When you live in the country, you get used to living in the ’slow lane’ and sometimes, as in Internet connections, not even by choice, but by lack of choice. FINALLY we have a high-speed option out here in the boonies.

Now the problem is it seems to be doing funky things to my computer. It is about 4 years old, but it seemed powerful enough considering I’ve always used multiple huge programs and did lots of multiple page browsing while online, but the high-speed thing seems to have it befuddeled. It’s a pain to because I can’t afford a new computer right now. MAYBE next tax incentive time.

I have had a project I wanted done for some time now though, and unless I lay it out it won’t get done by Bob. If I start it, or tell him what needs to be done and we have the stuff to do it without too much ‘it would be better with this, or that, or it’s not perfect that way’ arguments he’ll do it.

This project is something I’ve been planning, and thinking about, but never exactly said ‘let’s go do this’. Today I decided to do it. I have to admit that part of the reason I hadn’t done it before is half of the pannels I wanted to use were in the other field and I never got up the energy to drag them over. It just so happened the other day when Bob was here I mentioned I wanted them out of the other field and he moved them over for me. So now I had no excuse. All the pannels I wanted to use where in the area I wanted to use them.

So this morning I decided I was just going to do it. Even if I only got part of it done it would be a start. I really knew that it wouldn’t take that long once I got going, but it would be physical so I left myself the little ‘out’ in case it got to be too much for me.

I did it though. I put up all the additional pannels and connected them to the existing pannels in the kid run and now the weanling goat kids have a pen twice the size they were originally in.

The original pen was 12 x 24. The new pen is not square by any means so it can’t accurately be laid out in an ‘a’ x ‘b’ size, but it’s roughly 48 x 12.

I can’t say it ‘looks nice’. I mean as a fence it looks so so. The reason for that is the pannels are chain link dog run pannels we’ve had for over 12 years and have been used for so many projects I can’t even name them all. They sure have given us our money’s worth for them though. I CAN say that much for sure.

It’s sunny, and warm, but a beautiful warm breeze that makes it pleasant to sit outside in which I just came back in from doing. The chores were normal today with one little exception.

Oreo is my little exception. I swear if there’s a way to make me crazy, that little three day old kid will find it. She is determined to find a spot in the fence where she can lay up against it and roll into the horse pasture. Everytime she finds one, I go and ‘rescue’ her and put her back with mom, and fix the spot she found… then she finds another. I really thought that fence was secure enough for a newborn kid… like they say, if a fence will hold water it will hold a goat. Sometimes it really is that hard. It’s the really small babies that are the most trouble in that respect though. They can slip through the teeniest of openings.

Other than the day’s rescue though, it was peaceful and relaxing here. I rotated the younger dry doelings through the backyard to cut down some of the weeds on the back 1/4 acre of it. We have a one acre fenced in back yard that we don’t have animals roaming or pastured in, but it cuts down on yard work to have them in there at times to do the lawn mowing. There is a 1/4 acre front yard as well that’s the same. No pastured animals in it, but we let them graze it down occassionally. The rest of the front 5 acres is pretty much dedicated to animal pens and pastures. Our back 5 is still unused except for our occassional fun times in it. That will change eventually, but it’s a lot of fencing to put up and that’s about the most expensive part of animal housing. Actual sheds and barns may cost more initially, but they last a lot longer. Fencing has to be repaired often. If we never had to replace, or repair fence we’d probably have all of the property finished by now.

Anyway, it’s so serene sitting out there with the animals as they graze. Pretty much all of our goats will come when called so if they stray too far the back of the yard is fenced but it’s original fence from when we first moved in and there are a few holes that need repairing so I don’t want them back there, they come running.

That right there is another of the joys. Animals that bound across a field to be with you when you call because they love you. It’s such a joy to live this life.

I often use classified ads to sell items from the farm business. Ad services both online and paper printed are wonderful ways to reach broad, or very specific groups of people.

‘It’s My Market’ classifieds offers great free advertising classifieds as well as dating, blogs, and even local weather. Being able to reach people right in your own area is a real bonus because even though global marketing is very common now a days with the Internet, the averages still play out that you’re more likely to sell close to home.

