All Dried Off and Fluffy

I’ve been trying to get good pictures of Astra’s babies, but they are either piled up sleeping or fighting over Astra’s two teats.

Joker, Jester, and Avril

Jester and Joker (kneeling)

Astra feeding kids: Avril, Jester, and Joker

Bambi’s baby is more willing to pose for me.

Cinquain and Bambi

And just to illustrate how big Cinquain is, here he is next to Joker.  Joker is four days old, and Cinquain is one day old.

Joker and Cinquain

One. Big. Boy.

Bambi’s Oopsie Baby

The fact that I’m an English teacher might have something to do with her baby’s name, Cinquain.

Bambi and Cinquain

Bambi
Three days past due
pulled a big buck from her
he’s oopsie baby number five
Cinquain

Now I get a short break until the next time Zeus escaped.

Can’t Take Another Day Like That

Saturday started out like most of the last couple of weeks in self-isolation.  I have been off the farm only to deliver milk and get Popcorn back from my mom since March 19th. Pretty routine working for the off-farm job and farm work.  Of course, it was another rainy morning.

a wet, cranky Odie

Then I saw the girls out in the field again.  I had to put them in, and then I decided to pour all the goats on that side for lice since the rain had quit. I had checked them the evening before, and it had to be done. The weather was horribly sticky out there in pasture.  I mean oppressive humidity, and I really worried we’d end up with more storms in the afternoon.

Hera, Moira, Bubbles, and Penelope

When I got back inside I was ready to do more work for work. Believe it or not, part of my work in the morning included trying to make a brain out of noodles.  Really. Don’t ask. Anyhow, in the early afternoon, my phone popped up a tornado watch for my area.  It wasn’t too long after that my phone alert sounded for a tornado warning.

noodle brain failure

I called my mom to make sure she knew, and as we were talking, the warning finally came on the television, and it was headed right for my farm and the town just north of my farm.  Looking at the warning, she decided to come out to my place because she doesn’t have a basement.  In the meantime, I grabbed my Bob cat and shoved him in a pet taxi and took him to the basement.

“She shoved me in a pet taxi. Sure, I was irritated, but I’m always irritated. Whatever.” -Bob

Then I tried catching Rocky to take down, but Sky was going crazy by this time and chased Rocky upstairs.  I finally caught Rocky and took him to the basement and threw him in the Kill Room (don’t ask–it’s a Criminal Minds reference).

“The dog chased me; the human chased me. Then she took me to the basement and threw me in a little dark room with the big roaring monster (furnace) and called it the kill room. Of course, I was traumatized.” -Rocky

Then I got the harness on Sky just as my mom arrived, and we headed for the basement.  I could not get that dog to go down there.  He fought me until he slipped out of the harness.  Then he stood at the top of the steps and whined as my mom and I tried coaxing him down.  I never did get him to come downstairs.

“The weather was crazy; the human was crazy. She wanted me to go down the long, narrow passage to a place I’d never been. I was terrified. And then she abandoned me in the upstairs! How could she?” -Sky

Then the electricity went out.  It was nice to see my mom though.  We did our best to maintain our social distancing.

photo was cropped; she was really farther away

After the warning expired, we came back upstairs, and it was all fine.  We went outside, and it looked like there was nothing but a bit of rain.  Since she was here, I took my mom out to meet Astra’s triplets, and then Mom went back to her self-isolation.

Astra feeding Jester (in front) and Avril (in back)

She did call me just a short time later to say that my nephew saw a tornado just to the northeast of my farm on the edge of town.  It hit the Catholic cemetery and really damaged the trees and some headstones.  Since I had to charge my phone in the car because my electricity was still out, I decided to drive to the cemetery and check it out.

While at the cemetery, I did run in to some people who shared that my neighbor to the south had taken a picture of a tornado right on the edge of his property.  You can see the video my neighbor took HERE (but be warned there is profanity) and another video of it HERE.  It was an exhausting day. I am so grateful that we made it through without damage after seeing so much devastation in other parts of the country.  My heart goes out to them.