Friday June 8, 2007

Today was Addisson's field trip to the Zoo in Watertown. We met everyone at the preschool at 9am. It was a combination field trip between the 3 and 4 year old class. All week the weather has been on the cool side. Two days we didn't get about 60. It was beautiful. It figures on the day of the field trip it was already 80 degrees by 10am. By the time we got to the Zoo it was 90 degrees and extremely humid. Everyone was sweating. It was a nice time and we had a picnic lunch in a shady pavilion. It is a very small zoo. Asa had told me that but I didn't realize how small it really was. It only took about an hour to go through. We got home about 2:00pm. A

Asa arrived home about 5 minutes after we did and my parents arrived about an hour after that. The girls were very excited to see them. Once they arrived my mom did dishes and was sweating. Which never happens. However the house was 83 degrees. It was hot! She took a break and folded clothes. Asa moved the baby goats. Then he grilled dinner, steaks and lamb chops. After dinner I cleaned out the car and Asa and dad moved the roof which we took off the porch and has been sitting in the front yard since the last time they were here to visit. Asa then drove the tractor down to the pond to dig out an old hay rake. He wanted to try it out. I followed him in the truck. They hay field is ready for its first cut of the year. It was half way up the truck door in spots.

Around 8pm we Grandma decided we should all for Ice cream. We weren't going to because earlier in the evening Asa had looked out the kitchen window onto the porch and saw Addisson and Quinlyn holding the kitten, Salem, and one of them was attempting to hit it in the head with a hammer. Asa saved that poor little kitty. He happened to look out in the nick of time.

Thursday June7, 2007

This morning I received a phone call from the post office at 7:15am. Our Guinea Keats had arrived. We were all still in bed. Addisson had preschool that morning so once I dropped her off I picked them up about 9am. They were so noisy I could hear them outside the post office. When I went in to pick them up I told the lady at the counter I was here to rescue her from all of the noise. They were packed in a small box with lots of air holes. I couldn't believe there was 30 in there. Once I opened them up I realized you could actually have fit more in the box. I left them in the car while I cleaned out their home and put bedding and water down for them. When I went to release the hens one didn't look like it was going to make it. As I examined the box they had come in I realized they had just hatched on Tuesday. And were sent two day mail. These birds were in the mail most of their lives.

It was time to pick up Addisson so I brought 5 of the birds with me. The kids at her preschool loved looking at them. They all wanted to hold them but I would not let them for the birds were so tiny and too fragile for 3 and 4 year old hands. Addisson was glad I brought them so her friends could see them. I had a small petting zoo in the car. As I was leaving to pick Addisson up both Salem ( the kitten) and Woody jumped in the car. I had a dog, kitten and 5 guinea Keats in the car with me when I picked up Addisson.

When Asa got home from work we had lost another guinea keat. He had stopped by the neighbors on his way home and asked him about our grey water issue. He came over and looked at and asked Asa if he wanted to do it to night. Asa said "sure I will go change my clothes". Thursday evening they dug up the back yard with a mini backhoe. Of course the small project turned into a larger one and took way longer than expected but they did finish and now our basement isn't flooding with grey water. YEAH. Once they started digging they saw that the drainage system was probably placed in the ground in the 1950's and was a cheap tar and paper pipe. Once it ages it gets brittle and crushes. Which is exactly what happened to ours.

Wednesday June 6, 2007

Tonight Asa and I moved the goats fencing and added to it. It is a flexible and very visible electrical net. We were out in the tall grass of the fields and when we looked back we couldnt even see Quinlyn. She was following her sister but she went too fast and so she just stopped. The grass was taller than she was. It was very cute. Woody was going crazy running in the grass. Addisson would lay down in it to hide from Woody. He would find her very quickly. Quinlyn and Addisson started to play Doctor and nurse with Woody in the tall grass. They were having a great time. It didnt take too long to get the goats moved. Once we let them out to the new area they bolted for the tall stuff. It was so tall they had to jump through it. We hope that will keep them busy for a few days. The last area we opened up for them only lasted 5 days. The pickings were starting to get thin so we had to move them tonight for we didnt want them to escape tomorrow.

