Goats Make Good Drums

 Every evening me and The Boy try to spend time in the goat pen before it is time to  give the goaties their supper and put them to bed. It is always great entertainment! Goats have BIG personalities and you never know what will go on out in their pen.When we first go out it is chaos! Everyone comes running in case of treats because well, often there are treats! Then they kind of settle down and take their turns getting attention. One of the things that happens on  occasion is drumming. Tonight it was Nibbles who wanted to be musical....ummm..maybe I should say Nibbles wanted to be the musical instrument!

Nibbles was a bottle baby and is very close to The Boy.When she was a baby she lived in the house and slept in a clothes hamper next to The Boys bed.  She wants to be close as possible to him all the time. She really tries to sit in his lap still but she is just too big! As she and The Boy sat together tonight he was patting on her like he was playing a goat drum!

 You can see she was loving it...just sitting there chewing cud and enjoying all the patting!

  Maybe I can take them to the fair to perform and people can put change in a can for them,lol! It could help with the goat feed fund!

 Nibbles says,"Hey,I did not tell ya you could stop..."

  Back to drumming...

  "What was the Nibbles,...more drumming!?!?!"

... pat- pat- patta- pat- pat....my arms are getting tired.....

 I am not sure who is actually in charge here,The Boy or Nibbles!

A boy and his goat..life is good!

A Project Done!

 You all may remember a while back I went to Navasota to the WC Mercantile and got myself stocked up on wool . I thought this merino and silk was beautiful and could not wait to spin it !

I was right, it was wonderful to spin! I think it turned out to be a lovely yarn!

I decided to make some hand warmers from this pattern, which seems to be quiet popular  because I have seen it on several other blogs. Please ignore the terrible looking farm woman fingernails! I used a bigger needle size to accommodate my more"chunky " yarn and had shorten the amount of rows for the hand and thumb area which was no big deal. I am no perfectionist and have no problem adjusting what I have to make what I want,lol!

It just so happens I have enough yarn to make a cowl to go with these which I think will go great this fall with a  denim  jacket! It is still hot as heck here but hot weather is the time to be making your cool weather stuff.   I usually always have something on my wheel and a knitting project and at least 1 or 2 sewing projects going at once!  Yes, it takes longer to finish them but that seems to be the way I operate when it comes to projects!
We are suppose to cool off this weekend and by cooling I mean the 90's instead of the 100's! AND a possibility of rain ! It is almost too much for me to hope for...sigh.

So anyone else making winter goodies?

I received this Versatile Blogger award from Chris over at Grow Fish Eat. He also has another blog where he is getting ready to start bee keeping,  Bees Make Honey. They are both terrific blogs about ..well..pretty much what the titles say! Check him out and I bet you'll be glad you did!

I am always honored when someone gives me an award but I usually do not participate in them much any more. This time however, because Texas is just about fried off he face of the Earth and there is really not much to post about, unless you want to hear me endlessly whine and gripe about the heat and drought and how I cannot do anything I love pertaining to homesteading because of a fore mentioned  baking heatwave and drought! No? Are you sure?  Because I am getting reaaaally good at it!OK then...I guess I will just have to tell you 7 things about myself.

Sooo.....let's see...
1.  I love watching the Beverly Hillbillies,to my son's horror!

2.  My son weighed 10 lbs 4oz at birth and he was not over due. These are obviously going to be all over the place random!

3. I am a cold weather person. Love the cold. I really love the cold North Sea. When I think of a paradise it    is never a warm tropical place,it is standing on a rocky cliff  watching the cold, grey waves roll... biting, sea  kissed wind blowing in my face....

4.Even though I was born in Texas and have lived here off and on over my life I do not consider myself a Texan,I have lived in many places and my heart lies elsewhere. I do however, love the Texas spirit and people...it is just to darned hot here for me,lol!

5.My eyes are dark brown.

6.My great great grandma was a Choctaw Indian and she was still alive when I was born.

7.I was born on a Good Friday. That is the Friday before Easter just in case anyone didn't know.

So there you have it ,7 totally random and boring facts about me! There is no way I can choose who to pass this along to because I have way too many blogging friends to try and pick just a few! So if you want to play along,consider the Versatile Blogger award yours!

Horns

I thought I would show you all the varieties of goatie horns we have here on the farm since some of my friends said they did not know that goats could have different kinds of horns. I showed you all Sweet Pea with her straight horns and Mr.Tumnus with his big, curved horns last post so here is the rest of the gang!

  

This  is Nibbles,who by the way, has established herself as herd queen. She looks like she is smiling!

 She has one long straight horn and one that curves back! She is a mixed dwarf goat we bought as a bottle baby from some nice people here in town that had a herd of mixed dwarf goats. She was to be a friend for Butter Bean back when we had no idea that goats were addictive! She was the only goat there that had these color markings. Her daddy was amazing! He had the tallest,straight up horns I have ever seen on a goat and his horn on one side curved just like Nibbles'!

