Busy Week - Ending with a Flourish!

I just finished my first full week of work since the Holidays!

Except for Tuesday, like everyone else I know, Keith & I were in front of the TV, along with a couple of Valley Friends who don't have television, watching Barack Obama take his oath for the Presidency. We even watched the coverage of the parade and watched Michelle and Barack dance (we stopped at the fourth ball). It was such a great day, just knowing he is our President got me over whatever it was that was dragging me to a slowing halt on work - I've been very productive since ....

tried my hand at baking doggie biscuits - the recipe must have worked because all the dogs love them!

Finished my first project for making my own clothes - these are Lounge Pants - an updated version of the '50's housedress.

detail shot of the bottoms - next on the list is a blouse.
I also have been busy crocheting grocery bags for the Farm Stand I plan to start this summer.
But the best event this week was what happened last night.
Coming home from a party, as I went to the barn to tuck the chickens to bed I heard a scream.
When I got to the goats I saw that Girly-girl was giving birth, two kidds were beside her and still very wet and sticky.
I went back to the house to get sheets and to the barn to grab a heat lamp and food for the tired Mamma - when I returned to the goat pen I discovered that Tuffy had given birth as well.
We now have five newborn Kidds - and they all survived the first cold night!

Daisy is still pregnant, we don't think Brandy got knocked-up.

We fixed the room up with more heat lamps this morning. It's hard to tell which Mamma is to which kidd - I'm guessing that because they had them so close together that even the Mamma's don't know - we've seen the kidds going for both sets of teats, and the Mammas not minding! Though Girly-girl still bullies Tuffy around, sometimes keeping her away from all the Kidds.

The other nice touch - it snowed last night so there is a beautiful white blanket covering the fields (and all the dog poop!)

Here's a video of the newborns

Happy Friday

You would think that living and working on the Farm, that "Friday" wouldn't have as much joy to it as it does when we were working a 9-5 work week, but it does. The anticipation of the Weekend that Friday brings is still strong - even though we still do our daily routines on Sat & Sun - we try to do less work and more play on those days then the week days.

So Cheers to the Weekend - I hope you have a Fun One!!

This is how I get the hay to the animals - on a Hay Sled.
Franny & Lizzy are doing great.

One last post from the Holidays - scroll down please.

Christmas on The Farm 2008

It was a fun Christmas - even if I didn't get to decorate the house or have all the special snacks made ahead of time - we sure had a good time just chillin' with eachother.

And by chillin' I do mean that it was cold!

Lots of icicles like this one Richard got off of the Yurt were hanging off the house.

As a result we spent a lot of time inside...

reading, playing music, watching movies,

Madeline gave us a Fashion Show..... I was so happy that someone I loved was small enough to recieve my hand-me-downs from when my waist was smaller - and thrilled that she thought my old clothes were still cool....
we ate lots of good meals...

even the puppies put on their sweaters

(well I put them on them and they didn't stay on for long, but it makes a good story, right?)

when we did venture out we hardly recognized eachother

Could that really be two Panama Girls?
We found Lizzy staying out of the Cold,
But Franny doesn't mind the snow.
Well dear sister Mary, when you visit next it will be Hot, Hot, Hot!

This is the End of Playing Catch-up

We hope all of you had a great Christmas and are enjoying the New Year.

On My Own

Keith left this morning for the Big City to spend the weekend with his daughter Alyssa.

It's kinda nice to have the Farm to myself for a couple days, especially since Keith left me with plenty of chopped kindling for the fire.

Still very cold and frosty out.

Goats are fine.

And now for the rest of the story.....

(scroll down please)

Frosty Morning

It is a beautiful sunny frosty morning...I decided to blog a "today" post then continue with the past saga, you'll have to scroll down to get the rest of the story..

No kidds born this morning.

All is good.

Every morning I feel a little apprehension before I go out to feed... will there be another dead goat? will there be babies? It's a little daunting.

So I double appreciate the beauty of the morning when all is fine in goatsville as it was this morning.

