Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

Another day another dollar! Made money before 10am! I had a young Nubian buck for sale and the guys that came after him kept asking if I had more for sale. Soooo, I looked around and found two more goats I could live without. Made me kinda sad though cuz one was a pygmy buck that was born here and has given me great babies. But, I'm going in a different direction now so it made sense to let him go. The other one was the mature buck that I banded a couple months ago. I kind of liked having him in the pasture with the does because he sure let me know when the girls were receptive, but it's not that hard to tell anyway. Between yesterday and today I have 6 less mouths to feed; two less bucks and four less wethers. I feel pretty good about it.

Happy Sunday, Ya'll!

That's a big help w/the feed bill!

That's a big help with feed and care required. Good going!!

Good job

Thanks, ya'll!

So, I sell a few and then breed every doe on the place, lol! Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but to be totally honest with the buck escapes I've had lately - I don't know for sure who is bred or not - grrrrrr! But, I'm ok with surprises. I did (purposely) breed two does today - one pygmy to a pygmy and one Nubian to a Nigi. We are going to have a bunch of different breeds out there. So far, I think I'm expecting kinders, Nubians, mini Nubians and pygmy babies. ARGH! How am I ever going to keep track of all this. I need to stay on top of my record keeping this year for sure!

Today was the day that we ask our students to ring the bell for Salvation Army. We had a great turn out and the kiddos learn so many lessons while doing it. I ask them to pay attention to who seems to be the most giving and without fail it's the "old" folks. I also ask them to greet the people going in and out of Wal-Mart with a "good morning", a "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad" or whatever greeting they are comfortable with. They get so annoyed when folks walk by without responding. Another teaching moment! I ask them to remember how it feels when no one responds and that in the future I hope they always respond when spoken to under these same circumstances. It was a good time and even though they sometimes whine about standing for so long, they really do always enjoy it!

Piddled a little in the garden beds today. I planted some radishes a couple weeks ago and I can't find a single one growing. Onions and carrots both came up, but not a radish in sight. Hard to believe knowing how easy radishes usually grow. I may try some turnips or rutabagas too. I love them both and hope it's not too late get some to germinate.

Finally got my pallet trail built. Whoop, whoop! I can get to the barn without slogging through ankle-deep mud. And, BONUS! The goats think it's a new toy, lol. They've been all over it. They are so easily pleased.

Ok - gotta find food.

Happy Saturday ya'll!

Records -- don't always have time for the full blown deal at the moment it happens. I have learned to jot a note on my calendar by my computer -- the one I mark for work dates, paydays, birthdays, loans to son, etc. Just simple item as "ivory had twin does", "MrB broke in pasture w/Drew & Cracker", "XX paymet due" While I may not have time for other paperwork, I can catch that later and see the day it happened.

Sometimes that one little scratched note makes life easier.

Heck, older I get, more I need a note. But, I can look back & see things...3" snow, heavy rain, fixed barn roof, bought chkns @, changed linens, visited mom, etc. Sure explains things sometimes.

Great minds think alike MH! I use a calendar too and lately I really utilize the "notes" feature on my phone. Easier because with my short attention span these days I'm likely to forget to write it on my calendar when I come in. But, my phone is almost always in my pocket.

With the calendar, I'll even count forward from a breeding to a likely kidding date and put that on the calendar (or next year's calendar) too. It helps know what's coming up at a glance. but - woe is me if I forget to write it down. I've been know to go back through this very journal and search for things and most of the time I find it!

I have a calendar book that I record the weather, high low temps, how many eggs I get, etc. That way, I can easily check it from one year to the next. Last year it was so cold, I also recorded how much firewood I used. This year, I've used about half of what I did by this time!

When I lived in California, I had an old max-min thermometer that didn't run on batteries. I forgot to pack it and left it behind. I really miss it; I kept track of the high and low temps using that. I've been looking around, but I can't find one that doesn't use batteries. The problem with batteries is you don't get a warning when they are about to run out of juice, so you could come out and discover that you don't have the readings for the last 24 hours anymore.

I got a newer one a couple of years ago, and it just doesn't work as well as my older one. There are times when it messes up, but at least for the most part, I get the high lows.