Ponies and More

As usual, I've just about forgotten to update my blog. Blah. I keep trying to stay on top of it but it just seems to slip through my mind from time to time.

Saturday we went and picked up my ponies! A seven year old Welsh mare and her yearling Welsh/Shetland filly. I was told the mare was well broke, and the filly was thrown in free after I'd agreed to take in the mare.

Well when we get there, we find the filly lassoed and tied to a tree while they struggle with her. She'd never even had a halter on before. Joy. Our trailer shows up along with a new friend of mine who is doing us the favor of hauling, and we watch them fuss with this poor yearling before stepping in finally. We got mama pony loaded fairly easily, but the yearling was a nightmare. Finally we put Steven, my very big and strong husband, at the end of the lead rope and drug her into the trailer. Poor girl.

They made it back safely, though I wasn't too amused by the project in front of me. Not that I really minded.

Wasn't too pleased when the mare turned out to be NOT well broke, or at least spoiled. She refused to move forward and if you put pressure on her, bucks and rears. She unseated me the first time but not the second time. So we're going back to square one. She had an attitude adjustment session the other day on the lunge line and it went well. Today she moved out really nicely for me. I think she just needs time.

Yearling filly is coming along really great, she is even leading without balking most of the time. But both are a bit buddy sour. They need to be separated, and will be soon. My good friend and neighbor fell in love with the yearling and is trading me three very nice does for her. So it works out well.

On other news, we lost our Great Pyrenees, Rogue. She came down with Parvo Virus and it destroyed her at a shocking rate. Despite me staying up all night forcing fluids into her every way possible, she gave up while I was on the phone with the vet trying to get in. It was a devastating blow to the entire family.
Parvo is not a joke. Even vaccinated puppies sometimes catch it. It can be spread simply by walking through where an infected dog has defecated, and then carrying it home on your shoes. There is no cure for it, and it kills your puppy by destroying the intestinal wall and track, dehydrating the dog until it dies. Symptoms include lethargy, lack of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, elevated temperature, and a very unique smell. 80% of puppies who contract Parvo die.

The virus cannot be killed by normal cleaners. I bleached down everywhere Rogue had been recently, though I could not bleach the goat pen. Which now means no dogs can be inside of it for at least six months, as the virus can live in the soil that long.

I must have caught her symptoms too late...and for that I will eternally be sorry.
On that note I will end this posting. I pray that next time it will be not so depressing.

Day In and Day Out

Not much to report, just the usual grind.

Some of the goats got to go and be petted at a petting zoo, I imagine they enjoyed it. Or at least they didn't tell me they hated it!

Juliet and Pepper are now my best friends, since they have discovered that I quite often have raisins in my back pocket. So now instead of running away, they run towards me and bite my clothes.

Hallie still will not let me get close. It breaks my heart, as she must have known some very harsh treatment to not even become curious enough to see what the other goats are mobbing me for.

On an amazing note, we will be adding a grown buck to the herd. A buck of AMAZING lineage and beautiful color. It's actually Juliet's sire. Turns out, he has a teat spur. A huge no-no in the show ring, so I will be getting him for a steal, without his papers.

Teat spurs are recessive, and do not affect the goat itself and its milking potential (in does) so its not a big deal for me. It is however, a huge fault in the show ring.

I feel bad for my friend, but its an awesome opportunity for me. I can hardly wait to bring him home and add him to the breeding program.

Just a couple more days until Saturday!

Tired

So its been a crazy few days!

To update the "bet" Steven most certainly noticed Indy on the third day! She ran right up to him crying, and he pet her and said "Hello there mini-Hope" and didn't say a word to me! Silly man. He told me later he figured there wasn't much point in it, now was there?

Hehe!

I've been so crazy busy, helping out friends, working, keeping up with my online stuff. I spent the weekend helping take care of my friend's animals while she went out of town. I hand milked her three does, including Pixie, who will be my doe, along with her doeling, by the end of the month hopefully. They all did great and its really lovely milk.

On top of that, I've been working my butt off to catch up. I managed to pull a TRIPLE shift on Saturday. Which is really great, because they were having bonuses that day as well. I'm behind on work so it is a big help.

Chicks are growing, getting their little wing feathers. Tried to shave poor Isis, but my clipper blades have had it and they're too dull to do anything now. So she looks like a poor half shaven sheep.

Can't wait until next Saturday!

Chicks

Hurray for newborn chicks! As of this post, we've got around 25 chicks out of thirty eggs. Pretty darn good! Looks like a couple more might hatch as well.

I tell you, if it doesn't hatch in a Brisnea, it wasn't going to hatch at all!

These are just little mutt layer chickens. The breeds were Road Island Red, Black Astralop, Leghorn, Americana, and a few others I didn't quite recognize or remember. Sure made some cute little chicks though. Can't wait to see how they feather out.

Today, Steven was outside while the goats were on graze, and Indy ran up to him crying. He petted her and goes "Hi Mini-Hope!" before going back inside. I admit, she does look like a miniature-Hope!

So I wonder, does this count for the bet? I never expected him to acknowledge her without asking me where she came from! I know he's probably put two and two together though and just figures no point in asking, but now I'm pondering if this closes the betting or if we have to wait until he asks. Which might be never!

Indiana

Today my friend dropped off a little doeling named Indy, in exchange for a future kid.

Sweetest little doeling you ever laid eyes on. She freshened her first time with triplets, so I'm really looking forward to putting her with Roadhouse Blue and seeing what she produces.

But the really interesting part of this is that I didn't tell hubby! Hahaha!

I know, it's bad of me, but I'm doing a sort of experiment here. I want to see how long it takes Steven to notice there is an extra goat in the pen!
Steven does go out from time to time to pet the goats and give them treats, so I guess it just depends on how much he's paying attention.

A few friends of mine and I have a betting pool going on how long it takes him. I was very pessimistic and locked in at a week or more! What do you guys think?

On a very positive note, I will be bringing home a dream next month. It's taken some searching and some working, but I will be bringing home a Welsh pony on May 8th. A pony of my very own. What a joy.

I hope and plan to share this joy with some young girls in the neighborhood, daughters of my friends, who are at that age where they really could use someone they can confide in. When I was their age, I would have given anything for a friend who had a pony I could love on, so I will be doing my best to share this gift with them.

Keep checking back for more updates on this situation, and to hear when Steven notices Indy's in the pen!

Disbudding

So I disbudded for the first time yesterday. My friend and neighbor bought an iron we could share (we share a lot of things!) and so I went over there and we did Romeo and her two new bucklings.

It really wasn't that bad. Sure, it stunk pretty bad, and sure they screamed and squirmed, but wouldn't you?

We think we did a pretty good job of it our first time around. At least we didn't fry any brains. We'll keep an eye on them, especially Romeo, to see how well it took. Romeo at least might need to be done again, as his horns were just starting to come over the hair.

I felt bad for them, but really, there's so many things we do when it comes to keeping animals. Some (most) of them are things that need to be done for their own good. So you just have to suck it up and do it.

Case in point, today I went to my friend's house. She had to leave for an important appointment, but one of her goats was stuck somewhere in the underbrush. I found him stuck in the fence wire. Why? Because he couldn't manuveour his head to get out.

My friend has had problems with stray dogs. She has two Great Pyrenees who do an awesome job, but it would have just taken moments for those dogs to take advantage of the poor stuck goat.

His horns are in the process of being banded off, not just for his safety, but because he's begun to use them on the other goats.

It's no secret I like horns, some of my goats are horned. But from now on I will be disbudding kids. They sell easier without the horns, are safer around children, and don't generally get stuck in fences.

And now, I must fetch my own goats back in; they're enjoying their time out on the pasture but I must start work soon.

Apologies

I apologize for the long hiatus! Things have just been really busy and I hadn't had a chance to update.

The trip to North Texas went really awesome! I had a great time. New pictures of Romeo can of course be seen on the website, and there is a short video of me riding Uncle Dan on my youtube.

I have since brought home the two Harlequin Nigerian Dwarves, a dam and her January daughter, home. They are both blue eyed and just stunning. The doe has a magnificent udder, which I will be letting fill tonight.

My neighbor has gotten a new buck, blue-eyed and moonspotted. Can hardly wait to use him at the end of the year.

Keep an eye on the website for a major update, adding the new does, changing some breeding information, and just a general clean up.

Rudy may or may not be pregnant, still not for sure on her. She doesn't seem to be growing an udder and has me a bit frustrated. I want to wring her precious little neck.

Chicken eggs in the incubator, and they are due around April 26th. I candled and saw some definite growth and movement, so check back to see the chicks.

