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rachels.haven

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Today I brought Drago home. I'm a little concerned he's bonded to his brother and not stock (brother did not sell either and I get the impression is too shy to hand off). He's been living in a pen for the last little while because of pack dynamics. She said to leave him in the buck pen because he gets his butt handed to him and would do best adjusting through a fence. He's another shy dog, but has a tendency to come to humans. Not dominant. Not as bullheaded and arrogant and easy to offend as Riker. He tried to climb my fence (hot wire), ran circles, calmed down, came back to me, and laid down within sight of the other dogs...well, dog. After a lot of barking and Riker being told that was enough, Riker hid from Drago behind the building for the rest of the day. If Drago is still in the pen tomorrow i'd say he'll stay for good.

The breeder says send her pics and she'll take him back if for whatever reason he doesn't work, so I think she'd confident in him. She had to let him go because his daddy was beating him up when they were with the goats. She wants to leave him intact until 2 but I don't think intact males like living with other intact males when there are intact females involved. She probably could have kept him if she'd gotten him and his brother snipped. I know about the increased risk for genetic hip displaysia to manifest but I feel so sad for her.

Cookies growing up.
cookies 12 07 2024.jpg


Dragos getting the fun kickbacks of the "Big Cheese Drama". I gave the dogs frozen cheese from my frozen cheese aging fridge and Riker got obsessed with guarding but not eating the cheese-preventing anyone else from eating or looking at it LOUDLY and aggressively (different kind of screw loose). After like 4 hours I took all the cheese and put it in the buck pen. Lucky Dragos.
drogo 12 07 24 1.jpg


The pyr face that means, "come on, lady, this blows" and I know from experience that when they look like this whatever they're upset about is going to be done/not done as soon as they get a chance. It's a "I'm only doing this because I have no choice" smiling face. The "I'm coming up with all the ways to get around this and looking for an opportunity" face. And yes, he's drooly and dirty from the car ride home. He'll look better in a few days. And Aramis is in the background getting ready to do the Aramis Goose Step dance in case the ladies look his way. I'm afraid that is as good as that critter ever looks.
drogos upset about fence.jpg
 
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rachels.haven

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And after getting him I lit the coals in the grill and put a pork shoulder roast in my cast iron dutch oven on the rack at 300-350 in pursuit of some pulled pork for tomorrow. It's not fancy, but I'm hoping it will taste good.

*adding, checked temp, got it to 200 and pull able after probably too many hours and it's deboned, pulled, and in a bowl in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. Next I'm going to slow cook a turkey on the grill.
 
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rachels.haven

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Different herd dynamic last night. Almost no barking and I think what I did hear was the new guy on the south fence line that opens up into cornfield and then woods that used to be the largest dairy farm in the county. And at least at the moment he is fairly quiet. I'm not sure it will last but I slept better. Maybe Riker and Cookie have handed off worry about that boundary to Drago.
 

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My cow hand neighbor had one of her charges calve yesterday and I got to see the tiny mini jersey heifer calf baby. I didn't think cows came that small. She was like 40 lbs and did not look real. The milkers in the next pen over were VERY articulately jealous of the attention and possible food (attention=food, right?) that they were not getting. Holy moly, big old mini cow attitude! Here, let me bellow over all y'all.
 
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rachels.haven

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Sigh. Forgot to mention earlier my watering routine has had to change. Previous incompetent people installed frost free hydrants to the fields but did not bury the pipe low enough below frost line so now we've got big mud holes coming up next to the rut where the waterline is...so now I have to leave the water to the outside turned off in the basement at the house and go back in to turn it in when I find troughs empty. Apparently they couldn't do anything right. I'm probably going to have to get someone to cap it off at where she had the work done because I can't drop that kind of money right now to dig up and RErun pipes to my pastures.

We just paid to fix yet ANOTHER indoor plumbing issue too. By the time we someday move all the water related stuff in this house will probably be new. Unfortunately getting work done in this area is very expensive.

Frustrated.
 

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Sigh. Forgot to mention earlier my watering routine has had to change. Previous incompetent people installed frost free hydrants to the fields but did not bury the pipe low enough below frost line so now we've got big mud holes coming up next to the rut where the waterline is...so now I have to leave the water to the outside turned off in the basement at the house and go back in to turn it in when I find troughs empty. Apparently they couldn't do anything right. I'm probably going to have to get someone to cap it off at where she had the work done because I can't drop that kind of money right now to dig up and RErun pipes to my pastures.

We just paid to fix yet ANOTHER indoor plumbing issue too. By the time we someday move all the water related stuff in this house will probably be new. Unfortunately getting work done in this area is very expensive.

Frustrated.
Incompetence is everywhere. The recommended handyman who did my shower remodel never connected the shower to the drain pipe under the house. Over 18 months of shower water was poured on the crawlspace dirt, and ruined sections of the HVAC ductwork.
:rolleyes::he:barnie
IMG_20241007_155937~2.jpg
 

rachels.haven

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Oh geeze! That's awful. DH could probably fix that. I hope it was slopped the right way. He does know basic pipe sticking together including sweating copper (forgive me, I don't know plumbing), but we know enough to know when we'd like the work of a skilled tradesman rather than our mucking through. And we'd probably need machinery to dig that deep that long of a trench.
 

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The sunburned turkey is finished. The menfolk agree to eat the pesky meat so I can make soup. Apparently men like BBQ smoked turkey. Dh says he wishes I made a bigger one.
1000004727.jpg

I'll try it tomorrow. My taste buds have checked out for the night. (Also made the Thanksgiving extras as a little bit of a holiday do over)

The turkey had to be upsidedown to fit in the bbq and be contained in the Dutch oven. Worked though. I don't think I can do a bigger one.
 

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