heaves and get sick easily. This, in my mind, also applies to goats... it worked out ok last year with their little shelter, so we'll see.

We've also taken great care when designing this structure that if the ventilation plan doesn't work out that we can modify it without too many structural changes. Hopefully this will let us fix any mistakes we make :)

The heavy frost this morning was not really a welcome sight, even though its long since burned off. It was a little too reminiscent of last winter and I don't really feel like I've recovered from that yet. Plus I have many things I need to get done yet in the decent weather!!

I've also made Ollie's neutering appointment (Festival of Testicles) for October 7, about 2.5 weeks. He'll be 6 months old and I don't want to wait too long to have it done... its TIME :) Poor little guy.

When I called the vet to make the appointment, they ask you about all sorts of options... its not just "here, take my dog and neuter him"... its "do you want an ECG done to check for heart issues before the general anesthetic?" ... "do you want blood work done to check liver and kidney function?" (to make sure his body can recover from the effects of anesthetic)... "do you want conventional surgery or laser surgery?" (apparently the laser surgery is less painful to recover from, but can take longer to recover from).

Of course, with options come costs and risks.
- ECG costs an extra $25. If he had a heart issue that we didn't know about, the surgery could possibly kill him.
- The bloodwork costs an extra $65. If his liver and kidney function isn't up to par, the surgery could kill him.
- The laser surgery costs an extra $60 - 80 (its weight dependent) and makes the recovery more comfortable.
- While he's "under" they will also microchip him for an extra $65 (which I will definitely have done!) so that he doesn't have to feel the large needle that's used. If he wasn't going to be under anyhow, he'd just have to cope and have it done, but since he'll be "out", it'll make everyone's life easier since he won't be near so wiggly ;)

I haven't decided which options we'll do yet, they don't need to know until the day of surgery. I'm really leaning towards the conventional surgery though, even if its more painful... its the tried and true method that's been happening for a long time... and the possibility of a longer recovery doesn't seem good, even if there's less pain involved. Seems to me he'll just feel like running around like a dork sooner and have a better chance of hurting something. Pain isn't always a bad thing.

So that's about all going on around FHH these days. We hope to get a bunch more done on the goat shed this weekend, metal roofing up, wall siding finished... maybe start insulating and putting up the kickboards... we'll see :)

Super Busy Day Here...

Our day started by having to finish up some details on the hay storage shed before our hay guy arrived with 50 bales. (I didn't know he was coming today until late last night.) We added the extra piece of OSB to the floor we wanted to, then dragged over 4 rubber mats and hosed them off and installed them. 4 mats doesn't cover the whole floor, but it covers the back half.

Then we quick ran inside and I made Egg McMuffins (are they still "Mc" if I make them?) and we inhaled those quickly. Then our hay guy showed up with 50 bales of hay... some of it this year's and some of it from 2 years ago... he's brought me some of it from 2 years ago before and its still lovely hay and the goats think its yummy.

We unloaded his truck onto 5 of our plastic skids, since the mats in the hay shed were still drying off. Plus he can't really get his truck too close to that building yet, between the stone dust pile and the ruts. Eventually we'll have someone in to clear away the grass and dig it down a bit and then put gravel down and make an extension to the driveway. I'd love if it happened this year, but I'm also pretty sure it won't. The stone dust pile does need to get moved though, I'm hoping to convince our snow removal guy to plow back there this year, even though its not a proper driveway. We'll see.

After our hay guy left, we moved all the hay to the building, using the lawn tractor and cart. That works pretty darn good! The shed is only about half full, I could put 100 bales in there if I wanted or needed to. 50 bales should be almost a year's worth, I would like another 25-30 bales though since my guys are bigger this year and will likely eat more this winter than last. We'll see if I can get it easily or not.

After the hay was put up and we admired our shed's usefulness, we then set to work putting up the roof sheeting on the goat shed.

4 of 6 sheets went up fairly easily (getting 3/4" OSB up 7 feet is no easy task!) and could be mostly fastened from the ladder. The last two sheets had to be positioned and fastened by someone ON the roof... ME. That went ok, its not THAT steep and we did screw a board to the edge to slow me down should I slip, which I did not :)

We were all done by 5pm and then we came in and I made shake and bake chicken legs and poo-tatoes with onion and celery in the oven... had a shower while it baked and then ate supper on the couch while watching Stargate Atlantis.

All good.

I've updated the goat shed album on FHH and I put up a couple pics of the hay in the hay shed.

Tomorrow we'll likely calculate and buy the siding for the goat shed... depending on the weather, we may even start putting it up. Our roofing steel doesn't come until Tuesday, so we're stalled on the roof for now... but still lots to do.

That's it for tonight.
-- L

Something I KNOW I Did Forget...

The last two nights we've eaten our home grown poo-tatoes and they are delicious!! Apparently goat poop grows tasty taters :)

Roofing Decision... Finally

We finally made a roofing decision for the goat shed and got the supplies ordered this morning. We're going to sheet the roof with OSB and then install metal roofing over top like every other building on this property. Its not painted, just plain galvanized and should be delivered here on Tuesday.

We're sacrificing the extra light that the plastic would've given and added strength, probably a decent trade off, really. Price wise, it turns out that OSB plus metal is a tiny bit cheaper, but almost comparable to the plastic.

The siding dilemma continues, however ;) Since my initial pricing out of materials, our design changed a bit, so I need to reprice it out and see what the actual price differences are and then make a decision.

Its supposed to rain today and on and off all weekend... we'll see what actually happens though, often they SAY rain all day and then its not... or they say occasional showers and it rains all damned day. We may get the OSB roof sheeting up with weekend if we can find enough dry spells... then perhaps cover it with a tarp or two to help keep it a bit dry until the sheet metal goes up.

