Jumper?

As it turns out not only is Farm Girl's horse, Chase, very extremely herd bound but also a remarkable jumper.  We moved our miniature horses into a new pasture this morning but out of sight of Chase.  Chase is kept in his own "pasture".  I quote this because he grazes in temporary fencing and though we had that one bad experience, generally he is very safe in there and doesn't attempt to leave.  We chalked that event up to being new to the farm and feeling very unsettled.  He spends his day grazing contently within his small pasture with it's lush and plentiful grass.  But every now and then, he is struck with a bad case of herd bound(ness).  Not sure why.  It is inconsistent and sporadic.  But at any given moment he decides he needs to find the other horses.  They, of course, can live quite fine without him, thank you very much, so will ignore his attempts at calling out.  If I'm outside, I'll go into the goat shed and shew them outside to appease him or lure them out from behind a bush if that is where they have disappeared.

Today I was mowing and heard The Boy calling to me over the engine, pointing an excited finger to Chase's pasture.  He was at it again.  Running around crazy-like, calling out for Pixie and Blossom.  Farm Girl was off from work today, so I told The Boy to fetch her as I was busy.  She came out and went down to this pasture and attempted to calm him.  When he did not, she put him into the holding pen in order for him to calm down.  Once he did, he was allowed out of the pen and back into his pasture once again.  As I mentioned, the miniatures moved to another pasture with the goats which at one corner can have them disappear around the side of the house.  It was this flaw that excited Chase so much.  And no amount of cooling down in the holding pen was helping.  We watched him running around in there but weren't really worried.  After all, the holding pen is made up of 4 to 5 feet fencing with t-posts separated every four feet in some spots.  This was thanks to the sheep who continually found ways of escaping.

But I digress.  Being the owner of horses, I have seen them run top speed toward a fence and at the last second, pull on the breaks or turn swiftly.  As Chase turned toward the far end of the holding pen and started running at top speed for the opposite side, I whole-heartedly expected to see him coming to a halt.  After all, the only the place to go was through.  Then as he got closer and closer within mere feet, I knew he wasn't stopping.  I had horrible visions of him getting badly mangled as he barged through the fence.  But to our shock, he jumped.  Went sailing right over that 4 to 5 feet fence.  This fence.

He did catch his hoof on the top rail and took out a staple, but otherwise made it safely over.  It took some consoling and soothing to calm him and finally catch him, but at last we did.  And put up his portable pasture closer to Pixie and Blossom's new pasture.

Coming Home

Remember when I blogged about my daughters's new litter of golden retrievers?  Remember when I said it would be the first litter not raised in my house?  Remember when I said I wouldn't be having anything to do with this litter?

Guess what?

The puppies have moved in.

They were to live with Oldest at my husband's farm but she was offered a spot in the dog grooming academy at work.  An unexpected offer as she was told they only offer it to employees 6 months after employment.  She'd only been there a month and they were so impressed with her work ethic and perseverance they offered her a spot only after one month of employment.  The academy is a month long full-time training facility.  She would only be coming home weekends and hence the puppies needed a sitter.

So mom to the rescue.  Or in this case, grandmom.  Nay, greatgrandmom as the litter belongs to Jewel who is of course, Emma's daughter.  And Emma belongs to my daughter, Farm Girl.

Proud Grandmom.

This is our third generation litter.  It means kinda something to me.

Isn't this photo just perfect?

All By Myself

Bridget Jones is one of my favorite movies.  The opening scene of Bridget sitting in her apartment all by herself down and depressed and feeling lonely resonated with me.  Not sure why because in all my 47 1/2 years on this planet I have never been alone.  Perhaps it's the fear of being alone.  Which would explain why I stayed in a loveless marriage for 27 years.

But that is all about to change for an entire month!!  Alright, going by my boy's reaction when I dropped him off at his dad's for the summer makes me have serious misgivings that it will be an entire month.  He'll probably be home in a week.  So I will be all by myself for a week!!  Seriously, you have no idea what that is like a for a person who has never, ever, been alone.  In 47 and half years.  How do I make a meal for one person?  What's it really like in the house at night all alone?  Is it really indecent to romp around the house in my undies?  Oh the questions?  The experiences.  The self-discoveries.  Yes, I admit it, I am seriously looking forward to this.  I'm going to spend my days writing, writing and writing some more.  I may even read a little.  Oh and play with the new pygmy.  All by myself.

