A Short Trip

M took off a week of vacation and volunteered to spend some of it farm sitting.

I got off work early Thursday and we headed for the beach. 

It was a little windy with highs in the upper 70's to low 80's.  That is until Sunday morning when we left.  I don't think it got out of the 60's. 

We found around 50 shark teeth, all small. 

Some beach glass. 

And a few faces.  

This one even has teeth.  

5 pieces of fossilized fish poo, at least that is what I am calling it. 

And J picked this up as a piece of sea glass (which it is not) but I am keeping it because it is a heart.  

As usual, I would say the trip was too short.  J thinks it was plenty long.  And M did an excellent job with the farm.  
 

Bumble's Haircut

Bumble has terrible hair to work with.  It is course and mats instantly.  I normally just try to cut out the mats in the Spring and comb out what I can.  But this year for some reason (maybe I missed last year?) her entire body was matted. 

I tried my usual, scissors to spilt the mats, cutting them off, combing them out.  It was too much, too tedious, she is too big.  So I put her in the barn and got out my clippers.  I wasn't sure how she would handle the noise, but she was fine. 

I ended up with 3 bags of hair.  I had to block off a smaller space because she kept trying to walk away.  But she was a much better patient for it than I had hoped. 

J thinks she looks like a poodle now.  It's a pretty spotty job but I got the mats out and was able to comb what was left.  I think she will be more comfortable for the summer. 
 

A Very Eventful Day

Walker's mom was nice enough to share him with us again Saturday.

This time we were working cattle.  Walker is wonderful help, very calm and easy with the livestock.  J and Walker sorted the cows out so we could work the calves first.

J told him before we started that whatever he said was to just help get the job done and to not take it personally.  If you have ever worked cattle you know what he is talking about.  Walker just said, "tell me what you want me to do." 

He did a great job with the head gate.  I drew up the vaccines for J to give and I did the ear tagging.  

After the calves were done, we just ran the cows into the chute 4 at a time.  Walker would catch the first one and J would crowd the rest in behind and I would walk down the line giving the vaccine.  We were done in no time.  

Then Walker helped J take up the temporary fence he had put up to make it easier to get the cows to the pens.  While they were at it they went on a little asparagus hunt.  Turns out Walker loves asparagus and they were able to find a nice bunch.  

 I didn't take any pictures, but Walker wanted to go into an old house on the property that is falling down.  He found lots of treasures to take home, and old radio, flash light, wrench, socket, nails.  I found a bucket so he could carry it all. 

Then it was on to the horses.  I took him on my advanced trail course this time.  It is very steep, 

lots of ups and downs.  But Hank and Walker negotiated it all, no problem.  

Then we rode around some more of the farm and came past the bottom.  Walker looked over and said, "that looks like a dog down there."  I said if it looks like a dog it's probably a coyote, and sure enough it was.  

And this is what he was after.  We had two nannies that hadn't kidded before we turned them out.  This one was off by herself  and when we got closer we could see she was fending off another coyote.  The goats were spread out all over the farm and there were no guard dogs close by.  She only had one kid with her and I didn't see the other one until later.  We ran off the coyote and I got off my horse and made sure the little one was ok.  As we were riding back to the house Walker spotted the other one about 100 yards away.  He held Otoelene for me while I rolled under the fence and dashed down to get it back with mom.  It was still wet.  Looked like she had just had it before the coyote arrived.  

Walker and I made a fast trip back to the house to get J.  First, him and Walker went back with the 4 Wheeler and gun.  They saw the coyote again but didn't get a shot at it.  Then they came back and we all went in the truck.  It may look like J caught the goat this way but no,

This is what really happened.   So he did catch her but she slipped out right at the end. 

Next, he tried stair stepping the twins, carry one a little way, set it down, have the nanny come to it, go back, get the other one, carry it a little further....it's a very long and tedious process and we were very far from the barn.   So J changed tactics again.  He got on the ground holding out a baby goat, army crawling closer and then....quick like a snake snatched her back leg.   

J held her in the back of the truck and Walker watched the babies.  They spent a safe, coyote free night in the barn.  
 I think Walker will have plenty to talk about for the next few days. 

Too Cute To Sell

J has been against keeping bottle goats for several years now.  To his point, they are very annoying at least until the get incorporated back into the herd.  This can be very challenging and involves a lot of hiding, sneaking around and rock throwing.  So I have been doing my best to avoid having bottle goats that are kept in the barn.  But sometime it just can't be helped.  

I have two now.  And I have all intensions of  advertising them for sale.  The only problem is that I named them too cute.  

This dark one I have been calling Trouble.  She is just so energetic, slipping out at every chance.  

Then one day when I called her, J said, "Trouble with tribbles."  So I immediately had a name for the fluffy grey one, Tribble.  I just don't think I can sell Trouble and Tribble. 
 

Coupon Saturday #56

Another mostly successful Saturday night entertainment. (Maybe I need to find something more exciting to do on Saturday nights, just a thought)

Anyway, I was one day away from being out of cat food for Kit Kat.  All of this stuff was FREE and made his 12 pound bag of cat chow $4.31.

The Kool-Aid wasn't really part of the deal, but I couldn't pass it up since it was a penny item. 

Next up, Pepsi.  For some reason the entire $5 off $25 didn't come off.  It shorted me $3.48.  

But I didn't argue the point since I got my $10 worth of Pepsi for $7.08 making everything else FREE.  Almost $50 in savings between the two transactions.  I think I would be sick if I had to pay full price for this stuff.  
 

Plus I scored a nice 5 gallon bucket with lid that I picked up along the side of the road on my way home.  

Great Day With Walker

Ever since we worked the goats last year, Walker has been looking forward to coming and doing it again.

He was very excited when we asked him to come help us on Saturday.  First up, rounding up the goats.

It wasn't too difficult getting them headed to the barn.  

Getting them into the barn lot was a little harder. 

My barricades worked pretty well.

But I had neglected putting anything in front of the gate, and the baby goats poured out like water.  It took several efforts to finally get everything into the barn. 

Walker said this is where the fun starts.  He loves catching the kids.  

J worked the door and the bander while Walker and I caught the little ones and brought them to him.  Then we dewormed the nannies and turned everyone back out but this time onto a different field.  

Next up was horse back riding.  Hank managed to get into the yard while we were working the goats.  Walker got reacquainted with him and we were ready to go.

We had a very nice 1 1/2 hour ride around the farm.  I think Walker is ready to come back any time. 
 

The Perfect Size

My brother got me a tiny little bottle brush.  I think it was suppose to be in the Christmas stocking so it is either late or early.  But no matter, it is perfect. 

You may be wondering why such a tiny brush is so perfect. 

Well, the primary use according to M is to clean hummingbird feeders. 

And yes, it is the perfect size for that.  

But look, it is also perfect for goat bottle nipples.  

Now I can do a better job of cleaning out all the gunk that builds up in there from the milk residue.  Who knew there was such a thing. 
 

The Purple Season

It seems like I have a good bit of purple currently in the yard. 

The Siberian irises are in full bloom. 

You might think the verbena is a little pink, 

but I assure you it is purple.

And I just love the old fashion irises.  They are hard to beat for their hardiness and strong stalks. 

And I find the flower structure fascinating.  

And there are still a few grape hyacinth hanging on.