I can't remember if I actually posted that all the trusses are now up, but we put the end ones up Wednesday night.... we're good to go :)

--L

We're also going to install a light or two in the goat shed (and maybe the hay shed next to it) ... we're not running electricity over there though (at least not this year!)... I think we're going to give solar a try... you can buy a kit at Canadian Tire with the panel and everything in it for reasonable money. It should run a couple light bulbs for the short amount of time I want them in the late evening when feeding. Again, we're still researching and trying to figure out what's decent for decent money... so stay tuned ;)

Back To My "Roots"

Oh so very punny once you look at the pics! So this is what I found growing in my "garden" today... I have known for some time the potatoes were growing in my manure pile, but today I decided to actually check and see if there was anything under the soil/manure.

I found about 20 potatoes... only about 10 were worth keeping, the other half grew too close to the surface and were green, so I tossed them back in the pile for next year's crop.

I also found a gorgeous tomato plant growing there, with blossoms on it... of course, there won't be any tomatoes now, unless winter comes late and fall is more like the summer we didn't have... which while I can DREAM, I really do know better.

There were two pumpkin plants growing as well, one with flowers on it... but again, nothing will come of it at this late date.

At least now I'm sure my manure pile is ready to be used and is not too hot :) I think all the rain we had this summer really brought it along.

Anyhow, we're going to have freshly dug potatoes for dinner tonight... yes, I'll scrub them well!! This is how gardening should be ;)

So considering we didn't plant or tend anything this year our property provided us with quite a few black raspberries (I'm guessing around 4 quarts and we didn't even pick all of them) and some potatoes. The goats also get credit for the potatoes... who says they don't earn their keep? :) haha

The grass growth is finally slowing down here, I did have to cut it today, but it wasn't near as bad as sometimes this summer and I don't think I cut it last week... at least not that I remember.

This also means less eating for the goats, but we have quite a bit still available for them, some of it just isn't quite as nice as it was mid summer. I have one whole area at the front of the property near the new goat shed that they ate off early in the season and then I cut it back to discourage the stuff they don't like from coming back that is nice, lush and tender and probably about 18 inches tall. I'm saving that area for when there's nothing else, but hopefully get them on it before it dies back... tricky business trying to have GOOD grass for as long as possible. :)

Goats (or at least MINE, since there seems to be a huge difference between what my goats think is awesome and what my sister's goats love! :) ) seem to be fussier than other plant eaters I've known, they like the grass and plants when its tall, weedy and if there's small trees and bushes in it, so much the better... the really rough "pasture". Of course, mine wouldn't turn down alfalfa either, but we don't have any and really that's awful rich for 2 little wethers.

As always, there are a few more dog pics in the album... some of them playing AGAIN.

That's it for now... time to go scrub spuds!
-- L

Shed Update

I posted some new pics today... I added to the goat shed album to show the progress. It's coming along pretty well so far, the walls are all up and 5 of 7 trusses are up. The remaining 2 trusses require additional cuts to accommodate the stud walls, so they weren't quite ready to be installed yet... if it doesn't rain tonight, perhaps we'll get those cut and put up.

(For anyone that missed the dimensions of the shed, its 8 ft wide by 12 ft long. The roof is 7 feet on the short side and 9 friggen feet on the tall side, cause clearly we're housing giraffes! The shed has 2 doors, at opposite ends, each door is 3 feet wide.)

I'm still undecided about a few things about the shed... like window ventilation, roofing and siding... nothing major ;)

For window ventilation, ideally I want large windows on each side that I can open and close as the weather changes... I also don't want my goats to be able to ram on the windows (they won't be made of glass, in any case!) so they have to go above 5 feet high. That means I can have windows on 3 sides that are about 18 inches tall, which seems good. On the tallest side, I could in theory have windows that are 3.5 feet tall. It's mostly figuring out the best and easiest method of making easy open / close windows that will seal out the worst of the rain and snow.

My idea for "windows" is just to sheet the outside up to 5 feet and then leave the space above open, covered in hardware cloth to keep birds and stuff out... then plywood "shutters" that would hinge open and fasten shut. The walls studs will obviously still be visible, but I don't think that's a problem in any way and is maybe even more useful than the normal framing out for a window thing you normally have to do.

As for roofing, I originally was thinking that we'd put up metal roofing sheets, like we have on every outbuilding here (and the house too!). I haven't ruled that idea out by any means yet. I am considering the possibility of polycarbonate panels though. They have the advantage that you get use, say mostly gray panels, but put a clear panel in the center for extra light. (Our shed does not have electricity or water). They seem easy enough to install, from looking at the website... and Home Depot sells them as well, so they are easy to obtain.

I'm not convinced yet, though, I still want to compare prices on the Sun Tuf versus tin sheeting. Stay tuned for the big decision ;)

As for siding, we originally started planning this shed using rough cut hemlock and doing the outside in board and batten... well that was WAY out of the budget, even though it would've been beautiful. There's quite a bit more framing required for board and batten as well, that helped push the costs up.

So my siding options at this point are:
-- 5/8" plywood, one side is finished to look like rough cut vertical planks, more attractive than other options, but a bit pricier, could paint or stain it.

-- 5/8" or 3/4" standard plywood, would require painting, could be sided over in the future

-- 3/4" OSB (particle board, wafer board), would require painting and would still probably not last for very long out in the rain and snow, but is CHEAP and could either be sided over or replaced with something else as $ permitted.

For a long time, I was leaning towards the faux plank plywood... then was leaning towards the cheapness of the OSB and now, just haven't decided :)

Our original design also called for an interior wall in the shed, sort of an airlock between the people door to the outside and the goats. Goats think its funny to try to escape when the door is open and are very good at it. If they ever get their noses between the gate and the frame, they can wiggle their way through if you're not paying very close attention.

After getting the exterior walls up, we looked around and decided we wouldn't build the interior wall, as we just didn't want it eating up that much of their lounging space. So for now, we'll manage without the air lock and just pay close attention at all times ;) haha

We do have a "phase 2" plan for the airlock... we'll build it externally to the current structure, a small "porch" type idea with a gate and a bit of a roof so that we can enter the building without being dripped on and stuff like that. But "phase 2" will likey have to wait until next spring, unless fall is long and kind to us.

Anyhow, now I'm pretty sure that you have more info about my shed than anyone ever wanted to know!!

