The Matrix Goats

Here are several pics of the critters that are under my care for the next 24 hours. None of the pics are very great but it'll give you an idea of who I am caring for. The first two pictures are of Tuscon. He's a Nubian yearling buck that I have been offered for the use of breeding to Nicole (my doe) this fall. I am excited and can't wait!

Now if you combine the smell of old hiking boots, worn out cowboy boots, a locker room of teen aged boys after gym, unwashed coon hounds after a hunt, goat urine and sweat, this buck smells worse than that! And I won't go into the gross details of what bucks do during the rut! Obviously he likes just the way he smell ... guess he thinks he's got that "man thang" going on! As a note ... I had a pair of leather gloves on when I handle him when he arrived at the Matrix Compound. Not only do I not use those gloves anymore, it took me three days to stop smelling him on me! Yeah, even Bacci didn't want to be around me! He slept in his own bed two nights!

Raquel and Rasberry

Fail or Pass

Not until the last few years have I really attempted to take all things that I'd more than likely think as a total failure or total mess up and turn them around and consider them valuable learning experiences. Oh sure, I still like always beat myself up more than anyone else could ever do when I do really mess up but bruises eventually go away! LOL!

So tonight was my first night covering for my friends who own the Matrix Compound. They wanted to get out of town, err, go into town until late tomorrow night and they asked me to milk the goats and watch things for them. Now some would think that milking a few goats isn't all that big of a deal. But when you have to learn it all and write down step by step everything involved there is quite a bit to do! You first need to learn some basics. I learned a few the other night when I was in "training". First off, how to assemble the milking system making sure that seals are made and hoses are connected. Make sure you understand that goats can be very smart ... close the paddock gate while they are distracted by the alfalfa so you don't have to chase them through the pasture! Don't run to them ... if they want grain during milking they'll come to you! It's much easier to spray teats for protection from mastitis while the goat's teats are staring you in the face on the milking stand than racing around the paddock with the can in your hand trying to hit teats on the run! Animals cookie treats area a great invention! If you have to bring a goat back in to strip her (getting the last of the milk out) because you forgot to do it before you took her off the stand sunflower seeds are a good diversion! And finally remember that when it's all done nothing is more important than spraying the teats to prevent mastitis!

Now some may read this and have their own opinions on what's the right or wrong way do get through your first session of milking more than one goat like I normally do. All I have to say is "Don't question authority!" LOL!

So tonight even though I had a couple blunders and back steps all went incredibly easy. Yes, I waited for the pasteurizer to finish, washed the equipment, closed all the windows, sprayed for flies, and I even cleaned off the milk stands and swept the parlor! Each goat came to me with the exception of one who just stood in the hut looking at me until I came to get her. None ran away or put up a struggle. Everyone got animals crackers after milking as a treat for making my first night a pretty easy one. So let's hope that tomorrow night goes just as smoothly!

Another afternoon storm

This is the afternoon storm that came through on Aug 25th. I love watching this things form and move through. I wish I had a good camera for panoramic pictures. This formed at Pike's Peak and was headed due north and within an hour the winds shifted east then south and my place got hit with it. We only got a little rain with it but the winds were fierce! I really need to get my weather station mounted and hooked up. I am very curious what wind speed is like out here.

One of the friends I was having dinner with got photos of the storm that hit at sunset. The clouds were very black and looked like they were boiling. We got a fairly decent amount of rain in it too.

I'll be curious to find out just how much rain this area has gotten for the year. This area of Colorado at least has been very lucky this year. Native Coloradans haven't seen it this green in many years. Some of my pictures show some greenness but don't really capture how very green it is. Everything here should be toasty brown by this time of year.

Another beautiful morning

My pictures can't begin to capture the beautiful mornings I have seen here in one month but they continue to inspire me to take pictures. This morning started out very warm and pretty. But afternoon brought a nasty storm at about 2pm and then another one at sunset. I was able to take pics of the afternoon storm but was at dinner when the really bad one hit. I don't recall seeing the sky so black as it was.