All else is well, I apologize again for the long delay in posts and will be making an effort to keep up better.

Seven

We are extremely pleased with our new Nubian, Seven. She is absolutely the kindest little soul to ever walk this earth.

She's taken quite a liking to Rogue, the new LGD puppy. They get along great and have been seen sleeping together even.

We are really looking forward to producing some Mini-Nubians with Seven.

Rogue is turning out really great. Twice now, she's given an "alarm bark" after which I go and check up on it, making a great show of looking for the disturbance and telling her that she is a good girl for letting me know something is out there. So far, she doesn't appear to be a boredom barker, thank goodness. I do want to encourage her sounding off when she hears or sees something that might be a threat, and I think we're well on the road to that.

The extended pen is well on its way as well. Just a bit longer and I think we'll be able to haul everyone in together and get it up. I'm quite likely going to extend on side to run all the way across the back of the house. This means there will be goats right at my back door, but there's always a way around that! I'm thinking at first I can get set up a gated area to keep them away from the back door, and then later on, we can add a back porch. Won't that be nice! I can even put my milkstand on it and have an overhang, so I can milk in poor weather.

I am making a trip out of town for the first time in a long time. And it will be a trip without Steven. I know, astonishing!

I am going with my friend and neighbor to visit another friend, up in north Texas. She runs the River Bottom Ranch, and my beautiful little buckling is waiting for me. I can't wait to go, and see her, and all of her goats. We're even going to go riding, so very exciting. I haven't been horse back riding in some seven or eight years, which is sad because I used to work quite a bit with horses.

I may not be updating until I'm back from the trip, so be sure to check in after the weekend!

The Usual

Sorry its been a while. I was feeling really down after losing the bottle baby.

Things have been their usual around here. The daily in and out routine that I enjoy so much.

My brother has gone to work with husband, which is really great! They want him to cut his hair though, which he isn't happy about. But he'll do it, because you know, hair grows back but jobs right now are pretty hard to get. I'm hoping it all works out and he can start saving some money and get a hold on life.

We brought home Seven today. A Nubian. Yes, I said a floppy eared, loud mouthed, roman nosed Nubian! She is a junior and is just the sweetest thing ever. We fell in love with her some time back and when she came up for sale we couldn't resist. So she came home with us today.

We also went grocery shopping today. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Albertson's! We got a ton of food and saved over sixty dollars. It's the best. I love their sales on meats.

Rogue is doing really great in the goat pen. The other night she was barking at something. No idea what! But she was dead serious barking at whatever it was, telling it this was HER territory and that she was in charge around here. Super cute and great.

Not much else to talk about today, really. Check back soon for more.

I'm sorry

I'm so sorry little one.

It was a disgusting, cold, rainy day. I sledged through it as usual, bringing the irritated goats their hay and alfafa pellets.

You were laying with the two junior doelings. I didn't think twice of it. I checked the juniors, as they've been feeling poorly on and off lately. I gave them their morning dose of nutri-drench to keep their spirits up, gave everyone a pat, and went inside.

I came out to check on everyone and found you down, legs stiff, unresponsive. My heart was in my stomach as I rushed you inside. Your temperature was so low I couldn't get a read on it.

Desperate, I put you in a plastic bag up to your head and submerged you into hot water, trying to get your temperature up. I got you out and put you under a heater and a heatpad, rubbing you and praying.

I was too late. You passed away while I held you and cried.

I'm so sorry for not noticing you weren't feeling well that morning. I'm so sorry that something was amiss and you had to go.

It broke my heart to lose you on my wedding anniversary. You were my first bottle-baby and while you had your problems, little escape artist and loudmouth, you had your irresistible charms.

Today was almost worse, when you weren't there to greet me at the door, smug again in your ability to escape "fort knox" the goat pen.

I'm so sorry, and I miss you.

Rogue

Still keeping an eye on the situation with the mortgage company. They get one week before I call and "inquire" about it again.

We brought home our LGD! We've named her Rogue, and she is a right clever little thing. She already has a solid foundation on recall, and I've worked with her a little each day.

She has already graduated to spending a lot of time IN the goat pen. Yes, in with the evil head honchos, Rudy and Hope. They were not pleased of course, but amazing what a few squirts of water in the face will teach a goat.

Sure enough, they started ignoring her, and the youngsters of course could care less. They'll eat right next to Rogue.

So that's working out really well. I am really pleased with her.

America and Isis are nearly back to their old selves. I keep a hawk eye watch on them and make sure everything is going alright. The only conclusion I and others could come to was that the weather changes were upsetting their systems. I pray that their problems are coming to an end.

A very good friend and breeder of mine is selling out her herd now. I am extremely sad for her, and hope that things get better. She offered me first pick, and I decided to take a very beautiful yearling Nubian she has. We fell in love with this girl on a visit to her house, and I couldn't pass her up.

Sure, its a large breed, but she is disbudded and very gentle. I look forward to seeing out it works out.

I am looking forward to making a trip up north soon, to another breeder's home. The breeder of Romeo no less! She's invited me and my neighbor friend and goat breeder to come up and spend a couple of days. She has a beautiful ranch and I am really excited to go.

I haven't been on a trip separate from Steven in a very long time, if ever. I seriously don't remember ever being apart from him for recreational purposes. But I imagine he'll live, don't you?

I'll have to show my brother how to milk poor Hope though! I think he can manage it.

Speaking of my brother, he has an interview at Steven's work, yipee! Fingers crossed all goes well.

On a final note, I'm fairly certain I felt kids moving in Rudy today. Looks like April showers bring May kids.

Solutions

Sorry it took me a while to update, but been super busy.

We spoke to the mortgage company, and went up there. The lady in charge of this issue said it was going to be TAKEN CARE OF.

Awesome!

I am of course, going to stay 100% on top of it and MAKE SURE it gets taken care of, but its still a huge relief.

This means we won't lose our home or our tax return.

I will keep you updated on whether it actually gets taken care of or not.

On another note, my friend has decided to get out of Nubians. I was quick to ask about a certain young doe she has that hubby and I fell in love with during one visit over there.

Looks like we're going to be adding a gorgeous Nubian doe to our herd as well!

Mistakes

Funny how someone else's mistake can come to haunt you.

You may recall we recently bought this house. We closed in October.

Last night, hubby brought home a "Final Notice" from the county, stating there were back property taxes due, and if they were not paid in 30 days, they were filing suit and auctioning off the property.

Well that's a real kick in the teeth. As you can imagine we became very upset and I really dived into it. I looked up our property online, and sure enough, the property taxes have not been paid since 2003.

How ridiculous is that?

So here we are, thinking we're going to lose the house and everything we worked for. We certainly do NOT have the amount owed.

I broke out our settlement papers, and sure enough, on the Deed of Trust, it says Lein(s): NONE.

The mortgage company has made a very big mistake.

Now the question is, will they fix it?

We'll be finding out tomorrow.

Reviews

So yesterday we went out to the new Cracker Barrel in College Station and also saw Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. So I'll go ahead and review those!

Cracker Barrel:

QUITE crowded! No surprise since it's a pretty popular restaurant and new in the area. The host quoted us ten to fifteen minutes and we found a place to sit outside. They provide areas to sit and checker boards, and we had a checkers game where I was pwned by hubby.

We were called in pretty quick, sat down, and had our drinks in no time.

Brother ordered a bacon cheeseburger, hubby and I the chicken fried steak.

Food came out at a good pace. Not super fast, but they provided a little game on the table with occupied us easily.

Brother realized his burger had mayo. He asked politely if he could get it without it; no problem, they only needed to replace that bun.

Hubby's chicken fried steak was good. Mine? Overcooked and crunchy to the point I couldn't eat it.

Seriously, it was just a dry piece of crunch. Hubby gave me a bit of his and it tasted quite good. The manager took care of it and removed my entire meal from our bill, but I didn't get to eat much and was disappointed.

All in all, excellent service, subpar food. The manager even told us it was frozen chicken fried steaks. Yuck!

Alice in Wonderland:

We saw it in regular 2D, as most 3D movies will give me a headache.

It was a little slow, but the acting was excellent. It moved along well despite being a bit slow and was full of chuckles and it had its moments.

It was a very strange movie, but coming from the book (it was a mixture of both Through the Looking Glass and Alice in Wonderland) and Tim Burton, what else can you expect? I enjoyed it, maybe not enough to buy the DVD though.

We didn't make it to the grocery store, hubby and I were fussing a little over some things. We had a long talk and worked it out that night though, and went grocery shopping today.

