Puppies, more goat escapes, visiting

We have puppies. The first one was born yesterday at 7:30 am. Mama called in to work so she could stay with Kira. Victoria had to report to work. Try as she might, they would not let her off. Bro. Zach told me at church that Mama was the first person he had call into work for time off to take care of dogs. Mama left for work at noon and I met her a little late for lunch. By that time Kira had five pups. When Mama got home the count was up to seven and it appeared that the birthing was over. However, when Victoria went out very early this morning to check on Kira and the pups, she found two more pups. Sadly, both of them were stillborn. She was agonizing as to whether or not the pups could have been saved if she or Mama had been there at the birthing, but we will never know – and it is not something we should spend a lot of emotional energy on. Seven healthy pups is a good litter.

As I was driving into the driveway at the farm yesterday evening, I saw the Nubian goats in the back yard - again. Mama and I had put us several panels at the back fence to close off their escape route, but we had unintentionally left a small portion of weak fence open for the goats to access the yard. They were enjoying themselves thoroughly. I went straight to work reinforcing the parts of the fence that would give them a path to escape and we put them back into their little area.

When I finished, I went over to the barn to feed the cows and look for some wire pieces for props for work. When I was coming back from the barn the Nubian goats met at the gate into the barn lot from the middle paddock. So, now they were in a much more open area. As much as I preach closing gates behind us, I had not latched the little wire gate we use as access into the middle paddock from the chicken area. It was wide open. It is normally not an issue, but we do not normally have goats that are trying out new areas of our farm. That partially explained how they got into that area. I did not try to gather them because they can easily outrun me – and they had too much room to do so. I walked back into the chicken area to see if I could find how they had gotten out of their enclosure. It was not hard to guess. The gate into their area from the chicken area was also wide open. Either Mama or I had not latched it properly.

Fortunately, goats are like chickens in that they will normally return to their quarters for the night. So, rather than herd them back to their habitat, we left the gates open and allowed them to wander back home. Mama and I went out just before we left for church and shooed them back into the area they are supposed to stay in, closed the gates and left them to their own devices for the night. Whether we have sufficiently reinforced the enclosure to keep them contained will be tested through the day today. What I can say for certain is that they have tasted freedom and they liked it. I will have to work faster at getting the new area ready for them. Or, we will sell them as bred goats and be done with them.

Mama will be taking off Saturday morning for Brittany’s. She is on Spring Break next week and wanted to take the opportunity to see the twins. As an added bonus, Nate, Cori and the kids will be in Wichita for a conference. So, Grammy will get to celebrate her grandparent status in a big way. She is thrilled. I think Brittany is also but not like Mama is. On Tuesday morning, Mama will have to say goodbye and come home. It is always amazing to me how she will go into a trip like this with the pending goodbyes hanging over her the entire time. Here we are, two days before she even leaves to make the visit, she is dreading the coming of next Tuesday when she will have to say goodbye.

I have never understood her, but I certainly do love her.