Bridgemoof--Sheep & Wool festival

[Bridgemoof]

Okay I just have to vent for a minute. Tim and I just had another huge fight..over how to make a phone call to the mortgage company to inquire about borrowing money. He always yells and screams at me, and I might add we are NOT married and we won't be. ever. I HATE him most of the time. I told him today forget about getting a house to work on, because if we can't even agree on making a phone call, we sure as heck won't be able to rehab a whole house together.

I want to leave, but can't right now for 2 reasons:

1) I have just rented my house with a 2-year lease., so I can't go back there now. And who do you think pushed me to do that? Yeppers. Tim.

2) I'm staying for the sheep. If I walk out of here, which I could do, he will probably take them to the livestock auction and sell them. And I just cannot bare to think of my babies being slaughtered.

So, my new goal is to save up money for a new farm and escape with my sheep somehow in the middle of the night, lol. Sounds like a lofty goal. But I'll work on it. In the meantime I will just try and ignore him and not let his yelling get to me.

Thank you. That is all.

 

[SheepGirl]

awww

 

[Southern by choice]

Very, very sad for you and your situation.

 

[Bridgemoof]

Aww thanks guys, it's all good.

I feel better after....
1. Venting to you on BYH
2. Going to Tractor Supply and buying stuff for me and the critters
3. Going to McDonald's and getting a LARGE Frappe Mocha
and...
4. Delivering the liver

 

[autumnprairie]

because of your fight
did you deliver the correct liver

 

[BrownSheep]

for crappy situations

 

[Roll farms]

Until and unless properly trained, most of the time menfolk ain't worth the aggravation they cause.

I used to stay just for the animals....

 

[Bridgemoof]

lol yes the ones that are the most difficult to take care of and make the biggest messes around here are the human animals.

So Tim and I spent most of the day not talking, but then finally had to communicate because we had to go to the store to get dinner. So, guess what he went and got off Craigslist yesterday? Six more roosters Now because he sold 4, he thinks that gives him free reign to go get more free roosters for the Mexican ladies. Well, he doesn't even have a way to get a hold of them, and it will probably be 6 months before they come back again. Agh. In the meantime, who's the one that has to feed them and give them water? Me. Otherwise they would be ignored.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw one of our Tunis ewes walking around in the riding ring! Holy cow, how did she get there? She was down at the creek, and there is a hot wire on the bottom of the horse fence. I know the little shetland sheep come and go through there, but she's big and I couldn't imagine how she would get under that bottom rail. So I started to chase her, not even knowing how I would get her back to where she came. But lo and behold! She went right down to the creek and trotted across the rocks and around the electric wire. The creek is so low they don't even have to walk in the water! Darn it. More security needed.

This morning when I went out to the barn, she and Dipsy, our ram, were at the manure pile, only several feet away from the corn bin! Hopefully they hadn't found the corn yet, because if they did and had been eating it all morning, they are going to be sick sheep, or dead sheep. I think I caught them in time, though. We could solve a lot of problems with animals getting into the corn in by putting a gate in front of it, but that would inconvenience His Royal Highness too much so he doesn't want to do it.

I was supposed to go to my sister's today in Baltimore, but she wants me to come tomorrow instead. I think I'll go to the thrift store at the church this morning just to get away for a while. I think somebody is coming today to look at a horse. That would be great if we could get rid of a horse. One less mouth to feed!

Happy Saturday everybody!:bun

 

[Bridgemoof]

Saturday was a CL day...more stuff to pick up from Craigslist. Tim found some kind of lock down chains or clamps or something for the trailer that are normally $50/piece and he got abut 5 of them for $30. I love when he finds inanimate objects to buy on CL. Then we went to Leesburg and picked up 3 really nice hens that some guy wanted to unload for $0. He had great intentions to have nice chickens running around the yard and laying eggs, til he figured out there were foxes and other predators, and didn't have the time to build a nice chicken coop like he intended to. So we got 2 Partridge Rocks and 1 Austrolorp, only about 5 months old and very healthy looking. That was a good deal.

