Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Clothes Line Perils

Oh, the perils of hanging clothes on the line. I like hanging my clothes on the line. Let me clarify, I LOVE hanging my clothes on the line. It's relaxing, it keeps the house cooler, and(maybe it's just in my head) I feel like they are cleaner. (Other than when the dogs poop under the clothes line. That's a whole other story.)

Anyway, as I was putting on my shirt this morning, I felt this sharp sting under my arm. Ok, a little lower, it was more on the side of the boob. (Sorry men folk. This post is going to be about my boob.) Instantly I knew what it was. WASP!!!!!!! I jerked my shirt off (good thing I was alone in the house.) and out flew the little bugger.  After I hopped around yelling, "Ouch,ouch,ouch!!,"(no Mom, I didn't cuss. lol) I knew that wasp had to DIE!

I looked and looked, I couldn't find a fly swatter. Why, well, because I cleaned my house this weekend. Never fails, I put things up and then can't find them. That's why I keep my house dirty. Yea, that's it.  Anyway, I finally found one to kill it with. As I was starting to swing at it, the head of the fly swatter fell off. Nice. I did finally find something  and yes, it died. But, not before it had already done it's damage. My boob was starting to swell.

Now, most people would have liked this. I'm not one of them. My boobs are too big as is. Now I'm gonna have to put up with a bigger one. Plus it's lopsided. Great. On top of that, it HURTS! So I do what I was taught to do. Grab some plantain, chew it up, place it on the sting. Hey, it worked! It quit stinging! Now, I have this awful taste in my mouth. Blaaaaaa. Not only an awful taste, but bits and pieces of plantain that will not come out. I rinsed and repeated a million times. I still could not get those bits and pieces out of my mouth.

After all was said and done, I will survive. But, I do now know that I will have to check my clothes before I put them on. Even if they were shaken out and folded and in my clothes drawer for 3 days. You just never know when you will get stung on the boob.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, lop-sided.


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Goings Ons

I haven't got to blog in a while. We have been very busy around here. From selling off most of our cattle,( I'll get to that in a minute.) to getting ready to buy more goats.

It all started when our cattle broke through the fence and got into our neighbors yard to eat their grass. You know, it's ALWAYS greener on the other side of the fence. lol. Anyway, as we were getting the cattle back into their field, the bull started to get, shall we say, frisky.  He would paw the ground, throw dirt over his shoulder, then he would act like he was going to charge us as he let out this VERY loud bellow. Now when this is coming from a 2500 lbs, it can be very intimidating.  It was at that moment that I realized, I don't really like messing with cattle. They are big animals that can hurt you. (Duh!) Even if they are sweet and gentle. One wrong step, and you have a broken foot, or a broken rib, or even worse, dead.

So that night, I sat down with Hubby and asked him does her really like the cattle. I mean, REALLY like the cattle. I was expecting an instant,"YES!"  But, he actually thought about it. He said that he likes watching them out in our fields. (I do too.) He likes eating them. (I do too,) He likes being able to say that he has "cattle". (OK.) But actually messing with them, uh, "No."  I was surprised.  So we got to talking even more. We realized that his dad and step mom wouldn't be able to help us work the cattle too much longer. It will just be me and Hubby doing the work soon.

 I HATE working with them. Well, I don't "hate" working with them. We just don't work them enough. So, they are basically wild animals. Plus, our corral is in really bad shape so we are just patching holes here and there with "temporary" fixes. That's why I don't like messing with the cattle. Wild animals in bad fences DO NOT MIX.

So, we sold all but 3. We kept the 3 youngest heifers. We are hoping we will be able to tame them down to where we will be able to lead them around with a bucket of feed. Hopefully we will be able to make them like pets. Then maybe build up the herd again.

With the money that we got from the cattle we are going to improve our farm. We are going to build fence, a new corral, and, oh, yea,get more goats. YEA!!!! Now I LOVE messing with goats.  They won't kill you, at least most of them wont. lol.  We are going to build up our herd of Myotonic goats.  Ever heard of Myotonic goats? How about Fainting goats. Yep, that's right folks. Myotonic goats are Fainting goats. And, we are getting more Fainting goats. (We have three already.) I'm going to spend my day out there scaring them just so that I can watch them faint. heheheheeheh. I can't wait!!!!! hehehehe. I'm so evil. hehehehe.

