Tag Archives: Pets

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Crazy Party Weekend

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I haven’t had a weekend this packed with events in a while.  Usually we’re only busy with chores, but this time there was acutual fun to be had.  We have several birthdays to thank for this.

First, my friend Amy’s kids all had birthdays this month and so they threw a wild Mexican- themed fiesta Saturday night to celebrate all 3.

Hello, food table.  I loved you.  I swear Amy could’ve fed an army.  Which is just as well, since about that many people were there!


Love this dog.  I’ve never seen a more well – behaved, CALM lab, ever.  Think they’d trade for Pippa????

The always – fabulous Amy in her margarita glasses.

My beautiful friend Sallie and her daughter.  I just love these two.

Somehow, with three kids and a full – time job she still has the energy to plan and organize a huge bash like this complete with games for the kids.

Sombreros for all!!!!!

Even the littlest birthday boy gets a pinata………..

While the oldest gets a face full of cake.  At least it matches her skirt!

My girls had a blast, I got to hang out with some great friends and stuff myself with all kinds of good food and then I got to go home and plan for today: Neve’s 7th birthday.

That’s right!  My middle terror turned 7.

So sad.  Seems like just yestereday she was a toddler trying to steal mama’s “crappucino”.

Yes, she asked for the Cyndi Lauper Barbie doll.  This both amuses me and makes me feel very old.

She’s had quite an eventful 7 years, and she’s got the scars to prove it.

This world does NOT know what it is in for.

If they can learn how to share, this little one just might help her older sister take over the Universe some day.

Along with their butthead llama who is easily bribed with food.

PS – mom and I got Jerry half shaved today.  Who knew electric shears could make such a difference??!!  We’ll get his other half when he’s calmed down a bit from having the first half done.

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My What Big Horns You Have

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My boys are getting so big.  They can’t fit under their mama to nurse anymore, though they sure try.  They’re more difficult to hold in my arms, though I sure try!

And their horns are growing pretty large now, as well.

I’ve been out in the ungodly heat and humidity with them because………drumroll please…………..

I GOT A NEW CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Nikon D3000 came today and I have been mokeying around with it all day, trying out various settings and so forth to see how it works. I still have a lot of learning to do in terms of how the camera works, but even my first go round with it has made me ridiculusly happy, since the quality is leaps and bounds beyond my last camera, without having to do much more than point and shoot.  Wait until I get the knack for the various features!

They like to wrestle on top of the chicken tractor.  Goats are  climbers, afterall.

Wish me luck.  I’m off to take pictures of everything I can.

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Livin’ in the (Craft) Projects

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I elected to forgo house cleaning for the weekend to get some projects finished instead.  My house is sticky and filthy…..but I won’t be throwing my weekly hissy fit about it until later.  I am forcing myself to ignore it so I can enjoy myself for once.

Saturday morning I got up extra early (ok…..8 am.  But to be fair I had stayed awake until 2:30 the previous night) to take delivery of a big bale of hay from the nicest people ever.  Then I returned to a nice quiet kitchen (older girls were in their bedrooms, Oona and Paul were still asleep) brewed a cup of coffee and made sour cream pancakes from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. I added some blueberries and they were quite yummy.  I even had some time to listen to some Norah Jones and Paul Simon on my iPod before everyone came down to eat. All Saturdays should start off like that.  And end like this:

I finished one of my WIPs from Alabama Chanin (all of her stuff makes me drool……..I want to make every single project in many different colorways and I challenge you to not want to go right out and buy 800 lbs of cotton jersey once you look at her site).   This skirt is from the first book, The Alabama Stitch Book. The under fabric is pink and the top fabric I dyed to be a light grey.  The contrast stitching is in a cream color.

I am very pleased with how it turned out.  It fits perfectly. Plus being that it is made of pure cotton jersey, it is also quite comfortable.  Once it was complete I decided that instead of working on the chiffon tutus I have planned for the girls (for Neve’s birthday next week) or the Noro Silk Scarf or Oona’s sweater I wanted to start right in on another Alabama project, this one a tank top  from the second book, Alabama Studio Style. So far I am enjoying it immensely, and here is a sneak peak at it:

Relief appliques.  Am totally in love.  The only snag is that I need some light brown embroidery floss to edge the painted – on stencil bits that don’t get appliqued.  I swear I have every other color of it known to man. But not brown.  Do I drive half an hour and battle Charlottesville traffic to get some more or do I work on other things today instead?  Dilemmas, dilemmas.

