Bad Blogger!

Wow, I didn't realize it'd been so long since I've been on here.  My laptop took a long walk off a short pier, Lyndsey's laptop is barely functioning and I just can't type good on my I-phone.

So, long story short, I'm still alive and kicking.  We've survived Lyndsey's trip to Italy (she had a ball), her prom (and dinner at the house for 8 juniors and seniors), the beginning of the garden, and a whole bunch of the usual chaos, etc. Also, 4-H weigh-in has come and gone (ask who vaccinated and ear-tagged hogs?).  We've successfully sold all the lambs except for Lyndsey's two market lambs.

I have a lot of pictures of spring flowers, critters and odd and ends, but this computer is not very effective for that. 

Anyway, I apologize and hope you are all well... I'll figure out how to get on more often, because I've missed you!

Empty nest... but not enough time.

 

Lyndsey left day before yesterday on her Italian adventure, leaving Portland, Oregon at noon... she called today at noon our time (8 pm their time) saying we're here, goodnight.  I guess she didn't sleep at all from Seattle, WA to Amsterdam.  Seems drunk Belgians (not horses, I'm sure) are not the quietest travelers.



 

One reason I like facebook is she is able to post pictures easily, so we can see what she's experiencing.  Looks like she got wings on the plane?

 

So while she's gone, the house seems quiet.  Mason misses her very much and so do her momma and daddy.  On a good note, its a little relaxing, also, not keeping track of her whereabouts.  Just because she's gone doesn't mean there is less to do.  We have sold one of ram lambs to our shearer.  It makes me feel really good to have someone who has sheared sheep for 40 some years want one of our lambs.  I feel accomplished.  We are hoping to sell/trade the oldest ram lamb and two ewe lambs for either $900 or three calves and $100.  That means we still have one ram lamb we need to band this weekend.  Last weekend I just couldn't keep them little jewels down.  So I'll try again this weekend.  I have some of the "honey, help me..." things that I want to do this weekend.  We are hoping also to sell the Angus bottle calf as a bull calf to a rancher we know.  The calf is pure Angus and he would love him as a breeding bull.  But, he hasn't committed yet and if he gets much older, we won't be able to band him, so I need to get the guy out here to look at him.

 

Below are some baby pics... everyone is growing well, even the ewe who's momma is not feeding her as often as I'd like.

 



 

 

I am cooking down 4 gallons of tomato juice that I froze this fall into sauce.  Also, I got a call from a lady who volunteers at a local food bank asking if I wanted 20-some pounds of carrots that were in bad shape for my sheep.  I said sure... Guess what! They are almost all human edible, so I'll be peeling, slicing, blanching and dehydrating all weekend long, which is great!

 

Life is pretty dang good, you know!

Life is a highway! (I need to stop at a rest area!)

Now I have that song in my head... and that's okay, because I love me some Chris LeDoux!

I haven't been on much lately.  Life here is busy... and I know you are all feeling the same way.  It's almost officially spring, so it's clean-up time on the farm, thinking about what I need to plant in pots to start in the green house, time to wean lambs, all the things I've thought of that will make the day a bit easier (like finally putting the chicken feed in the chicken house so I don't get halfway across the orchard before I remember I forgot it), and so on.  Not to mention work, family and the other stuff.  As a 4-H leader and volunteer, there's always something I need to do, or help out with.

Lyndsey is leaving for her trip to Italy on Tuesday.  She'll be gone 11 days, of course 4 of those will be spent either driving or flying.  She'll be going to Rome, Venice, Florence, Pompeii, and the Vatican City.  It cost $3700 not including spending money and lunch costs (dinner and breakfast are provided), and its made finances way tighter than normal, but its worth it for the opportunity it provides her.  I'm a little nervous, but it's her second time going out of the country (she went to Paris her freshman year), so I'm not to worried.  However, 11 days alone with Steve, now that's scary!  Oh, other news about Lyndsey, she has an official boyfriend.  Poor Steve is not too thrilled, but I reminded him she's a 17 year old junior in high school who's always been very trustworthy.  I asked her how "serious" it was, and she said "trust me, it's not that serious?.  She and I have a pretty open relationship and she knew exactly what I meant.  I do love the fact that since she and Alec started officially "going out", she's been in a wonderful mood. 

I was not terribly popular today with the lambs... we had a couple to de-tail, a couple to de-um, you know (only successful with one), and ear tags for 6 of them.  Tried to get some good poses for sale ads, but they didn't turn out well.  

Here's some of the gang!

 

I think we have some nice looking babies this year.

 

 

 

Got some nice color differences thanks to Mojo.

