One in a Million!

(Don't look Teresa! Butchering pictures below.)

How many friends would come over and dig up your septic lines for you, find and fix the problem, butcher four goats (in record time!), and GIVE you 2 turkeys? Hannah and Erinn did such an excellent job on those turkeys! Daniel had a little help from Mooky and Hannah, but he mostly did the goats on his own. His meat market experience sure came in handy! He can skin a deer in 4 minutes - and it sure didn't seem to take any longer than that with the goats. And not only that, but Daniel made some EXCELLENT summer sausage and gave us a huge piece!

WOW!

Thank Y'all SO MUCH for everything!!!

Rachel B.- come ride Susie!!

She needs a smaller rider, don't you think?? ;o)

Kris built some nice steps leading up to the deck, on both ends, and he used the old steps to make a wonderful play-toy for the goat kids.

BUCK YEAR

That makes 11 buck kids and only 5 doe kids sired by River this kidding season. :o(

Oatie - 1b
Latte - 2b
Star - 1b
Belle - 1b.....1d
Dana - 2b
Maggie 2b...1d
Rio - 1b.......2d
Velvet 1b.....1d

Kris' dad is having surgery today so we are headed up to the hospital. A friend from Harper came over last night (so that makes 2 people that don't think we are totally weird) and brought us a pot of soup to warm up today after we get home from Freds. THAT WAS SO NICE!!!
ETA: I was in a rush this morning, and I was thinking about how thankful I was not to lose any kids or does during kidding, but I didn't take the time to actually say it. So, yes, yall are right, everyone is healthy and all the extra buck kids are sold, so I am happy. :o)
AND, Grandpa came through his surgery well this morning. The doctor took the whole prostate and said that he was pleased with how everything looked and was confident he got all the cancer.

Susie

Aileas and Thunder spent the whole day following Susie around. They had a blast running and playing. Aileas in particular seemed really curious about Susie. Thunder liked her a lot because he hates to be "an only horse" but Aileas just kept sniffing and sniffing. It was pretty funny.

Petting Zoo

Feb 2 - James, Susan, Rachel, David, Caleb, and Johanna came over for lunch and a fun day at the "petting zoo". ;o) Brad, Kim, Kaetlin, Grandpa, and Granny came as well, so we had a fun family day! Granny made "Mexican Pile-On" for lunch and it was delicious! Susan brought fruit salad and Amish Friendship Bread, Mooky made a Peanut Pie, and Erinn made Peach Tarts. So, that left me with nothing at all to do besides watch soap operas while everyone else did all the work.

Actually, Sprite was still quite sick and didn't eat for 24 hours so I syringed water, c. silver, and nutri-drench into her every hour or so. Finally late in the afternoon she took a bottle! She is fine now, living outside again with all the other goats!

Kaetlin enjoyed petting Caddie. Check out the door Kris made for the pantry!

It has a really cool looking deer antler for the handle.

Poor Kaetlin had a hard day. She fell into some cactus and was understandably miserable!

James leading Johanna, Kaetlin, and Rachel on Thunder.


Johanna LOVED the goats, and Velvet mostly went wherever she was led.


Velvet leading Johanna.

David playing with Ice and Mattie.

Rachel and Erinn leading Caleb on Thunder.

Johanna feeding Ice.

WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Playing wahoo on the deck on the cool wahoo board that Karl made is a family tradition!

Feb 3 - we had planned to butcher the four wethers, but we ended up delaying that until next weekend. Instead we worked on digging up the septic lines and Kris hurt his back worse than he ever had before. Then, in the afternoon the kids and I went to Kerrville to the funeral home while Kris layed paralyzed in the recliner.

Feb 4 - I took Kris to the chiropractor in Kerrville because he could barely walk, much less drive! Then, the rest of the day I worked on the dreaded TAXES while the kids helped out with all the extra work that I was neglecting.

Feb 5 - Worked on the taxes some more and finally finished after lunch. We actually got caught up on schoolwork today despite the protests - "But Dad's off work!" Got caught up on some laundry and disbudded Rainy's little boy. After I fixed supper and milked the goats, Bailey and her mom came over to pick up Rainy and Jr. They dropped off the sweet little Nubian kid that we had worked out a trade for, and they also loaned us their pony!! Her name is Susie and she is really cute. Erinn is really looking forward to Rachel coming over once a week to ride with her.

NOTE of importance! Loy (Kris' aunt) has completed the long and involved testing process and is now approved by a team of doctors AND the insurance company to be put on the waiting list for a heart transplant! Please pray that she will not catch any of the nasty viruses that are going around, and that the Lord would grant her peace as she goes through this stressful time.

ANOTHER NOTE OF IMPORTANCE: Kris' dad is going to be undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous cyst from his prostate on December 7, so please pray that the doctors would get it all and that he would have a smooth recovery.