More Guest Photography

Emily sent me some more pictures from Ecuador.  You did so well self captioning last time I’m going to let you do it again.  

 

Deworming Day

Mike came to help with the goats this morning 

We already had them in the field behind the house so we just had to round them up and get them headed to the barn. 
 

This was not difficult and the goats were pretty cooperative.

Sadie had spent the night with us.  I had to wake her up to get started but she was pretty cooperative too. 

We used a kidding pen to corral her while we worked on the goats. 

She was safe and entertained.

Joe had said he didn’t want to try with just the two of us because he “wasn’t 25 anymore.”  So I was glad Mike was free to help.

Several of the goats were very anemic.  I hope we got them dewormed in time to help. 

Sadie Sunday

Joe wanted to eat lunch in town today.  We stopped by to see Virginia, Mike, Sadie and Allie afterwards.  Sadie wanted to go home with us, yay!  Two are not as easy as one.  So divide and conquer seems to work with Sadie and Allie.  

Sadie pretend cooked in her kitchen and let me braid her hair.

Then we cooked for real with the Easy Bake Oven.  Sadie is sporting a new bracelet that I helped her make after she played Barbies.  She also made one for her mommy.

She really likes making her own cookie.

She wanted to make a tunnel on the sofa but I said how about a tent.  It is a beach tent I got at the clinic as a drug company reward for meeting some sale goal.

Then she wanted to go to the barn to see her goat, Glitter. She also did not want to wear a hat because she wanted to be able to feel her braids. It was time to feed the dogs so we did that on the way.   Then Joe came and fed the two new beef heifers. 

We are going to have to deworm the young goats again tomorrow.  Several are pale and weak and one died yesterday.  The wet summer has been terrible for worms.  Well, good if you are a worm, but bad if you are the goat hosting the worms.  Anyway, we went ahead and got the goats up so we could work them early in the morning.  I pulled the truck up to the gate at the yard and put Sadie in the back as a playpen/corral to keep her contained while Joe and I ran around up and down the hill getting the goats.  It is nice to have such a cooperative little girl. 

Facepalm

Nothing about farming is ever easy.

This picture says it all.  You wouldn’t think that seeing a calf would cause Joe to facepalm.  But what you don’t know it that there are no cows in this field, so why the calf.
 

This morning we went to check the fall calving cows and heifers.  It looked like there was a new one.  But after studying on it Joe said that was not her calf.  It belonged to another cow and she had stolen it.

She walked back to the herd leaving the calf behind.  She was acting a little strange but really didn’t look like she had calved yet.  We looked around the field but with the grass as tall as it is, we were never able to find any other calf. 

We went back this evening and that is when we found the calf in the driveway.  It had never been cleaned. The heifer was back with the wrong calf again.  We were able to get the new calf to the lot, then went about getting the other calf and two heifers up.   That actually went better than Joe had anticipated.

And at least the heifer stood still in the chute while joe worked with the calf. 

Unfortunately, it looks like it will take some work to get her to take the calf.  Maybe we will get lucky and she will like him by morning. 

Tuesday’s Outing With Hugo

I decided to make more of an effort to go riding Tuesday morning before it got too hot.  It seems that if I don’t make an effort it doesn’t really get done.   Hugo has gotten less difficult to catch but he he still has a ways to go before I would call him easy.  I think he has moved from difficult to tricky.

After warming up riding in the barn, we headed for the gravel road.  I was a little worried when I saw this sign.  First, that he might be scared of the sign (he was not). And second, being surprised by a mower coming around a bend.  I newer saw a mower but the sign did help to slow down the couple of cars I met. 
 

We made it to the next gate back onto the farm without incident.

Riding through the gouge I saw yet another tree across the fence.  This one fell over from the neighbor’s side.  At least it didn’t mash the fence down. 

As we were riding through the cows the flies started getting bad.  That is a hatful deerfly on his right ear.  If I can reach it before he shakes his head I can usually kill them.  And so far Hugo has not objected to me swatting him to get them off.  He was a little more forward heading toward the barn than I liked.  So once we got back I worked him a little harder so he won’t get the idea that getting to the barn means he is done.  He also has started to act like he is enjoying being hosed off afterwards and not flinching at the water hitting him.  Progress is being made.

Sadie Sunday

Mike and Virginia brought Sadie and Allie over Sunday after we got back from the Biltmore.  While Virginia was getting Allie to take a nap Sadie wanted to ride the horse. 

She still loves her purple helmet and always wants to use the purple halter. 

She is great help in the garden picking tomatoes.  But I still have to remind her not to pick the green ones. 

She found a shower caddy in the barn and wanted to use it to collect flowers and tomatoes.  When they were getting ready to leave Sadie said she wanted to spend the night.  Why not?  We were heading to a potluck, I told her we were going to a party.  She wanted to wear her dress.  Virginia said she is very into dresses now.

The only problem was that the potluck was at a farm and it was raining.  I managed to keep her clean until after she ate, then I gave up.  Farm water runoff was too much fun.  As soon as it got dark she crawled into my lap and fell asleep.  She woke up long enough to take a bath then get in bed.  It was a big day. 

I got her ready for daycare the next morning and she let me braid her hair.  It was very cute.  Any ideas for next weekend? 

Where In The World Were Joe And Kay

 

Joe and I had a weekend getaway.  A drug company was rewarding their premier clients and the two full time vets at the clinic couldn’t go.  I raised my hand and volunteered.  Joe even consented to go once he found out where we were staying. 

Since it was a vet meeting I had to get a picture of a dog. 

Here is another hint, we went on a self paced audio tour.

The view from the house was amazing.

And the entrance hall was stunning. 

I loved the art over the fire place in the tapestry room.

Even the basement was interesting.

I could have spent hours in the greenhouse.

I cannot imagine how long it takes to water all of that.

Ok, in case you haven’t guessed, we were at the Biltmore in Asheville, NC.

A very nice weekend getaway.