Thank you Kayla!

Our heartfelt thanks to Kayla Brogdon for giving us our first "show" goats. Kayla has been showing goats and pigs for quite a while now. The does have been shown and have done very well in the show ring. They have wonderful bloodlines. However, she has decided to concentrate on her Boer goats and pigs. She wanted to see her dairy goats go to a home where she knew she could visit them. Fortunately for us, she kept them in the family! Two does and a buck will be joining the herd. Of course, they are in quarantine for 30 days. We will be testing them for CAE, CL, G6S and Q-fever. We've got to make sure that we keep a clean herd. I am sure they will pass with flying colors. We wish Kayla the very best of luck with her Boer show goats!

I wish you could have seen the rodeo we had getting them in the pen tonight. There were 3 women (me, Teri and Kayla), 3 goats and 3 dogs. Well, I should have thought ahead and put up the dogs! The goats were not too happy that the dogs were there even though they have always been around dogs. I guess they weren't introduced properly. So, to make a long story short, Teri and I ended up on the ground trying to keep them separated. We both will feel the bruises tomorrow :-) Thank goodness Erik heard the commotion and came over. Finally, the humans now outnumbered the goats and we got them settled in their new enclosure. Erik then headed over to the dairy to feed the goats over there and to help Wendell with more cleaning. They will be working very late tonight. I am going to take a hot bath and wash the rodeo off of me!

Water Works

Well, it takes quite a bit of work to get water from one end of the dairy to the other. A big thanks to Aaron who spent about 12 hours on the backhoe this weekend digging the trenches. Wendell and Erik were the PVC pipe specialists. When the water was turned on there were no leaks. Yippee! We have water all over the place now. We even have HOT water in the house. Thanks also to Matthew who put the blinds up in all of the windows. The last of the saltillo tile was installed in the bedrooms. It is really starting to look like something. No more tablecloths on the windows or concrete floors :-)

Wendell went for his follow-up at the cardiologist and he is realeased to normal activity. Thank you, thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers. I can't tell you how happy I am. His birthday is on the 28th and we will be celebrating BIG TIME with a combined birthday/SuperBowl party! The AZ Cardinals are finally in it! #13 is our lucky number and that is quarterback Kurt Warner's jersey number. Wendell and I were married on June 13, Wendell's dad, Ken, survived a WWII kamikaze attack on Friday the 13th, Wendell's heart stent was placed on 1/13/09 AND the dairy address is 11300 S. Dean. Soooo, we are sure hoping that Kurt Warner and the Cardinals bring a victory back from Tampa Bay.

Goats are doing well. The girls that are pregnant are starting to show and Mary Lou (the daughter, not the goat) is also starting to show! She is due July 1st. Can't wait to see our new little goat milker!

My Heart Dropped

When Wendell told me that his chest felt "funky" and he wanted to go to the doctor "in the morning," I got out of bed and started getting dressed. There was no way I was going to wait all night long for him to see the doctor. He had been very tired lately and had just figured he had been working too much. Anyway, to make a long story short, he is now the proud recipient of a stent in his right coronary artery! He didn't want anyone to know, or make a fuss over him, so he didn't want me to tell anyone. Well, I almost lost my composure after 24 hours of keeping this "secret" and people were wondering where we were. I called my dear friend Kathy Lee and told her what was happening and that I was going to lose it if I didn't have someone to talk to about it. Thanks to her, she calmed me down and I was able to be strong for Wendell. I just don't know what I would have done without her calm reassurance that all would be fine. About 20 minutes prior to the proceedure, Wendell gave me the green light to let the kids know what was going on. I called and let them know that their father was going to have a cardiac catherization. They were all very strong for me. We didn't have any tears or panic! I am so glad about that. Dr. Patel came out after the procedure and told me that Wendell had one of his main arteries that was 99.9% blocked. He continued to explain that he had been .1% away from a heart attack! During the procedure the doctor was able to place the stent into the artery and open it back to 100%. Praise God! Everything turned out fine. He is now home resting for the next week. So, if my posts aren't very often ... That is why.

Progress on the dairy is chugging along. We are still very excited about the does kidding this spring and that we will be making cheese!

Take care, AND if your chest ever feels FUNKY, get to the ER!

Happy New Year!

Well, we had a huge bonfire on New Year's Eve. I don't know if the kids or the adults had more fun :-) Tony and Mike searched the river for wood and came back with an entire tree! They had to be tired after that night. There are a few pictures, but Mary took them and I haven't downloaded yet. We ate our traditional black-eyed peas and ham for luck after midnight. Boy, did that work because Erik, Aaron and Wendell were able to get the well running that afternoon. I loaned my camera to my nephew but took a couple of pics with my cellphone camera. This is a picture of the muddy first water and the happy dance that followed. The dogs and goats are doing well at their new home and I will post pics later when I get my camera back!