Remember Us?

The rest of the gang was feeling kinda left out when I started posting about the babies. I decided I had better go out and spend some time and take some pictures before they turned on me.

Leonard is enjoying eating hay without any of the girls pushing him around.

DiDi is so happy to be feeling better. She always checks my pockets for cookies
Sonya is excited to have her girlish figure back!

ViVi can't understand why we want let Leonard come and play with her. We want to wait a little longer before breeding her.

Blinkin is enjoying her hay in peace while the young ones are playing

BossyToes is positive I forgot she is suppose to be inside and not out with goats!

Blanche says she is stronger than a tree!

Bridey reminds me of the flying nun. I love her airplane ears.

Diva is counting down the days till she can get her girlish figure back and get the extra weight off her feet.

Sammi says yes, she is still pregnant. Yes, she knows she is huge and no she doesn't have any ideal whats taking so long.
The Tennessee mountainers laugh cause the North Carolina flatlanders don't know how to climb.

Shhh Be Very Very Quiet

Until better named big boy and little boy are sleeping. They have been outside all day playing and sleeping in the sun. DiDi sniffed them once and walked off. She doesn't seem interested at all but hopefully will come around. How could she not they are sooo cute. For now I am mommy. They follow me around and if they hear me but don't see me they start crying. Yeah, I am loving it. I may look tired from getting up every two hours to feed bottles but I really am enjoying it. Its such a blessing watching them nurse and snuggle. Today they have started drinking more and going longer inbetween feedings so I am hoping for a few good hours sleep. Then again Sammi is STILL pregnant so who knows. She is so big that this afternoon she was trying to get up from laying on the ground and accidentally rolled over on her back. Her legs were sticking straight up in the air. William happened to see her and yelled its time so I go running with the birthing kit. All I had to do was help her get her feet to where she could stand up. She looked so embarrassed. 2 days ago she was having contractions every 3 minutes and her ligaments were almost totally gone. Yesterday the ligaments were tight and no contractions. I think she heard DiDi and decided she would just stay pregnant. LOL Today she is having mild contractions, a small discharge and ligaments are very soft so we will see. William is on duty the first part of the night and I will take over after midnight checking her every couple of hours. Tomorrow William has to go to Kingston and thinks she might deliver while he is gone. I am betting she will still be pregnant when he gets home. BossyToes, ViVi, Blanche, Bridey and Blinkin have decided they love the apple, carrot molasses cookies. They think they need to check your pockets everytime you are around cause they just know you are hiding them somewhere. Surely we wouldn't go out to the pen without cookies! Too tired to post any photos but will make up for it tomorrow as I have some good ones of the baby boys playing outside and the new girls looking for cookies.

Aren't We Cute!

We don't have names yet but we don't mind. We are waiting for a very special little girl nickname firecracker to name one of us and then the other will get named. Mom Peggy says we sure are spoiled but its her fault. She warms our blankie by the woodstove and wraps us in it to go to sleep. We cry if we don't get covered with our blankie. She says we pee like a grown goat and now has a special rug she stands us on to pee. That's okay as we don't like her slippery wood floors anyway! We are eating really good but still weak at standing very long. We get chilled easy and start shaking so Mom Peggy gets us a fresh warm blankie. Momma DiDi is doing lots better today. She rested most of the day and has been eating alot. We went out with her for a little bit but came back inside where its nice and warm. Tomorrow we have to stay outside longer cause Mom Peggy said so. I bet if we cry hard enough she will bring us back inside. Can't wait to find out and tell you what our names are! Bye for now. Its our bedtime.