 

Mason turned 1 year old today.  I don't know how he can be so relaxed in that position.  Lyndsey baked him a cake with carrots, peanut butter, whole wheat flour, etc. and frosted it with more peanut butter. 

 

Kaitlyn, Justin and baby Bentley came over to visit last night.  Bentley thinks he is a Chihuahua instead of a Mastiff.  He's such a sweet boy, but he still has about 100 lbs to add in the next year or so.

 

Well, time to go put clean clothes away.  I decided getting dressed for work out of the pile of clean clothes on the chest wasn't the best way to stay organized!

 

Have a great Monday!



Quick lamb pics

 

Mamma Sydney is not happy about being tied up short every few hours to allow her lil' ewe to nurse (well, maybe not so little, she was 10 lbs at 1 day old).  Whats strange is she'll allow the lil' ram (almost 6 lbs) to nurse.  He's on the left in the photo. She is just plain mean to the girl-head butting, kicking, etc. Do you think sheep are smart enough to connect pain with the lamb?  Steve says maybe she realizes it was the ewe that got stuck so I had to stretch and pull to get her out.  I can't imagine that to be true, but who knows.  All I know is I wish it had been the first babies born instead of the last to need the constant attention.  Oh well, the joys of shepherding, huh?

 

 

They are just soooo sweet!

2013 Lambing season is done...

No pictures... too tired, no time, but we are done with lambing.  Having only 4 ewes, spread out over 2 months was kind of a pain.

Sydney went into labor about 7 pm, but by almost nine, no baby and she was pushing.  I'd see tiny feet (good sign), but they'd slip right back in.  She kept lying down and I could tell that wasn't helping.  So, I pulled on the plastic arm length glove and started feeling.  I couldn't get a decent grip on anything with the gloves on, so I took them off.  I guess I thought there'd be room-guess what, there wasn't!  I finally got the legs part way out, used my finger to help her loosen up and found the nose.  I was worried I was pulling to hard on the legs, trying to seesaw them back and forth.  Finally, after what seemed like forever, out came baby number one, a huge ewe lamb. I figured she was dead, due to the time it took.  But nope, she is a fighter! She was up trying to nurse right away.  Legs seem fine.  Number two was on the way and he shot out like a bullet, but so tiny.  I had to pick the ewe up so momma would help him.  We got them nursing and went to bed.

The problem is, her udder is either so sore (she has milk, but isn't engorged) or she's so rattled by the whole experience, she doesn't want them to nurse.  She's a good momma, attentive and careful, until they nurse.  So, I took today off and spent it holding her still so they could nurse.  Hoping it gets easier soon.  I got spoiled with the easy deliveries, I guess.  We weighed them tonight, the ram is about 5.5 lbs and the ewe is almost 10 lbs.  They are both calm lambs, and the ewe and I have bonded. LOL  Helping her into the world makes me feel all "special" towards her.

I'm headed for bed after I go get babies latched on and fed, so sleep good everyone.

Another set of healthy twins and 4-H piggies!

Saturday early am, Steve woke up and decided to go check the two ewes out in the lean-to.  Thank goodness he did, as Two had delivered the first of twins, and somehow, he had gotten outside of the fence (it's a section of panel from the fair.) It wasn't really cold out, but he would have gotten chilled for sure.  She promptly delivered his sister.  They were smaller than her last years twins, which is good because she partially prolapsed last year after delivery and had to have a retainer in for about 2 months.  I was told to get rid of her, or stitch her uterus closed til she was due to deliver, or put the retainer in and let her lamb around it.  I did none of the above, and so far, everything is fine!  Maybe it's dumb luck, but I'm happy.

 

Sydney is the last one due.  She looks huge so I'm kind of concerned.  It's her first year as a momma and she's a yearling.  Hopefully she'll cooperate and have them when I am there.  As a result I am checking her constantly. She was very curious about Two and her babies the other night (she's in a stall right next to them so she could see the birth, etc. Don't know if it'll help, but it can't hurt, right?

 

We went to a livestock auction in Cave Junction (about 3 hours away) yesterday.  We were hoping to get a couple more bottle calves.  That didn't happen, but we had combined it with picking up Lyndsey's 4-H show pig and our freezer pig.  They are a crossbred, a Polish mixed with a Hereford, (which we haven't seen before, so we are keeping fingers crossed.)  They are cuter than just about anything, and thrilled to be running around in the dirt.  They played and played today, in between taking naps in their little barn, buried in the hay.

 

 

Been a very long week, lots of stress, which I am not going to go into-my mind can't handle a "re-play".  Let's just note that a blood pressure of 140 over 100 is not good when you already take high blood pressure meds.  I am going to try to do better on how I handle stress and how I eat, etc.

