And This Year's Jumper Is......

MAUD!!!!!

Every year one kid discovers that it is not vertically challenged. So far it has always been does, don't know if that means anything.  There is always one kid that will jump up on top of Big Mama and proclaim herself "Queen of Everything."  A couple of weeks after that, the same kid will jump up on top of the 4 ft high cable spools that we have.  And then they figure out that they can jump the fence.  Sooner or later, though, they grow big enough that they start having trouble clearing it.  Am thinking their udders get big enough to catch on the twisty parts at the top of the fence, and suddenly the consequence begins to outweigh the reward.

So the usual modis operandi is jumping over the doe fence to try to get into the dairy barn, where the feed is kept.  And that usually occurs when someone with opposable thumbs who would be able to get the lid off the barrel is in the barn.

Until this year, the gold medal winner was Lucy, who continued to clear the fence well into her second year.  At the end of the run though, she started getting a back hoof caught in the fencing, and would be stuck with one leg high in the sky until one of the two-leggeds heard her cries of agony and would come and literally pick her up level with the top of the fence to dislodge the wedged hoof.  I bet we had to do that at least a dozen times before she finally quit.  I always marveled that she never broke her leg.

Unfortunately, Lucy's daughter this year was not so lucky.  I heard tell from up north that little Spice has taken to jumping the fence like mama used to, and DID break her leg.  Got a little cast and everything.  Awwww.  Poor Baby.

Back to Bawdy Maudy.  That's what i call her.  She's a PIP!  We all love her and her sassy personality.  But let me tell ya, fellers, if the circus came to town i would sell her in a heartbeat and make a small fortune.  What you are about to hear is the truth, the whole truth, and the unembroidered truth.  I kid you not.

Maud has gone through the usual stages of a jumper...The Queen of Everything, the top of the spool, and over the fence...the usual one way jump.  But a couple of nites ago, as Ellie May was milking, Maud started jumping back and forth in and out of the kid pen, and apparently went several times, just because she could.  The next day, she started jumping into the kid pen, then using the side of the barn to sort of richocet herself out into the back yard.

Here comes the one you won't believe.  We have an old blanket folded in half over the fence that separates the kid pen from the does, to create that separate but included feeling while we are integrating kids into doe herd.  Ellie and i were doing the milking, and Maud did the jumping in and out thing a couple of times, and then JUMPED ON THE TOP OF THE CHAIN LINK FENCING AND STOOD THERE!!!!

ON TOP OF THE CHAIN LINK FENCE!!!

FOR LIKE 30 SECONDS!!!

AND JUST STARED AT US!!!!

Then she jumped down like it was nothing.  Ellie and i looked at each other, speechless, with mouths open.  Then we looked back at the fence.  Then we looked back at each other and said in unison, "DID YOU SEE THAT!!!!!"  And we looked back at the fence just in time to see her do it again!!!  This time we busted out laughing.  And then she did it AGAIN!!

Am so sorry we didn't have a camera.  I have put Ellie on the mission of getting a picture of that.  We need evidence. 

Am concerned, however.  Got home after a trip to town last nite, and Maudy was standing in the middle of the drive, chewing on a mouth full of something green, looking at us like, "It's about time you people got home.  Where ya been??"

Pick A Bale O' Cotton, Pick a Bale A Day

 This may be way more exciting to me than it is to you, but here it is.

There used to be quite a bit of cotton grown around these parts.  In days past it was a huge part of the economy, and there were gins all over the place.  From what i understand, there is only one gin left in East Texas, and all the cotton that i know of is grown up around the town that has it.  I guess those pesky little polyesters have taken over cotton town. 

I have taken Ellie May and Jethro to a ginning demonstration given by the agrilife extension agent (that is what they are called around here...not county agent, but Agrilife Extension....guess the state is trying to distance the agents from the Mr. Kimball stereotype) and we have seen carding, spinning and weaving up close and personal.  But we have never seen a cotton harvest.

We pass acres and acres of cotton when we head north, and i have watched for the harvest in the past, but have always missed it.  One day you pass by and the fields are fluffy and white, the next  there is nothing but brown sticks. 