I also took a few pics of the dogs at play the other day... they are constantly in motion outside, especially Pixie and Oliver ... its really difficult to take digital pics of them that turn out ok... I end up deleting lots of pics that either have no one in them (they took off before the camera caught them) or just have ear and tail tips in them. I posted a few of the reasonable ones.

Not Much New Around Here

Been a while since a real update... we've been busy, as usual and I just haven't made time to make updates. How's that for an excuse? :)

We're working on getting our goat shed built before the weather changes too dramatically... so far we have:
-- Rented a sod cutter and cleared away the sod in an area about 10ft x 16 ft
-- Installed a 4x4 pressure treat foundation frame, complete with half lap joints at the corners (Thanks Shawn!) then lag bolted together. We also drove 8 pieces of 2 foot long rebar through the pressure treat frame to help anchor the whole structure (2 on each side)
-- We then filled the frame with stone dust from our pile and rented a compactor to compact it down. We also watered it and now its hard like cement!
-- We dragged 4 rubber mats onto the foundation and cut them to fit inside the 4x4 frame so they won't be able to move.
-- We have 2 walls framed in 2x4's and the wood cut to frame the other two walls (maybe tonight if the rain holds off).

The finished shed will be 8ft by 12ft and one wall will be 7ft tall and the opposite wall is 9ft tall and then the roof will be a single slope (like a lean to type roof). Its probably unreasonably tall but there are a couple reasons for it,one being Shawn is freakishly tall and another we can add large windows for ventilation and still have them above "goat level" so they don't mess with them or get too much of a draft. As with everything around here, its an experiment and maybe will work out or maybe not, but you know we have to try it anyhow! :)

I've got a few pics of the shed's progress that I'll post later today.

Oliver is growing... he's pretty much as tall as Pixie now, but of course much lankier! I still haven't gone looking for batteries for our scale, so no weight update... I'm guessing he must be around 50 lbs now, though.

Not much else is new... we could use a bit of rain, after all the bitching and whining about too much rain this summer! Things are dry here and its going to be harder to find suitable grass for my goats to eat I think...the stuff that's still available is way at the back, far side of the property and is an area that's dry right now, but can get kinda swampy if it rains. I should've had them over there the last while when its been dry, but who knew it was going to be dry this long? I've already started feeding more hay to help supplement the available grass. It may rain tonight and tomorrow and that would be fine by me.

That's it for now!
--L

A Couple New Doggie Pics

All three of the dogs were sleeping quietly, so what else would I do but disturb them by taking pics? I couldn't just let sleeping dogs lie, could I? :)

More New Pics

I got some more pics up today... the completed shed and also a variety of goats and dogs, as usual. :)

Over the weekend we rented a sod cutter and cut and removed the sod in preparation of starting the second shed. That was brutally hard work... the sod cutter was easy and did a nice job... the hard part was removing the strips of sod and hauling them away. We used the lawn tractor and cart, but some of the pieces were big and all were heavy.

Next we'll put down an inch or two of stone dust and then the bottom floor framing will go up. Then we'll fill in the framing with stone dust, about an inch or so from the top of the floor framing boards (4x4 pressure treat). Likely we'll rent a compactor to get it nice and tight and try to level it as best we can. We'll pull in the rubber matting that I already have to cover the stone dust. Then the walls will get built and put up and so on.

I imagine it'll take most of the fall to get the shed done... things always take much longer than expected around here.

We also got a bunch of finish work done on the metal hay storage shed. We put some spray foam insulation between the bottom of the shed and the top of the floor in the couple places it wasn't quite as level as it could've been. (In all fairness, we did NO excavation or site prep for this shed, so having a half inch gap here and that was not bad at all!)

We also put some silicone caulking in some of the roof gaps. The kit came with duct tape {CHEAP!} (they called it weather stripping tape or something like that!) to cover the ridge gaps and stuff... we put it on, against my better judgment, but I'm happier now that I've caulked the inside too. I can't imagine the tape will hold forever and there is metal over the tape, but it doesn't sit tight to it, so I figured it wouldn't take long before we'd have roof leaks.

All that's really left to do on the hay storage shed is a bit more spray foam insulation along the top ridge gap where I can't fit the caulking gun and I want to add another sheet of plywood or OSB to the center of the floor inside. We counted our rubber mats and I've got enough to mat this shed also (Ok I'm ONE mat short!) so I think I'm going to go ahead and mat it as well. It'll make cleanup nicer, add some traction and improve the seal along the bottom edge so snow won't be able to blow in or anything. Then I just need to get my hay guy to bring me a load of hay.... move the stuff I already have from the other building over and I'll be done and ready to use it.

Ollie and I went to the vet the other day to pick up some more dewormer and he weighed 41.something lbs. We've been behind on weighing him because our scale needs new batteries... and they are some funny kind that I'll have to go search for and will likely cost a friggen fortune. That irritates me.

Anyhow, I think that's all for now.
-- L

Hay Storage Shed Pics

Shawn was off work Friday, so we started putting together our ultra cheap hay storage building. I took a few pics during the process and now they are up!
It went together reasonably well and was straightforward enough. We still have to assemble and install doors and put on the finish pieces as well as finish leveling off the building itself and then securing it down with cable and ground stakes.
Its super NOT fancy, but will be an upgrade to what I currently have and will be a lot handier. The door is ultra low, but inside its easy to stand upright, even for Shawn. We've all hit our heads through the doorway a few times, but no serious injuries ;)
That's it for now!
--L

Not Quite 40...

Oliver is now 39.6 lbs. Not quite 40, but close enough... probably just a meal or two away from it!

Oliver's Weight (Last weekend)

I forgot to post his weight last weekend, so I'll do it now... 37 lbs on July 27.

New Pics Today

I finally got around to putting up some new pics today for anyone interested.

I was looking back at how Ollie has grown in the last two months. Compare this pic with this one!

