I need me some color

This weekend is the Summer Arts Fair at Benbow.

I am counting on some serious tannage.

Algorithem March!!!!

Tuesday

I still managed 5 hours of farm chores/ work.
Tonight I started building the deck for the milking stanchion. I am about 2' short of the angle iron I need, so I'll pick that up tomorrow.
I have to figure out how to cut down the expanded steel I have as it's about 2" too wide.
I'll be hauling 2 more lambs tomorrow (mmm...money) and maybe I'll go up to J's and clip Nibbles and if I'm really nice I'll clip one of J's for her.
I'll also stop in at Harbor Freight and see about their metal saws. The guys at Junkyard Projects@yahoo.com are trying to talk me into their little metal band saw instead of a chop saw, which I am familiar with. It's a little scary thinking about buying and using a tool I have no experience with. There's actually a yahoogroup discussing the little band saw.

I probably won't get a nap tomorrow.

I ran into Carolyn at the post office this morning. I haven't seen her since last years fair. She's working on her dredlocks.

Really big sleep

I;m so sleepy. It's all I want to do. It's all I can do.
The world is conspiring to allow me this.
My dentist appointment was cancelled.
I am not mowing until Thursday.
"The Big Sleep" was on and guess what I did?

I just want to get back in bed.
I'll try the last Frappuccino.

(ah it's gone. Josh drank it. aaaahhhhh)

LaVista Hickory Enough Stuff

Well I got the big man washed and clipped. He's at least 200 lbs and if he doesn't want to do something, it's hard to convince him. He did take me for a little ride before I got a handle on him.
After that, he was quite good about standing to get clipped. And he actually seemed to enjoy getting his head done.
Strange boy.

No it wasn't a helicopter. It seems there's a dogfight going on over town.
Those freakin people from Full Sail or DC3 think we all are thrilled about their friggin DC3 flying low over our homes on a holiday morning.
Welcome to town, neighbors.

Isn't there some airspace regulations ar public nuisance or something? I'm sure my animals are going through fences at the ranch.

Braggarts.

Buzzards

I was woken up by a helicopter flying right over the house. Yes, it's Memorial day, which means that the Kinetic Sculpture Race arrives in Ferndale.
Fortunately, I think I can pretty much avoid it, except for random wanderers and tourists who turn around in our driveway.

I was dreaming of, of course, clipping goats. My clippers were giving me troubles ( in the dream).
Last night I made my fair chart to keep track of where I am in getting prepared. I have 16 more animals to clip. It's 2 weeks until the show. I'm in good shape.

I think I'll do the finish welding on the headlock today and maybe start the bottom of the stand. I need some hardware before I am totally done with the headlock.
My new Yahoogroup (Junkyard Projects) is a huge help.

This is so much better. I blams it all on the movie "Monster".
Steve Perry's voice gives me chills.
I swear I used to date the keyboardist...

Journey Cheese

O K so shoot me.
I have been totally digging Journey lately.
But this is definitely the cheesiest video evah.
How did they keep straight faces thought this?

Productive?

I got a call this morning; actually he had called yesterday but I didn't get the message until today. RP called asking me to mow, so I called him back. I thought I had been fired since the clutch plate incident, but no. Turns out he will take some of the blame for not tightening the clutch down, and it seems like something that just happens.
So I went over to Camp Weott and took about 3 turns around the field and then, the drive line comes completely apart. R had mentioned that it had happened to him a few days ago, so I wasn't alarmed, but annoyed as that pretty much ended my hours for the day. I called him; the problem being that he can't get the parts he needs to fix it properly until Tuesday and he had jerry-rigged it together.

So I thought I'd use the allotted time to work on the head gate for the stanchion. I figured I only needed to cut one more vertical and tack weld it on and I'm about done. I worked on the rod a bit more, then tack welded everything but the rod. I just now need to permanently weld it all together, get the gate latch for the rod and it's pretty much DONE! Cept for the painting, that is...Red?



I'm home for some lunch, then I think I'll go clip another goat or 2.

10 things I Hate About Commandments

Clipping and grinding

It's now time to get ready for the Redwood Acres show in 2 weeks. I am taking a ridiculous amount of goats, mostly because premiums are available and I usually double my entry fee.
And the Fair book for our own fair in August is already available. It will be flood season again before I know it.

I got 2 black goats clipped yesterday, but today looks dark and a bit cool and I hate to wash and clip when it's chilly. I did see that one yearling I clipped might be a bit on the fat side once I got all that hair off of her.

This weekend there is a big show in Santa Rosa and I haven't gotten a report as to how it's going. The show is very stressful and I don't mind missing it at all. City people...

