Extra Day Part 2

Time to refill laundry detergent

Straightened up the laundry shelf...yes, it

was even worse.  Don't judge.

Clothes all dry and off the line

Why did I want to wash sheets and blankets??

 Time to check out the barn again!

Mollie okay??

Mary Bird says all is well

This is why I have no problem shopping

at Goodwill

Time to rake the goat yard and gather compost

Poor birds.  Time to fill that too!

Demona ain't no fool

Time to stroll by the pond

Hmm, could fish

Nah, going to relax on the swing

Could kayak or canoe the pond

Pshh.  Going to look at the clouds.

Holy cow!  I have totally ignored the

berry patch!

Well, at least some of the tall weeds

are pulled

Cannot pass by the rosemary without touching and smelling

Had to bring in some daffodils

growing by the swing

Pizza for supper; and some extra

dough for the freezer

Love the 20qt bowl daughter

got me for Christmas-knead right

there in the bowl!

Oops, trying to finish up dishes, laundry

and chores before the pizza finished

Well, my 12-hour shift is almost over.  Only have supper dishes, sweeping, all animals fed, watered and closed in for the night and the greenhouse shutdown.  That's all, just another couple of hours. 

Next Leap Year, I am going to take the day off and head to the beach!!

What To Do With An Extra Day

Happy Leap Day, Leap Year Day...I don't know the correct greeting. 

Here is a snippet of my first 7 hours (5 am-noon) of this extra day.

Banana bread with the last two overripe

bananas

Put in baggies so it is ready for lunchboxes

 

Sorry, Buffy, I am taking them!

Checking on the goats OR

vice versa

Everybody has food, water...and milk

Perfect day for the clothesline

Can't wait to pull out the outdoor laundry

system!

Gathering pine needles for the smoker

One hive still has honey; this hive is weak

hive beetles :(

Temp in the greenhouse; may be time

for a shadecloth

I am so behind on seedlings, but

tomatoes are coming along nicely

Someone hiding behind the cold frame

Going to start a few taters today-I should

have checked the almanac!

As always, smooth going *sigh*

Time for a new hoe handle

Potatoes planted

 

Water break!

 Guess it's time to get started on part two. 

Everyone have a blessed day!

Freezing of the Bees

Hubby was checking the bee feed and yelled for me to come and look.  Oh no!  The bees were dead.  A good number at the bottom, but a lot of them were frozen in time, still in a clump and even on top of the frames.  Very bizarre.  We checked the brood box and saw a few bees there too, frozen.  The bee feed was empty and we were hoping that we hadn't starved them.  This was our newest hive and we left them all of their honey.  But the honey stores were gone.  I know that there is pollen out there though because my rosemary and daffodils are blooming.  It is so sad and frustrating to lose a hive.  We just left the hive all cock-eyed and decided we would deal with getting it later when it warmed up and the rest of the animals were fed and watered. 

A few hours later, hubby again yelled for me.  There were bees flying around the hive.  What?  The bees apparently had been temporarily frozen and once the temperature warmed, they woke up.  Hubby dressed out and put it all back together for them.

So far, they are surviving.  They are not going through very much feed, but then there aren't very many of them.  It has been rainy since then, so we have not gone in to see if there is a surviving queen.  Fingers crossed there is or at least one that they can make. 

It made me rethink about putting our new hive coming in April in that area.  I think we will stick to the sunny spot by the pond.  And it also pushed me to get my bee garden going so that they will have more months of food available.  

At least I learned something: bees and other insects, such as mosquitos, can freeze and thaw back to life if it is not over 24 hours.  How very cryogenic of them.

They're Here!

The moment I had been anticipating for what seemed like weeks finally arrived.  Brie was in labor. 
I happened to see her paw the ground Sunday afternoon somewhere around 3 p.m.  I decided to put her in the stall and keep check on her.  Unlike the times I put her in there before, she was content to go in without much of a fuss.  I added some extra straw for comfort, but she continued to paw bare places in it.  Over the next couple of hours I checked on her every 30-45 minutes and then I noticed her panting and getting that wild look in her eyes.

Then she became very affectionate.  She would crawl on her front knees over to me and lay her head on me.  This was not normal for Queen Brie.  I sat and watched her as she would have contractions and push.  At least what I thought was pushing.  By 8 p.m. I saw a bright red string of discharge and turned to the World Wide Web to advise me.  Well, that scared the bejeebies out of me; 'unless the discharge is bright red, one should not be worried.'  WHAT?!?  I called an experienced neighbor/farmer from church that had goats.  His wife was home, but he had not returned from Sunday night church yet.  I called a local veterinarian office, and after going through a call list, I got a number for the "vet on call." I waited for the neighbor to call.  He said he wasn't sure and his advice was to let nature take its course and put everything in God's hands.  Always good advice, but being me, I needed more knowledge and information.  Around 9:30 p.m, after talking to my mom,  I called the emergency number and left a message regarding the red discharge, her "pushing" for at least two hours (whereas the internet said anything over 30 minutes was another cause for concern) and added that this was my and Brie's first time, as I have been known to jump the gun and overreact a bit-I am working on that.  It only took a few minutes for the vet to call me back.  She was very calm and helpful.  I took the phone out to the barn and put on gloves to see if I could feel anything, and we decided she was not dilated enough yet and just wait it out a bit more and that sometimes it looks like they are pushing when they try to position the kids.  Well, before I was off the phone, I saw the REAL pushing.  She was laying on her side all four legs straight out.  Every time she pushed, I tensed my jaw. (I will be on a liquid diet for at least two days unable to chew right!)  Mollie (Brie's sister), had been lying in front of the door up until this point.  I ran in the house to get my bag of goodies to have on hand (extra gloves, swabs, iodine, and other medical supplies).  When I returned, Mollie had moved to the farthest corner of the goat yard facing the neighbors field.  Almost like hubby's reaction when I told him he could come in when he was checking on us throughout the evening. I don't think he broke the plane of the doorway.
Yep, then came the water bubble. Out it went.  It took a bit for me to see anything recognizable.  I watched and felt for the feet and nose of a normal birth.  Of course this is not what happened.  It was breech.  It was a little butt poking out.  When I was able to grab hold, I would pull a little in rhythm with her pushing.  Finally, little skunk butt arrived (don't worry, that is not his official name).  I took a towel, paper towels and began to help cleaning him off.  He was breathing and making little squeaky noises.  Brie began help cleaning him.  I took the old sheet and laid it down to put the wee one on while we finished cleaning.

