On Baby Watch!!

My two pregnant does will be having their babies any time now.  Hope (white) was due yesterday, the 30th, and Penny (black) is due April 2nd.
They are starting to show signs.  I'm thinking Easter babies would be fun!

They aren't very active lately.  lol  Because I just purchased the girls a few weeks ago, I am really looking forward to getting to know their true personalities, not their can't move, don't wanna move personalities.  They sure are love bugs though.  Like two little puppy dogs.  So different from my other two does, Daisy and Lou Lou.  Those two are starting to come around.  They will come up to you and touch you but it has to be on THEIR terms.  Don't move to quickly and don't try to touch them.  

My poor Daisy had a miscarriage last week.  I happened to be at the barn hanging out with the girls and I saw her mucous plug hanging and then a little later she had a large gush like her water broke.  She was still running around though.  We actually didn't think she was even pregnant because she never really got big.  I kept looking for a baby but never saw anything.  A couple days later one of the dogs found the miscarriage.  It was a tiny thing and  not formed well. 

You can see, Daisy is feeling great and back to playing.  She is constantly at the fence line that separates the bucks and the others.  She misses the boys and seems to be in "the mood" again. 

I had all the boys together in one paddock and the girls in another.  I decided to move the whethers (Bo and Luke) in with the girls.  Actually, Daisy was in with the bucks too because it seemed to us that she couldn't get pregnant. The boys LOVE being over with the girls.  The girls seem to be happy to have more goats to play with too.  

Bo is on the barrel and Luke is on the right. Talk about your friendly puppy dog type goats.  lol  Bo is such a ham.  What a trouble maker he is!  My granddaughter loves to play with Bo.  He follows her all around the yard and even into the house!  

My GD wanted Bo to spend the night in the house with her but mean old grammy said no to that.  lol  She can play with him outside all she wants!  

 This was before Bo went in with the Daisy and Lou Lou.  He kept escaping from his pen, jumping the fence and not always successfully.  A couple times, thank God I was down there, I found him with his foot stuck on the fencing.  I had to pick him up and get his foot free.  Fortunately, he is not very heavy.

Friendly goat over load for Alicia!  LOL  

Sometimes I sit back and shake my head.  If you had told me last year that I would have 11 goats and more on the way, I would say you're crazy!  Now....I'd take more!  

Oh, I guess I have 10 goats now.  Little Man, one of Lou Lou's twins, went to his new home.

Here he is showing off to Penny.  He and his sister, Luna, would crawl through the red gate and play outside the paddock.  

He is so stinkin' cute.  I guess he has been escaping at his new home and they had to catch him with a big net.  He's a screamer too so their poor neighbors probably thought they were killing goats over there.  haha

 My Pug, Zomer, checking Lou Lou out.  The show down.  Zomer has gotten head butted a few times but she still insists on going in and checking them out.  She is more cautious though.  I only let her in if I'm right there with her.

 This is DJ.  Soaking up some rays on a nice day.  Been a long winter for us all.

And it's snow bath time.  

Bo isn't the only one who gets into trouble.  Miss Hope had the bag stuck on her head.  I had to help her out.  haha

Looks like spring has finally sprung.  The filing cabinets are in full bloom.  haha

We had to take them out of the barn for the horses.  Most of them went down back but these we just made a "wall" with them.  Anyone need one?  Come haul them off.  Someone got a little carried away at a state auction and bought way too many of them and for some reason we ended up stuck with them.  UGH

Good night.  Happy Easter tomorrow.  And hopefully we will have babies SOON.  I'm not very good at waiting patiently.  

Back again.

I am making time to do a post today.  I know it has been far too long. 
For the most part it has just been the basic day to day activities going on.  Except for those big old snow storms we've been having.  My goodness, it's been an active couple of weeks for snow.

At least my granddaughter enjoys the snow. 

The animals on the other hand are not enjoying it quite so much! 

I am still on baby watch for the my two pregnant does.  I was told they were due end of March but they are getting so big.  They look like they are ready to give birth any day now.  I have them separated into their own stall in the barn.
I was able to get all the boys together in their own pen and my other two does and the two babies into another pen.
Oh my goodness those boys though.  The two wethers to be exact.  The snow is so deep that the fence for their paddock is only about 2 feet high!  They kept jumping over the fence.  I was constantly picking them up and tossing them back over.  lol  We put up plywood and stuffed some more fence posts into the snow to try to keep them in.  Fortunately, at the moment, the snow is so deep on the outside of the fence that they don't dare jump over. 
I am going to have to have one of the guys plow a path in the paddock for the goats because the snow is so deep that they are only staying in the run in.

