My Writings

Many of you know that along with every other thing I do (boy I've got a mixed bag of hobbies, don't I?) I also write.

I have written stories and short novels since I was quite young. I have been praised and rewarded for it from the time I was in grade school. So why have I yet to fulfull my dream of being published?

Too many things on my plate, I believe. My motivation to write comes and goes. Sometimes I will stay up late into the night, writing furiously, letters flashing across the screen as I type, barely noticing the words themselves as the story flows forth.

Other times I sit and there is nothing.

This is one of those times.

Since I am releasing another short story piece by piece on my Deviant Art account (titled: Blind Love), I have decided to release my work in progress short novel on there as well, chapter by chapter. Perhaps the feedback, interest, and seeing it fresh once more will unlock the path through the rest of the story.

So for those of you who have followed my writings, please feel free to visit my page and seek out each chapter as it's posted. I will try to post a chapter a week, and of course, my other short story will be posted as each piece is finished. As far as I know, you do not need to be a member of DA to view my work, so no worries there.

Of course, all of my other art is there as well, my painted models, for your viewing please.

Thank you everyone, who has supported my art, both in painted form and in written form. I may not make any kind of profit off of it, but I enjoy doing it, therefore I will persevere.

Kidding Season Comes to a Close

And so, our 2012 spring kidding season comes to a close!

In October/November of last year, we bred (or purchased bred) eight does. Several were bred to a Myotonic buck in an effort to get some heftier kids and a meat wether or two to butcher. The rest were bred to our Nigerian Dwarf buck, Blizzard, and two does were bred to an outside buck. Finally, one outside doe was brought in and bred to Blizzard.

We started kidding in March, as planned.

We produced 13 kids total. 9 bucklings and 4 doelings. All kids were born live and healthy. A great year! One outside bred doe slipped her pregnancy early on and was bred back for June kids, so we do still have one pregnant doe running about. But for the most part, we are done.

We did notice that several kids needed assistance to be born, but there were no serious issues. We had quite a lot of flash and color by Blizzard - this is his first year covering a larger number of does, and I think he did an excellent job. I can hardly wait to start breeding all over again and see what we get next year, using Blizzard almost exclusively.

Most does are raising their young, but we are milking out Gypsy and Hope currently. Gypsy is giving a little over 20oz a milking while Hope is giving between 30-40oz a milking. Not bad! We are debating on who else to milk this year - we decided to dry off April after her buckling was sold because she is a hard keeper. Seven is raising a meat buckling so we won't be milking her I do not think. Juliet is still nursing a doeling, so we'll decide on her when the doeling is weaned and sold. Ruffian and Juliet I may milk long enough to break them to the milk stand to see if it tames them down any.

Yumi is the doe due in June, so we won't worry about that until the time comes.

This year is the first year we sold kids as soon as possible as bottle kids. It's tough letting them go when they're still tiny and cute, but it's better in the long run for us all. The kids are raised by their new owners and become very friendly and personable, I don't have to worry about deworming/cocci treatment/management of a large group of young kids, and I can milk the does sooner.

As it turns out, the only kid being retained is the kid from the outside doe brought in to be bred, and brought back to kid here. She's a stunning baby, sporting the best of the best when it comes to genetics from my herd, and we're very excited to see how she grows and turns out.

So that does it. Kidding season closes, but in a few short months, breeding season will begin! The air will be once more filled with a buck's blubbering - can't beat it! ;)

Goat Miracle - Guest Post

Today we have a guest post from Cynthia is Harlequin Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats. I found her post to be well worth reading and a fascinating and interesting story, as well in inspirational. She had to take one of her breeding does to the vet for a kidding issue.

Without further adieu, here is the post.

It's been a crazy morning for sure. When we showed up at the vet, he took a look and said the options were to put her down or try a c-section. He said with the way goats are with anesthesia she'd have a 50/50 shot. I said 50% is better than 0% so let's do the surgery.

I started to just drop her off and leave, still had time to make it to work on time at that point, but something made me stay and ask if I could watch the procedure. Partly because I figured they might try harder to save her if I was there and partly just so I could see how it was done and maybe gain some knowledge while I was at it. Glad I decided to stay because it was really interesting to learn more about goat anatomy and the surgeon was nice enough to describe things and give me some tips. Also a good thing I stayed because if I hadn't, we would have lost Graffiti's doeling!

She was born not breathing or moving, so the surgeon assumed she was dead and dropped her in the trash. We stood there talking for a couple of minutes while she continued working on Graffiti, and she kept exclaiming over how big the kid was. She noticed me peeking at the trash can and asked if I'd like to get a weight on the kid to see how big she was. So I fished her out of the trash and took her over to the scale. She was completely cold and limp, but when I sat her on the scale she twitched and I could see a strong heartbeat despite the fact that she was still not breathing.

I told the vet and she was totally surprised. She apologized repeatedly and called a vet tech over to take her to the back to try to revive her. Within minutes she had started breathing erratically and bleating. After about an hour she was breathing more regularly and hollering at us to quit bugging her so much (we were rubbing and pestering her to get her to breath).

