Dog Gone.....

Well - all of the LGD pups we had - that weren't staying here - have left for their new homes! Yani (mom) is sure awful glad she doesn't have to feed them anymore! They were on solid food, but she still had to "supplement" their diet.

The last male fuzzball left this noon. He was the biggest of all the pups, but a real cutie. The woman who came and got him had a young son to help spoil him. It looked like a pretty good match!

The last little girl left yesterday. They came over about 8:30 in the morning and picked her up. She went to a local family that only lives about 7 miles from us. What's more....

They're Hillbillies just like us!

It's always nice to find out there are like minded folks around close by - ones who don't have to keep up with the Jones's, either. They are scroungers like us, and have LOTS of good stuff. We found out they had a few cats extra, so I went over to their place in the afternoon to pick a couple of them up.

I could have stayed and "rummaged" all night!

They are scroungers like us, and have LOTS of good stuff. They live on a road less travelled then we do, but both of us are doing our best to keep property values as low as possible.

Even though I could have found tons of items to use - alas, I only came home with the two cats....

They wanted to know if we could help them butcher some chickens later on, though.
I got NO PROBLEM with "Axing" a few chickens to dinner - as long as I get the gizzards.

I'd do all kinds of things for fresh gizzards...

Heck, I'd even volunteer Deb's hands to pluck for them...Sounds pretty reasonable to me! Deb might think otherwise, though.

Oh well, it was a fun - albeit short - trip, and it's good to know we aren't the only scroungey hillbillies in the area.

Only bad thing is - I ain't seen one hide nor hair of those two cats since I turned them loose in the barn last night......

Not PRETTY, But It Works....

This all started a little over a month ago....

We had just received our second 14" snowfall of the season, and there was no place for it to go, since the drifts from the previous 14" were still deep and "crusty".
These drifts were ROCK hard, and had not melted, since the temps were in the single digits to the teens.

One of our neighbors came along with his large 4x4 tractor, and shoved enough of the snow around so we could at least get out of our driveway. In the process he nearly got HIS tractor stuck - the snow was THAT deep.

Since he never takes any money for anything he does to help his neighbors, Deb made him an Apple pie, and even tossed in some home-made butter.

Then, for no particular reason, a week later, she made a CHERRY pie for him.

He must have been impressed, because this past Friday, he brought over a nice big round bale of hay for my cows!

Since I feed small bales, I not only did not have a bale spear to handle the bale, but I didn't even have a "Hay Ring" to put it in so the bovine wouldn't just scatter it out the first day.

It was aggravating for the cows at first, Mabel is the only one tall enough to be able to pull some out of the top, since it was sitting on end.

I knew it wouldn't be long, though, before the critters would tear through the net wrapping, and "dig" into the hay. I needed something FAST.

Lucky for me, there was an auction the next day.....

I took a few things over to the auction site Friday afternoon, figuring that I'd look around at some things while I was there.

While wandering around the tractors, hay balers, wagons, plows, and all other manner of tempting farm machinery, I struck up a conversation with a fellow "wanderer".

Obviously, I wasn't in his "class" when it comes to machinery.

He began bemoaning as to how everything on the sale was "obsolete junk" and that he wouldn't allow any of it on his place.

One man's junk, is another man's treasure....and one man's treasure, is another man's junk....

In a few seconds he went into a tirade about a certain piece of livestock equipment that he'd be "embarrassed to sell".

Enter, one bent up Hay Ring....

The man rambled on a few more minutes, then got in his truck and headed home to Shangri La....

I went over and took a good look at the Hay Ring.

Yeah, it was beat and bent, but was still bolted together. I figured that it would do my Bovine - and their goat body guards - rather nicely, and further figured that it would go for cheap enough for me to afford.

While I'm not totally sure, I think that there were only myself and one other bidder - most everyone else was looking at us and shaking their heads. At any rate, the bidding was over in just a couple bids, and I was the winner.

The biggest problem I had, were the 9 rusted bolts still attached to the ring. Luckily, a friend happened to walk by, and brought some tools from his truck. In mere minutes, we had the thing apart.

Admittedly, I found myself wishing I had some bright orange paint, a couple flags, and a loud speaker so I could drive by Shangri La, and flaunt my latest purchase but, it started to rain and the paint probably wouldn't have stuck.

As it turned out, I drove straight home peacefully, in a rain shower.

This afternoon, I grabbed some new bolts and installed the ring around the bale. The cows, especially Mabel, watched me warily, but hunger overcame their suspicions.

The two goats "helped" me put it together, so it didn't bother them as much - food is food, no matter how you package it.

