Goats, Gates, and Grease

I’ve had a couple of rough, slippery days.  It started yesterday morning.  Well, it started Tuesday evening when my delivery of oils for soap making came.  I brought the five-gallon buckets inside and left them in my kitchen (please ignore the messy floor.  We’re back to muddy again).  When I got up in the morning and went to let Bob outside, I found a big pool of olive oil on my floor.

It seems that while the oil was cold, the bucket was punctured.  It didn’t cause a problem until it came into my kitchen and melted.  Um.  Yeah.  I had about a quart of oil all over my floor, and by the the time I got done pouring it into another bucket, it was also all over my clothes and in the cat food and water.  I might have stripped down to my underwear and began sopping it up with paper towels.  There’s no photographic evidence, though, so I might deny that.

I finally chucked the bucket outside because I was still oily and mostly naked.  Can you see the puncture hole on the top right by the bottom?  I’ll deal with it this weekend.

I finally made it to work, and when I came home, I found the gate between the yard and barnyard off its hinges.

That was a bit worrisome; however, I was relieved to find everybody where they belonged!

Sam Goodberry

Tonight I was not so lucky.  I came home to find that the chicken coop gate was open.

I had a couple of peafowl outside, but they herded in easily.  Unfortunately, I had goats in the coop eating corn.  Because I feed my goats very little grain, it is very dangerous if they eat too much.  It can be fatal.

I gave a large dose of vegetable oil to everyone that was in there.  I hope I just caught the last of the culprits (becuase it was a big mess for just the few goats that were in it) and the corn was eaten by twenty or thirty instead of just five big goats and one little goat.  If it was everyone, it shouldn’t be a big deal because I don’t keep tons of corn in there.

Hopefully, they’ll get diarrhea and flush the corn out of the system and be okay.

I do hope you’ll come back tomorrow evening to join me for Friday’s Hunt.  If you are interested, the items are in my sidebar (at the top).

Sharing with Good Fences.

Sunrises

Yesterday morning, the sun was shining when I went to work.

It was brilliant and blinding.  Even though we’re still cool, it was dry and everyone on the farm enjoyed being outside.

I even let Betty Lou and her baby out into the yard for a little while when I got home.

I just couldn’t let them stay out because this morning’s sunrise was nothing like Wednesday morning.

The rain makes it hard for everyone to find a nice dry place in the barn when some goats are cranky.

Bambi’s buck and doe

Even though we desperately need the rain, the goats are all hoping we’ll have more of those sunny skies soon.  It’s way more fun to play outside!

Sharing with Skywatch Friday, Weekend Reflections, and the first ever Good Fences, hosted by TexWisGirl.

A Couple of Fences

First, I want to show you the lovely mourning dove on my front fence.  I’m kind of getting used to seeing him/her there.  I like that.

The other fence I’m sharing is the one by MJ.  He spends most of his time lying in the doorway of the barn.  The fence right there is what separates him from Maxine and Norma Jean.  I’m not happy with Maxine.

While MJ might stare out into the Back Forty and think about how nice it is out there in the summer, Maxine is thinking about (and somewhat trying) joining MJ in the barnyard by coming through my fence.  (And we know what the geese are waiting for, don’t we.)

The ground is too frozen for me to be able to fix it right now.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that mess she’s making.  Snooty bovine!

Sharing with Friday’s Fences and Skywatch Friday.