My sheep look so clean out in the field now with their winter clothes off. They look smaller, so much smaller like they fit better in the field.

I'll try to get back on the milking stanchion project today. Yesterday I made an attempt to bend the rod that will be the headlock. I wasn't sure how to get that done; 2 90 deg bends over the 1" square tubing. I managed to get one nice bend with a little coaxing with the vice, the propane torch and some ball peen/ rr track anvil encouragement. Now if I can get the other one...

My new discussion group on Yahoo (Junkyard Projects) is a great group and very helpful. Bunch of junkyard codgers all with ideas and opinions on tools, materials and how to get something done.
I'm discussing the pros and cons of various chopsaws, and what about metal band saws?
I am now using my hand skil saw with a metal blade, and I can get satisfactory cuts, but my precision level could be improved. I did get nice 45's for the corners of the headcatch.
Metal work is less about welding and mostly about cutting and grinding.

Shearing day

I just got woken up by intense downpour rain on our tin roof. It wasn't even hail, although it sure sounded like it. Now, it's stopped, but that was intense.

Yesterday was the long day of shearing. In my farm year, it's one of the longest days, and I'm not even the one doing all the work.



I had called Kathy so she could bring her lamb to get sheared, and she ended up helping almost the whole time, before she had to go milk. That was great to have help like that. I'm getting too old to enjoy wrestling big fat ewes like that all day.





The final tally was 37 sheared, counting my big ram and the ewe lambs. That's the most I've ever had sheared, and if I get/ keep any more, it might be a 2 shearer day. It took about 4 hours. And what a disaster area my barn was in last night. It was like a wool bomb went off; there was wool everywhere and we had been using my milk room, so it all needed to be cleaned up so I could do evening milking


I managed to have exactly enough wormer that all sheared got wormed, so 2 birds with one syringe. Nothing like using the shearer to help with farm chores.


I kept 15 of the best fleeces and most of the lambs wool, which left a lot of wool to haul out to the manure pile. I am so relieved to have this done. It's a huge project that needs to be done in a narrow time frame. Last year I think I sheared too early and the sheep were really wooly when lambing/ flood season hit. I'm a month later this year.

Now, back to my milk stanchion project. If I can find my shop, as there's fleeces everywhere.

Shearing day.

I started work on my first "commission" piece; a goat milking stand. I am using the one T got me for my birthday as the prototype, so all I have to do is copy it.
I ordered the steel, and picked it all up on Tuesday.

Yesterday, I started working on the headpiece. Since I am floundering and learning it all as I go, it is probably taking me longer than it could, but in just a little over 2 hours I almost had the thing done. That was a surprise, as people charge a lot of money for these things.

Almost the whole thing is tack welded together, and I have the pieces that hold the part that swings welded and drilled. I imagine in less than 2 more hours I will have the whole headpiece done.

Today the shearer is coming to shear the sheep. I'll be glad to get that done. Some of the sheep need doctoring, this is a great time to do it. Then I'll start selling the fleeces on eBay.

I finally got my PIN # from ADGA so I can register goats on line. After waiting for weeks for it to arrive in the mail, I called and she said she would e mail it right over. Done. I registered 3 kids on line this morning , we'll see how that works.

This weekend there's a big show in Santa Rosa that I am not going to. I will be well represented with my 4H family taking a yearling and 2 kids they got from me. They came over last night so I could tattoo the kids, and I must say the Lamancha kid looks really good. I think they will do well.

Photo by Allison Reed

Just a regular trip to the beach in Northern California

Commodity trading

12:00 Gather sheep. Pick out 2 lambs.
1:00 Deliver lambs to butcher
1:30 Pick up fish
2:00 deliver fish. Pick up buck kid.
3:00 Pick up steel order
4:00 Drop off buck kid at barn.
Find Fresh doe with twin kids.

Orson Wells and Jesse James

I just happened to catch an episode of Monster Garage last night where they built a mobile milk parlor for one cow.
What were the chances of all of that?

Yes, it's raining. No, really raining. It dripped all night and now it is actually coming down. No, this is good, really. The ground was really starting to dry out and I thought it was all done for the summer. The grass was dying back, as were the weeds ( well it wasn't all bad) but this will carry my pasture through a bit longer. And it's warm which will also help. It's just what the farmer ordered.

Wet means the lambs I am shipping today will be wet soggy sponges. It also concerns me about shearing on Thursday, which the sheep HAVE to be dry for.

We also watched a very very strange movie last night "F is for Fake" a recomendation by Penn and Teller on TCM. Very 1973.

Lindsay's arrives.Get one.

When I was in High School, it was the era of the Last Whole Earth Catalog; Access to Tools.
It changed my life. It showed me about things that were nowhere to be found in rural western New Jersey.
I remember trying to describe it to my mother
"So, it's a catalog of catalogs..?" She made it sound ridiculous; I knew better.