When you’re done, you can even check out the local cinemas to see what’s playing… after all, all work and no play–well you know how that goes.

It’s true that nothing much makes one more secure than knowing the land you sit on, and the home on it are yours.

While there are many reasons for getting loans, one of the most common reasons for loans is to purchase or refinance a family home.

What better or more noble reason could there be? None in my opinion. However it’s a complicated matter requiring miles of paperwork and so many varying types and styles of loans it helps to have someone who knows how to navigate the finance waters.

Finding the right Home loan mortgages can be just a click away if you own a computer. Finding someone in Illinois or Chicago, or whever you live is simple and easy. So save yourself hours of frustration and find help in the mortgage sea today and enjoy the American dream.

For the record, a typical, quick, not-too-complicated one minute video takes about two hours to produce. Taking the video shots, cutting, splicing, and adding audio, and then uploading and posting is very time consuming… sooo I was very disappointed this morning to find out the video had been rejected. After a brief defense of my choices, they still decided not to use it. I’d made lots of videos in the past and never had any problems with companies liking them. Goes to say I won’t be wasting my time making another for this particular company. I could have been making fences. LOL

On a funnier note, I’m not sure if this is some sort of April fool’s joke or not, but it seems some gardener in Europe found a home-grown vigra type plant by accident. Read the article here. While I certainly can’t say for sure, since I don’t grown ‘heather’, I’m thinking more along the lines of this periodical’s editor snickering and saying ‘April fools’ as he watches the hits on his site go crazy. Either way, I bet heather will be a very popular plant amongst older men for awhile now.

We’re the house on the Northwest corner of the intersection with the big ‘v’ driveway.

Okay, where was I? Ah yes–my quick run to Ellen’s to see the new babies. One was very weak. When there are quads that’s not at all too unusual, and when you add the selenium problems she’s been having to it there’s an even bigger chance of a weak baby. It’s how my first two came to live here. So that new little weak one came home with me. (Just when I had my first two moved out of the house and thought I was done with night-time feedings and goats in the house for the year).

I got her home and nestled in her crate while I did a few more chores. I went outside to fill some water troughs and noticed that Sylvia’s run was empty. I couldn’t see anywhere that she could have escaped so I figured she must have gone over. We hadn’t thought she’d do that being that she’s a very large dog and old to boot. I’ve only had one Border Collie in the past that could jump a six foot high run from a standstill. Apparently Sylvia could too though, because she was missing. I walked the entire property screaming her name and couldn’t find hide nor hair of her. Just about when I was sure she’d gotten hit by a car somewhere I decided to jump in my car and see if I could find her–hopefully in a neighbor’s corn field. I decided to head out down the side road going North and sure enough, about A MILE away there was a huge black and white dog in the middle of the street! Walking! (had you going for a moment didn’t I?) I stopped the car and jumped out yelling her name and she trotted towards me, kind of skiddish like she wasn’t sure if she would be punished. I just petted her for coming when I called and got her in the car (BOY was she muddy, my front seat is filthy now) and came back home.

That’s when I came in here to type what I did yesterday until I got the phone call that sent me running again.

Ellen called. The mother of the quads rejected all of the remaining babies. She wasn’t having anything to do with them, and could I come over and maybe take one more home to feed. So I went over and picked up a second little girl whom I”ve named Amelia. The first one’s name is Angel. I’ve named all the goat kids from this year starting with ‘A’. So now we have Annie, Amber, Angel, and Amelia.

So I bring her home and get her settled in, feed them and go out and feed the two outside. It was non-stop after that though with feeding, chores, and work. I’m just relieved that it all ended up happy. No lost dogs. All the kids are doing well.

Angel had a very lax tendon in her left hind leg (common in multiple births where they may have been crammed in the uterus in tight quarters and awkward positions, AND selenium deficiencies) but as of this morning it’s holding well and the leg isn’t buckling backwards at all.

Sylvia has suprised us in her desire to be a good ‘mom’ to the new arrivals. We weren’t sure how she’d take to farm animals since she’s spent her entire life in the city and has never seen a chicken much less a goat or horse. Here’s a picture of Sylvia ‘guarding’ her new little charges this morning.