Four Horse Haven

Pictures of the gerbil lid

2010-07-18T14:10:00.002-04:00

Lisa asked me to build a lid for the fish tank we have Jessica's gerbil Pip in. So I designed one in Google Sketchup and built it yesterday. Here are some pictures of both the Sketchup model and the finished product. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Busy Weekend

2010-07-18T11:04:00.002-04:00

New Tractor

Unbelievably busy weekend so far! :-)

Friday night after work, we replaced the kitchen tap. It had been leaking for a long time, and had recently got much worse. We went over to the new Lowes in Orleans (awesome), and got a bunch of stuff, including a new tap for the sink.

It was quite the adventure. We shut the water off at the sink shutoff, but didn't shut off the house main. :-) Always a mistake.

The old (and unused) reverse osmosis machine left by the previous owners was hooked up before the sink shutoff, and there was a few minutes of excitement while water was spraying everywhere, and we had to shut off the house water (and the house water takes a long time to depressurize, even once you shut it off, we discovered.

After the little hiccup, we got the tap installed fine, and it's wonderful. :-) You turn it on, and water comes out of it in appropriate spots, and not in inappropriate spots.

All in all, the replacement took about an hour. It helped that we didn't have to install new shutoffs.

After that, we went out in the field with the tractor and post hole auger, and drilled a test hole. It works great! What an awesome invention! Now we're looking for fence posts, and planning the fence in the front of the property to keep goats in. Stay tuned.

Yesterday, we went to Yin yoga at Yoga and Tea in Carp. Yin yoga is mostly intense stretches held for a really long time: I quite like it (it was my first time).

I helped Jess with her sewing for a bit, and went outside to build a new lid for the gerbil tank. I made up plans in Sketchup the other day, and used the router table and tablesaw to construct the thing. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The design makes extensive use of half lap joints and dadoed inserts. I should post some pictures yet... Today we'll probably put the hardware cloth on, and install it on the tank.

Then, after we were all tired and ready for supper, the hay guy phoned and said he was bringing our hay in an hour! :-)

So, after we quickly scarfed down a delicious steak and potatoes supper, we went out again, and emptied out the hay shed (including the mini chest freezer that lives out there for chicken feed), and then they hay guy came and dumped off his load, and we worked for a couple of hours moving the hay to the hay shed in the loader bucket, and packing it tightly in the shed. 80 bales: it doesn't seem like that many, but each bale is really heavy (these are larger than normal bales that our guy makes). So after 80 bales, we were toasted, put the goats back in their shed, and went to bed.

Who knows what today will bring? :-)

April update

2010-04-28T20:51:00.002-04:00

Just a brief update of what's been going on around here this Spring...

It's been beautiful! Late March we could already go out and start working on things. We've got a lot done already, cleaning up from winter, and getting ready for summer. :-)

We're tearing down one of our outbuilding/sheds and preparing to build a chicken coop.

We stripped lots (probably 40-50 sheets) of good quality sheet steel off various downed roofs on the property, should be useful when building new things (like chicken coops!)

We put up our solar lights around our property: it's starting to look like people live here! Plus, our "Beware of Dogs" sign that's followed us around from place to place.

We cleaned out the "red shed used for storage needs some work", and a bunch of other stuff off our property. We filled a dumpster with 1.1 TONS of garbage. :-) Plus, there's lots more where that came from. We'll probably get at least one more dumpster this summer sometime.

I put up some new pictures in the gallery: some happy chickens clucking around and our goats down at the bottom of their big field. :-) Fun stuff.

Lots more to come this summer, too! Stay tuned!

Finally An Update...

2009-10-02T15:08:00.002-04:00

Turns out I'm not very diligent at updating the blog. My apologies to everyone that has been checking back for regular updates.

Its been a wet summer around here... all the rain has made for a good grazing season for the goats, well, when the grass wasn't UNDER water of course! ;) The goats and sheep are doing fine... nothing much going on with them... we are having a small issue with the sheep beating on the goats... its been going on for a couple weeks now, mostly between the sheep and Ernie... and couple times the sheep has head butted him so hard that its caused the spot where his horns used to be to bleed a bit.

The sheep has been a bit of an unpleasant "pet" before... like everytime you have to work with them and trim his feet or deworm him or attempt to put flyspray he's rather unpleasant (to say the least!). I've been willing to work around those issues, but this new behaviour of beating up goats is unacceptable. Not sure what we're going to do to resolve this issue yet... we're just waiting it out a bit right now and see if it changes more or not. I may try separating the sheep out for a while and see if being in "solitary confinement" for a while will help. Perhaps I need to hire a sheep "shrink"! ;)

The chickens are doing fine... they laid well all summer and are still laying, but it has slowed down with the decrease in daylight. The one chicken that we got that was missing feathers when we got her, never did grow any feathers back... not sure what's going to happen to her this winter, I don't hold a lot of hope that she will survive the winter, really, but at this point, she's still happy and lays regularly so we're just leaving her alone for now. We'll see what happens, I suppose.

The dogs are good... not much new with them either. Oliver has been enjoying the paths Shawn cut on the other side of the property... we take both the dogs for walks off leash over there and they like it. Pixie we do need to leash to stop her from eating chicken and goat poop that we dump over there just off the paths. She refuses to listen if hollered at to stop, so we leash her and that at least slows her down a bit! Oliver has great fun running through the very long grass and after a heavy dew he comes home soaking wet! I maintain the paths with the lawn tractor and sometimes I just drive the paths and the dogs enjoy running along with it. We know how to have fun around here :)

Most of you know that I've made a bunch of changes to my lifestyle over the last 4 months... after I was so awful feeling last fall, winter and spring, I finally decided to try to do something about it (going to the dr's office failed) and made an appointment with a local naturopath. Of course, I went into it with a fair bit of skepticism, but I've been very pleased with the results. She's been treating me for a number of issues with some success, its not "fixed" but there's been quite an improvement.

After the naturopath did some food sensitivity testing, I cut out gluten, sugar, dairy and yeast from my diet. Its been a bit tricky, but not near as bad as I feared it would be. Finding bread that is gluten and yeast free is a challenge, but it does exist and its not too bad... though I imagine anyone that's used to "normal" bread would think it disgusting. I don't eat much of it anyhow, its hard to find a palatable loaf locally, I found a decent one in Waterloo on my last trip home and have the remainder in my freezer.

Its quite remarkable the changes that have occurred from changing what I eat. My muscle and joint pain is way reduced... to the point that I no longer require ibuprofen with any regularity... for those of you that know me, know that's a huge change from what was true in the past! The exhaustion that I was experiencing has really diminished, though if I'm not careful and I ingest something I shouldn't, gluten in particular, the exhaustion comes back with an almost immediate vengeance. Given how horrible it makes me feel, I'm pretty careful about avoiding it... to the point of being paranoid. We no longer eat out, because I fear that the person preparing won't be careful enough... works out ok though, eating out wasn't necessarily my favourite activity anyhow.

At the beginning of August, I started doing yoga and that's also made a huge difference. I got started because of a local studio offering a workshop "Yoga and Horses" that appealed to me and I signed up for it. The first week was an in studio class, to learn the moves and breathing before heading out to a local stable to try it mounted. When I signed up, the in studio class was the one I was least looking forward to... yet, when I left the studio that day I felt like I'd received a very intense and relaxing massage. My mind was clear, my body relaxed... amazing.

The following week I joined an in studio class "gentle hatha" and have been going every week since. The yoga and horses workshop is long over and it was enjoyable... very nice to be on horse back again, but I really did fall in love with the in studio classes. How unlikely, eh?

After a week or two of me going to the studio for classes, Shawn wanted to give it a try, so we found some online yoga videos (email me if you want to know where to find them!) that are quite similar to my classes. Shawn and I have been practicing yoga in our living room 4-5 times a week using these videos and some we bought at the store. Its made quite a difference in both our lives and we both enjoy it.

Just recently, I've started adding in a 2nd in studio class a week... one week I did a different type of yoga at the same studio, with a different teacher, but found it didn't have quite the same appeal. I then found out that the yoga teacher I really like has just opened her own studio, so today I went to her new studio and took her class and all was wonderful ;) Her new studio is quite beautiful and has a lovely calm atmosphere. She also brings her adorable, yet shy, dog with her... he hangs out in a different room during class, but comes out before and after class.

Anyhow, we still have a number of outside projects to finish up before winter actually arrives... the chickens need their coop insulated (I'll add a heat lamp as needed) and the coop needs to be moved to its winter spot, that will take us some time to get it done... I don't want to do it too early though, since the chickens winter spot is in the field beside the dog yard where the goats currently go during the day to graze. Once the chickens are in there, the goats will not be able to be turned out in that field. So its a balancing act, as usual ;)

We still have some stone dust to move from the load we got in the spring, but not that much... what's remaining will get put along our path to the hay and goat shed to help build it up a bit to keep us from having to walk through lots of mud and ice this winter.

I probably should cut the grass at least once more before winter, its long now from all the rain we've had... but it also hasn't been dried out enough in a LONG time to even consider cutting it. Hopefully there will be a day where it will be dry enough to cut so its not so long over the winter. We'll see! ;)

So, in spite of not updating for months, there's not really been much to say... its been boring around here... just the way we like it :)

-- L

Time Just Keeps Flying By!!

2009-05-26T15:47:00.002-04:00

I always intend to update the blog... but you know what they say about good intentions! ;)

Anyhow... lots of stuff going on around here these days.... we planted all our seedlings that we ordered back in February. We ordered about 140 seedlings, some eastern white cedar, some white pine, some spruce, some sugar maples and some honey locusts. Those all got planted.

I also bought some cedar hedging to put across the front of the property.... I don't remember how many I got total, because I bought some at different times, from different places... but likely around 25.

When I picked up the seedlings, I also bought 5 willows... we also bought some very baby trees (yep, that's the technical term!) about 200 1-2 inch balsam fir seedlings... we planted those in pots for now and many of them are showing signs of new growth... obviously there have also been some causalities with those, but that's not surprising. We'll see how they do over the summer, I might plant them for real in the fall. We also sold a few pots of these ones right around earth day... that was entertaining :)

We also got a 4ft spruce for free off kijiji that I planted on the front lawn in the spot we had planted a tree we got from the city last year that didn't survive. We'll see if this one survives!

I've actually got a flower garden... its the one Jess and I dug last summer and planted annuals in.... now this year it looks more like a real garden.... its got a forsythia bush in it and a diablo ninebark (that I got from Mom and Dad last time I went home, Thanks!!) I bought 4 lilies to go in and they've been blooming like crazy ever since they went in the ground.

I also got a bunch of perrenials from Mom and Dad when I was home, some hostas, forget me nots and other things that I can NOT think of the names of at the moment. I also got some ferns and some varigated grass and a few other really invasive plants that I didn't put in my garden (ok, some snuck in here and there) I mostly planted those at the front near the cedar hedging, they can grow crazy there and save me from having to mow an awkward area.

A few weeks ago we got 4 laying hens from a lady about an hour away that was downsizing her current flock so she could start raising some different more exotic type chickens. They are Plymouth Barred Rock hens, about a year old and they are laying really well. We usually get 4 eggs a day, sometimes only 3 if one takes the day off and after the first 2 days, they've been excellent quality eggs, perfect everytime!

They are also very delicious and we've been enjoying them! The chickens have a 4ft x 8 ft mini coop... its actually the goat "cube" shelters modified for chickens. We added a floor and its on "skis" so it can be moved around by the lawn tractor. Though, we moved it the other day and the lawn tractor alone couldn't actually get it started, Shawn had to give it a shove to get it going! Such a surprise that we would build something heavy! ha!

They also have a 4ft x 12ft outside run area that's covered in 1/2 inch hardware cloth so nothing can get in easily and eat 'em. So far, so good. We also let them out daily for a little while to "free range" and eat whatever... they eat grass, bugs and they LOVE worms.... they also go crazy for grapes! They are becoming more adventurous in their free ranging, so we watch them carefully and hang right around, I don't want them to head for the road! ;)

I've always been a bit afraid of chickens... scarred as a child, I was! I'm still a bit freaked out by them, but its getting better. The other day while "free ranging" the hens decided it was a good idea to go behind the red and white sheds and peck around.. there are burrs bushes back there and a couple of them got burrs stuck to their bottoms.... that night, after they'd gone to roost, Shawn went in and plucked the one off the roost that had the most burrs and I picked them off... handling chickens at night works ok, as they are kinda sleepy and stupid... but this poor girl did wake up while having them removed and was moving her feet near me and that kinda freaked me out a bunch! We got it done though and put her back in the coop and she went back on the roost and made noises to show her irritation. We'll try to keep them out of there from now on... we tried removing the burr bushes, but its a tricky spot to work in and we weren't succesful.

If you remember our electric fence experiment from last year (5 strands of electric, 3 strands were wire and 2 were electric rope)... we felt that was a failure... Ernie just went under it (even though the bottom strand was under 9 inches!) even though he'd get shocked, he'd still keep doing it. They both got tangled in it a couple times and got zapped repeatedly until we could turn off the fencer and free them. It got to the point they didn't like to go over there anymore... then the electric fencing unit died for unknown reasons and we returned it.

Anyhow, so we removed all 5 strands of electric and left the posts in. They we started putting up chainlink on those posts... we had gotten some chainlink off kijiji last spring/summer and then we got some more at the Restore not long ago. We didn't stretch it for real, just by hand, since our tposts would not be able to hold that kind of tension. When we ran out of chainlink, then we started using some of our pagewire we got the first year we were here and we're doing 2 layers of that, with the stays offset to make the "holes" half the size.

We've been putting the goats out there daily (even though weren't not actually finished putting up the 2nd layer) for a short time... so far the fence seems to hold them. They really prefer if we just sit in the paddock with them while they eat.... Ernie and Bert are still a bit freaked out about the electric fencing, even though its all gone. They are getting better though. Today I put them in there while I cleaned out their shed, that was a huge deal for them, me not being in sight and they were ok with that.... progress!

We also extended that paddock to go down to just this side of the swamp area... they must have about 1/2 an acre now... with LOTS of grass... soon we'll build a small, temporary shelter in that paddock for them... there's no natural shade or shelter of any sort there and it can get awful hot, so we definitely need some sort of shelter for shade. It'll just have a stone dust floor, I'm actually getting a load of stone dust tomorrow, so we can get started on that part whenever there's time. Hahaha!

Its quite the adventure when I lead the little animals from the shed to this paddock... Ernie and Bert wear rope halters... the sheep prefers a regular dog collar and leash (he loathes a halter!) and I've been putting a collar and leash on Grover. Ernie and Bert generally lead well and aren't too bad on their own... the sheep likes to lollygag behind and eat whatever he can on the walk over, so I always have to pull him along. Grover... well, he's a sweet goat and we like him, but on a halter or in a collar, he's a bit of a butt head.

Part of the problem is that if he touches Ernie or Bert, they beat the snot out of him... the other part is that if the sheep touches Grover, Grover beats the sheep up! Plus, even though we've made the walk back and forth a few times now, they all like to try to run in different directions, at different speeds. I can not even imagine what the people on the road passing by must think I'm doing... some sort of demented goat and sheep dance! Stupid animals.

This past weekend we bought a new light fixture, a chandelier off someone that advertised on kijiji (we LOVE kjiji!!). Its quite beautiful, its black with a wrought iron look and white glass shades. I put a pic up in the FHH album. It replaced that butt ugly red ceiling fan in our bedroom.... the new light fixture matches our black metal bedframe very well... its almost like decorating or something!!! ;)

Today I went to a place not far from here that grows and sells asparagus right from the farm. I was all excited, thinking we could maybe find some decent local produce... we'll have some for supper tonight, so I don't know if it will be good yet or not.... but I damn near had a heart attack about the price!! They charge $4.50 a lb!! I bought 2 pounds, just because I was there and would've felt awkward not buying it, but unless its super wonderful, I doubt I'll be going back.

I was also at Farm Boy today and they had Canadian asparagus (that's how it was marked, no idea where it was from!!) for $2.49 a lb. I'm sure where I used to buy it in Southern Ontario it was around $3 /lb! I don't understand how this local place gets away with selling it for so much and I have to GO to their place (which is not on my way anywhere else, its a specific trip!).

I know the produce around here can be pricier compared to KW, but come on.... I think that's a bit ridiculous! As I said, it better be very good to justify the price... for that price, I should get gold plated asparagus, or at least asparagus that doesn't make your pee reek! Something!

Anyhow, all is well around here... just busy... but we do bring that on ourselves! :)

Busy Weekend & I'm Exhausted!

2009-04-05T20:20:00.002-04:00

I just have to say upfront, I'm exhausted... so if the following post is incoherent, I apologize!

Saturday, we did odd jobs around here... we finally got the little shelf unit hung in the upstairs bathroom. There's a history to this job... about a year ago I bought it at IKEA... it has that black wrought iron look with glass shelves... anyhow, we attempted to put it up... we were going to use toggle bolts, so we drilled big holes. Well, they wouldn't go in properly and at the time we thought maybe we had run into brick behind the plaster. It was something very solid and wouldn't allow the toggle bolts to expand. We loathe drilling brick and masonry type stuff, so we gave up.

About 6 months after this failure we were randomly talking to our next door neighbour and he offhandedly mentioned that he thought our house was made of logs. (So we're talking a layer of vinyl siding, a layer of red brick, a layer of logs, then lathe and plaster... hopefully some insulation in there, but I wouldn't bet much!) At that moment, Shawn and I both looked at each other and thought "Wait, that must be what we ran into in the bathroom wall" (its an outside wall). Time passed and passed and we never got back to trying again.

Then yesterday we decided it was time... it was cold, windy and rainy out, so doing inside stuff was a good idea. Turns out we just put up the shelf unit put 2 screws through the holes it has and into the exsiting large holes in the wall and screwed them in. It does seem that its wood of some sort, perhaps logs, even! So the job I had waited like a year to happen, just happened in like 5 minutes!

We also installed one of our "scrap" pieces of Formica (leftover from what we bought to put on the island) onto the wall in the downstairs bathroom behind the big laundry sink as a sort of "back splash". We just drilled holes in the Formica (put masking tape down where we were going to make the hole, started the hole with the drill set to "backwards" and then very slowly made the hole with the drill turned to "forwards"... no cracking, no problems at all!) and then put screws through and zip, zip, zip, instant back splash! The scrap piece was exactly the right size, we didn't have to cut it or anything... easy cheaty project.

I think we're going to do the same with the large (almost 4ftx4ft) "scrap" we have left... again in the downstairs bathroom, but behind the bucket rack... that wall always gets splashed and beat up when the goat buckets are scrubbed and put on the rack to dry. We just didn't get to doing it yet, but maybe one evening this week.

We also hung another curtain / blind thing in our bedroom... just more blackout cloth... almost all our windows are covered with the black out cloth now, just need one more small piece on the rod we just hung... at some point I'll go buy a piece... but at least we used up all we had laying around.