She had a really low temp so we put her on heating pads at the vet and at home. She is up to 101.2* now so she's off the pad and laying next to her momma. I tube-fed her some colostrum right after we got home, and just fed some more milk a couple mins ago. She looks a lot better, though she is still too weak to stand. Graffiti is sore but looks okay and was able to walk to the kidding stall by herself. She has already started bonding with her baby despite the kid coming out the side door instead of the normal route. She has been nuzzling and licking her, which is just adorable. Can't believe we beat the odds and brought them both home alive!

This is Graffiti, at the vet recovering from surgery. She was just waking up from anesthesia and her baby had finally gotten to where she was breathing well enough to take her off the oxygen mask. We laid the baby next to her and she immediately perked up and brought her head around to start licking and nuzzling her. The girls at the vet clinic where gushing over how cute they were together and taking pics on their cell phones.









** Edited to Add - 4/7/2012 **



Sad to report that baby Treasure passed away this morning a little after 6am. Still not sorry I pulled her out of the trash. Despite the short time we had with her, she is leaving a big hole in our hearts.

Thank you Cynthia for sharing this story online and allowing us to post about it.

Is She Pregnant???

First off, a huge apology for the wait time in between blog posts. I have been super busy, but things are starting to settle down and I should be able to get a post out more often.

Now, today I'm going to touch on a subject that kind of makes me shake my head.

Most of you know I am a member of quite a lot of forums that range from reptiles, to horses, to goats, as well as others.


On a lot of the livestock forums, around this time of the year, you get a lot of posts titled:

"Does she look preggo to u???"

Insert eye-rolling icon here.

So you click on the post, and see pictures of the mare/goat/dog/whatever. Then people give their opinions, "O yes she looks preggo for sure lololol" or other such nonsense.

Then I walk in and poop the party.

First off, it is 100% impossible to tell if an animal is pregnant via pictures. I mean, look at the picture on this post. That sure looks like a pregnant pony, doesn't it! Nope, just a big grass belly. No baby in there!

If you are confused on whether your animal is gestating or not, you need to sit down and think.

Is there *any* possibility your animal was exposed to an intact animal of the opposite sex?

If so . . . . let me be clear here. Don't go on a forum or Facebook and ask your friends if your animal is pregnant.

FIND OUT YOURSELF.

Seriously, there are MANY ways to find out if your animal is pregnant. For horses, a vet call suffices. The vet will either do a blood test or palpate, or even possibly an ultrasound. Your vet will be able to tell you if your mare is pregnant or not. Sounds pretty damn simple to me,

For a goat, learn how to draw blood. Ship it to Bio-tracking. Get a result back. Wah-lah. No more guessing.

For any other animal, you need to speak with your vet for the best course of action.

As some of us have animals for a long while and grow experienced, we may be able to ascertain if a certain animal is pregnant or not, usually in the later stages. I have grown quite proficient at telling if a goat is pregnant or not after the third month. I look for certain signs that present themselves.

However, you cannot post a picture online and expect people to be able to tell you. You can also be fooled by your animal. Many a horse or goat has "bagged up" without being pregnant. Many times I've heard, "But I felt the baby move!" and months and months go by and yet no baby presents itself.

Look, get a vet out. If you can't afford a vet for a simple pregnancy check, you need to reevaluate your ability to keep animals. Producing babies costs money. A lot of it.

I'll leave you with my favorite saying: "The only sure sign of pregnancy....is birth!"

"Skinny" VS "Fat"

Yup, I just went there!

I have a serious question for ya'll - yes it was inspired by another friend's post but is not aimed at anyone in particular, it's something that's been bumping around in my mind for a long while. Do you see a difference between "fat shaming" and "skinny shaming"?

What I mean is, do you think its okay to say cruel/derogatory/mean/hurtful things about someone because they are fat? If not, have you ever turned around and said something similar because a person is skinny? IE: "Wow that fat person needs to lay off the twinkies" (That is fat shaming) and "That skinny twig needs to eat more!" (Skinny shaming). I have found it interesting that many people find "fat shaming" to be inappropriate but will not even think twice about making a comment about someone who is on the opposite end of the weight scale.

In *both* cases, be it an overweight or underweight person, you often have absolutely *no* idea *why* this person is the way they are. It just baffles me that people will say, "Well so-and-so who is overweight might have a thyroid problem!" but turn around and sneer at "so-and-so" who is a "skinny bitch."

You all know I have skin thick as leather and can let it slide off my back. You also might, or might not know, that I am severely underweight. Always have been, probably always will be. I have several medical conditions that prevent me from gaining weight properly.

I have had people ask me if I have eating disorders, or say offhand comments that are rude and quite hurtful. I've had people tell me I'm "lucky" to be so skinny, and I can't help but look at them in befuddlement. If they had any idea what I go through on a daily basis because of this . . . perhaps they would refrain.

Anyhow, I post this, not in an effort to upset anyone or make them feel like I am calling them out for comments they have made, because I do not mean too. I just want to raise awareness. It's not okay to assume. It's not okay to make judgements.

