Sandy's Bottom

08/31/2024

The final day of August has arrived and I couldn’t be happier. The heat from the past week has been intense, draining both mentally and physically for me and the creatures here on the farm.
September promises to be a below average temperature month and I welcome it with open arms, my least favorite season will finally end and my favorite season will begin.

The leaves have started changing here in Missouri, as I drive along the highways and by ways I see the emerging colors of fall. I take side roads often to be able to enjoy looking at the colors nature’s paintbrush uses on the landscape this time of year, I never grow tired of it’s splendor.

Outside, not much was accomplished this week. The heat was oppressive, my body does not tolerate it well, and I did what had to be done and not much more. The animals did much the same, no playful frolics, no games of chase with the young kids, the birds walked about, holding their wings out from their bodies to cool off, the turkeys and peacocks stood in the swimming pools that are hear for the geese and ducks, in short, it was a miserable week.

Now that fall is finally looking to be here and stay, I once again can drag out my outside to do list and try and get at things that have been on hold. Not sure what I will get done, last week was spent in going to various appointments, and doing chow runs for the animals, so was gone more than usual.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!

08/24/2024

Another Saturday is upon us and we have had gentle rain for the past few hours with a few rumbles of thunder to add dramatic effect. The dust needed to be settled, and we were dry, so no complaints from me or the critters on the farm.

New faces are on the farm again this week. I picked up a half dozen Salmon Faverolle chickens this week when I made an animal chow run. Didn't need any more chickens, but they needed me. There were six who were not doing well in the store cage, and they needed to come home with me. After they got dry and have settled here they are just as spurky as the two chicks that my hen hatched out earlier in the week. I'm glad I happened to be at the right place at the right time to keep these babies alive. According to what I read about them, they should be good pets and apparently have a keen sense of humor...SO...we all need a good laugh or two.

My California chicks are still not here. I have contacted the hatchery numerous times, they tell me the heat has been extreme in Sacramento, and their hens aren't laying, yet I keep getting "flash sale" flyer announcements in my emails, so I'm not sure what the deal is. I contacted them last week and they assured me I am THE NEXT person to get a shipment, so we shall see. My order was placed and the chicks were to be here in June. I wanted laughing chickens, but the joke may be on me.

My new little lamb is starting to understand he is safe here. The baby doll boy is paired with a kiko kid, and the two of them are pals. I always think that a newbie needs a friend in the group of animals he goes into, and so, Kramer and Dewey are now pals. I have him in the front pen with just the two of them, will move them to the back with all the rest later this week.

Elvira is once again out on the upper 40. She and her son, Cadbury, hang out in the old hog house. I drive to find them each day if she doesn't come down to see me. Most goats crave companionship, are herd animals....and then....there is Elvira....

All of the birds have new set ups now. The little muscovy are now not so little, so they have a large pen to grow in, the birds that still need containment for protection all got bigger runs, new places, new ground to scratch their toes in, they like moving, even though they protest a lot at first.

As I have puttered about the farm I have thought of friends and what they are going through with either their own health, a spouse's health, or a parent's condition. I always wish there was more that I could do, but sometimes there just isn't. A friend lost her mother this morning, but was able to be there this week as she slipped away, always hard to say good bye, even when it's expected. Others have told me of terminal illnesses they have been diagnosed with, others are getting better and have plans on returning home. Life is a never-ending story with many chapters to read, sometimes you just wish the book read better. For those who have had happy chapters to read recently I am so happy for them, for those who are reading rather dark chapters, I keep you in my thoughts.

As always, a week of a ton of stuff to do stretches before me. As always, the weather will factor into the decision of what will or won't get done. After a week of lovely fall like temperatures, we are descending back into the depths of summer temperatures. The trees have started changing colors already, so I hope this is the last of the summertime heat, but all I can do is hope.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!

08/17/2024

We are a bit past midway thru the last month before the "ber" months hit! I am counting them down, waiting for cool weather. We had cooler temperatures most of the week, but a couple of days of summer hit to remind us that it is far from over.

To make summer complete, I have a rash from either poison sumac or oak, if it was ivy I'd be in the hospital by now. It is focused on the arm that was exposed, so I have been taking clorox baths and putting clorox on my blisters to dry them up. So far, so good, but any long amount of heat irritates it, thus irritating me, and we don't like to think about Mary when she is irritated.

An old face left the farm this week. Mystery, my 14 and a half year old cat finally slipped away, she curled up on the porch she was born on and left this realm for far better worlds. No more extreme weather, mice to catch and good health restored. She is missed, never to be forgotten.