But I know me and I know how much I love my family and like having them close.  By the end of the week I'm sure the boy won't be the only one singing "Don't want to be by myself anymore"!

Published

Many many years ago, long before I wanted to be a farmer, I wanted to be a writer.  I wrote several manuscripts, attempted to get them published, received rejection after rejection until I eventually couldn't take it anymore and didn't want to waste any more of my life chasing a dream.  So I put the books away, found myself a new interest and goal in life and never looked back.

Until recently.  From much encouragement from my ebook addicted daughter, I pulled the old manuscripts out of storage, reread them, fell in love all over again and have decided to self-publish them myself.  If for no other reason so that all the time and work I put into them did not land them abandoned in a dark and dusty corner of my closet.

I am starting with my first real full length novel, On the Mountain.  It is a historical western romance set in the Rocky Mountains of Canada.  Here is the synopsis for anyone interested in following the link to my e-publishing site.

"On a cold and still night, a frightened woman makes a frenzied escape down a wooded mountainside.  Fear is her only companion.  Silence is her only salvation. 

                Anna Nicholson had lived all her life under the shadow of prejudice in the remote village high on Mount Louis whose reclusive people were considered as wild and primitive as the wilderness from which they lived.  So when she awakes one morning to find herself in a stranger’s barn with a rifle to her face and no memory of how she got there, she is overcome with a gripping fear.  Yet, instinctively knew it did not arise from the big and burly cowboy standing directly behind the Winchester rifle or the other nine fierce cowboys who called the ranch home, but instead from a memory she could not recall.  One, she feared, in which she was the source.  Mistaken for a mute teenage boy, Anna is able to hide unseen and unheard from an evil she could not recall.

                Wade Haddock is the rough and tough but lonely cowboy who finds a frightened Anna in his barn.  Convinced the isolated wilderness was no place for a woman, he allows Anna to hide away on his sprawling Rocky Mountain ranch believing her to be a mute teenage boy.  While gradually succumbing to the bond growing between them, the wall around his guarded heart begins to slowly crumble.  Only to discover Anna’s deception.  And a memory that could destroy their love."

This is the cover.

The image is a combination of photos I took while in the Rocky Mountains a few years ago, and the other day's photoshoot where I shared some of the photos I took in my last blog post.

To read a sample or to purchase the entire manuscript, please click here.  If you do, I sincerely thank you and hope you enjoy the read.  Two more manuscripts are being proofed and edited and will be published shortly so be sure to keep an eye out for those as well.  I will update this blog once they are available.

Cows

I went out today with camera in hand to capture some photos for a project I'm working on which I will share with this blog in a couple more days.  However, contrary to what the photos may imply, I did not buy a cow. :o

First Born

Our first born on the new farm arrived mid morning.  Lily our pure white pygmy goat went into labour.

Poor girl had no privacy since we only have shelters and no barns on this farm.

And she ended up delivering outside on a wet and muddy morning. But she did awesome for a first-timer.

She gave birth to a handsome pure white little buck.

Who cleaned up real well.

Name giving for the male goats is left to my son.  This little guy has been named Prime.  Go figure.

Additions

We have nine new additions to the family!  One of my daughter's golden retrievers gave birth to 8 beautiful puppies!

Out of the 8, they are keeping one female back to be added to their breeding program.

Oldest also bought a new male registered puppy to be used as a future breeding stud.

Usually all past litters and puppies have been born and raised in my home and I've had the joy of watching them grow.  But since I've moved out of home and into my own farm, I will be watching them from a distance.  Though I won't miss the work involved in raising a litter, I will miss watch their daily growth.

