Santa Confusion

I may have unintentionally confused my 2 year old granddaughter about the whole thing that Santa Claus brings Christmas presents, when one morning the UPS man rang the doorbell and Kennedy and I answered it.  He was holding 6 boxes.  I told Kennedy, "Oh look, Kennedy, the UPS man has brought lots of Christmas presents."  We thanked him and hurried inside to open all the boxes.  I did all my Christmas shopping from my computer this year.  Mostly that means I stuck to a budget.  I am terrible at walking through a store and just buying all kinds of fun looking trash.  I keep my focus much better shopping by computer.
 
Anyway, I knew none of them were for Kennedy, so we enjoyed checking them out. Then a couple of days later as we were taking a stroll down the street, a UPS truck turned on our street.  He stopped at a house right in front of us and carried a box to the neighbor's door.  I said to Kennedy, "I think they are getting a Christmas present."  As he walked passed us, Kennedy looked up at him and said in the sweetest and clearest voice, "I like you."  I think that made the UPS man's day.  He smiled at her and walked to his truck with a spring in his step.

I'll Be Ready Next Time

The order I placed to Hoegger Supply on Monday night arrived Thursday.  It was really a fast delivery.  




I am so thankful that Dottie Belle's kidding was in the 90%, so the humans could just be cheerleaders; no assistance needed.

Now I have a kidding kit, first aid kit, milking kit with a stainless steel milking pail, and hoof care kit.  I spent over $200.  So you can understand why I procrastinated placing that order; I didn't want to let go of that money.

Cloud thought I ordered him a box of bright orange paper.  He was delighted. Finally, we have a goat to milk.  This first week of milk I will just feed it back to Jazzman.  But from what I have read, Dottie Belle will produce more milk if I milk her as well as let her kid nurse.  So we will share.  This is her first kidding called freshening.  With each kidding she should produce more milk, but I'm just excited to get started.  My grandson, Chase, was up for the challenge of learning to milk a goat.  Dottie Belle was a bottle baby, so one could not ask for a friendlier and more willing goat.

3 Days old, Jazzman is my lap kid in training.

This afternoon I brought Jazzman in to sit in my lap for a few minutes.  I think his mom enjoyed a few minutes of freedom. He also got acquainted with Cloud.  The cat weights 12 lbs and the kid weights 5.5 lbs.

Jazzman Is Happening Today

Gypsy and Dottie Belle at 5 weeks old.

I got my first 2 Nigerian Dwarf does in February of 2011.
For over a year now, I have been surfing the internet and reading about raising and breeding goats. 





 I've been watching youtube videos like crazy of goats giving birth or kidding.

Monday night I finally decided to place that order to Hoegger Supply that I had been making since January. Mother had sent the money back in January to buy a milking pail for my birthday present and I had put a birthing kit and first aid kit in my shopping cart at the Hoegger site.  Monday night, I also went to this website and printed up the Kidding Handbook. http://www.goatworld.com/articles/kidding/KiddingHandbook.pdf  I even put a copy of the Kidding Handbook in my husband's backpack for him to take to work with him Tuesday and read if he found time.
 
For about the past 3 weeks Dottie Belle's udder has been steadily enlarging, but I didn't know how far along that meant that she was.

Billy Shakespeare at about 7 weeks old.

  She has been living with Billy Shakespeare  off and on since I brought him home in October, but he was only 3 weeks old. I was never actually sure they had mated until I noticed her udder.  

She never seemed interested in him.  So I was guessing delivery would be late August or September.  