Here is hat it looks like around my hay bale:



That's Sally stomping off because Mabel breathed in her direction....

Long ago, I figured out that it would be a long time before we afford a new ring (or even a USED one), so this one was the right fit at the right time.

Besides, it enhances my "Hillbilly" reputation....

It FINALLY Got The Best Of Her...

When we first got goats a few years back, it was two bred nanny goats, who ended up having twins each - a boy and a girl apiece.

Both moms are long gone, as well as the two boys, but we kept the two little girls. One of them - Romper - is the first goat ever to be born on this farm. She is mischievous, ornery, cantankerous, conniving, aggravating,...........

You get the picture....

Anyway, Romper is the oldest of our "first goats" here on the farm. We have a couple older, but none have been HERE longer. She has been spoiled from the beginning - although, I take NO responsibility in that matter - it just HAPPENED.

She can be helpful at times, too. She's REAL good at pointing out where the fences need to be taller.

Then there is "Apple Season". Long ago, I made the mistake of tossing windfall apples from the tree in our front yard, over the fence to the goats. It got to the point where they would see me walking toward the tree, and they would all line up on their side of the fence to await the daily apple toss.

I'd hear about it, too, if I was a little late.

If there were no windfalls, or I wasn't hurrying enough, Romper would take it upon herself to hop the fence, and pick them from the lower branches. She is REAL adept at picking the best ones, too.

One of her many other "quirks" is standing in the barn and beating her head against the wall, gate, another goat, the dog, or even ME. Not HARD, just a slow, steady, constant, Bump, bump, bump.

I've heard her banging her head against the gate for over an hour. I first thought it was because there was another goat on the other side, but soon found her doing it when she was alone.

Sort of a "Why? Why? WHY did I DO THAT?", head banging.

Well, I'm here so say, that all that head banging has finally taken it's toll. Poor Romper....time to call the "Goat Psychologist", she's gone over the edge.

I found her yesterday, beating her head against the wall in the barn, so I finally asked her WHY she continually does that.

Her reply?



Whaaa? Whalll? Wash a whalll? Heee, heee, hee...."

Cheap thrills for a goat.

Dead Dog, And The Punishment Closet

Yesterday, I had to run into town on an errand. Nothing major, just a quick run to the grocery store. I was gone a little over 20 minutes.

When I got home, the oddball LGD - Shadow - was laying right in the way of me getting up to my parking spot. What's worse, he REFUSED to be moved. I honked - with little effect....

Ok the horn on the truck is dead. It only makes a pathetic little "squeak" sound that's barely audible. It shouldn't matter, though, I figured - he's a DOG, he can hear it.

Apparently not.

The mutt just lay there, so I swerved around in hopes of missing him, and went on up the hill.

Things were normal until, about 30 minutes later when I looked out the window, and saw this:



Hit me with the Nitro - I'm having a heart attack!

Stupid dog! I done told him to move.

Then, I decided to zoom in - and noticed how the tire tracks go UNDER the fur ball, not over the ribcage:



Every day this nut snoozes in the SNOW, instead of inside the barn. We've seen him out there, laying in a drift when it's 10° out. As long as the wind isn't blowing, he's out there. He enjoys winter WAY too much. One of these days he's gonna give me the "Big One" that Fred Sanford fretted about.

Unless I get to him first....

Since we have the LGD puppies, we need to get them used to the goats and cows that they will grow up to guard. The cow part is easy - they're already in with them. Today, I added a couple goats.

Neither of which, were pleased with their new living arrangements.

I decided that Sally was the best candidate for the job, since she likes to "play" with the gate. This would be one easy way of getting her away from her "toy". Since her best buddy is Annie - it wasn't hard to decide on who would accompany Sally in the pup pen.

It was only a few short minutes before they both were BEGGING to be let out. They promised PROFUSELY that they'd be good for the next 20 years, if I'd only get them away from those "things".



I hate to see a grown goat cry - but WAAAAAA!

There is a job to do and, by golly, I put my hove down and they were gonna DO IT! No amount of crying was going to dissuade me from their mission.

***NOTE*** Crying goats can be LOUD. Sometimes you have to go in the house, put on your headphones and turn the music up in order to get away from it....

The crying finally stopped after about an hour, but rose rather quickly again when I had to go back outside to check on things.

When the pups heard me, they came bounding out of their room...



...and began to investigate their new friends...



...neither of which were interested in meeting THEM. I got plenty of "greetings", though. If looks could kill:



I got the old "I HATE You" look from Annie. I also have a photo of what Sally did, but I can't show it - it's that bad.

