March 2020. a month to remember

It's been longer than I had originally planned on to get a new post on here.  There was supposed to be one last Sunday but this happened to me. I broke left arm just above the wrist. We had some fresh snow that covered the ice and I slipped and went down hard.

Two weeks ago on Saturday a racoon showed up on our deck at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Definitely not normal racoon activity. Kurt was home and we went out to try to find it but it had disappeared. Later at choretime, Kurt spotted it again and was able to track it down and shoot it. We are so grateful that it did not take any of the chickens.  

Yesterday the turkey poults hatched. One of them seems to be pretty adventurous and hopped down out of the nest early. We found it very cold and almost dead in the corner. I was able to warm it back up and we put it back under Mom. This morning Kevin went out to check on the poults and again one was missing and cheeping. After a bit of searching, he found it under the heater we have in the coop. Kevin got Peanut off the nest and put all three poults down on the floor. They are doing fine now, but only three of the four eggs hatched.

Now in goat news, Hickory has gone courting. He has moved to another farm to mingle with some pretty does.  At that farm they are trying to have fall kids. Usually larger breed goats only go in heat in the fall, but they want to see if he can push them into heat in the spring. Hickory is a very willing participant in a science experiment!

In the doe paddock, nothing much is happening except Vinca is really ready to be done. We are checking on them about every two hours and she is almost always laying down and in the same place.

With my broken arm Kevin is getting to do many things he normally does not (including typing this post, if you notice the difference.) Before I broke my arm I had a flat of lettuce growing and last weekend Kevin helped plant a flat of peas for sprouts, which sprouted really quick and we moved them out to the greenhouse on Friday. We then planted 2 flats of peppers and tomatoes, which are currently in the basement under the lights.

So last Sunday was bad, and then today. This morning we woke up to 6" of wet heavy snow and no electricity. No electricity really does not affect us too much, but not having water is a pain. Most of the animals had enough in their containers for a while, but when we still had no power at evening chores, things got a little interesting. Kevin put a bunch of buckets under the down spouts and collected enough water to fill everyone's containers back up. Power came back about 6:30 pm, thank goodness.

Above is a picture from the milking stand this morning. Before yesterday the fields were pretty clear of snow, and now this. Below is one of the pine trees in the back yard. It's melting fast and it is getting really messy out.

It's hard to keep on doing the normal things we do with what is going on in our country and world. We will be growing more vegetables than we normally do, and following our elected officials mandates for our own safety and the safety of others. Our biggest concern is feed for our animals, but we are doing fine with that so far.

I will conclude with my usual - Until next time, be well friends.  I always sincerely mean that but right now even more so.

Signs of Spring!

Whoo Hoo, what a beautiful day we had today!!!

This post is mostly about signs of spring so I will start with that - stay with me though, I have some pretty cool wood splitting pictures coming up too.

First - sign of spring... pre-season baseball!!! (and check out that 45 degree temp reading!!!

The view from the milking stand still has a lot of snow in it but it's gone down quite a bit.

The driveway is dirt (and mud) again.

 The garden is emerging.

And baby lettuces are under the lights in the basement.  

Peanut is setting - she only has four eggs under there.  That is my fault, she kept laying eggs and it was too early so I would take them and we ate them.  When we decided it was probably OK for her to start setting, I stopped taking them and she started setting just a few days later!  I should have kept some of her eggs instead of eating them but I guess I thought she would lay until she had a good clutch.   Not so. 

Last month's post had big doe bellies in it - well, here they are again, but bigger.  Vinca gets around fine but her steps are ponderous and she definitely isn't frolicking around!

In other goat news, Tamarack has hurt his ankle and isn't bearing much weight on it - at first we just wrapped it but it seemed to need more support so we have him splinted now. 

A Spot update:  The antibiotic shot only lasted two weeks. She went back for another one which also lasted two weeks.  Now we are trying twice a week pills.  They go down much easier that I thought they would and she loves the follow-up treat. I guess I would say that she is doing OK for now.  In the photo she is on her grooming table (aka the washing machine) - the daily brushing  has improved her coat tremendously.  

I went out to the woodworking area to help with splitting today.  The woods are always beautiful; though winter might seem stark I really enjoy looking through the trees.  Every step presents a new image of light and shadow. 

It was pretty muddy - make that VERY muddy out where the guys were working!

Now for the wood splitting. The splitter we use has a blade that cuts both ways and is impressively powerful.  The guys have the system down and it's really efficient, even more so if there is a third person there to run the back and forth handle.  That was me today.  I could not believe the huge chunk of oak they put on.  The first photo is from the side where I was, then I went around to the other side for a better look at the process.  

After the first split, that smaller piece took eight more splits to finish, then they were on to the bigger part.

Can I just say how amazing Rollie is?  He had a bit of a health scare last week and was in the hospital for a several nights - you sure cannot tell by how hard he was working today!
 
Well, I think that is enough for tonight.   Thank you for stopping by the blog - until next time, be well friends.