reflections

So we have decided on August 21st 2010 as the date for the wedding. Its scary that it is so far away and like my future sister in law says it will be here before we know it. What scares me the most is that i will be almost 27 before i start having kids. Rick believes very strongly that we should wait until we are married before having kids. As do i but still....i feel like I'm running out of time, which i know is ridiculous. We want at least 3 kids. I feel like i should have already started. like perhaps i missed some memo.
Any way...enough ranting

So things are happening at the farm. As usual, we have started mowing down feed which is always a exciting time. We have a big International mower that has a 14 foot mowing deck. Its really fun to ride with rick when he is mowing, its beautiful and when we get out in to the fields its like we are the only people on earth! Ill take some pictures to share. The only bad part about the summer months is that they are filled with mowing, chopping and putting the feed up. Which means here come the 90-100 hour weeks for rick. Good thing i love farming or we would never see each other.

The goats will be going out to pasture this weekend. I have picked out a nice spot behind the shop where they will really get to stretch their legs. Rick and i took Roland and peanut over scouting the other day and it was Hilarius. Take antelopes in the wild bounding through the deep grass and and add a "momma" goat who is actually human (me). Peanut and Roland would run about 20 feet in to the grass which is about 2.5 feet deep and then do the low "I'm a bit nervous" bleat and then come bounding back to the safety of momma. They are so funny

so when our last milker moved out about 2 weeks ago he left his very pregnant cat, who had her kittens 2 days after they left. I had never seen brand new kittens and they are miracles. I have been taking care of momma who is turning out to be a wonderful mom even though she is a young cat herself. She had three female calico kittens whose eyes just opened the other day. Blue as can be. I thank god for the wonderful experiences that i get from the farm and to think this is just the beginning.

The cows also went back out to pasture 2 days ago, it is so beautiful to see 220 cows grazing on the flat fields below the farm.

The new barn is going up, all of the concrete is poured (John Chandler did the work, remember him, we went to high school with him his brother got hit by that truck on 116 he is married and doing amazingly well with his own concrete business) and i imagine that the walls and roof will be going up in no time.

Now i must continue with my day, big paving job in the back parking lot today, replacing the cold patch that was put of the hole from the water main break in Feb. The cold patch has sunk about 6 inches and well people love to complain.

spring in midd and my ring

So as i was getting some spring in middlebury footage i realized that my ring would be easier to see in video, so now you have to watch it.

Video of the farm, you will have to excuse the fact that my voice sounds like a complete redneck, yikes, i guess thats me.

so since rick and i are "goat farmers" big randy thought it would be great to get 11 baby goats from a fellow farmer. He got them for free! They are so cute. the one i am holding is only about 2 weeks old and tiny! they are really fun and cute each with their own personality, they make our goats look so big! we dont have to bottle feed them but we have a bucket that has nipples and with straws attached so the goats all attack the bucket and its a bit crazy.

Randy ( my new, big bro) me and rick. The whole family got together to clean up the burnt down house at our sailsbury farm. It was lots of fun (dirty work kind of fun) and good family bonding time. Aunt susi and uncle terry lived in this house for a really long time, they recently built new down the road, this house burned down in feburary. we sorted through the rubble and burned what we could. i salvaged the tulips for me and ricks garden at the building.

me and peanut

the kids playing

MY RING!!!

So the pictures are not the best, you'll just have to come by and see it!

And i had to add a picture of Roland

He is jumping on my bedding hay,the two of them go nuts when you break into a bail.

Action shot! they are hard to get a picture of they go everywhere at about 100 mph, half of the time they do this silly sideways bounce, ahh ive got to get batteries for my camera and take some video! They are hilarious, they come running top speed when you call "HHHEEEYY GOOOOATS" (sometimes you have to yell a few times but they're young) and are more than willing to go just about anywhere with me or rick, even if they are scared. They do this little nervous cry out of their throats, and stick to your leg when they are nervous ie around the feed tractor, skid steerer or truck.

The kids!

my goat is Peanut, he is the blond one on the left. ricks goat is Roland on the right. they are about 15 inches tall and weigh about 8-10 lbsroland is just under one month old, and peanut is 3 weeks, they drink milk from a soda bottle with a tiney goat nipple, but this morning they drank from a bucket.

my little peanut, he is so cute and snuggly, they sleep in a calf hutch but we let them "free range" during the day or when we are working with the calves.

Roland is a bit of a handful, since he is older than peanut his teeth are bigger and sometimes he bites, but not in a evil goat way just looking for a nipple way, glad im not a nanny goat. ouch!

So this is it for the goats for today, they are so fun, they act like the dog, jump right on you, yesterday they were both in the little truck with me and rick, yes the s10 is still going but is lacking in the break department, apparently its the master cylinder, but shes still goin..