I still have my copies, and I pick up copies when I come across them. I remember when a new one came out, I was actually living in Woodstock, New York, and I spent my grocery money to buy a new copy.

The latest version didn't appeal to me as much, as the computer information and communications was a larger part, and not much I was interested in at the time.

I often still drag them out and sit on the living room floor poring through them, still drooling over stuff. The Journey Wheel, Nomadics, handy gadget tools and tiny trailers.

Yesterday I received a new catalog, "Lindsays Technical Books" and it is like a new WEC. But almost even better.
None of the groovy feel good stuff I never liked anyway, and real hardcore tools and information.
Inspiring and educational.

Get one.

MOnday monday

So I get a call from S Z when I was in Red Bluff. The people who were wandering around Pats house in the dark who said a Real estate agent/ ad in the paper sent them? All lies. There is no ad in the paper. The house is not for rent. It was pure luck that we showed up when we did. I hope they bring that info back to their hive that you can't just wander around in the dark around here without getting questioned. There are lots of eyes watching.
It totally creeps me out. I have hidden my guns, and I need to scratch my name on my welder.
We should have asked them for some Advil cold and sinus.

Sheepy things going on this week; lambs are going to the butcher tomorrow and the shearer is coming on Thursday. When Charlie shears it goes so fast and smooth. What would take 2 hours for 8 sheep takes less than that for 15 now. Not that I didn't like the old shearer, but with this many sheep now I need the pro.

Oh and there's a good reason why there are no pictures from Red Bluff. When I got there I couldn't find my camera. I had remembered taking it out of my pocket when Ibought groceries for my new cooler before I left. Yep, I left it at the supermarket. Today I retrieved it.
I sure would have liked to have gotten a picture of Molly on her cutting horse all cowboyed up.

Yankees vs. Red Sox. I just got a look at the fall Matsui took when he broke his wrist..ow ow ow ow.

I did my Fortuna chores today; bank, gas, hardware store, where I got string for the weedeater.
At the Thrift store I got some shorts, some albums (Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits, Alan Sherman) and for 5.00 one of those 3 wheeled baby joggers for parts. It has some great hardware.

I have a yearling Alpine due today. I checked her at about 2 and nothing was going on. I think she'll go another day at least.

GOAT SHOW!!

The trip to Red Bluff has been done, and it was good.
I made sure not to eat a hamburger from the shade tree barbecue, so there was no puking on the long and winding road back.

Hiway 36, although so so much shorter than the alternative, is quite a haul. Especially with a truck and trailer full of goats and goat paraphernalia (100 lb. semen tank, stanchion, hay, etc). At a few points the road is so steep that 1st gear was the only choice.
But it is a quick trip (4 hours- 120 miles!). I could have done without the rain, and the subsequent rocks on the road, but I think the motorcycle that I followed for 50 miles or so was having a less pleasant ride. maybe not.
I saw a bear gallop across the road not 50 yards in front of me.

The trailer on it's latest incarnation's maiden voyage was perfect, no problems at all.
I got locked in the fairgrounds on Friday night and it took a long quest and a few phonecalls to get out to my hotel room where no they DIDN'T have a reservation, when I stood right next to T when he called.
Oh yeah, maybe the gal who took the call did make a reservation, but she just wrote it on a slip of paper instead of typing it into the computer. At least they had a room and all was well.

The show.
My toughest competition from right here at home was at the show, the breeder that I bought little Victory from. So it was satisfying to find myself in front of him in Ring 2 with my best hope, Tip Top
Also, Victory did very well in her class which was quite large.
In the Grades the 1st judge totally loved Misty, but still didn't place her as CH or reserve, and apologized for not doing it. She was lovin on Misty so much it almost got embarassing. Almost.
Since my herd is young I still have most hope set in my Junior does, and here we did very well.
In Ring 1 (Senn) little Watermark came in 2nd ( I think, it's a little fuzzy) and Wresistor and Wookie were the only does in the Jan kid class. Voyager did well in the yearling class as well.

Then, Wresistor went on to win Junior Lamancha Champion!! So cool!.

I got great comments on my does from both judges. I feel really good about all the does as they all placed very very well. It's really great to have the judges point out your goats strengths and weaknesses, as I don't tend to see either.

Kathy won Junior Toggenburg Champion in both rings with her yearling.
WE all agreed it's a good show when you always have plenty of people behind you in the line up. And I think we all accomplished that yesterday.

Now, on to Redwood Acres in 3 weeks where I have over 20 does entered.

Meat boy

Ted took this great photo of our own little butcher.
He was Mr. Meat at the grocery store yesterday. I asked to count his fingers.