One Miracle and Two More Bucklings

Yesterday was a quiet day. I cleaned and repacked the birthing kit. We took Windy over to visit Wendy and Ms. Fran. They were in love! Already have a buyer for Windy. A couple from Tarboro are buying him to raise for a breeding goat. We kept checking on DiDi and Sammi during the day and they were just fine. Nothing seemed to be going on. I brought Windy inside last night since it was cold. We kept going out to check goats and milk Sonya for Windy's bottle. At midnight I am going out in my nightgown to milk and what do I see.. DiDi standing there with a BIG head hanging out of her and its upside down with no legs in sight. I tried to find the feet and couldn't so ran back to the house to get the birthing kit and wake William up. Ran back to DiDi, put on some gloves with OB gel pour allover them and me. Reached in and couldn't find any feet. Cleaned the kids mouth and nose so it could at least breathe and ran back to see where William was. He hadn't even woke up when I flip the light on and screamed at him. He sure heard me scream at him the second time! We rush back out to DiDi who is in a lot of pain trying to push this kid out and its legs are caught. William gloves up and tries to find a foot. After a few minutes he finds one and as he tries to work it out he sees it doesn't match the direction of the way the kid is laying. Its the foot of a second kid and its trying to push its way past the first kid! William trades places with me and holds DiDi while I go in and push the second kid back down the birth canal so we can try to free the first ones feet. I get it pushed back and we trade places again. William is trying to free feet and I am holding DiDi and praying as hard as I can. I talked to God, St. Christopher, my dad, mother, and every angel I know. After about 25 minutes William frees the feet and pulls the first kid. By this time we thought he had stopped breathing. William actually tossed the first kid over in the corner so he could work on saving the second kid and DiDi. I am holding her and she is screaming. The second kid pops out and I start cleaning and drying and DiDi starts licking it. The first kid starts crying so we grab him and start drying and cleaning. We wrap them up to get them warm, clean up the mess and I go get DiDi some warm water and molasses. She drinks it all up and eats some feed. We take the bucks (yes bucks again) inside by the woodstove. Finish cleaning them up and put sweaters on them and wrap them in blankets we warmed by the stove. They are weak. William makes some strong coffee and we add molasses to it, get the medicine dropper out of the birthing kit and give the smallest one a little jump start. He perked right up and even tried to stand up. William goes and milks DiDi and we give the smallest one a bottle. He drinks and falls asleep. The biggest one has congestion so William picks him up by his hind legs and lets the fluid drain out. After some yucky stuff drains out and we clean his nose and mouth again we give him some of the coffee mixture. He perked up too and we waited a few minutes and gave him a little more. They were starting to warm up and the big one started sucking on the bottle. Got them both fed and bed down in front of the stove, go check on DiDi and clean up the afterbirth. She is resting but could tell she wanted her babies. Come back inside to hear Windy crying for his bottle so back out to milk and feed him. We lay down to get a couple hours sleep only to have the boys wake up hungry. They are eating really well now and resting good. I haven't taken them back out to DiDi yet as its still cold outside and DiDi is very very tired. I cleaned her up with betadine and put antibiotic cream inside. Massaged her uterus as its still swollen and she is up walking and eating. Will take her boys out to her this afternoon. Out of all the animals I have helped deliver and even out of the human babies this is the hardest one I have seen or dealt with. DiDi was a trooper. She knew we were there to help her and let us do what we had to do. I thought we would lose all 3 of them last night but a miracle took place and I am very thankful.The photo was taken last night. I will take a better one today. The first one weighed 6 lb and 8 oz and the second one weighed 4 lb 8 oz. The first one actually looks like Nitro but he wasn't in TN. LOL The second one looks like DiDi. He has the long legs and face. Going to try to get a little rest as Sammi is showing signs of labor again. I think she heard the noise last night and decided she would just keep her babies and not deliver! I know I am behind on a couple of MeMe's and awards. I haven't forgotten I just been kinda busy. Hope to return to our regular schedule soon.(whatever that is :)

I Have a Name!

Momma Peggy finally decided at 2am on a name for me. I was getting kinda worried there for a bit. Everyone on this homestead had a name but me. Momma Peggy said since my mom and dad are from the Appalachian Mountains and her neighbor Wendy was the first one to see me arrive in this world she had the perfect name. At first I wasn't sure I liked it but since I have a nickname I am okay with what she decided. Does Appalachian Wind sound good to you? Momma Peggy calls me "Windy". For some reason she says I have a lot of wind in my lungs. I just know if I make a lot of noise she will bring a bottle or take me to my Momma Sonya. Its nice to meet all of you but I have to go spend some time in the sunshine with Momma Sonya. See you later!

