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Neither Mama nor I were feeling well last night but went to church anyway and enjoyed both the service and the company. That is typically the case when we make the effort to go regardless of how we feel. Mama was hurting in a general way, and I was feeling exhausted. There was no reason I should have been feeling so, but I was. I was also dealing with some light headedness. Not actually dizzy to the point of having to sit still but unsteady enough that I was needing help to keep myself properly balanced. I have been feeling poorly since we left the beach Friday morning, but just attributed it to being overly tired.
Last night it struck me that perhaps I was overmedicated again. I am taking the same meds that have been prescribed for many months but every now and then they titrate up in my system to the point that the effects become debilitating. So, to test that theory, this morning I skipped one of the two blood pressure pills I take daily. That seems to have helped a lot – and my blood pressure has not been affected in any significant way. My plan is to go without that medication through the weekend and then take it only every other day for a while. At least until the malaise passes.
One of the things we were able to confirm last night at church was the pickup of our two little does. A young couple at church has been negotiation with Mama for the purchase of the two little ones and today they came to the farm to load them for transport. They would have come yesterday but since I was required to work from the office, Mama had them wait until I was working from home. That way I could help in the arrangement of the transfer, both in catching the goats and in stationing the truck where the cage was for hauling them to their new home. Using the techniques we have used in our goat handling activities, I had the daddy of the clan drive to the enclosure where we keep the does and back close enough to the fence that the goats could be put in the cage in the bed of their truck without having to hop the fence or carry them any distance. That worked out very well. In six months or so we will probably house the does again as we let one of our bucks breed them. It is a package deal.
Two of the three young boys we have separated in a small paddock will be taken to a livestock sale this weekend. The two we are parting with are horned because we did not get to them quickly enough as tiny ones and their horns had grown to the point that it was not safe to remove them other than surgically. That did not appeal to me because of the cost. So we left them horned.
Their horns are impressive and even though I would like to raise them for meat, I do not feel comfortable putting them with our bucks for fear that the horns will give them too much potential to injure our breeder bucks over the next few months it would be required to let them mature to a good processing weight. So, our herd will be reduced by four this week. That will be a help to me and Mama as we keep up with feeding and caring for our little herd.
Mama got to show off the hatchlings to the couple who picked up the goats. They do not have very much acreage, but they want goats and chickens. Tomorrow Mama is going to Bowie to negotiate with Nancy on some Banty hens, chicks and eggs. I will not know the outcome of those purchases until Mama gets home with the goods, but I expect to end up with eggs to hatch more than hens or chicks. We do not necessarily need the hens for egg production, but we are needing to replace some of our older hens who have quit laying. We like the Banty hens because, even though the eggs they lay are small, they are feisty and fun to have on the farm.
Mama and I have been dealing with an influx of snakes lately. I have killed two in the coop and one very large water snake in our front yard. The water snake was on the front porch a few days ago but I lost track of it when it got into some grass and bushes we have near the porch. It showed back up today, so I dispatched it. Sam is our snake monitor. He has a unique bark to alert us to the presence of a snake and Mama is quite in tune with the alarm he sounds to protect her. Mama was not afraid of the snake, but she was mad at it for eating the toads that used to live on our front porch. The toads, two of which were huge, were voracious eaters and kept our bug population in check. On a whim, Mama suggested we hang the snake in the nectarine tree in the garden to inhibit squirrels from damaging the tree but when I suggested that it may stink fairly quickly, we abandoned that idea. However, I relented later and did put the dead snake in the tree. We will see two things soon. First, how quickly it will stink and second, if it will deter squirrels and coons from stripping the fruit from the tree.
If the snakes we have already killed are any indication, we may be able to put a dead snake on every branch of the tree before the fruit ripens.
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