Came home to find poor little Isis not feeling well again. I've brought her inside and she's going to stay in the bathroom until I'm sure she's feeling well.

I've set up a creep feeder where the young and small goats can get to hay and feed without the big ones chasing them off all the time, I think it will help.

Moshpit

We managed to get the form we needed and got our taxes handled. Or at least, mailed off again with what is supposed to be the CORRECT form.

Of course, the IRS will take another 6-8 weeks to get back to us. Joy!

Thankfully, there is nothing that shouldn't be able to float until then. It just sets back a lot of my plans and really annoys me. But what else can you do right?

I am really looking forward to two trips coming up. One is a "girls get together" with two friends of mine, one of which is the owner of River Bottom Ranch and little Romeo. I'll be getting him when we get together. We are looking into going to the Tyler Texas State Park and having a "sleep-over."

The other one is when I'll be picking up two new does I'm purchasing. Both are just gorgeous girls and the breeder is really awesome. I'm looking forward to adding both to my herd at the end of this month/early next month.

Yesterday I went to a Health seminar put on by a local chiropractor. He really didn't talk about anything I didn't know already but its always good to hear a point of view from another person.

Tomorrow we're celebrating my birthday (it was Monday). We're going to have lunch at Cracker Barrel (I've never been!) and go see Alice in Wonderland. I can hardly wait, going to be ton of fun. Check back for a review both on Cracker Barrel and the movie.

Yesterday also, Isis was feeling very poorly. I found her lethargic, a bit pale, and miserable. Panicked, I brought her inside, hit her with Power Punch, Vitamin E with Selenium, a dose of Ivermectin, a dose of Strongid, and a dose of Corid.

She almost immediately perked up after that. I conferred with several friends, gave her a small dose of Vitamin B, some probios, pepto, and offered her more baking soda. (They have it free choice outside.)

The general consensus was that the sudden heat wave caused an upset tummy. She was back to her normal self in nearly no time, and went back outside that evening. This morning she seems to be doing fine.

I have started another round of Cocci treatment for the young ones, just in case, and am hitting everyone with a round of dewormer as well. We had some wet weather and then hot weather, a breeding ground for worms. Better safe than sorry.

Another topic, I really think the tap water here is making me sick. I weaned myself off of soda, and onto a sort of flavored water drink that is sugar and caffeine free. I mix a powder with water every day and have one.

And ever since then, I've had massive headaches near every day. I noticed that the days (my birthday and one other day) I allowed myself a soda for the day, I did not get a bad headache.

So I'm done with the water here, better safe than sorry! (I say that a lot) I'll be buying bottled water for my drinks from now on.

That should be it for today. Check back tomorrow evening!

The IRS

Ugh I'm so annoyed with the IRS.

As you know, we purchased a home last year. We qualified for a First Time Home Buyer's credit. I dutifully filled out the paperwork, made copies of everything I needed, and send it off.

I admit I was counting on the money a little bit for certain things. Something I know better than!

Yesterday we received a letter saying we didn't send the right form and that we have 20 days to rectify the situation, after which it will take an additional 6-8 weeks to receive our refund.

Ugh!

So now I have to take care of that, on my birthday no less, and get this mess sorted out. It really sets back a lot of plans we have but you know, what else can you do?

Blah.

On a vaguely related note, I've doubled my work hours. Tons of fun, right? That means I now get up horribly early in the morning so that I have enough time to work my new daily goal, and still leave enough time for everything else, including my current webmastering jobs.

I possibly picked up a new webmastering job this evening, for a goat friend. I'll be helping her redesign her website in exchange for goat milk soap. Sounds good to me!

Hubby laughs at me when he sees me trading my webmastering work for stuff like this, but hey, I really enjoy doing websites, its like a fun puzzle for me, so I might as well get something I want out of it without making some poor soul who needs a good website pay through the nose.

My way is obviously working, since I've got Blue Romeo coming from one "job" and now some LOVELY goat milk soap.

Yipee!

River Bottom's Blue Romeo

Recently I acquired pictures of the little buckling's sire and dam.

This is his dam: River Bottom's Maragette

















And his sire: Pecan Knoll Obadiah NDGA #05263M






















Aren't they just gorgeous? I can hardly wait to get my hands on the little guy. His name has been decided. River Bottom's Blue Romeo. Isn't it lovely?

Update on Hallie

A great short video showing the progress we've made with Hallie, the rescue doe we brought home in January.

Hallie came to us underweight, sickly, and appeared to have been traumatized in some way. She was literally terrified of people and not just the wild aspect I've handled many times, but flat out shaking in her hooves wide eyed horrified near humans.

I started by completely ignoring Hallie except for necessary health treatment and hoof trimming. In time I began talking to her conversationally when I was out there.

That moved to having her eat grain out of a bucket while I held it. I then moved to touching her from time to time for just a moment while she ate.

Today I caught her, squatted down, and petted her. As you can see from the video, it went quite well! She's on her way to becoming a spoiled part of K-n-S Farm. They don't call me the Goat Whisperer for nothing!

An update on the little buckling; he is indeed mine! I spoke to the awesome owner of River Bottom Ranch earlier today and it looks like I may be able to pick him up on Friday. Very excited!

I also spoke with the owner of two does I have put a deposit on and gained permission to borrow the pictures she has for my website. She is also sending me new pictures and a picture of the sire of the doeling soon.

I am just absolutely pleased with all the positive changes coming!

Possible Buckling Addition

Wow! Look at this little stunner!

These were the pictures e-mailed to me by the wonderful breeder at River Bottom Ranch. I am doing some work for her in exchange for a buckling from her milk lines.

So far, this is the only buckling born at her ranch and he is just absolutely gorgeous.

He was born on Valentine's Day and so far she is calling him Mr Blue.

My eyes just about popped out of my head when I saw him, I tell you. She had teased me earlier, telling me she had a blue-eyed buckling born, the likes of which she had never seen before. And then proceeded to lose her camera!

Needless to say I was on the edge of my seat waiting for these, and it was worth the wait!


This little boy is from awesome milk lines. Perhaps not champion quality but far better than my own. He will add awesome improvement on his daughters, and his color and beautiful blue eyes will help make sure his sons find awesome pet homes.

I am not 100% certain if she is going to allow me to take this fellow as my payment for the work I've done, but I'm hoping this is the case! Why else would she send me these stunning pictures, after all, right?

As you can imagine, I can hardly wait to make this fellow part of the herd. And he'll be ready to try out his new job with my younger does early next year I'm hoping.

With luck, I will be adding a second buck shortly after, so I can have two clear bloodlines to breed too.




I had quite the adventure tonight as well. My friend and neighbor raises goats as well, a few Nigerians and some larger breed Nubian does and Nubian mixes. My favorite doe from her herd decided to kid somewhere in three acres of briar and thorn vine, and leave the kid behind!

Needless to say I headed over there, around 9PM at night, and got some flashlights and helped her husband search for the baby or babies. After about an hour, he finally called to me that he found it!

I was very relieved and we came back to the house to reunite the mother and kid. My friend was ecstatic to see that it was a beautiful little chamois doeling. Just a beautiful little creature that looked like a little rabbit hiding in the woods. And so they christened her "Bunny."

A suitable name, in my opinion.


And a final tidbit for tonight: The aforementioned bottle-baby of K-n-S Farm has officially been renamed.

Her new name?

K-n-S Farm Ninja.

Don't you laugh! This little monster can and has found a mysterious way of getting out of the pen, despite my best efforts. Perhaps she levitates over it. She gets out in the morning whenever she feels I've slept long enough, and runs to the front porch to yell at my window, demanding I get up and feed everyone.

She also has perfected the wall jump. She runs as fast as she can, leaps onto the wall, springs off, and lands perfectly. Quite a sight to see. So her new name is Ninja.

Judgement

I was on a forum today (like all days) and people were sharing pictures of cute dogs.

I of course love my little Chihuahua Luna and posted a couple of pictures, including some of her in one of her outfits.

Someone took it upon themselves to call me out for being "cruel" to my dog.

They said that dogs did not like being clothed, that I was torturing her by forcing her to wear clothing. I was a cruel bad owner, and I probably fed Alpo to her and never clipped her nails and carried her around in a bag everywhere.

??????

What?

So this person figures all of this out because I post a picture of my little queen dressed up? Are you joking me?

Let me clarify by saying first, yes, Luna does have a wardrobe of clothes. Guess how often she wears any of them. Almost never. Why do I buy them? Because it makes me happy and once in a rare while there's a reason for her to put something on.