Tuesday morning, July 17th, I went out to feed everyone and looked at Dottie Belle with the freshly attained knowledge from the Kidding Handbook.  Sure enough there was a little discharge on her vulva. (I have a picture, but I'm not going to include it in this post.)  I had been checking her ligaments around the base of her tail for a couple of weeks, but that area felt just like the other 2 does'.  But Tuesday morning, I could feel what was meant by "ligaments around base of tail will loosen."  Dottie Belle's were finally different from the other does' ligaments.  So my next step, of course, was to call my husband and make sure he had read the Kidding Handbook.  When I told him today was the day we would be using it, he didn't believe me.  I quickly put fresh straw in the goat shack and put Dottie Belle in there.  I then ran into the house and got the camera, surgical gloves, disinfectant soap, towels, a gallon of distilled water, and hydrogen peroxide as a substitute for iodine to put on the umbilical cord.  As soon asI got back to Dottie Belle, she jumped over the little privacy board I had put up for her and ran to a briar patch and laid down.  She had a contraction, let out loud bellow and I saw "the bubble" I had read about.  My friend and fellow school board member, Jasmine, called about that time and I told her Dottie Belle was having her babies.  She said, "I'll be there in 15 minutes."  Now Jasmine doesn't know anything about goats, but she did not want to miss seeing the big event that I had been talking about for months.  I then called my husband back and told him I was right that she is kidding RIGHT NOW.  I wanted Dottie Belle to go back to the comfy bed of straw I had made like it said in the Kidding Handbook, so I got some goat pellets to persuade her to return.  She followed me back to the shack and as soon as she got there out popped a beautiful kid.  I do have a video. Jasmine showed up just 5 minutes too late to see the birth and my husband came home to check things out just minutes afterwards.  His question was, "How did you know she was going to have the kids today?"  I replied, "Because I read the Kidding Handbook last night."  Anyway, kid number one and only was born at 12:35 p.m.  My husband returned to work, since it looked like everything was under control. Jasmine and I sat and waited until 3:45 for another one to be born. Jasmine so badly wanted to see a birth.  But we were having a board meeting at 4:30 and she rushed home to get ready and go to the meeting.  I gave up going to the meeting and sat with Dottie Belle and her kid until 6:00 and then decided there were not going to be any more kids.  Dottie Belle did everything exactly by the handbook, except that little run for the briar patch. I was at first going to name the new buckling Donald, because this was also my husband Don's Birthday. But Don didn't really care if he had a goat named after him, so I've named him Jazzman in honor of Jasmine.  It was her idea.  He weighted 5 lbs.  The average weight for a newborn Nigerian Dwarf goat is 2-3 lbs.  So he is a big fine fellow and looks very much like his daddy, Billy Shakespeare.

As soon as he was cleaned, he wanted to nurse.

Jasmine and Jazzman

Dottie Belle took a quick nap.

The grands came to love on him.

Chase and Jazzman. Jazzman even has his dad's blue eyes.

 

 

At least I'll have the birthing kit I've ordered for the next kidding. 

A House Full of Cats

Our adopted feral stray cat gave birth to 4 kittens the last week of April.  








I wrote a post about finding them and that I decided to bottle feed them so I could find homes for them. http://charlottesmenagerie.blogspot.com/2012/05/surprise-on-my-doorstep.html

Well, I was successful in finding homes for all 4 kittens. My daughter, who lives just one house from me, took 2, Mittens and Cirus. Steve, a fellow school board member, adopted Panther, the first kitten I found on the doorsteps. 

 But July is time for summer vacations and guess who was asked to kitten sit.  That's right, 3 kittens returned to spend the week with me. 

Mittens enjoyed lying right by the oven so I had to be careful not to step on her.

Panther spent most of the week being carried around by Kennedy.

 

 

Cirus was the most laid back kitten.  He enjoyed long naps on the sofa.

My cat, Cloud, took the responsibility of Kitten Sitter.  He never took his eyes off of them.

  I truly enjoyed the week because I missed the little rascals, but don't want to have them all the time.  Kind of like having grandchildren.  Love on them a while and send them home.

A Present for Gigi

My fountain

My children and I went in together to buy my mother a fountain for her birthday.  I wanted to buy her one like I did for myself; but when I went back a month later they were sold out.  I like the sound it makes.  To me it sounds like water in a cave, but Bridget said it sound like a running toilet to her.

Anyway, we had to find a different one.  Bridget was the one to spot the fountain we bought for Mother.  It had roses on it and was light weight enough that she and I could deliver it and set it up.  Also, if Mom ever wants to move it, she can easily.

