Rollie's Wall

Most of you know that our house was originally Kevin's parents' house.  About thirty years ago, they had a decision to make - paint the house (What! Again!  Already?) or put on some long lasting, low maintenance steel siding.  Well, Rollie would rather swing a hammer than a paint brush so off came the cedar siding with it's shabby paint, and on went the blue/grey steel siding.  It still looks great to this day. 

This is not an advertisement for steel siding.  It is the background of why the goats now have a really nice wall in their living quarters.  Rollie is a thrifty guy, so he saved all of that siding in the pole barn for many years.  Some of it was put on the Winter Coop (paint side in) and more went on the Summer Coop.  Presently we are re-configuring the goat pen within the pole barn.  There is a big wall that encloses the shop that has insulation on the outside of it.  This needed to be covered up - Kevin was thinking plywood.  Rollie was wondering out loud what to do with the rest of the siding that was stored in that spot.  Well, here is what he did with it!

Ranger and his shelter moved today - not much grass to munch, but fresh ground at least.

Turkeys are puzzling.  Penelope has been sitting on these eggs for quite a while, but has now been leaving them at night.  I am pretty sure these eggs are not going to hatch - it was 22 degrees last night!  Pretty disappointing.  We haven't tossed them yet since she went back to them today but probably will have to. 

Meanwhile, Peanut has been laying eggs in the hayshed.  Since they were kind of out in the open, Kevin made a straw bale shelter for them.  She isn't setting, just laying an egg every day.  We'll see how that goes.

Kevin is just itching to get started with planting - today he was cleaning out his new (to him but actually quite old) planter.

I have some plants going in the greenhouse, not nearly as many as in years past.  Out in the garden rhubarb is coming along nicely but the garlic I planted is not up - it's pretty cold still under the straw mulch.  I did find a volunteer garlic though - must has missed it when I dug them last fall. Apparantly mulch isn't always necessary!

Cannot close without some baby goat photos -

Tulip leaps for the spool

Tamarack and Vinca - handsome lad!

Daffodil poses on a stump

Poppy poses for a selfie with me - she is just the most lovable kid!

And a view from the milking stand.

Thanks for stopping by the blog folks.  Until next week - be well friends!

Happy Easter!

This week I have just a short post with updated photos of the  youngsters.

The five chicks that had just hatched last week are growing fast - look at those wing feathers! 

 Another batch of just four has hatched.

The size difference is amazing! We should have a couple more batches of chicks soon.

The goat kids are all doing well and make us smile every time we are around them.  Here are Tulip and Daffodil - just a week old.

Everyone was outside for a romp today after the rain clear up.

We hope you all had a pleasant Easter Day.  Stop in again next week to find out what we are up to here at Ole Lake Farm.  Until then, be well friends.

April Arrivals

Hello all - there has been a lot happening around here since my last post.

That hen that was setting now has five chicks, and there are two more hens setting.

Other news from the chicken department - we have a new rooster.  Since Julio was related to most of the hens, it was time for a new manbird.  This fine fellow is sort of a rescue chicken.  He was going to be abandoned by an owner moving away from the area, and another chicken fancier took him and his cohorts in.  Since she didn't need four more roosters herself, Jose came here.  He is somewhat scruffy looking right now, but once his tail feathers fill in he should be rather handsome.  What breed he is is anyone's guess.

That nest of turkey eggs?  There are quite a few more eggs in it, and Penelope seems to be setting on it.  I say seems to be because she gets off of it quite a bit.  Hopefully she knows what she is doing and we will have some little turkey poults soon.

Most of you viewing this post will know that we had a nasty storm this past week.  It was a weird one - thunder, lightning, amazing high winds, and snow.  Sometimes the snow was flakes and sometimes little pellets that stung when they hit any exposed skin.  Thankfully, it is melting now.

And now for the big news!  The kids are here!

Vinca was first, Monday afternoon.  She gave birth to twins, one doeling, one buckling completely unobserved between barn checks by Kevin.  Meet Tamarack and Poppy!

Poppy

Tamarack

 Echo gave birth last evening.  We knew they were coming - she was fretting all day but didn't get busy with it until after 8 PM.  First out was Tulip, and for well over an hour we thought that was it.  Her other two births were both singles.  She strained a bit and just couldn't seem to pass the placenta - then finally lay down again and started pushing.  Daffodil  was breech; she came into this world hind legs first but pretty easily.  By this time is was getting pretty darn cold so we moved the little family into the dog kennel in the shop.  Echo was not thrilled with this arrangement, but with a low of just 15 degrees last night, it's a good thing we did.

 

This morning they rejoined the other does and kids.

Tulip

Daffodil

 In the picture above, that blur on the left is Poppy trying to jump up onto the spool table.  No luck so far, but she keeps trying!

So there you have it - lots of exciting thing happening.  My photos of the kids are not that great; stop back next week, hopefully I will have better pictures.  Until then, be well friends!