Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks, Moolie.

I know we're not unique in our weather patterns this summer, but gee whiz! We're into day 3 of heat advisories and warnings. It's dangerous heat and for folks with no a/c it can be deadly.

The critters are as tired of it as the folks are - but we might get some relief this weekend - hallelujah! They're calling for a good chance of rain (tropical in nature coming in from the gulf) but not an organized storm system, thank goodness!

Garden has burnt up except for okra, eggplant and onions... Egg production has dropped...milk production in the does is down too but that's all to be expected.

I have one last Pygmy goat due to kid next week - poor thing.

I need to band one of the bucklings so I can get him off the feed bill by tossing him out to pasture. Then, after spending some time on grass he will fulfill his destiny by moving off of pasture into the freezer. The circle of life and all that....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Another hot one, but hopefully relief is in sight. Rain, blessed rain is in the forecast!

After milking this morning, I've been hibernating in the house most of the day....but, I've got some things accomplished too. I've got cheese working, and cajeta on the stove. I did some closet cleaning in my room and some general boring housekeeping...ugh. But, I can't sit on my kiester all day and do nuttin'.

I saw the most beautiful nubian buckling on Craigslist today. OH my! He's white with pale red moonspots and I WANT him.

http://houston.craigslist.org/grd/3954799120.html

BUT - I don't think I want him bad enough to spend that much money... decisions, decisions! I've got 5 bucks right now, but no purebred Nubian...

I'll ruminate on it for a bit.

Meanwhile I'm gonna go put together a big ol' salad for dinner and top it with some of the salmon we grilled last night for dinner. Yummmmy

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's been an odd day. My dad's 85th b'day was Wednesday so DH and I had arranged to pick them up and take them out to lunch today. It's a bit over an hour drive for us. I told them that we'd either take them out, or we'd bring food in if they didn't want to get out. My mom calls me this morning and said because it was raining that we should postpone this for a couple of weeks. Really? I'm driving to you - I'll bring food so you don't have to go out. In fact, all she'd have to do is open the freakin' door and let me in... but nope...let's put it off for a couple weeks.. Same story last Thanksgiving. DH and I had Thanksgiving lunch at my mother in law's place which is about 3 hours away....so we left DH's family right after lunch to drive back and stop at my folks house on the way home. Well, guess what - I call my mom about an hour out to let them know when we'd be there and she informs me that they decided to take a nap. Postponed on me again! On Thanksgiving? And just a couple months after my sister passed.. so let's don't try to give any time to your remaining daughter? Ok, I know I'm ranting, but I can NOT imagine EVER telling one of my children that a nap is more important than seeing them.... Sigh....

Other than that - the day was bountiful. My little doe that wasn't due until Tuesday just delivered triplets! And all 3 are teeny, tiny girls! Can I get a big ol ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?

I started making some cheese yesterday and it's hanging right now. I'm roasting garlic right now to add to the cheese. Our favorite Chevre is roasted garlic and rosemary flavored. OMG, thats some tasty stuff!

That's about it - signing off back to my boring life as the forgotten daughter now...

Ok, ok - I'm gonna stop whining and start wining now.

 

[Denim Deb]

Can't type a big aaww, I'm on my tablet and it takes too long.

I can remember years ago when we were coming home from vacation deciding to surprise my mom's parents by swinging by for a visit. We lived about 3 hours away. They didn't act overly happy to see us.

 

[so lucky]

Earthmother, your experiences with your parents remind me of what I am going through with my DH right now. He has been suffering from anxiety and depression for the last 6 months or so, and doesn't want anybody to come to the house, or even talk to him on the phone. He gets anxious if his son calls. :/ I know he has hurt his kids' feelings, and has alienated all his friends. I can't even have the grandkids out for a visit. Maybe your mom or dad is ill in that way, and trying to cover it up.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Who knows? My mom is crazy like a fox, so maybe.... In fact, she is kind of a secret, furtive kind of person. Nothing is more important to her than "appearances" so if she was crazy - she'd hide it from us.... ehhhh.... I know I've tried - and that's all I can do at this time.

I've been fighting with one of the newborn, preemie triplets all day... Not really fighting 'with' a baby - but fighting 'for' the baby. One of them is not doing well at all.. in fact, I don't even know why it's still alive. But, as long as she's fighting, I'll fight for her. Her stupid mother stepped on her last night so I'm not sure if were dealing with internal injuries or what. Coupled with the fact that they are preemies, I'm not surprised that she's having issues. And, as icing on the cake she was breech and her head was stuck in the birth canal a little longer than it should have been.

Her body temp has been sub normal most of the day. I had her on a heating pad for hours and hours. When she finally warmed up I started syringing colostrum into her with no change. I finallly went to my "last ditch effort" and gave her a little caffeine and molasses in her colostrum cocktail. She kind of perked up for a few minutes and then went back downhill. I've been syringe feeding her all day and finally in my very last, last ditch effort gave her a 1/2 cc of dexamethasone. Sometimes that's the needed kick start, but being a steroid lowers resistance so it's a 'damned if you do - damned if you don't' medication'. Many years ago I worked for a veterinarian and he told me to never let anything die without trying a shot of dex... so I did.

Bless her little heart, she's a preemie, she got stepped on by mom and she's had a very bad day. I really don't expect her to make it through the night...

 

[Denim Deb]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I sat up last night until nearly 1am with the baby. I didn't want her to pass all alone... and she didn't. I buried her in the back yard this morning before I went to work. It's weird how some of them just get into your heart no matter how long they've been around. I've seen countless goats and babies die and have buried them without a tear - but I cried like a baby for this one. And despite a little heartbreak - life goes on. The other two appear happy and healthy and are even trying to bounce around despite the fact that they shouldn't even be born until tomorrow!

Oh, and in other news, I banded one of the boys last night too. He's an April baby so it was now or never, lol. He was not a real happy camper.

Got dinner in the oven so I gotta get to it. Home grown chicken breasts - yummy!

 

[snapshot]

So sorry about the baby! I'm glad you were there. DH will sit up with a sick calf all night too. He's had too many die in his arms.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks Snapshot!

The other two little 'uns are doing well. MamaGoat had a bit of a loose stool, but I did worm her so it may be a byproduct of that. She's eating good and the poo's are firming up already. They've gone from cow patty consistency to dog logs, so she seems to be on her way back to normal.

As soon as I can tolerate spending an hour or so in the heat I'll be moving the young bucks into half of the big garden area. I don't have anything left growing on that side, so they can just clean it up and fertilize it for me. I want to start thinking about getting some more pigs too, but no rush just yet - still too hot. Pigs do better here in fall/winter than trying to survive the summer heat.

Not sure what the weekend will bring yet. Depends on the temperature and family obligations. DH is talking about going to see his mom who is a good 3.5 hours away. He'll want to spend the night and I will want to make it a day trip - so he just might have to go alone. There is so much to do these days and with reduced outside time it's harder and harder to get it done. But, I'll feel guilty if I don't go with him so maybe I'll just take a day off work to make up for being gone over the weekend.

I went out this morning to check on things before work and couldn't find one of the tiny new babies. Last night while feeding I told DH that those babies are so tiny that an owl or a hawk wouldn't have any trouble carrying 'em off. Geeze - I nearly panicked when I couldn't find one. I looked and looked and made noise hoping I'd wake it up if it was hiding and sleeping somewhere. Sure enough it had gotten into the feed room side of the barn and was hiding there. The feed room is mostly separated from the main barn by a wall, but there's a small section that has stock panel with 4 inch squares as a divider. These babies are so tiny they can walk right through those 4 inch openings, lol. They need to do some serious growing!