Wednesday, March 9, 2011

My day so far....

2AM: Tsu gets home from our friend, Jer's, house. Nightshade wakes up and starts fussing. I force a bottle into his mouth and he angrily drinks a half ounce before refusing to eat any more. He falls back to sleep almost immediately. I, on the other hand, lay there wide awake until I give up on sleep and read until 4am, when I fall asleep with the book on my face.

5AM: Alarm clock goes off. I jump, hit snooze, fall back to sleep.

5:09AM: Alarm clock goes off again. I get up. I stumble to the bathroom with Nightshade following on my heels, let the dogs out to go potty. Use the bathroom. Let the dogs back in.

5:20AM: Brew coffee. Apply meds and fresh band-aids to my filleted fingertips (um, yeah, I had a bad day yesterday, lol.)

5:25AM: The Infernal Offspring emerges from The Abyss, stumbles to the kitchen, gets coffee and a bagel with goat cheese.

5:40: I force another bottle into Nightshade's face, get another half ounce into him, he stands in my lap and gets his "I'm going pee, don't bug me" look on his face.

5:50AM: Change diaper on goat. *rolls eyes*

6AM: Drink coffee.

6:10AM: Drink more coffee. Start car with remote starter (WEEE!)

6:20AM: take Nightshade and go get in the car.

6:26AM: Infernal Offspring emerges from the house to go out and catch the bus.

6:29AM: Bus arrives. I return to the house.

6:35AM: Curl up on couch with dog, goat baby and book.

8AM: Get milking supplies ready. Put a collar on Nightshade, take his diaper and t-shirt off. Head outside with him walking nicely on a leash. Tie him to the towing ball on the back of the truck. Feed the horses.

8:15AM: Get goat supplies and milking gear ready. Take it to the barn while leading Nightshade who is still walking nicely on his leash (he caught on to walking on the leash super fast!). Tie him to tack hook next to milking stand.

8:30AM: Start the daily pen juggling by pulling parsley out of the kid stall and tying him in the horse stall. Rosemary tries to jump out of the buck stall so I let her out and lock her into the milking stand. She starts to scream, everyone else joins in. I take the kids their medicated feed. I give Rosemary feed, then stick Nightshade under her. I let him eat until he gives up. he now looks like he swallowed a softball. Her udder is almost empty. *shocked face* I normally get 3/4 of a quart out of her, no wonder Nightshade looks like his belly is going to explode. I put Rosemary in with the kids and all three finish emptying her out pretty quick.

I got remove Brego's feed bag so he doesn't try to drink with it on and end up drowning.

I let Thyme onto the milk stand. I get about a quart out of her. I put her in with the kids and again all three mob her and strip her out for me.

I let Sage onto the milking stand. I get a full quart from her, she still has some left but not enough to warrant changing jars. I give her more food and stick Nightshade under her.

I move Parsley back to his own pen while Nightshade works on Sage's smaller side of her udder. (Yay, that should help balance her out some!!)

Nightshade finally stops nursing and stands there looking bloated, then he pees for about 6 minutes straight and then drinks some more. While he nurses I put hay in for everyone, top off water, then I tie him back up and put Sage back in with the kids. Now it is her turn to be mobbed by all three kids.

9:15AM: I haul everything including the bottle kid to the big barn, unload Brego's feed bag, all the empty feed containers, etc. Carry milking supplies into the house while Nightshade follows, not walking so nicely on the leash because his belly is so full he looks like he just wants to lay down and snooze. I filter milk into clean bottle, and put in fridge to chill.

9:30AM: Pull out milk I pasteurized last night and put it in the double boiler to make mozzarella.

10AM: decide my mozzarella is going to be fail again, decide to try packing it in a mold to see if weighting it down and using it sliced will salvage it since it tasted sooo good but won't stretch.

10:30AM: Realize I haven't heard or seen Nightshade since 10am. Make my "mama goat calling to baby" sound. Hear a little noise right at my feet, look down to see Nightshade almost asleep curled in the corner where the cupboard and stove come together. Chuckle to myself. Pick up the baby goat and come sit on the couch to make my blog posts. Nightshade lays across my chest and promptly passes out. I discover that typing with a goat across your chest is easier than it sounds.

4 comments:

  1. Well, specially modified baby diapers to fit the goat. I can't have him peeing in the house. lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm still getting past that "goat in the house" thing too..

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm Really looking forward to him being big enough to move to the barn.

    ReplyDelete