Milking Update

I don't know what I think about having a milk cow. On the one hand I absolutely LOVE her milk. It is creamy, light and delicious. I also love it that I always have good milk whenever I want. I don't have to go to the grocery store for disgusting cooked plastic stuff. I have lovely cream for whipping and I made blueberry ice cream the other night that was divine.

But, everything has its price, right?

Cindy is not easy to milk. I had fairly high confidence in the milking department because we've milked goats for years and years, but this is a whole different animal. Her handles are very small (tiny) and it is taking us about 45 minutes to milk.

At first she was very patient with our incompetence but I think each day gets a bit worse. Instead of us getting better, she's just getting less patient and she's starting to kick and toss her head.

So here are a few pictures of my two non-enthusiastic milkers. I have read that milking time should be peaceful and quiet with no distractions, and this may be part of our problem. We have goats banging against the gate and butting heads. The dog, Jack, is tied up so he won't disturb Cindy and so he usually barks and wants to join the action. We have someone on Kitten alert to grab the various barn cats that want to come try the milk. And then as milk is dribbling down Braeburn's fingers instead of swishing into the pail poor Cindy has to listen to, "I hate this. I hate this so much. Why, Why did we have to get this stupid beast? Oh, I hate smelling like a cow. I'm going to have to take a shower before I go mow lawns... The sound of this milk in the pail is all wrong. It should be gush gush foam foam, and instead it's a little sssshhhhh dribble sound."

Then Golden Delicious takes over and we hear, "I've got so much homework, so much homework. I don't have time to milk the cow. I'll milk my goats but this cow is just too much..."

The days the Spy Twins milk there is less complaining about the cow and more bossing each other around and way too much "expert" advice given freely to the other twin. I will forbear on details, but you get the idea.

So then Mr. Bechtel takes over and I take a turn and then we're finally done and then I wonder why I wake up in the night worried about cows and what to do when Mr. Bechtel goes out of town. And I know now why they say it takes a special family to have a milk cow, and today I'm feeling very average.

Horse Riding

I think I can safely say that the Spy Twins favorite "class" for homeschool is horse riding lessons. Once a week we drive across town and the boys get to ride. Their instructor is excellent and the boys ride several different horses. The first horses they rode were named Spur and Faith, then they were sold so now they're riding Little and Tyrone.

Here's Nova Spy brushing down Little.

And Prairie Spy getting ready to saddle Tyrone.

We can hardly wait for Wednesday Afternoons around here. And to top it all off we usually stop by Reed's Dairy on the way coming home for an ice cream cone.

Greg & Brig

I went to the antique store today and found lots of beautiful things that I didn't buy. But I found two pairs of overalls that I did buy. The Spy Twins need something to wear while doing chores and these were much less expensive than new ones at Cal-Ranch. Plus, you get the fantastic names free of charge. So we have Nova Spy as "Greg" and Prairie Spy as "Brig". Quite professional. They look like they could change your oil too.

And here Greg and Brig are circa 1920.

And 1950.

Important Events

I've missed reporting on so many things - here's a short roundup.

Braeburn and Mr. Bechtel went to England and happened to be in London on the Queen's birthday. Here she is straight from Braeburn's camera.

Golden Delicious once again won Grand Champion at the county fair with her Alpine Dairy Goat, Maggie.

We built a fence to keep our chickens from terrorizing the neighbors. The Jeep became the fence puller, tool storing vehicle for the project. Good fences make good neighbors and all that...

And lastly, but Very Important. Granny Smith was baptized by his Daddy.

Introducing Cindy!!!

"You ought to see my Cindy, she lives a way down south

and she's so sweet the honey bees swarm around her mouth."

Our family cow has arrived! Mr. Bechtel drove over to Twin Falls yesterday to pick her up. Here was our first glimpse of her...

She unloaded like a dream even though she'd been stuck in a trailer for 5 hours. Look at those beautiful eyes. Golden Delicious says they're so big you could swim in them.

And here she is checking out her new home. We hope she likes it.

We've been trying names out for days and days and when she was finally in the barn Golden Delicious said, "what about Cindy?" The Spy twins said, "Yes! Cindy it is!" But Granny Smith is still holding out for 'Toffee', which I have to admit is a great name too. Her name before we got her was Alaythea, but we don't think that fits so it's Cindy for now.

She's three years old, bred to calve in May, quite small even for a Jersey and as sweet as honey. Wait, maybe we should name her Honey!

Yukon

We are sad that Winesap and Alaskan Wild Berry lost their dog Yukon. We have lots of good memories of Yukon going back to when Golden Delicious picked him out as a little puppy.

He was the best dog and we love him. We hope Jack turns out to be just as good.

Will You Goat to Homecoming With Me?

Braeburn's homecoming dance saga has become the stuff of local legends. So here is the story for posterity.

Being on a farm and having access to animals really increases creative options. Braeburn slipped over to Katie's house when he knew she would be busy. (Golden Delicious was at a party over there - she was our secret agent...)

Quickly, he and the spy twins unloaded the goat tote from the back of the truck onto her front lawn, tucked one of our yearling goats inside the tote, and stuck the sign (which was on an old real estate sign) into the ground and left. Successful operation in under 60 seconds. They trusted the maaahing goat to alert the party.

Golden Delicious came home and said, yes, the invitation was received. Then they just had to wait til later to go secretly retrieve the goat.

At about midnight Mr. Bechtel and the spy twins thought they'd just run over quick and get the goat. Unfortunately, the goat escaped while loading... Not being with the herd, she didn't stick around but shot across the cul-de-sac into the neighbors yard.

The boys tried to find her. They even came home and got the mother goat loaded up so she could call to her baby. No luck. Imagine sitting in a dark cul-de-sac in the middle of the night with a goat calling in the back. They finally gave up the chase when people's alarms and motion lights started going off as the boys slipped from one back yard to the next.

The next morning was sunday and Braeburn and the Spy Twins were back on the search bright and early. I was worried thinking dogs had certainly eaten her as she tried to find her way home. Poor thing. After they left I got a call from other neighbors asking if we'd lost a goat. Yes! Their kids were out chasing it but couldn't catch it. I called Mr. Bechtel and they chased the goat through fields, backyards, horse pastures, and finally to another house. The poor goat was exhausted and jumped into a window well where Mr. Bechtel caught it. Miraculously the goat was perfectly fine.

At church Braeburn was cornered by several people either laughing or wondering if "he was that boy in the blue truck who kept them awake all night..."

So, all's well that ends well. Katie responded with goat cheese and crackers saying, "thank you for cheesing me. Of course I'll go."

I think they had a great time. We do think Golden Delicious should train her goats to endure these things nobly and without running away, though.

The Local Lake

Our neighbors figured out their irrigation system this year and have started watering en masse.

The ground is saturated and it often takes 3 or 4 days for the water to soak in. So we have a nice lake view from our back porch.

Orange Kittens

These are two of the MANY kittens we have on the farm right now. We're hoping these will go down to Winesap and Alaskan Wild Berry and their family.

Currant Pie

Great-Grandma R. has been promising Mr. Bechtel a currant pie for a long time (I don't know how he got that lucky). Here she is with the Spy Twins. We were lucky and he shared with all of us. Yum.