Almost a month since I've updated my journal, and almost a month without having time to be on SS at ALL.
I guess it's part of farming in springtime AND being a teacher. I had thought I'd use this journal as a kind of calendar and to keep up with all I do, but ... that's never gonna work. The more stuff I have to write down, the less time I have to be online, LOL.
Work: I teach young children, and have full responsibility for the 3-5 year olds. I taught them to read, do basic addition, taught them Bible, a bit of science and history, and generally had a great year with them. They found out I can teach older kids as well ... some of the teenage girls asked me to help them with algebra when their regular teacher was unavailable. First I was given the algebra class to teach, then the middle schoolers' math, tutoring a middle-schooler that was ahead a bit, and pretty soon I was teaching (and in some cases developing) math classes for most of the school. And still teaching my little kids.
I loved it, but ... trying to pick up at the end of the year like that makes for a crazy schedule.
Goats: Goat-baby is doing great. Boucing off everything, including her mother, the llama, and ME. She REALLY needs a name, because she's a month old and I've been calling her "Little Bit" and she's starting to think that's her name. I really want a pretty name for her. I was actually going to post a pic of her and ask for names as my next post, but ... I haven't gotten the pics online yet and there never seemed to be that much time. So I haven't posted here.
My doe has gone from producing over a quart per milking the first week to under 3 cups a day most days. Some days (like today) probably will be less than 3 ounces, since I was late milking in the morning. I think the baby is getting it all. She's growing well though. Maybe I'll get milk after weaning. I wonder if my buck is going into rut. He's doing strange things, hunching his back and peeing funny. Hopefully I will get him another pasture fenced QUICKLY since they are all together for now.
Llama -- is still herself. She hasn't been sheared yet -- again. I really am going to have to get it done. She wants only what she wants. But she comes over and asks to be soaked down, and is doing well. She also got out two nights ago, and can run a lot faster than I can. Fortunately, she just wanted to look around, but she sure wore me out and worried me.
Chickens have been up and down. Lost most of my chicks to a small bird that swooped down and got one, the rest were killed by two different snakes that got into the coop during the day and hid. Now I search EVERYwhere every night ... and it was freaky the first time I discovered a BIG one in a nest under the straw! And one of the chicks eaten belonged to a buff orp who had been broody forever, and wouldn't leave the eggs even after two hatched. She ended up damaging her legs, and a couple of days ago I bought some 2-week old barred rock pullets and slipped them under her at night. She was ecstatic. She's a GREAT mama. I was afraid the chicks wouldn't realize she WAS a mama, but they learned within the first day how to be a hen's chicks, and are right in there with the one she had left. Finally the buff is getting some exercise, and I think she's going to recover fully. A week ago I was afraid I would lose her. She's certainly a great broody.
Rabbits ... up and down too. Really, it hasn't been a good season, considering I am breeding five does. I have 11 babies. One of the does didn't take. Another doe laid on her babies and killed them, and then didn't take when I re-bred her. Another doe had 8 babies, and is down to 3. I'm not sure the cause ... it just appeared some weren't growing well. One had 3 babies on the wire, and I put them in the box. Much later that night she had 2 more on the wire but they died. And the other doe had 8 and she's down to 5. One died the first day, but two more died yesterday I'm pretty sure from the heat. We had a VERY cool and extended spring, but yesterday the temps suddenly soared. Today I put the young babies in boxes and brought them inside for the hot part of the day. I'll see how it goes in a few hours when I take them back, but my does are pretty calm. Right now I have fans on the cages, and I tried a system of hanging cloths in a bucket of water and letting the air pass through them. The first attempt at it didn't work well, but then I moved the water to the roof of the cage and suspended the burlap in front of them. I am HOPING the water will wick down better than it wicks up. I think I got a better result by soaking down the ground under the cages. They are more comfortable than they were but I HAVE to figure out something to cool them. My freezer is full, and I have more cages than last year, so I can't do the 2-liter frozen bottles this year unless I buy a spare freezer.