 They are getting big!  The little guy, brown, will be going to his new home soon.  I don't need any more bucks.  :-) 
I had ordered a new motor for my incubator but it ended up being just a little bit different.  My husband says he can make it work.  We've had so many snow storms and he's been so busy plowing that he hasn't had time to look at it.  I had wanted to get a batch of eggs in before we left for Florida next month but I don't think that is going to happen.
Seven of us are flying to Florida next month for April vacation.  We'll visit my mom and my father in law.  Plus we'll do Disney or something.  I was able to find tickets for all of us for under 500.00.  It's a middle of the night flight but the 79.00 tickets are worth it! 
Don't worry, we still have a few people living at the house that will be taking care of the animals.  There is always someone here.  It will be nice to get away for a few days.  We are looking forward to it!  The dogs will surely miss us though.  :-( 
Well, I was going to leave you with a video of the goats playing but I guess I have to shorten it before I put it on. 

Happy weekend!  Enjoy. 

I'm still here!!

Well, my paperwork is almost done.  This time of year it seems like a never ending battle to get this done.  Plow bills and taxes.  UGH.

And here we are expecting another foot of snow tomorrow.  School has already been canceled.  The storm is supposed to last 2 days.  We'll see if they close school for both those days.

I'll try to get on here and catch up tomorrow.  For now here are some photos of the last storm we had. 

Bye Bye Ponies

Alligator Valley Farm no longer has horses.  Both Summer and Stella went to my daughter's farm (they were her horses anyways).  I love horses but I'm getting too old for them.  lol  Oh my goodness, just realized I'll be 50 next year.  After Stella had her eye removal surgery she needed attention and with her being so skittish it made me nervous.  My daughter is the horse expert.  She is wonderful with horses and is so very knowledgeable.  I believe she now has 9 horses over there.  Better her than me!
I'll stick with my goats and my chickens.  They are smaller and I can handle them.  I also had a hernia operation last year.  After purchasing my grain for everyone, all the lifting, I had a bowel pinched from the hernia.  Emergency operation was performed and I'm not supposed to be lifting so much.  The horses go through a lot more grain than the goats do.  My husband is very helpful and I appreciate him so very much.

My pregnant does are looking VERY pregnant.

I showed photos to the previous owner and she thought they look very close and like they could be carrying triplets or even quads since they are so big.  I'm going to have my hands full with bouncing babies soon.  I can't wait!  It's going to be so hard to sell them.  lol  I can't keep them all!

The babies that were born January 17th are getting big!  Luna, black female, has a cute little white heart on her forehead. Her brother is the spitting image of Mamma.   Today I was able to catch Luna and hold her some more.  Only caught her because she got stuck and didn't see me coming.  The little guy is a bit harder to catch.  I will keep Luna but the little boy is already spoken for.

We have had some pretty nice weather here in New Hampshire the past few days.  So much so that I am getting spring fever.  I even pulled out my lawn chair and have been enjoying the sun.  There is less snow than that now, I am happy to report.  It feels so good to feel that sun shining on my face.  Even my garlic garden is starting to come through.

I can't wait to start seeing green shoots popping up through that mud and snow.  Unfortunately,  we have a possible big storm coming this week.  Just when you think the warmth is here to stay...boom, God dumps another round on us.  Gotta love the crazy weather if you live in New Hampshire!
Even the chickens are enjoying the snow melt.  They can now get into the manure piles that have thawed out.

They are delivering on the eggs like crazy right now.  Now getting a couple dozen eggs a day.  The ducks are laying much better now too.
I ordered parts for my incubator today.  I should have that fixed and full of eggs here soon.  Hoping to sell chicks this year.  I love hatching eggs.  It's like Christmas for me!  I get so eggcited and can't wait to see what the chick looks like and try to guess which rooster and which hen it came from.  I love the backyard mixes!

In the home:
I made up a batch of white chocolate covered pretzel sticks.  My husband doesn't like chocolate unless it's white chocolate.  I don't do a fancy job.  Just melt the chocolate and dump in the pretzels.  I did add a jar of peanuts too.

I have been trying to use more all natural products around the house.  Some things I will try to make on my own but some things I can't or haven't done yet.  In that case, I love the site www.grove.co  My order came today.  I love the smells of the hand soaps.

Check out their site.  It is .co and not .com  I don't think their prices are that bad either.

Not sure I'll be posting for a couple days.  I have to work on the taxes.  My husband is self-employed so there is a lot of paperwork to go through!  My least favorite time of the year.  It is also the end of another month so I have plow bills to write up.
I do have a few Facebook pages that you are welcome to check out if you are on Facebook
N.H. Backyard Chicken Habit ( you can't have too many)
N.H. Backyard Goat Farming
N.H. Backyard Bird Watching
N.H. Backyard Gardening Fun
N.H. Our Backyard Happenings
Yumminess and Happiness (recipes and things that make me smile)
Everything Scripture, Prayers, Studies, Songs and Quotes
Alligator Valley Farm

And on Twitter and Instagram it is under Alligator Valley Farm

I stay busy with all my pages and blog.

