Elinore and Marianne

About 9 weeks ago I saw an add for two female pygora goats not too far from us. G had talked about getting some sort of fiber animal for some time. We visited them along with our 4-H leader and decided we wanted them.

Today was the day to go pick them up, now they are almost 9 weeks old. We left from church to drive to Lapeer. After a couple stops, lunch and TSC for last minute necessities and the latest MaryJane FarmGirl magazine, we were almost there. Even Todd asked "Are we there yet? Lake Huron should be right over the next hill."

We arrived to find a note taped to the door. We were about 45 min after the time I had said we'd be there. But the number the owner left for me to call wasn't working. So I hid the money and found the kids with their mama.

None of them were real sure we should be there, but the kids are little enough that they could be convinced. The Mama was small enough to handle too for that matter being 50% pygmy

They were very quiet on the way home, cuddling together in the borrowed animal crate.

Their grand entrance into the barn

Heidi had to see what was going on. (or maybe she was looking for a treat.) She responded with a motherly bleat to the kids' little baby bleats. We have to keep them separate for a period of time. Kind of like quarantine when you bring animals into a new country.

They were hesitant to come out of the crate, but came eventually

They found the water and salt block right away, but weren't too sure that we were safe. When G put the grain in their stall they got busy with that. It took a bit for them to be sure the alfalfa was good, but when they did they munched away and got closer to us.

If we got a hold of them they would sit quietly on our laps until we let go. Then they were off to the other side of their stall.

I can't tell them apart very well yet. Marianne has curlier hair on her body, less hair on her head and is bigger. She was the one to go to the grain and alfalfa first.

Elinore has more fluff on her head, but is smaller and less curly on her body. She took a little longer to warm up to her new home.

Here is an up close of the fiber:

It is still short because they are babies, but it is very soft and curly. Their dad's fur is very long and curly.


In this picture they are standing right in front of the door to their stall. The top of the door is about the same distance as from the bottom board to the top board.

After we had the girls settled and had moved on to other things, Todd was putting his good fishing poles away in the barn when we heard hollers for help.

Nothing panicky, but obviously something he didn't want to deal with alone. One of the goats (he can't tell them apart either, he might never be able to) had jumped the gate to the stall. He managed to coral them then head to the house for the cordless screwdriver.

The outside of the door.

We thought for sure it would be tall enough, but one of the kids had shown us her climbing ability when we were trying to get her out of her original home: She was on top of a box that was on top of an old kitchen cupboard. She jumped from there into the adjoining goat stall. After we got her sister out of the stall the climber jumped back in from the next stall. Then while we were securing the pen she climbed to the top of a pile of hay bales. Actually, with my back the way it is, it was easier to get her down from there than up into my arms to carry her to the van.

He grabbed an extra board and made the door a bit taller.

They supervised the redesign of their new home from the top of a dog house. We got the dog house for Hugs and Heidi. Hugs (the dwarf) like to stand on it to be tall. Heidi doesn't need any help to get up. She is our resident mountain goat. Todd and G made a small pasture for Hugs and Heidi. Heidi won't stay in. The fence is standard cattle panels and the door is a palate that has been added to so that it it taller than I am. We wondered if Heidi didn't "tell" the kids how to get over the door.

It should be plenty tall now, but we have checked on them a few times. It seems to have worked. They have been calling for their mama, but haven't escaped again.

Goodnight Heidi, take care of the babies.

New Additions

The chicks have grown and grown. We lost 4, so we have 6. Many of them have names but not all. I am starting to see the pecking order. Blondie or Meg and one of the ones with a striped head seems to be the bosses.

They have started to fly. They get as far as the top of their home. We have added more "lids" for the tub. Next weekend Todd will make them a chicken tractor home.

Saturday we brought our goats home. G was beside herself with excitement.

We did not bring home the boy we thought we would for multiple reasons, but we did bring home the one I thought was the cutest at the Carmen's. He is a Nigerian dwarf named Hugs. He was a bit uneasy about his new home...or maybe is was the 8 humans surrounding him, especially the small, loud excited ones. He seems to have settled into his new digs. He got his name because when he was very little he liked to be held. He still loves to just sit on your lap. His job is to be a companion to Heidi. Goats can get lonely, depressed and unhealthy if they are alone.Heidi on the other hand is normal wild crazy goat kid jumping on the walls, climbing on backs, and chewing on anything and everything. Heidi will be bread this fall and we will have babies in late winter and milk in the spring.

barn and misc

This is the west end of the barn you can see the outhouse and the old "bathroom" remains. During the summer you can not see through the tree line here. The upstairs or loft o f the barn is still used for storage and sometimes the children play here. It is a MESS! but not a priority to clean up.