Is it torture? Cruel? I cannot ask Luna to tell me this, only show me. When I open her little wardrobe up and get something out and call her over, does she cringe and hide? No. She runs over and sits down and waits. She cooperates at putting her little legs through the shirts.

As opposed to hats, which she will scrape off her head in a moment.

So, going by her reaction, clothes are not cruel torture. Indeed, she has sweaters which I put on her if she is feeling very cold. Once a sweater goes on, she sleeps better and shivers less.

Now to the slanderous other remarks and assumptions this person made.

Do I feed Alpo? Hell no. I wouldn't give that slop to the neighbor's evil dog, let alone mine. Luna has allergies, and generally eats a mixture of raw foods and IVO chicken. She in excellent weight, not fat not thin, and her skin, coat, eyes and teeth are clear and clean.

Have I never clipped Luna's nails? Are you joking me? I clip dog nails every two weeks. Luna sits patiently and holds her paw up. Show me another chihuahua that does that. And I've seen a ton of evil little finger biters, having worked in dog grooming.

Do I carry Luna around in a bag? Are you joking me? She has four legs, just like my other dogs. She walks on a leash. I do pick her up if she needs to be picked up, but for the most part, she heels on and off leash. I don't even own a doggy carrier.

So what this all boils down to really. Does anyone have the right to judge another person based on something so innocent? It's one thing for someone to post pictures of an emaciated animal, to call them out and say something then, but to call out someone for something you perceive as cruel just because you don't like it? No.

There's a big fat line between something that is actually cruel and something that isn't. I don't agree with carrying a perfectly healthy chihuahua around in a purse. Does that make it cruel? No. Do I call someone out for it? No. It's none of my business if that's what they choose to do.

If someone posts a picture of their obviously skinny horse, do I say something then? Yes. But often tactfully (at least at first) and I make an effort to find out what's going on and help.

The point is, don't make assumptions about someone over something so ridiculous.

You might be wandering about what I said to this ignorant fool. I told them to get a life, grow up, and go volunteer at the Humane Society and really see what cruelty and torture is, and stopped posting on the thread.

Connections

Isn't it always nice to connect with someone from your past?

It's even nicer when it's someone who had a positive influence on you, whether they were kind to you when you were in need, or supportive, or just generally a good person.

Today a teacher I had had in High School contacted me through FaceBook. I was extremely pleased, since this was a teacher who I still think of from time to time. She was kind to me when I was having a very hard time of it, and kindness is never forgotten.

It was good to hear about her present life, and I sent back some of mine. I admit to bragging just a little about some things, but really, its not a bad thing to be proud of how far one has come from what might have been dark beginnings.

There are other people I still think of as well. Some of these people may not even realize they had an impact on my life. Some of them I don't remember their names, and some perhaps I never knew their names.

What matters is that they are forever immortalized by their actions or words. Never forget that when you are speaking to someone. It could be a little thing that affects someone for their entire life.

Life can be a difficult road (how cliche is that?) but the path you CHOOSE to travel is the one that determines your end destination.

Never blame others or circumstances. There is so much I could lay "blame" on for things that have happened to me. Sure, some were quite awful and some had impacts that were unforeseen and damaging, but it all boils down to one thing.

I, and only I, choose how to proceed from there. I can wallow in unhappiness and be miserable and shake my fist. Or I can stand up, try to find the joke in all of it, and keep on trucking.

Roof gets ripped off by a freak tornado days after you close on a house? Hey, can't possibly make the house any uglier! (It did though...LOL)

Just find the joke and keep moving. Find a solution.

Roof gone? Get friends together and put it back. Still leaks? Well, Summer is coming and it will rain less! (JK, plans are already in motion to finally stop those few leaks.)

Just remember. Choose your path wisely. And kindness is never forgotten.

Texas

Only in Texas! Beautiful 60F one day, four inches of snow the next, and back to 50F the next.

Crazy Texas weather.

Not much happened today. I was awoken an hour early by the goats screaming at the top of their lungs. I guess they decided since the snow was gone, they deserved extra hay. I drug myself out of bed to feed them and used the extra hour to get some household things done.

Someone came and picked up the mean game rooster I have; he was becoming too aggressive with me and guests, so he just had to go. He has a new home with other roosters now and I can go outside without putting a foot in his tail.

I was pleased to see my bonus was applied at work for working the Olympic weekend hours, so I took my time making my goal today. Only finished a little late, and I'm right on schedule now, despite missing one day of work, because of the bonus. So that's going along quite well.

Otherwise I admit it to be a pretty boring day. Perhaps the future brings something of interest.

Wintertime

It snowed today! And I mean, REALLY SNOWED.

I think we got nearly four inches. Can you believe it? That makes three times it's snowed here this Winter. How crazy is that!

And how crazy is it for me to admit I've never seen this much snow in my life. I don't like the cold, hate it, but I will admit it was interesting to see this much snow.

I even made an effort to play in it. I made a dorky little snowman and popped him into the freezer. Don't laugh!

The poor goats were horrified, as you can imagine. I think between the cursing they were doing, they were wondering who the heck tripped over the power cord to the sun. And I don't blame them. The day before yesterday, we had beautiful warm weather with sunshine and happiness.

Welcome to Texas, the bi-polar state. Don't like the weather? Wait ten minutes!

That brings me to a thought I've always had. It's no secret that my house right now has no heating, so that we've had some issues. We've had ice hanging from our faucet and you can generally see your breath in the living room.

So my thought is, all these people that claim to love Winter? No, you love the feeling of being able to "defeat" Winter. This is not an insult of course, just a general thought I've had.

Take away someone's warm heater, comfortable house, nice things. How much would you love Winter then when you are freezing cold?

I detest Winter. I hate it even when I do have heat, and have suffered many a Winter with no or substandard heating. I don't like being cold. It makes me miserable and I can't sleep. On the other hand, I delight in heat that would cause other people to be absolutely miserable.

I guess it's all about balance. And remembering to be grateful for everything you have.

When you're sipping that hot chocolate in your warm house, remember for the briefest moment those people who don't have those things, and remember to be grateful everyday for the little things. They're what you'll miss the most when they are gone.

Hobbies

I'm forever trying to think of new topics for this blog, so people won't become bored. Not that very many read it to begin with of course, but its not really here for people to read.

Or is it!

Lol.

How many of you have had hobbies that you let fall by the wayside? I mean serious hobbies, not little things.

I used to be a major "gamer." I was on top of all the hottest games and knew my way around them. I was good! I loved video games and enjoyed playing, many times for hours upon end.

As time went by, I found I played less and less. My eyesight is part of that I think, but it will often happen that I'll get a game I was looking forward too, perhaps play for a while, and then just not have the motivation to continue.

The most recent game was World of Warcraft. I started playing last year and man did I get into it. They didn't joke when they call it addicting. I played for a long time, then took a long break during our move, then played again for a while.

Then just stopped again. I was bored. Still am, although I may try to move my "character" to a different server where my dad and brother play, and see if that makes a difference.

Who knows?

I'm known for picking up interests, trying them out, and dropping them when I figured out it wasn't for me. There's only a few interests I've kept my hands on: computers, video games, reading, and goats.

But I've done everything from rock collecting (still have most!) to raising show rats. I enjoyed them while I was taking part, but always in time I would grow weary of it and know it's not something I would like to do forever.

How about you?

Thoughts

Things are pretty much same old same old. I've been mulling over a lot of different things lately though.

One of which was registering the whole herd with the NMGA. I went back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of it, and finally decided not too. It's not the issue of the paperwork or anything, but honestly, my goats sell really well without registration, and I don't see the point of fussing with it when it really won't add anything to it.

I will of course register goats who are eligible with the bigger more respectful registries, such as NDGA or AGS.

Otherwise, I'm not going to worry about it really. It's just not worth it honestly.

The other big thing I'm going over is disbudding. I really think if I begin to disbud my kids, I'll have even better sales since most of my babies are sold for pets and hornless goats make them safer. I had some trepidation over a few issues, such as the possibility of goats without their horns overheating and dieing from heat stress, but I have been told by a lot of more experienced owners that this is a really rare occurrence, and any goats who did die from this likely had something else going on.

So while the registration went in the garbage, it looks like disbudding is in the "to-do" box. I plan on getting the 1/2" Rinehart X30, which is small enough for Nigerians but large enough for little buckling buds and possible future Mini-Nubians. The very thought of burning their little heads quells my stomach, but I think I can handle it.

Thankfully, I have a new friend, the breeder I am buying two lovely does from, who has offered to help me out by showing me how to do it. I look forward to learning!

