pridegoethb4thefall-Lovin it,Livin it,Losin it Journal CURRENT EVENTS

[Mamaboid]

I am trying to look for a bright spot in todays events. Something. Anything. No luck so far. I am only still standing because Jesus is holding me up.

There is your bright spot, right there. Oh, and your Son is safe, your dog is still alive and has good hope of recovery, and YOUR DON'T HAVE TO DO DISHES OR LAUNDRY TONIGHT. Sure hope tomorrow is a much better day. Hang in there.

 

[redtailgal]

YOu know..........I have an idiot brother. I know of another member on here that has to deal with brother drama too. Makes ya just want to smack'em. That's it....lets line the three brothers dumb up and practice slapping. lol

Hang in there, Hon. God will not give you more than you can handle.......and right now He is showing that He has alot of faith in you. Keep your chin up and show the same faith in Him, and you will be just fine.

 

[Squirrelgirl88]

So how long will the fence guy be in ICU? You did run him over right? Tell me you ran him over. At least make him pay for damages, vet bills, and anything else, then fire him, then run him over.

While I understand the "God never gives you more than you can handle", I sometimes doubt what he thinks I'm capable of handling. Can't I just surrender? :/

Bright spot - your children are safe. The dog will recover, and you can order take out for a few days.

 

[Mamaboid]

After my horrible year in 2010 where I almost died twice, I made the following statement, I have repeated it several times since,maybe you will get a chuckle out of it.
"I know God will not give me any more than I can handle, but some days I wish he had JUST a little less faith in me." Oh, and I agree, please tell me that you at least smacked the crap out of that idiot.

 

[pridegoethb4thefall]

I must say, I have had very vivid day dreams of slapping the crud outta the young idiot. Instead, I am having him build the fence for free- its the least he can do IMO. Im sure he is embarrassed and I know he feels bad, but I sure aint paying someone after what happened.

Update on my dog Bonnie-

She came home yesterday afternoon. Her back leg is in a sling, her hip was dislocated. Vet said it went back into place fairly easily. She has gone pee a couple times since she got home, but hasnt pooped yet. Her appetite is off, but she will eat if I handfeed her dog food.
I am very worried still as she REFUSES to drink ANY water. Vet says she got alot of IV fluids, so she may not be thirsty, but it seems like going 24 hours without drinking water is NOT good.

She is on 3 medications right now- Antibiotics, Anti-Inflamitories, and pain meds. Vet said meds may make her constipated and she may just not need to poop since she hasnt eaten much in the last 2 days. Not to mention her bowels were squished when she got run over, so her intestines are probably sore, so she may not want to push the poop out cuz it hurts a bit.

She is seeming a bit depressed to me. She will get up and walk a bit only when I take her out to pee. Otherwise she just lays there mostly sleeping. I dont mind her resting, I just wish she would drink water. But at least she is eating some.
The whole vet trip set us back almost $800 bucks. Could you imagine the goats I coulda got for that kinda money??? Or better yet, I coulda hired a proffessional fence company to build my fence and NOT had my dog hurt. Course, I wasnt planning on spending that money- it was suppsed to go to pay my $860 electric bill. (yeah- PG&E has a dirty monopoly out here, and they are just destroying us with their rates! JUST to get sevice, BEFORE using ANY elcectricity, it costs us $232 bucks!!! Thats JUST the fee's and taxes and junk!!! Sick, aint it?)

Anyhow....

We got the pipe fixed in the yard, so our water to the house is all good.

I got my fridge to work again!! YAY!!! I pulled it out, unplugged it, and cleaned all the vents and ALL the dust, pulled out all the shelves and drawers inside the fridge and sanitized every surface, cleaned the place the cold air comes out, plugged it back in and........HUUUUUUMMMMMM!! The motor comes on and we have COLD air again!!! WOOT!

My little Muffin, a mixed breed hen, is still sticking tight to her 4 duck eggs. I might candle them tonight to check development- its been about 12 days or so, so there should be something to see. Should be due to hatch around Valentines day.

Sophie is doing good. I think she will love having the pen opened up once the fencing is done. She is building a nice little udder, her vulva is starting to elongate, so I am hoping she will have her kid(s) soon. Valentines day would be cool with me...

 

[pridegoethb4thefall]

Weeeeeeelllll.... Took Bonnie the Boston Terrier into the vet for a quick check up. She hasnt pooped today. I am still so worried about her, She just seems soooo depressed. Vet said she seems to be doing better. The road rash on her tummy is pretty pink still, so he gave me some salve to put on it. I expect to have her leg in a sling for about 2 weeks.

Sophie is getting BIG and round now! Today she was SO excited to see me with the goat chow bucket, she nearly knocked me over in her rush to get to her special tower! Her special tower is a large blue milk crate turned upside down. She loves that thing! When she wants to be petted and scratched, she jumps on her tower to signify to us lowly humans that it is now acceptable to pet and scratch her itchies.