Jess actually has MANY more pics that need to be put up... I'll have to bug her to get at it... you know in her *spare* time!! :)

Hair Cuts... The Conclusion

Jess and I went and got our hair cut tonight... we both had the same woman, Jess went first. They are decent cuts... not Angela or Nunzio quality, but we look and feel better than when we started.

The trick to liking or tolerating your new cut and stylist is to wait until you can no longer stand your hair... then wait another 3 weeks... then schedule the appointment and by that time shaving your head seems like a good idea...then you're not too disappointed ;)

In this woman's defense, she IS fast... she did both of us in 40 minutes, wash, cut, style! Quick :)

Anyhow, that's the conclusion to this installment of "As The Hair Grows".
-- L

Mani / Pedi / Spa Day at FHH

Today is the day for manicures and pedicures here at FHH, also known as Mutts N Madhouse. All the dogs got their nails trimmed, Buddy first, then Ollie and finally Pixie was cajoled into getting hers done.

Buddy is always a super star... he likes to lie flat out on his side and then whatever you need to do, he'll just lie there and allow. Even better if you have a helper to rub his tummy... but no helper today, so just tummy rubs at the beginning and end.

For years now, I've been cutting nails with regular guillotine type trimmers, I have a pair of the "pliers" type and don't get on with them well... once the trimming is done, I have a cordless dremel tool that I use to file them down after trimming. The filing helps take all the sharp edges off which saves the leather couch, wood floors and your skin should one of our ill behaved dogs jump on you in excitement.

Last time I did Ollie's toe nails, he wanted NO PART of the dremel. He was fairly certainly that it was a tool of satan and he just wasn't going to be involved. I didn't push the issue and just let him see it run and sniff it and stuff. Then I filed all his nails with a regular dog nail file... time consuming and tedious!

So today, while I was working on Buddy, I had Ollie not in his crate and he was wandering around watching Buddy lay out nice and still while I worked on his feet. Once I started using the dremel, he got very interested in what I was doing to his Buddy man. He peeked under my arm and stood there the whole time (if he was in plain view so close to Buddy, Buddy might have gotten up and given him heck, hence the peeking under my arm where Buddy couldn't see him) and watched very carefully and with much interest.

Finally when I was done and Buddy got up and was all excited to be done, I asked who was next. Pixie bolted off the couch and left the room at high speed, as she tends to do. Ollie was hanging around so he was next. I called him over and asked him to sit, then lay down (no treats) and he did. Then I rolled him onto his side and rubbed his tummy for a few minutes... then I started trimming him. Clip, clip, clip and I was done... his tiny nails go SO fast compared to Buddy's old tough thick nails!

I got out the dremel and he continued to lay there, so I thought I'd give it a shot and see what happened. I touched the dremel to the first toe and he opened his eyes...then the 2nd he lifted his head... by the 3rd he turned back to sniff and see what I was doing. I just kept going and VOILA, all 4 feet DONE. He never got up, the worst he did was get his nose is the way once, I moved it over and kept going and it was just fine. I think watching Buddy made all the difference. Now I maybe wasn't as thorough as I am with the older dogs, but I got the worst of the sharp edges off for sure. Good boy Ollie :)

Once Ollie was done, then I called to Pixie who peeked around the corner and then ran back into the kitchen. I called her again and she came in, not very willingly and laid down for me. She's always been bad about having her feet touched since we got her at 8 months old. She tolerates it, but will sometimes fight a bit about it. I'm always so careful not to cut her (or any of them!!) and make them bleed or be sore but I'm pretty sure she either never had her feet handled before we got her or had them handled badly. But she survived it again and she's always so happy and proud of herself once I'm done and I make a big fuss over her and they all got treats.

Then I got ready to go outside and it was time to do goat feet too. Ernie always gets his done first... partly because he's always in your face when you arrive and partly just to get him done. :) I don't have any good system for doing goat feet alone, sometimes I get Shawn to help me and he holds them for me. I really do need a goat "stand" (sometimes called a milking stand) with a head gate to do feet and give shots when needed.... especially now as the boys are bigger and harder to manhandle.

I put a halter on Ernie and let him out of the fenced area. I can't trim one while one is loose in the same area, they do bad things like the loose one will bite the tied one... or jump up on the trimmer's (ME) back or pull at the end of the rope and try to untie the tied one.... bad stuff like that. So I took Ernie out and tied him to the fence panels and started trimming him. The deer / horse flies were bad, so that was really annoying for both Ernie and I. Bert hung out on the other side of the fence and just watched.

It was nice to do goat feet today (other than the heat, humidity, bugs...) because they were DRY! Dry feet are way nicer to trim, but since my guys live out all the time, they are not dry as often as I'd like. Ernie's trim was uneventful and it cleaned up his feet, they were due to be trimmed for sure. No rot or anything, but getting long.

Then back in the fence went Ernie and then I put the halter on Bert. Getting goats in and out the gate is a challenge as Ernie, especially, is an escape artist. If that gate is open just a bit and he can get his forehead through, he's OUT. So I let Bert out with the halter while I wrestled Ernie to stay in. Then I slipped out the gate and went to catch Bert who had wandered over to, what else, EAT.

Bert was also in need of a trim, but nothing too bad... his trim went uneventfully also, which for those of you that know goats or have trimmed goats feet is a real triumph :)

Just when I was finishing putting Bert back in the gate, I heard thunder in the distance and figured the rain would start anytime... which is still hasn't 2.5 hours later! Since I figured it was going to rain, I came inside and decided that I would get cleaned up and shower.

Jess and I have appointments to get our hair done tonight, which of course, has me stressed out with worry. I'm such a dork. We're trying a new place Mahogany Salon and Spa in Stittsville. We'll see how it goes, I specified we wanted an experienced stylist when I called. They also do not take kids under 12, so it sounds like my (and Ollie's!) kind of place ;)

Jess and I are absolutely desperate to have our hair cut though...its been since the middle of April and that's just WAY too long. So desperation has led us to trying a new place... you know, because Kitchener is a long way to go to get your hair done! :)

Then I just have to make time to shave Shawn's hair down and we'll all be spiffy again... that's assuming of course that my hair cut tonight ends in spiffiness. Heck, I'm willing to settle for a shorter haired dork at this point... the long haired dork thang just ain't working for me!