Accomplishment

Being out here at the new farm by myself leaves me with tasks that otherwise I would leave to my husband or more likely my daughter's boyfriend.  My husband is not the handiest person.  As a matter of fact, he won't even attempt so much as looking into the problem as opposed to ignoring it all together.  Such was the case of my push lawn mower.  Before I moved the pull cord on the mower had broken.  I asked him several times to fix it.  On one of those occassions, daughter's boyfriend was over and jumped in to offer to fix it himself which he did.  Last week, Farm Girl snapped the cord again while trying to start it.

I texted my husband about the problem but didn't ask him to repair it as I knew that wasn't going to happen.  Sure enough, his response was that he would bring me the riding lawn mower instead.  Though I would rather have the riding mower, he lives on a much bigger property then I and needed it much more than me.  Besides, it would be a pain to load on the back of his pickup truck and the added weight would put a strain on his already ailing truck which he is having some maintenance issues.  I told him it would be much easier for him to just fix the push mower, but of course he elected to ignore that and bring the riding mower.

My farm was badly trashed by previous tenants and then sat empty for a year before I moved in.  The result has been not a day goes by that I do not find trash or glass become exposed in the ground.  The yard hasn't seen a roller in many many years I'm certain causing a very bumpy mowing experience.  On my second day, I hit something and the pulley and blade came apart from the deck.  That was great, now I had no mower.  I of course texted the husband about the problem and told him he needed to come and pick it up and transport it to a repair shop.  That of course did not happen.  Not that I truly thought it would, but I do hope that his responsible and practical side would eventually show themselves.

A week later with a yard beginning to become overgrown, I new I had to do something.  So I tackled what was the easiest of the two problems.  The push lawn mower.  I bought a new pull cord, sat down at my computer and pulled up youtube. Of course my lawn mower was slighty different from the ones depicted in the videos and did not come apart as instructed, however simply adding the make of my mower brought up the exact instructions I needed.  I removed the case (with the use of a ratchet no less), removed the cord housing, repaired the spring which had been bent and not retracting the cord, replaced the cord with my new one, put it all back together and is up and running once again.  I have to tell you how very proud I am of myself.  I'm the type of person that hates asking for help and if I can manage it myself, the better.  Now that I am feeling mighty accomplished, I'm going to hit youtube on how to replace the broken pulley and blade on the riding mower.

The Goldens

My daughters raise and breed golden retriever dogs.  One of my daughters, Farm Girl, still lives at home along with two of those goldens.  Emma is the original and my personal favourite.

            

 

And obviously my favourite to photograph.  Mr. Knightly is her other dog. (Named after the Jane Austen characters).  He's very handsome and I would love to get a decent photo of him, but he's full of energy and barely stands still for more than 5 seconds.

Or he's got something in his mouth. 

Gagging on said thing in his mouth.

I'm not fast enough to change the settings on my camera while he is still for that 5 seconds.

There is always someone he must play with.

That tongue of his, oh that tongue of his has got in too many photos.

But eventually, after much patience, I get the shot.

Cozy

A napping pooch in front of a fireplace always makes a room so much more cozier.

Starting Over

The pastures stand quietly abandoned, the sheep's favourite tree looks lonely without the flock sleeping contently beneath it's shade.

The holding pen is still and empty while the shelter sits incomplete.

It was a hard decision to make selling the sheep, but I know when I have been beat and way over my head.  The lack of a perimeter fence and barn was far too much of a challenge to contain 80 something sheep. When they left the property and started heading up the road on their last escape, I knew I was done.  The liability risk of them running into traffic or onto other farmer's properties was too high.  I called a sheep buyer and he came and bought them from me.  In the end, it was probably a good thing as he informed me that the breed of sheep I was raising had little value in this area.  They were considered more as goats then sheep.  So I guess I saved myself years of raising a huge flock of the wrong breed.  It is our intention to make money off this business and the most dollar we can.  I had lost $75 per head on the lambs simply because they were Katahdin.  It was very disappointing.  I loved my sheep.  I took pride in the breed I raised.  It was a huge set back but one that I should be grateful could have been worse.  I could have been deeper invested.

