Friday, August 15, 2008

Whitetail Deer



Well, it's a strange day when the deer outnumber the goats! Only Maggie and Fancy were not locked in the barnyard, since I had just milked them. In the picture above there are 3 deer, plus Maggie.



The older deer has her yearling daughter with her almost every day. Sometime around August the first she had a fawn. She looked VERY pregnant, then one day we noticed she was missing. A few days later she showed up looking emaciated. You can see every rib, and it looks to be getting worse rather than better.



She has what looks like "bottle jaw" which is a condition goats get when they have a heavy worm load. So, I have been putting alfalfa pellets and oats out for her in a pile in the grass along with the corn that I usually scatter around. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some pellets at TSC that have worm meds in them and put them out for the 2 whitetail does when all the goats are locked in the barn so they dont gobble them up. (Yeah, I know I'm a sucker, but if she dies, her fawn that's out there somewhere is going to die too.)



In the picture below, the smallest deer at the back is a little orphan named PJ. We feed him goat milk from a bottle, but he is free to come and go as he pleases. He prefers to hang out in the barn with the Boer goats all day because I keep their feeder full of pellets. At the evening milking time I INSIST that he leave the barn and go be a deer all night long! The next morning he'll be waiting at the barn gate asking to be let back in with the little goats.


Right when I snapped this picture PJ reared up on his back legs and said "Eht" which can be loosely translated as "Where's my bottle?"
And this picture is simply to make you DIZZY!

We EXpect what we INspect.



We EXpect what we INspect.


Mum sent "us girls" a link to the great article above, and it is wonderful! It's not just for little kids, but is great to keep in mind for your big kids too. (And it's a good reminder to me to be a good example in this area.)

My kids are SICK AND TIRED of the phrase "Do it right, or do it twice." They have heard it over and over since they were little!

Here you go: A pic of one of our many disaster zones. Erinn was looking for something that had already been packed. I need to quit taping boxes up!

This is the kind of SIMPLE SUPPER (GF of course!) that my poor family has to suffer through. I guess I get the Mean Mother award for not giving them frozen dinners or Hamburger Helper!! (OK, I confess that I occasionally wish there was a GLUTEN FREE/Soy Free/MSG free substitute for an easy quick inexpensive meal!)

And I definitely get some kind of demerit for running out of eggs! This is the last one. This hasn't happened in 4 years. I am going to have to buy what passes for eggs tomorrow at the grocery store. So, if any of yall happen to be in HEB in Kerrville and you hear a loud SCREAM from the egg area of the store, you'll know it's me! :o)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Praise the Lord! Susan's surgery went well and the doctor feels confident he got all the cancer. You can read the update here. We're praying that she will have a smooth recovery and that the whole family will feel the Lord's peace as they go through this difficult time.

Kris' back doctor feels that he should hold off on working for a while longer so we are in "waiting mode" again. We aren't sure what will happen next or when we will move. We had two families look at the house on Monday of this week, but haven't heard back from them yet.

It feels VERY strange to have so few animals here. Teresa is goat sitting the 4 wethers for us, and she took two of the orphan kids to her wonderful neighbor. She also has Glory, which completes our trade agreement for Aileas. So, there went 7 goats right there! Then Virginia got Belle and a few chickens. Mum got Hannah and a whole slew of chickens. Dr. D came and picked up his orphans which were old enough to wean.

PJ has some new friends that are coming to eat the green grass in front of the house every evening. There are 3 whitetail does. Two are yearlings, and one is a doe who just had a fawn. She is skin and bones, so I have taken pity on her and started putting out corn and alfalfa pellets every evening while I am milking. The goats are in the barn for about an hour, then I let them all out and they go help the deer finish off any feed that is left. I will have to get some pictures soon.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

~Please be praying for Susan, her family, and her doctors as she is having surgery in Austin today. ~


Proverbs 3:5,6

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

The Test Of Trust