In our ongoing quest for socialization for both Ollie and I, we hung out in the Petsmart parking lot again today. It was a very busy place with the landscape contractors doing their thing, a lady with 7 leashed dogs going in and out of the store and a bunch of little kids holding a rope going in. There was no barking or growling today, but he was not the least bit interested in leaving the van again. So we hung out there for a while, he ate bits of chicken wiener when people, kids and scary machines went by.

After a while, I decided that we should get out of the van and walk around the quiet end of the parking lot... so we did that... even the quiet end was pretty noisy, but he did ok. Then we went and sat on the sidewalk outside the store about 40 feet from the door and just watched people again. He didn't like that as well and wanted to get under me and hide, but then I came up with the game of tossing kibbles and chicken wieners away from me about 3 or 4 feet. At first, he was not interested in leaving me and eating the treats. But after a while he decided he could venture out and eat them and then come back. We did that for a while... people came and went, but at a reasonable distance.

Then I was tired of sitting on the sidewalk and we started to head back to the van. Two teens from the landscape company were still working and the young lady made eye contact with me and smiled at Ollie. He had no interest in her, but I walked over and told her my pup was nervous about everything and would she mind helping me out by feeding him a treat? She was glad to help and he quickly warmed up to her after being initially afraid to take the wiener piece from her.

The young man that was working with her came closer and I asked him to help me out too and he took the wiener piece, but Ollie was reluctant to take it. He finally did and allowed the young man to pet him a little. Both of them talked about their pets at home to me and then I thanked them for their help and headed back to the van. Ollie was so happy when the van door opened, he jumped right inside and into his crate and sat and waited for the door to get shut.

We headed back to the safety of our home after that tiny bit of reasonably successful socialization. Ollie as always, was happy to see Buddy and Pixie and went back to being his normal goofball, terrorizing self.

This long drawn out account of our day actually has a point. My current thought about Ollie's socialization is that perhaps if I took Buddy with us, he would gain more confidence. He likes to mimic Buddy's behaviour (just like he accepted the dremel after watching Buddy get done) and has much more confidence when he's with the other dogs. Its not surprising that he's more bonded to them than to us (me)... they at least speak his language... even when they aren't using their nice words ;)

So my idea is that I think I will take Buddy alone to Petsmart and make sure he'll be ok first (none of my dogs go many places... they go in the car a fair bit, but only ever get out of the car at the vet's office, which involves a whole different set of neurosis!) then after I find out that Buddy is ok on his own, then I might take Buddy and Ollie together. I can't bring all 3 though, as Pixie has her own socialization issues and I definitely don't want him to pick up her behaviour! Never mind that managing all 3 on leash in an exciting place would be a little too much for just one person.

I just wonder if Ollie saw Buddy go somewhere and be fine if that would just help him turn a corner a bit with this new found "fear of everything" phase he's going through. And I need to figure out what to do with Pixie when I take the other two. She's never really been alone, she's always had Buddy and I think might be upset if left alone... I might have to wait to try this experiment until someone else is home to hang with Pixie. I could lock her up in her crate and I'd know she'd be safe, but I think she'd still be sad.

Anyhow, now that I've bored everyone with lots of puppy - dog - goat - feet trimming talk, I'll shut up and let you all move on with your lives. Sometimes just thinking out loud (or writing) helps to make things clear in one's mind :)

Oliver's Weight & First Puppy Class

Oliver is up to 35lbs exactly this week! Just over 4 lbs since last weekend! Better him than me :)

Today was our first puppy class that the pups attend. It went exactly as expected. Ollie is awesome at the exercises and sitting and all that.... and he sucks at the socialization part. He was pretty overwhelmed by the all the people and dogs... did ok with the adults... was scared by the other dogs during playtime. Saw a kid sitting in the corner and barked at her... he has zero experience with small humans.

I think this week Ollie and I are going to search for some kids to look at. That sounds much worse than it is!!! We'll start by sitting in the car somewhere and watch the kids and I'll give him treats when he's good about it. Then from there we'll try walking near kids and give treats... we'll see how it goes. Sounds like a super fun time to me... NOT! *eye roll*

Anyhow, it went fine and we all survived... no one got bit... no one got peed on. Success ;)

A Short Rant... if there IS such a thing!

Today I stopped at a nearby farm that sells strawberries and raspberries and other seasonal produce. (The one with the semi rude name just down and around the corner from us... I won't publish their name here.)

For a couple days, they've had their "corn" sign out. While I was there, buying a QUART of raspberries for $12.75!!!! I thought, what the heck, I'll buy half a dozen of corn for supper. I mean, I've heard my parents have had some decent early corn, maybe I could be so lucky.

There was another guy buying corn while I was there... he was bagging 4 dozen, so I ask him "have you tried their corn yet this year?" He replies "yes we had some yesterday and it was the best corn I've ever eaten"... Then I'm really hopeful that it was be at least decent.

They charge $6.50 a friggen dozen, but $3.50 for 6. Not too expensive if you just want a couple. So we come home and I start making dinner... I also bought a quart of new potatoes while I was there and put them on to boil. I husk the corn and its bi coloured, which is fine, but I notice it lacks the sweet smell that Herrle's corn has when you husk it.

I cook it in boiling water as usual and serve it up... I cut Jess's off the cob for her, that's how she likes it. Shawn eats his and says "Its ok"... Jess tastes hers and says "Its alright"... I taste mine and almost THROW UP! It was THE.NASTIEST.CORN.EVER. I managed to swallow the bite, but barely.

Shawn says his isn't so bad, so I reach over and take his cob and take a bite... BLECH! NASTY. So nobody ate anymore and it all went to the manure pile tonight... husks, cobs and everything. It didn't even taste like CORN, nevermind have any sweetness to it. FROZEN corn you buy at the store tastes like candy compared to this!!

