Sorry for the delay!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in my blog. The farmer has had the flu and wouldn't type anything for me. That doesn't mean nothing has happened - no indeed. Jingle and Tinker are growing like weeds. They have learned how to do baby goat motocross and stump jumping. I hope to get some pictures up soon of that. Breezy's babies are doing well also, and we have a new Lamancha baby. He is very handsome.

Next on the kidding countdown is cranky old April - she will be having minimancha babies the second week of March. You cannot believe what a crabpot April is. She loves to bite our ears. She is BIG, too.

Ok, I will do my best to keep things going but the farmer is wheezing and sneezing a lot, so I don't know how much luck I will have. The weather is still unspeakably beautiful. All of our rain went to California. The farmer is gloomy and says we will pay for it later, but I for one love the sunshine, so I am happy as a clam.

Glorious Sunshine!

The spring has been unbelievably beautiful!

It makes us love life!

Today Jingle and Tinker and I are just basking in the sun! AH!


Sunbathing with my babies 

Jingle and Tinker, climbing Mt. Belle 

Thanks Everyone

Thanks to everyone for all the nice comments and excellent name suggestions!

I really had a hard time choosing names. If I had had a girl who was all white like me, I was going to name her Snow Belle. If I had a girl who was dark, I was going to name her Blue Belle.

If I had a boy who looked French, I was going to call him Bel Ami and have the farmer buy him a jaunty beret.

I decided on Jingle and Tinker for my two baby Belles in the end.

On their birthday they were very cute but of course kind of smushed-looking. Today they are supremely adorable, like supermodel goat babies. (And much bigger than Breezy's kids, who just look like little shrimps by comparison. Heh heh.)

Anyway, today we are going outside for a frolic. All the kids will play together since it is a beautiful sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest. So soon we will be able to add pictures of the outdoor kid jamboree.

Introducing Jingle and Tinker!

Here are the pictures of my kids. Jingle is the boy, and Tinker is the girl.


Whew, having babies is hard work! 

Young lady,

you are not going outside today,


so please stop pestering me! 

FINALLY!!!!!

Well, guess who just got born! My twins! They are very beautiful (AND BIG! I HAD TO PUSH HARD, AND THE FARMER HAD TO PULL!). One is a boy, and one is a girl. I will put the pictures up after I take a nice long nap. Then I can tell you the whole story.

Introducing Breezy's Triplets

While we wait (and wait) for MY kids to be born, let's meet Breezy's surprise birthday triplets, born on Saturday. They are already hopping around like jumping beans.
Just born: Kitty, still a little gooey... 

Mel... 

...and Kimmy, getting a rubdown 

Kidding Day Has Arrived

Today the countdown reaches zero...today is my Kidding Day.

But guess what? My kids have not come out yet.

While I wait for their arrival I am keeping my spirits up by eating lots of food. Here is a list of some of the things I have nibbled on today: alfalfa, grass hay, cob, salted peanuts, a Granny Smith apple, blackberry leaves, sunflower seeds, brewer's yeast, tums, barley straw, regular old grass, part of an oatmeal cookie.

YUM! When you are in the maternity wing the service is VERY good.

One of the surprise triplets, just born 

Breaking News!

Holy Goat, see if you can guess what happened here last night!

Breezy stole my thunder!

Thank Goodness Atty was paying attention. When the farmer came out to give him his dinner in the pasture just after dark, he was barking and making a ruckus and running in and out of the shed.

First the farmer was grumpy and said, "Atty! Eat your dinner! Stop making so much noise!"

Then the farmer heard a big scream and ran to look in the shed. Yep, you guessed it, Breezy had just popped out a baby. The farmer grabbed the baby and ran up to the barn.

Atty stayed on watch. Before the farmer got back, Breezy popped out two more babies. The farmer grabbed the two new wet babies and went up to the barn, and Breezy ran along behind, following the babies' little cries. Soon they were all dried off and full of milk and tucked into a cozy warm stall with lots of fresh straw.

Breezy was not supposed to kid until the end of March, but the dates must have been mixed up. She fooled everybody! When Atty came off his watch duty this morning he ran right to the barn to sniff the new babies and make sure they were okay.

Good job, Atty! It was freezing cold out there, that would NOT have been good for those little kids!

Pictures coming soon: two girls and a boy. VERY cute. (But probably not as cute as my babies will be, if I ever do have them....)

And yesterday was Breezy's birthday, too, isn't that funny?

Surf's Up!

Stevie Hangs Ten 

Juniper Breeze, the birthday girl

Here is a picture of Breezy, the other birthday celebrant. Isn't she pretty?

