Grandpa, Millie, puppies

Mama and I left the farm soon after I got home yesterday evening. My original plan was to get our nanny goat from Rick and get back to the farm, but Mama altered those plans a bit to include taking the Sequoia to Grandpa so he could detail it. No big deal except when we got there, Grandma told Mama she had been trying to call to tell her not to bring the vehicle because she did not feel Grandpa was up to the task. Again, no big deal; I thought. Mama was uncharacteristically annoyed by the change of plans. I guess she had her heard set on getting the Sequoia cleaned up like Victoria get her car cleaned up recently. Grandma’s concern was that Grandpa was letting himself go too far down, health wise. He is still losing blood through his colon. It is not a rapid loss but any loss is cumulatively dangerous. Since he is taking some powerful blood thinners to combat clot formation to protect the stints in his heart, the loss is very troubling. Being Grandpa, he will not go to the doctor, mostly because he has a strong hunch what the treatment will be and fears both the bad news and the high medical bills. Continue to pray for him. Even though he refuses to attend church based on some misconstrued ideas of “proper” worship, I believe he loves the Lord. He is resigned to live out his faith apart from any church and the support of a church family. Life could be much better for him and Grandma but we cannot change that. We can only insert ourselves where we are allowed but without the benefit of a common faith it is difficult to “walk together” with them.

After we visited for a while, I left Grandma and Mama talking and went next door to Rick’s farm to get Millie. When we deal with Rick, it takes time. He loves to talk and he is a wealth of information on a variety of topics – especially goat husbandry. By the time Mama got there we already had Millie loaded and had been talking for about half an hour. Mama’s arrival added another half hour to the conversation but it is always a pleasant conversation. We left just before dark. Rick is pretty sure Millie is bred and will kid sometime between late April and mid-May. Weaned kids are selling for about $600 each. That’s exciting. To think a little fainting goat will sell for as much as a five-hundred-pound calf is hard to imagine, but he seems confident that we can sell the little ones for that if we advertise them properly and do not get in a hurry to sell them. He has sold animals all over the United States. Most recently he sold three weaned kids to a buyer in Florida for $850 per kid. He’s been doing this for years and has established quite a reputation in this niche because of his champion blood lines. We’ll see how we do.

Speaking of selling, Victoria and Mama have just about sold all the pups. At this point it looks like all are spoken for. I still have the mantra that until the money is exchanged, there has not been a sale. Mama was telling me that they got a lot of texts yesterday because of a lady who purchased a pup from the last litter and is constantly bragging on the dog to all her friends – and anyone else who will listen. She has been a good contact for Mama and Victoria and is constantly sharing pictures of her and the dog. I will be relieved when all the pups are gone, mostly because there is always one that Mama and Victoria get attached to and want to keep. This litter is no exception, but I have been firm in telling them – no more dogs. Mama has even resorted to the “We may not have Rosie too much longer” argument. To me, that would be a relief, not a requirement to seek a replacement. Maybe if the two of them swept the house daily to keep up with the mass of hair I am constantly picking up or immediately filled the holes that are dug in the yard I would feel differently.

Maybe. We’ll never know.