To the barn...

Robert and Hannah fed the kids themselves for the first time last night.  Robert's was not taking the bottle without first forcing it into his mouth until yesterday, so they were  harder to feed. Now both come to the bottle on their own.  George went down and got them and brought them to the deck,  sooooo...

We took them to the barn after that feeding.

Later, we went back up to see how they were doing and they were outside the lot curled up against the fence, so we carried them inside the shed.

When I went up this morning about 7 am, they were curled up under the stanchion.

They are doing fine, but I sure don't want two yard billies.

They are going to have to stay at the barn.  We would like to make weathers of them, but the weather is too hot to cut them now.  Maybe in September.  Or maybe they will just go to the sale in September.

Garden

This morning, I got up at 5:30, just like I would if I was going to work.  Well, almost.  I usually leave the house at 5:30.  Everyone else was still fast asleep, so after coffee, I watered flowers, weeded and watered the strawberry patch, washed the chicken poop off the back porch, fed the goats and then started on the garden.  The green stuff to the left of the tomatoes and to the right of the corn below, is lambs quarter.  Betty's garden weed is grass but ours in lambs quarter. Somewhere in with all that lambs quarter is a sparse row of okra.  It did not come up very good, so some long spaces are just weeds.

Corn looks good anyway.  I think it is candy corn, but I am not sure.  I forgot what I planted.

Squash and potatoes.

Okra row after the tiller had been through it several times.

And a few melons next to the tomatoes.  I watered the squash Wednesday night, the tomatoes last night.  Tonight it is the melons turn for a drink.

Goats

I took the kids this morning and put them in the pasture, just inside the gate.  Patsy said they were going to be on the deck all summer, and if we kept them much longer up here I am sure they would.  Yesterday, I put them out in the yard and they kept coming back to sleep by the steps.

When the girl got up she wanted to know where they were.  Boy was not much interested after I told him where they were.

They were in the sun, so I told her we needed to take them over in the shade.  She made two trips and carried each of them over.

I went back to the house after about 5 minutes.

She stayed down there for about an hour until I told her she had to come to the house.  Tonight, after we feed them for the night, we are taking them up to the barn.

I do not want two billy goats in my yard all summer.

Good thing I did not pay much for these goats...

Cause I am not having very good luck this year.  Yesterday, Big Red was not doing so good.  One kid died sometime during the day.  Last evening, I brought the other two to the house and went to wallyworld and got baby bottles and canned milk for them.  Mama did not make it through the night, but the two kids are doing fine now.  They are both billies.  I plan on having Hannah and Robert take over feeding them when we get them going good.

They both like the babies, but Hannah really, really loves them.  The brown on she is holding is Robert's and the other one is Hannah's.

We are keeping them on the deck for a few day, so George's dog does not bother them.  Then I plan on putting them in the field with the other goats and just call them up to eat twice a day.

They have new names.  Hannah's is Thunder and Robert's is Lighting.

Four Kids.

Monday, June 24, Hay, Weeds, and lots of Kids

Snyders got the hay bailed.  The field looks so much better.  And, tonight, Jerry Norris was brush hogging Dan's thistles.  I will be glad to see them go.

Kids going to look for Big Red.  I had not seen her since I got home and decided maybe she  had kids.  As we went walking towards the pond, I heard kids bawling.  But, I did not have my camera.

Three sandy colored kids.  Two billies and one nanny.

She did not like us being there and tired to get the babies to follow her out, but they would not all go.

She came back.

When we went back the second time to make sure she had returned, it was just me and Hannah.

Robert noticed we were gone and came looking for us, but we had already started back.  Hannah said don't say anything to upset Robert.  I was proud of her.

We named the nanny Peaches, and the boys Spic and Span.  

Hot Weekend

Yesterday, I went to the grave yard and cut weeds.  The poke had grown up a lot, but really  it looked pretty good.  The grass had not grown up too much, and that was what took so long to cut the last time.  I went back today, but the weed eater ran out of string.  I had extra string, but I did not take it with me.  I will have to go back because the grape vines are trying to come back.  The weed eater makes short work of them since they are still tender shoots.

Weeds grown up, mostly poke.

Yesterday, I planted a little rose by this stone.  It may not make it, since it is already getting hot and dry.

But the one my Mary Chancy's stone is blooming and is really pretty.

After cutting the weeds from around all the stones.

If you enlarge this, you can see the purple tinge in Dan's field that has not been cut.  The thistle has about taken over this field.  It really needs to be brush hogged.  See the white spot in the middle of the field?  One day this week Clayton and I were looking down this way and saw something white like this just about this same spot.  It is a donkey laying down with his white belly showing.

George got me a new kink resistant hose and a soaker hose for the garden.  I have water the tomatoes a few times, but had not water other plants.  With the soaker hose, I watered the melons and squash.  We had new potatoes Friday and again today. The Yukon Gold potatoes are not high producers, but they taste really good.  My squash plants are already dying.  I have some seed and I think I will try a new crop of squash.

No new goats.