P.S. We are up to 4 baby chickens that have now hatched.  Six eggs left.

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Over-run with Goings – On

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First the big news:  Truffles the hen, who has been sitting on a cache of eggs (which keeps getting added to by her pushy peers who keep bullying their way into her nest and laying more eggs on top of her), has hatched a little baby chicken.

I am really hoping it’s a girl.  I am on the fence about the whole situation, honestly.  On the one hand, it’s pretty cool hatching your own baby chicks, and the kids are way fascinated by the whole thing.  It’s a spectacular learning opportunity and it makes me happy that my kids will grow up understanding where food comes from, where baby animals come from and how they are cared for from day one.  (btw: her back feathers are missing because before she went broody she was the roosters’ favorite hen)

On the other hand.

I have WAY.  too.  many.  chickens.

Getting fresh eggs every day is a pretty great thing, and when you get enough to share, it’s even better.  I picked fresh arugula and lettuce out of the garden the other morning and carried it into the  house along with 6 fresh, warm eggs.  I felt like a real farmer for the first time (I know…..I’ve been a real farmer for awhile now, but somehow I’ve always kept of felt more like a “wanna be”).

But we have plenty of laying girls.  Plus the babies we bought last month – Magpie and Penny.  There are nine – that’s NINE – more eggs under Truffles right now, and you just know half will be roos, so they will have to be re-homed or eaten, right off the bat (no I don’t have anything against eating them per se – it’s great to have fresh free – range chicken.  I just don’t think I can bring myself to kill them).

Chickens are fun, funny, friendly when properly raised,  entertaining, they eat lots of bugs, and they destroy everything in their path.  DESTROY. The reason that the animal pen has no grass in it has nothing to do with the goats or the llama.  It’s the chickens.

See how they dig down and tear up all the hay and grass to get  into the dirt?

Plus they poo indiscriminately.  It’s everywhere.  The coop, the water trough, you name it.  A dozen chickens?  No problem.  A few dozen?  That becomes a much more dirty situation.  It’s something I will have to ponder and work with until we can get around to expanding the fence out.

As for my boys, they couldn’t be better.

Well, maybe they wouldn’t quite agree with that, since Susie came over today and helped me put the castrating bands on them.  I went yesterday to Tractor Supply and bought the tool and bands (how many people get to say they spent their afternoons shopping for a castrating tool? I’m just sayin’) and today she showed me how to use it.

They took it just fine and were off jumping and playing again in no time.

I went out this afternoon to get some pictures of them, which is never easy since they are both so very snuggly.  Whenever I go out there, this happens:

They crawl into my lap and lay down.

They’re like little puppies with horns.  I won’t be de – horning them.  It’s just completely unnecessary for us to do so.

Milkshakes is happy for it – it gives her a break from their constant wanting to nurse.

She’s getting antsy to get out and do some more weeding.  I haven’t had a chance the last few days due to all the rain we’ve gotten.  The garden is loving it, though.  Everything I planted out back – the potatoes, butternut squash and corn – are all coming up nicely.

I also got some sewing done since we were all stuck indoors.  I finally finished Neve’s Easter dress.  The pattern is Jump Rope Dress from Oliver & S.  It took me forever to get started on it but it sewed up pretty fast.

I used Heather Bailey’s  Nicey Jane fabric.

Yes I know it’s an awful picture.  My campaign to convince my husband I need a real camera has so far been a failure (I’d really love a Canon Eos Digital SLR – something that takes great pictures without constant adjusting and re-setting and blah blah blah) .  I’ve tried the whole “a blog is only as good as the pictures on it” approach, but he didn’t buy it.  I even tried to guilt him by reminding him how many people I know who are neither artists nor bloggers who have waaaay better cameras than me.  He responded by saying  real artists like me don’t generally  have money for things like a good camera anyway.

Rats.

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Got Poison Ivy?

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We won’t.

This little girl is a mighty ivy eater.  She inhales it like fine cuisine.

I’ve been taking her out of the fence to eat all the weeds that are cropping up.  Today I’ll be turning the electric off and having her walk the perimeter – there’s a ton of the poison stuff threatening to overtake the wires, which would short out the fence.  The bad thing about poison ivy is it’s very difficult to get rid of.  If you pull it all out you have to be very careful to wear protective clothing and thoroughly clean whatever tools you use.  You also run the risk that it will all grow right back if you don’t remove all the root vines and seeds.