Another great bit of news, the breeder I am doing website work in exchange for a buckling teased me with a post.

"My camera is hiding again, but I had a BEAUTIFUL blue-eyed buckling on the 14th. I've never seen one quite like him. I'll send pics as soon as I discover my camera's whereabouts : )"

How cruel of her to post such a teaser and then not follow up! I can hardly wait to see the little guy, he just might be "the one." I really wanted blue eyes and dashing color, because in the pet industry, it SELLS!

Not to mention I'm a huge sucker for color myself of course.

The weather has been really nice lately. It's warmed up and the ground is drying up even. I love it. I'm able to go out and spend time with the goats again, something I couldn't do in the cold. They of course are delighted with the attention.

I have been a bit sick on and off, but that happens every time the weather changes, so I tend not to fuss about it too much.

I think I'd like to plan on doing two "waves" of kids each year. Early kids (March) and mid-year kids (May) about. This way I can breed the Junior does I have at a good age and not have to wait another year, but also not have to breed them too early. It will also be an opportunity for "early" breeders to settle if they don't the first time around without spending a year as a hay burner.

And when there's a ton of interest and my "early" kids are sold out, it's not too long for those who joined my ever growing waiting list to wait for the "mid-year" kids.

I just hope we don't have problems with the heat. We did really well when old Cowbell kidded in June or July last year and didn't have an issue, so I'm hoping it will work out. If not, we can always ease everyone back to being bred for early year kids and just enjoying the inevitable "flood!"

I guess it all just depends on how things go!

Website

Today was productive!

It started out with a lovely young lady and her daughter coming to meet Hope's little boys. They had a great time playing with the goats and asking questions. I was amazed at how tolerant the little ones were about picking picked up, handled, and loved on.

She put down a deposit on both of the boys and is very excited to pick them up when they are weaned. It sounds like its going to be a GREAT home! And she took some pictures of her little girl and the goats, so I can't wait to see them and feature them on my website.

Speaking of, I completely overhauled my website today. I was tired of the dark cramped look it had, so I fussed with it until I had it better. I even added some great elements, such as kid pictures under their dams and sire and dam pictures on the young ones I had those available for.

I tried hard to keep it organized, but I may need to go back in and re-size the larger pictures. What do you think?

http://www.knsfarms.webs.com/

I got all of my usual chores and work done as well today, so it was quite a feat. I can hardly wait until the real work starts!

ChaCha for now.

Dogs

There's a dog that's been hanging around on our property, stalking the goats through the fence and barking.

The neighbors get one chance, then mister doggie goes bye bye. I don't have the patience or the time to deal with someone who can't keep their dog away from livestock.

It's a surprise I admit, people out here have been really great, at least in my general area, about keeping their dogs on their property or having dogs that don't go far and have yet to bother us. I think this dog is new. Well, it won't be around for long I think.

Thank goodness we're getting a Pyr. Sure, she's still just a little bit but she'll grow! And when she's mature, we'll probably bring her home a companion she can train. That way we have a working pair.

We're going to need it, as our herd continues to grow. I can hardly wait until the fencing is complete and I have all the room in the world (it seems) to expand.

I trimmed hooves today, and poor Hallie! I quicked her. I felt so awful when the blood welled up. I barely got her, but its the first time I've quicked an animal in a long time. I put some quickstop on it and it stopped bleeding in just a bit, but poor baby.

I fed her some oats out of my hand while she was on the stand waiting for the blood to clot. Hopefully she won't hold it against me. Seems like everytime I catch her, I'm doing something awful to her! Like deworming, vaccinations, hoof trims.

Today she was far easier to catch. I just put out some grain and grabbed her collar when she rushed in to get her share with the others. She's coming along quite well I think. She has a nice bit of flesh over her ribs now and is looking good.

Baby dearest decided to show the other kids how to get out of the pen, so I had to spend a while wiring a piece of chain link across that panel to put a stop to the escapades. The last thing I need is little unsupervised babies running around right now.

It's been nice for the last few days so I cleaned the goat house and put down new bedding. I hope they appreciate it before they turn it back into dirt.

The dang feedstore kept trying to sell my poor husband goat feed today. We've never bought goat feed from them, though they know we have goats. We usually just buy hay there, and get our grains at Tractor Supply. Today I had him pick the oats up there since we were out and I needed hay anyways, and they asked him about five times if he wanted a bag of goat feed with that!

Tomorrow a lovely young lady is coming to look at Hope's boys. I've had an amazing amount of interest in them, and it's filling up my waiting list. Thank goodness I will be having a ton of does kidding out next year, with good fortune.

Housework

I admit, I skipped work today so I could get a little done on the house. It's a bit frustrating, because there is so much I want to get done, and so little I can actually do.

So I pacified myself by pulling up more tackstrip, trying to rip that hideous tile up out of the bathroom, sweeping and reorganizing our room. I can hardly wait until things are they way I envision them.

Hopefully we will finally finish the roof, hubby knows where its leaking and is just waiting for a good hot day to set the tar and seal those spots off. Then we can get my brother moved out of the game room and into one of the bedrooms.

Then we can put the gameroom together as it should be, and get hubby's annoying games out of here! That will free up room here in the bedroom, so I can rearrange and have things the way I want them to be.

Of course, all of the floors still need to be done, but for now I'm mostly ignoring them. It's not easy, after all, my father is a flooring expert, and I guess some of it rubbed off.

Ah, well!

I've had a ton of interest in Hope's little boys. I sure wish the rest of the worthless herd had taken when they were bred, but alas. I do believe Rudy took from her visit with Chestnut however. I am contemplating pulling her kids and selling them as bottle babies so she'll be ready to re-breed again in late fall with the rest of the herd.

With good luck, I will have quite a few babies hopping around in March of next year. I decided January was just too harsh for me to kid in. It has its benefits, but I'm going to shoot for a little later in the year this next time.

I'm still waiting on my buckling to be born. River Bottom Ranch has some does due in March, so I can hardly wait to see what she produces. There's lots of blue-eyed and polled possibilities on the way. Fingers crossed!

I am hoping when the lovely young woman I have been speaking to comes and sees Hope's kids, and puts a deposit on them, I will be able to turn around and put that deposit on two gorgeous does I really want: a mother daughter pair. Both blue eyed; the dam is black and white and the doeling a roan buckskin. Gorgeous!

The owner is being very generous and agreed to hold them for a bit for me, so I can gather a deposit.

Poor hubby! I wonder if he realizes I have six does right now. With two more hopefully coming. And he wants a Nubian doe on top of that! And of course, with this breeding to River Bottom's Darkened Chestnut coming up at the end of the year, I am praying Hope finally gives me the doeling out of her I want. And who knows what beauties the others will produce when paired with him? And I'll be able to keep any doelings, since by then I will have my own buck.

I'm sure to finally break that buckling streak I've had!

Thank goodness we purchased enough land to support my goat obsession. We're gearing up to extend the goat pen itself, and then we're going to work on fencing in the ENTIRE property, some in sections, so we look forward to being able to rotate pasture a bit too.

I can't wait for things to get moving.

Snow

It snowed here! How disgusting is that?

That means that all 50 states have experienced snow this Winter season. All 50 states!

News Link

Now, I've always laughed at the Global Warming nonsense. 30 years ago, they used the exact same information they are using now to try to convince everyone that we were going into a new Ice Age. Clever right?

Then they turn around and say the Earth is going to cook. Ha!

Nevermind the fact that this is nothing more than a normal cycle of our world. I imagine in another 30 years we'll be back to the Ice Age theory. Were you aware that the southern glaciers are growing again? Something that the Global Warming scientists said was not going to happen.

Nonsense.

I of course, am never happier than when the cold is gone and the summer sun is beating down. Love it! I look forward to summer's return, and of course, my electric bill will go down too, which is always nice.

I have someone coming on Wenesday to look at Hope's little boys and most likely put a deposit on them. I love the little guys and its nice to find such a great home for them. I'm giving her a discount because she wants to take them both. She said I changed her mind from Nubians and complimented my website. Needless to say, I am really happy! It's good to know my work isn't going unnoticed.

Sure, my goats may not be registered fancy goats, but they are hardier for it, and I ensure that all of my babies go home tame, happy, and healthy. It's extremely hard to find tame goats in my area, with the exception of a few friends who breed now as well.

As long as I have no trouble marketing even my little wethers, I'm surely not going to change the way I do things. With the possible exception of purchasing a disbudding iron, so that my wether pets are even safer for people and their children.

I am looking forward to meeting the soon-to-be owner and am hoping the mud will be cleared up by then!

