Annie had her babies - Whew !!

The wretched, I mean blessed event has happened.  Annie Oakley had two beautiful blue eyed doelings. The birth was...ugh... It was so intense ~ Her water broke, but then she wouldn't push ~ I called the vet she said if she hadn't delivered in 10 minutes I needed to get her and all the goop that was coming out of her nether-region in the car and get her up there. It was of course 5:20 and they closed at 5:30 but would wait for me. So the vet talks me through an "exploration" of said nether-region. "I feel hooves, but not head" of course worse case scenario's go through my mind, her head is folded back and all will die. I did not think that she would be coming out back feet first. So Anne is pushing pushing and screaming, and I was crying and praying. The feet are out, but then Annie decides she has had enough of it all and was not going to be pushing any more. I am telling her to push, " please push Annie " and finally she gets half the baby out. As soon as the next contraction comes, I help pull the baby out. By this time Nancy is there to help me, and thank God because I was one ball of nerves and did not have enough hands to do all that needed done.
I barely get her dried off and another baby comes flying out. Wow !! 2 babies... I began cleaning off the 2nd baby and remember I must soak the umbilical cords in iodine. Sigh, my clothes are soaked with sweat, I'm kneeling in goat poo, blood and other goat bodily gunk. Boy am I a catch !!

Before too long I realize the 2nd doeling is acting weird, I got both of them to nurse, while Nancy clicked photos for me.  We both suspected the 2nd doeling was blind.  A trip to the vet this morning confirmed our baby girl is in fact blind. I was so worried the vet would try to convince me to put her down, but she said " I had a blind goat for 6 years, she'll adapt "  I was so happy to hear that because I did not want to put her down.

I don't know if this goat breeding thing is for me... I am a bleeding heart and just don't know how many more insane births I can go through. Sigh ... I know the 2nd go around are easier on them and ME...

And then...there were 14

Recently, I was asked to chaperon a church outing to a water park. GASP :O Clearly my "mean" lady reputation has NOT proceeded me !!  I will have to work on that ~ Anyway, with a song in her voice
4th and 5th she says with a huge smile on her face.

Firstly, WHY oh WHY is she asking ME ~ 4th and 5th graders ~ nappy little crumb crunchers ~ WHY ?
Well apparently, my mouth was hung open like a fish on a mantle, but Amanda was undeterred " Me and Shawna will be going".  That was a low blow, she knows I love spending time with Shawna, "Oh, OK you really should have started with the positives first" I told her.

So yesterday I show up with my packed lunch, hair in pig-tail braids, and my beach bag. I am so ready for the little terrors, bring em' on.  I left my firearm in my trunk just in case my PMS flared up, but all and all I'm ready !!

Shawna drives in an happily trots over with a "travel goodie bag" for me and Amanda. Baked breads, Lolly-pops, candy, etc... I bet you are thinking "nobody can be that sweet", YES, she really is and her baking is to die for. So we are off with 14 children.  I am riding in the church van with Amanda and all the boys. Other than the occasional gas, the boys were...quite well behaved.  I especially liked when we would go over bridges, the game was they would all hold their breath. QUIET ~ I really liked that part. So if we would go over a part of the interstate that had guard rails and could possibly be confused as a bridge I would yell, "bridge coming up time to hold your breath". I almost had them convinced in holding their breath from one bridge to another but Amanda said they may pass out. Humph, like that was a bad thing.

Shockingly, there were a lot of yes mams, no mams, evidence of sharing, and random acts of kindness.
Well these kids are pretty good I thought. We settle into our chairs and begin chatting while the kids run off to play. Soon, we get suckered into going on some rides and wading in the lazyy river and to my surprise, it was really really fun. It was a good day all around.
When it is time to leave we can't find 2 boys. I say to Amanda, "we have 12 out of 14, that would be like a 90% success rate, an A really, that is a pretty darn good return on our initial total. Lets go, they'll turn up." Amanda just looked at me and said, "Ummm, no... It doesn't really work that way with people's children"  Whateverrrr ~ I still say we could have gotten away with it.  The little minions were finally herded up and we were on our way home.

