Morning Workout

I do need to lose weight and had my DH mow me a path around the lower pasture, so that I can walk everyday. I have walked it twice since he mowed it several days ago. I have good intentions though.

This morning I got more workout than I bargained for. I was still in bed when I heard the sound of horse hooves running around the barn/house, with a groan I got up and got dressed. This only happens when my DH is at work. When I finally got outside there were five horses out, Seville, Buddy, Cougar, Naylor and Darth. They weren't too hard to put up but then I had to find the hole in the fence and fix it.

The fence was down in the upper pasture at the farthest end. I got all of the fence back up and then followed the electric wire all the way back around the top field. I figured that there would be a break in it and there was. So I fixed the break and started back to the house.

When I came past the goat lot, I decided to lower one corner of the wire. I had been working on electric fence all morning, so I didn't think about it being hot. I had unhooked the gate at the top of the hill so that fence would not be hot, but now I was in the valley and I just wasn't thinking. I grabbed the t-post and started trying to unhook the insulator, my memory was completely restored when the jolt came. I hate it when that happens, I feel so stupid.

I also gave in to convenience today. Right in the middle of the horses all running around in the yard, I noticed that Paris, my yearling doe had gone through two electric fences in order to get to Cooter. She was trying her best to scale his woven wire fence. A goat friend of mine kept asking me if I was afraid that Cooter would get loose and go to the does if they came in heat. I told her that I was more afraid that the does would go to him and I was right.

I gave it some thought, then made a quick decision that it would just be easier to put Cooter in the goat lot with Paris and Colette and put Calico in the barn stall. It would make milking so much easier for me and make feeding so much easier for me. But right now I am wondering if I made the right decision because Calico is right outside my living room door and she is screaming her head off. She doesn't want to be alone.

I tried putting Angel in with her and that helped but I can't leave Angel in there all of the time, she would go nuts. Hopefully Calico will adjust or lose her voice before long. This all means that my two does will be kidding in the middle of March while it is still cold and snowy. That should make some interesting blogs.

Moon Shadows

If you didn't go for a walk in the moonlight last night, then you just aren't living. I took two walks last night. For some reason, it may be a compulsion, I have to take a short tour of the grounds before I go to bed. My tour last night was just inspiring, that harvest moon was a thing of beauty.

I marveled at my shadow that was so clearly defined. Two of the goats were out and snoozing in the driveway along with their faithful companion, Angel. She was bright white, soft and cuddly in the moonlight when she ambled over to me for a rub and a hug. I enjoyed the scenery for a few minutes then went to bed.

I had a rough night, I couldn't get to sleep. I had a headache most of the day yesterday and it got worse when I laid down. When I did finally doze off, I kept waking up in pain, then my stomach started complaining about something I ate. I promised myself that I would quit eating spicy stuff right before bed, then later I promised myself not to eat anything before going to bed, still later I promised myself not to ever eat anything spicy at anytime of the day. I ended up promising myself never to eat again period!

As I flopped about the bed with all of these thoughts, pains and promises, Angel and Abby both started pitching a fit. They normally bark throughout the night to ward off predators but this was different, this was something serious that needed someone's attention and since nothing wakes my dear Husband, it fell my lot.

I walked out into the night with my tiny flashlight that wasn't needed because of the brightness of the moon. The dogs fell silent as soon as I walked out and no longer seemed concerned, they had done their job, they had alerted me to a problem that really didn't affect them.

I looked around and didn't see or hear anything, then I walked around the corner of the barn and saw something that most people would love to see in the moonlight. It was just the most beautiful sight. Although I didn't have time to stand around and marvel long at it, because I had to run into the house and wake up my Husband before this beautiful sight got ugly.

There, standing in the yard, in the moonlight on his hind feet pawing at the sky was our white stallion. It took my breath away for more than one reason, it was an awesome sight, he is very beautiful. But he was also challenging our Grullo Stud, who was only one tiny electric wire away from him and he was making some challenging moves himself. They had already broke one wire and the valley soon filled with violent screams and squeals.

It was really no big deal, I woke the man and he grabbed a halter and lead rope, I went back out and yelled at them. They were like a couple of kids who had been caught doing something wrong. Badger trotted off and Jazz started pacing the fence but stopped and stood still as quick as my DH said his name. He haltered him and put him in the corral for the night, then went back to bed. He is out fixing fence this morning. He had two days off in a row, that is just amazing.

As for me, I have still sworn off food. I did have a glass of goat's milk this morning and that seems to have settled things down for a little while. My head is still aching, so I am thinking that I have probably contracted the bout of flu that has been making the rounds.

The Girls

Yesterday was just fun, the girls were here. When my oldest Son called and he heard the commotion in the background, he asked, "if the girls were here?". That terminology will have to change when their new brother arrives.

The girl's ate, which is one of their favorite things to do, boys don't seem to really enjoy food like girls do. Then their Papaw took them swimming in what I thought was a really cold pool. Their poor Papaw thought so too, when he got in, but they didn't seem to even notice. Even the youngest one who is a year and a half didn't complain.

After swimming they ate again. Then I took the oldest two girls for a walk to where they plan to build a new house on the back corner of our property. We have to walk through the Enchanted Forest to get there.

The horses have many paths through the Enchanted Forest and the youngest girl who was leading the way kept asking which path to take. I told her that she would have to choose her own path. She had a hard time with that concept, she didn't like making that decision.

The oldest girl was walking behind me on the path, she was talking non-stop. Sometimes it gets a little difficult for these two sisters, because they both love to talk as much as they love to eat.

When we finally made it to our destination, the youngest girl announced that she was itching all over. The oldest girl asked where she was itching and she again said, all over. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that there were some places that she wasn't itching, so she started a running list of all of the places that she wasn't itching, body part by body part.

We started on our journey back home, with the youngest still reciting different names for the same body parts. I told her that we would stop at the first good "sitting" boulder that we came to in the Enchanted Forest and she could scratch the places that itched. The good thing about living in the Limestone Capital of the World is that your Enchanted Forests have good places to sit down.

When we got to the first boulder, it was too big for the girls, ages 4 and 5 to get up on, so I had to lift them. I had a canteen full of sweet tea that I handed to the youngest one, who drank, then shared with her sister. Things were going fine, everyone was sharing and no one had even remembered to scratch.

Then that all changed when the oldest one thought that the youngest one should let her hand the canteen back to me to drink and the youngest one wanted to hand it back to me. So, tempers flared and the oldest one gave the youngest one a slight shove, to which the youngest one answered with a grab and a vicious pinch that resulted in a sharp and loud slap across the cheek. It all happened so fast that I had a hard time separating them.

The peacefulness of the Enchanted Forest was then shattered by the wailing of the youngest Princess. Enchanted Forests tend to lose their charm when the beautiful Princesses are wailing. I finally managed to distract her enough for peace to return. We continued on our journey, talking, listening, choosing paths, picking flowers and picking up rocks.

All in all, it was just a perfect day, they caught some chicks with the help of their Daddy and Papaw. Then of course, they helped me milk.