Things are looking up

So the goats seem to have recovered! They were definitely looking better when I got home from work tonight. All hanging out and chewing cud and standing up and looking happy. Not sure why I couldn't get the pictures to line up in order, but if you look below you will see:
1) One of the white crested ducklings, now about three weeks old. Cute isn't she?
2) Two of the layer hens now at three weeks old - getting bigger than the fuzzballs you saw a few days ago!
3) One of the meat hens at three weeks old - HUGE! And you can see from both chicken pictures that they are starting to get their feathers already!
4 +5) Happy, lively goats!! You may not be able to tell, but trust me, they look MUCH better!

Is that lipstick?

See the pink all over Zoe's face? Well, it isn't actually lipstick . . . although Zoe-boe is certainly one of our farms biggest flirts and fanciest ladies, she hasn't yet stooped to make-up as far as I know. That pink stuff, my friends, is pepto-bismol. Yep. No kidding. I spent the day trying to get about 20 cc of the minty pink stuff down the gullets of 21 goats. We had a little case of what they call "Goat Scour" here at the farm today. One poor goat actually got so dehydrated overnight (before we found out they were sick) that he passed away. We were dosing the rest up in an effort to keep that from happening to anyone else. So far, it seems to be working. As of this evening, only one goat is still laying around looking sick. The rest are getting up and eating hay and drinking water like they mean to make it. So keep your fingers crossed. And RIP Artie.

Love,

Turtlewoman

The Mail

So you can't ship dangerous chemicals or flammable stuff in the mail, but you can do this:
Inside this box we found these:

Here is an up close shot of one of the little cheepers. Isn't she cute?

27 in all. 10 for laying eggs and 17 for eating. Well, now we are down to 25 due to a rookie mistake. Didn't realize the first night that I had plugged their heat lamp into a plug connected to the light switch . . . switched off all the lights to the barn . . . no heat lamp overnight for the chicks. Sigh. They made it through the night but two of them later succumbed to who knows what. Now we have 10 for laying eggs and 15 for eating . . . . so we will see how that goes. When I get a chance to get the camera out there I will take pictures of them now. It has only been about three weeks and the meat birds are already close to three times their original size!

Two days after the chickens arrived, we also became the proud owners of 12 ducklings. They are all layers although they could all also be duck l'orange at some point. If I can convince my sister of it anyway . . .

Love,

Turtlewoman

Misadventures

My dad made a comic strip of Waffles! She and Big Pud are frequently seen in just this type of encounter in my front kitchen window. They are both trying to figure out how the heck to get outside . . . and I am the evil kitty-mama that won't let them. If I didn't live right on a road with Hannaford trucks whizzing by at 90 miles an hour about 20 times a day I would TOTALLY let them out. But since the thought of having my beautiful kitty turn into a grease spot under a Hannaford truck pretty much ruins my whole day, I just can't bring myself to do it . . .

In other news, there is a LOT of work to be done at the farm right now. So anyone that is bored - feel free to come down and help weed or build fences or shear goats or . . . .

Love,

Turtlewoman

Back from the Dead

Believe it or not folks, I am still alive out here. Not posting a whole lot as you can see. And currently I am a little lost in the world of the dead as I am completely caught up in Stephanie Meyers Twilight Series. I started the fourth book two days ago and am now about 400 pages in. This is the first time I have been able to put it down without feeling like I was going to vomit. It has really been making me sweat!
But I am here and there are lots of happening as spring comes to the Farm. The perennial beds are a constant source of joy and excitement, as well as a constant source of work! There are new flowers coming up every day - many surprises as this is my first spring here - and I am starting to see the green shoots of some of my old friends from last summer. Here are some pictures - if you want to see more, come visit!
Love, Turtlewoman

Okay, so Buttercup and Crocus may not be REAL flowers, but they sure are cute right? Croakie is one of our newest babies!

More Happenings

So another thing that I did these past two months was have guests . . . a lot of guests! But that is part of why I bought this big 'ole place after all. So who came to visit? Well, you already know that these two came . . . and when they came back for a SECOND visit I was able to snap a shot of them:

Luckily the weather was a lot better for their second visit!



