rachels.haven's Journal

[rachels.haven]

Thanks. Lots of hectic-ness going on. We got here and closed today. I am plunging into the no functional phone or internet rift and I will be back later next week if I can't catch some internet next time I go into town earlier than that. See you all later.

The house and barn are great.
At closing the home owner informed me we do have bears and that I should always take my bird feeders down on time because bears have stolen his and broken down the posts they were on as they were dragged off. So I guess I'll be doing a google search on the nuances of keeping chickens and stock around bears. I might need to trade my skunk spraying-pepper spray for bear spray and another air horn. But I do like air horns, so that may not be a problem.

PS: Now I own a snow blower and TWO chain saws and a bunch of cool big yard toys toys. Original owners left us all the house/yard maintenance stuff as they were moving to an apartment. I also have enough extension cords and shop lights to make a girl very happy...although the barn has power and lights so I'm not sure what's wrong with me.

Pictures will come, but life is crazy right now, as to be expected, so I'm a little busy living it rather than documenting it.

Anyway, after tonight I will probably be gone for the next few days to a week. We'll see though. Maybe things will go quicker than I think.

 

[Latestarter]

Congrats and welcome "home!"

 

[rachels.haven]

Smooth as it can go with these dear little animals in tow...and the goats! (fall/summer picture)

Before we left the top kid made me a new flock of chickens and a coop because I let myself be slightly down for a few minutes too long.

I rather like them, even if now they're preserved in only pictures.

So I lied, I forgot and did have some pictures I could put up. Of course, I'm on at 6 am before we leave the house we're staying at with the internet, but hey, here's something to look at. Journals are better on here with lots of pictures.

 

[Latestarter]

Those are two very happy looking kids! Can only imagine how much fun they're going to have living on a "farm"! Oh my!

 

[Bruce]

Congrats Rachel, things will smooth out after the move.

 

[rachels.haven]

I think things are settled down enough to post.
Well, the fish made it back in their own tank on untreated well water like fish should be. Fish are also awful to take pictures of. I'll spare everyone the rest of the blurry fish pictures. They're fat and white with double tails and red wens and never sit still unless I grab them and hold them still...and they're alive and that's good enough. Just pretend I gave you a good picture. (ETA: and I only grab them to move them occasionally, otherwise they wouldn't let me)

And here are the goats and they are so much better at sitting still than the fish. The barn has two lean-to areas but is really more set up as a lawn equipment barn, so I've had to "fix" it. The bucks have a side and the does have a side. After the cold the ground is too frozen to pound posts so I've had to staple my cattle panels to the barn itself to give them outside area. I've also fence stapled cattle panels to the inside to make two stalls and put a pallet up in front of the stairs so I don't have goats racing up and down the stairs and using the hay loft for post digested hay. Everyone's happy except for the buckling, Mr. Rango who is off on his own on the other side of the barn and has a new buckling buddy coming to live with him this weekend. He's particularly unhappy because Avalon went into heat and he wants to try to pester her. There's so little space currently I was concerned for his well being so he's on his own. He usually gets butted around the pen for paying too much attention to anyone then has to be alone for the rest of the few days or everyone pounds him. He is not an effective breeder yet-those two does keep cycling and no one takes him seriously. He will have to survive until Saturday. The does seem more relaxed with him out of their way so I think it's for the best.

Angel, the black and tan doe, is due at the end of March to Rango's father.

 

[RollingAcres]

Happy for you guys!

 

[Bruce]

and put a pallet up in front of the stairs so I don't have goats racing up and down the stairs and using the hay loft for post digested hay.

Ah come on, they would have such fun!!!!

Nice barn! Glad everyone made the trip in good shape. Well the animals at least, how did the humans do? Still a bit stressed out?

 

[rachels.haven]

Us adults are a little stressed still. The kids did great. The goats will recover-I think one needs a worming as she's a little pale. The adults have no desire to be in the car behind the wheel for more than a few minutes ever again. We opted to round the lake coming out here instead of going through PA and the Poconos because we always wind up in blizzards in the mountains when we head that way. Well, we got caught in a blizzard in sub zero weather, in the dark, minus the mountains as we headed towards Buffalo. Between the heavy road salt making road lines non-existent and the heavy snow on the road making the road go away our nerves for driving are shot. Other than that we're doing fine.
I'm quiet mainly because I'm madly unpacking. Our movers "unpacked" us by dumping out a lot of the boxes on the floor in random rooms of their choice. Some boxes they were nice enough to leave boxed. Stuff is broken, spilled, messy, and I'm cleaning it up. Not thrilled by the moving company the relocators picked for us, but as long as they stay away from us now I'm okay with it.

The dust from my other house makes me ill-I'm more sensitive to mold than most, but I'm powering through it slowly.

As soon as I'm done here I will probably go back to unpacking some more. It's really weird to have so little stuff and try spreading it out over so much house. I clocked 7 and a quarter miles mostly indoors yesterday on my pedometer because I was curious (and putting it away anyway). My four little goats are just happy in their barn, filling up on alfalfa pellets, avoiding eating that yucky, bland EXPENSIVE $10/bale grass hay from agway, and Rango's waiting on his friend to come and be his companion while he tries to entice does to pay attention to him.

I really wish hay prices weren't so high here. Locally alfalfa hay is about (gag) $18.50/50lbs. Most of the hay is grass. There's a guy a few towns over who trucks it in from upstate NY that I've been talking to that is selling it for $9/bale, which is a bit more normal. When he gets a moment I'm going to get a lot from him and fill my barn with enough to last until 2nd cutting time. Apparently this is horse country and horses eat grass hay, and the alfalfa didn't go well to boot-or so they tell me. We'll see what next year brings. Generic pelleted alfalfa at tsc is $15/50lbs, back in Detroit it was $12. I'd expect hay to be more expensive here than there, but not by that much. Maybe a similar price increase ratio? Plain grass hay around Detroit by the square bale was $5-$6/bale. Here it's $10. That seems high.

But that's enough of that. Things seem to be going better around here. DH is getting used to the driving. I haven't had a car much during the day so I haven't been. There will be some learning to do there. I'm amazed by how not drafty this house is and how warm 68 degrees really is. Last house had over a 10 degree temp difference from the thermostat by the exterior walls and upstairs. This house is way bigger but does it's job heating and staying heated better-and the bills are about the same $$ wise, which is ridiculous.

Not that much more to write. I'd like my house in order and my barn full of hay. I need to keep moving and make it all that way.

 

[Bruce]

Serious drought in the NE last summer, only one cutting of hay. Maybe the rain will be better this year and the price will come down?

Between the heavy road salt making road lines non-existent and the heavy snow on the road making the road go away our nerves for driving are shot.

Been there, done that .... got the stress. Nothing so fun as driving in a snowstorm in the dark to tense up every muscle in your body.

Some boxes they were nice enough to leave boxed. Stuff is broken, spilled, messy, and I'm cleaning it up.

They are financially responsible for anything they broke. Sorry they didn't do a proper job. Definitely would have been easier for you if they had marked the boxes by room and put them in those rooms unopened. Now you have a mess to figure out rather than going through things on your schedule