What a Day!.... and it's not even over with... yet.

This California girl has just about had enough of this "Springtime" weather. 
I'm tired of the wind, the rain, the thunder and lightening..... and three of my "billy goats gruff".
Gruff as in ... being really awful to Brownie.
Gruff as in... they are making Brownie miserable and they don't seem to care. 
It's bad enough that he's lost his horn....

But now he's being ostracized. The other goats don't want  to be anywhere near him and when he tries to join them... they push him away.

He a goat adrift... in a field of despair. 
He's a goat alone in the world.

Oh, Brownie. I'm so sorry this is happening.

I don't understand why the goats are rejecting him. He was always one of the pack. I think it has to do with him losing his horn. I don't know if they did it playing around, butting heads and pushing each other like they do. I think maybe they didn't like all the blood, or that the missing horn makes him different. I just don't know. Maybe they are rejecting the weakness. He had always been such a hard nose. Now he's acting very vulnerable.
The other day I got mad at Bart for pushing Brownie away from the fence while I was petting him and all I got from Bart was attitude.

And after he stopped playing around trying to be.... "all that".

Then he gives me his "wonderful goat" look and walks away.
BEAST! 
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This morning we are having a wind storm with lots of sideways rain. It's a really cold ( well, not cold like Michigan, Dawn.) rain. It's snowing in Pine Grove.  the news this morning said it's even snowing in Sonora. (1900 ft.) 
The trees are swaying back and forth. One of those days when people should stay inside so I was downloading some pictures from my camera and I heard a cry from what I thought was Brownie.
I put my raincoat on. Ran out to the goat house and Brownie was on the other side of their house hunkering against the wall. The other goats were in the goat house. 
I put my boots on, sloshed out to him and led him back into the enclosure.  I closed the gate so he couldn't leave again and told the other goats to behave themselves. They were guarding the doorway so Brown couldn't get in. They have been doing this for weeks now. This photo shows them a few days ago, ganging up on Brown because he had the audacity to go into the house. They went in and chased him out.

So, I realized that it wasn't Brown's bawling I heard from inside the house. His is more pathetic.
As I stood there, I heard it again and guess what?.... I walked out to the front driveway, looked up the road and what did I see? COWS above the chicken house. BIG BLACK COWS!!! We don't own any cows. The Prospector had gone into town. I'm here dealing with a rejected goat and, all of a sudden, a small herd of COWS appear. WHAT THE...!!
I ran up the road toward them yelling and shouting. They gave me that wide eyed stare that cows get when they are confronted or startled. Then they turned around (thank God) and walked back up the road. I'm so glad that they were being agreeable. They are very big animals. Wouldn't want to have one argue with me. They were much more cooperative than Brownie, who had to be sweet talked and pushed back though two fences and  into the goat house.
About a half hour later the Prospector came home. He went up and closed the big gate that we installed, half way up to the well, just for those occasions when cows decide to visit. He didn't see any cows. I must have made an impression on them. They were heading back to where ever they belonged. I'm sure that they were saying, as they walked away,  " Crazy woman! over there. We don't need to go down that road again." 
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Well, SH%*TE... now our Flowering Pear tree just lost a big limb and it's laying on the garage roof and back porch. I will return.....
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And a couple of hours later...
I've been gone for a while. I needed to be out there to watch over my husband . He was up on a ladder and that's kind of scary in this wind. He has a bad knee. He was using a chain saw. I just wanted to be close by.

You had to be there. The wind blowing. The rain pelting down. The branch landed on our iron fence and then the wood fence. Thankfully the fences broke the heaviness of the huge branch and there was no damage to the back porch or the garage roof. The Prospector started cutting the heaviest part of the branch to relieve the weight on the fences.

The photo is kind of blurry because of the rain and wind. Then the Prospector went around and cut some of the smaller branches away from the back porch.

The trellis held up really well considering that it caught the top of the tree.

I'm guessing that the weakness from the other branch that fell last year is what weaken this one. It came from the same area on the tree. We may lose the whole tree now. I hope not. It's so much shade in the summer and it's such a beautiful tree. 