No, not done yet.

It started raining early this morning. I didn't think our rain was done for the year, not quite yet. Anyway, when the hay starts getting cut, it always gets rained on, a little.

So my trip to Red Bluff this weekend looks like it will be cool and rainy. All goats are clipped except old Misty and I think at this point, she's going to stay unclipped. Everyone else will get blanketed.

My little trailer project has gone so well, but there is no end to what I want to do with it. For now, it's mostly ready for the trip. I'm going to tarp the top and maybe put my little 2 month old in a crate. A few details like welding the coupler on and putting the gate back on and it's race ready.



I've had a few undesirable social contacts this week and I hope I've seen the end of them. Last night when we got to the ranch at about 10 there were people parked at Pat's house and wansdering around the house in the dark with a flashlight. When confronted, they actually started to defend their actions. "There's an ad in the paper" uh, well "we asked someone and they said it might be this house".
Great, I really need people crawling around my ranch in the dark when there's no one for a mile in any direction. Time to make sure I have ammo.

Also, my freaks of neighbors finally decided, after 3 years, to get their sheep sheared. I had called the shearer for my sheep and had not gotten a call back, so when I saw his truck I stopped to talk to him. He immediately came over to me, looking quite tired and older (he's not a young man) and apologozed for not calling me; I already knew he was busy as the reason Molly was here last weekend was for his step daughter's bridal shower...ANyway..
He's rolling his eeyes at these sheep, huge and fat and wooly. I asked if he might need some help and he sure didn't say no. I would do anything for him, but my neighbors I would leave by the side of the road.
The neighbors are all old women, so I knew there was no way they'd be able to catch these sheep and get them to C M to shear, so I helped. But I made sure they knew I was HELPING them. I even, at one point, held back and let one of the ladies TRY to do it herself, and as I stepped back to let her, she looks at me and says "Could you HELP me?". I love to make em beg. Just to let her know I was doing her a FAVOR.
And, as soon as I was don, handing that last sheep to CM, I said "see ya next Thursday Charlie", and I said goodbye and left. I have no interest in being social with them, I had no interest in even talking with them while Cm sheared either, even though they were trying to be interested and quizzing me. Don't talk to me you insane idiots.

Here's the before with those buzzards on the fence. I have lived here 10 years, and the 2 family members who own the ranch have been the most miserable neighbors you could ask for without actually being armed and on drugs.

I can now understand why guys who restore vehicles are always tinkering. The job is never done.
I tore the wheel off the trailer so I could clean and paint the frame behind it before I put the fender on, and I see the frame needs sanding and wirebrushing. I know I didn't do much to the frame when I painted it last (2 years ago?).
As I start cleaning the frame behind the wheel I see more of the frame that could use a sanding/ smoothing out.
There is no end to it.
I wasn't planning on re painting the whole trailer frame on this go round, but it's hard for me to draw the line. The trailer needs to be finished in the next few days. If I stay the course I am almost done. But I keep seeing things I want to fix/ re do.

I reamed out the hole I needed to attach the new coupler and I got it installed. I need to weld the nuts on the bolts, as I'd rather not have the whole thing decide to come off while I'm driving.
I painted the frame behind the wheel ( after sanding and smoothing, still not to my complete satisfaction) and I'm waiting for it to dry and then I'll attach the first fender. It's a bit scary. I've decided to bolt it to the frame.

I bathed and clipped little Victory and as I suspected she's a completely different goat under all that hair. Also, she was covered with lice. ew.

The Ultimate Mary Jane

The Big Warm

FORTUNA TEMPERATURE 72°F
Wind chill makes it feel like 73°F

Yes, that what it says.

It was totally totally warm here today. In always chilly land it was totally warm. No chill in the shadows, none in the breeze. The breeze was soft and cooling and that goes to show was just how warm it got today.

I drove the mower tractor for almost 4 hours today. I drove in bare feet. I had to open the big back window of the cab for the last hour or so, it was too warm.
I'm still sitting here with the windows open and in bare feet and shorts.
It was like a little vacation.

This was the warmest day here that I can remember. No chill!

Just one drop

Pump and grind

After wrestling with my milking machine for a few days, I decided that maybe the pulsator was tha problem, so this morning, before milking, I tore the whole thiing apart and cleaned it. It was kinda dirty, but not what I was expecting. I oiled it and put it back to gether and I still had the same problem.
Next trouble shooting idea was to exchange it with another pulsator I have. I still had the same problem. So I took apart the reserve tank and hoses and there it was; some gunk in the line from the tank to the pulsator.
After struggling with the machine for days and mostly hand milking because of it, it was a simple fix. Tonight it worked great, better than it has in a long time.