To top it off, the new potatoes were ok... but only ok... they lacked the good flavour and sweetness of the new potatoes my parents brought a couple weeks ago.

Their raspberries were good and I only had to throw away one berry... but for almost $13, I expect them to be that good.

Anyhow, so I was really disappointed and WILL NOT BUY MORE CORN FROM THEM. I may try some more local corn, but we'll see. Its hardly worth adding the humidity to the air while cooking crappy corn.

Like what kind of hell place do I live where the fresh produce tastes like NASTY?!
*sigh* Just another reason to miss southern ontario.

New Pics

2nd post today! I just wanted to point out that I posted some new pics to the FHH album. Mostly dogs and goats, as usual! The pics of Oliver sleeping on the couch I JUST took minutes ago. All 3 dogs are sound asleep in the living room... Ollie and Pix on the couch... Buddy is stretched out on the floor. For dogs that don't have jobs, they are very tired :)
-- L

Hmm, Not 2 lbs THIS Week!!

Just weighed Ollie... he's 30.8 lbs today! I thought he grew more than that this week... I think his frame really got bigger but he sure looks skinny and ribby right now!!

Quick Update

Busy as always around FHH. Jess is working hard at her summer job. Her boyfriend Simon has been here visiting for that last week or so. Shawn's busy at work and around the house. I'm always busy, between goats, dogs, grocery shopping, making meals and cleaning up from meals... nevermind the outside projects I'm trying to get done.

Oliver is growing like a bad weed. He lost his two front top teeth the other day and the new adult teeth are already through and growing! I posted a pic to the FHH album that was taken about a week ago... I should take a few more, he's changed since then!

We start puppy class on Sunday... Sunday just the people attend, not the puppies, but every week after that the puppies go... for a total of 6 weeks. His training is coming along... if he's motivated (FOOD!!) he's happy to come, sit, lie down, sit up and beg, shake a paw and wait (a short and temp version of stay) on command. We've not really made the transition to doing these things reliably without food yet, but it'll come. We're working on roll over, but he so far thinks that's stupid :) He's also really solid on running into his crate when I have food and say "Ollie in your box".

He walks decently on a leash, doesn't really heel, but we've not really been working on that particularly. I'm just happy if he'll walk along without any pulling or dragging behind or winging around in circles around me... those things don't happen very often any more, so its progress, to me.

I bring him out to the goat pen at least once a day, usually more, for leash training and to learn to stand tied outside the goat pen. He doesn't tie quietly, but he sniffs around and stuff and generally doesn't get too upset, so that's ok by me. He likes to sniff the goats through the fence and they will sometimes come and sniff him and then he licks their noses, which they hate. But he's not freaked out by them anymore... once he gets bigger, I'll start bringing him in with me... but he's still too small, they'd beat the crap outta him at this point!!

Anyhow, just a short update... all is well here... tired of rain... tired of humidity... HAPPY my air conditioning got fixed a couple weeks ago... makes life bearable!! :)

Oliver's Weight

I've been too busy/tired to update the blog, but we weighed Ollie this morning and he's up to 29.2 lbs! I swear I can see him growing everyday! Won't be long and he'll be a BIG terror, instead of just a LITTLE terror ;)

--L

Stupid Crazy Around Here

... And I don't just mean the residents of FHH :)

We've been busy... Jess had her wisdom teeth out on Monday and is recovering, slowly and painfully. She's not too swollen (though she might have a different opinion on this!) and we've not seen any bruising yet. She's still in a fair bit of pain though... she did well Monday and Tuesday, was eating soft foods, but by Tuesday night, the trauma had all caught up with her and so did the pain. She's sleeping lots, I have to wake her to take her pain pills and antibiotics and she's not eating as well as she was, but enough to get by for now.

Oliver is doing well, I swear he grows everyday! Last weekend he weighed 21.4 lbs, another solid 2 lb a week gain... and I'm sure he'll do the same when we weigh him this weekend. I posted some new pics, of Oliver, Buddy, Pixie, Ernie, Bert and the peonies that are blooming out the front.

It's a challenge getting all the normal things done AND looking after Olly AND looking after Jess, but it should get better day by day. Oliver has been sleeping through the night, which is helpful and after another day or so, so should Jess.

We've had quite a bit of rain over the last few days... enough that I have to move my goat pens to the front of the property again, where its slightly higher ground. The back part is pretty squishy and even some parts of the front aren't great. I moved one pen yesterday and today I'll move the other.

I use the lawn tractor and cart to move the fence panels (when they are going a long way, when its a short distance we just carry them). I lay them over the cart and steady them while I drive slowly. I can take 4 at a time, so its only 2 trips, not bad. I also wanted to come up with a way to move the shelters easier, we normally "roll" the cubes when we move them, as they are awkward to carry. But the idea of rolling them 100's of feet, up a bit of a hill wasn't really appealing to me. After I mentioned it to Jess, she came up with a brilliant plan, even while on percocet!

Last time we moved the rubber stall mats, I attached C clamps to them, then ran a rope through and tied it onto the hitch of the lawn tractor. She suggested I do the same thing, but then just roll the shelter onto the mat. Yesterday I tried it and it worked wonderfully! What a brilliant girl :)

Anyhow, that's about all going on here... I should run and get something done while both Jess and Oliver are asleep! :)
--L

Braces, Teeth and General Happenings

I finally got my fancy new knee brace today! I wore it after I got it, while I did normal stuff around here, including cutting the grass and its pretty good! It definitely helps, that I know, even after a short trial. I even tried jogging a bit in it tonight and other than Buddy chasing and biting me (not hard, just his normal "this is a very fun game" biting) there was very little pain! Considering how bad its been for the last while, its quite remarkable.

It will take some getting used to.. to figure out how tight it should be and all that. There's 5 straps on it that are all adjustable... I'll maybe try to take a pic of it tomorrow, if I remember. Even driving with it on is wonderful... since its my right leg, driving can be a real abusive activity on it... but while wearing it, it was so nice :)

Shawn also went to the oral surgeon yesterday about his wisdom teeth... the wisdom teeth he really should've had removed when he was 17-18, according to the surgeon. They will be removing all 5 (yes, he's a freak!), but its a little more complicated procedure than Jessica's will be. The surgeon showed us on the xray how where the 2 wisdom teeth that are together are actually located in his sinus cavity!

