That White Stuff

Today was Day Eight of the 2013 Almost'a Ice Storm.  Paul has been working 12 hour shifts so has been taking the dually to work, so he could get to work.  That leaves Rhiannon and I with the red shoebox.  Which is still frozen solid to the icy driveway.  Grandma, however, couldn't go eight days without seeing her only granddaughter so she braved the main roads (which, although greatly improved, were still nothing one would want to go out in if one didn't have to) and parked up the hill from the house, trudged through the ice-crusted snow with the Sloppy Dog at her side, and helped Rhiannon and I put up Christmas decorations.

It has been a pretty easy storm as far as ice storms go.  I had plenty of time to prepare and even if I desperately needed something, Paul could have picked it up on his way home from work the second day when stores were opened again.  There's plenty of food in the house, still enough grain for the animals, and thankfully we didn't lose power.

Rhiannon has been enjoying all the snow and she even went sledding for the first time in her life:

Yes, that's my daughter sliding down the hill on a scoop shovel.

And on to the big hill!

Hold on, little girl!

Hillbilly, we most certainly are.  But YOU try finding a place that sells sleds around here.  Water toys a-plenty, but slim pickings when it comes to winter sports.  Golf can still be played here in the winter; and occasionally while wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

Yesterday was the first day I bothered to wear anything other than sweatpants and a sweatshirt.  It's not like anybody was going to come down here and the goats don't so much care if I'm wearing fifteen year old Hanes sweatpants with holes in unmentionable areas as long as I keep the hay and grain coming.   Today I felt a little more human and actually donned a pair of nice jean and a Christmas'ie sweater and put on some makeup!  I'm sure Mom was relieved.

The snow and ice has melted significantly, but with our daytime temps only in the lower 30's, it's slow going.  And before it can even disappear from the landscape, we're forecast for some more freezing rain tomorrow night.  Which means another weekend will go by with Paul having to work 12 hour shifts.

The critters are all doing fine despite this white hell they're having to live though.  I even went up with Paul in the dually yesterday to see Ms. Melman and Nugget.  Chickens have finally moved out from underneath the barn but are still sticking to the paths made by my shoveling or those made by the passing of numerous goat feet.  I'm still having to chop ice out of the water buckets every morning, but today I refused to bring out more than one bucket of warm water since the stock tanks weren't freezing up during the daylight hours.  Horrible, I know. Call PETA on me.  I'd like to see them careening their butts down the icy hill and crash into a stand of cedars; I need a good laugh.

Goat Swap O'Rama

Several weeks ago I put out an ad for Olivia, the doeling that I sold last year, but got back a little over a month ago.  She's a sweetie, but I really didn't want any milking Nigerians.  Technically she's 3/4 Nigerian & 1/4 Saanen, but I'm not really into the smaller milk goats.

Anyways.  I had several inquiries about her, but the serious ones apparently weren't serious enough for them to drive to our place nor even meet half-way to procure her.  I only wanted $150 for her so there was no way I was going to spend $40 in diesel fuel to sell her.  Then a lady about 2 1/2 hours hours from here inquired about her.  She wanted a smaller milking doe and liked the idea that she had some of the Saanen milking lines in her.  And she was willing to meet half-way.  Which I still wasn't thrilled about, until we started discussing the details.

She was more than willing to pay my asking price, but then threw out the idea that she had a year & a half old Boer doeling that was more than likely pregnant and sent me a picture of her taken earlier in the Spring.  And for that I was willing to make the two hour round trip drive for.  The fact that I was able to use my Mother In Law's car to haul Olivia and the new goat back & forth in was even better.  (Don't worry Grandma V., not a single turd or sprinkle of pee soiled your beloved Cruiser.)

So we agreed on a meeting place and time, I packed up the kiddo and goat and we were on our way for the Goat Swap.

Olivia is packed and on her way!

The trip there was uneventful (and un-pee-ful, thank goodness) and quiet.  I had half expected to be cramming chewing gum, used napkins or whatever other sound-blocking material I could find in the car to shove in our ear canals if Olivia started yelling.  She didn't utter a peep.  And swapping out goats wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, although I did get a few strange glances as I walked Olivia around the grassy area between the McDonald's drive-through and the Walmart parking lot for a potty break.  What?  You don't take your goat with you when you go shopping?  Sheesh.

