So late yesterday afternoon(while I was supposed to be out running errands) we had our first and last kid of the year.
He is currently being called “Max” though I am going to suggest renaming him “Dread Pirate Roberts” for the Princess Bride allusion.
Sorry about the quality since he isn’t quite 24 hours old he doesn’t quite have the knack of standing/walking on the tile floors.
In case you don’t follow me on twitter, you may not have heard that I recently finally figured out a name for my ducks outside. (the adults)
The female we’d just been calling ‘duck’ for a while became “Smedley Ducker” (it was just too funny NOT to get used.)
As you may recall Smedley was a part of the ill fated group of ducklings from last spring. She has been through a lot in the past year. She survived the first culling by raccoons with just a bit of a limp, and then survived the later culling by an unknown predator that left her re-injured and limping again.
Shortly after she recovered from that I got her a ‘friend’ who was supposed to be a female *insert my snort of derision for the idiots who sold me the duck here* turns out? Not so much. That female was in reality not only NOT a Blue Swedish(like Smedley) but also NOT a female.
He? Is an Indian Runner(a duck that looks like a wine bottle on legs) and very much a male. The pair of them live out in the chicken yard with the 20 + regular chickens we have. He? Is interested in every single one of them.
As you can see Kirk is tall, dark and handsome (every woman’s dream duck ;) ) but he seems to forget that he is a DUCK and they are CHICKENS and have their very own roosters should they feel the need to get frisky. Of course he usually forgets this right about the time company shows up to the house and is wandering around the property looking at the various critters.
Its ALWAYS fun to explain to strangers WHY he is chasing those chickens. Especially when those strangers tend to be little kids.
Last weekend Kirk and Smedley became the proud parents of two new ducklings(that were ‘imported’) a gorgeous little Blue Swedish, and a handsome little Rouen.
The Swede is on the left the Rouen on the right.
We also picked up 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 2 Arucanas/Americanas (the green/pink egg layers) and 2 Marans. These 6 moved outside today along with the other two blue Swedes that I picked up about a week and a half ago. (Pictures of the group are from right after we got the new Swedes).
Dear Lacey,
Yesterday, you welcomed my new favorite little man into the world. While I have yet to meet the wonderful(and assuredly adorable) Jordan, I wanted to share a few thoughts.
First of all welcome to the club. Motherhood, is a wonderful and eventful journey and you are now a card carrying member of us. You will do wonderfully, and raise a wonderful, brilliant little boy who will grow up and amaze us all someday of this I am sure.
Motherhood, is a long and winding road that will take you to your highest highs, and your lowest lows, but in the end it will be all worth it. Just remember no matter what that there are people who care for and love you.
Remember to always trust your gut, but listen to your heart, think with your head and love with your words. Don't be afraid to speak up when the need arises(though knowing you this won't be a problem) and always do what you know is right for him. No one knows him better than you and you will do no wrong by him if you just raise him the way you know.
Guide him gently, but don't be a wallflower parent. Grow with him, and discover the world again(who knew a leaf could be so beautiful?) his eyes will open yours to a world you never imagined.
Let him lead you, and teach you, for with him your world is about to expand to places you never knew. That's not just a cloud, or a bush or a blade of grass, listen and you will see.
Hold him close, and snuggle him count his fingers, and toes.
And remember- I'm here if you need me, just a phone call away no matter the day, the hour or the reason.
Now go have some fun with that baby.
Love,
Me.
So I decided that I'm putting a hold on the Politics series, until after Wednesday's Presidential debate.
Until then I'm driving myself crazy with school work, and my new biggest mistake I discovered this morning.
Remember a few months back when I got some ducks?
Well you'll also remember I replaced the ducks that were killed in the Great Duck Massacre with a single "Runner" duck. I was reassured by the staff at the feed store that said duck was, a GIRL(ha! should never believe the 'reassurances' ;) ) and for a while it looked like they were right.
That is until today. When I went out I noticed that suddenly SHE has the tell tale, tail curl, that indicates that SHE is really a HE. So that means that my poor duck has to be renamed(I really don't think calling him- Liz works now). This means I get to go back to the drawing board on names(I'll see if I can get the pair to stand still long enough to grab some snaps), and hope that they don't decide to start a family on me.
SQUEEEE!
Okay, since I'm going to try to keep my blog spoiler free, I can't say a lot.
Though I will say that the new season(5) of Stargate Atlantis looks like it could have some potential to it.
Tonight's episode secured my place in my new super secret identity, and reminded me of my other one.
So, if you haven't yet check out Search and Rescue, the Stargate Atlantis Season 5 premiere!
So as I was reading back through my entries I realized I made a slight mistake.
Today(the 8th) is NOT Mackenzie's MRI. Its actually tomorrow the 9TH. *blushes*
Instead today is a much happier occasion- the day I find out wether my best friend L is having a boy or girl. Hence why I fixated on the date(the 8th).
Soooo look here tomorrow for the update on Kenzie's MRI, and maybe even wether I get to buy tons of pink or blue clothes.
