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Showing posts from January, 2010

Death on the Ranch

As another week passes, we face another death. It has just been one week since my daughter lost her Bullmastiff, Bow. Now, we had a 2 year old goat - Double Bubble - have issues and it ended with us having to put her down this morning. She had been sick a few months ago and we had treated her. Then just 3 days ago, she miscarried a little buckling (she was 2 months early). After this, she appeared fine but then she went downhill quickly. We were treating for Listeriosis and Goat Polio but her condition degraded to seizures that would not stop. I felt as if we had no choice but to end her misery . . . after many tears.

The California Desert

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As I approach yet another birthday (of my own), I look back over the years of where I have been. God has been kind to me in many ways. When we lived in the desert of Southern CA, it was a nice place - the desert has a beauty of it's own. There are the wide open spaces with lots of blue sky and, there are the gorgeous sunsets. But, I am thankful that we moved to Oklahoma. I think I am truly an "Okie at Heart". Now, we are living in a beautiful place that has much more green to it.

The Twins - Helping Out?

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It is hard to believe that my 2 youngest children will be 5 in about a week. This is an amazing thing that they have been around for 5 years! Here are a few pics of them "helping out" on the ranch.                     This is O (as we call him) in one of the hay feeders! O, the goat herder: Here is Yo helping her older sister feed the goats in the morning: What a blessing to our lives these 2 little people have been! What a great place these 2 are growing up on.

The Ice is Comin'

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Well, it is 10:55pm and there are quite a few icicles outside on things. This is suppose to be a pretty big storm. If you check out the radar, it looks like more sleet and snow should hit us sometime in the middle of the night. So, we went out and fed out another bale of hay just to keep all the goats happy in their barn until morning. Amazingly, their 18' by about 20' shelter stays pretty warm inside - with all of the goats and then the double bubble insulation, it is not that bad in there. Here is a pic of Shamrah, all tucked in for the night,

Our Beloved Bow

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Animals add a dimension to our lives that is special. We learn from them, we train them, we raise them, we feed them, we play with them, we milk some of them, we walk some of them, we hug some of them and, we will miss some of them. That is the case with Bow. She was with us from 8 weeks old until this past Sunday (she was just a little over 6 years old). In my 19 year old daughter's words in an email to her Granny and others she said the following: Bow - 12/22/03 - 1/24/10 Bow passed away on Sunday. She had been noticeably sick for a couple weeks and we had been taking her to the vet, giving her antibiotics for what we thought could be the problem, etc. She was going down hill on Saturday night and Sunday. We decided to take her to the Emergency vet on Sunday to take some X-ray's of her chest and abdomen- she had been having trouble breathing. As we were loading her up, she went. As far as what she died of, we are not sure.  Upon doing a necropsy, we found her lungs and hea

Busy Days

Well, it has been another busy week and, I am only half way through it! We went to Pearl's house last week and learned several arts and crafts projects. She sent us home with a few gourds and other goodies from the day . . .       At our place the past few days, I have been starting some seeds for the spring garden. Last year I did no seed starting, just bought plants that were already ready to start growing. I am hoping to plants lots of things this year also.       I have a new idea about using old freezers and refrigerators and turning them into raised garden beds or cold frames. I have been taking pics of one freezer I have that I have been turning into a cold frame. Today I filled it with a mix of goat poop, llama poop, horse poop and dirt from our property. I picked through it to get most of the big rocks out of it. I will try to get pics up in the next day or 2. Good-nite!!

The Past Week

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Well, it was a usual week - busy. Here are a few picture highlights from this past week.          We were given a bunch of cranberries and so I made a Cranberry Salsa recipe. I must say that it was pretty good. I liked it much better than the blueberry salsa I had made back in the summer. About 5 miles down the dirt road from our place, there was an absolutely beautiful ice show to see. This is an area that gets very little sunshine and so these "ice falls" were there for several days. They have since melted down some. With all of the baby goats that have been being born at our ranch, we had several heads to disbud. Here are a few pics of that event: And, of course, there were MORE baby goats born - right before we went to see the Ice Falls. What will this next week hold? Only the Lord knows but, I am hoping to get some gardening done. I am hoping to try a method called Winter Sowing and, if possible, I want to convert this old frig into a Cold Frame Bed.

Frozen Pond!!

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Here is a picture of our pond that is frozen over. A closer picture of the frozen pond. So, what do a bunch of Californians turned Okies do with a frozen pond? Go SLIDING!! Who needs ice skates? And, how does all of this make you feel? Like this -

Okie Things

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You know those emails or websites that show "Okie things"? Well, we have come up with a few of our own. Here is our "Okie Hose Holder" And, here is our "Okie Hay Feeder" I am sure if I walk around with my camera, I can locate some more "Okie Things"!

BRRRRR!!

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In all of my 44 years of life, I have never been in weather this cold. All I have to say is that Arctic explorers are insane!! Here was the weather app temperature the other day: And, here is a picture of the thermometer that my nephew sent, who lives just a few hundred yards away from us.

A Goat Kidding!!

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A few days ago, we had our 2nd doe kid to triplets. In this first picture, LaWanda is having a contraction. Here is the bubble coming out: Oh no! It is just a tail! Time to pull this breech kid out! This is the breech kid being pulled out. He wriggled around like a fish out of water from lack of air! This is the third kid that came out: This is the response of the mom after it was all done!!

WHAT a Morning!

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What started out as a normal morning turned into running-about-organized-chaos. We went from 5 goat kids to 9 in just a short time. You can read more about it at my daughter's blog -   http://goodgoats.blogspot.com/2010/01/chaos.html       Before the birthing fiasco started, we had the 5 kids from the past 2 kiddings in the house running around. Here are some shots of "Kids with Kids": And one of Canuck licking a new kid!