Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[lorihadams]

So I have spent this past week really watching Aliana and I think that maybe Tally was cycling and she was responding to her cause she had ZERO response to the buck rag all week and only one day of discharge so maybe it was a fluke and she is pregnant after all.

I still have not seen babies from the white doe. So yesterday I put Midnight back in with her and she growled at him like crazy. I don't know what to do with her. I may give her a few days and put them back together again and see what happens.

At least I'm writing the dates down.

The kids decided that they wanted to go see Granny for her birthday this week so I did some lesson plans and sent them off to her house for the week. I would have gone with them but I have physical therapy today, another dr. appt Wednesday and a beekeeping meeting Thursday. We also have a birthday party to go to Saturday but Granny and Papa want to take the kids to the circus so they won't bring them back until Sunday.

I am going to scoop rabbit poo, get everything out of the raised beds, and work the soil this week. With my back acting up I'm gonna take it slow but it's got to be done.

I'm still waiting on my catalog from Baker Creek so I can order my seeds but I getting antsy and need to get some seed trays done so I can start my seeds for transplanting in the next couple of weeks.

 

[lorihadams]

Well, it seems I am dealing with a copper deficiency with the goats. I ordered some Copasure and I will dose everyone as soon as it gets here. Tally has definite fishtail, Aliana looks like she has the beginnings of a fishtail and Tally's coat looks awful and is turning rusty. I examined her eyelids this morning and they are PALE. So, looks like copper is the culprit.

Started Physical Therapy Monday and I'm sore. Go again tonight and I have a beekeeping meeting tonight as well.

Otherwise, things are pretty calm this week with the kids being gone to granny's house. She's taking them to the circus tonight.

 

[lorihadams]

My babies are coming home today!!!!! I miss my kids.

 

[pinkfox]

awww, nice to have a break form them but its always nice to see them home too

 

[lorihadams]

Gosh, it's been a while....well, let's see. Bunnies are fattening up nicely so hopefully sometime end of next week I'll have 2 litters of babies and then one more in the next week or so.

Bethoron is getting tight as a tick. She's due second week of April but is so tight around her middle. Hubby wants to get ultrasounds to confirm how many and see if Aliana is for sure preggers or not. She hasn't had any reaction to the buck rag so I'm hopeful.

I got everyone dosed on COWP, even though Aliana bit the snot out of me in the process. My finger is still black and blue and my nail is full of blood underneath about halfway up and I'm too chicken to drain it.

The weather is making me crazy. We are getting up into the 50s this week with lows right around freezing. I got a bit of a reprieve this morning and the waterers were all unfrozen. Saturday and Sunday morning my hands were numb by the time I got everything thawed out and refilled.

I also slipped a pollen patty and some fondant into the bee hives and one looked really strong and the other looked definitely weaker. I'm thinking that I may need to requeen the weaker one just to be on the safe side. I'll probably have to watch out for the stronger one to swarm come warmer weather. Next month I'll flip the hive bodies and start feeding sugar syrup for a couple months. I'm really excited about getting some honey this year. We tasted it a bit last summer and it was really good.

I really want to start cutting our sugar consumption even more. Right now we are going through about 5lbs every 1-2 months. Most of that goes for coffee and baking so I don't feel too bad about it. We used to use even more than that and come summertime I'm sure we'll start using more for sweet tea, even though I've cut back on the amount of sugar I use in our tea too. I'm using about half the amount of sugar in my coffee that I used to.

I can't wait for goat babies and fresh milk again. I HATE buying commercial milk. I have a friend that is getting a milk share and only uses half a gallon and she offered us the other half but we easily go through 2 gallons of milk a week. I'll be glad to have 2 goats in milk (hopefully, if Aliana is definitely preggers).

All my new indian runners are laying and I'm steadily getting 2-3 eggs from them every day. My remaining 4 hens are giving me 1-3 eggs a day and I want to get about 5-6 more hens come spring but I don't know whether I want to buy pullets or chicks. I'm leaning towards waiting and getting some started pullets. I am trying to keep my pretty rooster but he doesn't have enough hens to keep him busy and is trying to mate my runners. I don't want them to get hurt. I'm hoping if I get enough older hens that he will leave the ducks alone. I may not be able to get the breeds I wanted originally but I'm okay with that. I only have a few criteria for chickens...pea or rose combs so I don't have to deal with frostbite, standard breeds, and they must be pretty.

 

[hqueen13]

I hear you on the sugar issues. Cutting it out is so hard, but what to replace it with?? I tried stevia, and that was gross. HOney and maple syrup are about all that I can come up with. We use rapadura and things like that when we bake, but it is still really difficult to figure out what to do instead. I'm SO much better about sweetening tea and coffee than I used to be, but I still need a fair amount of sweetner in my coffee. Otherwise I get too much of the bitter taste, and I don't like it. I found that raw cream helps it a lot, and I can cut down on the sugar. Adding butter to the coffee helps, too (sounds crazy but I swear by it. Don't have time for breakfast but have time to make coffee, add in about 1-2 tbsp of butter (raw is awesome of course), and either throw it in the blender to froth it or just stir it really good. Works WONDERS to keep you warm and feeling full for a long time), and that helps me cut down on the amount of sugar.
I wish I had more options...

 

[lorihadams]

yeah, I know how it is...it's hard when you were trained to drink coffee with lots of cream and sugar. Granny used to give it too us as kids and it was about half milk and half coffee with like 2 spoonfulls of sugar. It's a wonder I have any teeth. She also used to give us a spoonful of sugar with whiskey in it for a sore throat...and to make us sleep as little kids. God, I love that woman!

We just got done making heart shaped sugar cookies for hubby...he'll get home in about a half hour. Frawg, our bassett hound is walking circles around the kitchen table with her nose in the air....it's really funny.

The kids each got their own bowl of homemade icing and a plate of cookies to decorate themselves. They helped make them and roll them and cut them and everything. It was fun. We just got done reading a bit on the porch...it's chilly out there so we came back in and now they are playing in the living room.

I'm thinking tacos for dinner....not the most romantical of foods...especially the after effects, if you know what I mean , but that's what sounds good to me and we went out to kabuto's japanese steakhouse Friday night so that was our splurge for the week. No going out tonight....we've had a pretty good day besides the usual bickering between the kids.

 

[lorihadams]

Oh, and I started up a new beekeeping thread in the livestock section....no pictures yet but when it warms up a bit we'll definitely have some.

 

[BarredBuff]

Oh, and I started up a new beekeeping thread in the livestock section....no pictures yet but when it warms up a bit we'll definitely have some.

I saw it and reminded me to start feeding ours!

 

[lorihadams]

So the flu has decided to pay us a visit. Hubby came home yesterday miserable and was up all night with joint pain. He went to the doctor this morning and got tamiflu and is sleeping finally. I'm making him some chicken soup from scratch...I may throw some orzo in it later though. It tastes pretty good so far.

Today my son is deciding to be in a mood. He's stomping around the house cause I told him that he had to let his sister have a turn on the computer. He even hit her while she was playing a game so he got a spanking and then sent to his room where he is desperately trying to weasel his way out now. I told him that until he loses the attitude he can stay in there and that he needed to keep it down so his daddy could sleep. He did very well this morning but now he is just crabby. I told them they could go outside to play but they are insisting it is too cold. I'm about to bounce their little butts out there anyway.