I’d settled in to watch Kavan’s {smith} new movie and was 3/4’s of the way through when the family came in FREAKING out. Okay, okay, I’ll get up, what is it?
So they’d gone out to feed the wee goats their last bottle and one was hobbling around with 3 count them 3 legs. So what do they do? They assume that said goat has accidentally dismembered itself and that they MUST freak out.
I walk outside spend a moment and a half checking the area, NOPE! No leg. Okay onto the goat. Hmm thats rather odd, has there ALWAYS been a foot where your left ear belongs? No? Okay! So pick the wee kid up, gently remove the leg from its position across the back of her neck, and VOILA! a 4 legged goat. *shakes head* Family!
The kid is just fine today not having sustained any noticeable damage from the 'accident' yesterday.
The last kid of the 2008 kidding season has officially hit the ground as of Sunday June 1st.
She is for the moment, un-named(as I don't get to name her *sighs*). I however have to have SOMETHING to refer to her as. So I have dubbed her Carter. She is constantly babbling(aka crying, and fussing) over something.
Frankly all I hear is 'maaaah, maaaaaaaaah! mah!' all frickin day long. If I still had my sling I'd be doing the following with her:
Takes baby wearing to a WHOLE new level!
But sadly I gave away the kicking awesome sling to a friend of mine who had a baby and refuse to spend money on one for GOATS.
Since this post is already quite long and wordy, we'll get to the REAL reason your here. The kid.
Carter was a single kid hence the lonely look
Carter weighed in at about 6 lbs which was surprising because she was a single, and singles usually weigh a wee bit more than say twins or triplets.
Remember them? They used to be little. Now? HUGE!
They finally have names. Though I am only partially sure of what they will be(as in 1 of 2 names).
First off we have the duck formerly known as Crazy Duck.
Now to be known as Steve/Sasha, though if I was reading its bottom correctly when I sexed them today looks like Crazy Duck is Steve.
Next up is the Duckling formerly known as Spot. Spot still has Spots, because it is a Rouen.
Spot will now be called Stealth/Ninja, though again if I read it right it will be Ninja.
Last but not least is the duckling formerly known as Grey. Grey was the boring little duckling who wasn't much to look at.
Grey will be henceforth known as Bob/Brie(as in the cheese). Looks like a Brie though to me.
Now for some gratitious duckling pictures!
Okay since I couldn't find the polls that I HAD made for the ducklings I have new ones.
Rules are simple each duckling has 2 categories with 3 names each. You may vote ONCE in each category(boy name, girl name) per duckling. That means when you are done you should have SIX (6) votes total.
SPOT's Name Poll:
Boy Names:
Girl Names:
GREY's Name Poll:
Boy Names:
Girl Names:
CRAZY DUCK's Name Poll:
Boy Names:
Girl Names:
I will be accepting votes until Friday at Midnight.
You may vote up to once per day.
Vote all for the same name or different names.
No real format to today's post sorry. Just some random things on my mind at the moment. I am in the process of gearing up for my 200th post, and will probably do the 'ask me anything' bit, so start thinking of questions.
* I hate road construction. They are getting ready to put a new train station in our town. That is pointless, as they have said NO TRAINS WILL STOP. Therefore, they are tearing up the only road across the train tracks and intermitently shutting it down, thus screwing up my preset ways around town. I have 1 way I like to go thank you very much!
* Ducklings are so frigging cute they make me puke a little every time I see them.
* I am not looking forward to this weekend. We have to clean the Chicken Coupe DeVilla, and move them all back into there. Ought to be fun as there is oh about 30 of them and 1 of me.
* If my sisters' annoying goat kicks the bucket on the floor of the barn and causes me to almost die one more time, I am going to sell her to the devil. Seriously that goat is the worst goat I have met. If I could milk her she'd have manners in 4.2 seconds, but I cannot physically deal with her midget teats.
* Which is better- owning my favorite does grand daughter? or a shiny new Tom Tom?
*Why do my cats both act like crack addicts? Is it because I am a horrible role model and couldn't raise the first one right?
* Will I ever actually finish reading a book again?
* Why do Snickers go straight to my butt? I 'work out' enough that they shouldn't be an issue once in a while.
* Why are pants so annoying to shop for? Can't they just pick that X is size Y and stick with it?
After the untimely disappearance of Quackers over the weekend, I decided to replace her. Now anyone with poultry knows that you can't just have 1 duck. So I drove to town this afternoon to pick up A replacement for Quackers. I came home with THREE ducklings. One Rouen(the black one with the spots), a Blue Swede, and A ???(seriously the sign said '?') I THINK it might be a runner, the lady said that it was a 'silver Rouen' I have NEVER heard of them.
NOW! Who wants to help me name them? Just toss out suggestions! I'm thinking Teyla, Ronan, and Sheppard(because I like to give my animals complexes like that).
****DISCLAIMER****
If you are squeamish you may not want to read this post, as it goes into some odd details
****END DISCLAIMER****
In an order to keep it real around here, and to live up to my title of 'Kick ass Real Goat Farmer', I am going to share something with you.
