My poor garbage man...

This is sooooo funny!! (In a sick, twisted sort of way)

If you’ve read my earlier blogs, you probably know that one of our dairy goats died. Well, I asked Paul what he did with her (since the ground is frozen and he couldn’t bury her), and he just said, “Just don’t go snoopin’ around.” I assumed that he was going to put her out for the garbage man on trash day a couple days later.

Late in the evening of trash day, admitting that he put her out to be picked up, Paul commented, “I wonder what the garbage man thought.” I replied, “He probably thought, ‘Man, this is a heavy bag’.” He looked at me kind of funny and said, “The bag was CLEAR.” Can you believe it?? I sooooo wish I had known earlier that day so all seven of us could stare out the window and see that trash man’s face when he opened the lid and saw a goat staring up at him. Talk about a shock treatment!!

WANTED

Did you ever have one of those weeks where there is too much to blog about and not enough time to do it? Well, it’s been one of those weeks around here.

We’ll start off with our MOST WANTED photos…

This is Caleb the Baker

He’s wanted for Obstruction of Health. Lately he’s been making doughnuts and cookies as if it were still December (the month that holds the record for weight gain). He’s gotten quite good and has the ability to lure any innocent passerby into tasting his wares. The following photos catch him impersonating a bakery owner while making the world famous Jelly-Filled Doughnuts and his unsuspecting consumer.

This is Nathan the Bugger

Nathan has a knack for Disturbing the Peace (especially when it’s time for his momma to exercise). He has to be confined to a playpen at workout time, but even then he refuses to cooperate by slinging plastic toys and puzzle pieces at the moving treadmill.

Hunting... to no avail...

Paul took Caleb hunting with him this year. They went out twice together and Paul went once or twice alone. The first time Caleb went, it was a bone-chilling ZERO degrees out! Crazy! They stayed until noon with not even a glimpse of a deer. Then, just this past weekend (the last opportunity of the season), it warmed up to a whopping 30 degrees, and it must've felt like a heat-wave, because they ended up staying out all day. Unfortunately, they only came back with reports of squirrels, a possum and a ...bob-cat?

Our Goat Balli

Balli, our 4 year old Nubian dairy goat, finally died yesterday. We've been trying to nurse her back to health for the past two weeks. With the weather sooooo cold last week and the week before, and a change in diet, she came down with some sort of cold or pneumonia... We couldn't figure it out exactly. We didn't know if she was pregnant at the time, but a few days later she miscarried twin kids (that's baby goats for you non-farmers) and she kept going downhill from then on. I've read that a goat, after losing it's babies, can have the same depression problems as humans and just sort of give up. Even before her miscarriage, she was too weak to stand up by herself, so Paul and I have been going out at least twice a day to help her up and walk her around so she could keep the blood circulating to her legs. In the mean time, I had been giving her various shots prescribed by the "goat people" to help boost her immune system and appetite. We would practically have to hand feed and water her. Even cooking oatmeal with raisins and molasses just so she'd eat. At one point I was forcing Ensure into her mouth with a syringe for the nutrients... We've realized that you have to be somewhat hard-hearted when dealing with animals, because if it's a functioning farm, you are part of many animals deaths, whether intended or unintended. But when it's an animal you intend to keep and interact with individually on a daily basis, you learn it's personality and get more attached.

Finally, a few days ago, she started refusing food or water and we knew it wouldn't be long. To be honest, it was time. She was skin and bones from eating so little and the extra work was wearing on us. It was obvious she was suffering, so in the end, it was good to see her go.

On a positive note, she was a good momma and she gave us a cute black doe last winter that should be expecting another kid later this spring. In fact, if all goes well, we should have 3 does kidding this spring!

Sledding!!

We made it out sledding for the second time this year. We met some friends at Four Season's park in Shorewood. That hill is super nice for the parents because you can watch the kids walk up the side of the hill and sled down with a front row view from the car (while sipping some hot yummy drink, of course)!! Whoo-hoo!

Noah keeps up with the big guys!

Caleb and Seth's new thing was to snowboard down on their sleds. I tried to get video of it, but my camera ran out of battery...

Nathan went down with me once and was not too happy about going so fast. He was OK until we took on a little spin. I figured out that he was just as content sitting in the nice, warm car munching on banana chips. Poor Ellie looks like she's in distress in this photo, but I assure you, she made it up the hill just fine! In fact, she's quite the little sledder. Watching the kids sled makes me think that they are probably ready to hitch on some skis and hit the real slopes... We'll see...