Suffice it to say - even though goats only have two fingers, I got the message...

We'll see how the night went when I go out tomorrow morning. I expect all to be well.

Once the goats figure out how comfy warm the little fur balls are, they'll cozy right up to them.

I just hope I don't find them laying in the driveway, curled up to a goof ball dog.

Medical Emergency In The Barn...

So -

WHY do food companies put TEN Hotdogs to a package, and only EIGHT buns? I've never been able to figure that one out. It would just make good sense to have them even.....but, then again, maybe it's a ploy to secretly get people to buy more packages of buns...

By rough calculations, you'd need to buy 5 packages of buns, and 4 packs of Hotdogs to equalize things out. That would be enough hotdogs (40) to last me about 5 years - since I really hate the things. They're better cold, right out of the fridge, then cooked.

My wife, on the other hand, LOVES Turkey dogs. She could eat them for lunch just about every day. Of course, this still doesn't solve the Bun to dog ratio - one or the other would be frozen, dried, or spoiled, at the wrong time, before you caught up. Thus - a simple solution....

Dog food.

This, while seemingly wasteful, doesn't really bother us. Hotdogs are still relatively cheap, and buns are not. Besides, the dogs (real, four footed ones....), enjoy a good "people food" snack every once-in-awhile.

Since we had some "other" items that would be "snackable", it was decided that the "outside" dogs would get to enjoy this round. So - I gathered up my wares, and headed to the barn to hand them out. I didn't bring anything for the goats, but they "lined the rails" anyway, in hopes of getting treats.

They were all disappointed, although Romper did come out to the water tank while I was lighting the heater. She was POSITIVE I had goodies. She was not amused when the only thing I had was a box of matches. She trotted off, scowling, when I offered her one.

I decided to give the pups and mom most of what I had - including the two extra hotdogs, so I opened the gate to their "room" in the barn, and stepped inside....

and right onto the paw of one of the pups we want to keep.

I immediately hopped (ok, MOVED...) off her little hand, but the serenade of yelps had already started. Reaching down, I picked the poor little youngin' up and cuddled her, hoping her crying would stop. She slowed down a bit, but - unfortunately - still continued.

At this point, I reached into the bag of goodies, produced a hotdog, and broke off a piece for her.

Who would have thought that Hotdogs had medicinal qualities? They're a gol-durn MIRACLE drug! The pain must have stopped instantly. At least, she forgot about it in favor of another piece of dog....

I dolled out what I had, then went about the morning chores.

Later on, I was outside getting a hose ready to fill the stock tank. All the pups came out to watch, but stayed on top of the "slope" on the side of the barn. I've seen them all along the barn, and about 1/4 way down that slope, but NEVER at the bottom of it.

The snow we've had in the past days has become hard packed, and can be quite "fun" at times - one wrong step, and things can get interesting.

I was seconds away from "interesting"....

There I was, standing still, when my hip decided to give out, which caused a chain reaction like a game of dominoes. One second, I was standing there, smiling at the puppies, the next, I was sliding and heading face-first toward a gate.

Gate 1, Hillbilly 0

I got a nice crease in my forehead, then bounced, only to land on my back, in the snow. After what seemed like hours, but was actually only about 4-5 seconds, I rolled over onto my side to attempt getting up. I was stunned and pleased to see the poor little girl who's fingers I had stepped on, about 3" from my face.

She had ventured down the slope to see if I was alright. It was the first time I'd seen ANY of them at the bottom. I guess she was just returning the favor from earlier.

I was almost disappointed she didn't bring me a piece of Hotdog....

But, then again, I had just received a knock in the head....

Impatient Cows, Smart Aleck Goats....

Yesterday afternoon, I was in the barn, doing some odds-n-ends, type of things. Like always, as soon as I enter the barn, the goats start hollering that they are starving to death.

Funny thing about goats - they can lift their face out of the feed pan - WHILE EATING - and claim you haven't fed them for a month.....

I just decided to ignore them, and go see the puppies.

As I opened the door, all seven of them (6 pups, 1 mom) came running up to the gate to greet me. Mom was especially happy to see me, because I had a bone in my hand. The pups KNOW what a bone is, they just haven't mastered the technique of chewing on one yet.

Even though it was still an hour and a half early, Mabel saw me heading toward the barn, and figured it was time for her evening feeding.

**NOTE** Cows don't consider it "milking" time, they think of it as "face time with the feed pan"......

Mabel's "cow in training", Belle, usually follows her into the barn at such times. When they see me coming across the yard, they head up the hill and stand beside the barn door.