We now have no turkeys. We are suppose to have 30 Guinea Hens coming sometime this week. Our practice turkeys didn't work out too well so we are hoping for much better with the Guinea hens. Asa is feeling blue because animals and plants keep ending up dead. The goats ate a few trees, blueberry bushes; Jinx 1 and 2 are missing. 5 of the turkeys drowned and one got eaten by a raccoon. A few of the goats died this year. He came home today and one of the blueberries which was starting to look good again was all chewed up by Woody. He was bummed. He did say he really likes the pigs because they haven't died on him yet. He did really like the turkeys too because they would follow him around. He said the key to get the goats to follow you and the other animals is you have to sing to them. LOL. When his mom called all stressed about trying to get the goats back in while we were on our way to NH, he actually told her to just sing to them.

I brought up the turkeys because a few days before they died, Quinlyn had gotten into their turkey food and threw it all over the porch. So when we came home that evening all the turkeys were on the porch and had pooped everywhere. This was right after I had cleaned and hosed down the area. Which took a while because it was a disaster. This was the same day I had taken Jinx to the vet. Which I am sure didn't help with the raccoon situation. Which reminds me the Raccoon even pooped on the porch. What hasn't pooped on our porch? I think Woody, The kids and Us are the only things that haven't pooped on the porch.

I thought I would right large because I am tired and starting to squint at the screen, but I wanted to finish.

You heard a little from Grandpap about the Raccoon being on the porch a few times. Two days earlier I was taking Addisson to preschool where I heard a cat crying under the care. I looked and it was Jinx. I had just seen him about 20 min. earlier before I let Woody out and he was fine. Now he was under our car and couldnt move and was crying for his life. I backed up the car, I couldnt reach him from the side, I hoped he wouldnt move and took one of the kids blankets and wrapped him up. He was soaking wet. I knew what had happened. Woody had played with him and got too rough. I told Addisson when I dropped her off at preschool that he may not be alive when she got out. I called the vet and he could get us in. It turned out he was just stunned. If it was Salem I dont think I would have taken him to the vet but I really liked Jinx because he had six toes.

It will teach me. Two days later he turned up missing with the turkey. Only to have the Raccoon show up the next night looking for more kitties and turkies. We sure feed the wild life great around here.

More view from Grandpap

And by the way, the goats got out again yesterday and ate up most of Asa B’s new blueberry bushes, hope the goats taste good when we eat them.

By the way if you care, Cheryl did not get the goats back into the fenced area. They were laying in one of the shed, full of Asa B’s grain and too lazy to move, so Cheryl just locked them in. Done, they are of f the streets and out of sight, Asa B can put them in the fence when they get home form New Hampshire.

Love to all,
--Asa Reed Jr.


Hello,

Sorry if any of this is a repeat for any of you, but I just wanted to keep in touch.

I have moved to Long Island for a temporary assignment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. They are finally going to remove most of the radioactive material from the old Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor. It was an air cooled, graphite moderated, graphite pile reactor, originally with natural uranium, then with enriched uranium fuel, that has been shut down for several decades now and they are getting around to cleaning the site up. It has been run as a museum for a lot of years recently.

Right beside it and sharing some utilities, like ventilation and the 100 meter stack, is the infamous High Flux Beam Reactor, that was shut down in 1999 after a tritium leak was identified and published in the press here. It was heavy water moderated, highly enriched uranium fueled reactor. The laboratory and DOE have decided to go totally non nuclear here, nothing but accelerators of all shapes and sizes is in the foreseeable future here at BNL. So, again, I am temporarily part of a team that is working itself out of a job.

As we were working on some of the licensing documents last week we had a meeting at the local DOE office, and I got lost on the site, it was my first time herre. As I got to the meeting I found that of the 8 people on the DOE review team 6 of them were people I had worked with at ohther sites. Is it not a small world?

Well, it is getting warmer out here on the Island, Monday moring it was 35 F in the parking lot this morning it was 60 F and the leaves are starting to really fill in, the fog is rolling in off the sound every morning now, it is a pretty place. There are wild turkeys, geese, and deer everywhere here on site, a real driving hazard, those turkeys are big and fly across the road right in front of your car.

Most of the U.S. reactors were light water reactors, Westinghouse built pressurized water reactors and General Electric built boiling water reactors which were the majority, Combustion Engineering and Babcock and Wilcox also built a couple I believe.

But the main fleet of base loaded nuclear power stations in the US are either Westinghouse or GE.

The new research reactor you all just commissioned was a design by Brazil wasn’t it?