Goodbye and Hello

Goodbye to Belle. She was Nitro's girlfriend from Christmas Eve until this morning. Hopefully she will be having Nitro's babies in June. Bye Belle we will miss your sweet kisses.

We have been so busy checking Sammi every little bit for her going into labor that we got a very nice surprise this afternoon. Sonya, one of our new goats we got from Rosie delivered a buckling. We thought she was due around the first of March even though Rosie said the way her bag was filling up she might kid the end of the month. Well, she kidded in the middle of her pasture. Our neighbor just happened to be looking out the door and see it happen. Sonya being a first time mom did perfect. She is resting in her stall after having a nice bucket of warm molasses water and extra grain and hay. The baby is inside for the night. I couldn't resist. He nursed Sonya several times and is drinking great. He was cold and shaking so I had to be grandma and put a sweater on him and bring him inside. He likes drinking from his baby bottle too so we will let him nurse and drink from the bottle. I will take him back out to Sonya in the morning. We let her bond with him for a couple of hours but she is resting now and I am spoiling the baby. He weighed 4 lbs. 10 oz. Haven't named him yet.... anyone got any ideals?

Pray, Pray, Pray

Patricia is a very very special lady. I have been reading her blog for a long time now. I think of her more than a blog neighbor or even more than a friend. She is almost like a daughter though I have never met her in person. Without going into a lot of detail I will say that she has been on a very rough road to motherhood. She got to see the baby's heartbeat for the first time today. Its beating too slow and the doctor says it has a 50-50 chance of making it. Please as you go about your day lift up prayers for Patricia and "little bean". With all of us praying throughout our daily activities God will hear and "little bean" will grow stronger and one day be smiling in the arms of a very special mom. You can leave a comment for Patricia at her blog: http://jaimefits.blogspot.com/ if you like but please, please keep her and her baby in your prayers!

Ms Fran Meets Bossy Toes

My hands were busy holding Bossy Toes leash and opening gates, doors etc so I didn't take my camera with me on today's adventure. BossyToes is a very sweet pretty little goat. She was raised inside at Rosie's and thinks she is human. It really hurt her feelings when we put her in the pen with the other goats as she thought she should be sitting on the sofa in the living room. I decided to let BossyToes come inside today. She had a time with my hardwood floors but loved sitting on the sofa with me. Since she was so well behaved I decided to take her to visit Fran. Fran absolutely loved her! She kept petting Bossy Toes and fussing at me because Bossy's ears were cold. Bossy Toes seemed to know Ms Fran was a special lady, She stood real still and let Fran pet her, love on her and talk to her. Then she stood beside me for a few minutes till she saw that Fran's bed was empty. She wanted to hop up and lay down . Fran thought it was funny but I thought it was time to bring Bossy Toe's home. She enjoyed her little adventure and seemed content when I put her back in the pen with her goat family. Ms. Fran had me promise to take over a newborn kid for her to see whenever Sammi has hers. She misses sitting on her porch watching the goats. She is still getting cards from everyone and ask me to say thank you and God Bless all of you. She is so thrilled that she is getting cards and such sweet messages. Thanks so much for the thoughts, prayers and cards for a very special lady and friend.

Ready and Waiting

The birthing kit is ready and waiting by the door.

The blankets and sweaters are ready to put on the newborns to keep them warm

William and Larry have the delivery room ready. And even built a small connecting pen so mom can get some exercise and fresh air. We put clean straw inside for mom and the babies. They even have windows to let sunlight in and for them to look out of! We have a heavy rubber tarp covering the opened end to keep them nice and toasty warm.

