Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

One of the great things about this blog is that it is mine. :-)

I can't control actual conversations, which right now are mostly about why I haven't "made" Tsu get a job (Um, hello? 1. have you seen the job market around here? You know MI custody law says we can't move more than 100 miles until Tiff turns 18, so we are sorta required to stay here in this awful market for another year and a half.  2. I can't 'make' anyone else DO anything. I sorta wish i could sometimes, but I can't, so I'm getting sick of being yammered at about that.) and how somehow if he isn't putting in 20 applications a week i need to make him do that, or being told how I have to do this or do that or make Tiff do this or do that (again with me having to "make" other people do things? *sigh*), or being either pitied or chastised because I'm not thrilled about having an infant in my home again. I'm tired of people trying to fix me because I don't like babies. I'm equally tired of people telling me how screwed up I am for not liking babies. THIS is nothing new, I just thought once I passed child bearing age people would be off my back about it forever and the constant "what is WRONG with you, you don't like BABIES and KIDS?" would never come up again. But no such luck. I seem to be in a never ending loop of trying to explain that I will love my grandbaby (I HAVE ULTRASOUND PICTURES!!! SQUEEE!) but that doesn't mean I will be overjoyed with having him (IT'S A BOY!!!!!!) living here for his first year, no matter how strongly I feel that it is the right thing for us to do for both Tiff and the baby. I did not at all enjoy Tiffany's infancy and childhood (but I got some great pictures of her to show off out of it, because she was adorable as all get out). But she never felt anything less than loved and wanted and adored and Dimitri will never feel anything less either. I didn't enjoy talking about "baby" stuff when I was pregnant/had an infant, and I enjoy it even less now. (Right about now my CF friends are all laughing at me derisively or feeling sorry for me, depending on how much they like me, lol. Don't worry my dears, you should be catching on now that this is not going to turn into a constant baby blog, lol, and any baby posts i DO make will be clearly labeled and separate from farm posts).

I can't really avoid that all in my daily life. But I can here, because this is MY blog, and MY domain, and if I want to update on things about all that I can (did I mention I have ultrasound pictures of my grandbaby??) And if I don't want to.... *crickets chirp* *subject change*



Last night I weaned Rosie.

Say hello, Rosie:



Rosie isn't always the sharpest bulb in the deck of cards....





I was going to give her 12 to 16 weeks with her mom. We are at about 10 weeks and she is turning into a bitey little nurser. Look what she did to her mom's teat!





It was getting difficult to milk her without contaminating the milk with blood! YIKES!

and Rosie has been growing like a weed, I mean she actually lays down to nurse half the time, she has to kneel to get under there anyway.




So last night she moved out of the doe stall and into the other stall with Chickory.




Look at that! Chickory is 11 months old. Rosie is 10 weeks. Same dad, related moms. The only genetics they don't share are the ones from their maternal grandmothers. She has grown SOOOO much faster than the wethers I had last winter. And she was big when she was born but not nearly as big as the boys were at birth. I just wonder if being born at a time where all her food could go to growing instead of staying warm made THAT much difference?

Speaking of growing.... I think Nutmeg is starting to show a baby bump.




Nutmeg, on the right, should be due early March for kids with my mini fainter, Nightshade:



Ivy should be due mid to late april. I don't think Nightshade managed to do his job with her so she spent some time with Parsley. I know he did his job, lets just hope she did hers. I wanted them both to have kids with Nightshade the first time but the babies with Parsley will likely be worth more if I want to sell them instead of process them for freezer camp.

These girls are so pretty.

 

I hope next year to have either a meat bred myotonic to cross them with or a registered Toggenburg buck so I can register and sell their kids. But that will probably mean selling both the bucks i have now and buying a new buck and with our current finances that isn't likely. So I may just keep the boys I have now.

OH, Gratuitous roo pic! Jewels and Fluffy Butt are hoping to get some stray bits of cat food, so they hang out by the porch. We have to keep the gate at the top of the porch steps closed otherwise they roost up there and poo on everything. lol.