I've been rebuilding my little trailer, getting it in shape for my next show in Red Bluff.
I took all the plywood off and I'm cleaning and repainting the steel. I also got fenders and a new hitch coupler for it.
The fenders are getting painted before I mount them, I sprayed with primer, and brush painted the under side. I decided to wait and get spray paint for the outside as the brush paint wasn't quite right for the outside. I'll get that tomorrow.
I added some angle iron to both sides of the trailer to mount the fenders on. It's a tricky fit, and I have been debating whether to rivet or weld them on. I think I am settled on welding them.
It really needed fenders as the mud and road stuff was wreaking havoc on the plywood. I also sanded and painted the plywood, so now the trailer will be in my barn colors; black and blue.

Here one fender is getting primed, the other is still bare steel. You can see the color I am painting the plywood in the background.



I ground off the bolts holding the old coupler and I'm ready to mount the new one.
I will get the bolts I need also tomorrow. I might drill one more hole for an extra bolt just for more security.

Lindsays Technical Books

This might help with inspiration.

Perfect pattern

Look how perfectly this farmer turns their corners. I think of this picture when I am mowing.

Summer job '06

Here's my mount for my summer job. I like the cab in that it has a radio in it and I don't have to deal with my headset and a radio.
However, one of the perks is the great tan I get dricing the tractor. I'll just have to make up for it somehow. I do already have a sock line from wearing shorts for weeks.

I mowed for 2 1/2 hours today near the Eel River at Camp Weott. The grass looks perfect for cutting ( to me). What I know about making hay I could write a very very short book.
Everything went smoothly. The trick is in the corners. I strive to make that perfect turn. Here' my days work. I also strive to keep my rows as straight as I can. Not as easy as it might seem. Fields are not flat.

Water works.

Then, at the other end of the field is the ewe who just had the twin black lambs, dead. Just dead.
So now I am bottle feeding the 2 lambs. Fortunately they have taken right to the bottle.

Kia had triplets last night; two does and a buck. Good girl!. I need to come up with some good car names that start with W. Wagonneer?

The water guy called me this morning to tell me I still have a leak somewhere. Even though I turn my water off all the time I'm not there, I guess the faucet is still leaking and I have a leak somewhere. So I am not turning the water off at the meter, and I'll run a whole system check from one end to the other. Unfortunately there's a portion of the line that's under ground, and at one point runs under my road.
I might be able to diagnose the problem without digging, but if the leak is there, well, I'll be using that mattock I just got at a yard sale.
First, I'll build a little plug I can stick into all joints. I'll disconnect each line, plug it, and turn on the water and check the meter.
This will for sure find it, eventually.

Rick checked me out on the tractor for the summer this year. It's a Massey Ferguson with a cab. Darn, I was looking forward to some good tanning, and today would have been perfect to set down my base. However, it does have a radio, so it's a trade off.
As soon as I finish my coffee I have about 2 hours of mowing to do this afternoon.

Molly called me yesterday and she's coming over this weekend. She wants me to go with her to Petrolia tomorrow to check out some goats she is buying. That will be a fun trip.
Also, she's going to be showing a horse at Red Bluff at the fairgrounds next week, the same time I'll be there for the goat show. It would have been sad to have not known she was there and missed her. As she pointed out, however, if she saw goats, she would have looked for me!

Rocky Raccoon fell back in his room

Kia is probably having her kids and I should go, but I have a story to tell.

A few days ago I saw a cat wandering around at the end of my field. I didn't think anything about it.
This morning as I was heading to the ranch I see the cat again, but it's acting kinda wierd. And it looks bigger than a cat. I stop the car.
What is that? It's not a cat. It looks like an otter. Wait, it can't be an otter.
What is that?
It's a porcupine, a little one.
No, it's not.
It's a raccoon, and it's acting really wierd. It's just kinda wandering around aimlessly.
That's bad. A raccoon out in daylight, and acting wierd.
I go to the barn and get the only gun I have ammo for, a .22.

I load the gun and put some more ammo in my pocket.

I walk all the way out to the end of the field, but I don't want to get too close. It's acting really wierd. It's thin and scraggly amd just walking in one direction, then turning and walking around and around like that.
I don't want to get too close, will it attack me if it's rabid? I have no idea so I start shooting.
I hit it, but a .22 barely makes an impact when Ihit it in the side. So I keep shooting. It keeps walking. I reload. The gun jams. I un jam it. I keep shooting.

Finally I get a head shot and it goes down, but gets up again, and I get another head shot and it goes down for good. I can see it's eyes are white and it's blind. It makes a sad whimpering puppy sound and for a minute I feel pretty bad.