Yesterday we also went into town... went to Home Depot and bought a Skil reciprocating saw... it was cheap (under $100 with tax) and one of the highest powered ones they have. Its a NICE tool... very heavy... you certainly can't operate it with just one hand! I can't even lift it horizonatally with just one hand!

We did a few other errands in town, picked up a few groceries... a prime rib roast at Farm Boy for $5.99 a lb and a 20 lb fresh turkey! We ate the prime rib last night for supper and today I cooked the turkey and we enjoyed it for supper!

Today was a brutally busy day that started out badly for me... I woke up with a horrible neck kink that prevented me from turning my head and from lifting my arm. Just f'ing lovely. Shawn worked on it for a while and got it to loosen up a bit, though its still quite sore. I'm sure after a day or two it'll settle down... I hope.

Then we got started with the reciprocating saw in the bedroom! Do we know how to have fun or what? :) We started chopping up the hot tub... the new saw did a wonderful job... we had bought really aggressive, scary blades for it and they ate right through the fiberglass, the foam insulation, the wood, the nails, the pvc pipes, everything!!

We got the whole tub out of our room, out of the house! Its now in pieces on the front lawn in a big artfully arranged pile! It took us about 5-6 hours from start to finish and we did stop for lunch in there. We used the shop vac frequently to clean up the fiberglass and insulation dust to keep it from getting everywhere. Love my little shop vac! (We used to have a big monster one that was powerful, but so awkward and annoying to use... this one I got for cheap, $40 a couple years ago... I was afraid it wouldn't be powerful enough, but its great and easy to use!)

All the pieces of hot tub were made small enough to be carried and fit down the stairs... they are still large, but at least manageable. After we were done and it was all outside, I vacuumed with the shop vac, then I vacuumed thoroughly with the Dyson. (Love my Dyson!)

All in all, it wasn't the worst job we ever did and it was very gratifying to finally get it out of our room, but carrying stuff down the stairs and then climbing back up got tiring after a few trips! I'm glad its not an ongoing job and I'm glad its in the past! Getting rid of that freed up a space about 10ft x 10ft in our already huge room. Eventually, I would like to install an ensuite bathroom in that space, but for now, I will likely pile storage items there.

When we took a break for lunch, I also threw the turkey in the oven and it just cooked itslef while we worked... then when we were done, I peeled and boiled a few potatoes for mashed and made a huge bath tub of gravy once the turkey was done and out of the pan. It turned out really well, the white meat was dripping with juices as I sliced it... it was pretty damn close to what my Mommy makes! There might just be hope for me yet! :)

It felt really good to sit on the couch and eat our delicious supper with our feet up... I was pretty tired at that point... then came the clean up. I finished carving the turkey, gathered up all the nice slices of white meat and bagged them to make cold turkey sandwiches for Shawn's (and my) lunches this week... I made up two plastic containers of turkey and gravy and put them in the freezer for Shawn to eat sometime when I'm away. Easy to heat and put on bread and have an almost instant hot turkey sandwich.

I bagged up the turkey legs and all the dark meat and am saving that to make turkey pot pie... maybe tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll see... I'll just buy the crust and not bother trying to make my own. Then I picked the carcass clean of all the little bits of meat and bagged it and threw it in the freezer and I'll make turkey soup or cassarole or something with it at some point.

I think that was the busiest weekend we've had since last fall... and man, I'm wiped. :)

I put up some pics today also, hot tub removal you can compare to the old pics of the hot tub if you're interested.

Also some random pics in April Update, that we actually taken 2-3 weeks ago. That's the problem when Shawn uses his camera for pics, they never get offloaded or put up until way later!

And as if I didn't do enough this weekend... I'm now doing some laundry and need to change the bed sheets before we go to bed. This is the weekend that never ends... it just goes on and on my friend....

-- L

Its April!!

2009-04-02T13:40:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Oliver turned 1 year old... Happy birthday Ollie :) I also weighed him yesterday and he was 66lbs. He's a very tall and lanky boy and I think its maybe done growing UP and maybe now will start filling out. I'll bet he'll be about 80 - 85lbs when he's all done.

We've had quite a bit of rain lately... though today is lovely. Our snow is officially gone... you might be able to find a patch here or there, but our yard is now melted, finally.

I spent much of the morning outside... I hadn't PLANNED to... but what else is new. I thought since the next few days are supposed to be rainy, I would muck out the goat shed today and then they'd be good to go again for a while.... we just did them on Sunday after not doing them for 2 weeks, so it wasn't too bad. Plus, with the good weather, it means I can get the lawn tractor and cart out and make the job WAY easier.

When I went out, I noticed that Grover's under fur was really starting to come out, so I decided to take a brush with me and work on that for a few minutes. Its technically a hard plastic curry comb generally used for horses, but the goats love a good vigorous grooming with it... really gets all their itchies. Of course, Ernie and Bert have to have their turn first, before they will let Grover have any attention... they both had a bit coming out, but nothing major. (I often laugh to myself about "curried goat" while brushing them... lame I know, but I really don't get out much!)

Then I started working on Grover and tons of under fur started coming out... I worked and worked on him... he loves it... I think I could do it all day... I got about 3 handfuls of nice fleecy under fur out of him... I broke it into a bunch of tufts and put it in the trees, thought maybe the birds might like some for nests.

While I was grooming goats... not the sheep... never the sheep... he doesn't like that sort of thing, though he'll tolerate it if you tie him up... I noticed that one of the gates on the fencing was falling off!! Of course Ernie was hanging around there, sticking his head out through the opening and stuff... the little shit.

Once I got my panic under control, I herded the goats into the shed... Ok, herded is NOT the right word... bribed with hay and then slammed the door on their faces... getting goats to go inside on a nice day, after many crappy days... not an easy feat!!

Then I had a look at the gate and saw that one of the brackets with the pins had come loose and was pushed down. I gave the gate a little tug and off it fell... held on only by the other side that was chained close and padlocked. Wow... very close to loose goats!! Disaster averted! Yay :)

I went back to the house to get the tools... actually I had to make TWO trips, because it turns out the nuts on the gate bolts are a different size than the nuts on the rest of the fencing! How handy. So I got the gate rehung, not a big deal and I tightened up all the rest. I tired to unlock the padlock, but they apparently rusted over the winter and are seized. I jiggaloo'd them, but still no luck.

Not a huge deal, except that I entered the fenced area through the gate that needed to be rehung (that's the side the nuts were on)... then I hung the gate.... the gate that wouldn't unlock. Couldn't go back through the shed, because I'd locked it from the inside... so I tried the other padlocks on the other gates... all seized.

I ended up having to unhang the gate, go out of the pen... go into the goat shed, fight my way through 3 goats and 1 sheep that were annoyed at being locked inside and get back out the other gate without letting them escape (you know, since the gate was off its hinges again and there was a hole in the fence!)... much easier said than done... goats can be VERY obnoxious.. .strong... determined... did I mention OBNOXIOUS?

I finally got out... rehung the gate and then let the wild animals back out into the sunshine. I was pretty damned exhausted at that point and hadn't even mucked them yet! I got all the gates toggled so they were now locked OUT in the pen and couldn't access the shed... I got the lawn tractor and cart out and I mucked them out.

That was fairly uneventful except for the wind which was blowing right in the shed through the goat door and right out the people door. Love having bits of hay and stuff blowing around... awesome. It was only about a cart and a half of stuff to muck today... not bad and so much easier than carrying muck buckets full of poop.

The ground is wet and I had to drive way around to get to THE manure pile (the real one, not the temporary winter one) but I managed to not get stuck... not like Sunday... but I'm not discussing that! :)

Anyhow, so they are now clean... rebedded... lots of hay in the feeder...I just looked out the window and they are all outside in the sun... Ernie is sleeping flat out on the picnic table... the sheep is against the fence... Bert is beside the picnic table on the ground and Grover is right up against the side of the shed.

Last weekend we made some improvements to the kitchen... added a couple new under cabinet lights... bought a little (and cheap!) pantry cupboard to put in the dining room to give me some more storage space... put down a piece of Formica on top of the island so it can be usable counter space (its just sitting on top right now, we plan to glue it down when we have time)... we also added a little shelf in the space above the sink between the existing cupboards. Just a place to keep often used things like salt, pepper, butter, napkins handy, but off the countertop! We also hung the new clock I got for Christmas above the shelf... its a good spot for it.

So, improvements like that... nothing earth shattering, but it makes it a much nicer and more usable space... its still ugly, but fixing that wasn't the goal... at least not yet. Just needed some inexpensive ways to make it more functional... and we accomplished that... for about $250, I now have 2 good sized countertops for work space. Its really nice when I'm making muffins and stuff... I have places to put buttered muffin pans AND still have a place for mixing bowls and ingredients! Such luxury!

Hmm, other things we've done somewhat recently... we took down all the snow fence... nothing like tempting Mother Nature, eh? Its nice to have it down, rolled up and put away for next year. Its nice to have it up when you need it, but after that it just looks junky... oh, don't I sound just like my father?! :)

We're also still working on chicken coop plans and costing it out... I don't think we'll be ready to pick up chickens on my next trip to southern ontario... but that's good (or bad!!!) news for those of you that live down that way, because it means I'll have to come for another visit in order to get my chickens.

I'm considering getting 10 chickens now... I know that's way more than I need and definitely will give more eggs than I need or want, but I'm thinking that if I'm making a trip all the way to get them, I better get enough that if one or two die or don't lay or something that I'm not short on chickens. Besides, I think it might be fun to sell a few eggs to coworkers or neighbours... not that selling eggs will make us rich, but will maybe subsidize the feed and make it easier to justify having them.. .we'll see... stay tuned to "How The Egg Turns" ... :)

We also have tentative plans to extend the dog fence up the side of the house towards the road. We have enough page wire fencing to do it and in the summer it might be nice to have more shaded space available. We're just awaiting the gas people to come mark the gas line... want to avaoid hitting that!! ... and of course time...

A while back we ordered about 150 seedling trees... they should be ready for pick up around the end of April... that will keep us plenty busy at that point, I'm sure. 150 holes to be dug in the nasty clay soil... super fun! Seemed like a good idea in February!!

I think that's about it for now...nothing too exciting. Just trying really hard to get on with Spring.
--L

Abby Finds A New Home

2009-03-21T17:36:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, Shawn and I made the decision to put Abby up for adoption and started advertising. Don't get me wrong, she's a good dog and had come a long way in just under 2 weeks. All her food guarding issues resolved quickly (though I did fully disclose that to her new owners) and she had come a long way in learning her name and we began working on her recall.

But, it was very soon after losing Buddy to add a new dog to the household and having 2 pups and an older dog is way more work than having 2 older dogs and a pup! I wasn't ready to commit to that kind of work for a dog that just sort of showed up here. Plus... she's a lab... her whole personality, the way she runs, eats, learns... its all so "labby".

I know many people LOVE labs... but they really aren't my favourite type of dog... we already have one lab, Pixie, to whom we've made a life long committment to and that's fine... but I decided YEARS ago, there would be no more labs in my life. Then Abby showed up and thinking about committing another 10-15 years of my life to a type of dog I really don't like... just seemed overwhelming.

So we advertised her... we got a few responses, but no one was actually interested enough to come and see her. Then I got an email saying a friend's sister was very interested and was given contact info. We made contact via email and on the phone and I did my best to ask all the appropriate questions and they asked everything they could think of about Abby.

Given that these people were recommended to me by one of HJ's members who has done much good for both horses and dogs in need in the past, I felt reasonably comfortable that they would provide a good home. After talking to them, I was even more sure.

So today, they drove from Guelph to Ottawa to pick her up!! They have two kids, 8 & 10, so not really little. When they first arrived (I had my 2 whacko mutts locked in their crates upstairs so as not to cause total chaos!) Abby was in her crate in the mudroom. She was initially a bit overwhelmed by the extra people, but we took her out in the yard and let her explore the new people at her own pace.

It wasn't long and she was following the kids around while they held her leash and feeling pretty comfortable with her interactions. They already have her booked for puppy classes starting THIS week, like in 3 - 4 days!!

The adoption agreement was signed, the fee exchanged and all was good... Abby's crate and her tub of stuff was going to get loaded into the back of their mini van and then Abby put in her crate.... then it was discovered that they locked their keys in their van!

Some attempts were made with a coat hanger and various bits of wire... then CAA was called. They said it would take them 90 minutes to arrive! While waiting for CAA more attempts were made ot unlock the doors, but no go. During this time, Abby was taken for several walks around the property with the kids and me.

We made an effort this morning to tire Abby out in hopes she would sleep for the long ride home... by the time we were walking around the property, she was practically a zombie! She kept looking at her crate longingly, in hopes she could soon nap.

During one of the walks around the property to distract both kids and pup, one of the kids had a major run in with a burdock bush and required some help to get unstuck from himself! I bet that kid gives the next burdock bush a WIDE berth! :) Burdock trauma ;)

Anyhow, the local tow truck finally showed up... much sooner than 90 minutes! (They were here a total of 90 minutes) and the tow truck driver got out his fancy tools and in minutes had the doors open! Abby's crate and tub of stuff got loaded and then I lifted her into her crate, told her to be a good girl and that was that.

I don't imagine they will get home to Guelph until 8 or 9pm tonight, depending on how many stops they have to make... what a LONG day for them!

Due to the timing, Shawn and I missed lunch (and we shared a box of kraft dinner for breakfast... gross, I know!), so we went into town (we were in NEED of some groceries!) and picked up some groceries at Farm Boy... we also bought some food to eat in the car... Shawn had veggies and dip and I had a small container of Farm Boy potatoe salad. We gobbled down our snacks and were still hungry, so we stopped at the Shell gas station on the way home and got a couple nasty, yet delicious, gas station hot dogs and gobbled those down too!

Oliver and Pixie seem fine with Abby being gone... they are both exhausted from the 2 weeks of constant playing... neither looked for her or anything like that... they are both sound asleep now... Ollie on the couch and Pixie on the floor. Its so quiet here... not that Abby was that noisy, but her presence made Ollie be busier than normal and often made Pixie bark when Ollie and Abby were playing.

It's almost 6pm and at some point I'll make us some supper... but maybe a late supper since we inhaled a bunch of snacks at 4-430pm! :)

I'm pretty sure Abby went to a good family that will do right by her... and I'm sure she'll turn out to be a wonderful dog, once she settles in there... she's got a good friendly heart and just needs some consistency in her world and someone to teach her how to be a good dog. I hope they enjoy her... they have said they will send me updates, so we'll see.

It sure is hard letting them go, but I know we did the right thing for us and I'm pretty sure it will be the right thing for Abby, also!

Anyhow, now I should head out and feed my goat babies and sheep their supper and bring fresh water. Always someone hungry and / or thirsty around here! :)

-- L

Another Friday The 13th

2009-03-13T13:13:00.002-04:00

It's been one month since we lost Buddy. So far, and I almost fear saying this, March's Friday the 13th has been much better than February's Friday the 13th.

This week we acquired a new puppy, Abigail. I posted some pics in the FHH album of her, Pixie and Oliver. She literally showed up at our door step and her owners asked us to take her in. I told them I would take her, but I couldn't guarantee I'd keep her, but I'd make sure she'd find a good home if I didn't keep her.

Oliver really likes her and treats her like his own personal toy. Mostly the whole time they are together, they are go, go, go... .run, wrestle, chase, bite and all that. Being as there is only 6 months difference in their ages, there's much fun to be had... Ollie is a BIG fan of fun :)

Pixie tolerates her... she's not afraid of her like she was when we got Ollie, but she's also about 5 months old, so she's mostly a dog already and doesn't have that toddling puppy thing going on that Oliver had.

Abby is said to be a lab x shep... we were told her mother was a yellow lab and her father was a shep x of some sort... another one of those secret, unplanned rendez-vous that dogs are famous for! She was born October 15, 2008 and when we went to the vet this week was 42 lbs. She's short, but chunky... you really notice the chunkiness if you pick her up and carry her anywhere, especially if it involves stairs.

Abby seems to be a bit spoiled and seems not to have had any discipline in her life... while she can sleep through the night without having to go out, she sometimes wakes up and cries a bit... her old owner told me that when she used to do that, the owner would go and get her from her crate and cuddle her for a while. Needless to say THAT has stopped and she's now relearning that if you cry at night, you get taken outside to do your business and immediately returned to your crate. Apparently that's not all that much fun ;)

She also seems to have a few issues with protecting her food, even from people. We started working on that immediately this week and she seems a bit better... she lost the right to just get served her food in a bowl... now she gets a bowl with a tiny bit of food and then I add a small bit at a time. She now accepts my hands near her bowl without problem, as I'm always adding more food to it. I can lift her head out of the bowl and pick up the bowl while there's food in it without any snapping or growling... I make her sit patiently and then she gets it back.

Abby also doesn't know her name, but then again, we changed it on her, so that will take some time to learn... she didn't seem to know her old name though, anyhow. If motivated, she can sit, shake a paw and lay down... but pay any attention to you when you call her... No Way! We'll work on that also. I'm trying not to throw too much at her all at once... after all, she had a kinda crappy week, suddenly leaving her old home and coming here, getting to know new people, new dogs, a new house... a new name... everything.

I'm also not sure if its all the change or because she's fairly young... but she seems to not have much personality yet at this point. She reminds me a bit of our sheep... the sitting and blinking with a blank stare and stuff like that. Hopefully that will change.

The lab blood in her seems to be stronger than anything else... she's very similar to Pixie in many ways... the way she runs, the way she sits, the way she eats and the blank staring! ;) Of course, I'm used to Oliver, who is Mr.Personality Plus... really, he might have enough personality for both of them!

Its probably not fair to say she lacks personality... I don't really know her yet and she's getting used to all the changes and I don't feel like I've bonded to her yet in any way. That combined with the fact that I was not really ready to have a 3rd dog again so soon after we lost Buddy... we'll see how it goes.

Adding her into our house has really highlighted what a good dog Oliver is! Abby thinks nothing of putting her front paws on the counters and if there's anything in reach, grabbing it and running off. I swore I'd never have another lab after Pixie and yet somehow, one showed up on the doorstep. I really should have the "Sucker" tattoo removed from my forehead. Abby seems to be a strong willed, scrappy little girl though... which I suppose is good when it comes to playing with Oliver.

Oliver has changed this week with Abby joining our household. He acts a lot more like Buddy did... being the man dog of the house and keeping an eye on everyone... quite the little busy body. So far, I think he will end up being the dominant dog... Pixie has no inclination that way and Abby is kinda young.

All the dogs are really tired this week from all the playing... it means they are either sleeping or going full steam ahead... there doesn't seem to be much in between... I'm sure that will mellow out with time.