I just hope that Mother will enjoy it as much as Kennedy and Connor did. Mother wrote a post on our visit also on her blog @ http://gardeningwithjuanita.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcomed-visiters.html

Some Shade for Billy Shakespeare

In an effort to control the goat population here at Thornhill Acre, 









Billy Shakespeare lives in separate and by no means equal quarters.  For June and the first week of July, the temperatures were 100 degrees and no clouds or rain.  B.S. gets shade from different shadows made by the fence and house, but not really very much and for a couple of hours a day no shade at all. He often just goes into his igloo to get out of the heat. One day I was at Kings Hardware getting some keys made for the rental properties and wandering around the store.  I found a 5x7 tarp and thought of Billy Shakespeare's need for shade.  Well, of course, a tarp will not just float above the pen, so when I got home with just a tarp and told Don of my plans, he made a list of things we will need to actually put the tarp up.  Then, bless his heart, he went back to the hardware store with me to get them. 

Through the powers of my extraordinary gifts, I was able to distract Don for a few moments from his sedentary hobbies of reading and napping, just long enough to put the tarp up.

 

Now that we have had rain for the past week, the tarp is great for keeping his hay dry.  Goats will not eat wet hay. In fact, they come up with all kinds of ways to waste hay.  To make things worse, they won't eat just hay; it has to be expensive alfalfa that they waste. 

Local Celebrity--Who?

Four months ago I got a call from someone in our public library telling me about a reading promotional they were putting together using local celebrities.  She mentioned the national campaign with posters of "real" celebrities like George Clooney holding a book and urging others to read.  She asked me, as a local school board member, if I would come for a photo shoot.  At first I laughed, but said, "Sure, I love reading."  She said to bring my favorite book.  Well, I have a lot of books that I love, so I just took the book I had just finished reading, Exile.  I do recommend it.

I've had several friends and family members bump into my poster at the library.  They usually call me while they are still there.  I failed to tell anyone, except my husband, about the poster so they were quite surprised. My daughter took this picture while she and the grands were at the library.  I don't have to go to the library since my husband goes every 2 weeks and checks out about 10 books at a time; therefore,  I haven't seen the poster.  I call Don my book filter.  He reads at least 10 books to my one. He always has a book in his hand and I only read at bedtime. So from his haul from the library, he puts the best one of the 10 on my night stand.  That works so well for me, because I find it difficult to quit reading a book.  I keep thinking it's going to get better.  In the 20 years we've been married, I've only stopped reading one book that he recommends.  Every now and then, I'll buy a biography, because that's my favorite genre and Don doesn't usually read them.

I've read that reading before you go to sleep can cause sleeping problems. That doesn't seem to cause me any difficulty. But a strange thing that I will do is go to sleep and think I'm still reading and make up all kinds of things.  It's very confusing to do that.

Picking Blueberries

 On Thursday my daughter planned a trip for us to pick blueberries at Hillcrest Blueberry Farm. 

http://hillcrestblueberryfarm.com/  I can't say that I recommend the last few days of the season and 100 degrees, but in spite of the heat we had a great time.  We only picked one gallon of blueberries. 

The grandkids enjoyed checking out the berry picker.

 The blackberry fields were already closed, but we bought some.  We also bought plums and different jellies.  Bought a jar of strawberry nut honey butter.  An unbelievably great topping. All I've put it on top of so far is a spoon.  The "nut" is pecans.  

They sold blueberry lemonade that was a great thirst quencher. Hopefully, next year we will remember to go in May.

The First Day of Summer

Sonic ran a special for the longest day of the year; all milkshakes were 1/2 price.  So of course, the grandkids and I made a trip by Sonic for 3 chocolate milkshakes.  Yes, I only got 3 and there were 4 of us. I knew Connor couldn't drink a whole one, even the small size.  And sure enough, as soon as we got home, he put his shake down on the steps and ran to the bathroom.  Well, Kennedy helped herself to the chocolate treat.  All was well, Connor never came back of it.

 

Lucifer Is Blooming

I come from a family of gardeners, both flower and vegetable gardens.  Mom and I always enjoy walking around each others' gardens and looking for plants the other one doesn't have.  We came to my tall grass looking plant and Mom asked, "What kind of plant is that?"


I replied, "That's Lucifer."  Well, you could see on Mom's face that she didn't seem to like the name.  Then she asked, "When does it bloom?"  And you know the pride you feel when you give a clever answer just off the cuff.  Well, I had one of those prideful moments when I replied, "When it's hot as hell."

