PotterWatch's Burrow

[punkin]

Awww...great looking goats. You lucky dog. I'm still trying to talk DH into them.

 

[PotterWatch]

We got the goat house primed and painted yesterday (bright yellow that we had bought for a different project but didn't use). It rained off and on today, but the inside of the goat house remained dry and quite cozy. It has decent ventilation and a drain so that we can just hose it out when neccessary. Now we need to put in a hay feeder and mineral feeders. I think we will probably buy the hay feeder, but make the mineral feeders out of PVC. Next on the list of projects is a milking stand.

 

[PotterWatch]

Well, we picked up our girls today! They are settling in (though we don't have their house in it's proper place or the feeders set where we want them). I've been a little nervous because we had been told that you need an acre to legally keep goats here and we don't have an acre. I looked up the city ordinance and found that there is a prohibition against male goats, but nothing that I could find that gave a minimum amount of land. Hurray!!! Now I don't have to worry about someone reporting me and humane knocking on my door telling me to get rid of them! I didn't manage to get any pictures today, but I will definitely get some tomorrow. Now I need to get off my tuchus and read some of the other journals, I haven't been on much in days!

 

[PotterWatch]

So apparently our goats think they are house pets, lol. We were just outside hanging out near their house trying to tempt them into laying down and going to sleep. We walked to the back door and went inside but one of the dogs was trying to sneak out (not allowed out with the goats yet), while we were grabbing the dog to bring him back in, the mom goat just strutted her way right inside like she owned the place! Of course, her daughter followed her so we had a rousing few minutes trying to herd them back outside, praying all the while they wouldn't have a sudden urge to pee or poo on the nice, soft carpet. Guess we will have to keep our eye on those girls when the door is open!

 

[FarmerChick]

time to change your siggy

the minis have arrived..LOL

 

[tfpets]

You will have a hard time convincing the goats they do not belong in the house, especially if they see the dogs in there, or coming and going. My precious pet, who is no longer with us, earned his name "Dawg"....he really believed he was a dog....he rode on the four wheeler when he was young, we had to train him not to chase cars (finally had to electrify the fence to keep him in)...he'd come right in the house if the door was even slightly open!
Goats are precious! Love their pics. Are those La Mancha? (sp?)Tina/tfpets

 

[PotterWatch]

Hurray! The goats have settled in nicely. I was really sweating it for a few days there... they were soooooo noisy! I was beginning to think we were never going to be able to leave the house for any length of time without royally ticking off the neighbors. My husband and I were even discussing what to do if we got enough noise complaints for the city to tell us we had to get rid of them. Luckily, they have figured out they don't have to yell every time they are alone. They barely make any noise at all now! I was gone for five days and every day, Dave reported they were making less and less noise. I'm so glad!

I took the boys to Pismo Beach to visit with my parents who had been vacationing in Tahoe but drove down to Pismo to see us. We had a very nice visit and the kids got to see the monarch migration and play in the ocean. I'll post some pictures tonight or tomorrow. It was nice to get away for a little while and my husband enjoyed having time alone at home as well.

Today was our homeschool co-op day and while always fun, it is tiring as well. I teach music and something we call Adventure Club as well as sit in as an assistant in a couple drama classes. I'm teaching the kids in music a couple songs, how to play the recorder, and how to read music. I'm taking it fairly slow since it is only once a week, but I have fun with teaching the songs and figuring out what we will do for our end-of-semester showcase. In adventure club, we learned a little about Lewis and Clark. I split the kids into three groups (we usually have 14-18 kids in the class), one group had a book read to them about Lewis and Clark, one group did a mad-lib kind of thing about Lewis and Clark, the last group made compasses out of needles and foam. I thought it went pretty well today, but that group always makes me tired. It is the last class of the day and the kids are all tired but wound up, makes for a lot of noise and running around. Thank goodness I usually have another adult and a teen helper for that class!

 

[TanksHill]

Sorry I have been out of the lop for a while I can't believe you were down in San Diego and did not stop by and say hello!!! Did you get your goats in Escondido? Your goats are precious. If you dont mind where in So cal do you live? Do yo have pics of their new house? I Want goats so bad. I don't know if I missed it but is this your first time with goaties? Are you nervous with them? I could go on forever with the ?????

g

 

[PotterWatch]

Next time I go to San Diego, I'll have to post it on here in case anyone wants to hang out, lol. We live in Pomona. We got the goats from a place called Tiny Colors Farm in Ramona http://www.tinycolorsfarm.com/index.htm . She has mainly Nigerians, but also a few mini-manchas, saanens, and is starting up with boers. She was nice to deal with and very helpful. We will be going back to her for re-breeding and she also said to bring kids down to her and she would help us out with disbudding and wethering. These are our first goats, and once we get to kidding and milking, I expect to hit a sharp learning curve, lol. Right now, they are super easy to manage (I have to check out their hooves tomorrow and probably trim for the first time), and we couldn't be happier with them. The only thing we aren't sure of at this point is the temperment of the younger doe we got. She is very skittish, as they both came from a herd where the babies weren't well socialized with people early on (not the lady we bought them from, but their previous owner). She is getting a little better, but we don't know if she will warm up enough to make us want to keep her instead of one of the kids we are expecting in the coming months. Here are some pictures of the goat house and some more of the goats, don't mind the mess, it was temporary and has been cleaned up since:

The house, it is about 8x4 and they seem very happy in it:

The young one we have named Fleur:

Heart (we have remnamed her Bellatrix, or Bella for short), and Fleur:

 

[PotterWatch]

We don't have waffles very often so this morning I decided to make some. I was quickly reminded why we don't have waffles very often . I don't really use a mixer when I am cooking or baking, I find that it just gives me more things to wash and I can do just as good a job by hand. Whipping eggs is one thing I might ordinarily use my mixer for, but I just couldn't see hauling it out to whip up two eggs this morning. Lordy! I forgot how much work it is to whip eggs by hand! Now I have to clean my waffle iron as well... what a pain. I hope I have enough left over to freeze so the kids can have waffles at least a couple more times from this batch. I don't imagine I will get it into my head to make them again for at least another year.