I just want to make it clear that Abby is not a replacement for Buddy, there's just no chance of that and never will be. Oliver on the other hand, is doing his best to try to fill up that Buddy shaped empty spot in my heart. He won't replace him either, but he does help reduce the sting. That's something.

Anyhow... enough about dogs.... we had a bunch of snow and ice melt... we still have quite a bit to go though... I'm looking forward to it all being gone!

The sheep and goats are doing well and I think are looking forward to there being some green grass at some point... the sooner the better as far as they are concerned. They are enjoying the hay that I got brought in... its the good stuff and only the biggest, toughest stalks don't get eaten and then I just use it for bedding. (How comfy sounding! ha)

I can't think of anything else new or interesting, so I think that's it for now. Don't forget to check out the pics in the FHH album.
--L

"Spring" Is Exhausting!

2009-03-08T19:46:00.002-04:00

So its March and clearly its not truly spring yet... but Saturday was spring LIKE... which meant we did our best to make the most of the day. After feeding the dogs and goats, I decided it was so nice out that I would start picking up dog poop in the yard.

Generally, we like to pick it up right after it happens and not have a messy yard... I hate having poop everywhere, then someone steps in it, tracks it into the house and all that! But this winter was LONG and COLD and it was easier just to open the door, let them out to do what they had to and then let them back in. Otherwise you have to pile on all your outside clothes and boots and hats and mitts, just to pick up a poop.... for most of the winter we had 3 dogs which means that happens at least 6 times a day!!

Anyhow, I've picked it up a few times, whenever there's a decent day and since it started melting this weekend, there was more that became visible. So Shawn I spent almost an hour touring around the yard with bags, picking it up. Unbelievable amounts, is all I will say!! Oh and we were smart to do this BEFORE breakfast, as after breakfast would've been much much MUCH worse!

We also went out into the goat yard and raked up all the nasty, dirty, soggy, wet, poopy hay that had accumulated over the winter. When its nice outside, I like to feed a bit of hay outside on the ground... the goats like to eat in the sunshine and I figure the fresh air is good for them. Every evening when I lock them up in their shed, I like to rake up the leftover hay and if its not too wet, I toss it into the shed as bedding... but of course, you always miss some... sometimes it snows on it and covers it and stuff like that.

We filled and hauled (Shawn did most of the hauling) at least 8 - 10 muck buckets of this nasty stuff out of the goat pen.... mind you, the buckets weren't full, at about half full they were almost too heavy to carry!! Gross stuff now that will hopefully make nice dirt to grow pretty stuff in eventually!

We also took down the outside Christmas lights and all the extension cords (except for one that part of it is still frozen under some ice and snow. They are all rolled up neatly and waiting to be put away in their rubbermaid container until next time.

We also went into town on Saturday and I ordered my new eye glasses... I had gone in earlier in the week looking for new frames and found ones I liked the style of, but not the colour... the manager of the store was a great help during the process and told me the style I liked came in another colour, but they didn't have them in stock, but could order them in for me to try.

So by Saturday they were in and I took Shawn with me to make sure I didn't look TOO stupid in them. They are a similar style to my current ones... a bit more chunky though... the fronts are a dark gray / almost black and the arms are a brownish colour. They look better than my description makes them sound :) They should be ready in a couple weeks for pick up. They are the kind that come with clip on sunglasses (sort of like the magnetic ones I already have, but they happen to not be magnetic, if that makes any sense!) Thank goodness for extended health insurance, otherwise, I'd have to keep making do with the ones I have!!

While we were in town, we made a trip to Home Depot... a spring day and Home Depot... a perfect combination! We looked around at various things, Shawn bought a new pair of gloves (I got a pair earlier in the week). They are very similar to our SSG riding gloves, but a little bit thicker and definitely cheaper!! ($10 compared to $35 - 40!) They are still think enough to operate snaps and fasteners which is what we were after.

Today we took it a bit easier, it was quite a bit colder out and there was a nasty wind... we mucked out the goat shed though... a good day for that... yesterday would've felt very warm... today was cool enough that we needed our hats and coats on and no one worked up a sweat!

We also spent some time thinking about chicken coops and what we want to build and how to do it cheaply and still have it look nice and have the features we want. We didn't come to any decisions yet, but we're going to look into the shed kits again (sold at HD, Rona, etc).

We had looked at them for our goat shed last year, but decided they were just not going to be durable enough for goats without a lot of $$ improvements... chickens on the other hand are smaller animals and don't need the same level of durability... mostly it just has to be strong enough to keep predators OUT with chickens. So we'll see... I'm sure this topic will be debated for a while yet... I'm sure you all wish you were here to listen to it in all its excessiveness! ha!

So that was our tiring weekend.... some where in there Shawn's laundry got done... meals got made and enjoyed.... dogs fed and played with... goats fed and fussed with... all in all busy enough compared to recent weekends. We're both tired and I think both of us are feeling a few muscles that got a bit soft over the winter... but the good weather comes, you start to feel like doing stuff and you start gearing up again... that's just how it goes around here.

Both of the dogs were pretty tired yesterday and today.... they aren't used to being outside so long and running, running, running... Ok, only Oliver runs like a madman... Pixie runs only when necessary! :)

I will still likely eventually get around to making my own post here about Buddy... I'm still not nearly ready to go there... I'm hoping with time comes perspective and with perspective the pain will diminish enough to make a posting and move forward... but not... not yet.

I think sometime overnight tonight we are supposed to get SNOW... which is not springlike.. maybe 5 -10 cm in the next 24 hours... but its not spring... but while March can be nasty, its not likely to be death cold and any snow we get, won't linger too long... and that's encouraging!

That's it for now...
-- L

Buddy

2009-02-22T13:28:00.002-05:00

Buddy

We had to put Buddy down the week before last, on Friday February 13th. In the end, it was just his time. He had started to have troubles with his front leg, dragging the toe a bit, and it was steadily getting worse.

He passed very quietly. Our vet did a wonderful job.

I've posted some pictures and a movie of Buddy that I took the morning before we took him to the vet.

He had the best life we could give him, and he leaves behind a lot of wonderful memories.

Running away from hot air balloons, dragging me back through town when we still walked him. Hot air balloons (or anything similar, like the moon) were his nemesis. The poor dog, in the past few months, went outside in the morning to see a giant Mr Peanut shaped hot air balloon in a neighboring field. He was very offended.

Acting like a nut at the dog park, wrestling with Pixie, running and running and running.

Playing obsessive fetch with his blue ball. Beating Pixie if she dared take his. :-)

The time we got the new dog beds, and when I was finally done assembling it, he realized what it was, licked my face, and jumped up on it.

Putting his blue blanket over him at night.

Endless tummy rubs.

Being constantly underfoot. :-) He always wanted to be where the action was.

The time he tore off after a deer, and we thought we'd lost him.

He was a good dog. He will be missed. :-(

Time Flies...

2009-01-13T15:59:00.003-05:00

So somehow I haven't posted since November!! I'm not really sure how that happened exactly, but I can hardly believe it!

I suppose December was a little busy... Christmas came early around here, as my parents came for a lovely visit about 2 weeks before Christmas. So our fake tree went up early, but it also came down early, before New Years day, but now of course, I can't remember what day it was :)

Just before Christmas, on December 20th, we got another new addition to our little herd... a sheep! Now we have 3 goats and 1 sheep in the shed... they all fit in there just fine and have mostly worked out the herd dynamics. The sheep is now known as Gordon, though often gets referred to around here as "the sheep"... honestly, he doesn't seem to care one bit.

Ernie and Bert don't mind the sheep too much, though Ernie will boss him around if he's standing in the way of the hay or something... Bert is still a little freaked out by the sheep, but has gotten over it a bit and will now bite chunks of hair / wool off the sheep to make him move! Grover has an extreme dislike for the sheep and will boss him around at any and every opportunity.... just as Ernie and Bert, especially Bert, love to boss Grover around. Herd dynamics are certainly interesting, that's for sure.

Winter is pretty much in full "bloom" around here and has been for well over a month now. Blah. Right now its snowing and about -1 degree C... later tonight, it will be -28 C with the windchill, and later this week it'll be -34 C WITHOUT the windchill... so friggen cold!

Today I pushed all the decent bedding in the goat shed aside and scraped out the bottom layer of wet bedding and filled 2.5 muck buckets (not much). I then rebedded using the decent bedding as a bottom layer, then some old stalky hay out of the feeder that they weren't interested in eating was spread over and then I added another half bale of straw so they would have lots of bedding to burrow into and snuggle down when the temperature drops tonight.

A couple weekends ago we rebuilt the hay feeder to accommodate the extra animals so there would be room for everyone at the feeder. Its on the same wall, but is now a 6 ft long hay feeder. We also changed the design slightly... its somewhere between the first feeder that Bert hated and the 2nd feeder that allowed them to waste too much hay. This one is working out pretty well so far and the waste has been dramatically reduced! Wish we'd come up with it sooner, but live and learn.

Oliver is about 9 months old now and still growing. I'd say he's as tall as Buddy now... I just weighed him today and he's 62.2 lbs! And after holding him in my arms on the scale, I now remember why I get Shawn to weigh him usually!!! :)

Thankfully, there's not much new around here these days... same old, same old. I figured I should update the blog though, just to prove we're still around :)

Winter Prep Continues

2008-11-24T20:27:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-22T19:33:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-11-02T16:24:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-10-26T18:58:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-22T13:18:00.003-04:00

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...

2008-10-19T16:46:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-10-18T21:24:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-10-16T15:08:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-10-12T16:51:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-09T15:40:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-09T10:07:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-26T15:45:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-24T20:56:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-20T20:04:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-19T12:23:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-09-13T17:42:00.004-04:00

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...

2008-09-12T10:03:00.001-04:00

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

2008-09-12T09:37:00.004-04:00

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"

2008-09-10T16:01:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-09T10:44:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-05T14:59:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-29T15:07:00.001-04:00

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

2008-08-18T14:51:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-10T10:16:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-08-04T19:47:00.001-04:00

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)

2008-07-31T20:25:00.002-04:00

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

New Pics Today

2008-07-30T14:43:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-22T21:06:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-22T14:32:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-20T14:59:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-07-16T21:22:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-12T20:18:00.003-04:00

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!!

2008-07-12T19:56:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-09T10:45:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-05T10:27:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-19T10:58:00.002-04:00

... 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

2008-06-13T23:03:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-06-10T11:50:00.003-04:00

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

Oliver's Weight

2008-06-01T17:23:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-06-01T10:46:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-29T14:30:00.002-04:00

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

Always Busy

2008-05-29T09:41:00.002-04:00

More busy around FHH.

Yesterday I cut all the grass AGAIN... including a swath along the top of the hill at the front side of our property. (If you're looking at our place from the road, its the right hand side, over near where we've been grazing the goats.) I got a "brilliant" idea yesterday while sitting on the lawn mower that I could dig out some of the new growth from the base of the lilac bush and transplant it over on that hill edge. The idea is to mix in some real trees both evergreens and maybe some maples and provide some cover from the road there.

I didn't dig up any of the lilac new growth yet, so I don't know if this brilliant plan will work yet or not, but we'll see how it goes. It may turn out to be one of those plans that sounds good in theory, but makes you wish you were dead when you actually try to DO it :)

After we picked Shawn up from work last night, we went a little farther into Kanata and picked up some sod that someone had dug out of their lawn to make a garden (thanks kijiji!). We brought home 4 muck buckets, a rubbermaid garbage can, 3 garden tubs, a blue water bucket and 5 plastic containers you get from buying trees at the nursery full of sod!

We are using it to help fill in the ruts that run across our property. At some point, years ago, someone drove a truck across the property a few times when it was very muddy and left these ruts. They generally aren't a big deal, except that we do have to cross them to get to where the goats have been grazing lately. They are deep enough that my lawn tractor can not go through them.

We filled some with manure early in the season and now this sod we're just laying on top of that. Makes a decent job... doubt the grass will grow, but eventually it will and that's ok with us. So mostly its free fill :)

I think after work tonight we'll make another trip and hopefully get the rest of it. Its a good deal for the person we're getting it from also, as they live in suburbia and have no way of disposing of all the sod. Everyone is happy :)

After we put all the sod down in the ruts, then we also moved the goat pen. They had pretty much used up the whole front section, so we moved it back away from the road now, closer to the old barn site. We have tons of grass to be eaten, that's for sure!!

We were definitely tired last night... again!!
That's it for now.
-- L

Obviously May is "Missing In Action" Month!

2008-05-27T10:38:00.005-04:00

It's been a long time since I made it here to make updates. We've been so busy and by the time I actually have TIME to post, I'm out of energy!!

Spring is definitely here and we've been working on all the projects we sat around thinking up all winter! Our lilac bush bloomed this year (we missed it last year) and is almost done now. Soon I will try to think it out a bit and prune it back and try to make it look a little less unruly!

This past weekend my parents came to visit... was so nice to see them again and catch up. Their visits are never really long enough for my liking... I'd love if they could stay longer... but I also know they have other things they have to do... I'm glad for any time they have to spare to come for a visit.

While Mom and Dad were here, we got 2 trees planted in the side yard. One is a honey locust and the other is a hackberry. They don't look like much yet, but even once they leaf out this year they'll be better. Thanks Dad for all your hard work digging holes for the new tress in our crappy clay soil!

We've also been working on putting up some 5 strand electric fence for the goat babies. The posts were put in last fall... the insulators are up.... the ground rod for the fencer unit has been pounded in (Thanks Dad!!).... now we just need a bit of time to hook up the fencer and actually run the wire. We're doing 3 strands of regular wire and 2 strands of electric rope for visibility. We're hoping this will work out ok and hold in our goats.

We've had the goats out on grass for weeks now... every two days we move their enclosures to a new grazing area for fresh grass, they seem to like that well enough! They are good eaters and it only takes about 2 days for them to clear their pen (approx 30 feet diameter) of decent grass. We could maybe get 3 days out of it, but I don't want them eating it too low. We have lots of grass, there's no need to worry about running out just yet. The spots they ate first, are already just about filled in and could likely be grazed again. We'll wait a while to do that though, make sure all the manure has gone away and the grass solidly reestablished.

A couple weeks ago, we got a great deal of some 5 foot chain link fencing on kijiji... we haven't decided where that will go up yet... but we'll use it somewhere for sure! I just can't pass up a good deal on used fencing in good condition.

I've been doing physio on my knee, its an old injury that now apparently has some arthritic changes in it. I'm not sure if the physio is helping yet or not, its more sore than it was when I started, but mostly because I've learned to compensate for it for a very long time. This morning I actually got fitted for a hinged brace for it.

The ligaments (MCL and LCL) are shot in it, which allows my lower leg to move left and right against my thigh. Obviously this is not good, so this new and extremely expensive brace should help stabilize it and act like external ligaments and maybe let the inflammation settle down and slow down the progression of arthritis in it. I should have the brace in about 2 weeks or so... takes a while since its custom made. It'll look similar to this but should be metallic blue. Hopefully it will provide some relief and stability.

We installed a garden next to the house... on the driveway side, next to the mudroom. I haven't planted anything there yet, I added some manure and grass clippings to the soil and I'm waiting for them to break down a bit more before I plant. Likely in the next week or so I'll put something in there. It'll be a good place to plant bulbs in the fall... its on the south side of the house and right against the house, so they should come early next spring. Spring flowers, what a novel concept around here!

Yesterday Jess and I dug out the sod around some existing trees in the side yard. They keep getting hit by the lawn mower (they were hit with lawn mowers long before *I* moved in!) and I wanted to make it so I wouldn't have to mow so close to them. After we removed the sod, we added a couple bags of the soil I have around that I bought at TSC a while back on sale. Cleans it up around them and looks nice. Perhaps will add some nutrients to the soil and maybe those trees will grow a bit more... I'll put some manure around them in a couple weeks also.

For Mother's Day, I got some lovely flowers from Jess, Martha Washington geraniums. They are gorgeous, though one of them seems to not be doing really well... I'm not sure WHY, as its in the same type of container, same soil and right beside the one that's doing well. Seems strange to me. Shawn gave me a book "All Flesh Is Grass, The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming" by Gene Logsdon. I've only read a bit so far, since we've been busy, but it seems like a neat book. I've read some of his other books and I find them really interesting. I look forward to making some time to read it all! :)

We took the dogs to the vet last night for their heart worm tests and meds. They did just fine, the tests were all negative, as expected. We really like this vet clinic... you're in, they do their thing and you're out. Not near so much lecturing and time wasting as our old vet. Not near so stressful on the dogs OR us.

Though we did just receive an ad in the mail for a mobile vet practice that interests me. His whole practice is based on coming to your house and he's affiliated with an animal hospital for emergencies and referrals. I don't know anything about the vet himself, but the concept really appeals to me. He also provides at home euthanasia, which is something I will likely have to think about in the next while.

Speaking of which, Buddy (my shep x) is doing ok right now... about a month or so ago he wasn't doing great. Him and Pixie were wrestling in the yard, when he suddenly yelped and wouldn't bear weight on his hind end. He was unable to do stairs for a few days and we carried him upstairs at night for bed. He's been slowly improving though, but we're trying to be very vigilant about them not messing about and re injuring it. Its remarkably hard to stop them though, his brain still thinks he's young and puppy like, his body.... not so much. Anyhow, no decisions need to be made NOW, but its something I just KNOW is looming ahead of me at some point. I guess that's always true when you have animals.

I know there are tons of things we've been working on that I haven't mentioned... I just can't recall them all right now, of course! Anyhow, since there's always so much to do, I should get going and do some of them!

I'm planning to post a few pics also, so check out the FHH album!
--L

Not All Redneck... A Bit of High Tech Too!

2008-05-01T16:19:00.002-04:00

As I posted, Jess is now home for the summer... not having cable tv has not been an issue until now... she likes to watch Lost. Last week, we decided to see if we got any channels without cable. (Not something we had thought of checking before she came home!) It turns out we can sort of get the channel that has Lost and Greys Anatomy on it. It's fuzzy and unclear, but the audio was ok.

Last night, we went to Best Buy and bought "rabbit ears" for the tv....they are nicer looking than the old fashioned rabbit ear antennas, but not that different either. Shawn hooked it up and voila! That same channel now comes in clearer than cable! There are also a couple other channels we can get. A french one that's very clear. The channel we THINK House is on, but its really fuzzy and unclear, but we also didn't spend any time trying to adjust the rabbits ears and see if it would help.

So... we're like all high tech now here in redneckville ;)
-- L

Overdue Update!

2008-04-30T09:48:00.003-04:00

As usual, I've been busy lately and not posted. Just not quite enough time or energy in the day!

Jess is home from university and has started her hunt for a summer job so that she can afford to go back to university in the fall. It's so nice to have her home again!!