Yesterday(last night really) we ended up losing two baby goats, in the birth process.
Sprint:
Sprint is a 5 year old, and this was her 3rd time kidding. The last time she kidded it was a breeze no real problems to speak of. The kidding before that had been HELL, with two GIANT kids, who were all tangled up in each other. I was able to intervene early enough(and she was doing her part) to be able to salvage the kidding and get 2 buck kids(of course).
Yesterday's kidding was MUCH MUCH different. It all started about 2 pm. My dad was out at the pen and noticed that she was passing some blood. So I went out threw new shavings into the stall and dragged her happy butt into the barn. I tossed her up onto the stanchion to do a perfunctory exam and see how far along she was. I did an exam, found her to have a water bubble presenting, but did not break it since it wasn't out of the vaginal vault yet. I found her to not be fully dialated, but didn't consider that odd, as she wasn't showing any real signs of labor.
I put her into the stall and sat down to watch her, and almost immediately she passed the water bubble that had been presenting, and broke it. With in a few minutes she was having 'bursts' of contractions. That's where she would have 2-3 hard contractions, about 4-5 minutes apart. So I sat, and I waited, and watched, and watched and watched. I had the camera ready since it looked like it would be a 'normal' birth and I would be able to get some good shots for my kidding series.
About this time, is when the kids probably died in utero according to the vet(more on this in a moment).
So Sprint quickly passed, another bubble that didn't really seem to be doing anything. I attempted several times to go in and check her progress, but as she was still not dialating; I wasn't able to get any farther in than my 3rd knuckle(and I have narrow small hands). At this point I noticed that she had cotyledons on the sack(which should have been a clue that something was horribly wrong). So I sat and I waited some more(it was now probably 4:30ish) after another short wait I decided I'd had enough and was going to pick "My Gods"(aka the vet) brain. So I called and of COURSE it was after hours(because when isn't it on the weekend?) but I got through to him on the Large animal hotline. I explained the situation, explained what I was seeing, what I was feeling, and got his opinion. He said to wait a half hour recheck her progress, and if there was none to go ahead break the sack, and start feeling around.
By the time I got off the phone with him I was FREEZING so I went inside for a half hour or so to warm up. I went back out to check on about 5:30 ish. I got her up on the stand broke the sack, and started fishing. I was able to get into about my wrist where I could feel a foot, and a head, but I wasn't able to trace it back to the body to make sure they belonged together. At this point I started getting an inkling that something was pretty messed up in there, my mind of course going for the horror scenarios that I have encountered.
I called the vet, and left a voicemail for him explaining what I was going on. I quickly got a call back and was able to describe what I THOUGHT I was feeling(a long dead kid) and than quickly discussed options, all while I was still fishing with the other hand. We quickly came to the decision that I should bring her into the office so that he could assist. Of course while all this was going on we'd had some visitors show up(nothing quite says 'welcome' like a messy kidding!) so I told my dad to get them to leave as we needed him to drive to the vet for us. He got them to leave and they quickly got the car ready to go as I stood there feeling rather useless.
The three of us got loaded up into the van, mom holding her head me holding other parts. I don't remember much of the car ride, though i DO remember it was the most akward car ride I've been on in a while. I remember hoping to high heaven that we didn't get pulled over(I can only IMAGINE how that conversation would have gone with the officer).
We arrived after what seemed like forever at the vets office(it was probably 20 minutes). Got sprint out and situated on the concrete to wait since we had, beat the vet to the office. We waited, and waited and waited at one point seeing a Vet truck coming down the road, got all excited only to have it pass by. Sat for what seemed like ages(all the while I'm still holding kids in) only for the vet truck we'd seen earlier to return and pull into the parking lot(it was the vet).
So we quickly got down to the nitty gritty business of pulling the kids while hoping that it didn't end up being an emergency C-section(those ain't cheap!). Thankfully once the vet got in up to his elbow he was able to figure out that what we had was 3 feet, and 2 heads presenting(which is a mess). It was then easy to push one kid out of the way and grab the single front leg of the other, and pull it out. A beautiful little brown doe. He went back in and got a hold of the second kid and made a comment about having a good feeling. As he pulled the legs out(in a proper kidding the head rests back and on top of the front legs like a diver) I looked at them and commented that it was probably a buck kid(the legs were big). He pulled the kid out and examined her for a moment determining that she too had not made it. I had already checked mine(that I'd been working on half a foot away) and found it to be a doe. So out of curiosity I took a peek at the BLACK kid and found it to be a doe(of course).
From there we just got cleaned up, discussed post care(normal) and headed home. I have pictures from during the waiting process, but am unsure wether to share them or not as they are most definatly for the squeamish or faint of heart.
Here are pictures of the new kid on the block. I have affectionately nicknamed him the Hulk, as he weighs in at approximately 9-10 lbs, and is almost as tall as my 2 week old kids outside.
He is HUGE. In the goat world he is the equivalent of the TV newborn. You know how when on TV you see a 'newborn' but they are HUGE and you can tell that they aren't really 'newborn'? Well that is this kid.