Weather

Sorry I didn't post for a couple of days!

Today's post should be pretty good, hopefully. I dunno, it might be boring. I guess it's up to you!

Let's start with today.

The weather! It sucks! Good ol "bi-polar" Texas. We had nice weather, then rain, then a day of nice weather, and now rain again. Ugh! I hate it! The goats hate it! The dogs hate it!

My roof still leaks, so it just makes me angry when it rains over and over again. It turns our road to slush and then the morons in their trucks tear it up worse. Plus its cold. Which means we have to run the heaters. Which means our electric bill will jump.

Yuck.

On a positive note, today we decided to try shopping at Albertson's instead of HEB.

WOW!

We literally saved $62.58! We spent about $68 dollars and got almost twice the worth of meat and groceries. The meat savings and specials were AMAZING!

Now I admit, the prices on other things were a bit high, but that's fine with me. I'll get my meat at Albertson's and get everything else at HEB. Win!

We also stopped by Big Lots and Ross'. We got snacks at Big Lots for really cheap, and got Steven some nice shoes at Ross' for a good price. He goes through shoes so fast. It's crazy. But these are really nice boots and should last a little longer than his normal shoes.

I hope!

Yesterday Baby decided to teach herself a new trick. I had been teaching her to stand on her high legs for fun, as she's very attention driven and it was cute. Well, she decided it wasn't quite fun enough and started leaping from the log into my arms. It's quite amusing. Check out the video I put together!

Too cute, am I right? I'm sure I'll end up regretting teaching her such a trick, but I've spoiled her. I guess that's why I've avoided bottle-babies until now!

I think Rudy settled on her last breeding, not for sure yet, but if she did I'm glad. She didn't settle when she was supposed too last year with Buckly, so I let her visit with a neighbor's buck, and I think she may have taken now. If not, she'll get another chance at the end of the year when I lease Chestnut for the entire herd.

If she doesn't take? Well, I guess nothing will happen as she's hubby's goat. He picked her out and named her. So I guess she'll continue to be placed with the bucks and stay, burning hay. If it was any other goat (with the exception of Hallie, our rescue doe) she'd be gone to a good pet home, but alas, it's hubby's goat.

And it does help she's a gentle little sweetheart with a goofy personality.

The rest of the herd is doing well. Poor little Isis is such a tiny little thing, she's nearly the same size as the four-five week old babies! She's going to be our smallest doe I think, probably even smaller than Rudy.

I have my eye on two gorgeous does; a black and white blue eyed doe and her kid, a roan buckskin with blue eyes. The owner very kindly agreed to hold them for me until the doe weans her other two kids. By then I'll have my tax money and I had promised myself some new does. And I have always wanted the black and white blue eyed combo! Really looking forward to her!

The same with the goat(s) I will get for my work on River Bottom Ranch's website. I can't wait to take a trip out there.

There's been some issues on the online game I play, a few things that have really thrown me off my "groove" but hopefully it will settle in soon. I don't like it when things become rough.

No word back on the nice job I applied for. I suppose I didn't make the cut. A shame, because it would have been a huge help. I guess I'll just keep on doing the ChaCha until the company screws the cash paid guides enough that I quit.

By then I'm thinking my brother will be working, and can contribute to the house. We were going to take him to get his license tomorrow but since the weather is disgusting we're postponing it a bit.

I think that's it for now.

Talk to you guys soon.

Writings

Boy its been a rough few days.

First, we get slapped with a nasty rainstorm. It clears up for a couple of REALLY NICE days, then bang! Rain again!

Seeing as my roof STILL leaks, you can imagine I'm not too pleased about it. And the goats even less so. I always feel so bad because they have a pretty crappy shelter. It works, they stay dry and out of the wind, but they still deserve better. And soon they'll have it, with a much larger pasture to boot.

Everyone is doing great, the cocci treatment went well and everyone seems to be growing in leaps in bounds. Baby especially. She is much larger than Hope's twins and is nearly as large as one of my weaned doelings, although dear Isis is from a VERY small doe and will likely grow to be my smallest doe, even smaller than Rudy.

Speaking of cocci medicine. To anyone who owns animals, you know better than to taste something unidentified right?

Well poor husband goes digging through the cabinets, and finds the bottle of mixed cocci medicine.

And takes a taste!

What a goofball! He was quite displeased, and I just told him, "Well, at least now you won't have cocci, right?"

That and who the heck drinks something that's sitting next to the goat's Power Punch, Nutri-Drench, Pro-bios, Corid, and dewormer?

Duh.

Other than that, things are going by the usual way. We are feeling a little pinched, but we're making it and in time it will ease up I think. I wish I could help my poor brother find a job, but until we get a second vehicle and he gets his license, his options are pretty limited right now. I know how tough it is to be sitting around not contributing, but he's done a real good job helping around the house, pulling up old tack strip and helping me get some other stuff done as well.

All things, in time.

I've started working on a short story, perhaps I will post it here. Would you just be interested in reading? I once really aspired to be a novelist, I even wrote several well done (for my age anyways) novels before they became lost.

It's fiction, and about a wolf family, so I don't know how interesting that would be to you guys. Let me know.

Videos

Today, instead of boring you to death, I will delight and amuse you by providing a link to my Youtube channel.

Please forgive the quality on the first few videos, those were taken with my crappy camera. The newer ones were taken with my brother's nice video camera, which I have officially "stolen" for my own use.

The Goat Whisperer's Youtube

Try not to laugh too hard when you watch "Being Chased by a Goat" eh?

Thoughtful

Just a basic update on the usuals.

No more information about the bad breeder as of right. I'm waiting to hear back from the person trying to get her deposit back for the pig. We'll see what happens here shortly in the future.

The internet company sure took me on a round ride. Recently we upgraded to a higher service. Well we started having problems, as outlined in earlier blogs, and it took me around six phone calls to get it worked out. I finally had to go three supervisors up and demand answers.

The end result was we were knocked back down to our recent status, as apparently we are "too far" to get the higher service. Sure would have been nice if they had told us this when we upgraded. It was a huge ordeal and I made it very clear that we were NOT happy with the service they had been providing, especially customer service.

Then they tried to convince me to upgrade to television along with my internet and phone.

Ugh.

Cocci treatment is going well, Baby's slight diarrhea seems to have cleared up and none of the others ever showed any signs. Baby prefers to spit her medicine out (I have to put it in her bottle) but the rest, including Hope's two boys and the two weanling does, will drink the stuff straight out of the cup if I let them. Little strange weirdos.

I am really seeing an improvement in Rudy and Hope from the copper bolus I administered in December. Their coats are shinier, hooves have improved, and there is a definite drop in parasite load, not only using the FAMANCHA system but via veterinary fecals. I am really pleased, and thankful for my friend who sold me a few capsules of copasure to try it out. I plan on bolusing every six months, as well as continuing to have free choice mineral available from them.

So far we've not had a problem with Selenium, but our pregnant females do get a Selenium boost shortly before kidding.

I've learned I can put just about anything in a marshmallow, and my goats will eat it. Even Hallie, our wild rescue doe, took copper when it was folded into a marshmallow. Granted, I had to shove it into the back of her mouth while she was in the milk stand.

Baby is learning about hay and grain. I'm not sure if she is actually eating either, or just picking it up and mouthing it before dropping it, but her milk consumption has dropped a little. She continues to grow and is larger than Hope's twins, despite being a day younger.

To change the subject once again.

Anyone who knows me in the online world knows that I delight in gossip, but keep myself out of "drama" the best I can. Recently, the person who left our online game (see an earlier blog) has joined another game. Which I'm completely fine with, people have the free will to do whatever they please. What got me was that another friend, the leader of this game, actually laughed at us because we had posted a short blurb wishing the first friend well and hoping she would return to our game someday (when she first left).

How rude is that? And childish I might add. Goes to show you how true some "friends" can really be.

I'm not letting it bother me, because it's a ridiculous thing to be bothered over. I was just thoughtful, and it reminded me to always keep a wary eye on those you deem "friends." Even if you bend over backwards for someone trying to help them, it doesn't mean they appreciate the gesture.

More on the "Bad Breeder"

I've been trying to help this poor soul out, the one who put a deposit on a pig, and who is now being turned away from getting it.

To follow are some of the e-mails I have received.

We haven't heard back from the grandparents. But I am 98% sure we will be driving to liberty this weekend, Saturday. To ask for the pig or 300 dollars back.. I just think its insane to even be having to go to such an extent... I have texted her,called and emailed several times voicing my opinion on her "business". But no replies,of course.
I'm just really curious and worried of the condition the pig will be in, being it weighs 5 ounces and is located in the back of a tralior during winter is very scary!!