I must say...It was a really good day all around ~ so the next time you are asked to serve ... SERVE !!

Side farm note: Annie is acting nervous and anxious today - hopefully tonight !!

Getting old ...

If someone had told me that getting old would suck THIS bad, I would have... Well I don't exactly know what I would have done, but it would have been something different.  Takin more vitamins, wore more sunscreen, something... Now I just want to take a nap ~ but I don't nap ... So !!  AND what is with the change in my usual sunny disposition?  I woke up this morning thinking of new ways to sharpen my claws. Good grief... I'm pretty sure I need medical intervention at this point.  I'm only 43, well almost 44 and I'm not holding up as well as I thought I would be.

Maybe it was the 25 years of martial arts, or the massive crashes I have taken on my horse, or the epic car crashes I've been in ~ whatever it is ... it sucks !! Everything hurts ~ I even have an ear-ache today !! Who over the age of 4 gets ear-aches ??

So enough about me; HEY, I heard that ... well it's my blog, who else is it going to be about ~ BITE ME !!

On to farm events:

It's TOO HOT to be out there milking Miss Kiddy.  Yes, Dan predicted that I wouldn't milk her, but he thought it would be because I would get tired of doing it twice a day ~ HA he was wrong, I never even started it !!  I have decided to wait and milk Annie.  A, Annie loves me and would be much easier to milk. B. When it is time to milk her it will be late September, much cooler and C, because that's the way I want it to be :-P ...

OK, so I am anxiously awaiting the birth of Annie's kid. She is SO big, I really hope it's just one healthy DOE. Nobody wants another stinky boy around here, I mean Buck !! Speaking of bucks, I hope MY buck aka husband finishes the buck pen for the boys this weekend.  If not, everyone should fear for his safety.  Why don't I get out there and do it, because it's way too hot and that's MEN'S work.
Oh yes, if there can be women's work, there can totally be men's work.

Are you feelin my mood yet ??

And for what ?? AN APPLE ~ When I get to heaven I will be smacking a knot on Eve's head; It wasn't even chocolate or something completely irresistible ... like .... mmmmm, German chocolate cake, molten lava cake, carrot cake, Shawna's amazing cupcakes... NO it was for an apple ... seriously ??

I'm sorry, I digressed there a bit.

Gardening front ~ Wow ... Cilantro, Basil and Parsley have gone crazy.  Corn is looking good, we have MONSTER cucumbers, and the tomato plants are rockin !!  All and all, good year.

That's all for now ~ by the way, if you don't subscribe to www.southernsavers.com you are missing out on AMAZING deals.

Oh, my Emory board is sitting right here ... mmmm ... OUCH, they are already pretty sharp ... Hey, where's Momma, haven't seen her all morning :-P

My New Roomate ~ Mommy is here !!

The long awaited day has arrived, the construction is done, and Mom has arrived.

My sister Dede drove her up last week and thankfully stayed for 8 days helping to arrange,
arrange...well EVERYTHING !! Dede does nothing half way ~ I still feel the whip marks on my
back - we worked from sun up to sun down getting all Mom's things put away, pictures hung, knick knacks arranged just so. Whew ... tired ...

We just dropped De off at the airport and Mom and I are sitting across the table not knowing what to do without the drill sargent here.

On the farm front, Annie is SO big. Her due date is July 28th, poor little girl looks so big I hope she only has one baby in there ... I don't want my sweet heart struggling with 2 on her first go around. When she was being born I had to "help" Miss Kiddy deliver...eweeee  I hope Annie proves to be a good kidder !!
We will be building a goat pen this coming weekend to make room for the babies !! So exciting !!

So here begins a new chapter in our lives ... Stay tuned !!