Crafting With Sadie

Sadie is off on Easter break this week.  I volunteered to help keep her some.  Aunt C volunteered too!

Sadie wanted to do crafting because C "was good with that."  It is a good thing Mimi is good at having  a lot of crafting supplies.  

I did steal Sadie for a bit to visit the baby goats.  

She was trying to get them to suck on her fingers.  The brown one is a triplet about half the size of the other two.  I have been supplementing her with a bottle.  

Then I stole this idea from Pinterest.  I also had a Facebook friend that did it and it looked so cute.  Plus, since Sadie likes to pick flowers and I don't have that much blooming right now, it was a perfect way to get her to pick dandelions.  

I think it turned out great.  The face C drew was purrrfect.  Unfortunately, it only looked good for a couple of hours.  But there are plenty more dandelions to do it again.  Maybe Allie would like to do it when she is here next.  

And what is Easter break without coloring some Easter eggs.  Permanent markers, plastic wrap and rubbing alcohol. 

It was a pretty simple way to dye the eggs.  I did have to get some store bought ones to blow out since all of Virginia's eggs are brown.  

 

Pouring Rain and 40 Degrees

It seems like this happens every year, the goats start kidding and the weather gets terrible. 

Yesterday evening we had to wait for the rain to let up before we could do the last walk through.  We found a set of twins that were born during the down pour.  Goats can take some cold and some wet but they are not very good with both at the same time. 

Joe’s new technique to get them to the barn is to put the kids in a feed tub and drag it along for the nanny to follow. It worked well enough and we got them all in the barn. Towels, a heating pad, hair dryer, Karo syrup and tube feeding colostrum revived them in a couple of hours. They were up and nursing this morning. We should be able to turn them back out tomorrow. 

Kid count - 17 minus two of the quadruplets that I gave to the owner of the stallion I bred Draper to.  Four is just too many for a nanny to raise.  

 

Wattle Fence

Normally, when I cut the forsythias back in the spring, I just throw the trimmings over the bank.

This year, I decided to try something a little different. 

I have been growing salvia in this spot next to the house for a few years now.  By mid summer they are usually tall and spreading out over the path.  So then I take a section of a cattle panel to hold them back.  As a replacement for the metal cattle panel, I am trying a wattle fence.  

They are very popular on the British gardening shows that I watch.  I started with pressing the vertical supports into the ground.  

Then just weaved more switches back and forth through the supports.  

I then cut off the verticals shorter and bent them over to make the arches.  I think Kit Kat approves.  

We will see how well it holds up the salvia this summer.   
 

The Kidding Field

It was time today to confine the goats to one field. They are due to start kidding tomorrow. (Other than the one with quadruplets). 

You can see they had a lot of territory to spread out on. 

But they were no trouble to round up 

and herd to the barn.  There are several that look like they could pop.  We only left the Billie’s in for 40 days so at least we will have an end date. 
 

And So It Begins

The goats were not supposed to start kidding until Wednesday.  But apparently, this one just couldn’t hold 4 in any longer. 

Joe found them when he went to feed the dogs and brought them into the barn. 

Sadie was visiting for the afternoon and went with us to check on them. She said they were so cute.  Looks like we will have to be moving the herd to the kidding field soon.  Just in time for the weather to get bad. 

I also showed Sadie this nest that I found in the yard yesterday. 

It is a little difficult to see in the picture but it is a bunny nest. Cuteness overload.

 

Finally Hugo’s Turn

I finally decided that I was ready to ride Hugo again. Sometimes he can be a little jumpy and quick. I have been trying to avoid jumpy and quick while my back healed.  But I feel almost back to normal so I gave Hugo a try today. 

He did perfect. He was pretty much the same as the last time I rode him 5 months ago.  No scooting, shying or quickness. Once again, I just rode in the barn. I have to post his trot and I could start to feel that in my back after about 15 minutes.  Since he was doing so good I called it quits for the day. Another successful post trauma ride. 
 

In Bloom At The 4Rs

There have been a few warm days which have brought out the blooms. 

The hyacinths are in full bloom. 

And the different color daffodils are now blooming. 

These delicate white ones 

are hanging out in the rock garden. 

The forsythias are also in full bloom.

I really cut back on the snow drops. I dug up bunches and gave them away last year.  The blooms are just not as showy as I would like. And they really multiply and spread.

Sadie said these look like grape flowers. I said she was close, they were grape hyacinths. She said she would just call them grape flowers.  

I am trying out the old fence rails here. I will see how I like it as the flowering season continues. 

The Yoshino Cherry trees are not quite in full bloom. But since high winds are in the forecast I thought I would go ahead and take pictures now. 

The fruit trees are blooming.  This is a peach 

And these are pears  But we will be having some below freezing temperatures soon too.  Fruit can sometimes be iffy around here. 

The one remaining trunk of the hawthorn is blooming. Maybe I will get it cut down this year.

And Sadie and Allie came over this evening. This was the stillest they were.  There was so much running everywhere to see what new blooms I had. 
 

Three Random Things And A Kat

I have 3 maybe 4 random things that I combined into one. 

A brake drum,

A cedar stump,

And a piece of glass from an old table. I ended up not using that but instead used the glass from an old television from the 40’s. Don’t ask why I even had that. 

After cleaning up the stump and sealing it with linseed oil, I attached it to the brake drum. 

I tried the table glass first, but I thought something clear would work better than the textured glass. 

I like being able to see the stump through the glass. 

I love the view to the outside but I think Kit Kat likes the view to the inside. 

 

Serendipity

Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery.

I have always told Joe that if I ever said I wanted to join a gym, just point me up the hill in front of the house.  Well, for some reason he has been talking about joining a  gym.  I have just ignored this crazy talk.  Anyway, earlier this week after dinner I announced that I was going to walk up the hill.  Joe decided to come with me.  But instead of just walking up he had us go down the other side and then back up which is even  steeper.  On the way back down towards the house I noticed a goat off by itself. 

On closer inspection, its head was stuck in the fence. 

 I hope the goat appreciates our fortunate unplanned discovery. 

The First Four

Spring calving season started yesterday.  We have had four calves in the last 24 hours. 

Things are off to a good start.  Two of the calves are from first calf heifers.  We have the heifers right below the house where they are easier to check on. 

They were both bulls.  Joe banded them 

And ear tagged them. 

Then it was back to mom.  

Four down 140ish more to go.