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.

Tuesday May 1, 2007

Opening Turkey Season! I woke up to Asa ranting around the house before sunrise, trying to find his turkey call. He was getting crazed. He couldnt miss opening day turkey season with out his call. I quickly found it for him before he destroyed the house searching. I went back to bed and woke at 7:15 to Asa coming back into the house. I asked him if he had shot a turkey and he said "Noooo". I said " Do you have to poop?". He said "Yes, in the most fierce way". After he took care of business he made breakfast for the girls while I got Addisson ready for preschool. Afterwards he tried to get ready to go back out in the field to hunt but he kept having to go to the bathroom. He couldnt make it far from the house with out having to go. Meanwhile he sees turkeys out where he was waiting for them early this morning. He is so mad. He cant believe it. I chuckled to myself. The irony.

When I got back from bringing Addisson to preschool he was lying in the chair not feeling real well. He had some kind of stomach bug. I did feel bad for him since he has been so excited to shoot a turkey.

In the afternoon, Asa put Quinlyn in for a nap then left to get his haircut. Addisson went with him because she kept trying to wake Quinlyn up. Once Quinlyn did wake up we went to Watertown to pick up our new riding lawn mower. We still need to get it out of the truck but we are very excited to use it. Mean while the goats got out again. They were wondering around fertilizing the yard and eating the grass. After a while they let themselves back into the barn.

The area where Asa and I put up the fence the goats are staying in. We thought we could use the pre-existing fence which is very old with the electric fence but it just isnt working. We are going to have to rip out the old fence with the tractor and redo the entire section. This way the goats wont escape but more importantly they will be safer from predators.

Quinlyn yesterday fell face first on the sidewalk in downtown ABay in front of dance class. She has a road rash upper lip. It looks like it hurts so bad. She is a trooper. She didnt cry much.

Grandma and Grandpap arrived late Friday night. They fixed the washing machine and did about 6 loads of laundry then left today, Sunday. Oh and they also bought a riding lawn mower. Which will be very nice. It wont take all day to cut the grass and then have to do the same a few days later. Grandpap started work on Long Island at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is about an 8 hour drive. Addisson wanted to know why he didnt stay very long this trip.

Friday night Asa and I went to a Grange Meeting. We had to take the girls and it was very grueling for them. They had to sit and be quiet for almost 3 hours. They did so well Asa told them he would take them to the Zoo on Wed. It was absolute torture for them but they really did well considering the circumstances.

This weekend it was mostly rainy. This morning started out the same but by 4pm the sun was shining. The girls played outside for a long time. They even saw Sparkles and fed her. She has become and outdoor cat since she peed on the couch. The Girls were very excited to see her again.

Tuesday May 1, 2007 is opening day Turkey Season. Asa is very excited. He cant wait. He is drooling at the mouth to shoot something.

Sunday April 29, 2007

The weeks are just going by so fast. I cant believe it is already Sunday again. This week Addisson was back to dance and preschool. Last week they were off for spring break. Tuesday I brought Quinlyn into Addisson's school and she search out her sister, ran over to her and gave her a great big hug. It was very cute. We had also brought in her kittens to show the class. They all really liked them. After preschool two of Addisson's friends came over to see the baby goats. She had so much fun playing. Once they left she kept asking when they were going to come over again.

Asa was off on Wednesday. We had a very busy day. We were out of the house by 8:30am. The kids were dressed and their hair combed. Asa had been up since five am and had all of the animals fed. We had lots of errands to run and we had to be back to the house by 1pm for an appointment. We went to Gander Mountain, the YMCA to sign Addisson up for soccer, the shoe store, Walmart and the feed store. We bought Addisson a new pair of sneakers, pink, of coarse. Considering we were pretty busy we had a fun time.

Once the outdoor furnace man left, Asa and I went out side to hook up the electric fence. There was a string on the pole and Asa was trying to get if off with out touching the fence. Than didnt happen. He got zapped so bad it dropped him to the ground. He was in pain. And I couldnt stop laughing. I wouldnt have been laughing so hard but he was laughing too. We put the baby goats in there with Happy Birthday. The goat kids kept getting zapped. It took them quite a while before they learned their boundaries. Every time they got zapped they would kick, jump and run in the air. It only took Happy Birthday once getting zapped. She is loving being in with the kid goats. She is head honcho. She has no one to pick on her. Often when we look out at them she is running and playing with the babies. Very cute.