After I was allowed to feed her her chow AND scratched all her itchies away, she was in such a good mood! She was dancing and prancing and literally following me around her pen at high speed. Her jollyness was only superceeded by her never ending quest to find any possible stray bits of goat chow that might be hiding in my hair or between my fingers. Such a happy playful girl today. This goat I thought was going to be forever standoffish, seems to have become a really good friend.

Speaking of friends..... I go thursday to see and possibly pick up 2 new pygmy goat friends for Sophie!!! My goat vet has a herd of (mostly) show pygmies, and she said she has a few girls she is looking to re-home! I feel good about this arrangement since she is aware of my situation with Sophie being pregnant and having horns, and I know she takes good care of her herd.
And she is fairly local to me, so I dont have to go far to get them! YAY!

But, she did say they are more used to being in a herd, and not so much around people, soooo, I guess I will be taming 2 new does. It took about 3 weeks with Sophie, and SHE was totally human shy. I was told these goats are shy, but can be walked on a leash and get hoof trims ok.

I am hoping I can apply what I have learned with Sophie to the new girls and end up with 3 super sweet girls. Of course, I am hoping Sophie has a girl too. Im not looking to have any bucks, but I might just fall in love with her buckling and keep him as a wether. IDK, I'm not really sure I WANT 4 goats at all though....well, I mean I want LOTS of goats, but I have to be realistic too. I have alot of responsibilities, alot of other animals, 6 children and a hubby, and NONE of those are cheap to keep, so, I have to keep the goat number as low as possible.

Plus, with kidding season here, who knows what may come my way?

Almost forgot to update about my Muffin- my little mixed breed hen sitting on the duck eggs... Out of 4 eggs, 3 are duds and one in very well developed! I have never hatched duck eggs before, so this is exciting! I hope she can actually keep track of this little one and not let it get killed by the other poultry. She left her last single chick alone too long and it got stepped on by a big fat duck, broke its little neck. C'mon Muffin- I wanna see this baby make it!!!

 

[jodief100]

I am not sure what else to say but....

 

[pridegoethb4thefall]

Wow, things just keep gettin better....or I keep gettin crazier.

So now, I have agreed to let the crazy ex-girlfriend of my crazy brother, who was babysitting my son at my carzy Ex-hubbys house, come to stay with me and my family for a month or so. I guess she has noplace to lay her head that is safe and drug/alcohol/crazy person free, and my brother begged and begged, and her "bishop" at her church said she is really trying to change, so........ now she is coming here for about a month.

Jeez I hope this doesnt backfire too hard on me/us. This girl was raised VERY devout, Fundamentalist Mormon- like the wearing of Holy Undergarments, has 15 siblings, Fundamentalist. Now, Im NOT saying anything negative about that, just giving background. She left her family and faith for awhile, met my brother after being with some VERY unsavory people, and made some VERY bad choices. My brother is NOT mentally ready to be a good partner to someone, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol to deal with PTSS and a bad childhood. He idint help her situation.

She seems like a nice girl, and my son really likes her. She wants to get straight with her life (so she says) and get a job and move on to school and doing the right thing. She also wants to get back into her church. I will be helping her with rides to work and church etc. I hope I can handle it. I am concerned with her religion, to be honest. While I know alot about the Mormon faith and practices, WE are Christian. I hope our beliefs dont make her uncomfortable. But I DONT want her to share her religion with any of my kids. I know, I know- that sounds bad. But, I do respect her choice, but my faith is important to me and my children.

I have laid down the rules of my house to her very firmly. I told her that if I even suspect she is screwing up, or if she causes ANY drama, I will send her to the nearest homeless shelter. Period. NO second chances. We live a clean lifestyle. We dont need another person here, but I feel like God has put this person in our lives and wants me to at least try to help her. So, I told her NO boyfriends, NO socializing, NO substances of any kind are allowed. She can go to work, church, or school. Thats it. Since I have to drive her, I hope she will make good choices. She wont know anyone, so hopefully she wont get into trouble. Before you think Im being mean or anything, understand, this girl has had a troubled past, and I have 6 children to care for. I have an open heart and a smart mind. I want to see her be successful, and success comes from hard work, not hanging out and having too much free time. I am giving her a free place to stay, a ride when she needs it, food, and I DONT expect her to be a maid or a babysitter, only to clean up after herself and maybe help me out if I am in a jam. I pretty much have a handle on things around here, so I just want her to focus on herself and getting into good habits that will help her to become self-sufficient and independent.

I just hope she makes the right choices and uses this as an opportunity to start over and become a strong woman on her own. I had to tell my brother that he cant come visit her for 30 days, and if he really 'loves' her, he can wait. She wasnt too hot on that idea, but I told her "too bad, you need to be a whole person yourself before you can be the other half of a relationship". Time will tell how this turns out, she said she will be here in the next few days.........