My mom made the big trip out here again and visited with us for a week. We had a good time, but took it easy. The weather was lovely while she was here... sunny and warm... we all soaked that up after a long long winter!! My dad picked her up on the weekend, he was only here for one night, but we enjoyed our visit with him as well, even if it was too short! :)

Things are really starting to look like spring around here... green grass... the trees are starting to green up... OTHER people have flowers... daffodils, tulips, etc... I have dandelions! Oh well, at least they add some colour.

We've been putting our goats out on grass, as the weather permits... we have two enclosures now. One is set up with the black rubber mats and the goat ghetto shelter, the other just has half of their winter shelter in it to provide shade and we move it around the property to give them new grass.

We just set up the grazing paddock at the end of last week and they spent a couple days in it... then yesterday I noticed there wasn't much grass left and they were starting to churn up the dirt by the gate. So last night we move the grazing paddock over a bit in the field to provide new grass. I'll put them out there later today and let them work away at the grass there.

The goats are loving the weather and the grass it brings! They go crazy when we take them out on leashes to move from paddock to paddock and eat the whole way! They really like it if we go past the trees and they can reach some of the lower new growth... they clip it off quickly with their sharp back teeth and gobble it up!

The dogs are enjoying the weather also, though they still spend most of their time inside.... they are not really outside dogs. Perhaps if there were comfy couches outside that would help :)

We did have quite a scare with my Buddy dog (shep x) about 2 weeks ago. He and Pixie were outside and started ramming about and wrestling... they had just started and weren't even really wound up yet when we heard Buddy yelp. Shawn and I were both standing right there, but neither of us saw what happened, except that he was no longer weight bearing on his right hind.

I stood with him for a few minutes and then checked his paw and his joints. Nothing obvious. No heat, no swelling. He was unable to climb back up the steps to get inside, so I had to carry him in. He laid down for a while and rested. It took him about 4 or 5 days to really start to recover from the incident.

The first night, I carried him up the stairs to go to bed... what a workout THAT is!! Of course, this happened the night before I was heading back to Southern Ontario, so the next couple nights Shawn had to carry him up to bed. I was pretty sure when I left that I would be coming home to put him down.

But he's mostly recovered... he's still slow to get up and occasionally a bit "off" behind, but he's still doing all his normal doggie stuff and he's now able to get up the stairs on his own, which is good. His big problem is his body is aging WAY faster than his mind... he still thinks he's 2, when in fact, he's almost 11.

I imagine this won't be the last incident we have with him, but I do feel lucky that this wasn't IT. I'm sure this dog will cause much more heart ache before the ends comes, damn him!! :)

I still haven't got my manure piles moved... maybe I'll get some time today to work on that, we'll see what today brings. I imagine they will still be there next week, for instance ... and if not, well then won't I be glad I waited? :)

Anyhow, I should go get some things done!
-- L

Some springtime exploring

2008-04-19T13:46:00.004-04:00

Free with Four Horse Haven

So springtime is fun around here.

We've got 6 acres, and we don't use hardly any of it. In fact, for most of the year we've been here, most of the property is covered in waist deep weeds and vegetation. This year, we hope to graze some of it.

In spring, however, all the vegetation is pushed down by the snow. Once the mud clears up (like now), you can wander pretty much anywhere on the property, and get some good looks at things.

In the corner of our property, by the standing water, we thought we saw a dock of sorts. Wood, with T-bars around it, jutting out into the water.

Well, turns out that's not a dock.

I went down to it today. What it seems to be is a rectangular hole, maybe 6 by 10, by 5 feet deep (I'm bad at estimating like that, but around there). The hole has cast cement sides (I'm not sure if the bottom is cement as well -- it's got mud at the bottom).

Around the outside of the cement are T bars and other types of metal posts -- I don't know if it's to keep it from falling apart or what.

Over top is some sort of cage made of pipes. On top of the cage is sheet metal: really thick (like a quarter inch). There's also an old old dead shovel on top of it. It looks strong enough to stand on, although I didn't try.

Pictures in the four horse haven album.

What on earth is this thing? I have no idea. But whatever it is, we own it. :-)

Also while I was out, I saw a big turtle and a muskrat down in that pond (the turtle startled me, it was hiding, then pushed itself out into the water suddenly).

Lots more old dead wood and skids, as well. The previous owners liked to leave stuff everywhere. :-) But neat stuff!

Update: I've heard two theories about what this thing could be so far:

a foundation for some old building - this one would be odd: this thing is underwater a lot of the time. Also, the metal framework over it seems to be profoundly part of it, rather than an add on after the fact.
an old septic system for the original house - this is based on the fact that this "thing" is roughly in line with where we suspect the original house is. Hope this isn't the case: having a septic tank that's underwater much of the year seems really gross. :-) But it could be.

Another Couple Days And It'll Be ALL GONE!

2008-04-15T10:38:00.002-04:00

The snow is just about gone here... another day or two of this warm weather should do it. I expect by the end of the week it'll be all gone, as its supposed to be quite warm this week.

I put up a couple pics in the FHH album showing the tiny bits of snow we have left, as well as a few I took a couple days ago.

There's still quite a bit of standing water around, but we are noticing even that is starting to go away a bit. Quite exciting.

Not too much to report around here... I've been busy, but not doing anything interesting. I did manage to flip the old goat shelter yesterday... both halves... the back half was easy, the front half was still pretty frozen into the ground and required a big shove. Lots of the bedding was still frozen solid inside, but after a little while in the sun I was able to clean almost all of it up and pile it in my temporary manure pile. I have a bit more cleaning to do there, but nothing major... I need to pull up the stall mat that was under all that bedding, it should be unfrozen and easier to move today... I couldn't quite get it yesterday.

The goats are enjoying the warmth and sunshine and like to lay flat out and sunbathe for hours on end. They are feeling good these days and are wild men when we go into feed and visit... lots of jumping and carrying on! Silly goats.

There's several pairs of Canadian geese hanging around in the field next to the yard... sometimes they come into our yard and if I'm not paying attention when I let the dogs out, the dogs chase them and have great fun. I try not to let this happen though, because I'm a little worried that the geese will hurt my dogs, but so far, so good.

For the first time in months, we smelled a skunk last night. It was very strong when we went out around 11pm and I suddenly worried that perhaps my goats had tangled with it somehow. But after shining the big flashlight around and making lots of noise, I went to feed and check them and they were not any stinkier than normal :) Thank goodness!!!!

Yummy Dinner... No Incidents! Yay :)

2008-04-12T20:45:00.003-04:00

Tonight we managed to successfully go out and have our fancy dinner WITHOUT incident. No flat tires or anything :)

Of course, the night isn't over and I really should be careful not to jinx ourselves!

It was very tasty and we enjoyed it.... we started out with Young Organic Salad Greens... tender baby lettuces with house vinaigrette, red pear, goat cheese and crispy shallots. They also brought us a complimentary thing from the kitchen... tuna tar tar with avocado on a cracker, or something like that. It was tasty... I ate it even though I don't eat seafood anymore and I've survived to tell the tale ;)

We then had the Beef tenderloin, served with Oxtail Potato Gallette, Broccoli Rabe, Roasted Onion Purée and Bordelaise Sauce. The steak was delicious, they apparently age it themselves for 35 days. The oxtail potato thingy was ok, a little weird... I asked the server about it after we ate it and he said its not really ox, but just beef... not really sure how those are different anyhow... but it was kinda stringy, like the meat you get on a pig tail or turkey neck. But we ate it and enjoyed it well enough.

For dessert we had Crème Fraîche Brulée, Fig Compote, Micha Goat Cheese Crostini, Bruléed Fig. The whole fig addition almost made me not want to order it, but I love creme brulee generally, so I ordered it anyhow. It wasn't dried figs, but fresh figs, so it was a big relief... dried figs just look nasty! Anyhow that was delicious and we enjoyed it. Needless to say, Shawn ordered the exact same as I did, which makes posting about it faster :)

At the end of the meal, they brought us another tasty tiny num num from the kitchen for dessert, a vanilla brownie and the tiniest chocolate cookie I ever saw! It was about the size of a dime. The vanilla brownie was excellent, chewy and delicious, slightly larger than a postage stamp.

It was one of "those places" where you get frou frou food in teeny portions... but we enjoyed it and had fun. Not really the sort of place to take my parents or Jessica, but the sort of place if you had frou frou friends you could go out and celebrate birthdays or something... whatever people do when they have friends, frou frou or otherwise :)

I ended up wearing my "bad luck" clothes tonight... the nice very dark wash jeans I had bought to go to a coworkers dinner party when Shawn decided to shove a rusty nail into his skull... and I wore the black velvet top I bought to go to the formal soiree with Shawn's work that we missed due to a family emergency. Apparently if you pair two pieces of bad luck clothing together, they bring good luck... who knew? :)

I did enjoy wearing my black velvet top though... it fits nice and is comfortable and looks ok. I didn't feel the need to pick at it the whole time I was wearing it like I often do when I wear clothes other than jeans, tshirt, sweatshirt, so that was a bonus.

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

Spring Cleanup

2008-04-09T12:23:00.003-04:00

We've started spring cleanup around here and boy does the place need it!!

Last night we took down some of the Christmas lights off the fence... it was the first chance we could, as a bunch of them were frozen down under the snow and ice and that part has just melted over the last few days.

I took down the rest of the Christmas lights this morning, they just have to find their way to the storage container upstairs. There's still one extension cord out there that's frozen in some ice... a couple more days of warmth and it should be free.

I also picked up some of the random objects that were laying around... there were 2 pieces of rubber matting on the front lawn that I had used to cover the internet cable when it still crossed the driveway. They got tossed on the front lawn once the snow hit and I had to move the cable for the snow removal guy... since then it of course got an extension added to it and it runs a long way around the property now. I imagine some day they will show up and bury that.... likely sometime after all the snow is gone and the frost is out of the ground.

There were some salvaged boards laying around from when we made the goat ghetto, I picked them up and added them to the "weird shit" pile that is beside the feed building. There's all sorts of boards, pipes and strange objects in this pile... seemed like a good idea to put like items together.

I raked up some piles of hay/straw that were outside the feed room door that had been there most of the winter but have just been revealed when the snow melted there. I hauled that away in muck buckets to one of our THREE manure piles!

I have 3 manure piles because the original one, we used most of the winter, snew blew paths to it, slogged through the deep snow... but then with the last really big storm we gave up. So I started another pile (its small) closer to where the goats were living at the time, figuring I would load it up in the cart with the lawn tractor in the good weather and add it to the original pile.

Then, when we moved the goats, both piles were too far and too inaccessible from snow to carry all that way, so another pile was started closer to the new pen. Its not a very big pile yet and I'll likely move it and add it to the original pile once the lawn tractor has a chance to get around the property. Too much snow and mud for it right now.

I also started to clean out the winter goat pen today. There's quite a bit of stuff there to be cleaned up. I made two piles in that enclosure, one for really wet, partly rotted stuff and another pile for the dry stuff. I'm hoping to move the really wet, partly rotted pile right to a garden destination (to avoid moving it twice) and the other pile will have to go to the original manure pile and cook for a while.

I made a pass around the whole goat pen and piled up what I could. Underneath the loose stuff there's still quite a bit of ice... it was insulated by the loose stuff... now it should melt a bit better.

I also started cleaning out their old shelter... man is it deep in there!! The shelter itself is still frozen down into the snow and ice, so I can't tip it yet... which means I have to go in there and practically crawl around. Lovely. I got a bunch out of there, but again, lots of it is wet from the thaw and frozen solid. I took out what I could and hopefully that will help it melt now that that insulation is gone. Its really remarkable how much hay/straw/poop there is!

I have a few windows open again today to let in some fresh air and man is it nice! Its clouding up now and we're supposed to get a bit of rain this afternoon, so I'll have to close them again, but for now, I'm enjoying that!

Well its just about goaty lunch time so I should get out there before the rain starts... I've started separating the goats at grain time... Bert eats all his and then sets to work on Ernie's. Bert needs LESS grain not more... and Ernie needs MORE grain, not less. I've been putting a collar on one of them and pulling them out of the pen to eat and then feeding the other in the pen. Works well and Ernie is now getting a bit more grain.... scrawny little bugger that he is!

That's it for now!
-- L

The Conclusion To My Flat Tire...

2008-04-08T11:29:00.002-04:00

The mechanic up the road got my tire replaced yesterday, no problem... they came and picked me up afterwards, which was great.

I had asked the mechanic to see if he could figure out what happened with the tire, whether it had something in it or just what. His opinion is that it was a blow out. He could see no evidence of anything in the tire, though the sidewalls were pretty chewed up from having driven on it while slowing down on the highway when it happened. He said my experience is pretty consistant with a blow out (not feeling like you hit anything, etc). I thought a blow out always made a huge noise, but he says with some of the higher end tires, they try to minimize the noise factor in case of a blow out, so people don't get scared and panic.

There WAS a noise, but it wasn't a bang or anything... so I'm unsure. I suppose it doesn't matter, but in a way, I'd almost prefer that there was a concrete reason it happened, instead of some unknown malfunction. Oh well.

The final total... approx $135 for the tow... and another almost $200 for the tire replacement and disposal fees and all that. The oil change was on top of that. Super fun.

But I now have 4 ROUND tires again... at least for now! ;)
-- L

If There's More Snow... I Am To Blame!

2008-04-07T14:14:00.003-04:00

I'm to blame if there's more snow and winter like weather. I removed some of the plastic film from some windows today and had the windows open for a while. I also took down the snowflake hand towels and replaced them with plain normal ones. It's a chance I'm willing to take ;)

We saw 2 red wing black birds today in the driveway... happy little spring birds, doing spring bird stuff! They hung around just outside the window for quite a while... I don't think I've ever seen them so close before... usually just in the distance, sitting on a fence post or something. Very pretty.

My groundhog is still hanging around... he lives under the red shed... I'm pretty sure HE is SHE, but whatever... groundhogs aren't near so bad as muskrats! I know they burrow under the buildings, but they've been doing that a LONG LONG time... LONG before we got here and the damage to the buildings is already pretty much done. I did, however, throw a snowball at it when it was sitting there chittering at me to go back in the house!

I put up 2 videos from yesterday's lay in the sun and sleep fest. Here's the first one. And here's the 2nd one.

My van still isn't back from getting a new tire, but I expect it'll be done soon. It's not like I had an appointment or anything, so I'm just at everyone's mercy today. The mechanic did phone a while ago though and said that he noticed I was almost due for an oil change and did I want it done while it was on the hoist? I said sure... I knew it was almost due, but being as I didn't have an appointment, I didn't want to ask him to do that today, I didn't know if he'd be busy, but feel obligated, so I figured I'd just go back next week... before I head back to KW.

But he noticed... and he called... and he had time... so its great! THAT's service :)

That's all fer now... --- L

Best Laid Plans

2008-04-06T20:48:00.002-04:00

So tonight we were supposed to have a fancy dinner out. Supposed to.

We planned.. we made a reservation two days in advance ... we remembered our reservation today... we worked all day, but not too hard, so we wouldn't be too tired... we worked carefully, so as not to ruin it by getting a nail in the head or anything like that. We planned... fed the dogs and goats before we left so that we could be away a few hours without feeling guilty.

We showered, we put on nice clothes... we pushed the dog that sheds white hair on black wool pants away over and over again. We left the house an hour before our reservation. We had the address... the GPS.. printed google map directions, just in case.

We headed down the 417 towards the big city of Ottawa... and then... the front end of the car starts to shake and a loud, weird noise comes from the front end. I'm in the center lane and I signal to pull over... the damned rude Ottawa drivers ignore my signal and my braking... the car gets harder to steer... I put on my 4 ways and start edging over and forcing people out of my way... I know I didn't hit anything... at least nothing I could SEE.

I get pulled to the side of the road and I know what I'm going to see when I get out... I know the front driver's tire is FLAT. Sure enough, that's what I see. It's not safe to attempt to change the tire ourselves... plus we're dressed up... plus I don't really want a tiny tire on the front end of my front wheel drive van...I get back in the car and check my cell phone contacts... nope, nothing useful there. Shawn calls the restaurant and cancels our reservation.

Shawn checks the GPS and we find the number for CAA... we don't have a CAA membership, but we call... we are told they are not taking any non member cash calls today, but here's another number you can try. I call that number and am told it will be 2...yes TWO friggen hours, but here's another number you can try... I call that number and get a fax machine.

Shawn checks the GPS some more and we find a number for a towing company... I already know I just want it towed to the mechanic... he can deal with it tomorrow... I call the towing company and they take the information... where am I? Well... look, I've not even lived here a year... and I'm not all that familiar with the area closer to Ottawa... but we figure it out... they will come and tow us back to Dunrobin in about 30 minutes. Perfect.

We sit in the car and wait. And wait... about 40 minutes later the big tow truck pulls up with lights a flashing. I give the driver the keys and he sends us to sit in his truck. We sit in the big loud truck and wait.. .and wait and wait... it takes a long time to load the van onto the flat bed truck.. or at least it seems long enough. We're hungry... wished we'd eaten a bit of something before we left.

Finally its loaded and off we go... off at the next exit and back on the 417 heading the other way. The tow truck driver attempts to be amusing and friendly, but is mostly a bit scary and weird. We interact, but begrudgingly.

It takes forever to get back to Kanata... then on to Dunrobin... we arranged for him to drop us at home, since we're right on the way to the mechanic... he pulls over and takes my VISA info and out we go. Off he goes with the van... hopefully to the mechanic! :)

Hungry and disappointed, we walk up the driveway... through the mud in our nice clothes... our goats are still laying outside and they see us and call to us... trying to convince us they are starving to death. The dogs hear us and bark their big tough mean barks until I call to them and then they start barking their happy, excited barks.

In we go... off come all the nice clothes... on go the jammies... we're DONE. I start making dinner... bacon, eggs and toast are the best and quickest I can come up with. Scrambled for Shawn... sunny side up for me.

Load up our plates and head for the couch to watch tv and eat... not interested in eating at the table tonight.

The food was ok, not what we'd been hoping for and thinking of, but filled up the empties. Watching tv on the couch helped to distract and relax.

But... We... PLANNED.... *sigh* Really, we should KNOW better!

So the tow will cost me around $120... the new tire will be $100 - $150... hopefully nothing else was damaged... we'll see what tomorrow brings.

But at least I managed to not crash the van when it was hard to steer... the weather and road conditions were on my side... we didn't freeze to death waiting for the tow truck... all the animals had just been fed, so I didn't need to worry that anyone was starving (other than us)... we were smart enough to bring our jackets with us... we had the GPS with us that helped us figure out where we were to tell the tow truck driver and find the phone number in the first place... if it had to happen, I guess it wasn't so bad.

Pics & Video

2008-04-06T16:05:00.002-04:00

I'm supposed to be getting ready for our fancy dinner out... but I can't resist posting a few pics and a video. I have more video to post, but I probably won't get it done until tomorrow.