This means they will give him general anesthesia and will have to cut into the gum and drill into the sinus cavity to remove them. They are contained in a cyst inside the sinus cavity. The cyst will get biopsied, but they don't expect to find anything scary, like cancer, thank goodness. His recovery will take at least a week and he'll have to be off work for that week... we were warned that this procedure will cause quite a bit of swelling and will be painful.

There is also a small chance that a second procedure may be necessary depending on how the first procedure heals.... but we won't know that until afterwards, obviously. It's a bit disappointing that it will be such a big deal... they can't even do it at the regular oral surgeon's office like Jessica's will be done, he has to go into Ottawa to a surgical centre. Anyhow, it's scheduled for August.... should be an adventure.

We got all the wire and rope up for our 5 strand electric fence. All that is left is 2 gates and hooking up the actual fencer unit. Tonight, Shawn trimmed the grass under the fence so its no longer touching the fence posts or wires.

Jessica and I installed the new roof to the goat ghetto... brand new plywood and all ;) We also put in some cross pieces (kinda like rafters, but for a flat roof) and that helps add some stability and some more ventilation... in spite of all the holes in the ghetto, I was never quite as happy about the ventilation in that shelter as I have been with the others. This should make it as good or better now.

I got most of the grass cut tonight, minus the front yard and the little strip between the house and the driveway. I even got some of the grass cut in the areas where the goats have already grazed... I like to cut it back, I figure whatever they did NOT eat I want cut back to give the other stuff they do like a chance to grow back. I cut it once and then just leave it to grow. We still haven't used any one spot twice, though some of the spots we grazed them early on could really be grazed again, no problem. I really have too much grass for just the two of them. Not a "problem" you hear about often, for sure :)

The dogs and goats are all fine... Oliver is doing well and has been sleeping through the night for the last 3 or 4 nights... from about 11pm to 7am. I'm really pleased about that. I do restrict his water intake though, starting around 9:30pm, otherwise he'd just keep going... he's a bit obsessive about drinking, kinda like Buddy. We'll have to weigh Ollie again, I'm pretty sure he's grown again, his legs look longer to me. He's doing pretty well with housetraining... not perfect, of course, but as long as WE are paying attention we manage to get him outside without many accidents.

The bugs are still awful here. Mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies... just gross... I have so many bites... some are itchy, some just painful. The bug clothes we got at Lee Valley are pretty good and work well. I should get one more jacket as we only have 2 right now, for 3 of us. I didn't want to buy 3 and then find out they didn't work or fit or something. The jackets have attached hoods that also cover your face... it keeps the nasty little gnats out of your eyes, but does slightly reduce visibility... not horribly though and really having the gnats in your eyes reduces visibility too!

The only other small complaint is that they bug clothes are a bit warmer than we expected... with some of the heat and humidity we've had it was really noticeable. But then again, you're going to be hot and miserable anyhow, being hot and miserable and NOT getting eaten alive by bugs IS an improvement.

That's it for now, its 11:30 pm and time to go feed and check on goats and take the dogs out one last time!
--L

The Heat Continues...

Just a quick update... its another hot and humid day here... the AC has been running for days now... all weekend. It's brutal outside. I think it's supposed to break later today/tonight... I'm very hopeful! We're currently under a thunderstorm watch that includes high winds.

My goats are miserable about this weather, almost more miserable than they were about the winter weather. The bugs are very bad... mosquitoes, deer flies and especially horse flies. The horse flies are HUGE (about 2 inches) long and they have a NASTY bite that hurts like heck... for DAYS after they bite. For anyone interested in reading about horse flies, here's the wiki article.

The dogs are doing fine... mostly staying inside, except to run out and do their business. Oliver would like to stay outside longer, but he gets so hot and miserable, I worry he'll have heat stroke, never mind those of us that have to stay out with him!

We weighed Oliver last night and he's up to 19.2 lbs.... he gained 2 pounds in a week, guess he's growing and getting enough to eat... he looks so scrawny and ribby to me, but I think its ok for him not to be an obese baby and put undue stress on his joints and all that. He mostly doesn't mind being crate trained and our older dogs LOVE that he's being crate trained... gives them a break from his own brand of crazy that he likes to inflict on them.

His house training is coming along... we've had a couple minor accidents and a bit of submissive peeing (when dealing with the intolerant older dogs!) but nothing major. With this heat, he's also drinking a fair bit of water, which he processes very quickly and means you have to be vigilant!!

With it being so hot on the weekend, we didn't get as much done as we would've liked... we only have one more section of electric fence to put up (just the actual rope and wire, the insulators are all up) and the two gates to do and then that will be done. Probably just an afternoons worth of work to go.

I also have to replace the roof on the goat ghetto before we move them into that area, its currently roofless. When I originally made the roof, it was made from 3 pieces of "reclaimed" (old!!) plywood that I fastened together. It worked fine and was still repelling water no problem. The only issue with it was our growing goats... more specifically BERT who is big and heavy and likes to hang out on top of the shelter. The plywood was starting not to seem quite sturdy enough to hold him and in a couple places the fasteners were starting to stick out a bit just from him compressing them over and over. I already bought the plywood to put on, I just have to trim it a bit and fasten it on. Again, not a big project, but way more than I can do in this heat!!

The fire flies are out again around here... when we go out before bed with the dogs and to check the goats, there are millions of them hanging out in the yard and the fields, twinkling like ground stars. Absolutely beautiful.

