Use the Nice Weather

I should have taken some before and after pictures but I didn't think about it. I had around 80 bales of straw put up in an open sided section of the old, half falling down barn here. I should have known when the bad weather started coming in, I'd be sorry I didn't have some sort of gate built to keep the goats out of it. Instead of going into their designated area, they climbed all up in that stack of straw and little by little, broke about every bale in there, messed on a bunch they didn't break and generally made a mess of it in the past 10 days. So, today, I got a wild hair and attacked it for clean up. Hubster jumped on the tractor and helped out a bunch and saved me a couple hours of digging, scooping and wheel barrowing messed up, broken and wet straw bales.

One clean up project down, around 100 more to go!

How'd that happen?

I know I looked a the weather radar before I went to bed. How did pouring rain end up looking like this? hahahaha That sneaky storm found some snow as it came across Mo in the early morning hours. This sure was pretty while it was falling. By noon, it was all gone. Morning chores found all the chickens still in the barn, LOL. Guess they've forgotten it's just snow.

I really like it when it snows, everything looks so clean and the whole world seems peaceful. Of course, I have to read the news and ruin it all.

The depravity of humans makes me almost ashamed to be human. Almost. I know that I am above these sick, depraved individuals. The behaviors exhibited over a stupid pair of shoes, the mob behavior over "rumors" of celebrities, the sick and cruel things people do to the helpless. Then, there's the behaviors of our own government. Not even taking into consideration the behaviors of major corporations in this country.

It chaps my butt a bit to think my own government would consider me a domestic terrorist for not being dependent on it. It does make a little sense tho, if I am a free thinker and not waiting for a hand out, I am not easy to control. But, as I see it, the government has a couple of fixes for that. Not even counting our government allowing DOW to petition to use 2,4D, an active ingredient in Agent orange, right here on farm land we as Americans will be eating from. Of course, it's to kill the super weeds that have been created by Monsantos Round up. Real nice. This is on top of the poison already being grown in the form of GMO crops. Oh, and don't forget the GMO mosquitoes about to be released down in Florida. Can you say human guinea pig?

Every aspect of life is pretty much controlled and dictated. This is something I am simply not comfortable with. Not at all. So, here it is, the big New Years resolution..... (drum roll, LOL) I vow to actively work (harder than I have before) to be out from under the corporate control of America. Off the system, not consuming a single thing produced by corporate America. No electric smart meters, no municipal water, no cheap crap made in china. I would also like to work more on helping others to become more self reliant. We'll see how it goes...

Whew, another day down

One more day done with this crappy, horrible year. I'll be glad to see this one gone. Just not a good year over all.

Aw, this year did have some good parts to it, just not in a row and not enough to out weigh the rough parts.

On a good note for today, Goober cow gave me 5 quarts of milk this morning! A whole half gallon more than she normally does. I think hanging the hay bag is working out much better that throwing the hay down for her. She wastes too much that way. With the bag, she's eating all the hay instead of pushing it around, laying on it and crapping on it. It's too much work to make the hay for her to just waste it like that.

All the goats look good and I'm thinking all the does are pregnant. The 2 older girls should give me twins, Delta will be a single, Skeeter will be a single and I'm not sure about the no name nanny. So, with a little luck, in the next few weeks, I should have 7 goat kids to play with. Lucky goat will like it too, he's been hanging around with Daisy calf since I hauled Spud to the auction.

I have not made any progress in the fencing, the goat shed and enclosure, the chicken house or the goat milking stand. The "maybe next week" thing is part of the bad I hope to leave behind with the coming of the new year.

I had to have some comfort food this evening. Just in the mood for pizza. I've been working up batches of whole milk mozzarella every chance I get. It's an easy cheese to do with lots of sitting time so it allows me to get other things done while it's being made. Some days I just need to be able to walk away from the kitchen to get things done. So, mozzarella it is. Then, I end up with 4 or 5lbs of cheese in the fridge. Of course, the result is a big pizza or 2 with real cheese on it! You just can not buy a pizza that tastes like these do. home made crust (no cardboard) real tomato sauce, home dried herbs, all the yummies you can stuff on it. smothered in home made cheese. Home made pizza should be a food group!

Getting By

I know I've been quiet lately, I just don't have anything to say. It's just everyday life here drown in stress from outside influences. The farm is still the same, hanging on like it always does. All the crops have been harvested and preserved, the goats are closer to kidding every day and the cow and animals get milked and tended twice a day. I actually had to dump 2 gallons of milk this week, the fridge was full and I was out of containers to keep the milk in. The outside influences took up too much of my time to make cheese or butter with it.

This farm could be so much more than it is. It's difficult to sit here every day knowing it could be so much more and not being able to do anything about it. As each week passes, all one can do is say "well, maybe next week". It's frustrating when your efforts are drained to outside influences. Just simply sustaining, hanging on, isn't enough some days.