We had a lovely warm weekend here... got a bunch of stuff done... won't go into boring details... and then when we were done... the boys were laying around.

There's pics in the FHH album and a new video of me (ok just my legs!) and the goats that I took on Friday.

Signs of Spring...

2008-04-02T15:09:00.002-04:00

I've now seen a couple robins... the geese are back... there's mud, water, snow and ice everywhere... and I've been fighting a "plague" for almost 2 weeks now. Yep, must be spring.

I took a few pics on Monday and I finally posted them to the FHH album today. Mostly pics of the mud, water, snow and ice... nothing too exciting. Of course, just 2 days later, it looks all different again... yesterday was really quite warm during the day (+12 C)... then it got very cold and windy last night (-15 C with windchill) and was actually snowing for a while. Lovely. It didn't stick, but it was swirling around and pelting us in the face when we did night feed / check on the goats.

The mud was deep yesterday too... almost got the minivan stuck in front of the feed building (where I always drive!) It was getting iffy whether I'd get it out... I did... but it left deep ruts which I had to tamp back in with my rubber boots later.

I've not been doing much this week... mostly sleeping and whining about being sick. I'm exhausted and sleep at least once during the day, sometimes twice! Then I sleep pretty much all night too. Disgusting.

Shawn's feeling some better, not 100% yet... but going to work and all that.

The new goat pen is working out well... there is still mud and standing water where there are no pallets and mats, but up on the pallets and mats its nice and dry. They rarely go off their little "life raft" unless they are playing and ramming all about, as they like to do.

The one problem we're having with the pallets and mats is that we had to put the pallets down on the snow and now the snow is melting unevenly underneath. So some of the pallets are on a bit of an angle right now and the mats slip a bit. Nothing horrible or dramatic and I just push them back into place when I go out.

A few more days of warm and maybe the snow underneath will be gone... I can dream. Or maybe we'll pull up the pallets and mats for a day and let the sun at it... maybe this weekend if its nice. We'll see how the next couple days go and how bad things shift. We expected this to happen, so its not a surprise and they are still way better off in the new pen than the old.

That's a nice thing about goats compared to horses. You could never put horses up on pallets, they'd just bust 'em. You could never put horses on something so sloped either, for fear they pull tendon or something... but goats... they LOVE uneven ... they LIVE for hilly slopes. They purposely walk along the sloped edges because its FUN. Strange little animals. Plus I only use ONE bale of hay a WEEK! :)

Shawn went down to the basement last night to check for flooding and there was almost no water at all.... a tiny little damp patch and that was it. Considering all the rain and melt we've had this week, that's surprising... last fall we had a little more down there, but still just a couple small puddles, nothing dramatic.

Not much else new around here... *cough, cough* *sneeze, sneeze, sneeze*
-- Lisa the plagued

Earth Hour in a 140 year old farm house

2008-03-30T12:21:00.002-04:00

Last night was Earth Hour, where you are supposed to sit in the dark for an hour between 8 and 9pm.

We were sitting in our living room and decided to participate. We surfed the internet with our battery-powered laptops in the dark.

We'd never really sat in the dark in this house before (downstairs -- we of course sleep in the dark). It was strange. Thinking about sitting in this old old house, where generations of people had sat in the dark before the days of electricity, and sharing in that, but at the same time, browsing the Internet on laptops, bathed in the light of the LCD backlights.

Kindof neat. :-)

In Other News, I got an award at work: Stars@Emergis, a peer recognition award, you get nominated, you get a certificate and various prizes. I was honored and very pleased. :-)

More Progress On The New Goat Paddock

2008-03-25T12:02:00.003-04:00

Today, Shawn is home from work... he's sick... sicky sicky poo poo and I'm the very sympathetic wife, blah blah blah... yeah right. :) He was sick in bed all morning, woke up to have some lunch and then is likely heading back to bed. It's just a cold, at this point, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Anyhow, while he was lying around being all sicky poo poo, I was running around getting stuff done. I moved 11 rubber stall mats from near the feed building to the new goat paddock near the machine shed.

Moving these rubber mats involved 2 "C" clamps and a long piece of yellow rope. I put the clamps on, ran the rope through and dragged them to the new location. Of course, its not as easy as it sounds.... there's no straight, "as the crow flies" path from the feed building to the new location that's passable. The snow is too deep, some of it will support you on top but some of it won't... not fun.

So to start, you have to pull the mat up the snow bank that heads towards the current goat pen. Its steep and has some iced in footprints you have to follow.... oh and watch out for the tpost sticking out of the ground about a foot that might be in your way. Once you're up on top, then you continue walking towards the current goat pen. This stretch is mostly flat and easy going.

Then just before you get to the current goat pen, you have to make a sharp right turn and go down the hill towards the machine shed. The path isn't as wide as the rubber mat, so its best to approach and maintain speed so the corners don't get caught up! This really means you must run down the slippery slope and turn the corner at the same time. Once you're at the bottom, don't stop running as now its a bit uphill again and if you stop, its hard to get the mat started again. At least the path here gets wider... pretty much wide enough for the mat to fit.

Run about 70 feet, then watch the patch of ice in front of the machine shed. You need to get stopped and make a very sharp right turn into the pen. The fence panels are open JUST enough to squeeze through. Try not to knock down the panels as you go through.

Now you're inside the new pen and you have to figure out where to put the mat... straighten, adjust... try to breathe after your mad dash!! Now repeat another 10 times! Whew, do I know how to have fun or what? :)

Anyhow, so I worked hard and all that... in the end they have an area about 12 feet by 12 feet that's raised up on pallets. There are another 4 rubber mats that are just on the ground and not raised up. There is a narrow track around the inside of the fence that's not matted in case they want to actually touch some dirt or something.

I hoisted the shelter on top of the raised platform alone... twas hard, but I managed. I go inside the shelter and because its narrower at the top, I jam my shoulders under the frame and lift with them. Its remarkably heavy and Shawn and I just about died last night carrying it up the snow bank hill. I was walking backwards up there and actually fell down on my butt (feels great with the all the icy bumps, lemme tell ya!) and had my end of the shelter sitting on my legs. I didn't get hurt, but man it was a cow to move.

We're hoping that all this work will make it nice and dry for them to live while all the snow melts... if we get more flooding on top of the hill than the pallets are high, we're all in trouble... and goats having wet feet or bellies won't be the biggest issue! Heck if that happens, I will get another dog crate and move them into the house, assuming we're not under water!! :)

Anyhow, I think I'm going to head back out and get the roof ready for assembly... I don't think there's very many other things to do other than bed the shelter before the goats could be moved over.

Their current pen has a deep puddle by the gate of nasty manure water that freezes at night and thaws during the day... the front half of their shelter where they eat and drink is squishy... and there's a big poo puddle forming at the back of the shelter on the outside... I think the only reason they are not flooded is because I haven't cleaned out their shelter in weeks and I keep adding bedding.

Its so deep in the back that I can no longer stand there bent over and fit... I'd have to get down on my knees... but luckily they are little and still fit! So clearly, its getting to be time to move them... blech. It'll be a lovely mess to clean up once spring really arrives, but at least by then I can get the lawn tractor and cart out and load all the mess into that and drive it away. That's the plan, anyhow.

I added more pics of all my work to the album I started yesterday, if you're interested in seeing all my heroic efforts! :)
-- L

Our Easter Weekend

2008-03-24T15:53:00.002-04:00

Honestly, it wasn't very easter-y around here this weekend, but we did get lots done.

Most of the weekend we battled COLD horrible winds. We had lots to do, but couldn't stay out very long to get it done.... we were still dealing with wind chills around - 15 C to - 20C. If you could get out of the wind, it was actually pretty decent, but man in that wind it was brutal.

Friday, we started working outside and after about 10 minutes, I said screw this and we went to the Ottawa Home and Garden show at Lansdowne park. It was actually a good show, we were happy we went. Right after you gave your tickets, there was a booth giving out free toothpaste... heck, how can you go wrong when an event starts out like that?! :)

Our "thumper" died a couple weeks ago... we bought that at some trade type show in Toronto like 6 years ago... so we decided we'd look around to see if they had any at this show. (For those that don't know what a thumper is... its an electric hand held device that you put on sore muscles and it beats the tension out. Kinda hurts, but often helps and has really helped Shawn keep his wrist pain under control for years.)

Anyhow, we found a similar device and bought it... it seems pretty good so far... maybe even better than the old one in some ways. At the same booth they had those massage chairs, which Shawn tried out... they also had another device I wish I'd bought. Its for your feet, it sits on the floor and kinda looks like two space boots connected. The front of the "boots" are open and you just slide your feet in. You turn it on and then it rubs your feet and lower legs. I sat for quite a while with that machine and it worked very well... it was also $400 which I felt was a little much... but maybe in hindsight might have been worth it... I'm not sure.

We ate really expensive sausages at the home show and then came home. Fun enough.

Saturday the wind was still brutal and we tried working outside again... after 30 minutes, I was frozen solid and miserable and we went back inside. We hung the last of the cabinets in the mudroom that we bought a couple weeks ago. I posted some pics to the FHH album.

After we hung the cabinets, we headed down to Kemptville to Rooney's Feed... they sell rubber stall mats at a reasonable price and we wanted some to lay over the pallets for the goat floor. We bought 8 of them, a hay rack (which I'm not sure if it will work right yet or not) and a bag of goat grain (which my goats are pretty sure is goat poison and won't eat!! Spoiled brats!)

When we got home, we started setting up fence panels inside the tarped building. The ice was still deep and uneven which causes some problems for the fence panels, so we put down some sand/salt and got the ice chipper out and went to work. We worked and worked and it wasn't working great. It was still too cold with the wind for the salt to work properly and some of the ice is like 4 - 6 inches thick.

We called it a day and decided to give the salt a chance to do more of the work for us and we'd try again Sunday.

Sunday arrived and it was still breezy, but nothing like what we'd had the days before and we got to work trying to set up the fence panels under the tarped building. After a while of chipping more ice, moving panels in, it became clear this just wasn't going to work.

We headed back inside to mope and to try to figure out a new plan for keeping our goats dry while all this friggen snow melts. Once in the warm, we thought about different sites on the property and once we'd debated the virtues of many, we narrowed it down to two possibilities. We got all dressed to go out again and took the 100' tape measure to check to see where the goat pen might fit and work best.

We tried the side yard, inside the dog fence and there was *just* enough room... but half of the area was under a deep snow drift. Putting it there would also mean we'd have to deal with dogs and goats interacting... something they really haven't gotten to do... though both species are curious about the other... but I question my dogs intentions. Perhaps I should also worry about Ernie's intentions given his track record with the cat at the vet!!

Our second site was over in front of the machine shed and it was the one we settled on finally. Only problem... it was covered by lots and lots of snow that has compressed and was icy. There were about 2 inches of ice on top... sturdy enough that in most places you could walk without falling through... the rest underneath was dense granulated snow.

Out came the snow blower.... we tried making it go, but it couldn't really do it without help. The help included a flat mouth shovel, the ice chopper and a garden fork. All the snow had to be chopped by hand before the blower could move it for us. I chopped for a while and Shawn ran the blower, but it wasn't long and we switched jobs. Chopping through snow deeper than my knee is apparently hard on my shoulders!

We needed to clear a round ish area about 30 feet in diameter... which turns out to be a HUGE friggen area when you're doing it by hand. At least we didn't have to shovel and move it too! Even with the help, the snow blower had to work its little heart out, but it did. What a wonderful machine.

We worked for a while, then went inside, ate lunch and watched an episode of ER on video tape, from the batch of TV taping my Mom and Sister did for us! (Thanks you two, we really enjoyed watching the shows you taped!)

Then back outside to finish the job. It was about 5pm until the area was clear enough... then Shawn started taking down the fence panels we put up under the tarped building and I moved all the pallets we got over to the site. (I couldn't carry them, I put a rope around each one, one at a time and dragged them over there... it wasn't easy, but easier than trying to carry them myself.)

We moved half of the fence panels over to the new site and then called it a day. It was about 6pm when we got in the house and funny enough, there was no Easter dinner waiting for us. We were both exhausted and miserable and almost dead on our feet. I had bought a cheap prime rib roast at Loblaws (about 6 - 7 lbs) to have and we debated about whether we'd have it or not.

Finally, I decided that while Easter without my family didn't mean much to me, Easter has always meant a good supper, so I got the roast ready, threw it in the oven, peeled some potatoes and started them boiling for mashed and found a recipe for yorkshire pudding on the internet. I mixed up the yorkshire, put it in the fridge like the directions said and then went and showered while everything cooked.

I let the roast cook about 1.5 hours (it was just the way WE like it... but I don't think even the end piece would've been ok for Daddy!)... while it was standing after cooking, I started the yorkshire cooking, made the gravy, mashed the potatoes and tada, everything was finally ready. It wasn't the nicest prime rib we've ever had, but it was tasty and man we were starving. It had a funny gristle thing running through it that made carving it a bit of a problem, but we got through that.

I had expected it to be not the nicest, given it was only $3.99 a lb, but how could I pass up prime rib for $3.99 a lb?? It was just after 8pm til we ate... just after 9pm until the dishes and clean up was done, but in the end, it was delicious and we enjoyed it. The yorkshire pudding turned out well.. .better than I expected (I've not had great success with it before!) although it did "fall" when I removed it from the oven. Didn't stop us from eating the whole 9x9 pan of it though :)

Needless to say, we missed our family this holiday weekend...but we made it through ok. That's it for now..... -- L

Scavenger Run

2008-03-19T19:35:00.002-04:00

We went to the place to pick up the pallets. They had a ton of them!! Most of them in good shape too. We got one that is 4 x 8 ft, will make a perfect floor for the new goat ghetto, we'll just trim one end off to make it about 6 ft. 4x8 ft is the max we can put in the mini van flat... they had a few other really nice skids that were larger, maybe 6 x 6 ft... and hardly any gap between the boards.

We're thinking it might be worth our while to go back there with a cube van and snag those ones as well. They might make a great floor for the Caprine Castle that will get built this summer! Cover them in rubber mats and we'd be set!

We ended up with 8 or 9 pallets total (that filled the van)... some are the smaller size... some are bigger, but we only got one of the 4x8 ft. There were many that were buried under the snow as well, we just picked off the top of the pile.

It was not the nicest night for doing it.. .with the rain...and slush... in this place's yard, snow was coming off their roof and they had slush puddles over the top of my blundstone boots! Twas pretty yucky.

I also had an idea today of where to move my goats when the thaw gets to be too much (likely this weekend). We're considering putting them under the tarped building where the van usually lives. We're not sure how it will work out exactly, but we might give it a try. It would give them quite a bit of shelter under there and we have enough fence panels that they would still get out in the sunshine on the driveway about 10 feet.

It would still leave me enough room to get in and out with the van and turn around... as the snow melts, I would have even more room!! Its fairly high there, has a nice stonedust base and shouldn't flood too badly.

We'd put the goat ghetto in so they'd have a cozy place to sleep, even with the tarp over top. We may have to run chicken wire or some other mesh between the top of the fence panels and the bottom of the tarp, to discourage them from leaping off their shelter and over the fence, but that's not a big deal.

I was looking around other parts of the yard and not coming up with any good place. The problem is, that I have to move them soon, so not much melting will have happened in the yard areas yet. So I was going to snow blow an area out and then set it up in that cleared area. Well the problem with that is as soon as I snow blow an area, that area is LOW.

I'm not joking when I say we still have 4 feet of snow in most of the yard areas. With the rain, its compressed and melted it a bit, but its still very high. Some areas have less but its still well over 2 feet deep. Plus now that's its wet, snow blowing will be a real *problem* to do... I would have to get our tractor guy in to do it for us, I don't think our little blower would clear it.

So we might try putting up the panels in there this weekend and see what issue we've over looked. At least the panels are easy to move around and put up, so when we make a mistake, its not a huge loss of time or effort. The whole things takes under 30 minutes to do.

I have 3 rubber mats that I bought last fall on sale that I've been just storing in the feed building... one will go in the goat ghetto building. I think another we will put under the gate panel to keep that from getting too churned up. The other I might put outside the door to the goat ghetto, as that's another place that gets a lot of action.

That's our current thoughts... we'll see how they work out in practice!
--L

Kijiji Scavenger Run

2008-03-19T14:50:00.003-04:00

Tonight right after work we're going on a "scavenger" run for some free pallets / skids. I posted on kijiji wanting some and I had a couple replies. This was the first one and its not far away, just the other side of Carp.

Assuming they are in as good a shape as I've been told, we plan to use them for the floor of the goat ghetto with a rubber stall mat over top. Apparently, this is a popular flooring for goat shelters. Hopefully the pallets will be in good shape and big enough... if not, I'm sure we'll find something else to do with them. Pallets seem like the sort of thing we should have a pile of around here.

I also have a lead on an old dead free freezer thanks to kijiji, hopefully we can pick that up tomorrow night, but I'm still awaiting confirmation... if not tomorrow night, then maybe this weekend. The old dead freezer is for storing feed in.. keeps the mice out... I have a couple plastic garbage cans I am currently using, but sometimes I like to buy TWO bags of feed at the feed store (like when I was heading out of town and stuff) and I don't have any good place to put extra bags. We'll make room for it in the feed building.

Today is kind of an ugly miserable day... it snowed a bit late last night and then the rain started. Everything is gross and slushy and my goats are very displeased about the rain... it forces them inside. The dogs don't like it either and when they go outside, they are torn being enjoying the warmer temps and getting soaked to the bone!

That's it for now...
-- L

More Goaty Ghetto

2008-03-17T09:41:00.001-04:00

The goat ghetto now has the siding up. It turned out pretty good, I think, considering that it was entirely constructed using junk / reclaimed materials. It's not a typical Shawn & Lisa project, but we also didn't spend $$ on it, like we often end up doing!

Shawn really likes it, he thinks its like a fantasy Orc building... I personally think it looks like a troll build it. I suppose it DOES have a style... junk pile style... isn't that kinda like shabby chic? haha We did intentionally make it look kinda rustic... it suited the building materials we used and heck, it makes my husband happy. He had a lot of fun with this project. Helpers that have fun make it way easier to get help in the future ;)

The only money we have into it is the deck screws. The 2x3 framing wood was free from one of Shawn's coworkers... the planking was off one of our nasty falling down outbuildings. We found 3 pieces of old plywood that will make the roof. 2 will sit side by side and the third will sit over where the two other join. (We actually did something similar with the original goat hut and its worked wonderfully to keep the wet and snow out.)

There's built in ventilation, a few knot holes and then space at the top on both of the short ends... those gaps are actually on purpose for ventilation.. .seriously :) Its the same sort of ventilation technique we used in the other goat hut.

Shawn and I sit in that goat hut quite frequently with our goats and the ventilation is remarkable, without being drafty. If ever one of the goats regurges cud right in your face (happens often!! and its stinky!) the smell quickly dissipates ... but its also not drafty.