Spraying weed killer is another option, but then you’re using poison (and I personally don’t like using poison unless I have to; more so because we have a well, and whatever goes into the ground…..eventually goes in the well.   Hear that Chem-Lawn???  Stop sending me flyers!) Plus we broke down the second year we lived here and sprayed like mad after I got two heinous cases of poison ivy rash.  Let me tell you……..it all came right back.

However, a hungry goat is a great option.  A lot of towns all over the US use goats to clear out invasive and unwanted plants from public lands.   Check out this one.  It’s a win – win.  In many cases the goats are loaned by a local farm for the duration of the clearing.  The farmer gets free food for his goats, the town gets free weed control.  Goat droppings are not an issue; they’re practically pure compost.  (just like llama droppings!)

Milkshakes is really in her element when we’re out clearing plants.  She mows it down fast and efficiently.  As we clear out our property we hope to be able to move the animals around as needed to clear out brush – both for their benefit and ours.

The babies have also been eating grain and hay and soon should be ready to partake in weed control as well.  Milkshakes is growing impatient with nursing them.  As a mother who breast – fed 3 babies for almost 2 years each……I can totally relate.  Having someone hanging off you all the time can get rather old.

Jerry will get his turn outside the fence eventually.  First he needs to learn to respond properly to haltering and walking on a lead.  I’ve gone out a few time since his “brain removal surgery” and gotten the halter on him – not without a fair amount of trouble I may add – but I can do it.  Then he can help with the stuff growing higher up.

The chickens and guineas…….we’re getting about 4 eggs a day now, but the ticks are pretty bad.  Guineas are fabulous tick control, but we only have two.  If we had a lot of land and not a lot of neighbors I’d get a whole flock of them and make darn sure we didn’t have ticks.  But the thing is….they’re really, really loud (don’t believe me? This is what we hear every day).

So, no more guineas for now, and the chickens will have to deal with staying inside the pen to avoid being eaten by something.

Someone should tell Mabel.

Can I come in????

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Mud Slinging

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Somewhere in this picture there is an epic fail.

Need a closer look?

Still don’t see it????

How about now???

Now??

Paul’s got this thing, you see.  This thing where he has to get something stuck in the mud at least twice a year.  I don’t even bother mentioning it anymore because it’s no longer newsworthy.  Plus he generally is able to manage the situation on his own.  Occasionally, though……he gets in over his head.  Or in this case, WAY over his head.

This is a rented bobcat.  We’re clearing out the back acreage to make room for the pool, the animals, and a big garage.  Our neighbor Jack is likewise extending out his yard, fence, and house.  So they rented this big toy.  It’s the kind they recommend for work in muddy, swampy conditions.  Because it’s not supposed to get stuck.

He tried digging it out with shovels.  I felt pretty sure that if he kept up with that he would just make that thing sink deeper and deeper.  The place where the machine got stuck is smack dab in the middle of the stream out back and the water was rising every time more mud was removed from the scene.  Time to call in a tow truck.

Big truck.  With a winch and lots of pulling power.  Oh, and a total wuss behind the wheel.

The winch wasn’t powerful enough.  He didn’t want to back the truck too close to the mud, and he certainly wasn’t going to drive down the powerline path on the other side of the stream to pull the bobcat out that way.  He wanted to try driving it out instead.  I don’t know why he thought it would work.  I think he managed to get it stuck even worse.  $175 later we still had a stuck machine on our hands.

So our neighbor, Jack, did what the tow truck guy wouldn’t.  He drove down the power line path to try and pull it out from that side.

This is when I started to feel the frustration that these guys must have felt.  Jack’s truck just didn’t have the power to pull it out – but that tow truck could have done it without a doubt.

So we called in further reinforcements.

Another neighbor, with a much more powerful winch.

Who then got stuck and had to be pulled out.

Jerry snacked on some trees while keeping one eye on the excitement around him.

He doesn’t understand why we would want to play with such big toys to begin with.

Once all of the rescue vehicles were unstuck we hooked up the big, bad, super duty winch to the bobcat……….and after almost a day’s worth of trying, failing, worrying, trying again, failing again and worrying some more……they pulled it right out.  Just like that.  Like it had never been stuck at all.

After that Paul drove it down the power line path and out onto the road to come around back home.