My best bud

I'd be sadly mistaken to forget to include my best friend in my blog. This guy has been with me through thick and thin for nine years now. I rescued him as an eight month old pup from a jackass who was going to shoot him because his ex-girl friend who gave the guy the puppy broke up with him and the puppy was too big for it's breed. Yes, he's a full blood and papered Italian Greyhound. He should weigh about 10-12 lbs. He weighs about 18 lbs. and he stands way too tall.

When I rescued him he had a stupid name like Sam, or Ranger, or Spike. No offense to anyone with those names but this dog is no Sam, Ranger, or Spike! LOL! So while I was trying to come up with something he got the name of Bacci after licking the make up off an Italian woman's face.

He's a great pal ... as long as it's warm, there's treats, and a heavy down comforter to sleep under ... even in 80 degree weather! LOL! He's taken well to farm life except for being friends with my Nubian mother goat. She kind of booted him around the paddock one day and he thought he was being murdered. Needless to say he doesn't go anywhere near the paddock anymore! Bacci loves to chase squirrels, rabbits, and feral cats. A rabbit met with it's unfortunate demise a couple weeks ago. I think Bacci screamed louder than any rabbit could ever scream. Poor dog about peed himself to death. LOL!

As long as I am around and he doesn't out live me (damned dog has a life expectancy of up to 18yrs!) he'll always have a corner at the foot of my bed ... under the extra heavy duvet of course!

The blogged storm

Well I have been corrected! I have been told by one particular dedicated blog follower that I shouldn't talk with so much excitement about a storm and not have the pictures to go with it! So, I stand corrected! LOL! (Here you go ... you know who you are!)

Actually it boiled down to shear laziness. When I was blogging about the storm I realized that the pics were still in the camera, in the truck, it was late, I was tired ... and too lazy to go through the whole process to get them loaded up. So here you go.

Before ...


during ...

and after ...

Obviously I couldn't take pictures of the storm that hit that night with my ordinary Canon PowerShot Elph. Trust me though, it was a crazy storm!

The skies

Storms

The other day when I was working in the barn the day was clear and beautiful. Far to the east I noticed a small fluffy cloud and wondered if it might turn into a storm. Boy, did I underestimate my guessing. By late afternoon that cloud moved to the west and stirred up one heck of a strings of storms all along the range. From Pueblo north to Monument we had bad lightning, nasty black rolling clouds, and tornado warnings. I sat in the living room with a friend from Denver for a couple hours watching the weather plastered on the news and the storms outside the house. We had heavy winds around me but no real rain. the storms encircled the area. Then by about six p.m. it was just about all over.

Then as I went to bed the winds picked back up and the black clouds covered the sky from north to south and east to west ... and then the lightning began. The odd thing was that there was no thunder yet. by 930 though it hit, and it hit hard. My bedside light flickered as I was reading, the thunder vibrated the house and was flashing so regularly the it looked like emergency lights were flashing on my walls. I don't have curtains up so the house lit up completely.

Storms and interesting skies always catch my attention. Out here because I have such a vast area that I can see I get views of storms and clouds that come from miles away. In the next blog I will share some of my pics of sunsets, sunrises, and the storms forming.

The new hens

These chickens are the ones that were given to me last week. In both pics the bird on the left with more black markings is a Silver Laced Wyandotte. The bird on the right with more white markings is a Colombian Wyandotte. These girls just started laying so they are pretty young. I am getting one or two brown eggs a day from this group so far. I'm hoping that the completion of the coop and run will take some stress off of them and they'll begin laying larger and bigger eggs. Once they understand that the coop is home I intend to let everyone free range each day and that should really help both in health and egg quality. I think they make a beautiful addition to the flock!

The Longhorns

The first time I drove past these beautiful beasts a few weeks back I about went off the road gawking at them. I was in awe of the size and the beauty ... and of course at the size of some of the horns they are sporting. I have passed by many times and traffic was too heavy or the cattle just weren't in the mood to cooperate for the photo shoot! This past Saturday I guess they felt obliged or were tired of me stopping. There is another herd not too far away that I'd seen before but those don't have nearly the beautiful hides that these cattle do. I took a ton of photos of these guys in hopes that this winter when snow drifts over my back door I can try my hand at acrylic paints. These pics aren't great and I still have not learned how to edit junk out. So do a little squinting and maybe the house or a telephone pole in the background will disappear!