Goats Take 2

Last night we went to bed with zero goats. 

Tonight we have 4.

Meet Jersey.

She's a delicate, spoiled little fainter who comes from Oskalooska.  She had a surprise sister at her birth and was originally named Helen, while her twin was named Keller.  She was disbudded and hand fed goat grain.  

I just love her.

These are the redheaded stepsisters of the herd.  

Meet Maple and Ash.  

They are sisters.

Maple was born in the spring and Ash is 1 year.  Ash is working toward a degree of "Head of the Herd" which I've learned is a common practice among goats. 

She's a little bossy.

Meanwhile, 

I've decided Maple is my model.

Isn't she gorge?

And our sweet Willow is back.

I'm jealous of her quads.

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan and not quite enough time.

We're down to the wire...

baaaaa!

2 Campgrounds and 1 Haunted House

The past 2 weekends have been packed with camping adventures.  

The first stop was Lake Ahquabi in Indianola.  

This is where we discovered kindness rocks along the paths, snakes, kayak rentals, bike trails and a beach filled with goose poop.  

It's all part of the experience.  

Ross invited a friend, so the trip called for a tent.  

AND COOKING FOR 8!

Molly's been videotaping me cooking on our Boyds Nest YouTube Channel.   

It's extra-special:)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQMWljbb6WqQ1GR9WsY6SGw?view_as=subscriber

I love how the table is holding a box of wine, a bottle of body wash, a nylon pantyhose over the water jug and Maisie wearing her Unicorn Tail blanket.

These are good times folks.

The second stop was Lake Anita in Anita.

This is Ross.

He's doing a pull-up on the ladder of the RV to get a photo of his back muscles.  

Internet access was scarce.  

Apparently, this is what you do on a rainy Saturday morning when it's raining outside.

I spy with my little eye, 5 of my 6 family members.

And on rainy Saturday mornings, we make toaster waffles.

Because we were SO close to Villisca (45 minutes), I couldn't resist taking the fam on a ghost hunt.

So here we wait our turn to tour the house where the Villisca Axe House Murders occurred in 1912.

I let Maisie take the photos of the inside of the house.  

This one has an axe mark on the wall of the parents room.

Parents bed.

\

The attic where the killer waited for everyone to fall asleep.

The kids' room.

A creepy doll.

Headed downstairs.

Happy VACATION kids!

Molly was SO nervous on the way to Villisca.

Mack found this ginormous dandelion upon our return to the campsite.  

Of course, Ross felt obligated to make the wish and blow it out.

Living life one day at a time.

And in the end... 

We were together,  I forget the rest.

New Things and Irony

Monday began my summer semester of graduate classes.  

Yowsers!  

Everything is packed into 6 weeks, so the good news is I'll be finished mid-July.  

The bad news is everything is packed into 6 weeks.  

Part of me wants to take the camper somewhere with WIFI for the next 6 weeks and earn 6 credits while my kids kayak, ride bikes, play baseball, spray round-up, take drivers ed, have playdates, take care of goats, get back and forth from baseball games, rotate the laundry, retrain the dog, unload the dishwasher and mow the lawn.  

The other part of me knows I'm dreamin'

But in the midst of the day, when I was feeling pulled in a hundred and one different directions, Ross showed me this...

And it brought me back to life.

There isn't enough time in the day.

There never will be.

My girls wanted to make hair scrunchies. 

Yes, I realized we are not in the '90s anymore, but still.

I didn't have time for hair scrunchies.  

Heck, after the morning ball game, I didn't have time to make dinosaur chicken nuggets, to fold the mountain of laundry on the couch, to unload the dishwasher or make the ham and cheese hot pockets I've planned for the past 3 days.  

Instead, I dug straight into my homework.  

The interruptions were insane.  

Jayson decided I needed to repair his Scooby Doo pajamas.  

The girls kept loosing the string in the sewing machine.  

Jayson wouldn't stop talking about how roller skates are like cars.

I knew it was some sort of test of my patience.

I got through it.

It wasn't the end of the world.  

The kids wanted my attention.

Why is that such a nuisance?

I find it interesting one of my classes is called, Stress In the Family.  The first chapter focused on everyday stress and hassles.  It acknowledged mothers do twice as much childcare and home chores as fathers.

In fact, researchers state mothers are less stressed at an outside job than they are at home- the complete opposite of fathers.  

I may sound like Alanis Morrisette, but isn't it ironic? 

And then I wondered who was caring for those baby birds in the nest of the electrical box? 

Hmmm... again, isn't it ironic?

June 2019

Last weekend while camping we were missing only one.

The missing one needed to be with friends.  

Cause that's what friends are for.

Meanwhile these 4 are SO different.  

I just love that.

While playing catch with Ross, he ripped the leather stitches out of my 30 year old ball glove.  

My dad burned my name into the edge of the glove when I was young- 

Heidi Green

Mike knew I was bummed my glove broke.

So this is how he spent a few evenings last week...

In other news, meet Olive.  

She's the fainting goat joining our herd on June 25. 

I KNOW! 

Cute, Cute, Cute!

I couldn't resist.

Molly thought this was hilarious.

It's a true sign of summer when you drink handlebar water.

Mack may have quit basketball over the season, but basketball is what he loves.

And he is so good with the littles.

Oh, and I have an oven again. 

Note to self: NEVER run the self clean on a built in wall oven.

Thank God for Mike.

New Beginnings

Oprah always asked, "What do you know for sure..."  

To which after this week, is a question I'm struggling with. 

Our sense of security was turned upside down 

after the kids discovered our sweet Sky had been beheaded as they got off the bus on the last day of school and found her headless body laying in the yard. 

The hardest part of it, aside from watching the kids discover a nightmare, is not know what did it.

Which is why I've been working to design a safe room/pen for goats. 

It was tempting to say 'No more.  We can't handle more loss.  We give up.  We did our best.'

But that's not how we roll.

We don't know if our Sky was attacked by a mountain lion, a coyote, a hawk, or something else.

So this week I've rolled up the welded wire.  Molly and I used the jack to pull out 17 fence posts,  drug home over 40 feet of cattle panel from Fontanelle Iowa and purchased 3 goats to add to our 

herd.

I guess I'm a little stubborn like that.

When the going gets tough...

put one foot in front of the other and don't give up.

I like my van

Another reason a smaller vehicle would never work.  

40 feet of free hog panel doesn’t fit just anywhere.