Wonder why he didn’t just drive through the stream again????????????

p.s.   I need a shower now.

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Some Days

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Some days all goes well and I feel like the most fortunate person in the world here on my micro-farm.  Because really, when you come right down to it, all the place needs is some cleaning up, clearing out, and some beautification (yeah, we’re owrking on it, slowly) and it’ll be great.  We even have a pool we’re getting ready to install.  Most of the time I can cure any of my various ills by spending some time with the critters, be they indoor (Japser cat!) or outdooor.  Some days, though……some days make me want to change my name, move to Timbuktu and pretend I never met any of these people before.

That day was yesterday.  Obviously I did not move, nor did I change my name.  I did try to pretend I didn’t know any of these people, but theywouldn’t let me.

It started on Sunday.  I decided it was high time to get the back garden planted.  Problem was, the tiller wasn’t functional.  So, I did it all by hand.  Just me and a shovel.  That back garden is HUGE.

There’s at least 4 feet between each of those posts, to give you an idea.  This was how it looked last year.  Now there’s grass grown all in around it and it was full of weeds I had to pull out.  By the end of the day I was very, very sore.  The good news was I had all the corn, potatoes and butternut squash planted.  I ended up taking a shower around 10 pm with Oona because I felt filthy after all that and she has been miserable with allergies.

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling like I’d been chewed up and spit out.  My muscles were all on fire, my head was threatening another migraine, my ears were crazy itchy, and my throat was swollen and sore.  I wanted. to. die.  So…..I stayed shut in the bedroom, lounging in bed while Oona stayed with me and watched Spongebob.  I drifted off at some point, and woke up to, “SNIP!  SNIP!”.  The unmistakable sound of scissors being used.

The bedroom door had been flung open and there she sat, next to me, my big sewing scissors in hand, shredding her pajamas.  Her hair, which had just this past week been fixed by a hairdresser, was missing chunks right down to the scalp.  Several barbies lay strewn about, locks missing.  I can’t even tell you.  I was so mad.  After that I felt I couldn’t properly rest or recoup, especially because all the kids had apparently decided to make the house as unsanitary as possible, and stinky to boot.

I didn’t kill my kids, I didn’t run away (though a mini vacation for me is taking shape in my mind…..details to be worked out later).  I can’t honeslty tell you how I made it through the day.

Oh yeah and did I mention the dog ruined the living room carpet?  Big pile of poop + Neve = ground in anstiness that cannot be cleaned.  We had to order a new rug.

Anyone want a dog????

Switching gears.

Rather than start a whole new post for this, I figure I’d leave you with the  happy parts from today.  We let the babies out to play for awhile.

Jerry decided to hang out in the chicken tractor today.  I have no idea how he even fit in there.

And lastly, a video of the babies playing and jumping.

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Good Stuff

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Ok, y’all know how much I love Susan over at Juniper Moon Farm. Not only is she my hero for doing what I want to be doing (um, raising sheep and goats and making yarn?  Hello!!!) , but she is also one of the best people you’ll ever meet.

Today, she and her assistant Maggie, along with numerous other friends and helpers, staged a fun – filled day of Sheep Shearing, eating, spinning and knitting.  Who the heck needs MD Sheep & Wool???Well, lots of us do, but that’s besides the point.

I brought blueberry cobbler.  Good thing I made two batches, because I was so overwhelmed with the incredible food everyone else brought that I never even made it to dessert.  (I know, I am as shocked as you!!!!)

They started out shearing the angora goats.

Then came Ernie the sheep.  He is massive.  Huge.  Unbelievably ginormous.  You can certainly see him from space.

And petite little Emily the Shearer is totally badass hauling that 300 lb sheep around like a ragdoll.

Despite his size, he was rather compliant.

Post – haircut.  Still huge……but decidedly less – so.

With all the action going on around him this little lamb (Rushworth, or “Mr. Tiny”) enjoyed a quiet snack with his mama.  If you follow Susie’s blog at all you’ll recognize him as the touch- and – go preemie from this past week, and you’ll be happy to see he is nursing on his own.

Can I please, please puh-leeeeeeeze have this as my backyard?????  Talk about the most serene, happiness – inducing scene imaginable. Happy, healthy sheep grazing a fresh pasture.

This is what happens when Neve gets the camera. I have to say…..I think I may hire her to take all future food pictures for this blog.

