Where do I start??

I got home last night from another little mini-vaca to my hometown.  It was a nice and relaxing time.  I got to hang out with my mom and my baby sister for a while and then Erik joined us Thursday night for a truck pull and a relaxing weekend.  Erik was a "sweetie pie" and used my Papa's tractor to pull out six crazy-big and ugly shrubs from my mom's landscape.  He also knocked down three pine trees and two tall arbor vitae that were hogging up the landscape.  I had a moment of panic when Erik started pulling out shrubs because we had discussed the process very late the night before and apparently had cross-communicated and he started ripping out the wrong ones.  Which, was a blessing in disguise because my mom wanted them out anyway.  Poor Maisey, the family border collie, no longer has her hide-away, but the landscape is clearer and much prettier.However, now that I am home, I look around and see a host of things that need to be done within a limited time frame.  It is Farm Show week here in Butler, and you faithful follwers (all three of you) of my post, remember what Farm Show Week means 'round these here parts.  So, I've had a few hours here at the house to clean up stuff, get organized and next I'm onto making lists for all the things I need to get done this week.  I may need to borrow Walker's new notebook I've got so many lists to make!

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the mundane household stuff I need to do, so in accordance with family tradition, I procrastinated and I started looking through some pictures that I took over the weekend, justifying my procrastination by saying I HAVE to get these

 photos uploaded in case for some reason the card would become compromised and I would lose the photos of Baby Brett's 1 year pictures.  Thank you, Scott Kelby for even putting into mymind that a compact flash could become compromised.  I'm sure it is true, it is just not something I ever thought of by myself.   I've been studying Scott Kelby's photography books lately in order to improve my craft.  (not so much evidenced by the following photos, but I will explain in captions under the photos).

Anyway, I keep procrastinating and right now I'm going to stop.  I will tend to the tasks at hand, but not before I share some photos from the weekend. 

Around sunset Wednesday night, we were headed out to get some ice cream.  As we walked toward the car, down in the field below my mom's house were these deer.  A beautiful doe and her two fawns.  The fawns are pretty evident in this picture, but the doe is in there too - she's got her head down to the right of the fawn on the left.  You can barely see the brown of her back as she is moving through the brush.  They were closer, but as my hoodlum children lumbered out to the minivan they scared mama deer and the fawns quickly followed her for safetys sake.

When we got home from getting ice cream, these magnificent beauties were in the field as well.  Luckily, I still had my zoom lens on my camera and I propped my elbows up in the window of my van and tried to take these shots.  You don't realize how fast the sun is setting until you try to take pictures with a zoom lens at dusk!  These three bucks were not startled at all by our presence - they were in the mood for some good grazing.
The sun was setting fast and I tried to get as many shots as I could of these three bucks, but the lighting was just not working.  Plus, it was pretty far away and my lens worked as hard as it could to get the shots, but they all ended up pretty blurry.  But at least I had proof that three - at least six point bucks were in my moms field.  
I love it when they look up at  you like this.  They weren't scared at all.  Just slightly annoyed that I was making noises at them to try to get them to all look up at me.  They never did though - it was as if they had a pact that they would take turns checking out the area for danger.  

Finally, my most breathtaking capture of the night.  This happened just as the sun was setting. The older one folded the baby into her arms and they looked out into the distance of the field.  The golden glow of the sun lit up the sky around them and kissed the tops of their heads.  How very precious.

My baby sister and my baby boy.  There is nothing more satisfying in the world than seeing someone you love with all your heart loving your child with all their heart.  

I am blessed!

Housework, schmousework!

It's matin' season 'round these here parts

This here goat is Thunder.  He's new to Goodness Grows Farm.  He's got one job to do and that's to make dirty backs.

Seems he's been doin' his job. 

You might think I'm being facetious, but I'm not.   Beginning in July, we separated the does and some went with Ranger and some went with Thunder to begin the mating season.  This summer has been ideal for the goats as the temperatures have been so mild.  In hotter summers, the billy goats really have no desire (literally) to service the ladies in their care.  They get hot, tired and listless and the last thing on their minds is servicing a herd.  That is why last year instead of having 25 babies born in January, we had 25 babies born in April - it was just too darn hot for our billy.  Thunder here is taking to his job with GUSTO.  Ranger hasn't been persuaded to perform so much, but he's a late bloomer, so we'll depend on him to catch any of the ladies that may have missed their time with Thunder.  

A few Sunday's ago, Thunder and his does happened to escape their pasture and were grazing in the yard.  I started taking pictures of them from the deck because part of Thunder's herd are does that still have kids.  We don't wean our kids from the does at a certain date.  We believe that these babies need and deserve their mama's milk for as long as possible.  It has been our experience that having that milk helps grow stronger and healthier goats.  So, we send Mama & baby together to the "billy pens."  Then we watch for dirty backs.  

This poor doe was just not going to escape from Thunder's attention.  She was one of the few without a dirty back that day.  She kept running from him and he just kept a followin' her.  Round and round they went.

Up on top of Erik's trailer where most of the babies chose to doze as the sun set behind the trees.  I'm betting the wood on the trailer was nice and warm and made them feel real sleepy because they didn't stir an inch.  Which is funny because that doe and billy kept tearing up one side and down the other of that trailer.  It had to have been quite disruptive to the little kids on there.  But bellies full of milk and a sunny day kept them quiet.

Down off the trailer and through the grass . . .

Nothing thrills a farmer more than to see a herd sire performing his mating ritual and Erik couldn't have been happier over these photos.  And Thunder was performing with gusto.  A male goat, like most males, has a set of "moves" he uses to persuade the ladies to choose him.  The most obnoxious is peeing on himself - his beard to be precise.  I won't go into lengthy detail about how that happens, but it does.  And it causes a billy goat to stink to high heaven.  

I took most of these photos using my zoom lens.  For those of you familiar w/ our place, I was literally just steps from our back deck and I could smell Thunder even though he was at our garden.  I'd guess that's a good 100 feet or so.  And he smelled STRONG!  The rest of the mating rituals performed by the billy goat have to do with making these faces, sticking out his tongue and making a spitting/snorting noise as he chases down his lady.  

He was so excited to chase his ladies and prove his manhood!  This poor lady wasn't as excited about his romantic gestures.  But she could have just been leading him on.  The does aren't as easy to read until, well, the actual moment.  Not so different from the human race, I guess.  

All in all, if we go by dirty backs, we're going to have quite a successful kidding season this year. 

Thanks, Thunder.  We appreciate your help.