Here is Deb and Stilton. Deb is on the left, Stilton is on the right.

Hello, Everyone!

I wanted to introduce my two new does and buck. Some of our friends were selling most of their Toggenburg does. This is the same family that I had bought Grommette, Gravity, and Cherokee from. After some consideration and planning, we decided to get:


Stilton! Stilton is Grommette's first daughter!! I was sooo excited when I heard that I could buy Stilton. I have now owned all of Grommette's daughters! Stilton is producing about 3/4 gallon a day right now.

Deb! Deb is Cherokee's grand-daughter!! I was again so excited to be able to purchase a doe directly related to Cherokee. She is producing 1/2 gallon a day. This is Deb's first freshening, so she is doing good.

Style! What a name for a buck! :-) Style has curly hair on top of his head. As soon as I am get a good picture of him; I will post the picture on this blog. We are not sure yet as to if we will keep him, or just use him for breeding.

One Friday in August, Mom, Kayla, Josiah, and I went to the fair. Josiah is a little boy that has stayed with us once a week throughout the summer. When we arrived there, we first watched a magic show. I so wished that he would teach us how to do a trick! One of the tricks, he read the directions aloud while doing the trick. Even then, we couldn't figure out how he did it. He took a banana, folded it in half, YUCK! and placed it into a handkerchief. He then squeezed the bag with the banana inside it, shook out the handkerchief and out fell a yellow handkerchief instead of a mushed banana!! I was very impressed to say the least! We saw some other tricks that he did, like, making candles come out of handkerchiefs and a bowling ball come out of a book. It was a great show. We then made our way to where another attraction was taking place. This one was having dogs jump off a dock into a pool of water. The length that they jumped was measured and the one that jumped the farthest won. The winner jumped 22 feet! We then checked out the buildings that contained the items that we had placed in the fair. I won first place on a blanket and shawl that I crocheted. Corbin won first place on a card that he drew. Kayla won first place on several things that she entered including two dresses that she sewed and a hat and booties that she crocheted. Calvin won third place on a picture of a dinasaur with it's shadow that he drew. Then we bought a bag of Kettle Corn and savoured each delicious bite! We met up with our friends, the Byrums, and watched a goats being judged. There were about six contestents showing off their goats. It was fun watching the different personalities of the goats. There was one that was wellbehaved and the worst one was jumping around, all the others were inbetween. We also went through a reptile barn and saw huge snakes, large toads, and a teeny owl. There was even a goose that ate grass out of our hand! It was know dinnertime, so we all piled into the Byrum's fifteen seater van and went to Qdoba. We had some excellent burritos there. We headed back to watch the Rodeo!!! The grandstands were packed full with excited, expectant people. We tried to find a spot to sit and eventually found ourselves with standing room only, but Rachal Byrum and I sought out a seat in the grandstands and were rewarded!!! There we watched as cowboys were let out of chutes on bucking horses. All stayed on their steeds for the six seconds. Then two cowboys on their well trained horses, would ride over and help the cowboy off the bucking bronc.The highlight of the show were the Bull Wrestlers. I am sure glad that I was not one of those cowboys. I would not have liked to grab a bull by his horns, jump off my horse, and pull the bull over on his back. There was a clown who acted like he couldn't ride his motercycle, so when someone told him to choke it, he grabbed it around the handlebars and choked it!! He manged to start it and rode it almost falling over the handlebars, then revving it up he rode it up on a jump that was attached to a semi-trailer and flew over the semi-trailer!! We stayed the whole time and left the fair at 9:00 after ten hours of fun!!

The Hike
This is the first time we rode our horses in the woods. Our whole family went. It was a lot of fun. Kayla, Jordan, and I were the only ones that rode our horses and everyone else probably had fun. I played like I was an Indian and cantered without holding onto the saddle horn! It was a sunny day. I was cantering a lot. It was very pretty. It sure would be fun to live out there, but I am thankful that God let us have a trailer to take our horses out there. Daddy gave me a stick and I played like it was my gun. I went ahead of the others a long way. It was fun to be alone. Kayla wanted to ride my horse a little bit and Jordan wanted to ride Kayla's horse a little bit. So I walked. I found a stick and played like it was my pistol. I was a little sick, so when I ran, I coughed a bit, so Daddy carried me. We met some other hikers on the way. Then we went back to our trailer and we met another man, his daughter, and his dog. The man worked with Dad a while ago. While they were talking, Kayla and I got on our horses bareback and rode around. Written by Calvin, age 8.