We are ready and waiting. Waiting on Sammi. The ligaments are thinning. Her bag is full, there is a small amber discharge and small contractions. So we just wait and pray its a safe healthy delivery (and not in the middle of a freezing cold night)

7 Random Things

I have been tagged by Cathy to list 7 random things about me. There is not that much left that you don't know about me but I will try.
1. I use to try hard to please or impress everyone even if it meant I was unhappy. Now I live my life the way I need to. If others don't like it or look down their noses at my lifestyle I could care less. Doesn't bother me anymore.
2. I would love to have a animal hotel/resort. A place where your 4 legged family member could enjoy when you have to leave home and can't take or have someone care for them.
3. I do not drink coffee. Hate the taste but love to smell it.
4. My first daughter was suppose to be named Melissa Hope (I didn't get to name her, long story) but was named Maggie Marie. The nurses felt sorry for me and nicknamed her Missy and it has stuck even though she is grown.
5. I am terrified of swimming in lakes, rivers, oceans because of what lives in them but am a certified scuba diver.
6. As I get older I no longer bite my tongue when someone says something wrong or mean. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes not.
7. I want to write a children's book about the adventures of Hidden Haven.

Those are my random things. I will not tag anyone as I am unsure who has and hasn't been tagged. If you do this please let me know so I can visit your blog.

Good Need To Know Info

Perri has a great informational post on her blog. My daughter (we won't mention which one) that always locks her keys in her car really needs to read this post! I learned things I didn't know my cellphone would do but glad I know now.... go check it out! http://lottakids1961.blogspot.com/2008/01/cell-phone-uses.html

Rhonda has a great recipe for homemade dog biscuits. This will really save us money!
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2008/01/homemade-dog-biscuits-or-treats.html

Snow?

Well its not that much but it is at least snow. We were suppose to get freezing rain this morning but we got a little bit of snow then ice. Its suppose to all turn to rain in the next hour but at least I can say we got snow this winter. Some day the big snowstorm will come back (I hope).

If you are looking for something yummy but fast for lunch or supper you have to try "Pizza Pot Pie"! I got the recipe from Perri over at My Life in Bits and Pieces. All you do is put a pie crust in a pie dish. Fill it with whatever you like on top of a pizza. I used brown ground beef, onions, mushrooms and cheese. The recipe then calls for you to stir in a small jar of pizza sauce but I only used half a jar as I didn't want mine as juicy. Put another pie crust on top and pop in the oven for 30 minutes and serve with a salad and you have a fantastic meal everyone will love. William and I were surprised how well we liked this. http://lottakids1961.blogspot.com/2008/01/pizza-pot-pie-picture.html

Fran is doing pretty good. She went to the doctor yesterday and he is trying different things to try to strengthen her neck so she will hold her head up on her on. She is taking a few steps with help and has physical therapy 3 times a week. Her wit is still with her and we all enjoy laughing with her. She is resting better at night and has less of the anxiety attacks.

Pedicures

Well not exactly what you call trimming goat hooves but thats what we did yesterday. On 14 goats! Do you realize how many feet we worked on? The new goats did super. They were busy eating while we trimmed so could care less what we did. Blinky (the older shy one) sat down at first till she realized she couldn't reach her feed. She stood up after that and let us work on her feet. We had noticed her limping alittle and wondered what was wrong. Found a small pebble lodge in one hoof. She is walking much better now. Nitro, Diva, Sammi and Belle did fine on their hoof trim but the boys do not like being away from each other so they spend the whole time crying loudly. Both of them crying sure does make for some loud noise. We found out Bridey is in heat but since she is so young we didn't want Leonard covering her and moved her out of the pen. She was a smart little cookie and found a way to get back to the outside of the pen and kept trying to get back in. We move Leonard to the pasture but he let us know he isn't afraid of the electric fence and went through to get back to his goat women. Nitro and the boys are standing across the field crying for Bridey as they can smell she is in heat. We finally put Leonard in the pen with the goats but put him in a stall. He is near them and they can kiss through the slates but he can't do any damage. It has been a game of musical goats but we think we have it all figured out now and everyone seems happy except Leonard and he isn't real unhappy as he is laying down with DiDi in the next stall kissing him. DiDi and Sonya seem really attached to Leonard and keep him from being lonely. Poor Sammi is a might sore. The other night William and I heard a goat scream. A scream so loud we jumped out of bed and ran to see what was wrong. William even took his gun thinking something was after the goats. We checked them all and nothing was wrong and none of them were crying. The next morning William found a piece of cactus sticking to Sammi's udder. She had layed down on a cactus plant during the night. We didn't plant any cactus so it must be a wild one or one growing from a bird dropping seeds. William pulled

