We're still here....

Phew!  We have so many things going on that I can't believe I haven't been sharing them.  I guess I've been so caught up with it all, that when I get the time to sit in front of the computer, I'm just too darn tired.  We're still here and still kicking though.  Sorry for the long break, but I'll share what's been going on......

My dear husband has been working hard on our other home to get it move-in ready.  The plumbing is complete now.  I am surely hoping to get into it by Christmas. ( My fingers are crossed tightly ;)

After the many trips to town, which by the way is a good 40 minutes from here; I finally decided on a particular ceramic tile for the bathroom.  It was such a great deal I just couldn't pass it up, and it just so happened to be the color I was going for! The floor makes it all come together...

We also had a wall removed that separated the living room and the dining room/kitchen area.  It really opened things up a lot.  Right now, sheet rock is being put up in those rooms.  I can say one thing, working with remodeling a block home has it's challenges.  Things are finally starting to flow smoothly.....Hallelujah!

Also the other day this handsome fella caused a few issues with a green gate....

SKY Pistol Pete

That ended up causing me to get real handy with my imagination to make the situation look like this...

Don't laugh...It worked for the time being! :)



He is one persistent fella.  I'll share the story in another post.

Last, but certainly not least, my baby started kindergarten.  It was an extremely hard day for me.  Who am I kidding?  It was an extremely hard week for me, and there are days that it is still hard for me.  I took this picture below of Mal sitting in her new classroom so nervous.  She was trying so hard to smile and not cry.  After I took the photo, she broke down.  Of course, I broke down too.  It was a mess I tell you.
  

First day of school

Now she goes to school with a smile; so proud to be in kindergarten. I watch her walk into that school so proud that she's growing up to be such a big girl. I don't do it because I like it though; it's only because I have to.

Now this is how you do it!

We were blessed with an abundance of rain for a good 2-3 weeks. We are still in a deficit for the year, but the green stuff around here is growing by leaps and bounds.  We have a small lot surrounded with fence that is used to contain the goats on the day we do FAMACHA scoring.  Since this area is vacant for the rest of time, with no animal to nibble the weeds/grass, it has become a jungle.  It was decided that the goats should be turned into this area to "mow it down".

    

Happy munching!

There was plenty to eat on that's for sure.  As soon as they entered the lot, the whole herd went to eating.  All you could hear was a lot of chowing down. 

There are some weeds here that are usually a pain for most farmers, but our goats love to eat it.  We call this particular one below an iron weed, but I don't think that is what it really is.  It is super tough, and no animals really prefer to eat it.  It will take over a small area in a few years before you know it, unless you have goats.  Yet another reason goats are a great asset to forage management.  Here is a closer picture of the weed mentioned above.  If you happen to know what it is called, let me know.  I've been trying to figure it out....

The goats were put into this lot for about three days.  This is a picture of what it looked like before they entered....

And after....

A picture of a different section of the lot before.......

And after....

It's amazing how well the goats can clean up an area.  We've put our cows in similar situations, but they usually eat the grass and leave all of the weeds.  Then someone has to go in and clip all of the weeds down.  The only work that had to be done to this area after moving the goats out, was to close the gate behind them :)