Ah...so

Yesterday we went to a Japanese Steak & Sushi bar. I've never been to one of these, where the grill is in the middle of your table and the chef comes and lights a fire and cooks the food right there. It's quite entertaining, they love showing off their skills and the food is spectacular - especially the grilled muscles and filet  :-)

Our chef was great, all decked out in his little white kimono garb, red apron, and hat, with his fire stick and other fancy tools.  He brought his  tray with all the oils, sauces, and cuts of meats we had ordered. It was dark - they actually turned down the lights so the fire was that much more spectacular.

He heated the stainless steel grill super hot. First our chef sliced an onion, rather thickly into nice circles. Then he poured oil and something else inside and lit it on fire. It exploded into a huge flame, followed by a bubbling volcano that he produced by pouring some liquid inside the onion. Super cool.

Then he brought out the vegetables and meat and started grilling. He had the sharpest knife I've ever seen, and proceeded to slice and dice and grill, then flopped things on our plates to taste.

We oohed and ahhhed and praised his talent. He smiled happily and said, "SO much better than Mexican."

That's when I took a good look at him. He was definitely NOT Japanese.

Not that it matters.... but how could I have missed that?

H is for Hard

Do you know how hard it is to come up with 10 names beginning with the letter H?  Even with a baby-name dictionary we've had an H of a time.

Our last and 10th baby of the spring season was born on Friday afternoon. - he's huge for having such a small momma - too tall to stand under her and nurse. Even on his knees his head is still too high.  I think I'll call him Hank, he's really very striking, with 3 colors or brown in his head.

So far, here's where we are on the names of all the babies this season:

Tahoe's baby is Hamlet. Who had a rough start but now weighs about 25 pounds or more.

Still needs a name!

Fiona had Hattie and Harvey. Hattie's petite and spunky. Harvey reminds me of Harvey the White Rabbit, all white with bullseyes around each eye - and he's a screamer.

Daisy's baby is Honey. Pale white with perfectly folded ears.

Clover's big baby boys are Harris and Harold after two of my uncles. Both are tall and a little wiry, Harris has long speckled ears.

Cordelia's baby is Hugo because he was so huge (he looks exactly like Harold only bigger)

Charlotte's gorgeous babies are Hilly and her un-named brother - either Hans or Hilton, or Hamilton or Harrison or Henri or Hardy or Harper, or even maybe Hansel. Michelle suggested Harry, but he doesn't really look like a Harry..... there are so many more not-go-great H names, and a few more good ones. This is the only baby whose name I can't really decide on. He's completely red - and If I keep him I want a name we really like.   SO help!

I know the names really don't matter since most of them will be sold anyway, but it helps when we have to talk about them. Also for some reason people seem to like buying little goats who are named. All goat babies probably look the same to most of you, but I know them each by name (when they have names).

Giving them names helps too, when I go out and talk to them, they like the sound of my voice, no one wants to be called just "old goat" - not even little billy goats.  Meh!

the Manicure

Basil is our main buck. He's just turning three years old and completely full of himself. He's sweet, eats out of my hand, and loves to be petted.... that is, until he gets in the pen with anyone.

Basil is all about male dominance. He especially likes William and wants to "play" but his method of playing gets a bit out of hand, especially with those pointy horns. During spring and fall Basil also likes to make sure we know that those girls over there belong to him. Sometimes he gets rough. He recently pinned me against the fence when I was trying to let him out to graze.

We've been doing hoof trimming and William mention he needed to trim Basil's hooves as well. But how to do it safely was our biggest problem. It's a good thing William knows how to invent things out of inexpensive items around the farm.

He took two pieces of goat panel and made a make-shift shute. I lured Basil in with food while William "locked" the back in place. It was sufficient. Basil was no longer able to buck - which he does quite well under normal circumstances. And at 250 lbs, you don't really want to be in the way when he's doing it.

Basil got his manicure and neither William or me came out with very many bruises. 

Useful things

Do you ever find it hard to throw away useful little things? Things that some people might see as trash?   I do.

I don't like to be a pack-rat, but there are times I just can't bear to discard something I could use again. Things like Amazon boxes, shopping bags (brown paper or handle ones), condiment jars - or worse - condiment packets like mustard and ketchup. Take-out chop sticks, empty water bottles, or pie tins.

Lots of things these days come packaged in - or with - something that could be used again to solve one problem or another.

Like bread ties. You know those twisty-ties that seal the bread bags, usually made of plastic-wrapped wire? I could never bring myself to throw those away.

Another thing I hate to toss are the Chinese food carry-out containers. Occasionally we get this magnificent Egg Drop soup from an Asian style restaurant in Dickson, and the containers are nice sized, round, and totally resealable, plus a perfect size for a bit of leftovers. The best part about them is, they're clear so you can see what you're saving. I like those almost as much as Glad containers. The only time I don't mind throwing these little treasures away is when the food I've saved has been forgotten and grown moldy. That way I don't feel bad about not cleaning it.

When I asked Michelle and William today about some of the things we like to save and reuse, William immediately said, "Oh, that reminds me, can you save that big plastic laundry soap jug? I need a new feed scoop and it's the perfect size."

See what I mean?

Another great thing to keep around is bailing twine. We buy a lot of hay bales, and they are all wrapped with this orange bailing twine, making the bales easyier to carry. It's also a useful item to have in your tool shed. We have dozens of them draped over two nails.

A couple of weeks ago we needed a cage in the goat pen. First we needed it for the injured dog, then I needed it for goats who were kidding. We have all this bailing twine hanging around, and we have these flat wire panels. Together they made a very nice cage. William tied up all the edges making it very strong, even stands up to the goat. William's pretty handy with this twine, and uses it on all sorts of things around the place. It's sturdy when you tie it right, it's plentiful (since we never throw it away), and it's free.

I don't mind reusing. Especially when it saves a trip to the hardware store, which, in our town closes at noon on Saturday. So having twine (and other things) around is handy, since the hardware store is never open when we need it.

On the eights

 What a week! last Sunday I spent saving the life of one little kid - and between then and now we've had 7 more born! Eight little babies running around.

Still needs a good name. Not a speck of white on him.

We got some VERY pretty kids this year, and all of them have birth dates that make them eligible for 4H and FFA. That was my goal. We have a good batch this time, last year we only had 3 that fell into that age range but we had a lot of calls about them. I wanted to be prepared this year.

Now I'm maybe a little too prepared - nothing like having too many goats....

Still, the babies are cute. It's just a lot harder to have big batches of birthing (and keeping them warm) when outside temperatures are low. But now my babies are healthy so that's all that matters I guess. That, and how much heat lamps will affect the electric bill. It's all a learning process.
And, it's worth it.

These three are inseparable. The one on top of the red one we named Hillie.

As of today we have 9 total babies. These are not all of them.

OH, I did get the Christmas tree down on Sunday, that's an accomplishment, too! 




(p.s.) since writing this post we've had another, so now we have 9!

Augie is checking out all the new babies while the Mamas are away.