Goat Days and Dog-Tired Nights

It's been a week of extraordinary accomplishments--all homestead related. 

In the past four days, we finished the goat shed, put proper latches on the goat gates (more on why later in this post),  and moved the bunnies to their permanent outdoor location, complete with an electric fan and plenty of shade and protection.

The weirdest thing we did was build a goat stand. Greg calls it the guillotine because the goat has to put her head through this hole and then we trap her there while I work on her hooves or milk her. (No milking until she gets pregnant.)



I was never sure it was going to work, but the girls happily climbed up on it knowing there'd be goodies in the food bowl on the other side of the guillotine.

Yesterday was brush-burning day. We had a dozen dead trees to bring down and burn. It took all day, but the place looks great. I wish I had taken a video of the fire. It was awesome.

We did have one goat malfunction last week. Greg and I were working on the goat shed and we kept going in and out of the pen. Unfortunately, we left to take a break and didn't notice the gate wasn't properly closed. (Hence the reason there are now double latches.)

Sure enough, the goats decided to check out the great outdoors beyond their pen. Fortunately, they know what a rattling food bucket sounds like and they came rushing toward me and followed me all the way back into the pen.

***

Still acclimating myself to Feedly. I deeply apologize if I missed any of your posts. Somehow instead of deleting one  category, I end up deleting ALL my feeds. It's been driving me insane. I know I'll figure it out eventually, but I'm disappointed that it's not as user-friendly as Google Reader.

I'm going to try Bloglovin too and see if that's more readable.

***

Well, that's what I've been up to the last few days, up to and including an impromptu get-together with friends and a special birthday dinner for Greg. What's been on your plate this past week?



Comments

Jennifer Shirk said…
I've been using Bloglovin and REALLY like it!

Are you going to make goat's cheese? Mmmm, that's my favorite.
Angela Brown said…
I'm attempting to learn more of Bloglovin as well. I think it's been sending me some kind of summary but I've been so busy deleting things I think I've been deleting it as well *facepalm*

And though that contraption looks oddly sadistic, it appears to work so yay for the guillotine-looking-thing.

Stacy McKitrick said…
I finally finished my editing project and now I have to clean the house. I have a friend coming over for the weekend. Good motivation for me!

But you do notice I'm here checking out blogs instead of cleaning, right? Yeah, I hate cleaning. I know it will go better if I break it into smaller tasks instead of doing it all at once, but I have to get off my butt first!!!
Maria Zannini said…
Jennifer: Baby steps, but yes, goat cheese making is on my list of projects. I'm told it's delicious but I've never tried goat cheese so I'm anxious to try it.
Maria Zannini said…
Angela: I've seen all the goat raisers have one but I just couldn't see getting a goat up there. It turns out they are happy to climb up to see if there are any goodies.

I need to keep them still if I'm going to trim hooves or milk.
Maria Zannini said…
Stacy: My house would never get clean if it weren't for company coming over. LOL.
Sarah Ahiers said…
I LOVE YOUR GOATS!
Unknown said…
You really need a little 'like' button for your posts. :D
Gwen Gardner said…
It's a good thing your goats are food-motivated, LOL! I guess you're still working on that male goat before you get to the goat milk, huh?

I went to Laughlin to visit my mom for the long weekend. I'm still catching up.

I haven't chosen a feed-thingy yet. Maybe I'll try Bloglovin'
Sounds like some smart goats. We have some downed trees I need to work on.
Jenny Schwartz said…
Wow, you've been busy. Thank goodness for the greed of goats that let you lead them back into captivity :)

I wish I had your energy. I've been writing on and off, but that's about it. I'm glad the goats didn't run for the hills. Sometimes our dogs can be teased back by the food bucket, but not always.
Anonymous said…
I know it can be exhausting, but all of this sounds like an amazing way to live! On those days that you just want to scream with frustration... remember some of us never get those opportunities.

Then scream. Because I know you need to.
Maria Zannini said…
Sarah: They've been more fun than I expected. Every day is a new adventure.
Maria Zannini said…
Darke: I used to have that radio button on my old template. This one doesn't have it. :(
Maria Zannini said…
Gwen: I need to set up the phone app for Bloglovin and see how that looks. I like its overall simplicity.
Maria Zannini said…
Susan: Bringing down dead trees are a never ending project here.

Good luck and be careful.
Maria Zannini said…
Jenny: The very first thing I did was train them to listen for the feed bucket. Am I glad I did!
Maria Zannini said…
Barbara: It's not that we have the energy--just the projects. Farm stuff wait for no man--or woman.
Maria Zannini said…
Marlene: It's an interesting life, but it is harder now than it was for us when we were in our 30s. We pace ourselves more.
Anonymous said…
Last week was lazy compared to this week, or rather what this week is shaping up to be like, LOL.

You've got me thinking of goat cheese...yum. Seems my aunt used to use the milk in pancakes instead of buttermilk, too. Good stuff.

Happy birthday to Greg :)
Maria Zannini said…
Raelyn: Isn't that always the way after a holiday? I can barely keep up with my email.

Thanks for the good wishes!
Shelley Munro said…
The goat stand sounds very practical and a great idea. My sister tells stories about the cow kicking over the bucket of milk or roaming away because my sister is too slow milking her. She needs a stand!

I've been using Bloglovin' and find the app very good. I can read feeds on my laptop with chrome or on my ipad as the moods takes me. It's easy to add blogs to my feed too.
Maria Zannini said…
Shelley: I think there are similar contraptions for cows too.

I'm pretty sure I'll be slow to milk too.