And though Hattie just might kill me for posting it, this also happens:

Hattie drove up from Charlottesville and rode along with us for the fun.  Despite how close with live to each other we don’t see each other very often, so it was a good day for it.

We stayed for quite awhile but the kids were getting restless and my head was threatening a migraine, so as much as I did not want to ever leave, we left late afternoon, while most of the visitors had migrated indoors into the living room and were very cozily spinning and knitting and joking around having a great time.  I was very sad to leave that scene!

Fortunately Paul has Oona out for a short car trip this evening and for the first time in far too long I have a chance to sit and relax and I think I will work on a striped scarf (with some scrumptious Noro Silk Garden yarn) (and maybe catch up on some brain – rotting South Park or Deadliest Catch on Hulu)  instead of the many other things I should work on.

But first!!!

I have opened my etsy shop at last.  I have several flannel tote bags listed that I made this past week.

Some with sheep,

Some with chicks.

I really need to make some llama ones.  But not ones with bad haircuts, I promise.

I’ll be adding to the shop on and off as I am able, so check it out!!!!!

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Bad Makeover Day

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Poor Jerry.  Yesterday he lost his manhood.  And just maybe, his dignity.

The vet came out in one of the coolest pick – up trucks I have ever seen – the bed portion had been made into a mobile vet’s office, complete with water on demand and all of the instruments, medicines and supplies she needed to handle just about anything.  It had been raining all morning so I had to move Jerry into the barn for the procedure – the babies and Milkshakes got to hang out in the chicken tractor, which I had parked over a tarp with clean hay on it.  The vet – Kate – walked into the barn all coolheaded and assured, grabbed that butthead llama and hugged him to her…….and that butthead stood right there with her, calm as can be, while she gave him an injection just above his shoulder.  I cannot say how impressed I was.  She told me he was “gonna be a real sweetie, he just needs to be taught some manners”.  All of my fears that I’d never be able to properly manage him just melted away seeing him respond so quickly to her direction, and she gave me quite a few pointers, assuring me that if I kept at it I’d be able to take him for walks before long.

The sedation drugs worked pretty quickly and she dragged him around where she needed him, gave him a nice eye mask and secured him for his “brain sugery” (hey that was the vet’s comment, not mine….).  It took all of 15 minutes and my manly llama became a gelding; a castrated male.  He’ll no longer be driven by any hormonal urges and will be guaranteed to remain as sweet as he is now.

The bill was $164.  Ok, now that’s a lot of money.  BUT.  Firstly we had been planning this for awhile and were expecting it to be much, much more than this.  Second – it costs me twice that everytime the darn dog or cats have to go to the vet…….and this time the vet came to me. So honestly, I was elated with the price.  Jerry has been far cheaper than any “conventional” animal I have ever owned.  Even his feed costs are less.

But on to the bad makeover portion of the story.

Kate said that the sedation would last a few hours so I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to him while he was “out of it”.  I planned to get him sheared.  Against all better judgment I had purchased a set of hand shears, thinking they’d be easier to use than electric ones (and far, far cheaper) and figured that getting him shorn while drugged would be easier than otherwise.

WRONG.  On both accounts.

A.  He was very drugged but not asleep.  Therefore he was floppy and wobbly and I had to hold him steady with one hand while trying to wield these:

(they got wet in the rain yesterday and rusted right up…..crap).

B.  His fleece was all wet and matted and clumpy and I could not manage to get the shears close enough to his body at an even pace.

C.  I was worried about getting the shears too close and cutting him.

So after starting down his back in a straight line (the idea is to get straight stripes of cutting from the center down) I realized it wasn’t going well.  I had to do a lot of second passes to get the fleece short enough to keep him from overheating but I still couldn’t get a consistent length.  Then I ran out of time – I had to get the girls off the school bus.  I hadn’t gotten nearly enough done, but it looked so bad that I figured I should probably just call in an expert to finish it up properly (notwithstanding the fact that I am almost too embarrassed to let that expert see what I’ve done).

This picture is hilarious for many reasons (now that I am over my need to take a bunch of anxiety meds).  First there’s Jerry’s awful, half-done hair cut.  Then there’s the look on his face.  And in the background…Milkshakes, who has gotten tired of spending all her time in the barn.

I don’t think Jerry is concerned as much with his haircut (or loss of “brains”) so much as he is amused at my epic failure.

