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Renaissance Mama
Mar. 20, 2006
Crazy goat lady
| This past weekend was action packed and hectic. Friday, my one and only daughter ( aka my right hand man) hurt her ankle. I was off farm at the vet's office picking up some shots for a couple of sick goat kids. My daughter had decided to go up to the horse pasture and work on some fencing. She stepped up onto the bumper of the truck to reach over into the bed for a piece of wire. Her foot slipped off the slick bumper and she tried to "catch" herself with the other. She landed wrong and wrenched it very badly. She was lying on the grass with all the horses looking at her and she realized that no one would come looking for her until lunch time--- two hours later. She dragged herself to the truck and drove to the house using her left foot to work the pedals.
My hubby called me on my cell phone as I was pumping gas into the van preparing for the return trip home of about 20 miles. He really thought that her ankle might be broken so I made a mad dash home. I had to make myself pull of my "mom hat" and put on my "EMT hat". I looked at it and grabbed an icepack from my bag and decided that it wasn't broken, just severly sprained. She can hobble on it but we have relegated her to the couch and asigned her the job of laundry folder. After checking her over this morning, I have made an appointment for an Xray this afternoon. It is not any worse but not getting a whole lot better either.
With her out of commission, all of her chores have fallen to my middle son. He is begining to appreciate his sister much more than he did! LOL! He now is helping me with all of the milking, kid feedings and feeding her calves and pups. Then he has to go and do his chores.
If all of this isn't bad enough, this was our milk test weekend. I had decided to go on DHIR to verify the milk records for my goats. I have some really good milkers and wanted to get "official" credit for them to increase their value. Sunday was the first scheduled test. I had several sheets of paper work to fill out ( not my forte`), we had to have a starting weighed milk out on Saturday night, Sunday was our monthly pot luck dinner at church, and it began to rain.
Rain means mud and lots of it on a farm. Somehow, the door mat just doesn't seem to work when it is raining and the cold wind is blowing. It either has blown out into the yard or people are too busy trying to rush into the house to use it. Shoes and muddy boots pile up at the door. The laundry room begins to over flow. With sister on the couch, the kitchen chores are piling up.
Here is how it went: Saturday evening we rounded up al 12 of the buck kids that were out with the herd still nursing their mothers. We penned them up seperately so that we would get an accurate measurement of milk the next morning. Then the noise level rose very noticiably. Goats and kids crying and calling to each other across the distance all night and all day. My neighbor who is my official tester arrived and we milked out each doe individually and recorded her milk weight.
My oldest son left for an evening out with one of his friends. The rain began in earnest. I sat down with all of the paper work involved in getting this milk test started and ended up staying up half the night trying to get it all figured out as well as keeping a motherly ear out for when my son came home.
Sunday began at 5:30 am. Sunday morning, we slogged thru the mud, got the milking done with each goat's milk weighed and sampled. We got all of the goat kids bottle fed. It was cold and drizzling rain. We got our food ready for lunch at church. During church service, our pastor asked us several times to close our eyes in quiet reflection...... each time, I had to FIGHT to keep from meditating right off into dreamland. The pastor then asked if ther were any birthdays or anniversaries to be celebrated this week. I noticed that my family was all looking intently at ME. With my frazzled nerves I sharply asked, "Why are you all looking at me like that? " in what I hoped was a soft voice but actually came out loud enough for several rows around us to hear. My hubby shook his head and announced that we had an anniversary this week! He stood up and dragged me with him and the whole church got quite a laugh out of the fact that I had forgotten our 21st anniversary.
I assigned housework to the three boys and took a nap. Not a very long one because my boys can't seem to be in the same area with out fighting about something. Usually, it is something totally insignificant. I have the most trouble between the 18yo and the 4yo.
By the time we got the evening milking done and weighed, it was cold, raining and very dark. Of course, I didn't have a flashlight with me when I went to open up the gate to let those poor bellowing buck kids back in with their mothers. I groped my way around in the dark barn looking for the right gate and handle and nearly knocked myself out on the hay moving dolly. I let them out and all but one rushed out to find his mama. This one went all the way to the back of the pen and refused to come out. His mother wouldn't come out into the rain to get him and stood in the other barn and screamed. He screamed back at her not seeming to care that this sort of situation is just what a hungry coyote is looking for on a cold, wet night. I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. I felt my way around until I accidently brushed up against him and caught him in a death grip.
After they were all reunited and safely penned up, I made my way to the house to finish up the paper work. My hubby made us burritos for supper and I collapsed into bed so glad that Monday -- even a rainy Monday was coming.
We have decided that even though there is a chance of snow tonight, we are officially on Spring Break from from school. It may take the whole week for us to recover from this past crazy weekend. |
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Posted by
Mar. 21, 2006 - Hello!
Have a good one,
Myklin
http://heartofvirtue.com - Virtuous woman resources for girls, parents and mentors