Blind Hog and Acorn

Acorn was complaining about lagging internet speeds and dropped cell signal, so she and Blind Hog raided up the cell phone amplifier antenna higher on the roof- moving it to the peak as well as puttin git on a 10' mast.  Already speeds have increased from -114 dB to -102 dB and sometimes even faster!  it is the little things...

Garden doing well, had its first irrigation today.  Sam has been enjoying almost daily walkies for 2.5 miles, keeps those toenails trimmed on the dirt road.

Goats doing well in the woods, as are the ticks that have gotten on them- they will be dealt with here tomorrow says Acorn.

Blind Hog has been keeping the yard mowed and the songbirds fed. Hummingbirds back in full force, orioles still hanging around with the rose breasted grosbeaks.  All is swell at the farm!

May get down to the upper 30's at the farm tonight- Acorn holding off to plant the tomatoes after this last cold snap.

Snakey-gosling of last week only lived a couple days- figuring it might have been an infection from the snake bite.  Her brother is out with mom and dad, doing very well.

Health maintenance week, some landlord property work.  Lawn needs mowing and the goats are grazing in the woods.

Gosling saved from being a black snake's lunch (much drama ensued); rhubarb pie, asparagus and lettuce feeding the farmers for lunch.

The first nice morel of the Spring found- Acorn talked to some mushroom hunters and they also thought it was an off year.  Few and far between!

Rain is back and well needed- that last deluge all ran off.  Still no morels found but Acorn did see asparagus in the garden today!

5 lil' honkers off to their new home, more eggs in the incubator and some still under an actual goose.  Acorn rescued an egg from a black snake, may think about bringing in the other eggs for artificial incubation if the gooses don't settle down on them.

House is getting cleaned, screens up in the windows, meals on the porch.  Houseplants back outside. Now to get the rest of the garden planted!

Three goslings hatched so far, another has pipped.  Two males, one female.  They are just so stinkin' cute.

Blind Hog sold all his pottery equipment, tools and materials to a newbie from northern Missouri.  She and her husband delivered Highland heifers 2 hrs from us, then swung over and we loaded them up.  Swedish Death Cleaning continues!!!

Weather has been mostly nice, no more rains since the weekend and yes, the county DID come out last Sunday to repair flood damage on bridges, grading the road in a few spots, removing tree log jams from the upstream side of the bridges as well..  Amaze!

Acorn sold all unneeded books in the house via Thriftbooks, the ones not sold will be donated to the library.  Thriftbooks even pays for shipping.  60 lbs of books mailed out!

A very productive week on the farm- Acorn can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as cleaning out the guest house and bunk house once and for all...  Hot damn...

Finally got the rain, and as of this writing, Acorn reports 5.38" which is in the 5-7" rain in the forecast.  During the first round, Acorn noticed flapping sheet metal on the old goat barn rood- during a "window of opportunity" Blind Hog fetched the Mahindra and Acorn clambered up the roof, screwing down the loose panels.  All fixed!

Between roof repairs, working in the garden, baking bread and scone Acorn managed to sit down and actually read an entire book. Imagine!

Spring cleaning in full swing- master bedroom, closet and dressers got the "black contractor bag" treatment.

Goslings set to hatch end of next week- so far, the seven eggs look good!

Talk about a busy week... Gardening... Kidding... Wood splitting... Blind Hog and Acorn have been busy.

Goat #494 "Poe" showed up looking like she had kidded, but no kid. It took 2 more days before she showed up with the wee bairn. Yes, Acorn got more than a little teary eyed.

All in all, a very good week. Could use some real rain though. Just sayin'...

Weeklong wildfires to the south of the farm- Acorn's throat is none too happy.  Smoke haze thick at times, hills looking right blue.

Purple martins beginning to hang around- will need to get the gourds up soon.  

Watercress spring is providing fresh greens for the geese- Acorn spotted minnows for the first time there.

Blind Hog aggravated a shoulder as he cut then loaded up dead trees and limbs after the big windstorm.  Good thing Acorn baked lots of treats to keep him happy and fuel his recovery.  Sam will opt for a nap...  Acorn continues to get the garden beds ready for planting.

Fields are now mowed down- ready for the spring growth surge as Blind Hog and Miss Massey have everything brush hogged nice and level.

Acorn has been milking and making skyr.  Baking the sourdough bread.

Goose eggs in the incubator, others will be collected until freezing chances are over, then eggs will go back into the nest. Yay for Spring!

Wellll, Acorn has Blind Hog's sinus crud...  Started as viral, is now bacterial.  Ugh...  No rest for the midwife, and the last big rush of kidding got completed.  Just a few stragglers now to go over the next few weeks.

Geese are a-laying, which is a great harbinger of Spring.  Counting the ganders, there are "six geese a laying..."

Rhubarb is sending its knuckles up, starter trays being prepped for seeds.

Little pig-nosed kid had to be put down; he was in pain and nothing could be done.  Come to find out his defect was most likely caused by a virus during a short window of fetal development.  Who knew???