Freedom!

Yesterday was my last day working off-site (occasionally) for the first 4 1/2 months of 2012.  I feel ten years younger just knowing I'm back to writing full-time again. I still have the occasional church gig but, other than that, I'm free and clear to navigate as a full-time copywriter again!  I will probably sleep better at night not having to keep three balls in the air every week.  It's a relief.  Three jobs is too many (especially when the one that just ended cost me more in lost writing projects than it was worth, which is the opposite of the way I expected it to work out; oh well, live and learn!)

This past weekend Jackie, Phil, Wendy, Casey, Jamie and I built a hen house and a chicken pen for our six chickens, which we raised from infancy.  They are now looking like pint-sized versions of what will become their adult selves, so we had to get the facilities made for them. They have been freed from a small (goat-sized) cage to the great outdoors, and they love it. They have started to teach themselves to fly.  They sure know how to peck for food already; that comes naturally!

I set a large dog igloo in the center of the "barnyard" so they have a place to get in out of the rain and sunshine if they don't want to climb the ramp into the hen house.

They don't know how to climb the ramp yet. They will descend it, but I haven't seen them ascend it yet, so I have to collect them to put them in bed at night until they figure that out.  (Some night time critters are small enough to get in through the chicken fence, so they need to be shut in at night.)

We put plastic netting over the top of the pen so flying predators (eagles, hawks, owls) can't get at them so I have to walk hunched over slightly to get around in their pen (no fun for older backs, but do-able).  I'll take some photos soon so you can see the new chick digs.  I swear the hen house looks like Snoopy's doghouse (except for the color). I want to put a plywood "sleeping Snoopy" on top, but Jackie says no.  Too bad.  It would be fantabulous, methinks!

I'm thinking of laying down some sod in the chicken pen. We seeded the area a few weeks ago but I think the wee hens are going to eat that all up in no time at all...  Sod is very inexpensive right now at McLendon's Hardware... something under $2 a roll, if I'm not mistaken...  I could put down the whole expanse for $50, probably... or at least enough so they'd have forage while the rest grows in!

Today I pushed some of the cable spools up the hill so Laverne and Shirley (goats) can get up into the prickly trees and eat the new buds that are emerging. It's a hawthorn tree, I think, and they just LOVE it, so they've been standing on their hind feet to get at it for days. Today I figured I'd help 'em out. The spool elevates them another three feet (approx) so they have more of their favorite forage now.  I'll take pix of that during the next sunshiny day, too...

Stay tuned!

Laverne and Shirley: The Continuing Saga

Today, because it was decent weather, I decided it was a good time to trim the goats' hooves.  The problem: Laverne didn't think it was a good time. (She never does.)

When they were kids--25, 30 pounds tops --trimming their hooves was relatively easy; now that they weigh close to 200 pound each, it's still relatively easy...with Shirley! She's an easy-going sweetheart who knows I would never do anything to hurt her.  I reckon that's the nature of Boer goats, because she has always been the sweet, easy-going one. She'll tuck her head into my shoulder or neck and let me pet her. When I was putting up the fence this summer, she followed me the whole way, "helping" me by putting her head between my arm and my body so I could pet her every few minutes.  It took longer to finish up that way, but it was waaaaayyyy more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.  (I just love an appreciative "apprentice".)

But Laverne is a red goat--I swear she's at least half Kalahari goat, because I saw a photo of a Kalahari goat and she looks exactly like that one; her horns even curl the same way (differently than Shirley's).  Laverne is probably at least ten percent heavier than Shirley and half a hand taller.  And she has always been the comedienne of the two.  She figures out ways to make me laugh every day.  But she's a big problem when it comes to hoof trimming.

I can trim Shirley's hooves without putting a leash and collar on her. All I have to do is put apple slices or grain in her bucket and she lets me work on her because, let's face it, hoof trimming doesn't hurt one bit.

But I have to put a collar and leash on Laverne and then tie the leash to a heavy vertical beam because she'll drag me all over hell's half acre if I don't. She's just convinced I am about to amputate her foot at the knee.  Even as closely-tied as she is to the beam, she darts and ducks and spins and bolts and rears and crashes to the ground trying to avoid having me pick up her feet.  I have to cavort with her in this bucking bronco way for three or four minutes before she decides to let me pick up her feet.  Then, when I do, and I finally get her all taken care of she becomes as docile as a newborn lamb. She stands there regarding me with gentle eyes, allows me to pet her and run my fingers through her thick winter coat.  It's like she suddenly realizes what Shirley knows from the get-go:  Just because I pick up a pair of hoof clippers doesn't mean I have lost my mind and become Jack the Ripper.

Needless to say, by the time I get both goats' feet taken care of, I'm easily as worn out at Laverne is!  We both sit there (well, I sit; she stands) looking at each other. I'm laughing; she would, too, if she could.

I sometimes think she isn't half as scared as she's pretending to be. I think she just enjoys giving me a run for my money.  She doesn't pant or cry out at all; she just acts "flighty" -- as if I'm a coyote about to eviscerate her, even though she knows I won't.

It's just part of what makes her unique.  I don't know if all Kalahari goats share this trait, but I can say that I'm glad I only have to wrestle ONE of my goats to care for their hooves!

Laverne and Shirley

Arghhh!  Trying to get Laverne and Shirley to "focus" on food long enough (off-leash) so I can trim their hooves is ... insane.  But that's what I tried to do today because I hate tying them to a post and upsetting them. (Not that they get all that upset tied to a post, but I like to do what I have to do with the least amount of wrestling I can get away with.) I got three hooves on both trimmed; I'll try to get the last two (one each) done tomorrow or sometime later this week.

I cannot believe we are just eight days away from Christmas and fourteen days away from 2012.  I'm not in the Christmas spirit yet; it isn't cold enough or dreary enough outside to warrant this date!  I hope the wee ones' Christmas pageant will kick me into high gear...  I'm also slated to go see OLIVER at the Lakewood Playhouse this week. I'm looking forward to that!  The rest of the family (sis, niece and grandkids) all went to see PETER PAN live last night at the Tacoma Musical Theater.  I declined; two plays in one week won't work for me.  I need my beauty rest... for what it's worth (not a helluva lot, judging by gazing into the mirror!).

I hope you're warm, cozy, ready for Christmas and very, very happy.