I'm now just starting to question if it is even worth going to. Or if I should just leave it alone and forget about it. Because I'm starting to worry ill get the pig And it will get huge!!

I will be posting one tonight. Another red flag is not a single pig has been sold or even had a down payment placed on any since my purchase was made. She claimed they sold terribly fast and needed my money right away but all are still remaining.
She also claims mine will only be 25 pounds, I can only hope that IA true.

I finally got a response from her via email, it was a lengthy letter I
sent her. All that I received back was "this is the first email i've
got". Nothing explaining my ignored calls, when I can get the pig, not
explanation on why my date is continuously being pushed back. She is

Well, I did it! And she now
is not allowing me to come to the farm, she saying she will meet me
somewhere! This is all to odd for me, I cant help but wonder WHY am I
not allowed there?
absolutely mind blowing.

Oh my word, now she took back
me being able to meet her, because her mother found out cancer is
spreading through her body! This is insane!

Well, she just said she may not be able to meet me cause the cancer AND her grandpa is in the hospital! This is unbelievable

I am loling as well, just so blown away I have to laugh.. she said she has not replied to my text because she lost her cell phone charger!! Such a lie!

I've left out my replies, simply due to the amount of information I've given to this poor soul, and it would be difficult to edit it all out. Needless to say, this poor lady is not getting anywhere at the moment, either to get her money back or the pig.

I have of course, provided information that I have from my ordeal with this breeder, along with suggestions on her best course of action. I have suggested getting the law enforcement involved even, because this is becoming ridiculous. I really feel for this person and am sorry they are having to go through the same thing, only worse it seems.

With luck, one way or another it will be resolved soon, and I will be releasing the name and location of this "breeder" so all who Google it will come across this and KNOW not to buy from her.

Some people may think it's harsh, but I have no remorse for scammers. I suppose this comes from a long association in the reptile world, where we deal with a large amount of scammers and we have a huge, very popular, forum dedicated to uncovering them and calling them out. It's helped solve a lot of problems and is an invaluable resource.

Reptile Board of Inquiry

It just chaps my hide that people like this are allowed to operate, but what can you do really? I'm against more government interference, so that leaves it to us, other breeders, to call these people out on their lies. It's also up to the buyer, to do their research before hand.

As to the farm here, Hallie is no longer limping! That was a rather quick turn around. We're still continuing the treatment of course, but we're glad to see her recover swiftly from it. No one likes to see an animal in pain around here.

We've also started the little ones, including our newly acquired weaned doelings, on a cocci treatment. We've had a lot of nasty wet weather lately, and since the expansion isn't quite finished and they're in the small pen, better safe than sorry. We look forward to finishing the large pen and seeing them enjoy all of their new space.

As for our internet, we called again today. Someone was supposed to come out (charging us a ridiculous amount of money as well) and fix this. And guess what! No one showed up!

Who's surprised? Not me of course.

I felt bad for the poor guy I got on the phone today and I'll feel bad for the poor fellow I get tomorrow, but this is just ridiculous. I don't pay for internet that doesn't work properly, you know.

Before I go, I'll let you in on a little secret. I've been helping a wonderful lady with her website. And in return, I just might be getting some lovely registered Nigerians in return. She has bucks from GREAT milk lines, so as you can imagine, I'm pretty excited.

Customer Service

Why is it so hard to find GOOD customer service now days?

Let me use my personal example. I have internet. Until recently, it was very good, reliable internet.

Then we had that cold snap. And ever since, our internet has acted like crap. It times out, disconnects, has constant errors and is just generally acting poorly.

Which I cannot have, since I work online.

I have called the company several times to ask them to fix it. Twice they put in a "Trouble Ticket" and assured me someone would call back to go over the issue.

Did anyone ever call back?

Hell no.

So tomorrow I will be calling and really letting loose on them. I have a lot of patience with people, because it is certainly not THEIR fault my internet is not working, but this time I am going to ask for a supervisor and really get this fixed. It is imperative that my internet works, both for my peace of mind and because I work online!

Grrr.

On that same basic subject, I've applied for a "real" job. Still a work at home, but this time with permanent hours and a "real" paycheck. I've sent in my application and hope to hear back soon. Fingers crossed, as this could be our salvation.

Hallie's limp has really improved, I really got into those hooves and got them looking better and have been treating the hoof rot. Looks like we caught it before it became bad. I'm glad to see her looking even better. It does not appear that she is pregnant, so with good luck, she will be ready to breed to the lovely buck I have lined up for the end of the year.

I have a new picture of our future LGD. Isn't she cute?

New Development

There's been some new development in the whole affair with the bad breeder.

(I will be releasing the breeder's name soon enough.)

Today, someone e-mailed me about the person, having gotten my e-mail from craigslist when I posted a Buyer Beware against this breeder.

Hello, I found a post you once posted on ********* Farms about her miscarrying for several animals. I am very instrested in your views on the farm she is raising. I just recently sent in a 300 dollar check (down payment) for her "micro pig" and after receiving the check she suddenly stopped picking up my calls, my text and not responding to emails. I was told I could pick for my pig in Liberty friday the 29th..well Friday arrived and she will not give me an exact address much less a reply. Now she post poned my date to Febuary 20th I have grown very worried not only because the loss of 300 dollars but in fear to how many others this is occurring to. I thank you for your time and hope to hear to views in return.

Thank you.

Not a huge surprise, really. I did e-mail back and go over the situation, and promised to procure contact information for this person so they could go about getting their (overpriced) pig. Once we get this settled, I will probably be releasing the entire story, along with as much evidence as I have left (some was taken by the ASPCA and in the meantime has disappeared.)

An update on Hallie: She appears to have been harboring some hoof rot in a hind hoof. I caught her, cleaned it out, treated it, and hopefully it will clear up soon. I hate to see her limp, poor dear.

Thankfully she does not appear to be pregnant, so we've avoided that potential disaster.

I will be keeping you updated on this new turn of events, rest assured, and soon enough, I will bring the whole mess to light, and hopefully get the word out there.

Moods

One thing I'm sure many of you who know me have noticed is my mood swings. Part of it is physiological, but my moods are often influenced by outside variables, as with most people.

Today I was mulling over the big one for me. The weather. I am as "cold-blooded" as it gets. I detest the cold with a passion, and thrive in the heat. And so, my mood for the day often reflects the current weather.

When it's cold, I am miserable. I can be surly, snappy, and mean. Part stems from the fact I cannot sleep when I am cold. Strange, but that's the way it is. I become upset, edgy, and terribly unhappy when its too cold for me to be comfortable.

On the other hand, give me 110 degree Texas heat and I am in my element. Cheerful, happy, and generally in an all round good mood. I get stuff done, I sleep good, and things just seem to fall into place.

So it's no wonder that I rarely get anything done in Winter. I detest it and constantly look forward to the Summer again. You can always tell when the Fahrenheit has dropped by my attitude, that's for sure.

Other things that influence me can be how I'm woken up. If someone wakes me up poorly, boy can that put me in a right mood for the entire day. This one isn't quite so bad anymore, as I've overcome this certain one, but it still has a bearing on my entire day.

So what about you? What puts you in a bad mood? What puts you in a good mood?

ChaCha for now!

Making Things Stretch

In our current situation, we're having to make food stretch to last us through the next couple of weeks before I can go to the grocery store.

It got me to thinking, what are all of the different ways you can make food stretch?

A favorite thing of mine to do is buy in bulk when something is on sale and break it down into smaller portions. Say a huge family pack of porkchops is on sale. Buy it, get it home, and break out the freezer bags! Soon enough you have several nights of porkchops stacked up in the freezer.

This works great too, for sales on cheese and other items that freeze well. The list is long, but includes tortillas, bread, meats, vegetables, and other things.

I love to buy big roasts when they are on sale. I cook them in the slow cooker and we have a nice roast one day. Then I either freeze the remainder, or I cut it up and we have beef stew another night. Add a bag of noodles and you've really got a hearty meal.

Instead of buying chicken breasts already deboned, I can usually catch chicken breast halves on sale for $1 a pound. From there it's fairly easy to debone and deskin them for my picky husband, and for far less the cost. There's no need to be "controlled" by convenience.

There are so many things that can be bought, cooked, and used for several meals. Hams, roasts, chickens.

Baking chickens are usually pretty inexpensive. Roast it for a dinner, then debone for chicken helper, chicken soup, or chicken tacos. Then boil the carcass with some seasonings and veggie scraps, and you've got lovely chicken broth you can use or freeze for the future.