Well, anyway, I'll keep you all up to date on the going ons here around the farm as we take this turn into a new adventure. I am soooo excited!!!!!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, BOOOOO! hehehehehe. Evil, pure evil. lol

Friday, May 4, 2012

That Last Hour

If you get up early in the morning, you understand how important that one hour, before you get up, is. You cherish that hour. That's when you get your best sleep, right?  Last night as I was laying in bed wondering if I could make it that last hour without going to the bathroom, Skeeter (my weenier dog) decided that SHE need to go out. I threw back the blankets and went to let her out.

As I was waiting on her to come back in, ( I swear I do believe she took the long tour of the neighborhood.) I noticed that it was lightning. We have had thunderstorms skirt around us for the last few days, so I just assumed that that was what it was. FINALLY Skeeter came back in. ( I do believe she was wearing a lei.) I went back to bed thinking that I could get in the last 45 mins. Then I remembered the lightning. I had clothes on the line. ( Don't judge me! They were still damp!) I figured that if it was just going to be a small, gentle rain, I would leave them out there. I love the feel of clothes that have been rained on. (Or at least I HEARD that they feel good. Cough, cough.) So I check the radar and notice that we had some pretty good storms coming our way. So I get back out of bed and go out and take the clothes down. (Yes, they were still damp.)

I go back in the house and hang them on chairs and door knobs all over the place so that they wouldn't get that moldy smell. Ok, MAYBE I can get the last 20 mins of sleep in.( Hey, sleep is important!!!!LOL) I go back and lay down. Then as I snuggle back under my blankets, I remember my poor little tomato plants that were sitting on the back of our four wheeler. I had put them outside yesterday so that they could get a little extra sun. 

I fling back my blankets and get up. Put on my house coat and go out and get my plants and bring them back inside. Maybe, MAYBE, I could get a little more sleep. I go and dry my feet off and get back in bed. I just lay down and get comfortable and........Yep, you guess it. The alarm clock went off.

I guess it's time to get up.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, sleep deprived.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Got Milk, Again?

That's right folks, I'm milking again!!!! (I'm not the one giving the milk. That would be my goats. Just to clear that up.) I'm back to the twice a day schedule of going out and getting the goats up on the milking stand and getting that Ooooohhhhh so good milk.

  I enjoy milking. It's very relaxing. Spending time with just you and your goat. But........(you knew that was coming didn't you? lol) I have this goat that has freshened for the first time. Her name is Gracie. ( As soon as I get my camera, I'll be get a picture of her on here for ya.) Gracie is a great milker. She hops up on the milking stand with no problem. She hops down with no problem. She stands like she has been doing this for years. But, she hasn't! And, for her first time of being fresh, she is giving a good amount of milk. The only problem that I have with her is that she has a teat with the hole not quite at the bottom of her teat. The milk squirts out the side while I'm trying to milk. Not just out the side, but right at me! So to milk her, I have to concentrate on aiming the milk at the bucket. So if I get to milking both teats at the same time, I end up squirting myself in the chest more than once. I usually just milk one at a time.  It takes longer, but I at least don't get a milk shower.

On top of her "off teat", Gracie lifts her leg up on that side whenever I milk. So as I'm trying to aim her teat into the bucket, I'm trying to keep her from putting her foot into the bucket. Geesh! I'm working up a sweat just trying to get milk! The first time I milked her, I ended up with milk on my chest and a foot in the bucket. Not a good day. lol.

Anyway, I really shouldn't complain. At least she isn't like Hanna. Hanna is my other Nubian who usually gives good milk, has GREAT, long teats, but goes psycho on me whenever I try to get her off the milking stand. She gets this "look" in her eyes that said, " Oh no!!!! I'm going to fall into the deep pit of despair!!!!!" She locks up all four legs and I have to physically turn her around on the stand, making sure she doesn't put a foot in the milk bucket, which she has done before, and then I have to pull her off. Once she is off, then she thinks shes being chased by a monster that will rip her face off. She throws that head back and tries to drag me back to the goat pen. I swear she has a mental problem. At least she made a good mommy this year. LOL! Got to love them goats!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, milker.