In One Year

I just read one of my posts from one year ago and things have certainly changed. The post is 48 Degrees, it talks about mastitis and Calico’s milk supply. It is also about Collette being pregnant with multiples and being due Sept. 8th.

Well, I lost Calico not too long after this post. She was fine one day then sick the next morning. She was dead within hours. I did all I could to save her but it was too little too late. I still do not know what happened.

As for Collette, I am still waiting on those multiple babies. She wasn’t even pregnant. Don’t laugh, some of my very knowledgeable older goat friends said that she would kid within a couple of days after seeing her. They thought that she would have at least triplets too.

These two photos were taken on Sept. 5th of last year, I had her due date down as Sept. 8th. Would you have thought she was bred? I was all concerned because she wasn’t making much of an udder.

I was so sure that she was bred that I sold my Buck, Rancid. When September was over, I realized that she had fooled me again.

On January 9th my Dear Husband braved the cold temperatures and bought me a full-blooded Saanen Billy Goat, who my youngest Granddaughter named, “Pascal”.

I put the two of them together and waited five months for babies to be born. Again nothing happened. I never noticed any affection between the two of them, but I figured they were just shy. Pascal didn’t yet have his luscious Buck odor, but he was only ten months old when he came to live with us.

Then about three weeks ago, Pascal started getting very rank. On Saturday night the 27th of August, I unsnapped Pascal’s lead strap after he was done eating and low and behold if he didn’t breed her with me standing right there watching. I think that it was the first time she had stood for him. I am thinking that she only comes into season in the fall. So far, I haven’t had a Buck with her at just the right time.

I am very happy to have a good solid due date even though it is January 23rd. I wouldn’t have wanted her to kid in the coldest part of winter, but at this point I will take what I can get.

Here are some pictures of Pascal, Collette, Angel and Abby that I took this morning.

I know she still looks pregnant in this picture, but I can assure you that she is not. Everyone who comes to our house asks when she is due.

Pascal is a real stinker, he takes my breath away! He doesn’t understand why I won’t pet him anymore.

A Kindle Named Violet

For some unknown reason I happened to log in to my blogger account tonight. I was surprised to see that my last blog post was on 08/28/2010. So, it has been exactly one year since I have posted. It is strange that I would check in here tonight after being away for so long.

The reason that I have quit posting and writing altogether is because I have started some serious reading. You see, I bought myself a Kindle 3G and for the past year, she and I have been inseparable. I love her, her name is Violet and she is the Graphite model.

I currently have nearly 850 books on her and I get more free books almost every day. I have read or have had Violet read me around 80 books since last October. I get my free books by subscribing to Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips right on my Kindle. I let Michael Gallagher sort through the free books and suggest only the best. You can also access his blog for free on your PC here: http://fkbt.wordpress.com. You can spend money and buy eBooks too, if that is what you want to do.


Violet's face is so lovely and easy to read without a back-lit screen. I can read her anywhere without any glare or eyestrain (back-lit screens make my eyes tired). You do have to have a light in order to read in the dark or low light situations. I have a Kandle for my Kindle. But many other Clip-On Lights are available.

There are games and apps available for the Kindle. I have a Calendar and Sticky Notes on Violet. My favorite game is Monopoly, but there are lots of free games and apps.

The thing that I really love about Violet is that she fits in the pocket of a vest that I have and she reads to me through headphones while I am working around the house. She can read nearly all books. I can even put Audio Books and Music on her if I want to. She can read in a woman's or man's voice at slow, medium or fast speeds. I prefer the woman's voice at medium speed.

There are many ways to dress up your Kindle. Skins and Covers of every design, material and color. I no longer have a skin on Violet, but she is decked out in a JAVOedge Heritage Flip Case. This case protects, looks pretty and also stands Violet up like a picture frame, so I can read while having breakfast or lunch.

Violet will also check my email, Twitter, Facebook, weather, etc...for free using 3G. What more could you ask for?

Summer Returns

The cooler weather didn’t last long, the heat has returned today with a vengeance. I remember a few years ago when I first got my first swimming pool that the water was cold all summer. I had to get a solar blanket for it, I didn’t think that having a pool was worth the cost of the chemicals because it wasn’t used that much. Some friends that I know got rid of their pools after that season because it was never warm enough to swim comfortably.

