Tuesday, June 22, 2010

It's hot, hot, hot!

Was 94 at the house when I got home this evening at 6.30pm. It's almost 10pm, I have a fan on me and I have rivulets of "glow" on my face. (Horses sweat, men perspire and women glow) I need to clean out the goat pen but, sorry goats, no can do. Too hot. I did put down some fresh bedding for them.


How I got the freezer down to the basement. I pushed it off the truck onto the porch. I have a long rug and I had that down so the freezer was on that. I was able to then slide the freeze into the house past the door down to the basement. I stood on the top step and caddywhompused the freezer into the doorway. Very carefully, I pulled it over the edge, then gravity started to pull it down the stairs while I was in front, holding it back so it would not crash down the stairs. And voila, it was in the basement. It maybe weighed 200lbs? Not that heavy.


I was pretty cranky at all my animals today.

Abby, she has been barking in bed at night waking me up as maybe, just maybe, there might be an axe murder coming to axe me. This has been going on now for two nights.

The cats. The other night, I had a leg sticking out from under the covers as I was hot and I was woken up because Wilbur (Who used to be Willow) was licking my leg, What?! Stop licking my leg you dumb cat! Okay, he stopped, he then got all four paws/claws dug into my lower leg and started to bite my bony shin bone! Oops, maybe I just kicked a cat?

The baby goats. Yes, they are cute, but they are becoming pest! They follow me around, right in front of my path and I'm stepping on them and tripping over them trying not to step on them! Then when I give them their bottle, they are so eager to eat that they bump the bottle so hard that milk goes spraying and the bottles get knocked out of my hand. All the while they are making cute little grunting sounds. (Okay, so the cute factor makes up for a lot) But when you're in a hurry it's not cute.

Maggie and I are getting along. She no longer tries to avoid capture when I milk her. For a short time I was chasing her. I have found out that goats really need a routine. I have been sticking with a morning routine for over a week. Maggie will almost go from the stall to jumping on the stand all on her own. Soon I think that she will. She no longer tries to back out of the head brace thing.

JuJu, she is very itchy right now. She would rather I give her good scratch then eat all her grain. She comes up to me and rubs her head on my knee and then I go to town on her. Her eyes close half mast and she leans into me.

The hens. When I go to feed them their grain in the morning they peck at my hands as I pour the grain into the feeders. I give them the scratch grain in the yard to distract them, but one or two or three see me go back into the coop to give them the other type of food. They also peck at my shoes! There might be some chicken stew here soon.

The other night I made a second batch of cheese. This one turned out good. I used a different recipe that called for vinegar not lemon juice to get the curds to separate from the whey. I got maybe two/three cups of cheese? I took it to work and let some people sample it. One patron wants me to make it so that he can buy it from me. I don't think that I will do that. It's raw goat milk cheese. I would hate for him to get ill and then have him be mad at me. I will keep making it for myself and try some other types.

8 comments:

  1. Those animals can sure drive you nuts on occasion, can't they!

    How clever you are to get that freezer on the rug and just pull it in.

    And yes it was HOT! This is summer! Come over for a dip.

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  2. Hi Krissy! We will take some of that heat, we have only had a couple hot days and what seems to be lots of rain. So much in the Interior that most of the outside firefighters were sent home. For your non-Alaskan readers that means they were from "outside" of Alaska.

    Lot your animal stories. i am sure that Abbey scared off the axe murderer with her barking and Willow was getting some much needed salt from your glistening leg!

    As for Maggie and Juju - I think routine is good for us all.

    This Just in from KFQD:
    A guy in the Valley invented a goat milker and is selling them for about $125 on the internet. He only has a coupler goats and did not want to spend a small fortune for a commercial one. That is all the information the news reader had to say this morning. If you are interested I can call KFQD and get more information.
    Blessings!

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  3. Krissy.. what ever happened to the shy, quiet guy at the library?

    I get frustrated at our dogs too..seems they are always where you want to walk... Willow has taken to laying at the entrance to the kitchen cause she thinks she'll get a treat whenever we are cooking...wonder who started that?? not me ! :-)

    Rose

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  4. Look at the grocery for a product called rennet. It's usually in the baking aisle. That's what I use to make cheese curds. All the recipes are in the box but I can send you one if you're interested.

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  5. I just love having animals too. Especially when they upchuck on the brand new carpet. And whine and scratch at the door well before I'm ready to wake up. And push out the sliding door before I get it all the way open, making it jump off it's barely sliding track. Yes, I love my animals.

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  6. Krissy - I sent an email you need to read.

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  7. That artical about the goat milker is in Todays paper (Thursday). I forgot it at work but I'll grab it and send it to you or you may be able to look it up on the ADN web site. Jim thinks he may try to make you one....we'll see.

    Sheesh....your animals seem so annoying. I have zip animals now. I do miss my Isis though. Kari nabbed her.

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  8. It's funny how the heat can make you cranky.

    Hope I get to sample some of your homemade cheese!

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