Happy Anniversary!

The above picture was taken about 18 years ago. John and I were at the fair and we went into one of those couple dollar picture booths. I guess that I was around 15 and John was about 18. It was a black and white photo that we left it behind when we moved. A little after we moved here on the farm my Mom had the picture made into a water color. This picture does it little justice due to the reflections but is does represent our history together.

Today we celebrate 13 years of marriage!

We met when we were just young, he was friends with my cousin, Jeff. At the time I lived in another town and visited my family on occasion. I was a little tom boy and Jeff and John were always wrestling with me, trying to dump me off a sled while towing it with a snowmobile. The rougher they were the better. I'd always go back for more!
In the summer of 1988 my mother was going through her second divorce and my grandfather offered to help my mother if she wanted to move into the development they all lived in. My mother gave me the choice of doing that or she offered to get an apartment in the town we lived in until I was done school. I was ok with moving so that is what we did.
On the 4th of July, 1988 we moved a few towns North of my hometown. I did not know a soul so I drove my cousin Jeff nuts tagging along with him every waking moment. This is the summer that John and I started to show interest in one another. For the next 2 years we were on and off and from 1990 on we were committed to one another. John lived with my mother and I my senior year in high school. We helped around the house and paid some of the bills. We both worked through high school, he worked as a marine mechanic and I was a waitress.
My mother always felt better when I was out with John because she "knew I would be safe" as she would say. We still got into mischief we just didn't get caught because John was clever (even back then) My friends and I always managed to get in trouble and get caught. The summer after I graduated we moved into our first apartment and acquired are "first child" Maggie.
A little while later we moved to a trailer, we lived at each places about a year and then in November of 1994 we bought our first house, a small gambrel with 3 acres just 1 mi from this place.

That next summer while we were up North visiting my Dad, John and I were on the lake boating and we started to talk about marriage. We had held off on it because "we couldn't afford it" I mentioned that I could do it at a minimal cost and from that day on our plans began for a September wedding. It was not the typical wedding proposal, it was more like an agreement.

We had an outdoor ceremony presented by a wonderful baptist minister (regardless of our catholic upbringings) he was one of our substitute teachers in high school . Long story short we were married on a tight budget. Looking back it was better then many of the 10-20k weddings we've been to and I think a few of the couples are already divorced.
We borrowed and bartered for everything we could including rings, my dress, and old fashioned limo. We grew much of our decorations (gourds, pumpkins, flowers) and we made most of the food ourselves ( I had access to lots of banquet equipment/linens) and a good friend catered it.
It was a great time! Even our DJ thought so, he got OUI that night. That cost him more than we paid him to host the ceremony.

Shortly after we were married I started taking classes toward my nursing degree and graduated in 1999. That following June we had Luke and 2 years later Miss Leah was born. In December 2006 we literally "bought the farm" and in May of 2007 John graduated from nursing school.


We have had a wonderful life together and I cherish our relationship! I cannot imagine life without John. He is good man with so many great qualities.
I love ya babe! Cheers to us for 13 great years with many more to come!

Experimenting with Homemade Household Cleaners

All Purpose Cleaner

2T vinegar

1 t Borax (I used a Tablespoon)

Hot water

a few drops of dish detergent

10-15 drops of essential oil (optional)

I used a funnel to add the ingredients into a 16 oz spray bottle using orange for my essential oil.

I also added a splash of hydrogen peroxide because I have heard it is a good substitute for bleach and I am a bit of a bleach fanatic but I am trying to cut back.

Glass Cleaner

1/4 cup vinegar or 1 Tbsp lemon juice (I used both)
2+ cups water

I used a 16oz spray bottle for this too and added several drops of lavender essential oil.

I cleaned a few items with both of the above recipes and they seemed to do the trick for a fraction of the cost.
Now I am off to make some more liquid laundry detergent.
That last batch lasted a month and I do a fair share of laundry here. I think this formula works as good as any store bought detergent and I have been asked by a couple people if you can use these in the front loaders and I just read that people do use this recipe and do not have any issues so I'd say yes. I have also read that some people double the amounts of washing soda and borax, I have not because I felt it cleaned my clothes good as is.
I have always preferred liquid laundry detergent over powder but I do use the dry formula I made up on whites (when I use warm water). I added eucalyptus essential oil to the last batch and it made it smell really good but I think I will hold off this time because you have to use about 1/2 - 1 oz which can be pricey as essential oils aren't cheap.
My next experiment will be on bar soaps. I am waiting for one of my friends to e-mail me with her goat soap recipe. Do any of you have any soap recipes to share?