I guess they got inpatient with me, as I didn't open the door. First, Belle poked her nose in the little door to the pup's room. I could tell by the look on her face that she was expecting food.



There were all kinds of impertinent snorts, stamping of feet, and angry grunts, coming from outside the "dog door". No amount of talking was going to convince either Belle or Mabel that it wasn't time for supper. Finally, Mabel couldn't stand it any longer and stuck HER nose in to see what was going on.



I guess she figured her face has more pull then Belle's.

At any rate, it didn't work - I left the door closed and continued about my business. I did find, however, that when is WAS time for milking, both Mabel and Belle stood at the bottom of the hill and snorted. I actually had to SHOW them the grain bucket before they made the trudge up the slope.

Guess they wanted to show me who's boss....

Mean while, the goats were being their normal, pesky selves. I found out this morning that Sally - one of our Kinders - has figured out how to open the gate in the barn. Normally, she would wait for it to "bounce", then stick her pointy little face behind it, and shove. Now she has figured out how to open it with her paw.

The first sign that something was amiss this morning, came in the fact that Sally and the goofball LGD were curled up in some loose hay on the barn floor. They saw me, and jumped up like they knew they were in trouble. Shadow headed out through his doorway, and Sally ran to the gate. At least I got some satisfaction by seeing her friends "pummel" her when she re-joined them.

Now I have to LATCH the gate, instead of just closing it. Smart aleck goat.

Speaking of "smart aleck" goats -

Every time I am in the barn, somebody decides to have their face over the rail, or gate. I usually wander over, put my hands on both cheeks, then act like I'm going to land a big kiss on a nose, all the while making kissing noises. Normally, just the THOUGHT of smooching a human is enough to cause my "victim" to drop off the gate, and get out of "harm's way" before they get "human cooties".

Yesterday, though, Annie pulled a fast one on me. I had a hold of her face, with a hand on each cheek, and was doing my kissing noises at her. Instead of hopping down, and out of my grasp, she turned her face upwards, and GAVE ME A BIG SMOOCH - RIGHT ON THE LIPS!

She paused a second, then took off like a shot out the door.

Now I got "goat cooties".

Smart aleck goat....

Carnage In The Barn....

Maybe I can chalk this one up to "Cabin Fever" - I haven't decided yet. I DO know that everyone is thinking spring needs to hurry up. Just when the critters are convinced spring is on it's way, winter decides to come roaring back.

I hate it when it does that....

At any rate, the last couple of days have not been fun outside. Blowing snow, wind chills below zero, highs in the low twenties, and cloudy, dreary days. It's been one of those days where even the nutcase LGD spends his time inside the barn.

Every once-in-awhile he comes to what little senses he has.

Unfortunately, critters are like kids - when they are cooped up, they tend to think of new and dastardly ways to get into trouble.

Take our barn dwellers for instance - they apparently keep each other entertained when I'm not around:



They even molested an open bale of alfalfa I had resting on top of the others. As you can see, it was tossed to the floor:



All this hay was neatly stacked when I left the barn the night before. My first fleeting thought was that the cows had somehow gotten into it. After checking the door, I found it closed - and latched - so, if the bovine were the guilty ones, they had to have someone "on the inside" to help them.

Not that the cats are above aiding and abetting....

Besides, the fence rails were still intact, and the gate was across the entrance to the hay stack. Cows are sneaky, but not real good at covering their tracks - and there was no evidence of cow pies....

The goats weren't saying anything but, something told me they KNEW what happened. They'd been either threatened, or paid off.

The guilty party - or, more likely, parties - were cunning, devious, conniving, and crafty. All of which mean ONE thing......

THE CATS!

Now, you might say - "Those had to be some mighty BIG felines to move a hay bale"! You would be correct - BUT - they had an accomplice!



It's never hard for the cats to persuade Shadow into trouble - he's young and impressionable.

They ALMOST had me fooled, until one of the guilty returned to the scene of the crime:



The "cat was out of the bag" so to speak, when the goofball dog ran over to see if he could get the game going again. The cats run, he chases them, all the while scattering bales every which way AND lose!

Their "play" ended wen I let out a yell, and hobbled over to the hay. Both culprits decided to stop chasing each other and hightail it out of the area as fast as they could.

No apologies, no nuthin', just me, left to clean up after their fun.

While I didn't catch her in the act, I KNOW Tractor Buddy is NEVER innocent in times like these. She was sitting nearby, giving me her best "Who, ME?" looks. She's just smart enough to not do anything when I'm watching.



Although, I'm beginning to worry about those green eyes - the phrase "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" comes to mind....

If her shirt starts to split, I'm outta there.