Do we all do it? Yes. Should we? No . . . but all I ask for is that we all work together on these kinds of things. Next time you make an off-hand comment about a "fat" or "skinny" person, stop and think. It is pertinent to the situation? Is it absolutely necessary? Could it be interpreted as hurtful?

We don't always stop and consider anything more than the obvious - that includes myself!

Signed, a skinny bitch!

Recipe Post - Surprise Rice

I really love "Surprise Rice" because it's cheap, easy, and you can put just about anything in it. I prefer rabbit meat or chicken. Being out of rabbit, I used chicken for this dish.

The first thing you'll want to do is cook your meat. I always cook in a stock, or you may choose to buy precooked meat, or cook in tinfoil in the oven. Cook however you like. The chicken below is started in chicken stock with the tops of green onions and a few crushed cloves of garlic.


I usually wait until the chicken is done, removed from the liquid, and covered with tinfoil to rest to start the rest of the meal. It's important to rest your meat. If you cut into it right away, all the juices run out and you are left with dry meat.

From here, I start cooking the rice. While that is going, I take out a good amount of bacon and slice it. Cold bacon is much easier to slice. Slicing into small pieces makes it easier to cook and once cooked, it's the perfect size for mixing into the rice without anymore preparation.


Once the bacon is cut, it's cooked in a pan. I often use the pan I'm going to put the rice into at the end. No point in making new dishes. After it is finished, I remove the bacon from the pan. From there, you have a choice. You can cook some eggs in the bacon fat, or drain it. I like to cook eggs in it. Eggs, onions, mushrooms, all these are optional for your dish. Those are my favorite things to put in it. You can put whatever you like in it. Use your imagination. I also shred the chicken at this step.


By now, your rice should be done. I remove it from the vessel used to cook it and place it in the larger pot. I dump in all the goodies. For seasoning, again, you can use what you like. I use soy sauce, garlic salt, and pepper. Be careful using soy sauce, too much and you'll get way too salty. Add a little at a time, stir, taste, and adjust to your liking.

And there you have it. Surprise Rice! It's filling and quite delicious.

Rodeo

It came to my attention a couple of weeks ago that there are still people out there who believe that "Rodeo", as a sport, is cruel.

Now, let me be clear, today I'll be writing about sanctioned big time Rodeos. There is no doubt in my mind that there ARE small, out of the way, ragtag rodeos that can and possibly do treat their stock in a less than proper fashion.

But for the sake of this blog, I will be talking about "real" Rodeo.

So, you think Rodeo is cruel. Let's start with the bull riding and the bronc riding.

A bull/horse gets a chance to get a human off its back in the quickest way possible. How can that *not* sound fun? If animals understand fun, anyhow, which I believe they do, on some level.

And in many cases, once said human is off, you get a chance to stomp on them! How can you beat that?



People of course go straight to the flank strap and begin spouting off fallacies. There are people that honestly believe the flank strap is wrapped around the animal's testicles, and that is why it bucks. Are you really that ignorant? It's called a FLANK strap. Not a testicle strap. The strap is no where near the testicles. Not to mention all the bucking mares that are pro at their job.

Is the flank strap tight then? Made to irritate? No. In most cases it is quite loose and soft. It's a piece of equipment that *tells* the horse or bull, "Hey, it's time to go to work now." No different than an English bridle swapped out for a Western headstall, letting a horse know which job they will be doing this day. What's so horrible about that?


Then people switch to calf roping. They say it is cruel to jerk a calf by it's neck. This one I waver back and forth on, because they *are* young animals and it's not much like the real ranch work it's based on, as on the ranch, you wouldn't run your calf running all out and then jerked to a stop, for the most part.

However, calves are built very differently than horses. Their necks are short, thick, and powerful. It's considered a bit unsportsmanlike to flip the calf. I believe in some Rodeos, you *must* wait for the calf to be on its feet before hogtying it.

This encourages competitors to *not* jerk the calf hard enough to put it off its feet. Injuries to calves are fairly rare.

In fact, injuries to any rough stock are unusual. The stock gets the best of care, and only have to work for that care around 8 seconds a day, at most. *You* may have to work an eight hour shift to earn *your* keep, so why shouldn't this livestock that humans have developed work for their keep as well? Just because you consider your job as cruel and unusual punishment doesn't mean they do. *wink*

Let me address one last thing. You may have seen shock videos done by PETA or a group called SHARK on Youtube, showing the "horrors" of rodeo. If you dare to come at me with that crap as your "evidence" to the cruelty of rodeo, I will laugh in your face and it will destroy any credibility you have. These organizations visit and video thousands upon thousands of rodeos to capture just *one* accident.

Look people, there are accidents in *every* sport, be it human or animal. Things happen, people/animals get hurt and die. It sucks, but it's a risk that comes along with life itself. A horse can have an aortic event in its stall with a mouthful of the best hay and die. It can step in a hole and break its pastern and have to be put down. It can have an accident during a race, a jumping competition, a rodeo, anything.

There is nothing anymore cruel about rodeos than there is about any sport, including human sports.

These horses sure look like they love their job!
All images used with permission.