The rest of the tree is moving back and forth. We are hoping that it doesn't fall over. The wind is so strong today. It's still blowing hard out there..... and the rain....  We are thankful for a sound home and that the electricity hasn't gone off..... knock on wood....

I didn't say that.... knock on wood...

Mother nature is sure having it her way this year. 

The rain is even hitting the window that's under the front porch.... What a day!

Being Productive in the Garden

I HURT THIS MORNING!!
My legs, my feet, my arms, my hips.... Everything hurts. Why is it that working in the garden all day brings me such great satisfaction..... and so much discomfort? I got out of bed like an old lady this morning. Oh, wait a minute. I am an old lady.
Yesterday was one of those wonderful Spring days here in California. I think I could live inside of a day like this 365 days a year. The breeze was cool, the sun was warm and the soil was soft. My love affair with my garden begins again.
This is where it started. I went to WalMart the day before and got a bit carried away.

The Pansies were so beautiful. They just shouted "Springtime!!" from the shelf outside the store. So I came home with a flat of them. Actually, it was a half flat for $5. That would give me the color I wanted for my dreary containers. And, of course, I had to get some soil amendments to liven up the old dirt in the pots and add some compost from the veggie garden composter.
I got a little carried away with the flower seeds.

COSMOS~PORTULACA~CLEOME~ZINNIAS..... The American Seed Co. has these beautiful packets of seeds for .20 cents a piece. I don't know how they can sell a package of seeds for .20 cents. I'm guessing that there aren't as many seeds inside (I will count them and see) compared to the Burpee packet that costs $1.50. and the Burpee brand says that they are a "select variety" from Holland. At .20 cents a packet I can buy a lot of seeds, different varieties and it feels like I'm getting a real deal.
I do buy the Burpee brand for seeds that I can't find elsewhere, like the Zinnia called Envy. It's a beautiful CHARTREUSE color and huge. It's a $1.50 also. Sometimes you just have to splurge.
I also bought a few packets of American Seed's "Cottage Garden" seeds. I love them. I throw them into my planters and it's like a surprise later on to see what comes up. This wildflower mix gives the garden a lot of color with very little effort. I'm into the "Cottage" look in my garden.
So, yesterday morning, I put all the new garden supplies into my wheelbarrow and spent the day in the garden.

I planted those Violas everywhere.

And now I have color all over the front garden. It looks wonderful!

At some point, and this is becoming a ritual behavior, I take my gloves off because I can't feel the soil. I don't know why. I just love the feel of the soil and packing it down with my bare hands.

I haphazardly throw them down somewhere because I'm "in the moment" with my garden.
But I have Carl. He is Little Mr. Opportunity incarnate. He always finds them.

And I always think that he will leave the gloves alone, especially when they are in plain sight on the porch.
But NO.....

 He always grabs one glove. ALWAYS!! and runs away with it.. It's our game. If I didn't like this game I would put the gloves up on a table  where he couldn't grab them. But I don't. Because this is a game, you see, and Carl would be so disappointed.
I run after him, calling his name and telling him to give me the glove. Like I said.... it's a ritual. A bit of comic relief. It's what we do around here to entertain ourselves.

So, back to the garden. I love that feeling of dirt under the nails.

I never regret taking my gloves off. I will always have hang nails and cuts in the Springtime. It's OK. It's tradition.

It was not the planting of violas that  made me feel like I was a hundred years old this morning.

It was this corner of the garden.