The pheasant run, before they got transferred to it. The Buff Orpington pullets are checking out it's viability. The roof is not on it yet.

Saturday morning when I went out to count the pheasants there was another one missing! Erggggg. Whatever it was completely bypassed the trap Tim set up, and burrowed it's way under the cage and through the wire mesh. Poor pheasant, his legs were still in there, but not much else. We have lots of rats, despite our efforts to put out rat poison in every hole everywhere, so I suspect it might be rats. Tim thinks something else. In any event, he put a hot electric wire around the base of the pen so the unknown predator will get zapped next time he tries to go after our pheasants. Ha! But sadly this morning, one of our Indian Runner ducks tried to sneak back behind the pen and the wall, and was laying there being zapped on his leg when I went out there. I couldn't see where to unplug the thing, so I watched in agony as the poor duck just laid there with his leg stuck on the hot wire. I lifted the wire with a stick and he was able to wiggle out of there. He's no worse for wear after the incident. Whew! That will teach them to stop trying to chase after our Pekin duck girls.

Oh, speaking of duck....I roasted one for dinner on Saturday night. The ducks are not as big as I imagined they would be, probably only about 3 lbs. So it was cooked in about an hour. I made a nice ginger, apricot spicy glaze to put on it. It was supposed to be scrumptious. It wasn't. These ducks are LEAN, and don't have half the fat store bought ducks have. The meat, while tasty, was also tough. I guess the free range critters just get too much exercise and their meat isn't as tender. Too bad, I was so looking forward to eating a delicious meal from our own farm, and it was just so-so.

Yesterday I went to my sister's house and we did a big shopping trip to Costco and Trader Joe' so I could get lunch stuff for Annie's lunches. Annie is Tim's 13-year old daughter and she started 8th grade today! I'll tell you, this school prep stuff is expensive. I took her to get new glasses (she hadn't had an eye exam in 4 years), some clothes, school supplies, including a graphing calculator, and tons of lunch stuff. I spent hundreds of dollars, and I am disgruntled about it. Tim bullied me into doing all of that every step of the way. And I have to ask, why, if she has a mother AND a father, am I doing all of this stuff? I'm not even her stepmother. I guess I'm selfish, I dunno. Hopefully she's set for a while.

While I was gone yesterday, it poured and poured. I worried the whole time that the creek would flash flood and my sheep would be swept away but the rushing waters. I called Tim and told him to check the creek. He of course argued with me that the creek was dry and it would have to rain hard for days for it to rise that much. When I got home, I drove over the bridge very slowly so I could catch a glimpse of the creek. In my mind, I imagined muddy gushing water rising and violently sweeping my sheep downstream. Instead, it was a trickle, lol. Ok, so he was right. This time. It doesn't stop me from worrying about them down there.

This is my flock of Jacobs' (and one mini-cheviot and Stubby-the Jacob/Icelandic cross) looking halfway organized on the hillside. I like that I can step onto the back porch and clearly see them, unlike the sheep at the creek.

 

[Southern by choice]

Hi bridge- I always look for your updates!

With the ducks, Indian runners are not meat ducks, Pekins are much better(but you probably already know that ). Also the meat should be aged before cooking, that's what makes it tender. The aging process is also somewhat dependent on your slaughter/processing. Just wondering what kind of duck did you eat? I love duck for dinner! Ducks can be a real pain but on the other hand they cost nothing!!! Ours only eat off the land, so no feed bills for our ducks or geese! The drakes really make us and the girls nuts- ALWAYS wanting to mate. Our drake chases our geese around too and the dumb ganders don't even protect their own girls! What kind of plucker do you have, if you don't mind me asking... ducks/geese are so hard to get all the feathers off.

Not tochin' the Tim thing- family friendly forum and all.... I'd end up being banned for life!

Hope you have a great day