While I was taking pictures of the girls new dresses D had to get in on the photo shoot with May.

I use my Pampered Chef 4 cup batter bowl at least 3 times a week...well, I did. It got dropped and shattered into a million pieces. I have been told that if you send in the piece that has the company name on it they will replace it. the biggest piece I found was about 1" square and had no recognizable markings. Bummer.

Inside the barn

OK, to please my friends and their curious relations here are pictures of the inside of the barn, our temporary home. As you can see I am less than organized which is wrecking havoc on my psyche. I tried to start this morning but have no idea where to find the right drill bit to start hanging organizing racks and shelves. So now I am heating water to try to wash my hair. The water heating will take 10 times as long as the bath, but I am hoping it will be worth it.

Our barn home has 2 rooms. The front room (20' x 16') is the the kitchen (when we get water and electricity) and master bedroom and, if/when we get to it, the school room. One of the boxes I have yet to locate has all of Natalie's and Gabbi's school books in it.

Then you walk through the closet to the children's room (16' x 16'). We are still working on organization and routine.


This morning at 7:45 AM Randy came to stake the house. So we know where it is going to be. The drill digger was also here and seemed optimistic. He said he'd be back in about 2 weeks.




PS It took a bit to get these pictures uploaded, so I thought I would follow up on my "warm" bath. It was warmer than the air temperature but not by much. The camp shower (a battery operate pump) made a huge difference in my ability to wash my hair. I even shaved my legs. It felt great to be clean, but it took a couple hours to warm up. Any other day in mid-June I would have enjoyed the chill, but not today.

We started!

Yesterday morning I awoke to my cell phone singing and a rumbling clanking noise coming up my driveway.

"Hello?" Staring out the window at a BIG back hoe with sleep still in my eyes and no glasses.

"Hi, uh Randy Gushaw (excavator) is coming today."

"He's here. That's big machine."

"Can you show him where we want the stumps buried?"

"Can I get dressed first?"

"That'd be a good idea."

As this conversation between Todd and I continued my mom came into the barn with a puzzled expression. She brought Natalie home the night before. Natalie's welcome to us was "Wow, there is carpet in the barn." No hugs or anything. Mom was staying in the camper so the back hoe was right outside her front door as she woke up.

Craig, the "digger guy" was great. He was friendly although a bit perplexed as the children showed up one by one. I could see him starting to count in his head. He was very nice to let Daniel and Natalie sit in the cab for pictures. He just seemed like he really likes his job. His machine was amazing. It looked kind of like a big elephant using its trunk to move things around. It plucked up stumps like picking pebbles on the beach. The bigger stumps made it work a little bit at pulling but the effort made more of a show for the children. Daniel watched with more attention than he watches Thomas movies.

Randy W. came right before we had to leave and the whole idea that we had actually started our new home made me very excited and nervous. Had I not many other things to think about I would have done a happy dance and spent the day with butterflies in my tummy.

We came home from errands and the children all screamed as we pulled into the property. We were greeted by 3 ten foot plus piles of sandy topsoil and a flattened rectangle where the house will go. New toys, how I am going to keep them presentable to get anywhere now?

Daniel took this one, tilt your head

Craig was finishing up burying the stumps with another guy. I warned him that children were back, but had been warned to stay out of the way. They finished soon. I can't imagine how many weeks or months it would take of working by hand with axes and shovels to do the same amount of work he did in one short day.

Nothing new

Other than my Internet access has been disappointing this week. Last week it was great and it took no time to up load pictures and write things. So you will have to wait for pictures, but I will take some of the barn-house tomorrow.

The children's room is arranged for now. I still want to loft one of the beds, but Todd has other things to do right now. Anyhow it will take him a week to find all the parts in the loft--I guess you should see pictures of that too.

The kitchen/master bedroom still has stuff everywhere. I plan to tackle that tomorrow along with finding a better spot or time to get things uploaded. If Nothing else we hope to get to the local library, and I will be able to upload there.

Fast Forward to today

I haven't had time to catch up on our story, but I did want to let everyone know we really live in a barn now. We all slept in the barn last night. I got a lot of things put away and organized. I still am missing many things, fortunately nothing real important--I can find deodorant and my toothbrush and diapers and trash bags.

Todd goes to work tomorrow, at least his day will be normal.