I got the pool for my Grandkids because I wanted them to learn to swim. It worked well, my oldest Grandson can swim well and my two oldest Granddaughters are floating, dog paddling, and swimming expertly underwater.

This year has been the best year ever for owning a swimming pool in southern Indiana. The girls have lived in the water this Summer. They are dark brown from the sun and their hair is a couple of shades lighter. But today the water was cold after a couple of cool nights. They were shocked in more ways than one when they jumped in because they are used to nice warm water. They keep getting out to warm up in the sun.

It’s hard to believe that it is almost September, this Summer has been just one long, super hot, steamy blur. It started out stormy with lots of rain and is ending up dry and dusty. We have gone from grass that wouldn’t quit growing to grass that is drying up and not growing at all. I wonder what this Winter will be like.

48 Degrees

Cool enough for a sweatshirt this morning while I milk. Now if I can just find those sweatshirts.

Calico has fallen into a great milking routine. She is giving more milk now than she has in past years. She has fully recovered after having mastitis in late June. It was my first experience with mastitis. It was my first experience with a single kid, she had always had twins before. He was getting enough milk from just one side and was not nursing the other side. I was milking her once per day but I guess I should have been milking her twice per day. 

Collette is due to kid on September 8th, so we are getting close. I don’t think that I have to worry about a single with her unless something goes wrong. She is surely carrying multiples, not sure how many. She had Triplets her first kidding but I didn’t see her before she kidded so I don’t know how big she got. I need to get some pictures of her now for future reference.

Windows Live Writer

Finally got a new computer and am in the process of setting it up. It had this blogging program on it, so I thought that I would give it a try. Since I am still on a dial-up out here in the wilderness of southern Indiana, I thought it would be a great idea to be able to blog when I am offline. It seems to have lots of bells and whistles, so far I am impressed.

The unrelenting Summer heat has relented today and it was just in time for us to get our first load of hay in the loft. I didn’t think that we would be putting any square bales in the loft this year because reasonably priced, good quality square baled hay is a thing of the past. I thought that we were going to try to get by with just big round bales but we fell for it again and this hay is another disappointment. These bales are half the size of the hay that we got a few years ago for half the price. It is so light and loose that it won’t stay on the elevator.

In this tough economy everyone is trying to get rich by ripping off their neighbor. Small farmers or hobby farmers have to have their own hay equipment and their own hayfield in order to survive anymore. We can sit and reminisce with the Grandkids this winter about how you used to be able to buy good clean hay without weeds in heavy, long, tight bales for $2.00 per bale.

Now let’s see how Windows Live Writer publishes to blogger.

How Do Eggs Get Contaminated?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say:

The bacterium salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed.

The hen encounters the the bacteria in its environment. The bacteria invades the hen's reproductive and digestive systems.

Most types of salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of animals and birds and are transmitted to humans by contaminated foods of animal origin.

Stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs were implemented in the 1970s and have made salmonellosis caused by external fecal contamination of egg shells extremely rare.

The current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs.

Although most infected hens have been found in the northeastern United States, the infection also occurs in hens in other areas of the country. In the Northeast, approximately one in 10,000 eggs may be internally contaminated.

In other parts of the United States, contaminated eggs appear less common. A small number of hens seem to be infected at any given time, and an infected hen can lay many normal eggs while only occasionally laying an egg contaminated with the salmonella bacterium.

My questions are: If a small number of infected hens (at any given time) only lay a contaminated egg occasionally, then why are so many people getting sick? Could it be that they have $$ in their eyes?

500th Post

So what can I write about for post number 500? Probably the thing that is most on my mind right now is the heat. Our neighbors just got home from California where is was over 100 degrees. They said that it is nothing to compare to a hot day in Indiana.

Those people who live in dry, hot climates who argue with you about hot being hot where ever you are, either have never experienced high humidity or have forgotten what it feels like.

We went out west a few years ago and it was around 110 degrees one day in Arizona. People were amazed that my son and my friend's son were outside playing basketball. The kids were amazed that people there thought that it was hot.

Hot is when you walk out the door and your glasses steam up so bad that you can't see. Hot is when you can't breathe because the air is so thick. Hot is when your clothes are soaked with perspiration after sitting outside in a lawn chair for less than 5 minutes. Hot is when your air-conditioner never shuts off unless you shut it off. Hot is when thunderstorms appear out of nowhere to surprise and delight you.

