Rain

Sunday of this week and early Monday morning was a washout! We received over 2 inches of rain and water is still standing even with the brisk winds that we have had for two days to dry some of it up. I spent some of the morning chasing down wind socks, bird houses, etc. that blew down. Buffalo Creek washed out quite well and a huge log jam that we had is gone - - finally. This is the same log jam that we worked on Saturday to help it move on down the creek. However, we did manage to loose some of our banks in the goat and Zebu pastures due to erosion. As soon as it dries up some, we will have to move some of our woven wire fencing to get it on solid ground. That will be a job for sure. This morning, we cleaned out some of the rabbit hutches and did what little work we could do while trying to stay dry. We'll probably do some more wood cutting too this afternoon. All the Nigerian Dwarf kids that were were born last Thursday night are doing well. They will be disbudded and tagged on Thursday of this week. I have a friend coming from Sanford to help. She wants to learn how to disbud in preparation for her kids that will be born in March. One of the quints that was born last Thursday only weighed two pounds. She is doing well. She nurses on her mom while I supplement her with milk three times a day. She is the smallest kid that I have ever had that survived. The closest to her in weight is Tabitha, who weighed 2-1/4 pounds at birth. Tabitha has been bred to Zeus and will be kidding in March. She is still a small doe and looks almost identical to her mom.

Rain Is Finally Over

Well the rain here finally eased up on Friday. We had a few little showers Friday afternoon but the majority of it is gone finally. We ended up getting 4-1/2 inches of rain. Even though it was a messy few days, we needed it. We had a few rays of sunshine now and then and we even got to go to an outdoor chicken stew at Belews Creek for supper. The Tree Service, Frenette & Sons worked all day Friday on the pines. It was windy but they managed to get down quite a few. The ones left are on the edge of the driveway and in front of our rent house. They finished up on Saturday. Now our work has just begun. All of our animals loved the drier weather and were frisky where they had stayed in their barns and shelters for a few days avoiding the wet weather. We traveled to Zironia, NC today to pick up a new 18 month old Nigerian Dwarf buck from Sonny Acres for my girls. Chestnut is a red chamoisee, naturally polled with blue eyes. He is very dainty and will be a good addition to my herd carrying some Piddlin Acres bloodlines.

Rain, Rain and More Rain

It is still raining here. The last time I looked at the rain gauge we had 4 inches since last Tuesday. Surprisingly, since we are in a flood plain, there are few puddles. We've been so dry for the past two or so years that most of it is soaking in. Our creek is not even up enough to wash down some logs that are in it. The wind blew all day Wednesday with rain falling and we lost power for about 1-1/2 hours in the afternoon. Pine trees with small root systems are mostly the problem. This morning early our power blinked too. Our tree people haven't been able to work for two days. Too messy! Spent the day yesterday, wrapping soap. Good day to get that done since it was raining and we had no power. I'm caught up for once with that chore. The Blue Seal rep for North Carolina came Wednesday afternoon to go over the feeds that we use and talk to us about their products. She will be getting back to us in a week or so and go over their pricing for various products. In our area, Blue Seal products are available at Walkertown Mill Farm, Lawn & Garden in Walkertown, NC.

Sunday

It rained off and on on Sunday of this week and we received over 2-1/4 inches. Buffalo Creek is getting washed out for the first time in ages as we have been in a drought situation this summer and fall. Water is flowing from bank to bank and logs and debris are floating down the creek doing a good cleaning job. Sunday was an "off day" since the time changed early on Sunday morning. Even though we were up earlier than usual, I can't quite get with the new schedule. Still changing clocks and now it is getting dark earlier. It usually takes a good week for me to get back on schedule. All the animals were out of kilter too. Had several people come and pick up pet rabbits Sunday afternoon and I wethered a Nigerian Dwarf goat that I sold as a bottle baby a few months ago. Monday was a beautiful day with the sun out and shining. Everyone enjoyed the sunshine. Cain and Abel, my Nubian buck kids, are growing and enjoy having a bottle of fresh goat's milk twice a day. Jackie, their dam, goes out grazing during the day and gets to reunite with them in the evening.

Rain Storm

Hope everyone enjoyed our American flags that we had on our farm sign for Memorial Day and for the upcoming Flag Day and 4th of July. The storm that came through Thursday night ripped them off of our sign posts and shredded them. We only received 1/2 inch of rain but the wind and lightening was strong. After the storm, we had a few limbs down on some of our fences and lots of leaves everywhere. We went out and cleaned up everything everything before dark. Our son, Andy, had already been working at Tanglewood Park this week getting up trees (60-70) off of the golf course due to an earlier storm. Tonight, after this latest storm, he got called back into work to remove an oak tree that had fallen on the Detention Center off of Shattalon Drive in Winston-Salem. The tree also crushed one car and dented several more. They will finish up removing it Friday. More bad weather is in the forecast for tonight. All the animals made it through the storm by staying in their barns. At least none of them blew over like they have before. Now the smaller hutches are secured to the ground with utility building tie downs.