AlexLady

I showed up with a beer and celery. 

It was just another day feeding the cute critters treats.

Most of the goats ran away from me today but one of them wanted alllllllll of the celery. She climbed up on the fence asking for more. Even as I'd walk around and offer it to the other goats she'd run beside me asking for more. She got a LOT of celery haha. That's good though, she's preggo!

Then I went over to where the goats are kept about to give birth or having recently give birth. There were two adorable siblings having fun in the thick, soft straw. The mama's loved their little ones and were a little nervous about me being close to their babies, but they were ok once I gave them celery.

There was a lamb, too :D

If you look under the sheep's head in the photo with the two kids, you'll see a brown ball of fur laying down. That's not a good sign. It was also a lot smaller than any animal in this pen should be... smaller than my boot. I could tell it was breathing but having trouble moving so I entered the pen to help out.

I freed the little one from the hay. His mother had been cleaning it, but he was cold and underweight. A premature newborn.

I helped him stand up to check his health and strength. He could stand ok. 

Shortly after I felt he had his legs under him and I storyped a photo, his mother began grooming him again. Her tongue was enough to knock him over to where he couldn't get back up. He couldn't move to nurse even if he could stand. If he was to get to her nipple it was low on milk as the mother wasn't ready to birth yet. If there was milk, he wouldn't be able to reach it. 

I had to help.

Nervous new mothers don't like to be milked, so I tied the mother up by her horns on a post. 

The sheep mama wanted more celery but there wasn't time for that, the newborn had to nurse.

With some wrangling I managed to hold the mother still and lift the newborn up to nurse. His mouth was too small to open enough onto her utter's nipple without help. Eventually he latched on and drank with vigor. 

I could feel his little belly expanding in my hand. 

After the milk hit him, he was able to stand on his own. It was beautiful. He tried to follow me around.

He liked the sun.

It was time to check on the donkeys. Strangely there were only two donkeys in the field. Usually there's three! The farmer came home then and I told him about the newborn. He was glad to see it walking and surprised as this is the mother's third kid. He thought that by now she'd be better and stronger for it, especially because he gave them extra grain this year from the start of their pregnancies. 

Then he lead me to the missing, miniature donkey.

He told me that the rascal had been breaking out of the pasture. There is a large stretch facing the farmer's home where it is only one wire about two and a half feet off the ground and the miniature donkey decided it doesn't mind being zapped once or twice to walk under it. So now he had to be penned up in an area about a third of an acre by himself while the other donkeys were free to roam even where there's fresh hay growing. 

I plan to bring some wire soon to help :)

The mini donkey got some celery and I went on to see the other donkeys.

The medium donkey, Pat, is very friendly and a little skittish. Last time I had seen him he wasn't skittish at all. Now that he was in the large pasture instead of housed with the goats the big guard donkey, Mike, had been a little mean to him the same way two new intact adult male dogs might be. Donkeys bite, and Pat was missing a few clumps of hair.

The farmer told me that he hoped they would get along soon otherwise he'll have to have the vet come out and nutter Pat and or Mike. ...Castrating mature donkeys is very complicated and dangerous, for the farmer, for the vet, and for the donkey... So we really hope they can learn to get along, especially since they don't have to compete for females, space, food, or water.

Anyways as soon as Pat knew I'd not be mean to him like Mike, he was soooooooooo happy again to see me. He absolutely loves me. He gobbled up all the celery and when it was out put his face on mine and then nibbled at my shirt collar. :)

Pat got lots of scratches on his head. He puts his ears back hoping for scratches as soon as you raise your hand towards him. He also loves his cheeks scratched, and well, anywhere really. 

I went and got him a brush and a lead to gently secure him while I curried him clean. 

He was a very happy donkey by the time I was done.

I also brushed Mike. You have to tie him (he'll let you) and keep a hand on his hip so he doesn't turn about while you brush him but once I was done he was grateful. Still a stubborn donkey who thinks he is a giant draft horse, but a clean and well fed one.

I spent hours doing this. :)

Then it was time to check on the baby again.

Nursing was easier this time! The mama got her head stuck in the fence on her own lol.

She didn't have enough milk though so after I freed her I collected milk from another goat to bottle feed the little kid. Then I patched the fence while the farmer took care of the milk for the bottle and set up an area inside under a heating lamp for the kid. He would be staying inside that cold night.

Later that night the farmer texted me some photos. The kid was doing well! After soaking up heat under the heatlamp and drinking from the bottle he made his way to the firestove and stayed there under it enjoying the warmth for hours. 

He's going to make it :)

The farmer has never named a goat before. Just the donkeys, pony, and horse. 

This little surviver is now named Tiny! The smallest little goat either of us have ever seen.

Tiny is such a cutie! I'm going back soon to help more with the farm and hand out carrots. :)

I only have a few photos as this got really dirty fast. 

This water heater was so neglected by all previous owners that it didn't even have a drain pan.

After turning off the power, draining it and installing the pan, I inspected the elements to find that one was fried and wasn't even the right wattage. 

The water heater was filled 80% with sediment. 80%! The only reason water even flowed through the house pipes was because the dipstick that takes the water in had a hole in it only a few inches below the output pipe, allowing it to skim the tiniest stream of water off the top.

Thankfully I had a wet-dry vac to clean the heater out :)

I installed the new elements and BAM! Now I can fill my bathtub twice with water so hot I'd have to add cold water to it. All the way up to my chin! :D

Next time's bath blog will be ten times better :)

Pardon my messy hair, it's chore day. :D

This year I'm planting my patriotic display!

Rather than type about it I made some videos :)

...they're only allowing me one video per blog, how silly. That's ok, this will be a multiblog then :)