A final note click here to see why we are better off eating home grown or local foods. What is this world coming to?

On A Happier Note

Meet "Smores". Luke named him before we loaded him in the truck.
He is 3 months old.

Initially Annabelle was not impressed but I think he's grown on her.

John is getting good use of his tractor.
I thought there was lots of work before but now is the rush to get stuff taken care of before the frost, this is Maine so it could be any day.

Yeah, the pigs are out of the barn! John and the neighbor bought a bunch of fencing from a local animal shelter that relocated. They sold most of it, both making a little cash and they made enough to feed their pigs until slaughter.
Between the pigs and the chickens our waste here is minimal and I love it. The chickens enjoy overgrown zucchini and cukes sliced in half and the pigs like rotten tomatoes and whatever scraps we may have from the house. It is a great cycle I feed you, you feed me.
The neighbors girl named them Obama & McCain. Can't tell she comes from a family that is right into politics.

Life has been busy with the kids starting school, work, preserving. I am looking forward to the cold days of cuddling up on the couch with a good book. I am excited that going into the winter we will be able to enjoy some of our summer's bounty. This is really the first year I have ever put up any amount of food. We are getting well over 2 dozen eggs a day and tonight I just made another batch of pickled eggs. They are so easy to make and they are a yummy, nutritious, filling snack.

On a final note we went to the local fair and Luke entered a hubbard squash and a pumpkin and received two 2nd place ribbons and a check for $1.50 and Leah entered a big pumpkin and won 1st place and a check for $25.00 for the biggest squash weighing in at 80lbs.
We can't wait for next years fair! :)

Check out the TRIPLE yoker!

Necropsy Findings

"Oreo" Necropsy Findings
* Lots of abdominal fluid

* Rumen was absolutely FULL (impacted) with very dry feed material. Rumen papillae were bunted, which may be secondary to the impaction, but we also see this in animals that ingest "toxic" materials. (No evidence of this in Oreo)

* Bladder was completely distended & unable to be expressed (i.e he had a urinary blockage which we see commonly in male goats) This caused fluid backup into the kidneys leading to some kidney damage as well.

Conclusions

Oreo had evidence of both urinary blockage and an impacted rumen. We did not find any foreign objects that were obstructing passage of feed in the GI tract. We cannot conclude which one of these was primary & which one of these was secondary at this point (i.e. did he get the urinary blockage first which led him to feel bad, go off feed & become dehydrated leading to the impacted rumen OR did the rumen impaction happen first & then he acquired the urinary blockage secondary to too much grain since that's all he was eating when he was sick? As stated, we cannot conclude based on necropsy findings. Oreo did not show signs of urinary blockage when we saw him last week, did he show any signs of straining at home? Also, unfortunately, we were unable to see the bladder on the x-rays we took because the rumen was so big it covered the whole abdomen.
Hope this provides some answers. Sorry again about Oreo & sorry we cannot offer more conclusive reasoning for what happened. Please do not hesitate to call with any questions.

Click here if you want to see the pictures of the procedure but enter at your own risk as they are graphic. (the pictures are displayed backwards, no patience to fix..sorry)

Some my think why share this?
The reason I share this is for educational purposes.

I am devastated by his loss and feel responsible. In hindsight I look back at what should of or could have been done.

Oreo had intermittent symptoms prior to getting really sick. He was having intermittent bloating and some times inactivity. I did not see as much, the couple times it happened I was working and John had told me about it.

