Entertainment

It is easy to entertain yourself when there are turkeys present. We had heard that turkeys were not the brightest bulb on the shelf but one doesn't fully appreciate how truly lacking in gray mater they are until you have spent some time observing them.

A bit over a year ago we bartered for two Bourbon Red toms. These boys were not yet old enough to see each other as competition. The fact that we didn't have any females around for them to fight over may have also had something to do with it. Regardless of the cause, these two boys were devoted to each other. They came to us as totally free-ranging birds so we opted to leave them thus. Soon they decided that the fence surrounding the goat pens were the perfect place to roost for the night. So they would spend the nights sleeping side by side on the fence. In the morning when they woke up they would hop off the fence, ready to start the new day. The problem came in when they would hop onto opposite sides of the fence. When they found themselves separated from each other by the fence that they were too big to crawl through, they would spend the day running back and forth on opposite sides of the fence trying to figure out how to get together. Unless someone took pity on them and tossed one turkey over to the pother, they would remain running back and forth in distress all day until night time when they would once more hop onto the fence and find themselves roosting together again.

This morning I was sitting at the computer answering email when I heard knocking at the window. I turned to pull the curtain open, ready to remind my errant child that we do not knock on windows for eventually this causes them to break. What I found instead was a turkey pecking at the window--futilely trying to catch the fly buzzing on the inside of the window.

We won't even go into how many baby turkeys we have lost due to the mother's mothering attempts--or lack thereof.

Suffice it to say, I have to say that not even teenaged nubian bucks are as brainless as turkeys.

Which makes it far easier to eat a turkey than a goat. At least for me.

Weren't We Just Here?

I could swear that it was just a few weeks ago when I sat here and typed out a blog post about the fact that kidding season was fast approaching.

And here I sit again.

We just counted out the days and realized that some of our does who kid a few days shy of their due date could start kidding within a few weeks...like on Thanksgiving day!

I am NOT ready! I am still recovering from last years kidding season and all of the babies!

So we have nine due the end of November/beginning of December. Then, in January we have eight more due. Then the rest...we still have to do pregnancy tests on them, but they will likely be due March/April.

Hopefully the work will be reduced by the fact that we intend to keep very, very few kids this year. In fact, I can think of only four does out of over fifty that we would consider keeping a very nice doeling out of. So that should help.

Then, just as the last goat is delivering their babies...it will be my turn!

I think we will keep that one...

Growing Up

Seth is growing up.

Obviously I know that this happens. I do not dread it nor mourn it. This may be made easier by the fact that there is a new little baby on the way, but truth be told it is more enjoyable than not.

One of my favorite things about having a large family is the fact that we all share and revel in the accomplishments of each other. In the case of the baby of the family growing up there is always someone to cheer that first step and exclaim over the new word. Everyone is absolutely certain that this is absolutely the best baby yet, the smartest, the funniest, the cutest. It is almost like being with other fans and getting to cheer on your favorite team to the win--day after day after victorious day.

I left for almost a week's time to go get new goats. I knew when I returned that Seth would likely be finally, irrevocably weaned. What I hadn't expected was that he would also have matured so much! He is speaking! When I left all he would consistently say was "puppy", "mama" and "un-uh". (no). He would also use the ASL sign for "please". Now he says "please", "thank you" and "Stop!". And he calls his siblings by name. And "goat", "horsey", "chicken", "dog" and "kitty". (Am I alone in finding a theme, here?)

He plays like a toddler, not a baby, on tricycles and he swings a bat with his brothers.

And he has started throwing temper tantrums.

Oh joy. But even that is good, a necessary part of growing up, and I am going to enjoy each and every moment--because although it looks like I will get to repeat this age at least once more with baby number 12, Seth will never be this age again.