The Canada Geese who live here on the site are all leading their families around these days. The goslings, usually seven or eight balls of fluff, are getting bigger everyday as they eat grass in all the surrounding fields. There are also turkeys all over the roads here as well as deer. The deer have fawns with them in many cases, but so far there have been no baby turkeys to be seen. What are baby turkeys called anyway, does anyone know? If names were metric like some countries use numbers they would all be just babies, no kids, goslings, cygnets, fawn, foals, calves, chicks, tadpoles, etc.

Speaking of turkeys, Asa B, not that he is a turkey, but you know,… Anyway we were working in the hay barn with Mr. Taylor, when Sarah called him on the cell phone and told him that the turkeys were out. This was not big news as the goats, dog, and the turkeys all had been out that morning. But, Sarah said no, the wild turkeys in the field were out!!! And it was still hunting season, sooooooo Asa B goes running up to the house to collect his shotgun, which Sarah had brought out to the door for him and off he went , the great white hunter, chasing the turkeys across the fields. In this case he went down behind them and got a big tom with one shot. Very nice, we have some photos, which I will try to get to you all. His mother actually saw the turkeys first, got the gun for him and went out to tell Sarah who carried out the support roll of getting Asa B into the field, just like a safari on the Reed Ranch.
--Asa Reed Jr.

Other Happening In May

We went to the drive In opening night for Spiderman at dusk thinking we could get in. That was foolish of us. They said it was sold out hours before dark. We went again the weekend Shrek 3 came out. This time we went about two hours early. They were still sold out. We decided to go see Spiderman on the other screen. We liked it. Addisson told us she never wanted to see that movie again but she was glad it had a happy ending.

Asa and I drove to NH to learn about fencing. We had left Addisson home with Grandma. We were about 1/2 hour from Syracuse when we got the phone call that the goats were out. Asa turned around and headed home. We got about 15 miles back towards home when she called again and said she got them back in. We arrived in NH at 2 am and received a phone call that the goats were out again and she had seen a snake trying to get them back in. It sounds calm the way I am telling it but the entire thing was chaotic and frenzied. However, Grandma did very well especially since she saw a snake and it was very hot.

The lady that helped us with fencing asked us what we wanted to fence or keep out. We said goats. She immediately said " Oh don't say that nasty four letter word, GOAT" Then she said "good luck and you have come to the right place."

After being at the fencing store for a few hours it over whelms you. I never thought there could be so much to fencing. You really could have a masters degree in fencing. On our 6 hour drive back to NY Asa and I discussed fencing. Neither one of us could have dreamed we would be spending 95% of our time on the farm dealing with fence. We were definitely naive. We thought it would be fun to have goats. Never knowing how frustrating and infuriating they can be. They are also fun too but they are also annoying. I had goats growing up and they were fun. Maybe because we only had 2 or 3 at a time. Not thirty. We are learning. We call these 30 goats our test case.

Here is Grandpap Reeds take on what happened.

As to the goats, Asa has been experimenting with some new fencing, an electrified woven 6 X 6 (inches) net, made and sold by Primer Fencing. It is pricey, but very effective. He now has 3 sections, one light duty for the kids and Happy Birthday, and 2 for the herd of does. The goats do not bother the fence at all and he can move them around the areas of the Ranch where we want some weed control as well as foliage for the herd. Yesterday they took down most of our stand of Sumac, it was getting out of hand and is a real hassle with the poison and all, but the goats are not affected and just seem to love the stuff. We would much prefer they eat the Sumac and Poison Ivy than the blueberries and Sarah’s new weeping cherry tree!

Well Cheryl went home today, after helping me set up my little apartment. She dropped me off at the local airport, Islip MacArthur Airport, to rent a car until I can find one, then she headed for the Upstate Toll Road. Getting off the Island took a good part of the trip, even when things were not that bad traffic wise. This Island is just crowded.

Once she got home she got to help chase the pig! Princess, the young lady piglet, she is only about 45 pounds, got loose. She has been much more aggressive since we got her. She has already charged the girls trying to scarce them off, and tonight she got out from the pig pen and was running free with everyone chasing her. Addisson and Quinlyn were to hold positions and wave Princess off if she headed their direction, Asa and Sarah were doing the chasing and Cheryl was to hold the center of the circle, if I understood correctly. But to no avail, Princess got through the line. Asa then decided to form a new section of fence adjacent to the existing pen. He hooked up a panel, bent it in a half circle back the existing fence and viola, princess was inside the fence again. But, not the right fence, so Asa jumped in, chased her down and grabbed her hind legs as she made and escape attempt. He could hardly lift her, she was digging with her front legs and was partly stuck in the hole!! But, her got her out and stuck her in the main pen, now for how long we are not sure, but Princess is going to take some extra care.

