More kids, Color Street, five pups, maybe today

Over the weekend, two more of our does kidded. Dolly started Friday evening about 5 pm. Mama and I were thinking she would have triplets, but she had twins. Sadly, one of the two kids was stillborn. I had to bury it next to Samson. I did not handle the stillborn too much, so I am not sure if it was a little boy or a little girl, but it was a shame to lose it. It was beautifully marked. It’s surviving sister is also nicely marked. Considering the very rough way Dolly pawed the newborn as she was cleaning it and getting it to stand, it is a wonder that she did not injure it. Last kidding, she broke the leg of one of her newborns and we had to take it to the vet to have the leg set.

Dolly's one

Mama called a family from church that had bought two of our little goats recently so they could witness the birthing. When they arrived, Dolly had had her initial kid and the stillborn. Since Mama and I were expecting to see triplets, we all waited patiently for the last little one to come. The whole family came. The dad, three boys and the mom. Grandma even came out to join the party which forced me to find at least three chairs and a couple buckets for seating the crowd. It was very disappointing to wait so long without seeing anything, but they enjoyed the farm outing – even Grandma. I wish I had gotten a picture of the assembly, but I was too distracted to think of it.

On Saturday afternoon, Honey, one of our new nannies, had a little male kid. Our first buckling of the four kids born so far. I just happened to check in the goat barn as I took a break from working on the duck enclosure. I was supposed to check several times since Mama was busy elsewhere, but I had forgotten until then. We still have three does yet to deliver, but none are showing signs of that happening soon. We are expecting those births this week, but not until later this week. At any rate, we are lower than we had expected on little ones due to the limited births of two of our does. It will all work out well, especially since we have four healthy babies – three of which are females. They sell better than males and for much higher prices. None of the little ones are marked so uniquely that Mama would want to keep them, so we may start advertising them in a couple weeks.

Saturday. Mama spent the better part of the day at a fair in Denton. The fair had been going on for the week leading to Saturday, so Mama was helping another Color Street stylist – someone high in the leadership – to meet the crowd and sell their product for the last day of the fair. Mama did not do extremely well, but somewhat better that at a smaller venue. It was a good experience for Mama, and she made some money to boot. I think every time she sees an experienced representative plying their unique method of selling, it helps her build confidence. She is developing her own style as she sees multiple ways to approach the prospect of selling Color Street.

Last night, Mama took on the task of pup sitting for the Burns’ five Australian Shepherd pups. The Burns dropped off the pups for her to care for because they are traveling north to attend the funeral for Zach’s grandfather. They will return, Lord willing, in just four days so our time with the puppies is limited, but it will be busy. The pups are used to being taken outside at 3 am each day for their morning potty. Today that happened at 5 am, when Victoria got up to go potty and the pups expressed their urgent need to be taken out of the pen to empty their bladders. They were not satisfied with being set outside to do their business. They wanted attention and impatiently whined for it, and that not quietly. Needless to say, it was not the quiet morning I am used to. Mama will have a very busy day today, but Grandma and Grandpa will help as much as they can.

Mama and I were planning on going to meet a rescue worker to look at Dolly, a two-year-old, Pyrenees/Andalusian mix to replace Samson as a working dog for our farm, but we called that off when Dolly (our goat) started to birth her two little ones. That meeting is tentatively rescheduled for this evening. Having six more dogs on the farm for the week may prove interesting, but that is where we are. I am a little apprehensive about getting the older dog, but we are assured the rescue facility will take the dog back if she does not work out for us. We have a very specific task requirement for Dolly. Whether she is up to meeting that task will be a little challenging to determine, but between, me, Mama, and Victoria, we should be able to see if we are meeting our farm need or simply feeding another big dog just to provide company for Gemma – our remaining farm guard dog who is less than two years old.

Mama sure does keep us busy.