A hike and Trail ride
On September 1, 2008, Calvin and I went on our first trail ride. Our family had decieded to take a hike. We were borrowing a friend's trailer, so our family could take two horses if we wanted to, we decided that would be a good idea and lots of fun. So, we loaded up Ginger and Bullet and put their saddles and equipment in the back of our van. Then got into the van and drove to a park where horses were allowed. We saddled them up and started down the trail. Calvin rode Ginger and I rode Bullet. We went down the rather short trail and then we decieded to do it again, so we did it one more time. Corbin rememberd that we could cross the road and there would be three more trails. One of the trails was short, the other one was a little longer, and the third was even longer. We decided to take the short one. Calvin looked like a little Indian running Ginger down the trail without holding on. Daddy seeing how Calvin was having great fun and making war whoops, found Calvin a stick that looked like a gun. Then after getting a picture, he saw that the gun was too big and ackward for him to carry. Dad found him a smaller stick that looked like a pistal. Off he went, galloping down the trail. Soon, we were back at the starting line. Jordan wanted to have a turn on Bullet so we headed back to our van and exchanged the small saddle for a bigger one. Jordan got on and we headed back across the road and went down the middle-sized trail. I walked for half of the trail then Calvin got off Ginger and I rode her the rest of the way. Ginger was a lot of fun to ride. It was getting time to go home and eat dinner, so we loaded up the horses and headed home. We all had a wonderful time that day. The End. Written by Kayla, age 10


Horses and Hikes
One afternoon, our family decided to take advantege of our friend's horse trailer and the semi-warm day and go for a hike/ride. After loading the two horses, Bullet and Ginger, into the trailer, we were on our way. After arriving at the park, we backed the horses out of the trailer, saddled them up and were off! Kayla and Calvin rode first. Kayla for the most part walking beside us, Calvin fearlessly charging far down the trail in front. Then just as suddenly, he would come holloring and whooping towards us. After making a loop around one side of the road twice, we went over the road and walked it's short loop. Then Kayla graciously allowed me the privledge of taking a turn. We swapped saddles and I swung aboard. So often I have always been training a horse and so rarely, just enjoying the ride, so this was a special treat. Bullet wanted to trot, but I easily kept him at a walk. I wanted to enjoy the ride to the fullest. Birds were flitting around, the wind was gently blowing, but with a cold streak to it. As I gazed at all the different shades of colors, especially green, I was amazed at how they all fitted together into a beautiful picturesque setting. I imagined I was riding alone and back in the 1700's with Robinhood hiding with his band amongst the bushes, or maybe that I was taking a load of goods down the hill when robbers would dash out and surround me. I had a lovely time. There seemed to be a certain element of magic in the air. Then once, I allowed Bullet to trot, but before long his muscles bunched together and we were flying, flying down the trail at a grand lope. Then too soon it was time to leave and we crossed the road back to where our small trailer sat. 'Fore long however, we were hailed and turning to look saw Dad's old co-worker and friend coming towards us along with his daughter, Rachel, and dog, Jewel. We spent a while chatting and getting to know each other once again. Kayla and Calvin mounted their steeds bareback and rode circles around us. We all had a glorious time. Written by Jordan (me) age 17.

We have done so much these past few weeks that I will just have to summerize some of the smaller events and hopefully go into more detail on the bigger ones.

We have been doing some canning. We have canned Pears, Peaches, and Tomatoes, and also dried Pears, Jerky, Tomatoes and made dehydrated crackers.

We sold our horse Blue. The people that bought him have ridden him and just loved him! I am so glad. Blue was and is such a great all around horse.

One of my bucklings died, due to worms. (At least that is what I think caused it) When I noticed that he wasn't doing very well, I thought that it was because he was dehydrated. I began syringing liquid down him every hour. He seemed to do a little better, but by 2:00 a.m., I could tell that the end was near. He died soon after. It was soo sad.

We went to the Fair & had lots of fun. I will add a writing that I did on it later.

PonyBoy is still for sale. We have had a couple of interested people, but always they were too far away or found another horse.

