Neither Mama nor I were feeling well last night but went to church anyway and enjoyed both the service and the company. That is typically the case when we make the effort to go regardless of how we feel. Mama was hurting in a general way, and I was feeling exhausted. There was no reason I should have been feeling so, but I was. I was also dealing with some light headedness. Not actually dizzy to the point of having to sit still but unsteady enough that I was needing help to keep myself properly balanced. I have been feeling poorly since we left the beach Friday morning, but just attributed it to being overly tired.
Last night it struck me that perhaps I was overmedicated
again. I am taking the same meds that have been prescribed for many months but
every now and then they titrate up in my system to the point that the effects
become debilitating. So, to test that theory, this morning I skipped one of the
two blood pressure pills I take daily. That seems to have helped a lot – and my
blood pressure has not been affected in any significant way. My plan is to go without
that medication through the weekend and then take it only every other day for a
while. At least until the malaise passes.
One of the things we were able to confirm last night at
church was the pickup of our two little does. A young couple at church has been
negotiation with Mama for the purchase of the two little ones and today they
came to the farm to load them for transport. They would have come yesterday but
since I was required to work from the office, Mama had them wait until I was
working from home. That way I could help in the arrangement of the transfer, both
in catching the goats and in stationing the truck where the cage was for
hauling them to their new home. Using the techniques we have used in our goat
handling activities, I had the daddy of the clan drive to the enclosure where we
keep the does and back close enough to the fence that the goats could be put in
the cage in the bed of their truck without having to hop the fence or carry
them any distance. That worked out very well. In six months or so we will
probably house the does again as we let one of our bucks breed them. It is a
package deal.
Two of the three young boys we have separated in a small paddock will be taken to a livestock sale this weekend. The two we are parting with are horned because we did not get to them quickly enough as tiny ones and their horns had grown to the point that it was not safe to remove them other than surgically. That did not appeal to me because of the cost. So we left them horned.
Their horns are impressive and even though I would like to raise them for meat, I do not feel comfortable putting them with our bucks for fear that the horns will give them too much potential to injure our breeder bucks over the next few months it would be required to let them mature to a good processing weight. So, our herd will be reduced by four this week. That will be a help to me and Mama as we keep up with feeding and caring for our little herd.
Mama got to show off the hatchlings to the couple who picked
up the goats. They do not have very much acreage, but they want goats and chickens.
Tomorrow Mama is going to Bowie to negotiate with Nancy on some Banty hens,
chicks and eggs. I will not know the outcome of those purchases until Mama gets
home with the goods, but I expect to end up with eggs to hatch more than hens
or chicks. We do not necessarily need the hens for egg production, but we are
needing to replace some of our older hens who have quit laying. We like the
Banty hens because, even though the eggs they lay are small, they are feisty and
fun to have on the farm.
Mama and I have been dealing with an influx of snakes
lately. I have killed two in the coop and one very large water snake in our
front yard. The water snake was on the front porch a few days ago but I lost
track of it when it got into some grass and bushes we have near the porch. It
showed back up today, so I dispatched it. Sam is our snake monitor. He has a
unique bark to alert us to the presence of a snake and Mama is quite in tune with
the alarm he sounds to protect her. Mama was not afraid of the snake, but she
was mad at it for eating the toads that used to live on our front porch. The toads,
two of which were huge, were voracious eaters and kept our bug population in
check. On a whim, Mama suggested we hang the snake in the nectarine tree in the
garden to inhibit squirrels from damaging the tree but when I suggested that it
may stink fairly quickly, we abandoned that idea. However, I relented later and
did put the dead snake in the tree. We will see two things soon. First, how
quickly it will stink and second, if it will deter squirrels and coons from
stripping the fruit from the tree.
If the snakes we have already killed are any indication, we
may be able to put a dead snake on every branch of the tree before the fruit
ripens.
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