A new face came to the farm this week. I rolled over to the Fayette, MO area and picked up a handsome lad who is a baby doll/katahdin mix ram lamb. They hadn't planned on having kids that were mixed, but their katahdin ram had different ideas. The new boy is 10 and a half weeks old and will be known here as Dewey. I had told a friend about him and said I needed a soft and squishy name and she came up with Dewey, fits him perfectly. I have paired him up with my young kiko goat kid, Kramer. He needs to have a buddy to pal around with before I put him in with the existing animals. Kramer is a very social fellow, so hoping they bond. Right now Dewey is just unsure where he is and who I am...it's a process.

I'm bottling kittens here. Four were found in the lane last Sunday, the little black one, who was only about the third of the size of his litter mates only made it until Wednesday. He just didn't thrive on the bottle, so I have three in shades of gray that are needing their bottle and to be bathed and tended to in lieu of a mother cat. I am guessing them to be around 4 weeks old, as they are teething and starting to show interest in wet food. I try to bottle them every two to three hours, fingers crossed for luck with this.

We are supposed to be in for a dry and cool week. I'm excited for this. I want to do some more construction on bird pens, I need to get the fencing fixed in the back pens, and sssoooo many other outside chores need to be tended, when the heat hits I go into survival mode and do the necessary things.

I am seeing more volunteer pumpkin plants in the lane, I think I'm up to six plants now. It will be interesting to see what they produce. I fed pumpkins from October until the middle of January last year. The goats and sheep love them as well as the birds. The vitamin A in pumpkins is good for the critters and they like the taste, they eat it down to the rinds.

Not sure what I will get done this week, but I always hope for the best.
Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!

08/14/2024

One man's "oops" is another woman's, "oh isn't he a doll!" We welcome Dewey Douglas to the farm! Half babydoll and half katahdin!!! He's a studmuffin!!!

08/13/2024

Fourteen and a half years ago a kitten was born here on the back porch, in the group of three there were two black and this little gal, Mystery, who was a siamese look alike. Last night she passed away, curled up on the old chair on the same back porch she was born. There appeared to be no pain, she was simply curled up and "asleep".
Mystery was a loner, but was a great mouser and a great mom. In fact, she would steal other cats kittens to take to her litter, she loved to love on them. She only had two litters and after that none, so she became a cat midwife/nanny of sorts. She would stay with the mother cat and help to chew off umbilical cords and clean the newborns up, and then would stay with the babies, loving them, making sure they were ok. She was born wanting to be a mother I guess, or so it seemed.
The last few months she had been in decline. I had kept her wormed and given her supplements in her can of food at night, but the last few weeks she dropped weight and while she continued to eat her can of food at night on the porch, I knew she was not long for this world.
She is off to better worlds now. She will never again have to know the horrible July heat or the mind numbing cold of winter. She sleeps with memories of days of good health, tons of mice and hopefully a kind thought about me.
RIP my dear Mystery.

08/10/2024

Fall like temperatures have blessed Mid MO as we move into the second week of August. Last night's low hit 50* and I am not complaining about it in the slightest. It was a much needed relief from the heat of the previous two weeks.

I picked up animal chow on Wednesday and the strangest event happened. I was merely pushing my cart up an aisle in the store past the baby birds and some how four baby turkeys ended up in my cart. One just never knows....WELL, not really. I heard baby turkeys calling for their mamma, so I whistled back to answer them and one little chubby fellow was hanging out of the cage as far as he could get when I finally got in front of their cage. He had three others that looked like him/her, so I got four new turkey poults, they are supposed to be Blue Slates, so, we are all happy now, in the giant tote in the bathroom.

Blue Slate turkeys, also known simply as Slates, are a breed of domestic turkey with striking slate gray plumage. These heritage turkeys fall under the watchful eye of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, as they are considered globally endangered. Unfortunately, their population has been steadily declining, and some experts believe they are getting dangerously close to extinction.

I haven't come up with names for the babies yet, but they enjoy being held and told how pretty they are several times a day. When I got the tote warmed up with a heat lamp I walked in and they were all stretched out and looked to be dead, they were taking a "sun bath". One end is warm and the other is cold in their tote, so they have room to decide where they want to be.

The birds and animals are all gloriously happy with the sunny and cool temperatures. They no longer think I'm a creep who was cranking up the heat on them. Well, if they do, they are over it anyway.

The beginning of the fall garden is in motion, will finish it the next few days. Birds have been moved again this week and reorganized, just a lovely past few days to get outside work done.