This is the cause of all my pain. It wasn't enough to plant some flowers in pots. I also spent the rest of the day redoing the area near the entrance. Now that I look at the photo I realize that it doesn't look that much different for all the lifting of rocks, raking of debris, moving of garden art and transplanting of a few perennials. But I wanted to clear everything away from the flowering Pear tree because I read that having too much mulch or plants that get watered a lot right up against a tree can weaken the tree and make it vulnerable to diseases. When I removed everything, I saw that there was mold all the way around the bottom of the tree. So I felt really good that I did this.
It looks nice and I feel better about the tree. Cutter, my sweet puppy, proceeded to dig a hole in the new spacious plot of dirt, which he thought I made just for him. Then, I realized that I may have to put a little fence around the area to discourage the pups from this favorite activity. Digging is not a "ritual" I wish to encourage .
All in all it was a very productive day.
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Brownie is recovering slowly except that the other goats are ostracizing him. They won't let him into the goat house. Last night I went out there because I heard him making goat complaints and there he was, standing in the rain, crying and complaining. Bart was guarding the doorway and blocking Brown from going in.
IT WAS RAINING! and DARK.  I tried to push him in and every time he tried, one of the goats would push him back out.
BAD GOATS..... even Murph' was part of this betrayal. I'm so upset with them. I know this is normal animal behavior but it stinks.
Finally, with encouragement, Brownie pushed his way into the goat house and I went back into my warm house.

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So, this morning I woke up feeling like I fell down a mineshaft and survived. It's not raining. I should be out there finishing the planting of seeds.... but I'm not. I'm rubbing Aspercreme into my feet and hands. I'm laying low for the day. I'm writing this post and  not much else. I feel really old and sore today. I can identify with Brownie. Maybe I'll sit and read a book. Yea! I said read a book... or maybe I'll knit something.... or felt.... or bake some cookies.... or....

"And (he) danced by the light of the moon"

Murphy is up to something. He's been practicing in the evenings just before dark. A few nights ago I went out , with my camera, and caught him trying to jump up on his sleeping quarters. He always goes between the container and the fence because he can get better traction with the wire fence behind him. I don't think he's trying to escape, because he jumps as high as he can and them he prances on his back legs. He doesn't try to climb the fence or go over it.







I just realized that these two photos are not Murphy. What the heck? I can't even keep four goats straight. Murphy was doing all this too but guess who got in there and joined the dance practice. Yep! It's Brownie. My little show off. It was getting so dark that I thought I...., I don't know what I was doing. I should have been in bed.




(Yes, this is Brownie too.)








Look at that sweet face. He seems to be having fun and when he's gets tired he leans against the container and looks up at the sky for a while .













Then he rubs his head on the fence like he's thinking about something. Hope it's not freedom that he yearns for.

Last night I came out, with my camera, again and I snuck around the garage to see if I could get a photo without the goats knowing I was there.
Well, guess who was dancing around on his hind feet intertaining the other three goats. Yes, Murphy was dancing. Dancing, I tell you! and...., looking at the full moon. I find this all kind of spooky, but wonderful.
When he saw me, he stopped and came over for a neck rub, but he still had a glassy look in his eyes.
Do you suppose that goats have some kind of magical rite of passage that only they know about?: Some ancient custom for the changing of seasons?

There will be a full moon on Wednesday night. I will watch them carefully. I suspect that this is all just silly goats behavior but...., then again........

Goat update: only the best for these handsome boys.

The lady who sold us the goats said to use any glass bottles we had. So...., this is how we feed the goats their milk twice a day . The last photo is blurred because, if you've ever fed goats, they suck hard and fast, and they never stop moving. The original contents were not consumed by the goats. Hick!

The goats, (finally named) are Bart, Brownie, Murphy and Freckles. What a lot of fun they are. They jump and run around like crazy . If you're cleaning their bedding or changing their water, they will not leave you alone. They are the most curious creatures and must be involved in everything you do. When it's time to have their bottle of milk they cry like real babies. It's scary how much they sound like a human baby. In a couple of weeks the feedings will be over. We're down to mixing 1/4 milk to 3/4 water. Bart( the biggest) really doesn't need to be drinking milk at all anymore but we don't want to hurt his feelings. Once a week we have to drive about 10 miles to the goat farm for milk, so it will be just great when they are weaned.

They are growing fast. I see our hillsides around the house devoid of grass next year. Oh, yes. The prospector is starting to talk "sheep".