Nothing goes as planned, but it all works out in the end

April 7, 2012

So, my master plan was to:

1. Get up early
2. Clear the tools and trash bins from between the site of the old barn and the chicken coop.
3. Pause to shower and attend a memorial service for a friend from our congregation
4. Use reclaimed lumber (read that the 2x4's and 2x6's that Sean got from ripping down my Sister's old barn) to begin framing out 2 stalls in what will be the "new barn".
5. Clean the house for the Lia Sophia party I am hosting tomorrow night

Most of that plan... fell by the wayside in a beautiful cascade of unproductiveness. I won't go into details, other than to tell you that we did not frame out the barn and have to wait for the local EBS to deliver 2x4's to us... on Tuesday, since tomorrow is, a holiday for most people and stores are CLOSED.

What did get accomplished is that the wood pile of "reclaimed" lumber has begun to be sorted and any screws or nails still embedded in them removed. The area where construction is to begin has been cleared, raked, and waiting. And, the kids and Momma Ellie have been freed from their kidding stall to join the herd, to the delight of all. (This was deemed the wisest course after Abigail escaped into the main stall and paddock area by herself, without the protection of her Momma. No harm done, but better to have her Momma where she can be of best service.) As a personal note, we attended the gathering to celebrate the life of Bill Harvey, and at 8:30pm as this is being typed, Sean is finishing up the entry way cleaning to complete our household chores. So, though no actual construction has been done, I still feel like it has been a busy day at the very least.

One of the "blessings" in our life today was capturing the footage of Sean playing with the goats. In the clip already uploaded, you can see Rachel and Jedi climbing the wood we stacked for that purpose in their field. Rachel loves to snuggle and rub you, if you will let her get away with it. She is particularly fond of Sean's ears and collar. While he was in the fence today, she would NOT leave his side. I thought is was cute. Sean was less amused after a while, especially while he was trying his hand at checking Ellie's teats and attempting to discover how difficult milking her was going to be.

Sean milking Ellie for the first time. Rachel is not helping.

We (as in the "royal" we) did not get her into her "milking stand." Nor, did we use any of the sanitation practices necessary (other than having clean hands) because we were not planning on using any milk he liberated today. Kind of funny, but Sean hadn't milked a goat personally before and now that we had a goat producing milk, he wanted to see for himself just how it was done. We, of course, have a book about it. We have plenty of time to get some practice in before it really counts. We have decided that Ellie's kids will have exclusive use of her milk for the first 2 weeks- and then, starting next Sunday, we begin milking each morning. Sean's first attempt at obtaining milk was successful and he reported, fairly easy to carry out. I am glad of that, for all our sakes!

I also took footage today of the babies playing on the wood pile. It is uploading now and I will post it in the morning for you all to enjoy.

Rachel was very nosy, checking everything out today

Good night for now,
Sonja ♥