Good-Bye to an Old Friend

This is Kusco in training, carrying one of our boar babies in his pack that Danyel bought him for Civil Air Patrol - search and rescue missions. He hadn't got to go on a mission yet.

Good Morning:

The weather forecast is suppose to be sunny.... I am going to proclaim it in faith the Son will shine!

Well we lost our friend Kusco yesterday. He is Danyel's pack goat - he was 5 years old and he fell last month and put his hip out of socket. We had been trying different things on him to try and help him. The vet had said there is nothing under surgery to fix the hip and then it will most likely pop out again. Besides the cost. I hated to see him go but I am glad cause I know he has been hurting. Danyel is sad to also see her faithful friend leave her.

But that is farm life and we seem to get alot of disappointments and death is one of those things you get use to in a sense on a farm.

So here is my obituary to Kusco:

He was a true trooper. He would follow Danyel where ever she went without a leash on him. He was a big boy - he would carry lunches for her in his pack, dogs,baby goats and hiking gear. He has walked miles and miles for Danyel. His latest training was getting him ready to go on search and rescue missions with the Civil Air Patrol. He never got to go on a mission - but his heart was in it. He will be missed.

Danyel will pick another goat baby this year to start over again.

Yesterday we, Daneyl & Ali and I, spoke at the Winlock Lions meeting. We shared about out farm and making cheese. We passed out samples of Grande' Rosa, Marinated Feta and Garlic and Dill Chevre. The girls and I enjoyed lunch on the Lions. It was a good community service for the girls. And good public relations for the dairy. Thanks Lions for what your organization does for our community.

I had womens bible study last night too. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner. David was at market and did alright for a Thur.

This morning I am up at 4:30am packaging cheese for market. I have more energy in the morning than at night. So I enjoy getting up early - but going to bed early is a must.

David is on the road already 5:30am.

Today the girls and I will work on homeschool. We are starting our drawing class- which will go on for about 10 weeks. And the rest of the day is open for a few extra chores on the dairy. Like trimming some hooves - Danyel has been doing this when she had been graining. But this evening I'll join her and we can get a bunch done. This afternoon we are going to band some does horns. This we do by taking a file and making an indent in thier horn as close to the skull as possible. Then putting two bands (the things we put on male goats to make them it's) on the horn. In about 3 weeks the horn falls off. We cant have any of our milking does with horns - one its dangerous and two thier heads won't fit in the stantion. We are going to move the babies almost yearlings into another pasture so we can work on one pen at a time until we get them all done before our babies start arriving in 4 weeks. This is not a fun job and it takes teamwork. So the girls and I will drop one class each day in order to clean a pen. I bet the girls won't mind.

Well have a great day and notice who is tending the flock - the Good Shepard.