Here we are, fast approaching Christmas day and it will pass here quietly, with hardly a whimper. I hope everyone out there has a joyous day filled with love and sharing.

I found something I am very interested in and will be doing what I can to be a part of it. There's a "camp" not far from me I'm considering participating in. It's basically a self sustained community with individual cabins, a couple of ponds and ground to keep critters on. It's new and in the works. Christian preppers Campsite. I will be writing more on this in the coming days.

Bad Night

Wow, did I ever have a bad night. I have had trouble with some of my teeth since I got whacked in the face by the rooster and it seems like stress triggers flare ups of swelling and severe pain. So, I did not do any sleeping. Morning chores were a blur. Goober cow refused to let her milk down and I just managed to coax a quart of milk from a cow that normally gives a gallon a milking. She does this same thing to me about once a week. Tonite, her bag will be full to bursting and I will get all the milk. Daisy calf went over the pitiful field fence and was running around in the pouring rain so in the new barn she went, loose in the barn isle since I still havent managed to sell enough straw to get the stalls opened up. She's actually behaving rather well and leaving the hay alone. Of course, there's the land mines she leaves for me to not step in. The extra clean up work isn't a burden tho.

My stress is not coming from the farm or the holidays but the source affects both for me which is why it's so stressful. It's something I'm not in a position to eliminate which only causes even more stress. Which, in turn, makes it harder for me to keep a happy farm. ARG, sometimes there's just no way to get out from under the rock because it just leaves you in the hard place.

The urge to do anything around here just isn't there lately. The constant mud and slop doesn't help the attitude/mood much either. I feel kind of burned out. I miss the sunshine!

I had to teach a wayward dog a hard lesson this morning. Whos dog it is, I havent a clue. I've not seen this dog before and he ripped up a few of my rabbit cages(pretty much beyond repair too), killed 9 rabbits and turned another 5 loose. I have yet to catch any of the loose rabbits and if I don't get them caught in the next day or so, the coyotes will kill them so I might as well write it off as a loss of 14. That's a good amount of meat I just lost from one ignorant dog owners neglect. In just a couple of minutes, that dog wiped out 3 months worth of work raising rabbits and around $150 in property damage. Just add it to the list of what I can't fix around here.

Yep, the bad night has turned into a bad day...

Time Flys

It really didn't seem like it but this week really did slip by me rather quick. That sad part is, I didn't really manage to get much accomplished. The whole week was an exercise in mudhole navigation with ice breaking 101 for the last 3 days. Every night has been below freezing with a warm up in the 40s during the day. Lucky goat has taken to laying in the tractor bucket in the sunshine when he isn't trashing the straw pile in the old barn. I started out the week with 7 baby bunnies but only 3 are left now. The doe drags them out of the box with her and they freeze. I really need to build a new rabbit hutch. This old one is starting to rot and I've got it held together with hay string in several spots. I have salvaged everything I could from the old chicken house that got smashed when the tree fell on it. Plenty of wood still usable but I still need to get some wire. Maybe next week.

Roast is what's for supper this weekend with taters and veges I canned from the garden. Of course, it's not a meal without home made bread smothered in apple butter or blackberry jam.

A Monday Funny

An old German Shepard starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a panther headed in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old German Shepard thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep shit now!"

Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the panther is about to leap, the old German Shepard exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.

"Whew! that was close! That old German Shepard nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes.

The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.

The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"

Now, the old German Shepard sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?," but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to the attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they got close enough to hear, the old German Shepard says...

"Where is that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to find me another panther!"

Moral of this story...

Don't mess with the old dogs. Age and skill with always overcome youth and treachery. Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience.

My friend Bill sent this to me today, I laughed so hard, I cried. Thanks Bill!

ARG, raining again!

All we got was 3 days of partly sunny and the ground was just starting to firm up. Now, it's raining again! Well, it is that time of year I guess. Doesn't make me like it anymore tho.

I have been working on a couple things around here, I'm about done with the little chicken house I will be putting my banty chickens in. I hate it's raining on it, again, without it being painted. But, none can only do what they can do. Maybe I can get it finished next week.

The Goober cow kicked me during milking last night. She raked my hip with her hoof, it hurts. I wont be running any marathons anytime soon.

Something I read this morning I thought was kind of, hmmm, mixed feelings on it I guess. Parents can rent toys. I remember when my kids were little and they'd beg and throw fits for the latest toy the saw on TV (damn that cartoon network). Sometimes I could afford to indulge them, sometimes not. Both my kids are grown now with a closet full of those toys they just can't bring themselves to throw away, even if they're broken. I also remember several toys they "just had to have" that they soon discarded, never to play with again. I see being able to "rent" a toy kind of neat in case you child decides they really don't like the toy but I also see it as a way to continue the trend of over indulging our children and a continuance of our consumerism mindset. Renting movies or checking books out from the library is not the same as renting a toy. What do you all think about it?