Goats and mice and welding

Well despite the crappy weather yesterday ( one good thing, no wind!!) I had a productive day.

Before I left the house I got a call from our neighbor; a goat call. Her goat is sick, what is wrong with him, what should she do.
I do love these calls; she did call the vet, who was really no help. I like the vet, but he is not always right when goats are concerned. He makes wide assumptions...

First thing I noticed at the ranch was that Target, who had gone slightly off her feed the day before, was getting ready to kid. However, she looked poor and was shivering, so I went to Randy's for some dextrose and calcium, gave it to her and ran home for my goat blanket.
By the time I got back she had had one buck kid, but she had been so huge, that even though I couldn't bump another kid, I was pretty sure she had another. So I dove in (ew) and found...what part of the kid is that? Yes, it was a tail. That's a problem. I had to get the rear legs, well I got one anyway, and sweep it all the way forward to get it lined out to come out. Fortunately there was lots of room and after a bit I did manage to get one rear leg and get the kid out. A dead buck.
All in all Target is doing well, she is coming into some milk, and taking good care of her kid. She quit shivering and dove right into her hay and grain.

I spent the afternoon watching her and working on the feeder. I finally cut the second side off and now the dimensions of the feeder are apparent. I decided to turn the whole thing upside down as I work on the legs of the thing.
It's been a good project for my first big one, I am learning a lot about the process and the tools. I do definitely know that if I had built this thing from scratch with new material that it would have been faster and easier.
My next one...

I finished "From The Fair" after about a year of reading one chapter at a time ( in the bathroom. TMI?) I loved it and I will be reading more by Shalom Aleichem. Maybe I'll even read "Fiddler" after seeing the movie and the play so many times.

I am halfway through Ann Tylers new book "The Amateur Marriage" and it sucks. I am not sure if I will finish it. Such a dissapointment. I love so many of her other novels, this one has nothing going on for it. Predictable, boring characters, none of the quirkiness I love in her writing.
"The Accidental Tourist" and "Clockwinder" are so memorable, so engrained in me, what has happened with this schlock?

We have a mouse in the house and today it must be annihilated. It hides behind the refrigerator where Jet, the mouse hunter, can't get to it. It wakes me in the night..I was up more than once last night.