Smokey Mountain Breakdown

The long underwear needed to keep me warm has just not been invented yet.

At least the sun was out today. I took my craptastic Canon A40 out and took the four photos it allows me to take before completely draining the batteries. Yet another damn thing I need to replace. I know it's time. I know in this throw away consumerism world that five years is a lot to ask of a digital camera. But I really resent that stuff doesn't last as long as I feel like it should. I've taken lots of really great photos with the damn thing and I really don't want to step onto another learning curve with another digital.

I take BossyToe's bottle and go and sit in the sun with the kids. The idea being that the triplets will eventually come around to seeing me as just another herd member and start coming up and playing with me as Bridey and BossyToe do.

I sit there and the two of them play "king of the mountain" on me. Bridey is much better at it. She stands on my shoulders like a pirate's parrot before diving off of me to twist and dance in the sun. BossyToe tries, but she's much bigger and a bit clumsy. Both follow me around the pasture twining between my legs like cats and bumping my knees with their heads.

Betsy came by today and delivered a much needed royal bale of hay. We pushed it from her pickup truck into my trailer. The goats were really excited. After she left, they swarmed around it and tore off some chunks. But they really want the alfalfa.



This is Bridey's unnamed big brother of the amazing ears. Betsy says he has great ear control. He's very Yoda that way. He was curling his lip up today while laying in the sun with his ears pricked and stretched behind him. And the great whopping white blob of a kid snuggling with him is Kidzilla. I sort of hate to get rid of Kidzilla because I just want to see how frickin' huge he's actually going to get. Rockit, these kid's granddaddy is as big as a damn pony. I'd never seen a goat that big before.

Betsy left her disbudding iron with me. There is going to be much wailing and gnashing of kid teeth here in the next day or so. But the horns must go and this is the time to do it. I watched the vet do it on Bolly and Lufu. It's going to be my first time trying it. Not fun. You have to burn the horn nubs off of their skulls. It leaves just bare bone showing when it's done right but the iron cauterizes it so there isn't any blood. The skin heals over and leaves no scar. But I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm glad it's cartoon night.