Hoping to knock off a lot of the outside to do chores this week, the weather is supposed to hold with warm temperatures, but some rain expected, so we shall see.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have great week!

08/03/2024

The first Saturday of August has arrived. I would like to say the temperatures broke and we are dealing with cooler temperatures than last week, but that would be a lie. The heat and humidity continue here in Mid MO. My animals and birds are now convinced that I lied to them when I told them it would only be a few days of sweltering heat. According to the Weather gods, Tuesday should be our cool down day, but they lied last week, so who really knows.

The week has been spent surviving here. I have moved birds around, as they age they needed more room. My June chicks from Iowa need a bigger area, didn't get to them yesterday, but they are growing and need more room to run. I extended the pen for the baby muscovy and plan on moving the partridge cochin and the silkies later this week.

I have done the required daily chores and that's about it. I am ready to start complaining about the cold at this point of this season we call summer.

The fall garden will hopefully go in later this week, when the temperatures cool down. It was too hot to worry about it this week. Still plenty of time to get this accomplished, so not too worried.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!

07/27/2024

Last Saturday of the hell month of July is here! We have cloudy skies, promises of light rain showers and then a gusty wind threat headed at us later today, but I will take it. The breeze right now is slightly cool and we are at 85*. I know it's summer, but I can still complain.

Not an eventful week here. We are all pretty much in a holding pattern, much like when we prepare for any season change. All of the animals and birds are tired of complaining about the heat, we are all enduring it, we simply get thru the days.

Elvira and her boy, Cadbury, are back out eating on the pasture alone. I came home yesterday, and my pen was "magically" open and my dog closest to the pen was off his lead. The lead wasn't broken, so, your guess is as good as mine as to what went on here while I made a quick trip in for catfood. I got the sheep and goats back with the shaking of a container with whole corn in it, sad that they were let out in the first place. Elvira had none of that corn trick, and took off for the pastures and later Cadbury joined her. Today I am installing more cameras. So tired of the bu****it.

I plan on getting a fall garden planted over the weekend. Nothing special, just some lettuce, spinach, kale, turnips, green beans and maybe some peas. One year I covered the spinach at night, we had a mild winter and I was picking fresh spinach clear until February of that year. I like a spinach salad with boiled egg chopped up in it, and that year proved to be the winter it could survive the longest. I picked green beans that year until December. I actually went out and got enough for me to enjoy on Christmas Eve that year. You simply never know what mother nature is going to do, so, always be ready.

My volunteer pumpkins on the lane are doing well. They have bloomed and are setting on. I am going to pull some of the weeds from around them to help them along, excited to see what I get.

Not sure what will happen this week, but will keep plugging away at the "to do" list.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!!!

07/20/2024

An overcast day here on Sandy's Bottom. No complaints, we are getting a drizzling of rain and it is a sleepy Saturday, I could use one, so I'm enjoying it.

My young kiko buckling is on the full mend. I had treated him for worms as he was displaying a bottle jaw. That didn't work, so I went to plan B, which was treatment for Coccidia. We just completed the five day round of meds, minerals and antibiotics and I am happy to see his tiny little face once again tiny. Interesting thing is that Kiko goats are supposed to be pretty hardy animals and very resistant to parasites. Evidently Kramer didn't get that memo.

Baby Cadbury, the now 10 day old son of my 13 and a half year old pygmy goat is doing well. I put them in with the rest of the sheep and goats a few days ago after Cadbury finally let me love on him. His father was the full chocolate dapple boer goat who was here until he decided not to be a team player. I would have never bred him to an of my pygmies, but he nailed Elvira. Thing is I thought Elvira was past her child rearing days, she hadn't had a kid for 3 years. I thought wrong. The issue with breeding a larger goat breed to a smaller goat is that they can sometimes not deliver them, the baby will be too large to pass, and unless you get them to someone who can do a C section on a goat, they will die. I lost a small pygmy a number of years back from just this issue. She had been bred by the same breed of billy, but she was just too tiny to pass the baby and I ended up putting her down.

The hens are feeling like it's cool enough to start laying eggs again. So I am back to collecting eggs and no, I won't be incubating any at the moment. I am all "birded up" I think. Still waiting on the California chicks, their hens are also protesting heat and not laying, so, we wait.

Cooler temperatures arrived this week, so you can at least take a deep breath. Sunday and Monday were killer days and we all moved slowly and as little as possible.