Then Brie began pushing again.  I turned to throw away a paper towel and turned back to see two more kids on the floor.  Ahhh!  How, what??   I needed about four more hands.  I frantically began throwing goo from them and put them on the sheet too so I could help Brie clean as needed.

So for many more minutes, Brie and I-in very different ways-began to clean off the triplets.  I was very concerned that with three one might be rejected.  But I was happily wrong.  Brie talked and cleaned each of them carefully. 

Two girls and one boy.  The little boy, the first and breech, has been the smallest and weakest. I was concerned about him nursing with the larger, stronger girls.  Each time I went out there, he seemed uninterested in eating.  I laid my worries to rest after watching Brie let the girls nurse and then she followed the little boy around incessantly, nudging him under her, talking gently to him, until finally he would eat, not much, but some.  I am so proud that she is such a wonderful mother!  Who would have thought that stubborn, Queen Brie would change into Mother Teresa. It almost gives me hope that mankind might change for the better too.

UDATE Duck Move

Nope.  Not gonna work.  What was I thinking?  Okay, I had hoped that they would love the new abode and settle in.  They did love playing in the pond, but didn't go back in the fenced area.

Found them sleeping by the garden gate.  Oh, dear. 

I guess we will have to make it a four-sided area and let them in the pond occasionally.  I am not sure.  Actually, I am thinking of just planting berries there and calling it a day! 

Back to brainstorming.

Tuesday To Do 2/16/16

Last week's inside chores:  Declutter calendar.  Call the car dealership  and oil change.  Make breakfast burritos and put in freezer.  Bake bread and cookies.  Baby chick care, and prepare for baby duck hatching. Seed potatoes cut and ready.  Mail Valentine Day cards to the family in Indiana.

Last week's outside chores:  Clean out the chicken coop/duck coop.  Order bees.  Pritchard nipples, bottles, iodine, and extra colostrum.  Car Tire.

This week's inside chores: 
Time to start thinking about some spring cleaning.  With some nice sunny days coming up, time to wash and hang out curtains to let the sun sanitize them.  Wish it would iron them too.  Actually, I enjoy ironing.  Baby chicks are going to be moved outside to the garden coop with a heat lamp.  The duckling needs to be moved to the bigger inside brooder. Continue cleaning and decluttering schedule.  This week's "chore" is coupon organization.  I have already discussed that is not my thing anymore, so I will do any catchup on the calendar that time allows.  Not a lot on the agenda for the inside this week.  Just the basics.

This week's outside chores:
I cleaned out the potato bed and spread the wood ash (finally).  I need to clean out the asparagus bed and restraw it, as well as clean out the other two raised beds.  I did purchase some onion sets to plant.  Oh, and I have my eye on a package of strawberry plants that I want.  Since the ducks refuse to live in their pond home, I will just make that a berry patch until I figure something else out.  I also need to remove all the black plastic we laid down in the garden to try and kill some of the torpedo grass; but really, does it ever die??  I am going to spend the next couple of years focusing on using cover crops to strangle it out. I also need to reinforce the bottom of the garden fence since I have found Rocky, Vinny and Gandy in the garden with the chickens.  All rabbit holes will have to filled in and timbers laid around the perimeter.  I have a few trays going in the greenhouse so those are added to the daily chores.  I do want to order my soil and send off a seed order to Baker's Heirloom for just a few things.  We did purchase three wonderful wooden 3x3 double-paned windows for $5 a piece.  These are almost too nice for cold frames, but that's what they are for.  Bruce will be working on these for me (after he heals a bit from a chainsaw-ladder accident).  I found more broken glass washing up around the barn, one of the caveats of living in a valley and having old buildings around, and that will have to be cleaned up. 

Getting Ready to Move

We are not moving.  The ducks.  They have to be removed from the garden as spring approaches.  1) their pool and constant water changes make the garden constantly wet.  2)  They ate all my pepper plants last summer!

We are making a little fenced area open to the pond and using an old rabbit hutch that we don't use anymore.  I was thinking about making an opening for them to come out into the yard, but obviously with the pond available to them, they can "dock" anywhere.  That makes me a little nervous now that I think about it...

Regardless, they have to leave the garden for the sake of the pantry!
 

Boys put in some cedar posts

The old rabbit hutch being moved.

Flipped it upside down  for ready-made shelter.

 Now we are just waiting for the fence.  That 5-foot fence takes a little saving up but we have several weeks before the garden will be in any danger.