I think that's about it for now... just waiting for the weather to break... they are forecasting tomorrow's high to be 23 C.. perhaps I'll be able to shut off the AC and the fans and just enjoy the peace and quiet again :)

-- L

More Pics and Videos

I put up some more pics and some video, so Gramma could see her new grandpuppy in action! ;) He's such a little terror!
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

Oliver went to the vet yesterday, all was fine, she listened to his heart and lungs and thought he sounded healthy. She's not too concerned about his limp at this point as he doesn't seem very sore on it and she checked all his joints and nothing seemed to be bothering him... its certainly not slowing him down any. He got his 8 week shot... needs his 12 and 16 weeks shots... then microchipping and neutering when he's 5 - 6 months old.
That's it for now!
-- L

Oliver's Weight

I was talking to Mom and Dad on the phone earlier and trying to figure out how much Oliver weighs... Shawn weighed him and he's 17.2 lbs.
In 24 hours, we had ONE accident inside and I blame Shawn... he didn't run him out the door quite fast enough ;)
That's it for now.
-- L

Introducing... Oliver!

For those that don't already know, yesterday we brought home a new shepherd cross puppy, Oliver. He's about 8 weeks old and extremely cute, even at 3am ;)

We picked him up just the other side of Cornwall... he and his litter mates were advertised online, not Kijiji, this time, but Equistation. I spoke to his mom's owner on the phone the other day and she described the 3 available pups, what they looked like and what their temperaments were like. After hearing the descriptions, I asked her to hold Oliver (he didn't have a name at the time, Shawn named him on the way home) for me until we could get down there (about 2 hours away, one way) to see him and hopefully pick him up.

We went down yesterday afternoon around 4pm and met Oliver, his mom and his litter mates. The owner had done a great job describing them, I easily recognized them based on her descriptions! Oliver was by far the best pup of the 3 left, friendly, didn't mind being picked up or rolled over, all the normal things. One of his litter mates was very mouthy, excessively mouthy even for a pup and we were well chewed on by him while visiting.

His owner was a bit concerned as somehow between the time I talked to her and the time we got there, he had developed a mild limp. She wasn't sure I would want him or that she should let him go with us. I assured her we'd keep an eye on it and follow up if needed... he needs to see the vet this week anyhow, for deworming and vaccinations. Eventually, when he's old enough, we'll get him neutered, of course.

We had an ok first night... he slept from 10:30pm to 3am and then woke up and cried, so I took the whole pack outside and he had to pee. Then back in the crate and he slept til around 5am and cried and I took just him out and he had to pee and poop.... then back in the crate until around 630am when he woke up and cried and I poked Shawn awake to take them all outside and he had to pee and poop again. Then back in the crate until about 830am when Pixie was awake and tired of being in her crate. (Sorry about the explicit bathroom reports, but as with all babies, bodily functions become ever so important!)

Oliver was very hungry this morning and was coveting the big dogs' food... when their food was ready, Shawn fed them, then we put Oliver in his crate with his puppy kibble and a bowl of water... then he could eat without being bothered and without anyone trying to steal his food. He ate quickly and was done his small bowl about the same time the big dogs finished theirs!

Oliver also came out to the goats with us this morning... I didn't want to leave him in the house in his crate to scream and cry while Jess was still sleeping. Its a long walk out there for him and he has to stop and rest a couple times. He wasn't really thrilled about the goats and Bert especially was not thrilled about Oliver. We didn't let him in with the goats, of course, they would've killed him, I'm sure, but we left him just outside the fence. At one point, Oliver was growling at the goats, I told him not to.

Buddy is taking to him pretty well... he's not entirely sure about him and doesn't like that he moves so fast and Oliver DID get heck this morning for running right into the side of Buddy... but he didn't hurt him, just scared him. Buddy was not impressed last night when we came back in from one of the trips outside and Buddy was tired and laid flat out on his side and Oliver came whizzing over and rammed into his tummy with his front feet looking to nurse from him. Buddy gave him heck and then walked around the room for a few minutes grumbling "do *I* look like a nursing mother?" but he got over it.

Pixie on the other hand is really quite nervous around him. She hasn't hardly interacted at all. During one of the overnight outings she did walk up to him, poked him with her nose, he fell over and she ran away scared. Other than that, she makes quite a point to ignore him. I think once he grows a bit and is able to play a bit, she will find him more fun... but for now, he just freaks her out a bit!

Anyhow, I think that's all for now... Jess has put up some of her pics on Facebook for anyone that's interested.
-- L

Jessica has been busily taking pics and I've taken a few as well, we'll try to get them posted ASAP!

Today... Part 2

As a follow up to this morning's post, Jess and I went out and tried digging up some lilacs for replanting. Turns out its not that bad a job... other than today is warmer than it has been and very sunny... luckily there is also a breeze or I think I'd be really hot and sad!

The trick to digging out lilacs is that they make new lilacs by sending out what I would call a sucker root and then the new shoot grows from this and makes its own roots... the new shoot stays attached to the sucker root, so the key is knowing that when you dig it out, you must also sever the sucker root to get it loose.

Usually, I could just sever the sucker root with the shovel, no problem. But I got greedy at one point and wanted to take a lilac that is about 2.5 - 3 feet tall with a LARGE sucker root that I could not chop with the shovel. Out came the handy box tool from Lee Valley that has a hatchet on one end. Chop, chop, chop and out it came.

All in all we dug 7 new holes to put the transplants in... In some holes we put more than one stem in though, especially with the smallest ones at the end. I dug one large hole and put like 7 little shoots in it.

Already the hill looks nicer.... and it was free, other than a bit of labour, most of which we would've had anyhow if we'd bought them at the nursery. A couple of the larger ones we put in are a similar size to lilac bushes I've bought in the past for $20 - $25 each!

We added new soil to the holes and we brought some water in buckets in the back of the lawn tractor cart (ya know, 'cause every job starts with getting out the tractor!) to give them a bit of water to get them started. Jess then gathered up some of the big heaps of grass clippings from where I cut that path along the top of the hill yesterday and we put them around each planting as mulch.

Other than our time and sweat, the only expense was the 3 bags of soil that we used that I got a while back at TSC for $.99 a bag. I think that's pretty neat :)

I think we'll do some more another day, after we cool off! Tonight we're going back to get more of the free kijiji sod, hopefully the last trip!
-- L