There is a breeze today and they have canceled our heat advisory. This is a nice change from the high temperatures and humidity that we have been suffering this Summer. But we are expecting some severe thunderstorms this evening and tonight with high winds and heavy rainfall.

I Love Dip!

A Kid Is Born

Calico was due on Saturday the 15th. So, she kidded on Saturday the 15th. Goats are very reliable like that, if you see them bred and write down the breeding date.

After waiting for 5 months for the blessed event, I missed it. I never go anywhere but did go to a graduation ceremony on Saturday evening. When I got home and walked into the barn, I heard a little "maa".

My DH was standing there and I started asking questions; Yes, it is a buckling, No, she didn't have any problems but he did assist her, No, he hadn't stood up yet and he hadn't nursed yet.

We then waited for her to lay back down and have the second kid. She never did! This is a first for me, all of my goats have always had twins. I have never had a single before. I am not complaining, this means that I will have milk much sooner than I expected. There is no way that he will be able to drink all of that milk.

I had to milk her Saturday night and then again last night. Today she has really come into her milk and she will probably have to be milked twice today. The bad thing is that my Husband just bought a gallon of milk. Her milk won't be good to drink just yet but it should be good in a few days. The dogs and chickens will be happy until then.

His Mother lost him and started yelling for him, he wouldn't answer. I finally went out to see what all of the noise was about and I couldn't find him either. He had safely hidden himself inside the hay feeder and his Mother and Aunt Collette had eaten over the top of him and covered him up with hay. I moved the hay back and found him. Now he keeps getting in there and his Mother can't figure out where he is and starts yelling again. Who said Goats are smart?

A Leopard With No Name

When last we spoke, I was sitting up all night with Jetta, waiting for her to foal. That was on May 6th, she finally foaled that next morning at 9:30, after keeping me up all night.

We turned her out of the foaling stall that morning, so I had to go outside and around the barn to see her. I had just checked her at 9:00 and nothing seemed to be happening, so I went back into the house. For some reason I felt that I should check her again five minutes later.

When I went out she was down, her water had broken and she was in hard labor. I came back in the house, called my DH at work and told him how worried I was that she might have twins and if she didn't have twins, it was going to be a really big foal. He said that he would come home. So, I hung up and grabbed my foaling kit.

I had been watching her the whole time that I was on the phone and she didn't seem to be making any progress. There was no white sack visible and that made me more nervous. When I got into the pen with her, I looked inside and saw the white sack, so I was somewhat relieved.

Finally a leg appeared but just one, not just a foot but a leg. I was relieved once more because it was a huge leg and I knew that it wasn't going to be twins. Jetta kept getting up and trying to reposition things but it wasn't working.

I tried pushing the leg back in but couldn't get it done, so I went in and found the other foot. I pulled on it and it pull back, I pulled again and it resisted, just like a horse! Finally, I just kept pressure on it without pulling hard and with Jetta's next contraction, it popped out.

At this point, I had both legs and the nose had presented itself, so I started pulling. This was a big foal and Jetta was going to have to have help. She did great! She didn't quit pushing and I didn't quit pulling. Finally, his shoulders slid out and his hips followed. If you have never delivered a foal or seen one born, then you might think that is a funny statement. Normally the hips do follow the shoulders but sometimes a foal will get stuck at the hips and that is no fun.

I pulled open the sack and removed it from his head, then towel dried his face and went to find a place to sit down to wait for my Husband to get home to finish the job. I was exhausted but not as exhausted as Jetta, she didn't even look at the baby or talk to him. She just lay there and rested, totally dazed.

When my DH got home, he got the big boy up and rubbed him all over with towels and put iodine on his navel. Jetta came out of her stupor and
started talking to the boy. I knew he was a colt without looking. Fillies just have a more delicate look about them and they aren't as obnoxious.

I still have not named him, he was born on one of my Granddaughter's sixth birthday, so he will be named for her on his registration papers but I don't know what to call him yet.

Here are pictures of Sissy and Jetta before they foaled, this is why I feared Jetta would have twins.

 

Here is Jetta's Leopard Colt. Name suggestions would be appreciated!