See you next month!  :-)

Oh my goodness!  Peeeeeuuuuuuu.  Skunk.  No idea what it sprayed out there but I sure do smell it!  Glad the dogs are all inside.

Cookies, Birds and Mice Oh My!

Hubby wanted to play with some equipment so he borrowed a friend's little machine and moved around some snow and ice.  It's so funny to see him in something so small because he has backhoes, dozers and excavators, big machines. 
It was a beautiful day too.

Spring is so close!  It must be getting close, I received another seed catalog this week.  I love those catalogs.  Hubby and I were discussing where we are going to put the greenhouse we purchased.  It's 14 x 40 feet so we have to find a nice big open area.  We have yet to decide.

I have a roll top desk I purchased used a few years ago.  It has secret compartments in it so today I thought I would go through it and see how many of them I could find.  I found one that I had not know of.  I stuck my hand in hoping for something fun and what did I find???

Eeeewwww!  So NOT what I was expecting.  LOL

I made hubby some peanut butter cookies today.  This is the recipe I used but I would add more peanut butter and I'm not sure why they broke it up into 1-6 and then the last 2 ingredients.  I ended up getting a mouthful of the baking soda because it didn't get mixed in so well.  I would think you could add those two in with the other dry ingredients

Ingredients :

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups sifted flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375?. Mix first six ingredients. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Roll into balls and press down with a fork dipped in sugar or flour. Bake for 10-12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet.

Had some visitors at the bird feeder today.  I love the Mourning Doves.  I love listening to their coos. 

One of these guys has some funky tail feathers.  Not sure they are supposed to look like that.  

I also found a bird nest out back.  It much easier to find the nests with no leaves on the trees.  Now I know where to look this spring.  I wonder what type of bird belongs to this nest.  

A Day of Fence Jumping And Fence Fixing

My husband and granddaughter usually feed the animals in the morning on their way to the bus stop.  That is a nice treat for me. 
Well, with new goats and a new horse on the property we are still figuring things out around here.  New additions can be stressful for a week or so till everyone is settled back in. 
My husband fed the new goats but when he did he went on top of the BIG snow bank, from the roof slide.  When he came back over he scared Stella, the new horse blind in one eye.  What does she do?  She decides to jump the fence!  Fortunately, jumping that fence put her into Summer's paddock so she didn't get out. She did scrape a large patch of fur off her leg though. 

Ugh. 

Then the two new pregnant does decided that they didn't like being in the back pen and wanted to be out with everyone else.  Over the fence they went, multiple times till I could get it fixed.  Because the snow is so high it makes the fence lower.  One doe would jump back in once we got them back over to the same spot they jumped out.  The other girl is so heavy but I had to lift her up and over.  Oh my goodness that was rough.  lol  A few more fence posts and another bunch of fencing above the other fence and I think that spot is patched.

Stella had her surgery to remove her eye that was full of cancer.  Poor girl.  She's had a rough life.  Hopefully now she can settle down and start to recoup. 
When she was at the vets they sedated her but when they started to shave around her eye, she woke up and panicked.  She surprised the vet and they ended up tearing her skin around her good eye.  Poor baby is a mess. 

When Stella came back from her surgery, my daughter changed the fencing all around so that the goats were all separated and Summer and Stella could be together.  Summer is Stella's support pony.  The new does are in one pen and the other 7 are in their own pen.  Well, my daughter left for her home and when I went down to feed I spent an hour and a half trying to fix fencing and throwing goats back in their right pen.  I smashed fingers with  a hammer, got poked with wire, cried and screamed my way through that hour and a half. I am still sore today. 
I believe the horses will be going to my daughter's farm in a few weeks once she can get fencing up for them.  She has 7 over there now and 4 goats.  Then I will have just my goats and chickens to worry about.

I have discovered that I can fit 27 chicken eggs in my jacket pocket.  lol  I am so glad I did not slip on the ice out back.  That's one of my biggest fears is slipping on the ice with a pocket full of eggs and breaking an arm.  The girls are really starting to produce again. 
I am happy to say that I have picked up a couple more customers in the neighborhood too.  I would much rather sell to neighbors than the store a few towns over but I'm happy just to sell them!  One lady was paying 5.00 a dozen at a farm about 30 minutes away.  I live about 5 minutes down the road from her and only charge 2.00 a dozen. 
Boy does the chicken coop need to be shoveled out.  It freezes in the winter months so you can't shovel it out, come warmer weather everything starts to thaw and yesterday was in the 70*s.  Today it was in the 30*s and snowing.  Gotta love New Hampshire!