A couple of years ago i got lucky.  Ellie, Jethro and i were driving along, and what did we see....but a cotton harvest in process!!  Being the astute homeschooler that i am, i seized the opportunity for a learning experience, and embarrassed the kids by pulling over and making us all get out and watch.  Then i made it worse by getting into a conversation with one of the guys that drives the cotton from the big noisy green thing that picks the cotton to the over sized trash compactor in a glorified dump truck .  As you can see, we learned a lot of highly technical terminology in this conversation. 

 This was the big, noisy green machine that looked like it cost about a bazillion dollars that went up and down the rows of cotton.  Inside the yellow housing were these doohickeys that went round and round, and then the elves inside the green part blew the cotton balls up into the cage behind the guy you can see through the picture window.  I would love to make a joke about a guy that sits in a fish bowl all day watching fluff balls fly by, but i can't think of any.  Wouldn't have his job for anything, no matter how silly it looked...it was hotter than blue blazes that day, and bet that cab was sweltering, even if it was air conditioned.

When they get a row finished, they turn around and do it again, and again, and again.  All things considered, it went very quickly.  This crop was at least a couple of sections. We stopped around noon, and they were maybe a third of the way into the job.  By the time we passed again in early evening, it was done. 

I cannot imagine the expense of the machinery and insurance etc.etc.etc. that it takes to do this days work.  Think about that next time you pay less than $1000 for a pair of jeans. 

Every once in a while my new friend would drive out to the big noisy green machine and the elves would blow the fluff into the back of the  glorified dump truck.  The big noisy green thing was barely even stopped, and then it was rolling again.  It was like watching one of those mid-air refueling sequences.  Sorry, thought i got a shot of the transfer process, but i was probably too busy catching flies with my open mouth...it was just AMAZINGLY fast and efficient.

The glorified dump truck then brings the fluff back to the over sized trash compactor and does what dump trucks do best.

Then the over sized trash compactor did what compactors do best.  I am sorry, but i have slept since we saw this, and i cannot remember how many TONS of cotton fit in the compactor, but it was A LOT.          When the over sized compactor gets full, the bale is bound and tarped.  We missed this part, but i think it is fairly self explanatory.  Then, when you drive by several hours later, it looks like a bunch of truck drivers left their trailers neatly spaced by the side of the highway.

So here's the thing about seizing teachable moments.  You never now where you will end up.  When we saw all this, we were on the way to visit some very dear friends of the family, the children's Godmother's parents, if you can follow that.  In an effort to further cement through review and repetition what we had just learned, we shared the experience over lunch.   This lead Mrs. H. to share reminiscences of picking cotton by hand as a young girl.  My children learned from watching the process on the side of the road, but hearing stories of "the way things used to be" from someone they know really changed their perspective.  They weren't as excited as i was about watching the big noisy green machine, but they had a better idea of why it was amazing.  I never new that Mrs. H. picked cotton, and never would have thought to ask, but she had great, vivid stories about what it was like, and she turned a day of playing hooky into a day of unschool.  Ya can't get this stuff outta books, folks!!

The Beginning and The End

Don't you just LOVE the new banner?  Susan, dear Susan made it for us.  The picture was taken a couple of springs ago, and just outside of frame, our two legged kids were in a boat.  I think there was a four legged kid in the boat, as well, but i may be mistaken.  It was a great shot, and makes an AWESOME banner....Thank you, Susan!!!!

She also made this picture of Moon and Lance to use as a "signature,"  and it just kills me!!  Neither one of us can figure out how to apply it tho.  Anyone know how to add it in?  I was so excited, i just had to show y'all now--you know how technologically challenged i am, it may be a while before i can apply it!!

Pussiere De Lune

                               

                                                      Need a closer look?  Try this one....

This would be Ellie May holding up a three and a half month old goat because "The others never let her eat the good stuff."  For perspective, the kid standing right in front of them is the litter mate to the one that is in the air.


And this would be the child that tells me every day how much she hates goats...


This is the story of Moon Dust. 

Also known as Dusty, Doodles, and occasionally as "The Poodle." 

This is probably the most beloved of all the kids born at Tail's Up. (Note the semantics, carefully crafted so as not to offend my sweet Chickory Blossom.) <Chickory wasn't  born here.>



Ellie May snoozing in her chair with Moon Shine, Moon Shadow, Moon Pie and Moon Dust on their birthday.

