Learning Stuff

My DH has taken the 10,000 gallon water tank up to the property. It was a definite journey since he took double the time to drive to the property with his giant "Oversize Load" signs on his suburban with various flags. He left at 1am so he wouldn't hold up any traffic and be as least amount of a nuisance to others as possible. It was incredible to say the least. To give you an idea of the size of this you can see in the attached picture that this is a 650 Case backhoe, a regular suburban and the black circle, that is the water container that the backhoe just pushed off the back of the trailer.

Now we have also gotten a new goat. Mister Dashell was found on craigslist, where else? However, I noticed a cough when we got him. We thought, with the rain lately he probably has a little bit of a cold, no big deal it's not like he was a baby goat the owner's said he was ten weeks old. The next day he was worse, so I took him to the vet. The vet takes one look and says, "He's not 10 weeks, no way. He's 3 weeks old tops." (We learned that horn growth says a lot about the goat's age, let alone the umbilical cord was still attached!) Also, Dashell has pneumonia and since he is sickly he has no fat or muscle on him and we have to give him two sub-cutaneous injections a day. My DH does this while I hold him still. It's a whole new world. We were going to breed Dashell with our other goats but since he has started his life so sickly we have decided against it. He will be a wethered (fixed) male and will run with the does as soon as he gets well. We have another two weeks of antibiotic injections. Here is our loving little Dashell...he's great at taking his meds, and in the second picture he has his butt in the air like a dog and his tail is wagging back and forth. He is a LOVE!

Through this we learned that we have to separate sick goats. Dashell also has two parasites that we have to treat the other goats for because we didn't separate him from the start.  Lessons learned.  We are also realizing that it will be good to have a stock of dewormer and other animal supplements available on the property since we will be no where close to a veterinarian. We are researching all the things we will need on hand keeping close mind to expiration dates, storage requirements and anything else that we need to know.

Some added goat pictures. Here's our three girls, Abby, Bailey and Capri. Abby is the most friendliest and the other two are warming up! First pic is Abby and Bailey getting into the hay, the second pic is them leaving the hay after getting in trouble. :)  Then Miss Capri who is the prissiest goat, and then a pic of what we usually see them doing, grazing and hanging out side by side.

I am also doing other research to find out more about meal planning, gardening, storage for all of it.  I've looked into canning, but it looks like a lot of work. I have fallen in love with Pinterest and all of the ideas that it offers, I've just got to put it into practice. I'm trying to start freezing meals, but I am wondering if I'm going to need another freezer. I'll post a picture of my freezer after I start this process. What a process!

Currently we are taking down a quonset hut that we have purchased (from craigslist). This building is 25 feet wide and 70 feet long. This is going to be a temporary living quarters at the property. One more week and the hut should be disassembled and we will hopefully be beginning it's transport to the ranch in September.

There's a little update from this Country Momma!
From Raising Faith Ranch! (We named the ranch!!)

Our FIRST STAY-cation! Part 2

We got there late on Thursday night and we stayed until Monday afternoon.  It rained off and on the whole time. It was wonderful! We all worked together and had a great time. The kids had television withdraws for the first day and then started using something I think they had forgotten about....their imaginations.

I loved watching the kids enjoy nature around them.  There was a lot of mud and so the kids made Brownie Soup...a step up from the mud pies I made when I was young. They played "drive-thru restaurant" which was hilarious. I think the funniest part was when Lily ordered, "Two Dr. Peppers the largest size you make," just like Daddy does.  Nathan (9) was the cook and came up to me totally exhausted, he said, "Lily (7) just ordered three of everything on the menu! Even though it is pretend, I'm stressed out. Now I know how Burger King feels when we pull up!"  Carissa (5) was inside and I heard her say, "Costco will be closing in 5 minutes please get your food and items and head to the nearest register. Thank you for shopping at Costco." It was interesting to hear how the kids played and I am sure that moving from city life to country life this will change drastically over time. I really got to enjoy the kids and just sitting back and watching how they play.

My DH was able to get the chicken coop off off the trailer and then the trailer and the dump truck got stuck in the mud.  The dump truck and the trailer took two days to get them out of the mud.  It was a lot of work but we were able to do it together.

We learned that the baby propane grill takes over 45 minutes to grill hot dogs for our family.  We will be investing in a new-to-us grill to go to the ranch the next time we go to spend more time with family and less time cooking. 

Our lives move at a much slower pace while we are at the ranch. We didn't worry about the time or about how dirty the kids were getting.  The kids played in the rain and had mud ball fights. In fact, they went off exploring and kept in touch with us by using the walkie talkie. ("Come in home base, come in!") They loved the freedom and we loved feeling relaxed about it.

My stepson learned to ride a quad! That was a huge accomplishment and we are very proud of him. He is really growing up, at 13 his voice is beginning to change and he is starting to want to take on the more manly jobs.  He was Dad's helper the entire time and loved it.  I know he will probably be taller than me his next visit and a little more mature.  He is becoming quite the young man and it was a blessing to see him light up with such excitement over everything that he did with his dad.

Since we've gotten back and the kids have asked to go back up there several times. Vivi (11) has said, "Mom, it's just so comfortable there. Everyone is so much more relaxed. When can we go again?" It makes me feel good that our first time staying up there was a success and that the kids want to return and have some more fun. If this is a preview to life there, I am so excited!

The laundry when we got back....nightmare. I am looking forward to having a washer and dryer at the ranch to be able to bring home clean laundry!

Future Focused!
Country Momma