Going Home

Monday Dec 22 the Webster clan headed to the airport - Butch flying to LA, Richard, Arlene, Mary & myself flying to Seattle. At least we thought we were. Butches flight was delayed but not cancelled. Our flight was definitely cancelled. They searched for other flights on other days and the best they could do for us was to fly out of Monroe on December 26th.

As much as we enjoyed our visit with the Folks we just couldn't fathom spending that much more time in Louisiana especially since Betsy May was flying from Portland and Madeline was flying from Montreal on the 23rd to be with their Moms (Me & Mary, respectively) and Butch had booked a flight from LA for Xmas in Wenatchee. Richard did some inquires about renting a car - we were in luck, there was one car available for out of state travel - we could have it for $125/day - Richard asks us what we wanted to do and we all responded loudly

"ROAD TRIP!"

Which was our mantra thru out the whole drive.

The first thing Richard did was to get a charger for his cell phone, and a map.

We headed West toward Dallas.

Which is a Mess, by the way.

Outside of Texas we called Ed & Martha to pick their brains about the best route home, since they have done the trip many times.

I think it is the first time Arlene & I loved the cell phone.

The whole trip we got weather, road condition updates and route advice from Martha, Ed & Jehd. Butch called to let us know he made it safely home, and kept tabs on us. Keith called to keep us updated about the Girls arrival. Best of all was Richards ring-tone which was a Latin based tune. When we would hear that tone all the girls in the car would start to do a dance and smile so big!

On our second pit-stop we got groceries - breakfasts & lunch foods plus a bait bucket and frozen peas to keep the cold foods kinda cool. Our plan was to only stop for gas & pee breaks and motels at the end of the day. We could eat on the road.

Three of us took turns with the driving and Mary read to us from the New Yorker Magazine (fiction edition) that I happened to have bought in Houston.

Another plus was that the car came with XM radio with a Jimmy Buffet station and Xmas music station.

We were set!

"Road Trip!"

The drive was about 2400 miles -

Day one we drove 544 miles in 10 hours

We were still in Texas by 7:30pm when we stopped for supper & motel rooms.

It was a little disappointing when people called asking where we were when we had to say

"Still in Texas" - but it was our first day and we got off to a late start and all...

Richard & Arlene took photos - from the car as we were driving!

My camera was packed away.

All of these photos are Arlene's, as I wasn't able to download Richards.

Day two we traveled 990 miles - 16 hours on the road

10pm Buffalo Wyoming (I think that's the name of the town)

We had warnings from our Life-Lines that we were heading towards bad weather and to keep driving for as long as we could. So we skipped getting supper and just kept truckin'

And our sources were right about the bad weather.

Arlene was driving when the wind gusts Martha had alerted us about hit.

She did such a great job of driving!

The next day we drove the rest of the way home!

Another 900 plus (maybe 1000)mile drive - 16 hours

Arlene had icy roads, snow & wind, Richard drove in the dark with freezing rain (thank goodness he bought the ice scaper when he bought chains - the last pair for miles!)

They both did an excellent job. I chose to only drive in the good weather.

I did the final leg home -

Which was Dec. 24 around 10pm.

We kept saying that we made it home because of the Potent Prayers from our Family!

We kept a log of who drove when & where and when we stopped etc. so later we could make a scrape book of sorts. And here is what we made.

Madeline made it to Wenatchee on Dec 22 - she had lots of delays but she made it!

Betsy May was not so fortunate; it took her 2 1/2 hours just to get to the Portland airport, her flight had left and she couldn't get on another.

But it was good that we could talk on the cell phone while she was in the airport.

Richard & Arlene left the farm Christmas Day after Stockings so they could return the rental car and pick up their sick kitty.

Butch flew into Wenatchee Christmas Day afternoon and stayed with us until Jan 2

Madeline left Jan 1.

Arlene came back the first week of Jan and when she left Jan 7 Mary went with her for she flew to San Salvador Jan 8th.

It was a memorable trip and Holiday!

Next post will be photos of the Family Holiday.