Finally, some good weather.....

The drought may not be ending, but we finally got some much-needed rain. We had several days of rather violent thunderstorms. One dead tree was blown over. No great loss - it was a juniper or "mountain ceder" tree. More heavy weather is due later this week, most likely Tuesday and Wednesday. Even with this rain, we will still be very far behind normal rainfall.

The puppies are getting bigger and more active. All nine remaining puppies are now frolicking in the barnyard. Even though they are only five weeks old, they are already almost weaned. They have been eating solids for almost a week. The mother, Spirit, may very well cut them off entirely this week. Her nipples are getting sore, especailly since puppy teeth are very sharp.

We are checking the going rate for mixed-breed herd-dog puppies in the local newspapers. We are hoping to get about $100.00 per male and more for the females.

Some friends of ours are starting a garden! With the way the weather has been, we wish them lots of luck. To assist them, we delivered a twenty-pound bucket full of aged goat manure for fertlizer. When we delivered it, we just left it by the gate - no one was home. I wish we had called before we went - some of their fresh eggs would have been a welcome repayment for the manure.

When we checked the herd tonight, I noticed that some of the pigmy goats are showing signs of intestinal parasites. It looks like either Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning, we will be worming goats. The process is simple - catch a goat, estimate the weight, measure a dose in a syringe and then shoot the dose down the goat's throat. The hard part is the first step - catch a goat.