BIlly Shakespeare's New Pen

As usual, Don was not a willing participate in my farming project. All through Lowes Friday he was saying, "This is the last project I'm helping you with."  I replied, "Yes, this is the last project this weekend." (He does not find me funny; but at least he ignores my comments, so that works.)

So Saturday morning we gathered up the items and headed to the spot for B. S.'s new pen.  Don started digging the holes with the post hole digger and said, "I don't want to do this."  But of course it has to be done, because my dear sweet neighbor is not happy with stinky Billy.  And because I tend to be a very lucky person; not just because my husband is not a violent person, but just 2 days before, a former employee in our construction company had called looking for work.  He's kind of a handyman, jack of all trades, and his name is Jack.  So I told Don, that if he just couldn't make himself do the fence; he could hire Jack to do the work for him. I had just spent almost $200 on materials and am still in debt for the Chateau de Poulet, so all I could afford was the free labor that Don was hopefully going to do. My husband ran a very high end remodeling business for 30 years, but for most of that time he was the pencil pusher, not a hammer swinger.  He loved designing and was very gifted at it.  Anyway, I had been far-sighted enough to write down Jack's phone number.  Don disappeared into the house for a few minutes and came back out and said, "Jack will be here in about an hour." 

B.S. now stands on his igloo looks at the does.

So Don mostly got to supervise and advise and Jack worked his butt off.  It took about 4 hours Saturday and 2 hours Sunday afternoon. Late Sunday B.S., along with the new buck kid, Minimus moved into their new yard.  I called Linda and told her to go to her computer room and take a deep breath. 

Father and son now live together.

Sorry But Billy Shakespeare Stinks

I have 3 does and 1 buck, not counting the 2 kids that were born April 1st.  The does and kids live in the back, behind the garage apartment.  But we didn't make a special yard for B.S.; I just put him in the dog yard that fits rather snugly between my house and my neighbor's. He loves to stand on the air conditioning unit and yell at everyone going by.  It's funny to see people stop, point and laugh at the unexpected site of a  goat. 

B.S. is my friendliest goat.  He was only about 2 weeks old when we picked him up in Loganville, just outside of Atlanta, GA. at the Double Durango Farm.  I had to bottle feed him.  That night we checked in a hotel to watch the LSU football game.  So B.S. is one of a few goats to sleep in a hotel and watch a football game.

He and my granddaughter, Kennedy, have been wonderful playmates since the day they met.

Kennedy and Shakespeare last year.

We'll be outside and I'll look up and B. S. is wandering around free in the yard.  I'll look at Kennedy and she will say, "I let him out.  He's my friend."  And he is.  She has great control of him.  I think she will be great showing him at the State Fair. 

 My Neighbor is the best neighbor about my having a mini urban farm.  She is always bringing friends over and even recommended that a family who is home-schooling their daughter come and visit the farm. She saves vegetable peelings for the critters and I give her eggs. But one day she called and said, "I have to ask you to move Billy away from my computer room.  I can smell him in that room and at my front door."

So in the spirit of being a good neighbor; last weekend we built a new pen for Shakespeare.  Don, very reluctantly, and I went Friday to Lowe's to get the needed hardware.  We had a lot of chain link left over from the girls' yard, so that came in handy.  I'll write a post tomorrow about B.S.'s new pen.

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. 

I Couldn't Pay My Bills Cause the Goats Ate Them

Gypsy and Billy Shakespeare on the front porch

Well maybe I really can still pay my bills.  Actually, I pay most of them on the internet, but I still have them mailed to me.  





But I do have photographic proof that the goats chewed on the mail and scattered the newspapers that were collecting on my front porch. 

I guess I have given up on Dottie Belle getting pregnant.  She has been with Billy Shakespeare for 4 months and no results that I know of.  But of course he was just a baby, 2 months old, when I first put them together.  But this is Gypsy and she is 13 months old and my smallest doe, so I've decided to let her get acquainted with B.S.  I can't say there was any romance the first day.  But they have spend a lot of time deciding who is in charge.

Spending Time with the Goats

With rainy weather, meetings and everything else going on, I have not spent a lot of time brushing the goats.  I give them food and water and then rush on to other activities.  So today I decided to brush all four and trim their hooves if needed.  They were all great at standing on the milking stand and letting me do this. But I noticed that Billy Shakespeare, my 5 month old buck, really loved being brushed. So after he finished the food I put in the bucket for him, I let his free and he continued to stand perfectly still while I brushed him.  The girls don't do that.  He is so tame and such a baby.

 The video is a little strange, because I'm brushing him and holding the video camera.

I also got a video of Gypsy and Dottie Belle on the roof of the goat shack playing. 








Gypsy got up there first using the chair that is against the house. 
 
Gypsy is by far the smartest, most curious and, yes, mischievous one of the 3 girls.  It took Dottie Belle a long time to figure out how to get up there. 

 
 Honey Bunny never even tried.  She just found a warm spot to sun bathe.
 I know I have not painted their house yet.  I have the paint scraped on 2 of the 3 sides.  I will do it before summer.

Santa's Apprentice Tryouts

I know this could not be anymore amateurish, but I have to start somewhere.  The kids and I had fun.

The day after Christmas, Santa knew he must retire,

So he sent out a call that an apprentice he will need.

Young Connor dressed in his cowboy attire,

Quickly jumped on B.S., his trusty steed.

All the antlers were neatly hung upon the gate

Cowboy Connor knew he'd be chosen to deliver the toys.

And of course he would never be late.

It would be his charge to travel the world spreading joy.

With the help of his brother Chase,

He would transform these goats into reindeer.

The bayous of Louisiana would be their home base.

Only one detail remained a bit unclear.

He knew to yell, "On Gypsy! On Honey! On Dottie Belle!

As he harnessed each to his little red sleigh,

He wondered would this be the challenge from hell?

Cause how will he teach the goats, "Up, Up and Away!"

Billy Shakespeare Is Crying For His Bottle

This is how Dottie Belle treated him yesterday.

He is looking at me through the office window.

Today has not gone Shakespeare's way.  First we got a hard rain last night and a little this morning.   Now there will be no bottle today.  He was born on September 26, so he is 11 weeks old and it is time to ween him.  Diane at Double Durango Farm, where I bought him said she weens her kids at 8 weeks.  Well, I love to give them a bottle, but the rest of this week will be too busy with Christmas.  So he is in the "dog yard" right next to the office where I am blogging and I can hear him crying for his bottle.  All I can say is, "Eat your hay."

Is It a Male Thing?

I have 2 daughters and 1 son.  Paxton is the baby of the family.  When he was small I had so much trouble keeping up with him in stores.  It is terrifying to lose a 3 year old in a mall.  So I bought him one of those leashes that Velcros to the child's wrist and the parent holds the loop on the end. That was in the late 80's; there are much more clever "leashes" now, like monkey backpacks with a leash. Well, for Paxton that was not going to happen.  He said I could put the leash on my wrist and he would hold it.  Since the results "could" be the same, I was happy with that. But he could not let go or he would have to wear it. That worked fine; "he was in charge" sort of.

With goats, I first got 2 does when they were less than 2 weeks old.  When they were a couple of months old, they walked beautifully on a leash.  






Now Billy Shakespeare is 11 weeks old and getting a little big to carry, so I wanted him to learn to walk on a leash.  Again, I'm having trouble with who is in charge.