Penny (the new goat) was a little larger than Olivia, but still had enough room to turn around (and around, and around, and around....the entire trip home) and lie down.  She wasn't nearly as well potty trained as Olivia and I had to stop three times when I noticed her squatting to pee.  But I had crammed a bunch of old towels, wee-wee pads and paper towels in the back so it was just a matter of wadding up the wet ones, putting them in a garbage bag, and tying it up until we got home.  Penny was also a bit more vocal than Olivia, but nothing horrible or ear-splitting.  I can't even imagine how horrible it would be to have had Pickles in the car with us for a two-hour drive. 

We got home safe & sound, unloaded Penny into her temporary pen and cleaned out the car.  No one would have ever guessed that I had just transported livestock 120 miles in the Cruiser.  I did, however, sprinkle a bit of carpet deodorizer and vacuumed up just in case there was any goaty smell.  Now there's just the overpowering smell of  fake flowers in there.

I finally move Penny in with the rest of the goats after four days and of course there's some head butting, pushing and shoving, but I think the 8" of snow in the yard has decreased their desire for bullying the new goat on the block.  

Penny is such a love bug and follows Rhiannon and I everywhere.  But as much as I love her demeanor and really, really long floppy ears (Too long?  Hmmmmm?) and uncharacteristic spots here & there (Double-Hmmmm??), I'm thinking that she's not all she was "supposed" to be.  But more on that later.  She's a sweetie and I'm keeping her.

So, just in the past two months I've swapped two goats; NewNew's little doeling for a two-year, as-needed rental of Merv the Perv for stud service and Olivia for the newest addition to our Boer herd. And I'm going to put an ad out for NewNew sometime this week.

Wonder what I'll end up with next?

Paul's Take

How about ending up with some CASH?  When she said she was going to get rid of some of the goats, I figured that she meant for money, not more goats.  

Talk'n 'bout the weather

We ended up with around 8" of snow on top of a solid 1" of ice pellets.  My hillbilly hay shelter hadn't collapsed and I was rather surprised it didn't after brushing off the snow & cracking the thick sheets of ice off it.  The hoop hay tunnels, however, did not fair as well:

I brushed off what snow I could reach and whacked the tarp to get as much ice off as possible.  But even after getting a lot of the snow & ice off, it still didn't spring back to it's original shape.  I never really considered the hay tunnels having to withstand a snow load.  But at least the materials are still usable.

Our area in general was hit pretty hard, although still not as bad as it could have been if freezing rain had replaced the ice pellets.  The weight from the sleet/ice/snow have destroyed a lot of the local docks; the entire structures sinking and the roofs collapsing.

A few businesses found their storage sheds had collapsed.  Luckily they were closed and there were no employees hurt.  And of course there's the jack-knifed semi-trailers on the road and vehicles that had slipped into the ditches.  But I don't think there have been any serious injuries.  We're still not out of the woods as there is a chance of more snow/sleet/freezing rain tonight and tomorrow and honestly, I'm still waiting for the power to go off.

I spent half the day inside feeding the wood stove, and the other half trudging through the snow to haul warm water to the goats / chickens.  But even through all the snow and cold, I had my constant barn chore companion:

Outside Kitty is such a good little boy.  He follows me when I pitch out hay, around the barn to feed everyone, inside the milk parlor (hoping for a cup of warm goat milk) and then to bring in more firewood.  I haven't managed to make a proper kitty house for him yet, but he does have a box with a blanket and heating pad in it and it seems to be doing an ok job keeping him toasty in this unseasonably cold snap.

Since I ain't got nothing else to do

Figured I could crank out a blog post to make up for my skimpy November blog numbers.

We got sleet / rain / ice pellets yesterday morning starting around 9 am.  It finally let up.  When it turned to snow.  There is now at least 7" of snow on top of the car.  Which is probably stuck to the ground for at least a week as the highest temperature in the near future is a balmy 32 degrees.....on Thursday.  And by the looks of the radar, I don't see the snow letting up for at least another three hours.