I think the Sunday before he died was when we knew for sure something was wrong. I then consulted with Amy and she gave me advice and called my breeder whom told me to use probios with a couple other recommendations. Not having any probios on hand I used yogurt instead. We did that for a couple days and he only seemed to be getting worse. John called me at work on Tuesday of last week and said that he had taken a turn for the worst (in the necropsy report she wrote last week but he really had been seen 3 days prior to the day he died). While at worked I called around and spoke to a farm Vet and he was a bit of a pessimist and kinda scared me off but I do recall one thing he said "with a male goat you always have to rule out a stone" regardless of of me trying to convince him that he had a blockage of his GI track.
I called by breeder once again and she recommended a Vet that she has used for her goats. I called made him an appointment and begged John to bring him in. They x-ray'd him finding the rumen impacted and put in a g-tube and mineral oil and off they went. Again the next day I was working a 12 H shift. John diligently cared for him. That next morning I spoke with the vet and we scheduled the surgery for the next morning. The night before surgery I went out to check on him and he was unable to get up and was blatting. I got him up and started rubbing his belly and walking him and he seemed to improve. Regardless I called the vet as I could see his condition had deteriorated. His breathing was rapid for a few days and I mentioned it to everyone I spoke with. The vets thought it was from the pressure on the diaphragm which I am sure is accurate but he was heading into respiratory failure and died a couple hours after I dropped him off for surgery Friday, just before they were going to administer anesthesia is what I was told.

What should/could I have done differently?

Given him probios. I think it was good to start with the yogurt but I should have went to the feed store to pick that up right away.

I wished I was home on the days he was really sick, maybe I could/would have advocated more.
Maybe I would have more time to research, figure out what was going on.

He was straining but we thought it was to poop because after he did he always pooped a bit, I'm not sure if John mentioned it.

I should have listened to the key words that vet gave me over the phone, "with a male goat you always have to rule out a stone". If it would have stuck in my mind I would have had that ruled out. Kind of like a person with chest pain in the ED, we always rule out that it is not their heart.

Trapper Creek had made a comment that if calves "are removed to soon from their mothers, the rumen never does have a chance to develop properly, the proper enzymes they need for rumination just aren't present and they have a difficult time." I wonder if that is true for goats because we bottle fed our babies because I thought it would be "a good experience" for Luke and Leah. John thought I was nuts but went along (it's easier than resisting) but looking back he was right. God I hate it when I say that. :) To do again I would have let them stay with their Momma until they were weaned.

Live and Learn, right! That is what it is all about. We are new to farming and we will make many mistakes as long as long as we can learn from them and admit to them I guess that is all right.

Thanks to all my fellow bloggers for all of your support. Thanks to Amy who contacted me right away after reading my comment asking for her advice. BIG thanks to my breeder Melonie who has been an awesome resource as she always has been. Thanks for all your concerned phone calls and e-mails and thanks for giving us a break on Smores (pictures to come). He really helped Annabelle, Luke, and I deal better with this sad event. Lastly, a thanks to My Maine Man for all the time and effort he applied to save that little buggers life despite his supposed dislike of goats. :)

RIP Oreo!

What do you think?

This morning I picked up Oreo and John and I laid him to rest. The kids are doing good, thanks for all your kind words. I also received an autopsy report and they did take pictures. I asked John what he thought about me posting the pics and the autopsy report and he did not think I should post the pictures. Being an ER nurse I have no issues with graphic pictures and but I'm not sure how the rest of the world feels and I would not want to upset someone. People learn from their own experiences and from those of others and if a goats life can be saved by this post than that would make it all worth it.
Should I make a post with the autopsy report and pictures, just the report, or no post regarding this? What are your thoughts? I will post based on the feedback I get from you all.

Sad to say

Sadly, Oreo has passed. He was not doing well last night and I called the vet around 9pm. He seemed to come around a bit after tending to him for a bit. I brought him to th vet this morning for his rumenotomy and he passed just before going to surgery. They called and asked if they could do an autopsy free of charge. I agreed and they are going to take pictures of what they find (I left my camera there). We will pick him up and bury him in what I'd say is our farm graveyard. In the 1yr 1/2 we've been here we've lost 2 cats to the road and an old dog and an old cat and one sweet, mischievous baby goat. That little bugger will be missed! :(

To the OR he goes

Oreo loves yogurt, good thing because that is all he has been able to eat the last few days except a little hay.

See how bloated he is.

Our treatments are not working so there are 2 options and we have choose to try and save this little bugger. He is heading to the OR in the morning for a rumenotomy
The kids and I will be having a lawn sale and hopefully I can talk then into selling their chinchillas (that they rarely pay attention to) and I have a bunk bed to sell to help fund this madness.
The estimation is $300. Hopefully I will have pictures to follow. I am going to see if they will take some pictures in the OR, doesn't hurt to ask right?
STAY TUNED!