These are some of the events that happened. If I remember of more, I will add them later. :)

Acouple mornings ago, I got my milk things together and started out the door. When I got to the milk barn Dutch door, the top was open and I saw to my amazment and horror, nine goats feasting on grain, stomping on stancions and cabient and dragging paper towels everywhere!!!!!! I hollored to Mom, who was letting out the horses and she hastened to my assistence. We were able to get them out quickly, but I was concerned about them bloating. I kept a very close eye on them and no one got sick!! Praise God! At one point during the day, it began to rain, which caused the goats to scurry back into their pens. I was disappointed, because I wanted them to be able to graze and walk around. I began to earnestly pray that God would stop the rain and he did!!

The vet came again on Wednesday. She pulled the stitches out. Granite's eye had almost healed completely! There was a little ulcer, which she said would probably become a small hard white dot, but that he would be able to see around the white dot!!! Praise God that his eye has healed and that he should be able to see out of that eye!

The vet came again on Tuesday. She took the stitches out and found that part of the eye had ruptured causing an ulcer. She did say though that the eye looked very healthy and that there is no fear of him losing his eye completly. We still don't know if he will be able to see out of that eye though. She sewed his eye back up again so the ulcer could heal & she is coming back next week on Wednesday. Please pray that he would not need anything more done that time as this is getting a little expensive :-) But, even while saying that, I thank God that his whole eye didn't rupture & that the vet has a lot of wisdom on what needed done.

Friday morning, it was cold and windy. I let three ponies, Bullet, Liberty, and Ginger, into a pasture to graze. They all ran out the gate into the pasture, which got PonyBoy excited. PonyBoy has a cateract in one of his eyes which makes him more nervous when he sees other horses running. I then went into the pen that PonyBoy was kept in. He was more excited then he has been this summer, but I didn't think too much of it, seeing it was cold and windy, which usually makes our horses a bit more spirited. I led him out and while I walked to the big pasture, tried to make him drop his head. When a horse drops his head, so his topline is level, it means that the horse is relaxed. I have been doing that a lot with him and it seems to have helped him calm down. This paticular time, however, he didn't like the idea of being calm. Also, he bonked me with his nose, which means that he thought that he was dominent and that I didn't matter. I bonked him back to show that I did matter and that I was the one who was dominent. Kayla opened the pasture gate and I led him through. It was cold, so I dropped the halter off him. He turned to leave right away, which is another sign of him thinking he is the dominent one. I turned to leave immediatly, so that I could be seen as the boss. He again didn't like that idea and no sooner then I had taken a couple of steps, I got a full print of a horsehoof on my shoulder blade!!! I turned and yelled at him and he took off running. I couldn't do anything more, so I left. A little bit of redness appeared soon after the kick, but Mom rubbed some Arnica cream on it and it disappeared. I haven't felt any pain from it and I am sure that I didn't break any bones. Praise God it was not worse and that it was me that he kicked. My younger siblings would have got it in the head. As it is, we are selling PonyBoy, we were trying to sell him before, but this adds a new desire to have him gone so we don't have to worry about any more kicks. He broke Dad's hand and has tried to kick me before, but this is the first time he has been successful in getting me. Again, thank you Jesus!

Our colicy experiance with Blue our horse

Yesterday evening, Mom noticed that Blue our Walkaloosa was not eating his hay, which is a definate sign that something is wrong with a horse. Blue was laying down, so Mom clucked to him, trying to make him get up. He finally did, but the leg that he was laying on was stiff and sore. I immediately thought of Colic, so since I was busy with Dinner preperations, Dad walked him around the pasture. Blue did not want to walk and just wanted to paw the ground, lay down, and roll. If a horse is colicing, these things mean that it is in pain. We took turns walking him around and around the field. Blue also had bulging knots in the stomach portion near his flank and we couldn't hear anything moving or gurgling inside. He was stopped up! At ten p.m., we gave him a small amount of hay and water. When he began chewing, it began his intestines working again. We started being able to hear some gurgling. We couldn't give him much hay as that would just make the problem worse, so we gave him a small amount of hay every once in a while. This morning, he was walking around and wanting to eat more, so we spread a small leaf of hay around the pasture to keep him having to move. We are hoping and thinking that he is past the danger part. Praise God!!

