The Plans

OK, so it's 5:30 on a Saturday morning and I'm up and at 'em. Alright, maybe not at 'em yet, but I'm up. I am the queen of undue stress, but this weekend the stress isn't necessarily undue. I have a chore list that runs the length of my arm and every item on it is important. Not to mention, tomorrow is Easter and we haven't even colored eggs yet.

Why then, didn't I spend some of the week working on these chores? The weather. It has been so nasty outside that I haven't even been able to take my kids out to feed with me. Yesterday, I'm sure I saw one of the neighbor's chickens blow past my house. No, that is not a joke. A real, live chicken. I didn't want them to have to post, "I'm sure I saw one of the neighbor's children blow past our house," on their blog. So, inside, the kids stayed.

Today, Chris is home. This gives me an extra set of eyes and hands. I can have the girls in the shop, since one of us is usually in there when we're all outside. We don't dare let them in there alone. Too many shiny tools and baby critters. I shudder at the thought of what my girls could come up with.

So, this weekend, I need to clean out both sides of the shop, move my chicken tractor for the meat birds, erect my shed that will house the hens, butcher a couple of rabbits, move a pile of rabbit poo (I was going to compost it where it's at, but have decided that is what the composter is for), split the rabbits into as many cages as I can muster up (I have one that is cut out, but still needs to be put together), and clean up the area on the side of my shop where people have to walk to get to the rabbitry (I think I heard dueling banjos out there the other day, signaling the need to clean it up). Like I said before, we also need to color eggs. I would also like to get my house cleaned up a little. The Easter Bunny will be here in the morning, and I would hate for him to see this place in such disarray (especially with so many of his relatives living here)! Oh, yeah, that reminds me...I need to go to town and get Easter baskets and do some grocery shopping. OK, I think that covers all of my chores.

If I'm going to actually get some of this done, I should probably go get some warm clothes on (pajamas won't cut it), grab a flashlight, and hop to it.

Have a wonderful weekend and a truly blessed Resurrection Day!

Stupid Luck and More Projects

My best friend and I have been seeing several posts on Craigslist from people looking for free animals and somehow decided we would post one for goats for meat. I got Chris to agree to this, since they would come here and simply go to slaughter. Many of you know from my last blog that I've been begging for two years for milk goats and have hit a wall with him. He outright said NO! The first and only thing he's ever denied me. It hasn't stopped me from persisting though.

Today, to my surprise, I got a call from a woman that raises Alpines. When I told her what we were planning she offered me two that were still on the bottle. I told her all I had been through wanting goats for milk and she offered me 2 does, 1 with twin weathers and one that had lost her kids at birth. She owns a farm up north and bought another. When she went out to the property, she found that the previous owner had left all of his goats and hadn't been taking care of them. She's nursed them back, but wants to get rid of them because they have horns and that makes her nervous. She told me that if it didn't work out, I was welcome to take them back to her and she didn't mind that the weathers were for slaughter.

So...I called Chris and started sucking up right off the bat. He asked what I wanted and I told him my tale. I let him know that they were returnable and asked if I could try it. His exact words were, "Since you won't take no for an answer, I guess you can get them and find out for yourself." Normally, I would say nevermind, but this is something I'm going to run with. I figure all of the animal care around here is all on me anyways, so what's the difference. Goats just make sense to me. I will have to really work to change his opinion. Not by harping on it, but by showing him that they can be easy to keep if you do it right.

My problem at the moment is that I don't have a pen or shelter built yet. I have all the materials and the rest of the week to get it done. I obviously won't have any help from my husband but my friend is willing to help build the pen, since she will be getting one of the weathers when it is butchered. I hate to ask her to come down though since she has been suffering from a sinus infection. I could do it myself, except the only fence posts I have are 10' tall. Someone's going to have to hold the ladder while I pound the posts! 

I have sooo many projects going, but, in my mind, this is just to good to pass up! I will post pics as I go and as soon as I get them home. Wish me luck!!!

Big Project Complete...Almost

Yesterday, I took the girls and a friend of mine down to Medford to pick up some rabbit food. It's a long drive, but when you're getting 1,000# of feed it's not too bad. I also got to pick up 20# of hamburger from a wonderful lady that wants some of my rabbits. She works in an antique store down there and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to browse. I also picked up all of my hog panels for the pig pen. Anyway, we didn't get home until 8:00 last night and it was raining. Putting the rabbit feed in trash cans had to wait until this morning.

After Chris helped me get the feed into the shop and scooped into the cans, I went to work on our new composter. I started it last Sunday but didn't get too far. Today, I got it finished. I still have to finish the water-proofing, but the building is done. I'm not one of those proud people that likes to toot her own horn, but I was proud as a peacock with this thing. The only thing I had any help with was cutting the 4x4's. Cutting everything else, nailing, yada yada...all me. I think it came out really well. It's 12' long and 3' deep, built using 2x6 and 2x4 with each outer corner being a 4x4.

Looking at it in the shop all finished reminds me of the man who built a boat in his basement and couldn't get it out. In my defense, Chris said to build it in there so that I could get it stained even if it was raining. He has this blind faith in the old Allis Chalmers out there. According to him it can do or move anything (and so far it has). We shall see. I may be composting in his work-shop come spring. Doesn't leave me much room for the next several projects though!

The very beginning. Excuse the mess!

What a helper! That's about as far as last weekend got me.

Ahhhh.

Hopefully the deck sealer will be a little added protection.

Not too bad for a girl...lol.

God Bless!