And take a look at these photos of my favorite little girls,

Love to all,
--Asa Reed Jr.

Oh yes we got another pig and she was getting out. She was so hard to catch at first until we got smarter than her. She squealed and squealed. The kids loved trying to catch her and she wasnt even greased or muddy.

More from Grandpap


The goats are at it again, lead by Janet this time.

Asa B and Sarah are on the road tonight, they are heading to a fencing shop in southern New Hampshire that specializes in sheep and goat fences and provides training in putting up the fences. Their prices are reasonable, so the kids decided to give them a try. Asa B and Sarah are traveling tonight, staying at the Super 8 near the store then heading home tomorrow night with enough fencing supplies to do 10 acres. That is about 2640 feet of fence. They took Quinlyn along to help with the heavy work. (See her photo, doesn’t she look like a ranch girl?) They hope to spend most of the day watching demos of how to do the fencing correctly, then try their hand at the fences they are going to buy. We need to get some permanent fences in to get the goats on browse. There should be plenty of fencing left for Carrie to help with if she comes to help for a while.

Well, as they get on the road to New Hampshire, they are no more than the end of the drive when Miss Addisson gets all teary eyed about the family leaving her at home, Grandma is ok, but Daddy, Mommy, and Quinlyn all took off without her! She would have gone, but needed to be at the dance practice and photo session on Wednesday, the tyranny of the schedules. Schedule conflicts at such a young age! Well, just as Addisson and Grandma were getting the Peter Pan DVD going, they looked out the window, and who but Janet was out of the fence and in the new trees again!!! So Cheryl calls me, tells me what is happening, I tell her that she should call Asa B and Sarah back, they are just south of Watertown, I had just talked to them as they were leaving the Starbucks there. She does not like that answer, they need the fence and should go get the training and materials. She decides that she really needs to talk to them however, she calls them and goes through the goat recovery via the cell phones, holding the Janet’s collar in a choke hold with one hand the bucket of feed to entice the other goats in the other hand and the phone somewhere between the two. It might have bit marks on it, if someone were to look. So, she got the goats back in the fence before Janet choked, and the kids are still on their way to New Hampshire. Let us hope that the fencing works till the kids get back Wednesday night and they can chase any runaways.

Last night when the family was done chasing the wild pig, Princess around the yard they all got ready for be and tuned in, especially Asa B as he had to go to work in the morning. Cheryl and Sarah decide to sit up and discuss the work needed on the house and how they are going to schedule the window work, as it will be disruptive of every room in the house. They call me and we get into some of the issues, then we all decide to hang it up for the night and hit the hay. Somewhat literally now that we are on the ranch. So, before it it too awful late, all are in bed. A couple of hours later, Cheryl hears some noises out it the kitchen and thinks it is Sarah up puttzing around. Well it goes away then starts up again, and she asks Sarah what she is up to and does she need help? Sarah does not answer, so Cheryl gets the idea that it is not Sarah making the noises in the kitchen and goes out to see if the dog got out of his kennel, or the cat is into something, but no they are not in the kitchen. Then she hears the noise again, and it is from the porch. Now what is out there making that type of noise? The windows are open, but she can not see anything outside. As she is looking around for something, Sarah comes out of their bedroom asking what the noise is, Cheryl explains that something is on the porch, Sarah grabs a big light and out the door she goes to face ….a big raccoon which immediately knocks over some of the dog bones he w as in and scampers off the porch into the darkness. What an exciting evening!!!

--Asa Reed Jr.

The goats are at it again, lead by Janet again. With Asa B and Sarah are on the road at the fencing shop in southern New Hampshire Cheryl is in solo in charge of the ranch, not a task she volunteered for, or even wants. So as day broke this morning she looked out to see how the goats she had shepherded into the pen last night had made it through the night. What?? There are no goats in the pen! Now all the does are gone!! So Cheryl starts hiking around the ranch to locate the missing herd, hoping they are still on our property and off the road at least.