We had the vet out on Tuesday. Before she even had seen Granite's eye, she knew that he had got his eye poked. We pulled the stanchion out of my milk barn and put him on that. That way, less people would have to hold him, but he couldn't move around much. After the vet put some numbing eyedrops in his eyes, she gave him a couple shots of numbing medicine in his eyelids. Then she tried to scrape off the white membrane, which was actually his enlarged Cornea! The Cornea had fluid in it that made it enlarged. At first she used a Q'tip, but that didn't work, so she tried with a knife, but that didn't work either. She was able to make a hole in the Cornea, so that it could drain. When she was done with this, she got ready to sew it up. I ran into the house, I was feeling a little sick, with needles, his baaing (he wasn't baaing because he was hurt, but because he didn't like being constrained, but still.... it didn't help things!) When I got into the house, I knew that my body was trying to faint and I was trying to not let it. Mom told me to put my head in between my knees and that helped almost immediately. I then was able to go help hold Granite again. When I got there the sight that met my eyes was a curved needle 1/2 way out of one eyelid and 1/2 way out the other! The vet finished sewing him up then gave me some ointment to put in the eye twice a day. The eyelid isn't completely sewed together, so it can drain. Now we are hoping and praying that the eye doesn't explode or prolapse. We are not sure if he will be blind in that eye or not. The vet is coming next Tuesday to check up on him and take the stitches out.

Granite was born to Grommette and Molassas this year. He is now 4 1/2 months old. A couple of days ago, while we were working outside, Mom noticed that something looked wrong with his eye. I was actually working in the house at that time, so Mom came inside and alerted me. I changed out of my nicer clothes into "goat" clothes. Already he smells like a buck and I did NOT want that smell on my nice clothes! I pulled him out of the buck pen, so I didn't have more bucks around me than I needed to and looked at his eye. His eye had turned completly white with a red rim. It looked like it was protuding out of the eye socket, but on closer examination, I found that there is a membrane that forms a bit of a pocket over the eye. It looks terrible! I am not sure exactly what it is yet, but I have been giving him shots of Bio Mycin, putting drops of eye antibiotics in his eye and giving him minerals and vitamins. I will -if I have time- post updates on him.

Corbin and I have recently been allowed to ride our bike to a nearby park named Q'elium, it's more like National Forest, and hike for a couple hours. We have had so much fun. We have found a couple of geocaches. Looking for geocaches is like a Treasure Hunt. They are hidden pretty much anywhere, in any terrain. Both of the ones we found were right off the main trail, but were so hidden that it took us a while to find them. Inside the geocache is articles that people can trade (i.e.) if you find something that you like, you can take it out and put something else in.

We climbed up steep rocks, through shallow rivers, and took each others pictures in front of the waterfall.

Not long after three of the Killdeer eggs hatched, I was sent to take a book to one of our neighbors. I rode my bike, and on the way back noticed a dead bird on the road. It had been hit by a car and was quite flat :( When I bent down to look at it, I noticed it was one of the baby killdeers. I then went over to check the nest and see if the remaining egg had hatched. It had and both parents were busy taking care of their two youngens. I bent down and talked to it. One of the parents noticed that a "stranger" was too close to their babies and set up an alarm. The other parent quickly did as well and came running across the horse pasture. I wasn't much of a stranger to them, since I had checked on the nest several times during the 'setting' period, but still...they had to follow their instincts. I left so as not to cause the parents more alarm. A few days later, two more chicks died. One of the parents disappeared as well. The remaining parent and chick stuck close together and were happy and content for another couple days. Then one day, I saw the parent, but no chick was in sight. I was busy and figured that it was in the ditch or flower bed where I couldn't see very well. Later, we found out that Corbin had seen it in a hole in the ground alongside a pipe. The chick couldn't get out, since the hole was so skinny so Corbin tried to get it out and couldn't. The chick went under a slab of concrete, so now we couldn't see it either. We didn't lose hope and kept checking it every little while. Then finally the chick stepped out from underneath the slab of concrete, so I could see it again. It was struggling, trying to climb up the pipe. I reached down and slid my fingers under it. Then when I tried to bring it up, it fell forward slightly, so now it was getting stuck in-between the pipe and ground. I slid a wire down and under its bill and lifted its bill gently up. Then slid it out. It was sooo weak, it was like a brandnew chick again. It recovered though quickly and is now following its parent around the pasture.

We have a pair of killdeers that built a nest in our horse pasture. We spotted the nest on June 18 and have kept an eye on it ever since. Our family had given up on them ever hatching, but two days ago, on of the eggs hatched! The next evening, there were three eggs hatched, and this afternoon, the last chick emerged from its shell. It was still rather weak and damp. Such darling things! So small, yet they look so much like their parents!