The good news? I GOT 2 NEW PYGMY GOATS!!! A young doe and her 2 month old gray doeling!! OMG I love them already!! Momma goat has been named Lightning, and the baby, whom my HUBBY has claimed as his own (yup, he has GAS!) has been named Thunder. So now we will have Lightning and Thunder all day and night, all year round!! Lightning is still a bit scared and nervous with all the change she has gone through.

Lightning and Thunder came to us yesterday. I had made a deal with a nice woman to trade one of my mini horses for her 2 goats plus some cyclone fencing and posts. Lightning and Thunder had only been at the ladys house for about a week, so they have been at 3 different homes in the last 2 weeks- poor goats!

First thing we did was introduce Lightning to Sophie through the gate. They sniffed noses, snorted, and imediatley ignored each other. Well....that seemed to go well, so next step was to bring Lightning and Thunder into the pen with Sophie. Lightning was very protective of her baby, but not aggressive. Sophie ignored them both, until baby Thunder got curious... Thunder walked slowly up to Sophie, curiousity all over her tiny nosed face.

Sophie, however, was NOT impressed by Thunders cuteness. Sophie put her head down, horns first, and said- Beat it little girl! You see these horns? They mean business, so just go back to yer momma! And lil Thunder trotted back to momma FAST! Lightning just looked at her like- I told you so! Now stay away from that grumpy girl till she gets to know you better!

I was suprised at how cool Sophie was really. She was not really being aggressive, she just kinda showed the baby that she did, in fact, have horns, but was not acting like she was actually going to head butt her. It was almost a gentle tilt of her head, but down low and done slowly. She pretty much ignores Lightning, but I know the truth- she's glad to have goat friends again. And she even shared her grain with Lightning with No problem! I feed the grain out of a large bowl tha has a handle and spout and has lines inside the bowl marking out cups and liters, so when I had it out, both girls had their heads in there chowing down together. I thought Sophie might get mad, but she just kinda shoved Lightnings face outta the way when she wanted to have it for herself. The sharing was cute though.

Today we gave Lightning her wormer, CDT, and some pro-bios, and Thunder just got CDT. Sophie got CDT and pro-bios, but no wormer since she was wormed 2 weeks ago, and 2 weeks before that. I will be watching them all very closely for any signs of illness. Lightning is looking very healthy though- her coat is SUPER soft and full and has good weight on her. I think she must have come from a nice place that took good care of their goats. She has very, very white fur, and she's clean as a whistle. Thunder is a CHUNKY MONKEY baby! She has wonderfully thick soft fur, no dirt or debris in it, all around healthy and happy, and her momma is still nursing her a good bit. Thunder is just kkind of exploring other foods right now, but mostly is still on milk from mom, from what I can see.


Bonnie the Boston is doing much better today. She is up and walking more, eating and drinking more too. She's starting to want to go outside and wander a bit, so I know she is feeling better. She doesnt know she has to go to the vet Saturday for a check up and possible re-wrap on her hurt leg. I'll tell her later.

I talked to my goat vet and let her know I got the new goats and I wont be getting the does she offered, and she was totally cool about it. She said her other does will be kidding soon and if I wanted, I could get some babies from her!

Oh geez, I wish goat math worked like chicken math!!! Eggs in the incubator dont count as chickens, chicks in the brooder dont really count as chickens, hens not laying yet dont really count yet, hens you might be tradeing or selling cant count either, rooster just dont count at all, soooo really, I only have, like 11 chickens, right? HOW do I do that with goats????


On a side note to anyone who has made it this far- I am really, ridiculously bad at math, can anyone tell me how big my pasture area is? Like square feet or yards, or however that is figured out?

It is rectangular shaped, 200 feet long 50 across. I have it coming off my pen that has the barn in it, the pen is about 20 by 50 feet (i think) but Im not wanting to include the pen in the pasture area figure.

Thanks!!

 

[Roll farms]

My goat math: I don't count them.

When people say, "How many do you have?" I never have to actually say it out loud. Especially if my hubby is w/in earshot.

I just say, "Around 25 or so....I'm always having babies or selling some or buying some so it's hard to keep an exact count."

 

[pridegoethb4thefall]

Ok, so goats I *might* sell dont count then, and goats not born yet obviously cant be counted.... Thats a good start to my goat math! Of course, I only have 3 and dont plan to sell, so, for now, I only have 3. Not going to have bucks, so wont be having many babies

I think I figured out the square footage of my pasture area (that was embarrasing to admit I couldnt figure out the math on it!). I just multiply 50 by 200, right? Came up with 10,000 square feet. There isnt alot of weeds in that space, but there are a few really big oak trees in there, and tons of dead leaves. I do plan to toss some forage in there as I do yard maintenance.

So now I need to find out how many goats I can keep in that amount of space that is a healthy number for the area. I hope Im not at my limit already, but if so, thats ok. I want to be sure all my girls are super happy, healthy, and well socialised. MUST.....resist....new....goats....