Last evening for instance, it was very cold and very windy and we sat out with the goats for a while... in our outside clothes, we were quite comfy sitting still in the shelter for like 45 minutes, but as soon as we got back out in the wind, we got chilled and headed inside the house.

I'm really amazed at how well that shelter works and I'm hoping for similar results with the new one.

The original goat hut is two pieces, approx 4x4 feet, giving them about 8x4 feet. The new one is smaller, its about 4x6 feet and narrower at the top. It should still give them plenty of room. In the old one, they really only use the back 4x4 space for sleeping and even then there's enough room for Shawn, me and two sleeping goats.

The 4x6 should be fine, considering that once this shelter gets put into use, its should (in theory) be warm enough for their water bucket and hay to be outside most of the time. Right now, those two things take up most of the front of the 4x4 shelter once two goats are eating there.

It should be fine temporarily, anyhow. In the future it may house different livestock any how, but we'll see.

Anyhow, the weather still sucks here... was -14 C last night with the wind chill around -22C. It's just unbelievable the amount of snow we have and keep getting. Saturday morning brought us about 5 cm that was not in the forecast. It was supposed to be 6 c and sunny... not here.. nuh uh.

Oh well, another month and we should start seeing some warmer more spring like weather. I HOPE!!

That's it for now...
L

For Your Heckling Pleasure, I Present...

2008-03-14T12:20:00.003-04:00

The "Goat Ghetto" that I framed up this morning. Go ahead, laugh.. heckle... whatever... I can take it.

I feel a bit like a little kid that says "Look Mommy, I did it all by myself"... to which the mother always replies "That's awesome, you did a great job! It's beautiful and I'll cherish it always!" (or something to that effect) but often in her mind thinks "Oh. Yeah. If only you'd asked for some help, I wouldn't have to deal with this ugly thing now!" Not that *I*, as a mother, EVER thought that thought, but I've HEARD from others this can sometimes be true! ;)

Before I get myself into more trouble... Moving on...

So anyhow, with all the snow we have and the wish we have that spring will arrive sometime before July, we are a little worried about our goat babies getting flooded. Well not worried, because we KNOW it WILL happen, just not sure WHEN. Could be this weekend, really.

Wednesday, Shawn took the day off work and we attended the Ottawa Valley Farm Show. It was pretty good, smaller than I expected, but we did get some contacts for some tree seedlings and stuff like that... not a waste by any means, even if they had NO and I mean ZERO goat information or products there. I think there were two sheep booths, both with mostly info for sheep's wool, not so much the actual raising of sheep.

Anyhow, since Shawn took Wednesday off and the farm show only took the morning to walk around, we decided to go to TSC and buy more chain link dog kennel panels for our goats. They were on sale this week and they are VERY useful to us and do a great job holding goats IN and predators OUT.

TSC Arnprior only had one set and when I called, they said it was buried under about 10 feet of snow, the plow guy had piled it up against them and they were really not interested in digging it out. That suited me ok, I was after 2 sets, like what we already have. I called down to Kemptville and lo and behold they had 8 sets. I had them set 2 aside for me and into Kanata we went to rent a cube van.

We drove down to Kemptville, was a lovely sunny day for a bouncy truck ride... its like a big adventure... clearly we do NOT get out enough. We made it through the round about that's right outside the TSC in Kemptville, no problems... got parked in the tiny snow filled lot and went in and paid for the kennels.

Then I had to maneuver the cube van and back down an alley into their yard. I'm sure it was just over a 100 feet and then I had to make a turn at the end. The passenger side mirror was poorly adjusted for backing up in kinda close quarters and I tried fixing it once and failed to get it perfect, so I just backed up blindly and hoped for the best. Shawn and the TSC employee were watching, so I figured someone would scream if there was a real problem!

We loaded up the 2 sets (8 panels) and off we went. Brought them home. On the way home, we debated how to put the cube van in the driveway at home... I didn't really want to have to back up the driveway off the road ... and I didn't really want to back down the driveway onto the road when I was done either. I was worried that with all the snow, there just wouldn't be room to turn it around like there is in the summer.

Finally I decided I'd just drive it in and then evaluate once I was in there and could see if I could turn around or not. I pulled in and up towards the car shelter and then backed up towards the snow bank. I did manage to turn it around in that space... twas about a 896 point turn, but I did it. It would've been easier if the damn cube van could've gone over snow piles that were like 4 inches high without spinning its wheels, but apparently its less capable than my mini van of coping with a tiny bit of snow.

We got the panels unloaded. I had the fun job of jumping up in the truck each time and down again... of course, I thought of my Dad who does that everyday all day long and I attempted to make him proud by grumbling in a similar fashion.

We returned the cube van without incident and I was happy to get back in my mini van where I can at least see behind me a little bit. I don't really mind driving the cube van though, I do wish I was good at it like my Dad though.

The point of that long story is now we have some more fence panels that are not frozen into the ground. Now we can in theory put up the fence and move the goats to higher ground and just leave the other panels and shelter until its thawed enough to really get in there and clean it all up and stuff.

Since their shelter is frozen into the ground about a foot, there's no hope of getting it out anytime soon. My idea was that I would build a quick and easy shelter and try to spend as little money on it as possible. Hence the Goat Ghetto... I think my goats may actually be embarrassed to live and be seen in it, but whatever, they are my goats... I OWN them, they'll live where ever I say ;)

I looked at many goat shelter designs online and finally decided on this one. It's triangular, but with a flat top. I'm sure that shape has a real name, but who knows / cares what it is? You get the idea.

I framed it out with some 2x3's we got last fall for free from one of Shawn's coworkers. (Thanks!!) Since we stored them in the "Red shed used for storage needs some work" over the winter, a couple of them got a bit warped. That's reason #1, its a little cockeyed.

Reason #2 was I didn't want to get the chop saw out, so I hand sawed all the boards. Apparently my hand sawing is not the greatest in the world... I know, I'm surprised too! ;)

Reason #3, I designed and built it alone.... the design is ok, I can now see a few things I might have done differently, but its ok. Building something like this alone is a real challenge. Holding boards, screws and drills and trying to get it not to move... yeah, not my greatest strength :) (If I ever figure out what my greatest strength IS, I'll be sure to post it!)

Reason / excuse #4, I didn't want to spend any money or time on it. I succeeded there. So far, the only thing that wasn't free were the deck screws I assembled it with. My time... from the time I started planning this morning til the time I came in to eat lunch... just under two hours. That includes all the measuring, the hand sawing, the board juggling, everything. Not bad, I'd say.

Clearly its not a finished project yet... it wouldn't really provide shelter yet ;) The rest of the plan for it is to try ripping some boards off one of our falling down buildings and fastening them to the ghetto hut. We'll do that for the two long sides and the back. Obviously the front will stay open. The roof, I think we'll splurge and buy a piece of plywood (unless we can find something suitable around here... we haven't really looked yet.) an that will help keep them from getting rained on, which is good.

The bottom will also stay open... I want to build a separate floor piece... basically that's a skid that the ghetto hut would sit on. This means that when we want to move it (to a new location or for cleaning), it wouldn't have to be the heaviest thing in the world and it would also keep them up off the damp ground.

Taking boards off one of our outbuildings and reusing them is actually an experiment... we plan to build a "Caprine Castle" this summer (an insulated shed) and are toying with the idea of using some of the boards off some of the worst outbuildings. This small project will give us an idea of whether that's feasible or not.

So that's what's up today... I'm just in for lunch and then I'll go feed my cute goaties lunch and then maybe poke around and see what building supplies I can find.

Yesterday, I had a little project too... I made black out blinds for our bedroom. Well, just for 2 out of 4 windows in our bedroom. All the windows have mini blinds and they are crappy for keeping out the light. In the morning, the sun actually shines through them and makes stripes of sunlight on my pillow... that's just rude.

We had some black out cloth, which is the stuff that you line curtains with (kinda rubbery cloth stuff). It was leftover from the projector screen we built at the old house. We picked up some of those really cheap curtain rods at home depot a while ago, the white, rectangular sort that hook onto brackets on the wall.

I just made very simple window coverings, I only sewed a little rod pocket at the top, I didn't hem the sides or bottom or anything. (Black out cloth doesn't seem to fray much and again I was after cheap, quick and easy!) I made one for the small window that overlooks the driveway on my side of the bed and I made one for the small window over the hot tub that's cut in half.

Those 2 windows also are the worst for showing headlights from the road. The 2 big back windows will get done, but I need more cloth to do them.

They don't look great, they are kinda weird, but they WORK really well. Last night it was nice and dark and they helped cut down on some noise too. I slept remarkably well last night, which is a friggen miracle.

The black out blinds are really temporary... until I decide on real curtains. Then, depending on the curtains, I might sew the black out cloth to the back of them or just hang curtain over top of these, we'll see what style I eventually choose. At least now, I can sleep while trying to figure out what I want in that room!!

I'm definitely not the greatest cube van driver, curtain maker or goat shelter maker... but you know, I do get credit for getting up each day and trying and getting things done, even if they are not perfect. It's gotta count for something!!

Speaking of which, I'm making another turkey for supper tonight. It won't be as good as Mom's, but since Mom isn't making me any these days ;) it's better than none! Who knows, maybe with all this practice, they'll start to turn out more like hers yet! :)

That's it for now!

Blizzard 2008

2008-03-09T08:56:00.002-04:00

It's about 9am (new time) and so far, so good, we're all still surviving. Knock wood, our power has stayed on, so we still have lights, water and HEAT :) Yay!

I read online this morning we got about 49 cm of snow with this storm... not sure if that will be the final number yet or not... whatever, its a crapload.

I put up a few pics in the FHH album this morning. A couple from Friday, when Bert was lolling around on top of the shelter having a nap and enjoying the warm sunshine.

We went to bed late last night around 1am (old time) and were up just before 7am (new time). The wind was very loud last night and I find it makes it hard for me to sleep, so I actually used my ear plugs and that helped, even if they are uncomfortable to sleep in. For whatever reason, hearing the wind like that keeps me awake and makes me worry a whole bunch!!

Cleanup hasn't started here yet, the wind is still too strong to bother. Since we didn't sleep lots last night, we're heading back to bed now for a nap and then hopefully in a couple hours, the wind will have died down and we'll go start the cleanup. No point in doing it while the wind is whipping.

Everyone has been fed and watered and is doing ok. The goats are not impressed, of course. I told them this morning this blizzard is their punishment for taking me down on Friday! Now what *I'm* being punished for is still a mystery! :)

Anyhow, that's it for now... off to nap and rest up for the cleanup! Yay us.

Goat Trauma

2008-03-08T20:51:00.003-05:00

For anyone that hasn't already heard this story....

Yesterday, I was leaving the goat pen to dump muck buckets and the two goats were milling around me. They like to try to escape when the gate opens, the brats. I was carrying the pitchfork (a real metal tined one, not a plastic one) in one hand and a bucket in the other and trying to get out without the goats getting out.

With all the snow we've had, the entrance to the pen is actually down about a foot or so from the snow level and is kinda sloped, so you have to watch your step. So on my way out the gate, one goat went between my legs, the other went behind my knees and DOWN I went!!

When I fell, the metal tines pierced my boot and the fork got stuck. Of course, I was cold and wet at this point and my feet were numb, so I wasn't sure if the fork went right in or not.

The goats took off to the feed building and went in the open door and had a party in there, climbing on the bales of hay, moving my pile of tarps and eating stuff. They stomped me while I was down on their way by, somehow both on the front AND back of me. (Thank goodness they only weigh about 60 - 80 lbs!!) One of them, and I'm sure it was Ernie, grabbed my hat off my head on his way by!! I found that in the feed building later.

So I'm sitting in the snow and goat poop looking at my foot, trying to decide if I should pull the fork out or not... I wiggle my foot around and decide its ok, but I can't get the fork OUT of my boot. So I take off my boot, my foot comes out easily. Up I get, one boot on, one just in a wool sock and I run after the goats about 100 feet to the feed building, close the door and put their collars on.

I walk them back to their pen (about another 100 feet in knee deep snow with only one boot on) and push them through the gate and lock it up with the 3 chains we have holding the gate shut. (They can chew through twine in no time!!)

I had to stand on the side of my boot to remove the fork, it was firmly embedded in the boot. It turns out the tines entered just under the sole of my foot, thank goodness... not even a scratch on me.

I actually text messaged Shawn at work while the goats were loose and the fork was in my boot... I was thinking I might need him to come home and give me a hand... he was busy in a meeting and called about 10 - 15 minutes later and all was ok again and I was hauling more muck buckets to my new, 2nd, CLOSER manure pile that I started yesterday!!

Later when I was trying to show Shawn what happened, I couldn't even find where the tines went in!!

So I'm fine, the goats are fine... my boots are fine... but why do I have to have two weird days back to back?! :)

It Just Ain't Done Around Here...

2008-03-06T12:09:00.003-05:00

I spent the best part of the last hour trying desperately to do *something* about our mailbox. It's been threatening for some time now to go ditch diving and seems to get a bit more serious about it with each snowfall and subsequent beating it takes from the wall of snow the plow bombards it with!

For the last week or so, it's been hanging precariously at a very odd and alarming angle, to the point, when I check the mail, I have to just about get down on my hands and knees!

Today, I decide since no snow is actually falling (*I* do not want to be beaten by the snow the plow throws!!) and its not death cold out that I will make an attempt to fix it a bit... fix it enough to get us through the last 6 friggen weeks of winter... with the plan that in the spring when and if it ever arrives, we will make some sort of more permanent fix.

This morning, before my husband heads off to work, I ask him about what HE would do to fix it...he explains his idea until I finally understand it and then we leave it at that.

Our driveway is not that long (100 feet or so?) but I decide that since its icy after being plowed just after midnight last night that I will load everything I need into the back of the van and back down the driveway and work out of the van.

I load up a drill, a hammer, some wire, a variety of other tools (clearly I don't have any real sort of plan at this point!) I grab a 2x4, a piece of plywood, a hand saw and some screws from the red shed and then I back down the driveway.

I go out to have a look and see if Shawn's plan will work. Meh, maybe... but I'm not *I* can make it happen. I go back for the hammer as I figure that's a good start to any job.

I stand at the mailbox, I swing it so its straight, I look at it some more. I see a big nail that it's kinda pivoting on and decide I'll whack at that and see what happens. I need to move a little closer to the box and a little farther from the road. Suddenly, the earth is swallowing me whole!! My legs both sink into the deep snow, right to my crotch!! I still wasn't touching anything solid with my feet, I would've sank farther but I have short little legs.

So I'm standing there, swinging the mailbox back to straight, hanging by my crotch in the snow and tapping at the giant nail. Nothing happens. The wood is kinda rotten so I'm trying not to hit it so hard that everything flies apart. I bang harder and it starts t go in... Great!

I'm feeling all pleased that maybe just maybe in spite of my pants that are starting to feel kinda cold and wet that maybe there will be some progress.

Then... I look up and there's a guy looking back at me that I can only describe as a geezer. He looks like he might be a thousand years old, white scruffy beard, the longest white eyebrows I've ever seen and horrible, crooked black and brown teeth!

I nod, but don't say anything... I'm not really in a position to SAY much, I'm holding a hammer in the ditch, by the mailbox suspended in the snow by my crotch! Clearly, I could do without the audience!!

I notice he's pulled over on the other side of the road ... he has a beat up old pick up truck and that back seems to be filled with a variety of junk.

He starts talking "Little lady did you fall in the ditch?"

I look at him, anyone who knows me knows which look it is... and I say "Nope, just trying to fix up the mailbox a bit".

He says "Ahh! I see. This winter sure has given them a beating."

Not really wanting to encourage him, I say "sure has."

Then he starts having opinions about what will fix my mailbox problem and hey don't I have a husband to do this kind of stuff?

I just ignore him and keep banging on the nail... its almost all the way in and the swinging is not near so bad.

Then I hear him hollering a bit and I turn to see what's going on... he's hollering at another guy in a beat up pick up truck who is also pulled over at the side of the road. He's not quite as old as the "grandfather of all geezers", but he's definitely a geezer himself.

They start talking and I wiggle myself out of the deep snow, back to the side of the road and get up and head to the van. I cut the piece of plywood in half so I have 2 pieces that are about 12 inches by 12 inches or so. (There was NO measuring going on,, even though I did bring the tape measure down with me).

I bring the 2 pieces back to the mailbox and the old guys are still talking geezer talk, so I ignore them. I hold up my pieces of plywood and see if they will catch the post and the board that supports the mailbox. It appears they will.

Back to the van I go, I get the drill and the 2.5 inch deck screws. My plan is to fasten a piece on each side and then see how it feels from there.

Once I'm back to the mailbox, geezer #2 says "Hey there little lady, those are serious tools, they aren't meant for wimmin to use! You should wait fer yer husband to get home!"

By this time, I'm kinda cranky... I mean, I started out cranky and its just going downhill as my pants get damper and damper from the snow.

So I say "Actually this IS my drill, my husband has his own."

The geezer that's older than dirt says "oh my yer a feisty sort, aint ya?"

Again, I ignore him and get the screws started in the plywood, just by eye balling where I think they'll go. I climb back down in the snow pit and am ready to fasten the first piece on when the geezer older than dirt starts yelling. I look up again.

He says "Yer not gonna put that board on yer mailbox are ya?"

I answer through gritted teeth "I'm planning to".

He says "Ya can't do that. That's a brand new board. Ya hafta find something just around and put that up. You can't be putting up brand new boards like that.

I continue to put up the board and say "Why not?"

He looks at the other geezer and says "It just ain't done around here".

"It is NOW", I say and put a couple more screws in. I move to the other side and start putting it up.

Now they are both standing there, shaking their heads at me, clearly disapproving of the "little lady in the ditch, up to her crotch in snow, wielding a cordless drill and brand new plywood".

After both pieces are up, I push on the mailbox a bit. Its certainly sturdier now, not perfect. I climb back out of the ditch and say "I guess that'll hold until spring comes in 6 more weeks when my husband can come out and fix it properly."

They both laugh and make my day even better by saying "Only 6 more weeks? I think it'll be more like 8 - 10 weeks before it warms up at all. And now yer mailbox doesn't look so nice."

Well, he's right about the mailbox, it doesn't. I just hacked up the plywood willy nilly... its not cut to FIT... it hangs out and over here and there. But you know what, the mailbox IS straighter!!

Then geezer #2's cell phone starts ringing and I hear him say "Yeah, I'll be home fer lunch in a few minutes. I'm helping a poor neighbour lady fix her mailbox."

I pack up everything into the van, and both the old guys get back in their trucks and wave and off they go. Umm, yeah, thanks for your help that made the job SO much easier!!

So apparently women in the ditch with power tools is a big draw for geezers. Who knew?

You just can't make up shit like this... only in Dunrobin and would only ever happen to me!!