the thorns from her udder and put antibiotic on. She is just a little tender there but bet she watches where she decides to lay down from now on.

Another New Kid

We have a new kid!! Well he's not really ours to keep but we got to love on and feed him this past weekend. His name is Harvey. He isn't a registered Nubian but a keeper anyway.

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Harvey is William's daughter Lisa's new son. He is 5 weeks old and such a sweetheart. Lisa and her husband Ken came down for the weekend with Harvey, Will and Mattie. They arrived about 5 minutes after William and Larry got here with the goats.

We had a busy but fun weekend. The kids loved the goat kids and helped with the feeding. There was time to swing and ride bikes inbetween spending time with the goats. The guys even had time to target practice with Will's new BB gun.

Meet The New Family Members

I think I have the names on the right ones. If I don't Rosie let me know please.

Meet Sonya. She looks like Sammi but no they aren't related. Sonya really really loves cookies and when you go put the bag up she is trying to let you know to bring the bag back cause she ain't done yet.

And this is Leonard. He is the sweetest little buck. He loves to be petted but the minute I try to take a picture he looks away. I put the camera down and he looks right at me and almost smiles.

Meet DiDi. She is so much like Diva in her actions. She loves to eat cookies too but will pass a cookie for grain. She licks her feeder clean. (pic below)

Sweet little Bridey. She is so little and so loving. She gives kisses everytime you bend your head down to talk to her. She loves to run and play alot also spends most of her time with BossyToes. (below)

This is ViVi. She is so cute and she plays and runs with Bridey alot. ViVi hasn't decided if she likes cookies yet or not. But I think she will soon be begging for one.(below)

BossyToes and Bridey pal around together when BossyToes isn't hanging around with the humans. She thinks she is a person and should be in the house with the rest of us. I let her out of the pen this afternoon and she walked around with me. She is so smart she went right in the feed room and bypassed the barrels of chicken and rabbit feed to go straight to the goat feed barrel. She kept nudging it to try to get the lid off so of course I had to give her a small cup full as a treat. She had already had her supper.(below)

Blinky hasn't let me pet her much. She is busy mothering the herd. She is making sure all of them are okay in this new place. She will let me pet her while she eats. I hope to win her over before too long.

Blanche is also shy. She doesn't want to be petted yet but will eat out of our hands. She will also eat a cookie as long as I don't try to pet her. Its hard to get a picture of her alone as she stays close to Blinky or ViVi. She is the one in the middle. (below)Here is a picture of all of them snacking on hay after their supper. Blanche is the one munching down in the center of the photo. She is usually standing in the middle of the trough while she eats.

Did I get the names right Rosie? I sure hope so as I have been calling each one by what I thought and they seem to respond.

So everyone has now met the new members of Hidden Haven family. I am sure there will be lots of stories and adventures to share with you as we bond together.

Hey Momma Rosie

We made it to our new home! It was a very long ride but we really like it here. Ms. Peggy walked us right into our new pen. We behaved really nice for her and she was so happy when she got kisses from 2 of us. We got to eat some nice yummy feed and more hay. We drank some water and then checked the place out. Did you know that its flat here?! We don't have any mountains to climb but we have lots of flat land to run and play. Its really nice here and everyone is being so nice to us. We miss you but please don't be sad. Ms. Peggy said you could come visit us anytime you wanted to and she is going to take lots of pictures of us. Thank you Momma Rosie for letting us come live at Hidden Haven.