Crocosmia or Lucifer

Well, this week Lucifer is blooming.  I believe that we have hit 100 degrees once and the forecast is for a couple more days of 100 degrees.



That's a Saga Palm behind the flower.

A Hard Day Keeping Grandchildren

Here's the text I sent my daughter on Monday about 5 p.m.


You will need to find a new grandmother for these kids.  Connor had a fit about going to speech, so I forgot Kennedy's diaper bag.  While we were waiting, she kicked off her diaper.  It was too wet to put it back on her, but before I could deal with that, she grabs her bottom and starts yelling "poo poo!"  I swooped her up and ran down the hall in horror of what was about to hit my legs, shoes, or the floor.  They asked us not to come back.  I said, "No problem."

Actual photo not available

And yes, I left it at that until she called me on her way home.  I raised 3 children and taught kindergarten through 8 grade for 22 years; so one would think that taking care of 3 adorable grandchildren would be a piece of cake.  And usually it is, but Monday was one of those terrible, horrible, very bad, no good days.

Actually, the morning started out fine.  The 6 year old, Connor, was at a STEM camp at the local university.  At 2 p.m. I had to pick him up. I had been given directions, but the baby (22 months old) went to sleep during the drive, so I had to carry her into the building.  Of course the class was on the 3rd floor.  I did take the elevator, but when I got off, a lady was also going to pick up her child, so I just followed her.  Little did I know that she had no idea where to go.  We walked the entire third floor before we came to the correct room.  So I got some exercise carrying a 20+ pound sleeping child.

Connor goes to a speech class 2 days a week at 4:15.  Every year we have had at least one "adventure" involving that.  You must understand that everyday he screams "I'm not going to stupid speech".  But because I always answer him with, "Your mother would never make you do something stupid.  Speech is a very smart and cool thing for you to do."  Today he screamed, "I'm not going to stupid speech, smart speech or any kind of speech."  So I grabbed him by the ankles and drug him until he was laughing and decided he would rather walk.  He has a huge crush on the young college student who is his teacher.  He was actually afraid that he might have to enter the room being drug by his grammy. I'm being playful, but they do fear that I just might be that outrageous.  I told him that would not make a very good impression on the beautiful young lady whom he had expressed his desire to marry when he turns 16.

Anyway, getting things for the toddler totally escaped me.  Thank goodness  I remembered her.  So of course there would be a diaper issue while we were sitting in the waiting room.  I did make it to bathroom with her.  She sat there for a long time with no results.  Then I quietly carried her through the waiting room and to the car. (It was a  fabrication that they asked us not to return. Though I wish they had.) There we sat until her brother's lesson was over and his lovely teacher walked him to the vehicle. He had a smile that engulfed his entire face as he informed me that his speech teacher is not married and does not have a boyfriend.

Sketch of fantasy family

We made it home without anymore issues; diapered the toddler and walked to the park.  While they played, I sent their mother the text.  She very lovingly picked up dinner on her way home for me, Grampa and her family. And tomorrow is a new day.

Some Stepfathers Really Step-Up (reposted)

I married Don in 1992.  I had 3 children then; Bridget was 17, Jacquie was 12, and Paxton was 7.  Don had one daughter, Piper, and she was 10.  Don and I dated for 2 years before we got married, so we thought we knew what we were getting into.  We took all 4 children on a 16 hour train ride to Chicago.  That was quite a test.  Actually, we almost decided that this blend might not work, so we broke up for a couple of weeks after that.  Everything actually went well on the trip and Don was very helpful with Paxton, who was only 5 then.  But of course it was obvious that all of us living together would be a lot of hard work.

Most second marriages with children do often end in divorce.  But Don and I decided that we would not fight over our children.  Each of us would do the best we could to treat them all equal and as parents we would stick together.  When things really get bad, I like to close my eyes and say, "This too shall pass."  It is true.  Often times the biggest mistake I make is trying to make something right instead of just staying calm and letting it work out.