Not wanting to touch it, I go back to the barn and call the vet to see if I should tell someone or have it tested.
"Hello? I just shot a wierd acting blind raccoon in my field. Should I do something?"

"Call Animal Control"

"Hello. I just chot a wierd acting blind raccoon in my field, should I do something?"

"Call Public Health"

(anyone remember the cartoon "Le Petite Parade?"

"Hello. I just shot a wierd acting blind raccoon in my field; should I do something?"

"The guy you need to talk to isn't in the office right now. Call this number and leave a voice message".

"Hello...."

He calls me back about 4 hours later. By that time I had already picked it up ( with a shovel and latex gloves) and he tells me raccoons rarely have rabies, that they have never had one test positive in our area and to bury it.

Ha also calls me Annie Oakley. He didn't know it took me about 20 shots to kill the dang thing.

In The Summertime

To me, summer starts on Kentucky Derby day. It feels like summer now, the days are long, even though it's not warm here in ever chilly land, the sun is out and the grass is growing. The swallows flying around my barn really give me the summer sense.

Today I clipped my first does of the season which always makes me feel like summertime.
Next weekend I travel to Red Bluff for the first doe show. I still am not set on which does are going, but the 2 I clipped today are for sure. The entry needs to be postmarked Friday.

The ball game is on which adds to my summer sense with it's sound.

Kia is due to kid any minute now, but she doesn't seem to be getting ready. My last does have gone well over their due date. With 2 does due on next weeks show day, I wouldn't mind if they missed their date.

I started working on my long perimeter fence this morning. The sheep have pretty much felted the wires together by running back and forth under them. I need to get the shearer here.
It actually looks to be a pretty easy fix. I'd like to put woven wire, but now the already high price has gone up considerably along with everything else.

My steel for my commissioned milk stand project should arrive tomorrow. After they waited 8 months for the one that was supposedly awarded to him, the family asked me to make one for them as they need to start clipping their does for the Memorial day show. Well, wouldn't you know, as soon as they made plans for me to build one, the awarded one was suddenly ready! What a surprise.
The family said to go ahead and build theirs for them anyway. I told them they could cancel, and I'd still build one and sell it, but they said to stay the course and they'll take mine too.
What a mess.
When people say they're going to do something, and then don't do it, there are unforseen consequences.

I think I'll nap now to the sound of the baseball game.

Monday monday

A post as a sort of table of contents for the days events. More details to come tomorrow...

1. My meat buyers finally show up. I start my research on "What is wrong with Mexico". I mean, it seems like a pretty good place to live, why isn't it working/ or why do people think here is better? Some insight from ex pats.

2. I go to Eureka and order my steel for my milk stand project. Later in the day, more happens, and the details of the agreement change.

3. I get a call and it seems like I will have my summer job driving tractor again.

4. My horse falls for my trap and I have him caught up so I can start working with him.

aaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
some days make up for many many uneventful ones.

I'm back from the goaty trip to Southern Oregon for the Buck show. I managed to make the trip in around 4 hours each way, which was pretty good.
There was a pool at my hotel room, so after they closed the pool for the night, they let me in, so I had the whole pool all to myself. That was a great way to end the day

My bucks did pretty much as I expected. They are all young bucks, nothing over a year old. My Alpine buck did look very good, and the judges had some nice things to say about him. Younger bucks very rarely win champion, and I knew that going in. In fact in all the lineups for Best Buck In Show I am pretty sure there were no junior bucks or even yearlings.

My little black Lamancha buck Westside did well, winning Junior Champion, but there was no separate sanction for the juniors. Uriah Heep also won Junior Reserve.

My hometown peeps really kicked some dairy goat buck butt, however, and that was almost as good as winning myself.
Fern*View took Toggenburg Champion in one ring and Windy Gap took Toggenburg Champion in another. Beating a really creepy moron of a breeder too.
Perfection Lamanchas took Lamancha Champion in one ring, which was also good for me as I am getting a little buck out of him.

It was a fun show, it was nice and warm, and it was great fun seeing people. I met quite a few people I had only known from online; people surprisingly excited to meet me. That is kinda wierd, stepping out of the computer as they were.
Really fun to spend a whole day or so talking about almost nothin but goats ( and goat people...meow). The semen collector and her mom were there, long time Alpine breeders. They know a thing or 2 about Alpine bloodlines, so it's always fun to talk on and on about bucks and progeny and such.