So in the spring, when the mailbox needs fixing again, I'm going to wait for my husband to come home and let him do it!! :)

(And just so its clear, "geezer" IS a term of endearment and is not intended to be derogatory in any way. My Dad is soon getting on to be a geezer and sometimes when we go out to eat we get "geezer food" at a local diner type place. My husband is a wannabe geezer, but he's got a ways to go yet!)

Snowed In Again!

2008-03-05T16:57:00.002-05:00

Shawn worked from home today... we got a bunch of snow... again! I took a few pics and posted them to the FHH album. They don't really do the snow justice... its really unreasonably deep. I'm sure when it all melts it won't cause any problems. Uh huh.

My favourite part is, even though I put down almost 4 bags of sand/salt the other day, under the snow is a nice layer of ice... so you can't SEE it, but its certainly there, just waiting to claim its next victim.

I hope our snow removal guy comes tonight and gets the driveway all cleared up... there's enough other snow cleanup to do when the wind dies down, I don't want to have to clean out the driveway, too!

I'm so loving winter.

Just a Short Note...

2008-03-04T19:52:00.002-05:00

Bite me winter.

We're supposed to get another 25 - 30 cm of snow in the next 24 hours.

Just f'ing wonderful.

------------------------

Guess there should only be what, about 6 more weeks of winter... that gets us to the middle of April and USUALLY we are pretty home free by then.

I have an overwhelming urge to eat BBQ'd groundhog.

-- Cranky Lisa

A bunch more around the house stuff

2008-03-02T09:31:00.004-05:00

Lisa and I did a bunch more things around the house:

moved the two Pier 1 desks into the living room at either end - making the living room much nicer, and giving us both work areas. The big monitor is on Lisa's desk, mine is more a crafting work area.
moved all the chests out of the living room (one went to the bedroom, one to the dining room)
moved the treadle into the living room in front of the stairs, beside the TV -- now a focal point of the room instead of a space waster in the mudroom
bought and placed a new area rug in the mudroom - replacing the carpet remnant we were using, the new rug is larger, truly rectangular, and won't fray
bought a Husky pantry-style work area storage cabinet for the mudroom - give tons more storage space for things like goat meds and games. I think we're leaning towards getting more pieces in this series - they have base cabinets and wall cabinets, as well.
rearranged the mud room - the log bench is now across from the door, so the dogs don't jump on it.
bought an Ikea boot tray for drying buckets. Put it in the bottom bathroom.
went on an organizing binge - Lisa reorganized the nursery, now seemingly empty, as well as the upstairs odd closet. All of the boxes are now unpacked (the first house that we've managed to do this in under a year).
We took a load of stuff off to the thrift store, and threw out a bunch of junk. There'll be a big load of garbage this week.
A bunch of reorganization of the kitchen - I shelf papered one of the unused cupboards while Lisa was gone, and now it houses a bunch of cleaning supplies.
I'm probably forgetting some stuff - there was a bunch done.

Again, the difference this stuff makes is incredible.

We also bought a bunch of device box insulators for receptacles and switches - a bunch of the boxes in our house leak cold air in the winter. I think we might install some of those today.

A little change, a big difference

2008-02-23T12:28:00.007-05:00

A little change, a big difference

Update: added photos of the new stuff

As Lisa planned in this post, we went to Ikea and bought some furniture. The past three days, we've been assembling and installing it.

It's amazing - just a few changes, but each of them makes a huge lifestyle difference.

My theory is that this is the best way to do home improvements: change one small-ish but significant thing at a time. That way, you really appreciate the difference it makes.

If you re-do a whole room from top to bottom at once, you get instant gratification, but it makes not much more difference than changing out one piece of furniture. If you one thing at a time, you get that wonderful experience over and over.

So the things we did over the past week:

New bed frame - we went to Ikea and got this bed frame. It's wonderful - attractive, sturdy, easy to put together, and we no longer live on the floor like students! When you get up in the morning, you put your legs over the edge and stand up! You don't have to climb up off the floor! It's like we're adults! Hooray!
Under bed storage - we got some plastic under-bed storage boxes from Ikea (2 of them to start). Nothing's in them yet, but they're under the bed, brimming with potential. :-)
New garbage in kitchen - we replaced the kitchen garbage with a galvanized steel garbage can, one with a clip-on lid. Just from Home Depot. That cleared up the space beside the fridge, where we put a...
New kitchen cart - on our trip to Ikea, we got this kitchen cart. We put it beside the fridge, where the old garbage can used to sit on an old sewing machine table. On the kitchen cart goes the microwave.

Now, the kitchen improvements have three profound and life-altering effects:

massively more space on the kitchen counter - we had very limited counter space, partly because some of it's inaccessible, and some of it is holding stuff that we don't have cabinet space for. Also the microwave consumed a massive space. Moving the microwave suddenly more than doubles the available counter space, which is huge.
electrical woes fixed - the microwave was plugged into the over counter plug. This plug is on the same circuit as all of the other over counter plugs, and the overhead light. Not a big deal, until you want to run the kettle and the microwave at the same time (which happens fairly often). Then the circuit breaker blows, and you have to make the long trek into the basement to reset it. This way, the microwave's on a separate circuit, and won't contend with anything.
much more attractive - subjective, but true nonetheless. Moving the microwave off the counter massively declutters that side of the kitchen. Moving the garbage into an enclosed can cleans up sight lines. The kitchen cart matches the island we already had. The whole layout just works much better now.

Very fun. Just three purchases (none of them very expensive), and your life is changed in the bedroom and the kitchen, two of the most important rooms in the house.

That turned out great.

Lisa's gone this weekend back to Kitchener (back next week), so I'm sure once she gets back she'll have lots more things she'll want to do. In the meantime, I'm basking in the life altering effects of our new home changes. :-)

A New Year... The More Things Change... The More They Stay The Same

2008-02-20T20:33:00.004-05:00

It's been a long haul since the new year actually started and updates have been few and far between, but now things are starting to get back to normal.

Early in January, we had a major family crisis to attend to... most of the people that read this blog will know what I'm referring to... all is well again and everyone is back where they belong :) (I'm not being obtuse on purpose, I just figure that I'm not posting all sorts of details on the internet for any and all to read!)

I spent much of January and a good part of February out of town, attending to our family crisis and I returned home last weekend with Jessica in tow. She's on reading week and we're enjoying having her home again!!

Another change that occurred over the last few weeks... Jess and Kyle broke up. Again, I'm not going into any details, just suffice it to say that Jess is doing fine... just a minor bump on life's road. She's a strong, resilient young lady and is moving forward with her life!

Things around FHH are fine... Shawn did a great job looking after all the furry retarded kids, the house and himself, in my absence. My goat babies grew while I was away and they no longer have the baby look... they are really starting to look more like adult goats. The dogs faired fine, even the neurotic Buddy dog... they were both happy to see me when I returned home :)

My sister's goats finally started popping out babies left, right and center... I did manage to see them a week or so ago and they are just adorable!! I would've liked to steal a couple under my coat and bring them to Ottawa with me, but some of the little buggers scream loudly when you pick them up!! Maybe next time I'll have to tuck a quiet one or two into my coat pocket! :)

Really makes me wanna have some goat babies.... who knows, maybe eventually... just not yet... we're not set up for the two we have, hardly!

We have a ton of snow again here... we had a ton.. then it all melted and now we have about the same again... thank goodness it melted in there or I don't know how we'd be managing these days!!

Now that I'm home again, I'm starting to be able to think about making plans again... plans that are farther in the future than about 5 minutes. This is a real accomplishment! I started making notes of how I want to rearrange some rooms... move some furniture... just generally change things so they WORK around here.

These plans also include going through some of our stuff again and reorganizing, getting rid of stuff we don't need or want and that sort of thing. We did a dramatic go through before we moved last summer, but there were some things that we kept "just in case" that it turns out are not needed and are just taking up space and cluttering our house.

I'm kinda excited to have plans again... it doesn't even matter at this point if they happen right away... just being able to think in that space again makes me happy.

Part of the plan includes us getting a bed frame for our bed. We had a bed frame before we moved, (we had made it, twas one of our first projects) but we decided not to move it with us. We decided it was time for something different and LIGHTER (it was way over engineered and very heavy!) but we so far are still sleeping on our mattress on the floor... you know, like students. *eye roll* Very OLD students.

After contemplating many options, we're considering buying a bed frame from IKEA... we still have to go look at it in person and decide whether we still like it or not, but at least its a start! For anyone interested, its this one.

It matches some of the other furniture and accessories we have and its a reasonable price. We'll see if it still appeals to us when we see it in person. A bed frame like that gives us the added bonus of under the bed storage, which is now just wasted space. Ideally, I would like to get some of the plastic under the bed storage boxes that IKEA sells and put all the sewing fabric in them and tuck them neatly under the bed. I think that would be a good fabric storage solution. Easy to get to, yet out of sight and out of the way.

See? Things change and yet, they are all still the same as always.

One more comment that to many of you will seem random and bordering on insane (my apologies!) and will make sense to a few others...

Team Buttercup Rocks! Yay Team! ;)

More stuff

2008-02-07T09:18:00.000-05:00

Again, long time no update. Sorry about that.

I've been very busy with work, still working in the evenings and stuff. The ends of projects are a pain.

Lisa is back in Kitchener, although she was here on the weekend (big fun). I took Monday off of work and we cleaned the goat pen. :-)

It was a big dump of snow yesterday and I'm feeling sick, so I'm working from home today: it's kind of fun to program on the couch.

That's pretty much all the news. Everybody here is doing well (all the furry retarded kids and me, or am I included in the kids? who knows?)

More Schtuff

2008-01-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

So a bunch has happened in the past while, but I haven't been updating regularly.

Lisa is back in Kitchener -- I'm here looking after the menagerie again while she's gone.

Work has been very busy. I've been spending a bunch of time in my off hours writing programs (which isn't usual for me). So there's been not as much awesome stuff like shirt making going on. I'm hoping to get back to that tomorrow night. I've got everything all set up to make a black shirt: I think it'll be awesome.

Everybody here is doing great: the goats learned this week how to jump and get on top of their shelter. They can do it about 1 in 6 times: they sortof hurl themselves at the wall, scrabble ineffectually with their feet, and pray they get up. Most of the time they end up falling on their backs or sides, legs akimbo, but they succeed often enough to not give up. I imagine they'll get better at it, and not be lame their entire lives.

We had some nasty weather here: freezing rain and ice pellets and big winds. The goats managed to stay dryer than me, somehow, despite living outside. :-) Things are pretty icy around here, but not as bad as it has been, thank goodness.

Ummm... watching StarGate Atlantis (an excellent show BTW) and a few movies. I watched Bambi the other night -- I hadn't seen it since I was a kid. Damn that was a surreal movie! Disney'd never get away with making some sort of art film about the changing seasons and marketing it to kids today.

Not much else. Busy busy. Need to shower now and then feed goats and then go to bed. :-)

Another day done.

2008-01-16T17:36:00.000-05:00

The most interesting thing that happened today is that I wore my shirt to work, and nobody noticed. :-) That was by far the biggest compliment that I could have got: nobody saying "hey you're wearing a homemade shirt!" or anything.

Apparently my shirt is indistinguishable from a storebought shirt. :-)

I did point it out to some people, and everybody said how much they liked it. So a big success, all around. I think I'll make another.

Shirt's all done!

2008-01-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

Shirt Progress

I finished my shirt. Well, to be honest, I still haven't hemmed the bottom or finished the inside seams, but you can't see that stuff anyway. :-)

The last thing was the buttons. I love making buttonholes, I hate handstitching buttons. My sewing machine manual claims that the machine (the modern one, not the old treadle), can machine sew buttons. I'm going to look into that for the next shirt.

It turned out pretty good -- lots of little things wrong with it (like my topstitching is terrible: next shirt I'm matching thread color!), but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out overall.

It seems to fit pretty good too. Tight across the shoulders if I lunge forward, but I tend not to lunge too much day to day, so that's ok. :-)

I'm really pleased with the pattern and the shirt. I'll make another for sure.

Now the only question: will I wear it to work and open myself up to public humiliation? :-) Perhaps.

I love successes like that.

On another topic, I went back to work today for the first time since Lisa left. I went in a bit late, and left a bit early, and the household survived without me for a few hours. :-) Work was fun enough (how fun can work be anyway?), and I got a bunch done.

Not bad for one day: a full day's work and a shirt!

More Big Days

2008-01-15T07:33:00.000-05:00

It's been a bit now, so I can't remember everything -- but here goes.

Hay Delivery

On Sunday, I moved everything out of the feedroom (the grain bin is heavy!) so that Ted the Hay Guy could come and deliver our hay and straw. He came with 46 bales and I helped him unload it. So it was only like 23 bales I had to move, but man was it hard work. :-) My shoulders are still sore, 2 days later!

Shirt Progress

I worked on my shirt a whole bunch more: it now has sleeves, cuffs, and a neckband (no collar yet). I was wrong about the neck being too small: the seams get trimmed as part of construction, and so it gets bigger. I think the pattern's a pretty good size, although I still might try to make the next one longer in the body. I think tonight I'll probably try to put the collar on, and then it's just endless buttons and then I'm done (maybe some seam finishing inside).

Goat Trauma

I made the grave error of giving the goat babies a pine branch in the shelter while I was in there with them. It was kindof scary -- they were a little rammed up, and thrashing the stick around, and jumping here and there. :-)

[Alarm went off -- need to go and feed the goat babies this morning...]

All done that. :-)

I got some pictures of the goat trauma, which is kindof fun. Unfortunately, the light from the camera make them even crazier. :-) All in all, it was easily worth it. Big fun.

Today I'm going back to work -- so I've got to worry all morning, and make sure I haven't forgotten anything. :-) Luckily I gave myself lots of time, and made a list of everything I needed to do, and now I've got about an hour before I've got to leave.

Big days all around!

Now I've just got to sit with Pixie for a while while I wait to go.

Big Day(s)

2008-01-13T07:21:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday was a big day.

I took the Christmas tree down (unstrung the lights and disassembled the tree back into its box, then put everything away). That's a big enough job, although I was greatly helped by the fact that Lisa had already removed all of the decorations, which is a huge job.

I did my normal daytime chores: ate delicious sandwiches, fed the goats their lunch (they were being very cute: rearing up and charging each other -- I tried and failed to get video of it.)

Shirt Progress

I set up my sewing table where the tree used to be, and got a fair ways through the construction of my first collared shirt (out of cheap broadcloth). Pictures available. I didn't get the sleeves or collar done, just the body. Currently it's got some sort of Hercules outfit thing going on, so I think it needs sleeves and buttons. I'm sure everybody will agree with that. :-)

The fit is not bad, although it could be: longer, and have a larger neck. Next time I make the pattern I'll make some adjustments. I think I may end up needing a second mock shirt before I make one out of real fabric.

Sometime in the middle of shirt making, it was goat, dog and man feeding time. I ate chinese food -- it was delicious. :-)

At around 7 or so, I got bored of that, so I started watching Deep Impact, the movie -- I could have sworn I'd watched it before, but I don't really remember it at all. Go figure. I made popcorn for it.

Part way through the movie, my mother phoned, and I talked to her for an hour or so, then I put the goats to bed, and then Lisa phoned, and we chatted for a while, and then it was time for bed. :-)

Today looks big enough: the Hay Guy is coming at 11:am, and I need to clean the feed room/shed out first. Yesterday I cleaned up tarps that were leftover from our tarp removal frenzy a couple days ago, which should make this cleanup quite a bit quicker.

The weather says 'snow' today, so I hope that it doesn't happen while all the stuff is out. :-) There's not too much stuff that could get wrecked, but there is some. We'll have to see how it goes.

Fun stuff. ;-)

Spy photos

2008-01-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

Spy Photos

So kindof neat: I learned that you can take pictures with a digital camera through a pair of binoculars. It's like getting a free optical zoom on your camera.

These are some pictures I took out of the upstairs bedroom window yesterday of our goats. :-)

It's neat to watch them when they don't know you can see them. They just kindof wander around, exploring their environment.

News

2008-01-10T18:12:00.000-05:00

Lisa has gone back to Kitchener for a few days: her mother is in the hospital.

I'm here looking after the household while she's gone.

Shades of Exalt again -- working from home is just like I remembered it. Better food, more animals, fuzzy boundary between work and home life. There are definite advantages to this lifestyle. The food is the big one. :-) I also get more heads-down programming done.

I telecommute: I can connect to my computer at work -- it's just like I'm there except a bit slower. I phone in for meetings (which is great when lots of people get talking :-). It's working out ok.

This evening just before it got dark, I went out and did some repair work on the goat fence: the tarps we had tied to it to keep the wind off of the goats acted as a sail. Once the ice holding the bottom of the fence melted, the insane wind we had last night blew part of the fence down. Luckily, the goats were not hurt, nor did they escape. We removed the tarps and righted the fence. It was mostly unscathed. However, I went out with some wire and repaired a few places where the edge of the fence was starting to wear and might provide an escape route one day.

Goat Snugglin'

Then I went into the shelter with the goats and sat with them a while. They were bad and bitey for a few minutes, but then they settled down and laid down to snuggle. I was out there for 45 minutes: it was kindof nice: Bert fell asleep, or at least snored while awake. I got a couple of pictures...

I've eaten pretty good today: leftover Shake'n'Bake chicken (first you take the Shake'n'Bake, then you put it in the oven), endless snacks, and now I'm heating up a precooked turkey breast. It smells delicious. :-) I may not be much of a cook, but I sure love to eat!

Tonight I don't think I'll do much. It's been a long couple of days, I think veg'ing on the couch is the Best Thing

Ah -- the dog's food is ready and they're going nuts. :-) I'll cut this short.

Solitude, new logo and pictures

2008-01-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

So this weekend I've been here at FHH alone looking after the goat babies and dog "babies" and myself (also a baby). Jessica's going back to school (sniff) and so Lisa drove her and Kyle back to Toronto and Kitchener. While she's there, Lisa's going to see her family and her sister's awesome new goat herd. Should be fun.

It's been pretty fun here. I never realized *quite* how much work it was to look after those goats. They get pretty wild and pushy :-) Very cute. After being out with them for an hour or so, I'm ready for a nap.

There was a light snow shortly after Lisa left, and none since, so you can see all of my tracks I've made outside, to and from the house, to the furnace exhaust pipes (to check them, so we don't have another incident), to and from the feed room and goat shelter. :-) It's actually kindof funny to see.

Lisa's coming home soon-ish (I expect half past 3 or so, depending on traffic).

Because I had a bunch of free time, Four Horse Haven has a new logo (the old one was too... sedate somehow). The new one's more dynamic. Once we finalize a logo, I hope to do some things like get a farm sign and mailbox with the logo painted on it. This one's not bad.