Don and Piper                              Don and Chase                        

Don takes being a father as a huge responsibility. Being a teacher, I had to miss some for the children's school functions, but Don would go to their Halloween dress-up party and etc.  He saw that his daughter and my youngest 2 had what they needed to get through college.  Paxton and Jacquie got TOPS scholarships, but Don paid their room and board. When my children got married, Don split the "father's" cost with their father. 

Don really loves that Bridget and her family live just one house from us.  The grandchildren are a part of our everyday lives.  They don't have those "step" feelings.  He is their grampa and Bridget's dad is their papa.  It seems normal to them to have so many men in their lives that love them.

As a mother and his wife, I am so glad for all that Don has done for me and the four children.  Love you! Happy Father's Day everyday.

A Baby Shower

Today I attended a Mother-Daughter baby shower for Jack, the soon to arrive bundle of joy for my son and daughter-in-law. 






Jack will be my 5th grandchild and 3rd grandson.  But he is the 1st child for my son. It is a very exciting time in Paxton's and Courtney's life.

My 2 daughters on either end and Courtney and me in the middle.

The Mother/Daughter theme was a great idea.  I have never been to one like that. 






 
 It was at the Glenwood Tea Room.  I found this old picture of the Glenwood Drug Store in the 1950's.  The building doesn't look anything like it now.  It looked a lot better in 1950.  So I thought this picture was pretty cool.
 
We had a nice lunch and watched Courtney unwrap some very fun and cute gifts.  I'll just show a few of my favorite ones.

 I bought the necessary but boring car seat.

Lightening, Thunder and Hail

I went outside to see if Billy Shakespeare was on his new risers or on the air conditioner and thankfully I found him on the risers.

So at least they have kept him off the air conditioner for 24 hours.

Then I looked up at the sky and saw some rather ominous clouds.  I got excited about the possibility of some rain. 


 
 It was 100 degrees today.


About 5 minutes later there was a lot of wind, lightening and thunder.  And then the pounding on the roof sounded much too loud for raindrops.  But thank goodness the hail storm was nothing like they had in Dallas yesterday. Where my step-daughter's car got its front and back windshields and a door window broken out, as well as, a lot of dents.

You'll see a Jeep pull up under the Live Oak for protection.  I wanted to go and warn him that a lot of large limbs had recently fallen from that tree and the one next to it.  He was safe, but another driver who parked on another street under a tree wasn't.  The tree fell on his car, but the driver was not killed.  So it might not be a good idea to stop under a tree in a thunder and hail storm.

And then of course I saw one of the grandsons out playing in the river of water.  I was told later that he was in the hail storm with a helmet and safety glasses. It's great to be a kid and carefree.  If I had done that, they would be locked me away somewhere.

Billy Shakespeare Is Singing In the Choir

Well, he hasn't actually made the choir, yet.  But I went to The First Methodist Church's rummage sale and bought a small set of choir risers for him.  Maybe he and the girls will start The Nigerian Dwarf Quartet. 

 I actually have a more practical reason for them, other than just giving him something to play on.  I hope to distract him from jumping on the air conditioning unit.  It can't be good for a goat to stand on it.

Stuffed Tomatoes

My tomatoes plants look good this year.  I planted 4 hybrid Celebrity, 3 heritage Brandywine and a couple of others which I can't remember. 




The local Ag man here recommended these two for my area. 


In the past, I have had no luck with heritage varieties, but I hope my luck will be different this year.


My first 2 tomatoes to ripen were the Celebrity.  So tonight for dinner I made one of my favorite dishes.  I found this recipe over 20 years ago and no longer have it, so I can't write amounts of the ingredients.  I rarely measure anything anyway. 
First I cook a cup of wild rice.  To stuff 2 medium tomatoes use about 1/3 of a package of frozen spinach, thawed and chopped.  Half a cup of chopped walnuts.  Mixed them in a bowl.  Add enough olive oil so the ingredients will stick together.

Sorry for the blurry picture.

Add Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper.  Core the tomatoes and cut them like a flower like in my picture.  Then stuff them.  I love this and if the tomatoes are large, it's a whole meal. 




 Since these were medium, I cooked some salmon with it.  

Just another blurry picture or maybe I drank too much wine while I was cooking.

 I'm looking forward to many more dishes with my homegrown tomatoes.