Something-th Annual Mud Puddle Fest

Not exactly my favorite day of the year, but the kids love it and I love the rain that prompts it, so...party!

The cabbage and beans are threatening to take over.

Molly is running a jumping and climbing again! Lolly just got disbudded today, so her head is still beautiful in this picture- I'm still holding my breath.

Green! It's not like my home in Africa was, but it still makes me happy. :)

A Time for Everything

Here are some cute pictures from before disbudding. (Molly is doing much better today and I even saw her "scamper"- thank you, Lord, for the amazing way You made all types of bodies to heal!)

A time to laugh at annoying circumstances

 A time to love

A time to eat!

A time to enjoy a rest

A time to play! (Or flee in fear?!)

A time to enjoy the fruits of your harvest

 A time to practice milking on a latex glove... :)

Enjoy your weekend! :)

quick update

I didn't take the goats to the vet after all. Nellie's neck bump has gone down and I'm about 99% sure that it's related to an injury- while trying to milk her yesterday morning she stepped off the edge of her milk stand while her head was still locked in. Christian has since put sides on it so that won't happen again. Being a 1st- time milkmaid with a 1st-time milker is pretty messy business- physically and emotionally!
Baby Molly seems to be doing much better today, though definitely not all the way "normal". Yesterday she was rolling her head around constantly and unable to walk very far, let alone scamper. Her eyes looked swollen and excessively glazed. Today I have seen no head rolling, she walking more and has tried keeping up with Bilbo and Lolly, though she really can't. But she's trying, and that gives me hope. Yesterday I was wondering if we would have to put her down. Today, I'm fairly certain that at least she's going to survive. Only time will tell if damages were permanent.
Today we got rid of Blacko the rooster! While he wasn't showing any aggression towards us humans, he was definitely stressing out the hens and pulling out their neck feathers trying to mount them. While it would've been cute to try to hatch our own chicks, it's just not worth it. And Christian was very kind and let me find him a new home that wasn't our crockpot. :) Farewell Blacko and may your new home be a patient one.

Life on the Farm

I know you'd probably like to see more pics of the new babies, but frankly I can't bring myself to take any right now. One of the nastier sides of having new babies is the "necessary"? evil of disbudding. Reason says it's necessary (much safer for humans and goats alike if there are no horns ready to stab or get stuck in fences). Everything else in me hates it. You're essentially burning rings down to the skull to kill nerves that would grow into horns. Since they're 3rd degree burns, there's not a lot of pain after the initial burn. A lot of nasty smoke, a bit of screaming from the baby- mostly from not liking being held down. One thing I hadn't heard of, though, was the possibility of brain damage from over-heating the little skull/brain. I think little Molly has some (a lot?) brain damage, but am taking her to the vet in the morning to see if there's anything we can do or if she might get better in time. Bilbo seems to be ok, though he hates me now. We didn't disbud Lolly yet, as she doesn't have buds yet. I've also discovered a lump under mama Nellie's jaw, which could be A) a cyst/abscess from an injury B) an overabundance of worms/parasites in her system C) CL disease- incredibly contagious and sometimes fatal. She's going to the vet as well. Sorry for the downer post, but unfortunately that's life on the farm right now.

God as Craftsman, Pt.1

Here's the link for Christian's class last week...we still need to upload this week's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X4oAwTswSI&feature=relmfu

Home Again

 We got home and found three new additions to our family!!! Nellie had her triplets Tuesday afternoon/evening while our house-sitters were away for a couple hours! Everybody's healthy and happy! We have two girls and one boy: Lolly, Molly, and Bilbo. Berea is holding Lolly here.

Elijah with Bilbo

 Bilbo again

 Settling down for nap time. :)

And much-thinner Mama Nellie gets a bite to eat while the babies sleep.

More CO

 This was our view, walking out of our cottage

 There was a beautiful rainbow, followed by a gorgeous sunset one evening

 In the gondola (which I thought was a boat in Italy, not a cable car in CO- oh well).

 View from the top

We went fishing a couple times. Berea was the only one to catch anything, but we all had fun, nonetheless.

This isn't the pole she caught the fish with- this was her own design though.

The best quote of the day was when we were leaving, dragging Berea away, "But DADdy! There's still one more fish in there!!!"

In Colorado

 We rode the gondolas up the mountain in Telluride- these are up at the top.

One evening there was a free concert at the park in Ridgeway- the kids loved discovering an old merry-go-round.

It was fun people-watching and reminded me of some scene from a Where's Waldo book.

Randy let the boys drive his back-hoe- Daddy's "Johnny Bucket" will never be quite as exciting.

The kids went mini-golfing in the back of a toy store. This day we also went swimming in the hot springs pool which was aMAzing, but no pictures.

Christian took the older kids to a mine

These baby birds were found in another cottage they're working on building.

Crazy-weird caterpillar we found on our doorstep