 

Have a great week!



Hey, can't you see I'm pregnant and trying to sleep here?

No, not me... But I bet I got your attention.  That would be our last two ewes, Two and Sydney, who are now ensconced in the lean-to stalls, waiting for the big day.  The looks they give me, when I go out to their stalls with the huge flash light at 9 pm, midnight and about 3 am to check them is pretty amazing.  Who knew sheep could express so many opinions with a stare?

Two is about a week past her mark date and we never saw one on Sydney (maybe that happened towards the end when Mojo's crayon had worn off and I didn't want to buy another one.)  They are both large, um, huge, um, ginormous and it started raining heavy again, so I locked them up.  (BTW, it snowed today in town for an hour or so, which is at the level of the Pacific ocean-in Gold Beach, pretty much unheard of for during the day).   Anyhow, I digressed a bit (that happens with me).  Two had her babes with no problems last year and was an awesome momma, but at two days, she partially prolapsed, so I want to keep an eye on her this year.  It's Sydney's first year and she's just a yearling, so I want to make sure that she is okay.  I hate this waiting thing. 

All the other's seem to be doing good.  The oldest ewe lamb has slowed down eating alfalfa (she's 1 1/2 months old) and I'm worried she might be having problems, but her energy level seems high.  The two that lived from the triplets last Monday (are they twin's or?? now) are doing great.  The younger calf, Eightball, is drinking milk and showing an interest in alfalfa which is great.  Nemo, the older boy, is eating good and running like crazy (mainly from Mojo, Lyndsey's ram, who seems to be trying to mount him??).  Life on a farm, right?

I'll finish with some pictures from the weekend (and tonight-you should hear Mason snore right next to me.) 

Beiste and her babes... so sweet!

 

No one would stand still... big difference between the 4 week olds and the 1 week olds.

Mason snoring right next to me. Didn't even blink when the flash went off.

Lyndsey on "Bubba", our first bottle calf, transformed into a beautiful hide.  Cost us $60 when he was butchered to keep the hide, then another $75 for the meat goat we traded to the guy who tanned the hide.  We were told the hide right now is worth about $500.  Also, we got to have the head back from the meat goat because Lyndsey wants to have the skull and horns.  How many 17 year old girls want to do that? And are excited to have the hide that will be the carpet in their dorm room?

I tried to get a good picture of Mojo, proud daddy of so many babies (actually, he doesn't even know they exist) but he forced his face into the shot.

Last but not least, Nemo, who is growing great but hates our guts.  That's fine by me.  

Lambs, yay and sad!

So, we did have lambs-early this morning, about 6:30 am, Steve went down to feed and came back to tell me Beiste had one lamb on the ground.  I got down there, helped dry the ewe lamb off, she started pawing (hit the ewe lamb in the head once or twice before I moved the baby).  She then delivered a ram lamb.  I helped clean his face (and nose off), she kept getting distracted by the other baby.  I waited about 20 minutes, she wasn't doing anything but eating hay and cleaning babies, so I figured she was done.

We left a half hour later for work and I'd checked them and all seemed fine.  We came home at noon and we found another ewe lamb.  Unfortunately she hadn't made it... the mucus was still over her face.  I'm not sure if momma got distracted by the other babies, or if the baby was born dead.  Either way, I'm really sad. Our first real loss of a animal that I feel like I could have prevented if I'd stayed longer. I thought Beiste was going to have triplets and didn't pay attention.  Oh well, life on a farm, right.  I did hit the Double Stuff Oreo's to help with the depression.   Tonight all seem to be good and eating well.  The ram weighs about 9 and a half and the ewe is about 8 and a half. 

Two more ewes still expecting.  Hoping that Two (that's the name of the ewe) has no problems this year.  Last year she delivered and had no problems til a couple days afterwards, when she had a partial prolapse.  So this year, I'm watching really closely and hoping we can keep everything good.  It's Sydney's first year (she was Lyndsey's last years grand champion ewe at fair). 

The calf is doing great... 2 weeks old today, drinking a gallon of replacer twice a day and starting to eat some alfalfa with the sheep. 

Tonight's dinner: leftover "homegrown" pork chops (shredded up) with canned tomatoes (not homegrown, darn it), black beans, peach salsa, swiss chard (picked tonight out of the green house), rice, cheddar cheese, sour cream and baked flour tortilla chips... Tasted good and only took about 20 minutes to prepare (and that was the rice in the steamer).

 

 

Well enough of my ramblings... have a good night.