Monthly Archives: January 2008

More snow

I wish I had time to write more. I was out sick yesterday, so this is really the first chance I have to post the latest snow pictures. This has a lot to do with why there haven’t been any good updates lately. The first two are from Sunday, pictures of Lily goat.

Lily at the woodshed

Lily on the path

The next pictures are from today. We got a bit more snow, but the weather has warmed a bit. We’ve gotten a little snow melt, so it didn’t stack up as high as we expected. The first picture is Jeffrey out in the snow

Jeffrey in the snow

Geese in their house

dogs in the snow

Chicken house (turkey in the doorway)

I haven’t been able to take goat kid pictures yet, because it is just too dark back in the goat shed. I am hoping that we can catch a break this weekend and just maybe turn them all loose for a day. They can’t really go anywhere right now, except down the paths. The kids are heading for three weeks old, so it would be nice to let them try their hand at snow. It is at least a bit warmer now and they are all starting to grow. They will still get buried under the snow, at this point.

Goat kids!

Well clearly, I have not posted about the goats lately. They kidded on the 14th, both of them. I heard Scampers kids when I went out to check on them that morning. Maddie has hers right after I left for work. It took her a half hour total to birth three kids. Both goats had triplets and both had two does and a buck. This is good. It will give us a bunch of does and hopefully a few milkers out of the lot.

Of course, it was cold when they were born, but it was a good thing they weren’t born this week. Temps have really plunged. They were below freezing a bit before at night, but warming up to the 40s by day. Now we are in the teens when we get up, down to nine degrees F this morning. It’s in the 20s during the day. Jeffrey is having problems hauling water as the hose he normally uses is under two feet of snow, which is now basically ice covered concrete. The long walk out to the car is treacherous, as it is also slick. So far the animals are doing okay. The kids curl up behind their mothers back, lying between her and the stall divider. We moved Bucko into the goat shed the last few nights, to add a bit more heat. There is composting hay and such in the stalls which also bleeds out some heat. But basically, it’s not good. The older they get, the less we have to worry. I’ll try and take pictures if it ever warms up.

Yet more snow

today’s snow

This is looking down towards the road. It’s hard to see in this one, but the pickup is almost covered in snow just to the right, beyond the trailer.

the trailer and goat shed

This is the trailer and goat shed. Still hard to tell how much snow is out there. Keep in mind that this is what it looked like AFTER a day of rain and no fresh snow.

truck in the snow

Maybe this will help. This is our neighbor’s truck, parked next to the road. I have to park just off the road because there’s no way anyone is going down the drive way any time soon.

Uncertainty

Someone commented on Maxed Out Mama about losing his job. The guy said he was a programmer and figured he would be okay if he could get a job paying 75% of his current pay. But the only things he is seeing are jobs that pay 50% of what he makes. He said he is scared of losing his house.

The fact is that folks, when they post things like this, are hoping that someone will say, “Why no, don’t worry. The job with the pay you need is out there and you’ll find it in the next six weeks or so.” What they don’t want to hear is along the lines of what I posted, which was “Expect to be out of work longer than you planned, with a new job at less pay than you expected. Start by cutting back to the bone on absolutely everything you can, starting today. Get rid of cable tv, cut back to a single phone, etc. Buy bulk foods and stock up, especially if you get severance pay.” Now, I could be wrong. But if I am wrong and he follows my advice, he’s no worse off. He can get cable again, pick up a new cell phone plan and be back in business. If I’m right, he just might have a chance to save his house. We’ve gotten out of the habit of planning for hard times. Why, we have credit cards for that. But what if your credit card jacks up the rates so that you are paying double what you pay now? What if there are none of those zero percent transfer cards? Credit card companies can change what they charge you at any time. And all of it has to be paid back sometime, with interest.

On one of the preparedness lists I’m on, they talk a lot about storing foods and have emergency kits. But a one time member, respected by all of them, encouraged them to grow their own food. He said that if you weren’t doing that, you really weren’t prepared. Now is the time to take that step. Spring is coming up. You have time to start taking that step to taking care of yourself and your family. Food prices will likely continue to rise, so every bit that you grow saves you just that much. And you gain experience that money can’t buy.