And what about "cheap" meals? No one really likes ramen noodles, but add some frozen veggies to it and a bit more seasoning, and its something that can get you through a rough week. And you can do wonders with just eggs and potatoes. Trust me! I've had to live off of things before. It's not fun but you can do it, and come up with some amazing recipes in the meantime.

I'll even share my beef stew with you today. It's not very expensive, and its a big favorite around here. It makes a lot.

1 package beef stew meat
2 large cans mixed vegetables
2 cans beef broth
1 package onion soup mix
1-2 cans of vegetable of choice
1/2 stick of butter or equal
Seasonings to taste

Start by dumping, liquid and all, the vegetables in a big pot. Add the cans of beef brother. Stir in the onion soup mix. Bring to a boil. Add the meat and lower the temperature to medium-low. Stir in the butter, onion soup mix, and season. Here, you can add anything you like, be it mushrooms or other. Cover and cook until you can pull a tender piece of meat out, fully cooked.

Enjoy!

Changes

I wonder, how many of you like change? And how many of you are like me, and hate change with a passion.

I thrive on routine. I like to do the same things, every day, in the same order. It's comforting. When something is different, it throws me off and I don't feel "right."

I got to thinking about change because of my job. I work online. Well today they attempted to change the interface we use, and boy did people freak. I personally was not pleased, not just because of the change, but because it was poorly done.

It caused such a riot that it wasn't long before they removed the changes. Good thing too, because what they had done was really slowing me down, and that's never a good thing.

You'll notice animals like routine as well. Goodness forbid if I am late to feed or let them in or out. They prefer things to be done at the same time, every day, just like me. So it really works out well.

Our herd queen, Hope, is a real stickler for it. If things aren't going properly, she will scream as if being butchered alive. It's terrible to hear! It never fails to get me up and running to solve whatever problem she has imagined.

Changing the subject now. Do you ever come across people who continually play the victim? Well of course you do, we all do. But it really grows wearing when you consider such person your friend.

I recently had to experience a bit of a temper tantrum from someone. I play several online games, and in one of them, I've known a person some nearly ten years. She's been a great person, but lately I had gotten the idea she was no longer happy in the game and I wondered why she stuck around. She eventually gave up her position in the game, moving to a "lower-ranked" one, but was still sticking around.

In this position she managed to make trouble by trying to be a leader when she was one no longer. It caused quite a rift in the game, and took some smoothing out. She stopped playing and was offline for a long while. During this time, I was commissioned to make a new website for the game, and we changed some rules and did some work on it.

When my friend returned at long last, she was very upset, threw a temper tantrum, and left, saying it was for good this time.

My personal opinion is that she was looking for a way out; a way that would make her look like a victim so should could cry to others how we "pushed her out" and didn't want her.

Of course anyone who had been there would know we had done our best to be supportive, but things needed to be done and we couldn't sit around forever waiting for her to either do them, or give us access to them. So what was done was done.

I have to admit I'm pretty disappointed, but that's just the way it is sometimes. People don't always live up to your expectations. I learned long ago there's no point in dwelling on it, and I move on.

So, do you have any "toxic" friends? People who play the victim? How do you handle them?

Be sure to keep checking back for more from the Goat Whisperer. Eventually something interesting will happen, you can be assured of that!

Computers

I often wonder why I go through so many computers. Is it because I am hard on them? I am no computer "noob"; I know how to get the best out of my machines and keep them running smooth.

So why am I constantly replacing them? So I just run the poor things into the ground? This may be so, but alas, we may never really know.

I've decided to get another laptop. My last one was a stubborn piece of equipment, despite having root beer spilled on its keyboard, breaking that. And having its screen smashed. And the disk drive stopped working.

Despite that, it was still kicking when I sold it for parts. So laptops can't be all that bad, can they?

I decided to buy from Aaron's. Kill two birds with one stone, right? Get a nice new laptop and improve my credit at once. Sure, I know I'm overpaying for this thing, and could get better for the ultimate cost, but our credit is practically non-existent, so it serves its purpose.

It literally took me hours to clean the hard drive of all the crap that they pre-load these poor things with. Hours! And then I had to move and set up my personal programs that are "must haves." I left all of my information, i.e. pictures, documents, designs, and music, on my desktop so to keep the laptop as clean as possible.

Then come to find out, my wireless router is a piece of junk and I was getting very poor signal. Which meant I had to steal the Ethernet cable from my poor desktop until I can either improve my router, or buy one of my own.

Anyways, so I'm writing this blog from my new laptop. It's got a nice big keyboard thankfully, so I'm not having too much trouble adjusting. I had to hook my mouse up though, without it I am just too slow at work.

Let's talk other things.

Did I tell you that we woke up yesterday to three flat tires? Yes, three! How ridiculous is that. Thankfully, a neighbor had an air tank and hubby and my brother were able to get the car to the tire shop. We had to replace two of the tires, which was a real punch in the gut, since I had to write the check for our mortgage on the same day. The next few weeks are going to be rough, I think.

But we'll manage. We always have, despite the "Saucedo Curse." I won't get into that right now, but you're sure to notice the trend of bad luck that follows us Saucedos eventually.

All things will pass in time.

Know Who You Buy From

No matter what you are buying, but especially when it comes to living animals, know who you are buying from!

I won't go into the whole list of "mills" out there, which includes just about any species of animals. No, today I will focus on my recent covert operation.

Some months ago, a friend contacted me. She had some goats to sell. At the time, I couldn't take them in, we were in the middle of moving and our pens were not set up yet. So I directed them to another friend I had made and knew through e-mail contact. That person bought the goats.

When the seller got back, she contacted me and told me that the buyer's goats were in poor shape, needing deworming and health care. We decided it was simply a matter of her needing a bit of help, and I and a group of breeders in the area banded together to give her advice. We thought it was all taken care of.

Fast forward a few months, and disturbing things begin popping up. There are complaints on Craigslist about the breeder, and I uncover some pretty disturbing pictures on the breeder's website and other information. Apparently she's had a lot of goats die and the ones left are in bad shape.

I contact the seller and we work out a plan to buy back the two does, all the while I am trying to get more information and get something done about the poor situation going on.

We are able to negotiate payment for one of the does, Hallie. For nearly twice what she was sold to this breeder for. The other Delanie, is "not for sale." We later find out that Delanie died.

We are told Hallie is "in milk" and kidded in December. When asked for pictures of the kid by two separate people, the breeder sends both of them pictures stolen from other websites, and not even the same pictures.

Of course this was uncovered immediately, its not hard to trace pictures back to their source. We chose not to confront her about this, in the interest of removing Hallie from the situation. We had trouble setting up a date for the pick-up, but eventually we were able to, though Hallie's registration paperwork was not avaliable.

On pickup, Hallie was underweight, coughing, with a snotty nose and hugely overgrown hooves. She's terrible pale and absolutely terrified. She doesn't defecate the entire ride (3+ hours) home, which begs to ask, how long was she without food? She is certainly not "in milk" as claimed, and she did not kid in December. It's probably she kidded between September and October. Which brings the question, why were we lied to and where were the kid(s)?

I immediately quarantine Hallie and bring the vet in. She is started on a dewormer regimen, gets a hoof trim, a copper bolus, and a course of antibiotics. Thankfully, two weeks later, she is doing quite well, gaining weight and has been introduced into the herd without too much fanfare.

I've tried in vain to get the truth about Hallie. The most I could get was that Hallie's kid died. I imagine this is the truth of the matter, though she still claims Hallie kidded in December. The paperwork as well still has not been mailed.

I personally talked to the ASPCA. I filed several reports and gave evidence. In time, they told me a warning had been given. I'm not sure if they told me this to get me off their backs, or if they actually went out there, but I do know that this breeder sold quite a lot of goats very soon afterward.

Since then, there has been evidence that several other of the goats have died. The goats, by the breeder's own admission, do not receive vaccinations, are not health tested, and many other things. Now, I'm not against someone who does research and chooses not to vaccinate, and many do not regularly test for health problems.

The point here is the ignorance, and unwillingness to learn. We tried to help this breeder, and it was cast aside. Her whole point was to have a "goat mill" and to make as much money as she can off of the poor beasts.

She has been caught in many lies. I can only hope that the recent events have opened her eyes, but in my experience, people like this never change.

Always do your research before you buy. Take a close look at websites. If someone has pictures of obviously emaciated animals on there, don't you think it's a better idea to look elsewhere?

A picture of Hallie, feeling better.