Rough Days

So, the last few days have been slightly rough here at the farm. 

Isaac got his toes pinched in between Dad's heavy guitar case and the wall, and was very upset about it.  He asked for an ice pack, and once he started getting all the usual attention he perked up.  :-)

Five minutes later?  Perfectly happy.  And very glad to have a cold ice pack to play with. 

Today we have had horrific blowing dust!  It's disgusting - we have it blowing through our doors and windows, even with them all closed.  You just can't keep the dirt out around here.  Instead of black-outs, we call them "brown-outs".  Sometimes the dust gets so thick you literally can't see what's five feet out.  On days like these, we just stay inside!!

Ah yes, brotherly love.  Notice the choking action here.  But, it was a valiant attempt on Isaac's part to give his little brother a kiss!

Several days ago, Daisy, our goat that just kidded a week and a half ago, started feeling dumpy and out of sorts.   I tried everything - and today we had to put her down.  We're pretty sure she had Ketosis - and she went rapidly downhill today.  She was doing so poorly and I could tell she just felt rotten.  Thankfully, Jonathan was here to do what needed to be done. Very sad.  She was a mean little milker, but still a pretty special goat - I'll miss her.

The good news is, that though her three babies are now orphaned, our other goat, Pearl, is making the perfect amount of milk for them.  I had to wean Pearl's triplets the other day, so now all her milk is going to bottle feed Daisy's triplets.   It's amazing, because even though this whole thing was so un-expected, it's like God had provisions planned from the beginning.  Pearl happened to be bred 2 months before Daisy, so now her babies are the right age to be weaned, which means Daisy's babies can get all the milk.  Plus, Pearl happened to have triplets  - so she's making enough milk for Daisy's triplets.   If Pearl's triplets were the same age as Daisy's, I don't know what I would have done - I couldn't feed both sets!

  

I am utterly worn out, with all the goat work I've had to do the last few days.  Between feeding the babies and trying to save Daisy, I'm pretty tired.  Thankfully, homeschooling allows me to take time off when I need it - like now.  :-)

Joshua, with his perpetual grin, keeps me smiling!  He is so sweet.  (Believe it or not, though,  he does have an awful pouty side to him.)

That's it for now - in another hour I'm headed out to feed the babies again, and then milking, and then feeding, and more feeding, another round of milking.........  I am truly an official milk maid now.  Thank heavens for Pearl, our little Dairy Queen, who is making lots of yummy milk.  Her production has spiked (interestingly enough) today, so that's good.