Unknown's avatar

My Happy Place

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There are adorable baby goats, blooming flowers, chicken eggs in the laying baskets and a box load of fabric waiting to be sewn up.  Life’s good.

My lettuce, arugula and snow peas are coming along swimmingly.  This week I’ll till out the back garden and put in the corn and potatoes (I’m also thinking some butternut squash is in order, considering it freezes well and I looove it).  I’ve got lots of herbs and tomatoes started inside waiting to go out, and we’re going to enclose a spot out front where we’ve got strawberries and rhubarb.  I need to keep those hungry deer from mowing it all down!!!  (Is it too late to plant some asparagus in there???)

My peonies are about to burst.  I can’t wait!  Peonies and lilacs are my favorite flowers.  I have a small lilac bush but it has never bloomed – I am not sure we have the right climate for them.  Up in New York there were massive lilac bushes and trees all over – it was always the best time of year for me when they were in bloom.

I couldn’t help but pick up a marigold pot for the front porch.  I think next time I will grab a few of those Martha Washington type marigolds – they’re lovely.

The past weekend we were busy showing off the adorable twins!  They are so cuddly I can’t even stand it.

They’re doing fantastically well, and Milkshakes is a natural at the mommy thing.

Yes, that’s leopard – print fleece they’re wearing.  I needed to make them little jackets since it’s still been getting rather chilly at night, and this was all I had.  It’s left over from Maddie’s Halloween costume circa 2000.   Check out Frodo’s ears – airplane ears!  That’s how I tell them apart.  Finn’s ears are floppier, but Frodo keeps his out straight all the time.

See?  Airplane ears.

Jerry does this all day.  He’s dying of curiosity.  He hasnt’ been allowed in with them yet because he doesn’t like having the door closed behind him.  I’ve been holding the little guys up for him to sniff at so he can get to know them, and he love love loves them.  He sniffs and nuzzles and smiles……and I suspect he thinks they’re his babies.

But they aren’t, are they?  And so I shall tell you a tale…a tale of their father’s true identity…a tale which only those of you I’ve spoken with in person have heard.

With apologies to certain uncles, aunts and cousins……

Way back when I entered the Goat Giveaway that Susie was sponsoring, people started realizing that when I said I love animals and I want a farm , I wasn’t just talking out my back end…I meant it.  Some of those people got to thinking.  Thinking about a goat they had that had worn out his welcome.

So it happened that when I did not win the goats I got a call from a dear relative of Paul’s informing me that I had won one beautiful purebred Saanen billy goatwho was no longer being cared for the way he deserved.  A loving, friendly but lonely guy who would love to come live in the country where there would be chickens and a llama and kids to play with him and nurture him.  I had heard that he had found himself in some mischief recently (due to his lonliness); he had a penchant for breaking into the house and following Paul’s uncle around the kitchen.  I found it charmingly hialrious, this image of David standing at his kitchen stove, then, upon hearing some strange noise behind him, turning to discover Hunter the goat standing there, chewing his cud, watching the cooking happen.  Sure, I would take this loveable but lonely guy. I had acquired Milkshakes from a local farm and figured they’d keep each other happy.

This is what went down.

We got home from Mexico on a Tuesday night, right around dark.  We had driven all day after picking the kids up in New York and I was beat.  Hunter was expected sometime that evening and Paul planned to wait up.

Around 1 o’clock in the morning, the truck pulls up, the back is opened, and from the way Paul tells it…this wild – eyed, stinky as all – get – out BEAST emerges from the darkness.  We estimate this guy weighed around 250 lbs.  Hunter immediately went to work chasing Jerry and Milkshakes all around.

In the morning I woke up to signs posted over every door stating that none of the kids should be let near Hunter without an adult.  Hmm…well that’s curious, I thought.  I soon discovered that this loveable lonely guy also had a thing for butting.  Hard.

I couldn’t feed the other animals without nearly getting knocked down.  Emily was terrified to go in the pen to take care of the chickens.  Milkshakes sported a look that made me want to bring her in the house with me, and Jerry stayed as far away as he could at all times. Hunter seemed unconcerned by all of this, happily chewing on the electric fencing wires!!

He lasted two days before I found a lovely woman in a neighboring town who raised purebred Saanen females but had been searching for an affordable male.  I happily gave him to her.  He went to a small dairy farm with 12 females to mate.

So there you have it – the story of how this stinky guy fathered this cute little guy and his brother.

And I am glad he did.