Speaking of cooling, I got my own air conditioner working yesterday -- finally! It has been bearable, but hard to work in the garden and come in to no a/c. It turned out to be bugs had gotten in and messed up the contacts. Simple cheap fix ... I just didn't know at first that was it. I'm glad the appliance parts store guy was honest and tested the capacitor before I bought another one.
And we have a PLAGUE of grasshoppers! I thought last year was bad ... this year is ... weird!!! I just walked through so many, they all jumped up and it's like it was raining grasshoppers. I can't handle it.
I want some ducks, or some more guineas to eat them. Last year's guineas won't stay around if I let them out, and my neighbor pretty much said their dogs would eat them if they came down again -- and I can't blame anyone for getting upset with them. So I keep them penned up. I finally found some ducks cheap enough, but over an hour's drive away. And I can't be away from the animals in this heat that long until I get a way to keep them cooler.
Garden is still ok, in spite of grasshoppers, but maybe won't be for long. I dug holes yesterday for some grapes, blackberries, blueberries, and a little fig tree. I hope I can keep them alive in this heat. Potatoes are getting big, peas are drying up but I hope I have a nice crop of seeds from them at least, and I'll try again in the fall. My onions look like they are trying to grow out of the ground. Maybe I didn't plant them deep enough. And the llama stomped them when she got out. Tomatoes and peppers are taking off.
My kitty has had another serious attack of her asthma, and I put her on the emergency prednisone the vet gave me. I'm going to have to get her on inhaled steroids ... sigh .... I so need another job. I can put my income tax refund toward getting her a supply, but it's an expensive med (for me) and it's not eligible for generics until at least Dec 2012. It's so borderline for me ... it's more than I can afford, but if I had just a bit more it would be manageable. And I am always optimistic that I can make a bit more.
If I was faced with a HUGE amount for a pet's medical care, then I guess I have to let practicality decide ... but this is almost manageable for me, and it might sound silly, but this little cat means the world to me. She's been there for me through some really, really hard times when I lost almost everything and everyone I cared about, And she's super-sweet. I'm not really a "cat person" ... or I wouldn't have thought that I was ... but she's sooooo affectionate and well-behaved, and it's like she reads my mind as far as mood. The only "disagreement" we have is that she really wants to explore outside, and I won't let her (she's deathly allergic to fleas, and we have coyotes), so she gives me a long drawn-out "Reeeee-yyyyooooowwwww!!!!!" and lashes her tail when I tell her no. But otherwise she's a sweetie. When I sit down to eat, she jumps onto the bench next to me and just sits up there, being at the table. Not to beg, just to be there for dinner. It's cute. And she sleeps on the foot of my bed now and doens't bother me a bit while I'm asleep, but when I wake up, she asks to come up and be petted. She's very polite.
Everything else is pretty normal. I'm wanting to make things a bit prettier around me, so now that school is out I'm dragging out some things I have and seeing how I can make things nicer. I wish I had enough paint to re-do one of my rooms. The floor was bare concrete, and I did paint it, but the color is not so good -- kind of cantaloupe -- the only color I don't like, LOL, and the fireplace in that room is HUGE and was already painted a very similar color. I had wanted to make a fake flagstone effect on the floor, but it didn't work out with any way I tried to do it, and so I finally just gave up and did a slightly lighter wash over the base color and put the furniture back.
And I have about an acre out front that I'm putting to food plants. I've decided my long-term goal is to make that pretty too. I have some old fence panels I got for free on Craigslist, so I made some planting boxes from them, and I'm hoping the fruit trees and grapevines will help. The sunflowers will make a wall around it this year (I hope, LOL) and hopefully over the course of a few years I can develop it into a large and pretty food garden by adding flower seeds around the veggies, and whatever I can make to dress it up. I'm pretty good and making garden pretties, so it should be a project I enjoy, whether I ever reach my goal or not. And should make it more enjoyable to work in.
Well, that's pretty much a month in my life. Somehow I think I should make this a dozen posts under different headers and on different boards even ... and if anyone actually read this far, well, I'm impressed.