I uploaded a bunch of new pictures: of our Parliament Tour, the giant goose migration we saw, some aftermath of the big snow (and obligatory goat photos), and some additions to the Christmas album.

And now my camera is empty again, and I can start taking photos again. :-)

[Lisa comes home early :-) - by nearly a whole hour]

A new year

2008-01-04T21:08:00.000-05:00

Well, it's 2008 and we're still alive in Ottawa. :-)

Let's hope this year is less... intense than last year.

I love my treadle

2007-12-30T23:48:00.000-05:00

Vintage Singer Sewing Machine

BIG FUN!

So I finally got around to trying out the treadle machine -- I sewed a few seams, and tried out the new buttonholer Lisa got me for our anniversary.

It's awesome.

The machine runs through 6-8 layers of denim like butter. The buttonholer is a marvel of engineering -- that a machine with no zigzag ability could make a perfect buttonhole (straight or keyhole) is awesome.

I'm very excited. :-) Now I'm going through the other attachments that came with the machine: hem rolling foot, variable width hemmer, ruffler, binder, tucker, width guide, and a couple of things I'm not sure what they are yet. :-) My goal is to try each of them out and get them to work.

My next project is a collared shirt -- I'm going to try to make the whole thing on the treadle (I may cheat and finish the seams using my Kenmore with zigzagging, but other than that...)

Big fun. :-)

Birthdays, Anniversaries & New Semi Formal Clothes!

2007-12-30T09:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our 5th wedding anniversary and the day started out great... I got to sleep in! Shawn got up and fed the dogs and the goats and I slept til almost 11am!! Jess and Kyle were awake before ME! That was a real treat!

We ate lunch out at Baton Rouge and I had yummy prime rib for lunch! Jess had her avocado sandwich she likes and Shawn had a giant chicken caesar salad and Kyle had a giant chicken tenders salad. Was a nice treat.

Jess bought herself a new digital camera with some of the money she got for Christmas. Her cell phone camera works, but has some storage issues that were getting to be annoying. She tried it out last night and it seems to take nice pics. I think she posted some of the test pics to her album, for anyone interested.

We also went to see "Enchanted" at the theater, the kids saw a different movie, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" that we were not interested in seeing. "Enchanted" was a fun movie and we both enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone that likes light, fluffy and a bit sappy entertainment.

We had shake n bake chicken for dinner, Jess had sushi... twas yummy.

On Friday, we all braved Bayshore Mall and had lunch at the mall at the Thai place. We had to really fight to get seats, it was so busy! Then Jess and Kyle went off to look at stuff and Shawn and I started dress shopping. Poor Shawn having to go dress shopping on his birthday! But apparently he didn't mind and having him outside the dressing room was a huge help to me... getting into "girl" clothes can be quite a challenge with mile long zippers and hooks in the back!!

I think I tried on 20 - 25 different dresses in 2 stores. In the end, there were a couple that were absolutely hideous... a bunch that would've done if there'd been nothing else and two outfits that we liked.

We ended up choosing a matching black velvet skirt and top that when you put them together, really look like a one piece garment. The skirt is long, almost ankle length, very straight and has an unusual hemline. The hemline itself is straight, but the velvet part is cut jagged (I suck at descriptions!!) and between the jagged pieces are a black nylon type material that is see through. It looks much nicer than my description!!

The top is also black velvet and has long sleeves and what I would call a "boat" neck. It could probably be worn on or off the shoulder, but I only tried it on, so I'm not positive.

So its a way less revealing outfit than I feared I'd have to wear... it goes almost to my wrists, down to my ankles and only my neck and a small amount of chest are revealed. I also bought a matching black velvet cape to wear over it, instead of a coat. (I didn't want to spend the $$ to buy a dressy coat for only one occasion!)

The best part of the outfit was the price! The top and skirt were both marked at $80 each, which I thought was *enough* but certainly not horrible. Then we got to the cash register and each piece was on sale for $40... then I also realized I had a $25 gift certificate from that stores reward program, so I used that. When all was said and done the skirt and top were under $70 total!! We went to the other store to buy the cape and it was only $40, so I really lucked out!

I was really happy though with the experience, we were all done in less than 2 hours!! I can hardly believe that.

The goat babies will be 6 months old on New Years day and they are doing really well again. Ernie's owie is pretty much all healed.. he's eating well again and they are both being their crazy selves. They are getting really close to being able to get up on top of the shelter without help... close, but not quite. We've been helping them up there when we go out and they run around and do crazy goat dances on top and try to push each other off. Big goat fun. I think they are enjoying the milder weather a whole bunch... I put some of the hay they waste into a pile in their yard area and we often see them laying outside in the pile of unacceptable hay, just chewing cud and enjoying being outside.

The dogs are enjoying having the kids here for extra attention, even if it means there is no room on the couch for dogs! :) Poor pups having to give up their seats for *humans*! :)

As always, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's all I can think of for now!

The vintage singer

2007-12-27T22:15:00.000-05:00

I cleaned and oiled the Singer this morning.

It's pretty sweet. :-)

Christmas Is For Giving.... Boxing Day Is For....

2007-12-26T22:16:00.001-05:00

TAKING!

We are officially thieves.

This afternoon we went into Kanata to the movie theatre and saw National Treasure 2, with Nicholas Cage. Very enjoyable movie and a good outing.

As we were leaving Centrum, we passed where they were selling Christmas trees this season and noticed there were a couple of trees just laying around, abandoned. I'm not sure which one of us suggested we take the trees home with us for the goats, but we drove around the block to get back to the area where they were.

We pulled up near where the trees were laying and all went out to look at them. There was a large one, a medium one and a really small scruffy one that wasn't even good enough to be called a Charlie Brown tree.

We loaded the large tree into the van and went back for the medium tree. With a bit more effort we got most of it stuffed into the back of the van, but enough of both was sticking out that we couldn't shut the trunk.

Luckily we carry bungee cords for just such as occasion. We bungeed it down as best we could and then off we went! We made it home without incident and unloaded the trees. We cut off a couple branches and gave them to the goats right away... they think it is delicious!!

So even though we were thieves... no one seemed to care ;)

More On Christmas & Semi Formal Woes!

2007-12-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

I posted a few more Christmas pics to the FHH Christmas 07 album. We took a pic of the turkey I cooked to prove we didn't starve to death on Christmas ;) Most of the newer pics are off Shawn's phone, so there's a different perspective going on... which mostly means there are some of me... blech.

The turkey turned out well... twas tender, juicy and tasty. That said, it still wasn't as good as my Mommy makes, but maybe with practice mine will be passable. I also made garlic mashed potatoes, just for something a bit different... they were yummy. I also made a large batch of gravy so there'd be enough to serve with leftovers. I saved the pan drippings from the beef tenderloin (didn't make gravy that night because I made those cheaty baked potatoes with cheese) I just added water to the beef drippings, cooked everything off the pan, just like I was going to make gravy and then just didn't thicken it. After it cooled I poured the au jus into a measuring cup and saved it for the turkey gravy. It made it extra tasty and added some good brownness.

I didn't make anything else, no veggies, no dessert. We had large salads at lunch time and Jess isn't a big dessert eater and I knew Shawn and I would pig out on meat and potatoes. Besides, the more dishes you make, the more leftovers there are and with only 3 of us, we didn't want to be eating leftovers for months :)

Last night around 9pm, we left the house and headed into Ottawa. The whole point of our trip was to drive past parliament and see the 300,000 lights they've put up. So we did that and they are pretty nice. Our tentative plan is to go back down later this week when Kyle arrives, they have a center block open house, where you can wander through and see all the Christmas decorations and then go up the Peace tower and see the outside lights and view of the area.

While we were down that way, we crossed into Quebec (always an adventure) to see the Chateau Cartier . The reason we wanted to see where that was, is on Jan 12, Shawn's work is having a semi formal event with dinner there, as their belated Christmas celebration.

Now, were you reading carefully? SEMI FORMAL... did you get that? Ugh... yes, semi formal. Now those words mean different things to different people. Depending on your age group and stuff, that might just mean "not jeans".... but after asking around, Shawn found out it means suits for the men (tuxes are over kill, but maybe some of the company's founders might wear them) and DRESSES for the women. And not just a dress... a semi formal dress. I suppose its an occasion where owning a little black dress would be useful.

Shawn and I have been joking between ourselves and him with some coworkers that semi formal in Dunrobin means clean coveralls and you knock the shit off yer boots. (Formal, you'd put on new clean boots). Actually, originally, before I found out it was semi formal, I thought perhaps I'd wear my new jeans, the ones I bought and have been kinda saving, not wearing and abusing day to day. Guess they won't be quite right.

I also have a nice pair of black dress pants, paired with a nice blouse that had a sheen to it or something would likely *do* but apparently pants on women at these events are very rare. Me being me, I would rather not be over or under dressed, I really would rather not be noticed at all!!

I already own a nice pair of black mule heels I can wear... but now, I have to go... *gulp* DRESS SHOPPING. Oh Lord, kill me now. I'm going to attempt to find something to wear while Jess is still here and Shawn is off work so I can have as many people as possible laughing at me during the experience... I mean as many opinions as possible ;)

I've already been looking at dresses online and found a few I think would be appropriate, but their stock is iffy... never mind buying a dress online and the fitting issue.

This one is my first choice, the price is awesome, but also because of the price, their stock is pretty much gone.

My second choice is this one, but I'm afraid it might be TOO formal, given the length etc and the price is a little more than I'd like to pay. They still have some reasonable sizes available though.

Actually, I really like the igigi.com website, they have lots of helpful information, like "find your shape" and then for each dress, they say which shapes it looks best on.

My plan is to go shopping locally... then if that fails, take a chance and buy something online. We'll see how that works out.

The other big dilemma is accessories... like is it ok to wear my denim ball cap with those or do I need to break out my nice John Deere one?? ;)

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

Good Morning and Merry Christmas!

It's been a very good Christmas here so far!! We had delicious roasted beef tenderloin last night for supper! We exchanged gifts amongst ourselves... both Jessica and Shawn made some beautiful presents. I won't go into detail right now though!

I took a few videos this morning of the dogs opening their presents, for anyone interested.

Dogs Opening Presents

Dogs Eating Presents

Merry Christmas Wishes

I also posted a few stills to the FHH album.

It's a warm and sunny day here, the sun coming through the window feels very nice!!

It's a strange day though and a bit sad, not spending it with my parents and my sister and her family. Miss you guys.

Merry Christmas All!

Delicious Smells

2007-12-24T18:24:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve, and all through the house, there is the delicious smell of roasting beef tenderloin. Mmmmmmm.

It's making me quite hungry. :-)

Ernie's On The Mend

2007-12-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

Most of you know that our little goat, Ernie has been under the weather for a couple days. It started because I'm a bad goat owner that didn't switch his blanket to the bigger size soon enough. The dog blankets I use have elastic leg straps and poor Ernie's inner thigh got an abrasion and small cut before I noticed it digging in last weekend.

As soon as I noticed, I switched him to the bigger blanket and stopped using the leg straps. I cleaned it and put blue spray on it and kept an eye on it. Of course, he wouldn't leave it alone and picked at it until it got quite a bit bigger. It never looked weepy or infected... I used my horse clippers and trimmed the hair away to make it easier to clean and so hopefully it wouldn't itch him quite as much.

I also started taking his temp once or twice a day, just in case. Well, as animals always know the least convenient time to need vet attention, Saturday morning his temp was up. Now in all fairness, it wasn't *quite* a fever yet, it was 103.9 F. Goats normal temp is between 102.5 and 104 F. But I do take their temps somewhat regularly, just for a baseline, and 103.9 is high for HIM. He also was not that interested in eating his grain, which is very unusual for him.

So I called the vet clinic and told them what was going on... normally, I might've just waited it out a couple days... but goats are really susceptible to infection and die quickly... they also get pneumonia easily and die quickly. Since I wanted to avoid that, I wanted to act quickly. I called at 11:45 am and they said they could see him at 12:20pm, so I agreed and quick loaded Ernie into the dog crate and into the van. Jess and Shawn stayed home with Bert to keep him company.

Both goats screamed for about 5 minutes when they were first separated, but then both settled down just fine. Ernie traveled very well in the car.

One of the less obvious big problems with moving far away from home is the fact that you no longer have any relationship with a vet. They don't know your experience or anything.... this becomes a problem when something like this comes up and you just want to pick up a bottle of penicillin and get the dosage and a few needles and syringes from them. They aren't real quick to agree to do that. Hence the in person goat visit.

Now the regular goat vet was out of town, so we saw the dog vet. She told me she'd never given a goat a shot before... oh great, we are in the same boat! She gave him a tetanus booster and a shot of penicillin and we went over how to give IM shots. Its the same as giving horses shots, so nothing much different, but I wanted to be sure, also. I don't want to make anything worse!!

Ernie, of course, had the biggest, longest pee in goat history on the floor of the exam room. I managed to pull him away from the heat duct before he peed down the duct... no one wants to smell THAT forever!! He also left a big pile of goat pellets that I used the urine soaked paper towels to push into a pile. Charming animal. :)

He was a really good boy though... he was nervous about being there and wanted to stay very close to me. At one point, one of the clinic cats came over to him. I was a little worried that the cat might scratch him or scare him or something, but the cat just sniffed the goat and the goat just looked at the cat.... then suddenly, Ernie opened his mouth and bit the cat right on its spine near its shoulders!! The cat went "YOW" and jumped straight up in the air and then ran off. The goat jumped. I jumped. The receptionist jumped and peeked over her desk and shrugged her shoulders. I mostly tried to keep from laughing hysterically.

Anyhow, so we were all done there and headed home. The goats weren't as frantic to see each other as I thought they might be, but seemed happy enough to be back together. Ernie's temp was back to normal this morning and has been normal all day.

*break in posting to watch tv*

It's now almost midnight, we're just in from doing night feed. Checked Ernie's temp again and he's bang on normal still and was very excited to get his beet pulp and grain tonight. A couple hours ago there was a thick fog and it was really creepy out. Now its windy and the fog is gone and the full moon is shining so brightly its like daylight out. Crazy extremes.

It's still wet out, but no longer raining and the wet parts are starting to freeze. There's actually a flash freeze warning for most of the province tonight. Its an odd combination.. .some of it is just wet... some is ice and some is slush that's getting crusty. I already put out some sand/salt so when I walk out the back door in the morning I hopefully won't go flying!

Anyhow, it turns out I still need to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow and I'm hoping to pick up a bottle of epinephrine from the vet to have on hand, just in case... hope I don't ever need it. Goodness knows if you ever do need it after giving a shot, your day is gonna suck. But at least if you have it on hand (in case of an adverse reaction to a shot of penicillin, for instance) you have a chance of saving your animal. Otherwise, you'll never even get the call to the vet *placed* before they are gone.

I know many people give shots without having it on hand and never have a problem, but if you've ever seen a reaction, you know how horrible and how friggen fast it happens and how glad you are to have it in your pocket. The equine vet I used before we moved out here used to keep a syringe of it drawn up everytime she gave any shot. She had experienced reactions before and she estimates that you rarely have more than about 90 seconds to administer it and still have a good chance of a good outcome. She always said that for every 10 seconds after the 90 seconds, the chance of a full recovery dropped dramatically. That's always stayed with me and now it creeps me out to give shots without it being handy.

So that's the plan for tomorrow... Christmas shopping and a bottle of epi. Super fun :)

Another little tidbit that I was reminded of today... Pa, (my mother's father) used to keep some beef cattle and we were as involved as we could get, as kids! Sometimes, Pa used to stand at the gate and just stand there and look at the cattle. As a kid, this seemed really stupid and boring and why couldn't we do something more fun. I remember asking him what he was doing and he said "I'm listening to the herd". For years as a kid, that never made any sense. As I got older though, it made lots of sense. Just by standing, listening, observing, you could tell if anyone was in distress, off their feed, coming in heat, ready to calve, etc.

I know it seems really obvious, spend time with your animals, know what they are normally like and then its easy to tell when they are "off" or not quite right, etc. But for me, it has always been something really profound... perhaps more so since I thought it was so cryptic and stupid when I first heard it. But with my little goat being ill this weekend, it served me well... I noticed he was not quite right before the situation became life or death... just by listening, noticing and paying attention. Thanks Pa!

Oh and my sister and her family bought a herd of 29 Boer goats today. They arrived safe and sound! I'm so happy for her and I hope she ends up liking her goaties as much as I like mine! Congratulations on the new herd guys!!

I guess we should head to bed, its late... I know I'll have a hard time sleeping tonight with the bright moonlight on the snow AND the wild wind.... some sleep is better than none, I think.

Four Horse Haven

Pictures of the gerbil lid

Busy Weekend

April update

Finally An Update...

Time Just Keeps Flying By!!

Busy Weekend & I'm Exhausted!

Its April!!

Abby Finds A New Home

Another Friday The 13th

"Spring" Is Exhausting!

Buddy

Time Flies...

Winter Prep Continues

I'm A Bad Not-Updater

All Moved In!

Goat Shed Doors Are Up!

Dang It's Cold! & New Pics

It's Been 2 Months...

New Pics Posted!

First Filling Replaced!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Bit More Work Done Afterall

A Bit Stalled Out

Oliver's Weight Update & Shed Roof

Yet Another Shed Update

More Shed Construction

New Pics Added to the FHH Album AGAIN

Super Busy Day Here...

Something I KNOW I Did Forget...

Roofing Decision... Finally

Back To My "Roots"

Shed Update

Not Much New Around Here

A Couple New Doggie Pics

More New Pics

Hay Storage Shed Pics

Not Quite 40...

Oliver's Weight (Last weekend)

New Pics Today

Hair Cuts... The Conclusion

Mani / Pedi / Spa Day at FHH

Oliver's Weight & First Puppy Class

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

New Pics

Hmm, Not 2 lbs THIS Week!!

Quick Update

Oliver's Weight

Stupid Crazy Around Here

Braces, Teeth and General Happenings

The Heat Continues...

More Pics and Videos

Oliver's Weight

Introducing... Oliver!

Today... Part 2

Always Busy

Obviously May is "Missing In Action" Month!

Not All Redneck... A Bit of High Tech Too!

Overdue Update!

Some springtime exploring

Another Couple Days And It'll Be ALL GONE!

Yummy Dinner... No Incidents! Yay :)

Spring Cleanup

The Conclusion To My Flat Tire...

If There's More Snow... *I* Am To Blame!

Best Laid Plans

Pics & Video

Signs of Spring...

Earth Hour in a 140 year old farm house

More Progress On The New Goat Paddock

Our Easter Weekend

Scavenger Run

Kijiji Scavenger Run

More Goaty Ghetto

For Your Heckling Pleasure, I Present...

Blizzard 2008

Goat Trauma

It Just Ain't Done Around Here...

Snowed In Again!

Just a Short Note...

If There's More Snow... I Am To Blame!