I am still behind on my list of things to do, but then I feel that I might never catch up. I picked a couple of cups of cherry tomatoes a few nights ago and put them into a bowl. I still have yet to find that bowl as I sat it down and finished chores. I have no idea where I sat it and if I do find it, I'm sure the tomatoes will be long past eating. On the bright side one of my friends said this is great because I am evidently now at the age where I will be able to hide my own easter eggs....there's always a comedian in every crowd.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!

07/19/2024

13 and a half year old Elvira with her 8 day old kid, Cadbury. A handsome lad, father is the chocolate dapple boer, Ruben. Ruben was not a team player and had to find other places to live, so happy to see his blood line here on the farm. I had not planned on crossing a pygmy with a boer, Elvira hadn't been pregnant for 3 years, I thought she was past the mother hood stage, and yet....here we are. He is an absolutely adorable baby boy and I am happy he is here, and yes, he's a keeper!!!

07/14/2024

Another summer week has ended. Thankful we are halfway thru the month of heat. I know we still have August left to crawl thru, but man, July just stinks.

Elvira had been staying away. I had searched for her, she was still distancing. I had thought I might see movement up in the fallen barn, but chalked it up to maybe a cat. This afternoon as I worked, there was a new cry from a kids voice I didn't recognize. I went on a walk about and found the most adorable floppy eared baby EVER. Elvira evidently was taken in by my chocolate dappled boer goat and let him have his way with her. Absolutely stunning little kid, and absolutely will NOT allow me to catch it. Evidently will be having it's moms attitude. I think it is a little doe, but not 100% on that. I left it in the barn lot and Elvira batted her eyes at me and smiled, knowing she had won today, but tomorrow I will start again to get my hands on that baby.

My Kiko billy kid was acting puckish, so ran wormer and other meds and minerals on him. I went to the feed store to pick up alfalfa pellets to help with protein intake, even though I am feeding him and my female Kiko girl high protein goat developer. He is actually perking up today, so I think I might have him back on the right track to good health. Kramer is a blonde boy, Astrid is black with gray and white marks, good looking little goats, I want them for crossbreeding for my boer girls. I will then get kiko boo goats.

All birds are outside and the shipment from California is delayed as they are having triple digit temperatures and their hens are not laying.
I have no issue waiting, I would like to get these babies moved around and bigger before I start with a new batch.

The peacocks have officially moved into the bird area during the day, still come out to their high roost at night. They show no interest in leaving the farm. I read about their care and google tells me that if I let them free range they will end up roosting in the trees. I don't have an issue with that, but I guess google does.

Last night I was burning house hold trash and saw five of my adult muscovy following some sort of animal across the front pen. I looked and looked again, thought at first it might be a cat, but I don't have one that color. I finally got up to get a closer look at it was a mamma possum with half a dozen babies on her back. I'm not sure where she was heading, but she looked like a woman with a purpose and I let her be, possums are welcome here.

The deer come out nightly to eat in the neighbors pastures before hopping the fence and going down to my pond to drink. Sometimes the dogs bark, other times they don't. It was so hot and miserable yesterday they just lay and watch the deer graze.

Years ago my neighbor's dog, my terrier and my blonde lab used to wait for the deer and when they came to graze at night they would chase them. There was one young buck that seemed to be the one the dogs were really interested in chasing, I didn't know why, but always wondered. I always got onto the dogs to leave the deer alone, but they didn't listen.

One night the dogs were up at my neighbor's house instead down here with me and the deer were grazing. I was watching them, thinking they must enjoy the peace. After a bit the young buck separated from the herd and walked over to the edge of the pasture and looked into my yard, and then up and down the lane, and over in my pasture. He didn't see anything, so he trotted up to the corner where the roads meet between me and my neighbor, and gazed over into her yard. He snorted a few times and stomped his feet at the corner, because he could see all three dogs laying on her lane. He paced a few times, snorted again and the dogs finally heard him and started racing to the pasture. He gave them a few seconds and when they finally hit the corner, he turned and flipped his tail at them, running over the hill, taking the rest of his herd with him. That goofy deer enjoyed the game he had nightly with the dogs. I never called them off of the deer again. There was no way they would ever catch them and it was obvious the chase was fun for the deer.

The sun burns when I walk thru the pens. You can literally feel your skin crisping. I get what I have to done and not much else outside. My list of to do things is pretty long and hasn't shortened much. The spirit is willing, but the body is hot, and not in a "sexy" way.

Thoughts head out to many friends this week, friend and family losses have been incurred, floods, surgeries not quite going the way they should have, battles with cancers are being fought, all I can do is let them know that good thoughts and prayers head at them from this old farm in Missouri.

Wherever you are, out there in facebook land, have a great week!

07/10/2024