The fawns were close to the house this morning. I crouched down behind a tree and watched them. I saw two sets of twins and two does.
One set of twins were separated, one on each side of the property fence. I left quietly when a doe sensed my presence.
This afternoon while cutting The Man's hair Zeke came into the garage and watched us.
He stared and stared and started chewing cud like he was eating popcorn. It was very strange.
Cræft by Alexander Langlands
An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts
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| Hoopla Audiobook |
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| Hoopla Audiobook |
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| Library ebook |
It's a nice cool day outside - mid-60's - a bit chillier inside. I turned the oven on to warm the house.
Asparagus and ham quiche for lunch. Quick and easy with a frozen pie crust.
Raisin Oatmeal Classics cookies.
I followed the recipe on the Sun-maid Raisins bag and also added chocolate chips and shredded coconut.
Egg Bread in the bread machine.
The kitchen is warm and smells delicious.
I had cancelled our Tuesday Produce box since we would be gone for an overnight trip. I changed my mind and decided to get a box for the holiday weekend when I saw the list of goodies in this week's box.
What a yummy box of fruits and veggies.
So the cloth - most likely dish towels - has been washed and they're sitting by the sewing machine waiting to be finished. July 12, 2021
Oh my, it's been awhile since I wove the dish towels. Last week I finally decided that I needed to hem the JST Muted Color Gamp dish towels. Mainly because I want them in use and out of the To Do sewing box.
Also, I wanted to get my Singer 301A (aka Black Beauty) out of the bag.
I purchased this beautiful work horse machine from an Etsy seller in September 2022. It was made in 1953 and is truly an engineering marvel. It came with a box of attachments, the original case, and the original manual. My main requirement was an unfaltering straight stitch, that's it, plain and simple.
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| 10/8/22 |
The 301A was immediately put to the test by sewing port hole covers and repairing a leather and nylon boat cover. It did the job without complaint.
So anyway back to dish towels. The JST Color and Weave towels needed to be repaired. The hemstitched and fringe hems were starting to fray so I wanted to convert them to a double-folded hem instead.
I stabilized the handwoven cloth with stay stitching then used pinking shears to cut off the original hem and then sewed a turned hem with the machine.
Next I did the same with the JST Muted Color Gamp towels with the additional job of cutting off weft ends.
I sewed two rainbow towels on the machine and was unhappy with the results.
As I started the machine-hemmed project I knew this type of finishing wasn't going to be as lovely as a hand-sewn hem but I thought I would be okay with a so-so finished but functional towel. I was wrong. The machine sewn hem wasn't too noticeable with the black and white towels but the misalignment of the striping on the rainbow cloth was ugly and jarring.
Instead of ripping out the hem and thereby putting the unfinished towels back in the sewing box for later, I decided to call it a lesson and be done with the two wonky dish towels. I sewed on a label to use as a hang tab (and hopefully redirect the eyes away from the cloth and the hem) and will give the towels to The Man for the camper.
I've already started finishing the rest of the towels the right way. You know, the slow way.
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JST: Jane Stafford Textiles, School of Weaving, Online Guild
The funny thing about Nurses are they always like to see poop. That means things are moving along, yes, pun intended.
So imagine how relieved I am to see Zeke pooping, peeing, burping, and especially chewing cud. You know, all the goaty bodily functions. Zeke has patiently tolerated rectal temperatures, drinking 50 ml of canola oil, lots of Sodium Bicarb, and always coming to the stairs when called to get gas released.
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| Oily chin and baking soda lips |
I'm not sure what caused his bloat so for the time being he's just getting forage hay and pasture, no additional kitchen scraps - fruit or veggies - and no concentrated goat feed in pellet form.
The drawback to not getting the handful of pellets, which our goats love as treats, is I wasn't able to complete his 4th Adequan IM dose, he bolted as soon as he felt the sting of the needle. Apparently forage was not much of an incentive to holding still and getting a shot.
But for now I'm going to take a break and give it a rest. It's been quite a week.
I did not write a daily blog post yesterday. It would have been Post #107 but last night I was too tired, too stressed. I thought I had killed my goat. I didn't but Zeke sure acted like he was dying.
This happened after I had given him a SQ antibiotic injection. Subcutaneous injection, easier than an Intramuscular injection - easy peasy.
Well, Zeke let out a bellow - food falling out of his mouth - he staggered against the wall of the goat house and his eyes bulged. I was inside the goat house with him and Bitsy. I fumbled with the gate latch to get out in case Zeke started flailing and kicking.
At the time The Man and I were talking on the phone. I was talking hands-free via ear pods. The Man knew I was giving a shot and I said, "I think I killed the goat".
I let Zeke out of the goat house, he took a wobbly step, and then started rubbing himself against the fence of the pen. After a few minutes I coaxed him back into the goat house and gave him a little more treat. He was fine. I kept taking deep breaths trying to calm myself. It was a terrible experience for both of us, the antibiotic must have hurt like hell.
It started last Tuesday when Zeke started having clumpy poop and by the next day it was scours (goatie diarrhea) and bloat. Most alarming was the fast breathing and the labored panting which increased with his abdominal distention. Rumen rubs and belly pats didn't seem to help much.
What did work was positioning him on the steps with his front elevated higher than his back end. This posture resulted in immediate gas relief - as evidenced by the wind of methane expelled into my face.
In addition to the frequent "gassing off" I've been giving probiotics, frequent offerings of fresh cool water and sodium bicarbonate, and checking on him constantly. I stare at him a lot too.
He's been passing normal poop since Friday, and is slowly starting to chew cud. His breathing is still too fast and too labored at times but I can easily coax him to the steps.
Yesterday I took Zeke's rectal temperature in the morning, it was 100.8°. Normal goat temp is 101.3 - 103.5 (Merck Veterinary Manual).
I decided to start the antibiotic when his evening temp was 104° and along with labored breathing I was convinced he had pneumonia. And we know how that went....
This morning he walked out of the goat house chewing cud. His respiratory rate and effort not too bad. His temperature check was 102.3° goat normal.
Maybe it takes a little longer for a 10-year-old goat to bounce back. Fortunately, I have time.
A friend asked me if I liked chocolate, and handed me a chocolate bar.
As a matter of fact, yes we do, we love chocolate. Thank you very much.