July also brought a visit from the Fennema family:

They came all the way from Holland to help me break in the farm. And break it in we did! We herded goats, chickens, and geese. We collected eggs, we played Harvest in the Heartland, and we watched the Backyardigans until we dropped. Best of all, we spent lots of time reading, chatting, relaxing, and knitting on the newly dedicated "Fennema Porch": They were seen in this position many a time during their stay. =-) Of course when friends come all they way across an ocean to visit, it means you can usually scare up more friends to come by to see them. This is how we lured the Sainio crew up here:
After much protesting, Heath had a great time hanging out at the farm. Craig is one of the happiest babies I have had the pleasure to meet so far. Unfortunately he was having a combination of stranger anxiety and separation anxiety when he came to visit, so I only got to admire him from afar. I made him laugh bunches and he tricked me into thinking he was going to let me have snuggles a few times . . . but alas it was all a big baby tease! In addition to the Sainios, that weekend was also Chesley and Alec's second visit - they were nice enough to bring Connor and Peter along so that we could visit with the entire Flotten Family!
Alec got to show big brother Connor around. They had fun splashing in Sabattus Pond together. Connor invented a new game called "Goose Roundup". I don't think the puddlers knew what to think about that, but they sure did get a work out and so did Connor!

August brought even more friends around. Christie, Aaron, and Peanut all came to visit! I didn't manage to catch Aaron in any of the pictures, but here is a nice one of Christie and Sam! Sam wasn't too sure about the animals, but she really liked playing with all of my turtles and we had a blast blowing bubbles in the garden!

And my most recent visitors were Cindy and Libby. Libby is almost 2 years old now! (So is Sam!). She ran all around this farm like she owned the place. I think she had a pretty good time. Cindy and I got to spend a little time catching up on the swings by the lake.
I have also had visits from my brother and sister-in-law, my Aunt Tracie and cousins Tomas and Ariel, my aunt and uncle Erin and Richard and their daughters Molly and Melanie, Gram, Aunt Sherry, Karen, Melissa and David, Dave and Yvette and their daughters Jessica and Olivia, a cameo appearance from Scott and Mindy (they live across the lake!) and Lisa! I also have frequent visits from Polly and Al, Polly's mom Anna, and I met my neighbor Marianne and another neighbor, Mrs. Greenwood, from up the street. I just didn't manage to catch them all on camera . . . and don't forget of course the parents and the sister . . . although they are here so much they practically live here so I don't think they are guests exactly.

Wow. When you type it all out like that, it really is a lot of people that have come by! The house is well broken in for guests. So come visit won't you? Next weekend is the first annual Knitting Margarita Sleepover Party at the Farm (definitely needs a better acronym . . . have to work on that). All knitters invited!

Love,

Turtlewoman

Catching Up

Wow. I did a really good job of keeping the blog updated in July - but who wouldn't with a month free of obligations? But go back to work and good-bye blog! The sad thing is that so far I am not really even working that hard. Definitely not when compared to the standards of the past four years. All the same, I am getting up on time in the morning again, going to a place of work, staying there for the day, taking overnight call at least once a week, and then coming home again. Just the rhythm of it all makes me stray from the blog . . .

And now the problem is that there is SO much to tell, I don't know where to start. It is overwhelming really. We all know how well I do with overwhelming right? Can you say "hide in bed as much as possible and do everything BUT what you should be doing" three times fast? I owe Megan, Heather, and Debbie about six hundred e-mail responses alone. And that doesn't even count everyone else out there that I owe responses to. Sigh.

So I think the best approach will be to make short posts and try to get caught up on the events of the last month . . . I think we will start with the progress on Sprout. After ripping Sprout out FOUR TIMES I think I finally am making a sweater that will fit my mother. As you can see:

I am now down below the underarms and I am also about halfway through the waist shaping. You can get an idea of the size based on how it falls on the chair. It is looking pretty darn good. Still gotta finish the bottom, then do the sleeves, the button bands, and the blocking. But I am making slow steady progress.

Love,

Turtlewoman