Busy Days

Yesterday, I set out with grand plans to get This Many Things done. If you don’t aim for something, you’ll surely not get it done, but one must be okay with letting go of plans quickly.

I asked Percy to work on removing thistles from the fence rows while I did some editing work. I finished my project by 10:30-ish and went down the field to take Percy a drink. We ended up talking about cows. He said one fellow we had sold a bred heifer to stopped by and said she was open. We wanted to find a way to make him happy. I said we could either trade out the heifer or give him the money back.

I made a call to Lamar to discuss the situation as it involved his heifers. We also discussed Percy buying one of the other heifers Lamar has here. Off the phone, Percy and I made some plans about how to go forward, then I headed back to the house. I needed to call Javier about the carnet situation and Abel about the cabinets.

Abel didn’t answer, and I didn’t get a call in to Javier before a vehicle came down the lane. Behold, it was the very man Percy and I had been talking about. He is an ancient man from Ollantaytambo and loves to talk. I walked him out to field, pausing to let a snail go around us, so we could look at the heifers. He was very proud to let me know that he is vaccinated against Covid; his gray hair has given him greater wisdom than many younger people I know.

He was delighted with the other heifer, so I suggested we have the vet come and verify a pregnancy. He said he knew I was an honest man after all! So, I called Ronal who came and verified she was bred to the time I had in my little red book of dates. We scheduled an exchange of heifers for this coming Thursday.

The vet stayed awhile after the elderly gentleman and his aide left. He said we should trim the heifer’s hair so she looks presentable to sell. We found a pair of scissors, and Percy and Ronal set to work giving Karen her first salon treatment. Then it started raining. The vet sat in the milking pen, waiting for the storm to pass. I gave him pumpkin bars to eat while he waited. He seemed pretty pleased about that.

Because no one came on Sunday, we called in to the States for the service. I kept my Spanish sermon for yesterday afternoon. We were still alone, but it seemed to fit better with our schedule. Between the animals and Walter, I had enough delays to make it about twice as long as usual. I will need to edit it today before sending it out. I had sent another message I’d had recorded out to the WhatsApp group yesterday.

I have been wanting to get update pictures out to the Patrons who support us through the blog. With less than a month before the group of does start kidding, I wanted to do it now. According to my little red book, we could have ten does freshen in the space of two weeks. We shall see.

Dane helped me get pictures of all the Patron goats as a prize for getting the most jobs done last Saturday. I sent off the updates via email or messaging. Some of the does are getting pretty round now. They all seemed to do well with a longer dry period this time. I’m happy with how everyone is looking.

A few Patrons lack a goat to call their own, but I expect that will be taken care of with this coming batch of babies. Hopefully, we will have enough doelings to share around. (We are considering not giving another Patron kid to Miss Glenda as hers always come to a bad end.)

Heartfelt thanks to each Patron! And thanks to other dear friends who have shared with us since losing the money at market. We don’t know many of you, but we are grateful for your support. 🧡

Another thing I must do this week is to trim the hooves of all the goats and give them de-wormer and vitamin injections. This helps the does kid more healthy, and it’s a boost to the growing kids, too. But with the various delays, the sun had now set, and I had done no trimming. I decided to do three does anyway. I knew if I pushed it off until another day, there was no guarantee I’d have more time.

I trimmed the two does in milk, Agnes and Fran, and finished up with Pearl. She was the doe who had fallen into the ditch the other week. She was very happy to be back on the stand and delighted in her treat of grain. She’s one of the rounder ones. I can easily feel her kids now though her udder hasn’t started to fill up yet.

We had potato soup and biscuits for supper, and I had a hard time not falling asleep at the table. After the dishes were done, I read to the children some before getting everyone off to bed after prayer. I was hungry again, so China and I made deep-fried chicken. I’m sure someone will say it is unhealthy to eat deep-fried chicken as a bedtime snack, but it made us feel cozy. Feeling cozy is harder to make happen now that winter is settling in. I saw it was 38 outside and 50 inside when we headed to bed at long last.