 Go back in the archives and you can read about Moon Dust's very difficult birth in "We're Kidding, No Kidding 2010."  I will spare you the details here, but know that she was used as a battering ram by her three siblings who all wanted to get out of the birth canal first.  She was weak and had fluid in her lungs, didn't stand on her own for three days, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  She shouldn't have made it, but we fought hard to keep her.  And in the process we spoiled her rotten. 

Dusty spent the first month of her life in our living room, complete with room service and private quarters.  We had two play pens set up, one for the new kids (remember, every kid spends at least the first 72 hrs in the house with us,) and one for Dusty, her heating pad, and a kid du jour....for company.  Doodles did not like being alone.

Dusty at about 1 week.

Doodles was the goatie that i started making goat sweaters for.  She had trouble holding her body heat (hence the heating pad) so i snagged one of Jewels' sweaters, and The Poodle was born.  By the time she graduated to the barn, she had an entire collection of sweaters, a dress, and a rhinestone studded collar.  (I will only claim responsibility for the sweaters.)

Laugh if you will, but the goatie sweater has turned out to be a great discovery.  In years past, when the weather was bitter, we would have to bring the kids back in the house for the night.  Now when there is a cold snap, we just slap a sweater on 'em and toss 'em in the kid pen with a couple of heat lamps. 




Dusty was a VERY laid back goat.

 

These pictures were taken at about 2 weeks



  



 

No, Doodles was not narcoleptic.  She was just extremely bonded to Ellie May.  Every time Ellie picked her up, Dusty practically melted into Ellie.  And when Ellie was in the vicinity, Dusty's feet rarely touched the ground.  I didn't really realize this until i went to look for pictures for this post.  I found only one picture of Doodles actually standing, and it was on the milk stand for her "kid pic," to document each years kids for composition and structure.

Dusty had a little trouble eating in the beginning, so it took four times as long to feed her as it did the other kids.  While most kids will drain a 10 ounce bottle with non-stop voracious sucking, Doodles was more of a snacker.  She would have a few slurps, then ask how the weather was.  Have a few more swallows, and stop to give you a kiss.  Take another sip, then comment on a film she had recently seen.  She didn't eat.  She Dined.  We decided, therefore, that she must be French, and thus, at mealtime, mademoiselle was called to the table by the moniker Pussiere De Lune, the French translation of the name Moon Dust.

Doodles went every where with us the first couple of months.  Note the outfit above.  This was her "going to town" frock, a sassy little lavender number with pink and purple fuzzy edging, custom made especially for Dusty, as requested by Ellie May.  Unbelievably, as much as she wore that sweater, we never got a good picture. 

In this picture, Dusty is handing Ellie may a napkin, because Ellie was a little messy.  We try to eat a fairly healthy diet around here, and aside from our Sonic addiction, we don't eat a lot of fast food.  We do, however, have a problem with cheddar potato wedges.  Yes.  I know.  But we don't have them too often, and we always bless them.   Anyway, this was the day that we discovered that Doodles loved cheddar wedges.  Actually, she loved the cheddar on the wedges, followed by une petite quantite du ranch dressing.  You know how the French are about their sauces.

One day, when Dusty was about five months old, Ellie May came in the house, cradling Dusty in her arms like a baby.  Now, look at the size of that goat in the picture below.  It is at least a 50 pound goat, but there she was, belly up, legs all in the air.  I looked at them and asked, "What are you doing with that goat in my house?" 

"The donkeys traumatized her!" was the pitiful response.  It seemed that while browsing, the donkeys had tried to chase Dusty, and it was just more than her delicate system could take.  So Ellie May took the babe to their favorite chair, and they snuggled, Dusty's head on Ellie's shoulder for better than half an hour, and every three or four minutes The Poodle would release a huge



***SIGH***

It was just short of a Blanche DuBois swoon.

I kid you not.

Sadly, about a month after this, we lost Dusty.  She died in Ellie's arms, the two of them nestled in their chair, just as they had spent so many hours, looking pretty much like they do in the picture above.  It was a very swift demise.  Nothing Susan, dear Susan nor i could think to do would save her.  Dusty never really thrived, and i think we were darned lucky to have her for the time that we did.  I don't think she should have survived birth, to be honest. 

We loved her.  Still do. 

Lawn Warrior

Testosterone overload.  Mud boots, army helmet, lawn mower and look of grim determination.  Doesn't get any more macho than that.