She found them, Asa B has the animal food sitting around in the bags it comes in and now he has a lot less food, the goats ate everything. This is the second time they have raided the store house and cleaned it out. Cheryl is adjusting the fence to hopefully keep them in and it is hot and muggy today, and she saw a snake at the entrance to the pen area. Not a good day for my wonderful wife.

Her and Addisson will lead the goats in to the pen later this afternoon then Addisson has to be at her dance class for photos. Speaking of photos here are a couple more of my favorite girls.

As to Asa B and Sarah, they got in to the hotel at about 2:15 am and were tired, I had called to keep checks on them as they drove and told them to get to bed as I was going to do myself.

Love to all,


Mr. Raccoon was back!

Cheryl heard the noises on the porch again last night, but now she knows what is up. She grabs her flashlight and heads to the kitchen and shines it out the window. There he was, standing on his hind legs getting into the bird seed container. He stood tall enough that his nose was above the height of the railing, a pretty big coon.

Grandma called Asa B, get your gun and get this coon! Well, as usual the coon is still safe. Oh well, he will be ready for another night at the Reeds. Grandpap left out the part where Asa didnt even bother to get any clothes on and was naked in the front yard with his gun looking for the raccoon. So if you ever want to visit and go on a Naked Raccoon hunt, call Asa @ huntinaked (555-482-4588) or email him @ nakedhunter.org

I just am hilarious.

The kids did get the goats all into a fenced area and out of the prison that Grandma put them in. They are going to give them a little more room tonight.

Love to all,
--Asa Reed Jr.

WOW A MONTH has gone by already. I always say that. But it really does fly by.

I will start with the most recent events and work my way back. Tonight we goat wrestled. We cut the male goats hooves. They are so strong and stinky. We had to really wrestle them. It took about an hour. It was hot and sticky because of the humidity. There is one big buck that really likes me, but not as much as he did the other day. I will tell you that story in a little bit. I was prepared for him this time we brought the cattle prod in with us while we were trimming their hooves. It took both Asa and I to hold a few of them down. One of the more mellow boys sang to the girls while Asa trimmed their hooves. I had the head and with one hand I took a hold of his goat tee and made his lips move while I sang. It made it look like he was singing. I guess you had to be there. It was funny.

It rained all day today. A lot. It is so muddy again. Even when we have a dry spell there are still areas that dont dry out. So when it rains it really gets mucky.

I signed Addisson up for soccer today. She will start at the end of the month. On Friday she had her dance recital. She did very well. It was cute. She was so excited to get flowers at the end of her performance. Most of last week we spent going to dance. We had one last practice then the dress rehersal and the performance on friday. She was very sad it was over for the year.

Oh yes back to the story with the male goat who really likes me. We all went into their area to give them water. Asa went and walked the fence to make sure nothing was grounding it. I stayed back with the girls, our girls not the girl goats. Most of the goats followed Asa but there was one that wouldnt leave me alone. He kept rubbing his horns on me and pushing me. Over the last few months since the grass has really started to grow the bucks have also developed into heafty bucks. Or at least this one. We had one really nice buck to begin with and this one has surpassed him. He was pushing me hard almost bucking in the butt. I made the girls get on the lawn mower just in case. We happened to have a plastic rod near by that we use for the electric fence. I had to use that to try to keep him away from me. I stuck it out towards him so that he would rub on that instead of me. Where ever I went this goat would follow me and harrass me. It was crazy. It was like I smelled good. Male goats dont smell very well. They have a very distinct odor, so I didnt want him rubbing all over me. I had given up on moving since he was following me. I decided I would try to keep him at a distance with the plastic pole and be very cautious. So has I am standing there his lips start to turn up as he is smelling me from a distance he starts making odd noises. I looked away for a second and turn back to see him squating. I thought he was just trying to pee until I felt some thing warm hit my ankle. I looked back quickly and saw him with his hips turned out aiming his penis at me. I couldnt believe it. I think he had just marked me. As I processed this quickly in my brain, I yelled at him and he turned and began to pee. It was like he was saying "what! I am just peeing over here". I was amazed. I thought to myself " Did that just really happen? It did! I cant believe it!" "YUCK, GROSS" "I Was Just Marked by one of our goats." When Asa came back he laughed at me when I told him the story. Needless to say I went right inside after that episode and took a shower. I felt so violated by a goat. I told my mom this story and she asked me if I was on my period. I said noooo. Then she asked if I was ovulating?

That is my GROSS story for the month of May.