Laritta- a beautiful, wonderful, first pregnant/milking doe. A couple of days before my 12 birthday, Mom asked me if I would like a pregnant Nubian doe. I am sure that you could guess my answer-YES!!! I had been at a friend's house and when their milking time came around, I was able to sit down and milk.-slowly, and sometimes missing the bucket, and cramps in my arms if I went too long- but I was milking! On my 12 birthday these same friends came over to our house while their parents went to check out the goat. I was anxiously waiting for the crunch of wheels on our gravel driveway, signifiying that they were here with the goat or not. At about 3:oo they called, saying that they were on their way back to pick up their kids & that there was a goat in their back seat! I was so thrilled- they couldn't get here fast enough! When they arrived I hurried around to the back of their car & when they opened the back door Laritta jumped out. I spent all my spare time with her, petting her, talking to her, & just being with her. I couldn't tell if she was for sure pregnant, but one day after we had just arrived home from some errands, I ran back to her pen to see if she had had her baby. (we didn't know what the due date was & I wasn't experianced enough to watch for the signs that they show beforehand) She hadn't had it, but the baby was pushing hard against her stomach and when I called Mom over, she said that it was indeed a baby pushing on her!
On September 17, 2003, I ran outside to check on Laritta. The day before the udder felt different, but I was too ignorant to know that what I was feeling was milk. I looked in one of the sheds & there she was looking uncomfortable. I thought she might be in labor & Mom confirmed my guess. While she went to get towels, camera, & bottles, I stayed so that I could keep an eye on Larrita. Soon after Mom had left, Larrita began pushing. I was nervous thinking that her birth would be as difficult as the Pygmy's had been. She however pushed Rose out with no problem. At first I wasn't sure if the baby was okay, because when it wasn't moving, but when I stepped over to it & picked it up, I could see that it was just fine. We raised Rose basically in the house. We always say jokingly that Rose learned to play the piano & wash dishes. One thing that we didn't know not to do was to play butting games with goats. We ended up ruining Rose because of it. She thought that she was stronger than us & could be dominant over us. She never did try to butt me, but Corbin got butted a couple of times before we sold her. Larrita then had a year later, two boys & a girl. I sold the boys, but kept the girl, which I named Birch.

Since this blog will be mainly about goats, I thought that I should give them their own special post. I received a pygmy doeling (baby girl) for my 7th birthday. While there, we also bought the doeling's mother & a little whether (fixed male). I named mine April, Mom named hers Annie & we named the boy Buckwheat. Buckwheat was a fiesty little thing, he never could hold still, but was always dancing on the end of the leash. When we arrived home, we realized that we didn't have anywhere for them, so we tied some pallets together and put the goats in there. The babies were so little that they slipped right out, so I had to watch them and make sure they didn't get hurt or lost, while dad made a better pen. Later we sold the whether & bought a buck (male goat). The smell from the buck was so bad that Mom didn't go outside very much & we had to keep the windows shut! He did his job though & both Annie and April had one baby each. I remember that day clearly. Annie's udder was so full that I just knew that the day had come!!! The haycutter was over & I was worried that the haycutter's noise would scare Annie. Mom and Grandma said that she would have her babies that day or the next. I pestered them with questions wanting to know exactly how a baby was born. They didn't know very much about it or they didn't want me to know. Anyways, that was the beginning steps of showing me what I wanted to do when I got older -midwifery. Back to the story... the haycutter left & Mom called me in to eat. I was just starting to step inside when I saw Annie having contractions. I knew what those were because I had recently watched a Golden Retreiver give birth. I alerted Mom and Grandma & all of us except for Grandpa, Corbin, and Kayla went out to watch. We are still not sure if we were just too new at births and panicked or if Annie was indeed having trouble. Mom and Dad pulled on the baby's legs when Annie had a contraction, I prayed, and Grandma was right there to help with whatever needed done. Soon the baby was born. A little girl that we named Augustina, because she was born in August. April had her baby the next night. Her baby had one of his front legs back alongside his belly instead of out with the nose like it should have been. We again pulled that one out. He was named Tino. They both grew well & were very healthy. We sold them a year or two later.

I was 6 when we signed on our new home in the country. We had recently moved from Salt Lake City, Utah - we are not LDS- where we lived in the subdivision. We were excited, especially Corbin and I, to have 5 acres of land to run and play on. The only pet that we had brought with us was a small dog, named Sandy. Little did we know that in less than ten years, we would have over 100 animals! Soon after we moved here, Mom took Corbin and me to pick out our first kittens. I picked a beautiful white kitten named Princess & Corbin picked out a handsome black kitten named Smokey. Princess would come running when I called and leap into my lap & would usually fall asleep giving me a hug! She disappeared a year later & we never found her again. Our family has owned several cats throughout the years and learned that cats disappear quite rapidly in the country with all the predators that we have (i.e. coyotes, owls, hawks and skunks.) Soon after we moved, Dad bought us a pony named Ginger. She is a good pony although if Calvin rides her his way ( fast and long) she does get a "pony" attitude.