Spring has sprung in East Texas, and everything is soft and new, and a million shades of green.  The wild flowers are blooming to dot the fields with all kinds of color.  And the yard was ankle deep. 

Today Jed went out to fire up the ol' red pony just as Ellie May and i were starting a game of cards.  We invited Jethro to join us, but he declined, stating that he was gonna go help Dad mow the lawn.  I said, "Aw honey, have a seat, you have at least a week before he will have it running."  You see, every year, when it is time, or more likely, past time to cut the grass, Jed spends a week or two trying to get the lawn mower to work.  It is always something...spark plugs, wires, tires...i never know.  But the first cutting of the yard always involves at least three trips to Lowes and a bucket full of threats and curse words. 

Not so this year!!  The engine sputtered a bit, and then roared to life.  Everyone stood at the door with mouths agape.  In no time at all we had  the first cutting of the season. 

Now, i know that this seems a rather mundane, less than sparkling tidbit of life on the homestead, but let me assure you that it is nothing short of a miracle for this place, and definitely worthy of note and cause for celebration.

WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Breakfast-Go-Round

Oh how i wish i could embrace technology.  If only i had had a video camera this morning, i would have something REALLY funny to share.  Let's see if i can describe it...

The babies were reduced to one bucket of milk a day this week.  They are eating grasses and grains, so it is time.  However, they do not think this is a good idea. 

I set out Big Mama this morning, and they were so anxious to get to breakfast that they were all pushing against the bucket, and it started spinning around, the babies all staying on their nipples and still pushing, so they were spinning around like they were on a merry-go-round, nobody popping off the nipples.  Then Cherry Blossom had to see what was going on, and stepped up on the top of the bucket.  The bucket stopped turning, but the babies kept going, and in just a second we had a big old Celtic knot of goat kids, as some walked over others, but all stayed on their nipples.

Wish you were there.  Probably going to be this years memory for the books.  Last year's was when i walked out to the yard, and all eight kids were lined up like soldiers in two perfect rows, and in unison, like a well trained choir, opened their little mouths and gave me a "MMmmmaaaaaaa," as if coming from one voice.

Caj Eta, Baby!

This recipe has made me more friends than i can count.  It has even won hearts as far away as Florida (Monkey Huggzz, Girlzz.)  And here, just to save us all that postage, is the recipe, just for you!!!

This is a labor intensive recipe, so when i make it i make a HUGE batch, to get me through a couple of years at least.  This is a caj eta year, by the way.  Let me know if ya need a sample.

Caj eta cans well (water bath, 1/2" head space, 20 min when caj eta is jarred hot,) and has excellent shelf life.  I use it as a substitute when recipes call for sweetened condensed milk (because that is what it is, and Eagle Brand has got nothing on this stuff.)  We use it on ice cream (to cut the sweet,) stir it into hot or iced coffees and teas, and more than one person has been known to eat it with a spoon straight out of the jar.  This is probably the yummiest thing we do with our milk.

Note:  as usual, i have only made this with fresh raw goat milk.  Assuming you can use any type of milk.

CAJ ETA

3 qts milk
3 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 t baking soda

Dissolve baking soda and cornstarch in 1 c milk, then stir into remaining milk and sugar. 
Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
Boil and stir constantly.
Boil and stir constantly.
Boil and stir constantly.
Boil and stir constantly.

I am not kidding here.

Boil and stir.
Boil and stir.
Boil and stir.

Seriously.

Boil and stir constantly.
Boil and stir constantly.
Boil and stir constantly.
This is no joke.  You have to stir constantly for about three hours, four if you are doing a double batch.
Boil and stir constantly until it becomes thick and creamy. 
Cool and refridgerate or jar it up and run it through the water bath very quickly, or there will not be any to can.  If you manage to stay out of it, recipe yields about 4 pts, or a bit less, depending on how thick you make it (read: how long you are actually able to stand there for the boil and stir part.)

Note:  VERY IMPORTANT WHEN MAKING CAJ ETA:  Prior to starting this recipe, make a trip to your local library and pick up an audio book...something you have been dieing to read but haven't found the time...makes the process much more tolerable.  A good stool or chair is in order, as well.  Even better, do it with a friend, so you can tag team the stir time, in which case, am thinking a bottle of wine may be required as well.  I'm just sayin'.