Of course there is the Original Goatie,Butter Bean!

His horns are curved back and slightly turned towards the outside. He is a Pygmy goat  wether. Butter Bean does not realize he is a wether and has to stay in the buck pen with Mr. Tumnus because he has a one tracked mind when it comes to the ladies and pesters them to death! He is a good friend for Mr.Tumnus and they have a good time together playing! They run around their pen and jump and dance and chase each other over the goat houses, it is a fun sight to watch for sure! Mr.Tumnus is bigger but he is very gentle and never hurts or is too rough with Bean.

Then we have Doodah,who is a Nigerian Dwarf,she has  perfect curved back horns...

Her daughter Lola's horns are starting to turnout to the outside more like her daddy,Mr.Tumnus.  Her horns will not be huge like Mr.T's because the girl goats do not get those massive horns like the boys do!  She is also full Nigerian...

Doodah's other daughter,Zippy..well,it it too soon to tell yet but the are curved back for sure....

Of course there is Dolly Doodle,who would never let me forget her! She is a mixed small goat and she has curved back horns too...

Oh, then we have the Woolie  Girls! My Pygoras are a newish breed that are fiber goats,they are a cross of a Pygmy and  Angora goat. First off, we have Sweet Minnie, possibly the sweetest goatie ever,who sadly has no horns. She was disbudded as a baby which  means they burned around her horn buds with a hot iron to kill them so they would not grow. There are a lot of folks who swear all goats need to be dehorned, I am not one of them  for many reasons. Please, if you are an advocate for dissbudding do not leave me comments trying to change my mind.You won't change it just like I won't change yours! I do  think it is  sad  for hornless goaties because they need their horns to scratch with . Goats are genetically itchy according to The Boy! Plus they love to head butt each other and they need their horns for proper butting and protection! Getting a bloody head is no fun,even for a  goat. Minnie often stays out of the herd and I think that is why.

Then we have Purl, my other Pygora. She had long straight horns but some how managed to break part of one off! I keep asking her how she did that but she won't tell me!

Purl's other horn curves forward on the tip! The Boys says it looks like she has a can opener horn!

There are a lot more different kinds of goats with different kinds of horns.We have a wide variety just in our little herd!

Just for kicks and too give you a idea of what a heat wave in Texas can do...here is a duck egg I cracked this morning! It had been out in the yard all day and it was cooked,literally!

I tell you I think all of us down here are feeling like this egg, cooked!

Growing Up Goatie Style

Guess who is getting her big goatie horns?

 Little Miss Daisy that's who! She has tiny little points showing up,little goats grow up fast and it won't be long before she is butting with the best of 'em!

So now we are wondering,whose horns will she get? Her daddy Mr.Tumnus' long curved back horns..

He is a handsome fellow....

Or will Daisy get her mama Sweet Pea's long straight horns?

Her horns are excellent for self goat scratchin'!

Daisy is pretty fond of goatie scratchins as you all can see here...

and here!

So who do you all think she will take after in the horn department? Will she have Mr.Tumnus curvy or Sweet Pea straight horns?

I think she is going to be pretty darn cute either way, don't you?

A Dolly Doodle Demonstration

Dolly Doodle here,or as I like to be called these days Lumber Jack Dolly, to demonstrate the goatie way of  getting rid of a tree!

I  am the best in the goat yard at this job. You can see because I am the tallest goat and can stretch waaayy up  to get the high bark . Now, you all may think I am just a snacking goatie but it is more than that! You see,this is the tree the lightening struck and I have decided it needs to be removed and what better way to remove it than by eating it!

I am very diligent in my work! I spend a lot of my day eating,..umm..working on this tree!

If you only knew how yummy my job was!

I munch all the way around,I never just work in one spot!

I really would...mmm...like to tell you all...more about my work...but I am really busy right now..

These are tough times,at least that is what the Maa says when she is looking at the feed bill,and every person and goatie has to pitch in and do their part! I do not mind at all being a career goatie as long as I can keep up my lumber jacking!

Now I have to get back to munching..errr..work!

Mamma Whirley Comb

This is Whirley Comb and her chicks. She is the last of our original black and gold bannie girls. I do love these little chickens! I don't even know if she still lays any eggs but she loves to hatch babies! She will still go broody 3 times a year and hatch out a little family!

Whirley Comb is teaching her chicks how to find yummy chicky things to eat in the compost pile! She is giving me the "chicken eye"!

She hatched out 6 jumbo eggs! She never looses a chick either!

Our Orpingtons will go broody occasionally and if they do manage to hatch  a chick or two they never manage to raise them,they disappear.

I rarely even bother to try eggs under my big hens any more. These little bannie mommas out do them by a chicken mile!

Whirley Comb says she has had enough of this paparazzi treatment! Can't a little black hen have her breakfast in peace! She takes her chicks and says,"Talk to the tail feathers lady!"

I know you all are probably needing a goatie fix! So...  here is  Butterbean ! He maaas everyone  a big goatie hello!