Breezy's quadruplets enjoyed "Mama surfing," which is something that Nigerian babies do a lot. They jump up on their mothers' backs and ride around until the mother gets too annoyed to allow it any more. Breezy was very patient and let her quads surf for a long time.

Breezy's daughter Stevie was the best of the surfers.


Happy Birthday, Breezy! 

Happy Birthday!

Ha! I fooled you. No, my babies did not get born yet, but they have stopped squirming around so much and I think that means they are getting ready to come out. But today is a big Birthday date here on the farm.

Breezy is three years old today, and Willen is four.

Breezy is a Nigerian doe. Last year she had quadruplets, three girls and a boy! One of the girls is named Quattra (she was born fourth) and she is partner in crime to my daughter Hannah Belle. They used to go around together making trouble before Quattra got too fat to squeeze through the fence.

Willen is not a goat, he is a Haflinger horse. Haflingers are very smart (almost as smart as goats), and Willen is a very smart Haflinger. He knows how to fetch, and he knows how to say yes and no, and he will be very happy to do any of those things for a treat. Today he is four years old.


Happy Birthday, Willen 

Three Days to Go!

K-Day Minus Three! That's right, there are only three days left in the kidding countdown. I am so ready for these baby goats to come out. It feels like they are player soccer in there!

I got some more name suggestions: Liberty Bell (woops! I had this listed as Liberty Belle at first!) and Southern Belle.

The list is getting long - I am glad there will be several to pick from.

Did you know that up until this year there were only six breeds of goats, all full-size, allowed in the ADGA? (That's the American Dairy Goat Association.) Those breeds were:

a. Alpine
b. Lamancha
c. Nubian
d. Oberhasli
e. Saanen
f. Toggenburg

Guess what? Now there is a new breed in town! The Nigerian Dwarf! The mighty mite milkers with everything - smart, funny, cute, colorful, yummy milk!

Go little girls! Dwarf Doe Power!

Our friend Atty

This is a picture of our guardian dog Atticus. He is a Great Pyrenees; he weighs 165 pounds. He was born in a goat barn in Eastern Washington and grew up with goats all around him.

He sleeps with us in the pasture at night to make sure no coyotes or other creatures can hurt us. Before Atty came some raccoons and hawks used to take the farmer's chickens all the time. Now nobody bothers them or us. Atty also hates crows, and won't let them land on the ground.

Atty is a good guard dog. He is very gentle with babies. Last year Winnie had her babies in the pasture; only Atty was here to take care of them. He did a good job, in fact he didn't really like it when the farmer came home and took the babies to the barn to warm up.

At night he has a special bark that means "go inside right now!" We all go in the shed right away if he gives the special bark. No one would ever disobey Atty.

When Snow Pea was crying because she couldn't go out, he went and laid outside her stall almost all day so she would have company. I'm glad Atty will be here when my babies come.


Our guardian dog Atticus 

Only Four Days to Go!

Good Golly, there are only four days to go in the KIDDING COUNTDOWN! Luckily I have had some excellent name suggestions. Thanks everyone who wrote in! I could always use more ideas, though, so if you think of a good "Belle" name, you can still send it.

Today I will get my birthing haircut. I don't like it much but I don't pitch a fit like some girls. (I don't like to name names but April the Lamancha acts like she is being tortured with red hot needles when she gets her hair cut. You'd think she would be embarrassed acting like such a baby - she is the biggest goat here.)

Here is the list of possible names so far:

Jingle Belle
Tinker Belle
Bluebelle
Snow Belle
Belle o' the Ball
Belle Ami (for a boy)
Belle Amie (for a girl)
Belle Ringer

My milk is coming in, and as you probably know, Nigerian milk is the yummiest of all the goat milks. And of course goat milk is a thousand times yummier than cow milk. (Once when I was just a little kid I got cow milk in my bottle and I thought I was going to gag. Yucch!) So that tells you just how yummy Nigerian milk is.

DANGER!

Good Heavens, we almost had a terrible accident here at the farm yesterday! My daughter Hannah Belle, who is quite an escape artist, decided that she would just jump over the fence to go visit her friend Clipper.

Now Hannah Belle is 8 months old, and she used to be quite a skinny little doeling, but as she has become a teenager her figure is not quite as willowy as it used to be, if you know what I mean. Anyway, Hannah Belle did not quite clear the top of the fence, and on the way down she got her leg caught in the wire, and she was stuck in the fence swinging upside down!

Luckily the farmer happened to be right there or I shudder to think what might have happened. We thought her leg was broken but after she hobbled around for a while she was fine. I hope she has learned a lesson, for once! Anyway, you kids out there, do NOT try to jump wire fences!

If you are keeping track, today is DAY 5 in the KIDDING COUNTDOWN!


Hannah Belle gets a vet check after fence mishap