But we are not giving up and will rebuild our flock.  Before then however, we will ensure the perimeter fence is in place.  If I took anything from this harsh lesson was that no matter how wonderful electric fencing may work, it does go out and you need something permanent in place to keep them from escaping further.  Meanwhile, Chase has returned to the farm and has an overnight enclosure in the sheep's holding pen preventing him from having any crazy ideas about visiting the horse farm down the road again.

And the miniatures are still here along with the billy goats.

And of course the pygmy goats whom Delilah has been reassigned to guard.

I am saddened that the sheep are gone considering they were our main reason for coming here, but I tell myself it again was in God's plans for me.  If they had never escaped, if I had never realized my limits, if I had not called in the buyer I would never had known I was on the wrong track.  So until the flock return, I guess I will enjoy being a goat farmer.

Blossom's Fate Revised, Goat Attack, and Flock Escape (Again)

Yesterday I was going to blog about Blossom's feet.  For a recap, read this post about her fate here.  I knew it was overdue but me and Farm Girl finally got around to brushing down the minis and trimming their hooves.  Blossom still has her baby coat on but we did the best we could to remove most of it so the heat wouldn't be so insufferable.

But it was her hooves that had us totally stunned.  She was standing on them rather than her heels.  It appears her lax tendon is healing.

Her right hoof actually looks completely healed.

While her left was in worse shape it is also starting to gain strength.  The hoof has been so deformed because of the lax tendon however I hope with proper trimming in addition to her standing correctly on it will benefit both her leg structure and the shape of the hoof.

I am feeling good about Blossom's legs and praying for a miracle because the idea of euthanization is unbearable.

The reason I wasn't able to do this post yesterday as we had another flock escape.  This time they found a way out of their holding pen but this time around I had help.  Both Farm Girl and my hubs were here to help round them up.  They are being held up in the electronet until the holding pen is secured again which hopefully isn't too long as it is pouring rain outside with the chance of thunderstorms.  

Sheep huddled under the tree during the downpour.

Hate to loose power and chasing sheep once again.  Though we did pick up a solar energizer yesterday but it will take a few days to fully charge.

The other big deal that happened yesterday was that we had to say goodbye to Samson, one of the livestock guardian dogs we recently brought to the farm to guard over the sheep.

Though Sam was a very sweet dog, he was also excessively timid, was far too sheep obsessed and showed signs of aggression at meal times.  That aggression finally resulted in blood drawn.  We are not sure how or why, but we knew he did not like our milking goat, Beatrice.  We had noticed him lunge for her a couple times and left small bite marks on her ears but we had hoped they were simply warning signs.  However, yesterday morning I glanced out the window and noticed him viciously attacking her.  We ran out to the pen and called him off which he did promptly, however the gashes he left in Beatrice were big.  He bit off one of her horns and tore a huge gash in the side of her gut.

Those huge orange stains are iodine which it makes it look worse even though it was certainly severe enough though Beatrice is fine today and walking around and grazing as per usual.  We had thought his dislike was toward Beatrice solely and began building the pygmy goat pen we had planned in the future as we needed to separate Beatrice from Samson.  However, at the end of the day after we had chased everyone back into the electronet, we discovered that Olaf, one of the kid dairy goats and Torch, one of the pygmy kid goats also had blood on them and had been attacked.  The decision to remove Samson from the farm was swift.  The hubs took him back to his farm where there is no livestock and where we will rehome him.  We are not certain if his aggression is towards goats only or not, however we are not taking the chance.  Attacking three goats in one day and causing so much blood loss will only lead to a certain kill in the future.

It really was too bad because he is an awfully sweet dog who craves human attention yet fears it at the same time.  Hopefully we can find him a home with a gentle, kind, patient and understanding owner who can see Samson for his good qualities.  Sadly, however, he has no place on my farm and had to leave.  That leaves the job of guarding the sheep entirely up to Delilah.  We are having some health issues with her right now, mainly her drastic weight loss and lack of desire to eat.  Not sure but perhaps Samson might have had something to do with that as well since he was so food aggressive.  Besides I had seen him attack her for no reason once or twice.   However, the loving personality of our pet dogs, have done Delilah a world of good and see her coming around slowly.  Now that Sam is gone, perhaps her full potential will be realized.