Next we had to get the calf house out of the barn with the doe goats. This winter everything was frozen and the ground was covered with snow for months we were unable to muck the barn. We had several months of poop build up around the calf house so we couldnt lift the house to move it. Asa borrowed the Hay guys tractor, because ours wouldnt start, to pull the calf over on its side. It took quite a bit of force even with the tractor. Once we had it on its side we now had to get it out. Which we remembered we had enclosed the barn after it was already inside. We didnt think we were going to be able to get it out but luckily the side was broke so we were able to squish it enough to twist and turn it to get it out.

Our next project was to start a new pig area. We are going to put him in with about 50 round bales of hay that have been sitting by the house for years. He should be able to turn them into the ground and get rid of them. Especially once we get our second pig. We pounded posts and set up the panels to find out we were 2 short.

One day this week our neighbor came to the door about 7:30pm. Her 4 year old little boy was missing. She asked if we could help her look for him. Asa took the truck and went down by the trailers and the pond. I went out and looked in all of the buildings. It was probably a good hour or more before they did find him. He was about 1000 yards back behind their house on their property in the woods. I don't know the whole story but apparently he was playing with their new puppy and just wandered away. It was very scary.

On Sunday Asa was working on some new fencing and was going to put Janet and Happy Birthday in the area. Janet is the boss of the herd and Happy is the poor step child no one wants around. While Asa was working on the fence he had those two tied together so they could roam around the yard and eat grass. It was quite a combo. At one point Janet got spooked and Happy paid for it. She got dragged into the kids slide and half way across the yard. It was kind of funny in a sick way but I did feel bad for Happy Birthday.

Back to the kittens. I have been having to do Kitten torture patrol since we got them. What I mean by that is watch the girls like a hawk on how they are treating them. Quinlyn is the worst. She squeezes and loves them a little too much. Today she was carrying one by the throat, tail, skin. What ever she can grab.

The other day we went to the state park which has a really nice playground. Woody went with us and he had a blast. It was one of our first warm sunny days. The girls had Woody all over the play equipment. They had him jumping over and going under balance beams. Up and Down the stairs. He even chased them while they were trying to swing. The girls tried to get him to go down one of the slides with him but he wouldn't do it. He did try going up but that didn't go too well. Everyone was having a great time.

We added to our animal count. Currently it is

5 Turkeys
2 Kittens
3 Cats (2 Barn - Sparkles has been demoted from indoor cat to outside barn cat)
6 Goat kids
19 Doe Goats
5 Buck Goats
1 Pig

Our two Kittens are very tiny and cute. One is a tabby with 6 toes, his name is Jinx. The other kitten is black with a little bit of white on it's belly. His name is Salem. Today I looked outside and I thought Jinx was dead. I saw Woody in the yard laying down throwing the kitten in the air. It looked like a limp noodle. Once I shouted at him he dropped the kitten and walked away and the kitten quickly followed behind him. I was surprised it wasn't dead.

Later that morning while we were feed the animals the kittens followed the girls to feed the pig then into the milk barn to feed the baby goats and then they ran behind the girls all the way back to the porch of the house. It was so cute seeing these tiny kittens running behind the girls. At one point Addisson looked back to see where they were and wasn't looking where she was going and tripped over a mound of hay. She took a pretty good digger, but she got up and kept running.

Friday we had the baby goats out to play. They follow you everywhere. If one gets left behind it blaaas like crazy. They also walk between your legs while you are trying to walk and they trip you or make you kick them. It is annoying. They also try to eat your pants/shorts and lick your legs. Their tongues are like sand paper. The goats were trying to help Grandpap fix the tailgate of the truck. We had a salesman come to the house and the baby goats tried to get into his car. For those of you who remember Happy Birthday who was on the porch for a long time. Well Grandma had flashbacks when she looked out and saw 5 baby goats on the porch and two of them were standing on a plastic tub looking into the window crying. They also run into the house very quickly when ever you aren't paying attention. Asa came into the house and 3 of them ran in behind him. Then he had trouble getting them out. He would throw one out and another would come in. The girls thought it was hilarious.

Monday April 16, 2007

We woke up today to a surprise snow storm. There was 8-10 inches on the ground. It was very wet soggy snow. We had lots of trouble getting out of our driveway again. But we finally made it out about 11 am. The roads were bad for a while. We ran a few errands, went and saw the peeps at Agway. We learned they wont sell you just one or two. You have to buy a minimum of 6 chicks according to state law. We were all surprised.