At least someone is enjoying all the snow!

I suppose I should be counting my blessings though.  The weather didn't provide the exact mix of temperature and moisture to cause much ice to accumulate on the trees, so we've been spared (so far) a power outage.  Hauling warm water to the goats / chicken is a pain in the bee-hind, but the water situation would have been much, much worse if the electricity went out at the mule barn as their water is warmed with a stock tank heater.  And since Paul is on Snow Call he's had to drive into work, and past the mule barn, twice a day so he's been taking care of feeding & watering Ms. Melman and Nugget.  Another thing to be thankful for is the Dodge dually.  The county hasn't made it's way down our road with the plow or grader yet, and I don't suspect it will for a few more days.  If it weren't for the dually, we would be stuck at home.  Which I don't so much mind, but Paul's work wouldn't be very happy.

The wood stove is eating up the logs, and we're still in the 20's outside.  It's supposed to get down to Zero tonight so I'm going to be through the logs on the front porch before long and have to dig into the pallet of logs I brought up on Wednesday.

I've been shoveling the snow.  Not for us, mind you.  But for the goats and chickens.  Because you know, snow is evil.  Goats hate ANY type of moisture coming from the sky.  And the chickens refuse to walk through the snow to even get to their water & food hut.  So what does a farmgal do?  She shovels a path for the chickens, of course!

Hey, how about some hot tea over here?!

The new hillbilly goat hay shelter thingy is working, although I should probably move the snow off of it before it collapses.  The hoop houses for the stored hay rounds are straining under the weight of the snow & ice.  I had to duck to get under them to pitch hay when I normally can stand straight up.

Well, I'm off to check on the critters.  Again, again.  Then I think I'll come in, have some hot tea & watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Rhiannon.

Ice Storm a' Coming

The news guys have been warning us for the past three days that we were in for a Sleet / Ice / Snow storm.  Figures.  The past few days have been in the mid to upper 60's.  What better way to usher in an ice storm than with weather requiring one to wear a t-shirt and shorts while doing barn chores....and then two days later have you bundled up in your Carharts hacking ice from the animal water tanks with an ax?

I guess we're due for a nasty ice storm, although I wouldn't have expected it this early in the season.  The last one was in 2009.  It was our first ice storm since moving here.  Mostly just a big inconvenience for us, but truly a nightmare for a lot of other people.  A home just a few miles from us burned to the ground because the fire trucks couldn't make the drive up / down / around the hills in the subdivision with the thick layer of ice on the road.  People farther out in the country were without power for over three weeks.  We went thirteen days without power, although we did have a generator to keep the large freezers from spoiling all the beef & pork we just filled it with (of course) and a wood stove for heating the house.

Knowing what could happen if we did get hit with the storm, I've been outside the last two days getting things in order.  A lot of the chores should have probably been done already, but what can I say?  I work best under pressure (i.e. I'm a lazyass).  Got the wood piles covered with tarps.  Moved wood to the porch and filled up a pallet with even more wood and moved it closer to the house.

Extra bedding in the chicken coop & goat huts.  Closed up the barn windows.  Made sure tarps were over the hay hoop houses.  Topped off all the water tanks / buckets / pails.  I even made a hillbilly makeshift cover for the "feeding" hay (as opposed to the stored hay).  Because you know, if the hay gets wet, or iced or even the slightest bit moist, the goats won't eat it.

This is something I've been meaning to do forever, but the thought of having those picky bugger goats turning their nose up at hay with snow or ice on it (or even close proximity to it) had me scrambling to do something - anything - to cover it up.  So I scrounged up half a cattle panel, a t-post, some bailing twine and used plastic sheeting and came up with this:

Hillybilly-esque?  Darn right!  Effective?  I hope so.