I brought a basket of my handspun yarn and some needles to put in the raffle, and I was surprised at the response. I seem to be somewhat missing the knitting craze that I knew was going on lately, but haven't tuned in to. I guess I might grab a hold of that before these 20 somethings all have babies and give it up.
The winner of the yarn was one of the judges ( daughter of a long time judge and Nubian breeder) who also happened to be the handler of the new Shining Moon does I just bought, although I didn't get into that connection with her. After she had won she came to me all excited about the yarn, It seems she has been wanting to get some "knitting sticks" and learn how to knit, so she was really thrilled to have won the starter kit I had supplied.

Time to turn some straw into gold, I suppose.

Off to the first show of the year

I knew if I sat down to post before I left I'd find something I had forgotten. The memory card was in the card reader, not in my camera which is already in the car.

I think I'm ready to go. I made coleslaw and in a moment of genius I packed it in a zip loc bag as I don't have much for travelling food containers. A frozen vet pac in a fish styrofoam crate will work for a cooler.

Bucks are all washed, I think T has the routine down good enough, and it's time to go. The hotel told me to pack a swim suit so I can play in the water slide, so I made sure I did.

It's a good thing I talked to A F before I left as I hadn't even thought to remember my registration papers. I might have forgotten them altogether, and there goes the whole shebang.

So I'm off to Central Point, oregon, and a drive along the beautiful Smith River. It always surprises me on thie trip; it is a really beautiful piece of country, that canyon.
I am glad I'm not dragging a gooseneck trailer, however, a la my peeps.

Back tomorrow night. If you could bet I'd tell you to bet on my Alpine Yearling, Volcano. He is lookin' goooood.

I have found my vision in the real world.
It's called a Bantam Trailer.

YOu can't go home again

The very first county fair I remember going to was the Flemington Fair, in New Jersey.
I spent my summers on a family friend's horse farm near Frenchtown with their daughter.
We would be let loose at the fair and I clearly remember the carnival, the rides and the farm stuff. There were no horses, and since that was my focus at the time, the livestock didn't really interest me.

Later, our family moved to the area and during the summer between my Jr and Senior years I worked at the Fair, as many of my friends did.
I worked at the Freak Show, selling tickets to the "Babies in the Bottle" Exhibit. (This was way before the phrase "P C" reared it's ugly head). I was between the "World's Largest Rat" exhibit and the Guys who rode the motorcycles around the barrel. Farther down the lane was the "No Arms, no legs, no bones in her body" bodyless head on the table.

On Saturday nights we all would go to the Stock Car races and always sat in the same part of the grandstand together. #47 was a Gremlin that always won.

After High school a friend of mine was dating one of the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show drivers that performed at the Fair every year, and she fixed me up with one of the other drivers, Vic Rivers. At one point I skipped out of my freshman year in college to hang out with them on the road.

Vic Rivers was killed doing a stunt, and the film he was working on(Hi-Riders) is dedicated to him.

I just found out that as of 2003 the the Flemington Fair is also no more. Real estate prices are too high in the area, and the fair has been scaled down to an Agricultural Fair (sans giant rats, no doubt) and moved farther south in the county.

I guess it'll make me cherish our sweet local County fair that much more. I imagine it won't ever go away. Sure would be good to see more freak stuff, although we did have a giant horse and steer a few years ago. And the human cannonball is a nice addition...

I'm not sure if I'd want this

But I'd sure like to have it around to sniff occasionally

Vinyl Perfume

The smell of those car seats from 70s, or a sort of PVC jacket from the same era. Not everyone's cup of tea, so to speak. But then, it doesn't have to be doesn't have to be does it.

Other personal favorite scents include rubber, laundromat, stable, saddle and pipe tobacco.

The sun has been out for a few days now, so I am taking the opportunity to get these bucks that are going to the show bathed.
I even got propane so they are being bathed in luxury in warm water.
Yesterday I did Uriah Heep and today I did Winfield and I trimmed Westsides feet. They all get a light trim clip just to neaten them up a bit.

Here's Winfield after his bath, standing in the sun to dry.



This morning I gathered up the sheep and p[icked out 3 ewes to cull for a bit of cash.
I also got bands on the new lambs and the last set of lambs born in the flood who I hadn't gotten to. The older lambs were both ewes (one black, one white) the new ones are both bucks, both black.

I dropped the ewes at the auction and watched the sale for a bit. My ewes got crap, and I saw a lot of Beck's cows going through as pairs, which I thought was a bit odd.

T came to the ranch with me tonight to get the routine as he will be doing chores Friday night and Saturday morning while I am in Oregon for the buck show.
J brought me a pen of doe kids today for me to feed my extra milk to. They all drank from the bucket tonight so that was a good transition.

In the morning I have a meat buyer coming; hopefully I'll get more than I got for those ewes.

Wooden Computing.

Novelty patents.

Baseball, and the boss.

It was annoying peple day here on the edge of the world.
Although I don't really find them too annoying, my day started with a goat family bringing their triplets (from my Alpine buck) over to be disbudded and banded,

They really are fine, and instead of the whole family, it was just the 3 youngest kids, so it must've been my temperment yesterday. It all went fine.

And the sun was out.

Later, during nap time, I was hunted down by a definitely annoying goat person. The feedstore guy who gave her directions to my house will get an earful today, BTW..

Mid afternoon, while I was pleasantly mowing the lawn (again? yes, this is what happens when the rain quits and the sun comes out...hatching!!) I remembered something T had briefly mentioned while we were standing in line at the noisy and busy casino. Something about the boss being in town and we were having dinner with him. Didn't he say Monday?

Back home, and the first Red Sox/ Yankees game (In Boston) is on, but not looking too good for the bombers. As I put an english muffin into the toaster, the phone rang and I was again reminded of the evenings activity. Good thing I hadn't eaten the muffin yet.

Dinner was fine. I had eaten on and off during the day, oblivious to the appointment, so I wasn't that hungry. I hadn't met the boss before, but it was fine. Have I mentioned that I have social fear of the unknown?

Then later at the ranch, another encounter, at this point I have learned to tune out most of the dialogue so it was only partly annoying. Also, I can work and visit at the same time so I'm not annoyed at being held up.

After chores and milking I did a little work on the feeder, and figured out how to fit the barrels to the bottom.

I made sure to be home in time to watch "The Standard Of Perfection; Show Cows" on PBS.
Talk aboput custom made for me. Especially with my first show of the season only days away. It was a little window into my world. Even though I don't particularly like cows, I have spent plenty of time around them, and with daily milking livestock, you have pretty much the same relationship no matter what it is (cow, sheep, goat, mare..)

I'll bet Clover knew some of those farmers..

Faith = Illness.
Why I've had it with religious tolerance.


That the Bible could be understood metaphorically helped people relate to its "God" metaphorically, as well. It's not that God is some character who really exists, but a way of relating the events in the world as they unfold. No one can grasp this, however, if they're stuck believing.

So I think it's time those of us who have transcended this primitive approach to collective storytelling to speak up. This liberation from belief systems is precisely what the Bible is about. A people liberate from the death of a creationist model of reality and go out into the desert to write their own laws.

It's analogous to the story of America, in fact, where a bunch of people leave religious oppression in order to write a Constitution as an evolutionary document - something that, instead of being believed in forever, is understood to be an ongoing process. A participatory event.

Right now, America's true believers are locking down its laws along with its Bible. They are fighting the science of evolution because it accepts that things change over time - and such change is incompatible with static, everlasting truths. They are doing to today's progressives the very same thing that the Bible's Egyptians were doing to the Israelites. And they're doing it in the name of a God who they believe they'll meet when they die. This is the very mindset and behavior the Bible was written to stop.

Perhaps the best way to kill their God, in fact, is to take charge of the Bible. It is - in my own opinion as a media theorist - the Greatest Story Ever Told, and deserving of our continued support and analysis.

Self Sufficient-ish

Making a simple sheet metal bender

I heart New York ( in the 80's)

Maybe I can stop yearning for New York, as it seems like the city I loved is slowly being replaced with Disneyland and Princess-love

I saw it the last few times I have been back, Times Square is clean and Gap-ish, the subways are almost too clean, and now the WTC is a tourist destination even though it isn't there anymore.

Another reason I love the movies set in NY in the 70's and early 80's. I loved the grit, the crime, the dirt. It was living on the edge. Now maybe it's just like any American city. bleh

I was very surprised to see that a ewe had had twin black lambs sometime yesterday afternoon! I had pretty much figured that my lambing was over for now. I don't know if this was a ewe that might have lost lambs early on and got re bred, or just a late one. Either way it was a welcome sight.

I have been working with the bucks that are going to the show this weekend. They are doing fine, walking and standing on the lead. Even the littlest Westside is being very co operative.
I am not clipping bucks for this show. The weather is still chilly and damp, and just the stress of hauling and the show is enough to make them sick. I had a judge somewhat admonish me for clipping last year, so I am quite willing to oblige.

Sure enough i had a teat dip barrel so last night I started cutting on it to get it so I can build the feeder around it. I need another, I'll try to track one down.

The weather has skipped right over any spring and now we are in the chilly damp overcast foggy summer type routine. Can't get a break. I almost drove inland enough to get some sun and warmness to dry out my bones. It looks like it's going to be almost 90 in Redding today. That's only 4 hours away...

We watched "A Place In The Sun" the other night, considered an "essential" by TCM. Starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. Eh.
Last night we watched "Charlie Varrick" ; Walter Matthau as a bank robber, circa 1973. Slightly amusing.