In reality, an extended power outage isn't that traumatic for us because we're kind of prepared for it.  The generator will keep the freezers going.  We have access to city (i.e. running) water just up the road.  Plenty of flashlights & oil lamps.  Wood burning stove for heat & cooking.  The biggest problem is taking care of the livestock.  Water will have to be hauled several times a day to the goats / chickens, but that isn't very far from the house.  Ms. Melman and Nugget, however, are pastured a mile up the road.  And if the ice is bad, even the truck won't be able to make it up the big hill to the barn.  So even though there is city water at the barn, there's the possibility that I'll have to hike up there to make sure they have adequate water, and, if the electricity is out the tank water heater won't work so ice forming in the buckets will be a problem.  But I guess we'll take that task on when we come to it.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to vacuum the rugs again and make sure there's no dirty laundry or dishes.  And maybe make another couple loaves of bread.  And if we manage to somehow avoid all this snow / ice, at least the house will be clean!

Are you in the path of this storm?  Are you ready for it?  I hope so.  If not, get yer butt in gear!

Goat Dates Finished

Even though I've been lax on my blogging lately (not quite sure why), I haven't been as lax with my goat plannings and (mis)management.

Merv the Perv went home right before Thanksgiving.  I had him breed three of the smaller does (MamaGoat, Olivia and NewNew) and when none of them seemed to go back into heat I called his owners up and told Merv, "Smell ya later!".  Met the owners half-way, transferred him from my truck to his truck and waved bye-bye until next year.  I have no doubt that as long as I can secure a decent rent-a-buck every year that I will not be looking for a permanent dairy goat stud for our farm.  Merv was here for just barely over a month.  Only thirty-five days to water, feed, care for - and smell - a buck goat as opposed to doing so for 356 days a year.

My two larger does, Nettie & Annette, went on their date at another farm not far from us earlier this fall.  Although it was a little more difficult (for Paul, that is) having to haul them back & forth three times, it's still easier than having to care for a buck on-site.  The only problems we had was that I apparently didn't gauge Nettie's heat cycle well enough and we had to take her back twice, and that since the girls didn't really "know" the buck, they weren't as receptive to him as they would have been to a more familiar buck.

Now that I've yammered on about how nice it is to not have a buck, I have to admit that there is still one at our farm.  Herman, the Boer, is still here.  Not that I really expected to get rid of him already.  If things go as planned, we do want to have a sizeable meat goat herd in the near future so having a buck on hand would make more sense.  Although at some point we're going to have to change bucks if we're going to keep his offspring as breeding (and not eating) stock as to avoid too much inbreeding.  So I've got some time to work on that.

In the interim, I have goat babies to plan for.  This year's breeding schedule is pretty much messed up.  Nettie was bred two separate times, both Boer gals were bred two separate times.  My first potential kidding date is only eight weeks away, my last kidding date is just under four months away and I just this morning picked up a "probably-pregnant-not-sure-when-she'll-pop" goat to our herd:

Penny, our newest Boer doe.
Yes, Paul knows.

More on her later.  I have to get outside and start with the Storm Preps this afternoon.  Ice is forecast for Thursday and there's a lot to do (that should have been done already).

Anybody seen my Muse?

I looked over at my Blog Archive on the side of the screen and there is a paltry eight entries for the entire month of November.

Wow.  Pretty pathetic.  Especially since I had considered doing my first NaNoWriMo (for like only two seconds, but still it did cross my mine).  I only managed to crank out eight piddly blog posts for November, what in the world was I thinking that I would start up again on my uhm, "novel"?

Anyhow, I have several post-worthy ideas and farm'ish happenings around here that I could have published, but never got more than a few sentences into it and the inspiration just left me.  We only had family here for four days for the Thanksgiving holiday, so it's not like I can blame them for my lack of blogging.  Most of my favorite blogs were even neglected (sorry gals/guys, still luv ya!).  I think I even went four or five days without checking my email.  Remember when you liked to get an email message?  Now I almost dread opening my email account and it's not like I have tons of spam or anything.

I actually thought (again, for only like two seconds) that maybe it was time to get rid of the internet at the house.  I'm sure Paul would be thrilled.  I could still get online at the library & do at least one post a week, but then Rhiannon wouldn't be able to get on her Starfall website (which she does use several times a week) and I know that the second I pulled the internet-plug, I'd get hives or start shaking because I would suddenly need to look up something online.

But I think I just needed a little break from the computer.  Or not.

Nope.  No inspiration in here.

Somebody give Thalia my email address, will ya?  I need some creative stimulus.  With a smidgen of smartassness thrown in for good measure.