Life on the Farm

Kiefer, Katie and I have been having a lot of fun here on the goat farm.  It has been so wonderful to spend this time with my family!

Monday, December 20th, 2010
This was a bit of a lazy morning, but eventually we made our lunches and headed for the museum.  Thanks to Grandma we got to see the Planetarium show about Black Holes, AND the 3D-IMAX showing about the Hubble telescope as well as the museum.  Kiefer, Katie and I enjoyed the Gems & Crystals exhibit, as well as the planetarium exhibits, the Colorado exhibit, and the dinosaur exhibit before they kicked us out.  We picked up some peppermint brownies for Grandma on our way home as a thank you, she really enjoyed those.

I've really enjoyed talking with Grandma when we go down there, and hearing stories about my dad growing up.  It's nice to hear it from an outside perspective.  See dad?  I'm learning all about you =P, and now I know where I get my issue with authority from!

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Today we learned how to milk a goat!  Yes it's true, even us city folks can learn to milk a goat.

Not these goats, this is (left to right) Mira and Tully.

Not these goats either, (left to right) this is Tessa, Ziggy, and Pixie.

It was Lucy (a.k.a. Lulu) (left) that we milked.  Also pictured is Marygold (left) who is 3 months pregnant, and yours truly =).

The first step was to get cleaned up!  Cassie wiped down the goats udders and teats with warmed wipes (yay technology!) after sanitizing her hands.

Here you see me rolling Katie's sleeves up so she can get ready to get messy!  It's pretty chilly down there by they way!!  Next you get the bucket in place, and you have to learn the mechanics of milking!  This is actually very interesting, as the udder is much like a bag full of milk.  When you grab the teats you can feel the milk go out of them, so you have to kind of pinch it off at the top to trap it in the teat, then squeeze the teat firmly to get the milk to come out.

Kate took a couple tries to get it down, but then was excitedly (and slowly) milking!  She was very focused, so you can see that her glasses are slipping off of her face.  Speaking of the cold we all got cold weather/snow boots to wear, and we have been VERY glad to have them down at the barn.  They are excellent muck boots as well.

There is something extremely satisfying about learning how to do something different and new, and that is the whole point of this blog, to encourage us to get up and get out of the house!  See how proud of herself Katie is?

Kiefer and I also gave it a try

Success!!  We all have learned a new skill! 

Also interesting to note, goats like to eat pine needles (and branches), and peanuts!

Kiefer went out and participated in an Airsoft game with my cousin Riley.  They had fun =).  Cassie and I spent some time decorating the FRESH CUT Christmas tree.  Rice lights are awesome, and we wrapped them from the center of the tree outward along each branch for MAXIMUM LIGHTS!!!  We used strands of blue, fuchsia, and red lights, creating an amazing lighting effect!

Sorry no nighttime pictures to share yet, maybe I'll snag one tonight!  Later Cassie and I went down and lunged Dancer and Piper (two of the horses).  They seemed to enjoy the stretch of the legs.  We finished up just in time for the boys to get home.  Cassie had to throw some hay down (HEY!) from the loft in the barn, so Kiefer and I helped her out by stacking the bales.  This was a very dusty job!  Then we fed all the goats, and they were very happy.

Kiefer and I ran to the grocery store to buy dinner makings, and headed home to prepare a feast of Fajitas for everyone.  This dinner was devoured with many compliments all around.  It was very nice to be able to make a meal for our hosts, and give them a treat to say thank you =).  We then exchanged our Christmas gifts.  Kiefer and I decided to get the whole family a Wii since they were so generous in sharing their home with us this week (and their food!).  This seemed to be a very good choice as everyone was delighted.  My aunt got me a HILARIOUS set of post-it notes, and Kiefer got a "demotivational" calendar from Think-geek.com.  We both loved them as much as they loved the Wii!  I will be using those at work for sure =).  Katie got a plush horse which she thinks is the best thing since sliced bread!

We helped them put the Wii together immediately, and showed them how to put on all the updates.  Uploaded the Netflix channel for them, and now they're all set!  Raving Rabbids TV Party wrapped up our evening.

Exploring Colorado

Dear Readers I am sorry I have not posted in a while.  I have been having issues with my commuting bike, so my blogging time has been spent exploring those.  Additionally I just spent a week in Fort Walton Beach Florida for business travel (I'll have to backdate blog that in).  But for now, expect regular updates, as I am off of work, and on vacation!

Kiefer and I decided it would be fun to visit Colorado before Christmas.  So I contacted my dad's brother and sister and let them know we were coming to visit, and planning to stay in a hotel.  My Aunt emailed me back as soon as she heard, and informed me that Kiefer, my daughter and I were all invited to stay with her and her family (my uncle, two cousins, and my grandmother) on the farm.  They own a beautiful farm on about 40 acres (which I'm always going on and on about to my friends and coworkers) where they keep the following menagerie of animals:

• 24 goats (+/- periodic boarders)
• 4 Horses
• 2 Dogs
• 5 House Cats
• 2 Barn Cats
• "some" fish

Kiefer was positively delighted that we would be staying with them.  So we bought our tickets, and packed our bags and here we are!!

Friday, December 17th, 2010
I spent the morning doing mundane pre-vacation chores like washing the bedding, and folding laundry (we were already packed) until it was time to pick up my daughter.  This is where the true fun began!  We had spent the week prior to this baking cookies and packing so we would be prepared for our hectic schedule, so when I picked Kate up we were all ready to go.....deliver cookies at my work!  Katie put on her best Christmas dress when I picked her up, and we made our rounds at my office delivering Christmas cookies and Christmas cheer.  Everyone was very cheery to see her in her little red dress with white fuzzy trim.

From there we headed for the OC to pick up Kiefer from his mom's house (That crazy man rode his motorcycle to work in the rain so he could leave his car at our house!).  The drive was...dreary.  It was pouring rain all day in Southern California, and it is supposed to continue to do so through Thursday last I heard!  After picking the Kiefer up, and a blessed episode of NO traffic between his mom's house and the airport we made it in time for our 8:08 pm flight....which ended up being delayed by 30 min.  /facepalm

I Had a gourmet veggie sammich, and Kiefer had a deli multi meat sandwich for dinner.  I allowed Katie to have a happy meal, since I know those were pretty hefty ($9!!) sandwiches, so she had "chicken nuggets" for dinner, and proceeded to devour the entire thing.  The flight was 2 hours, and wasn't too bad.  Kate read book 6 of Chugo Chara (Santa apparently heard that she was running out of books to read, and slipped one in her backpack at some point!  What a clever Santa!), watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Chris on the mini TVs, and followed it up with some Scribblenauts .  She made it ALL THE WAY to when we were taxiing in to the gate before she started to fall asleep.

Backstory here:  Kate is a VERY heavy sleeper.  She sleeps like the dead.  You can pick her up and move her, or make loud sounds, or turn on all the lights, and nothing will wake her.  I like to say she'd sleep through the nuclear holocaust.

We made it to the rental car depot to find that the 20 Subaru Outbacks that had been there when I was last in Denver on business in April 2010........were all gone!!!  So we looked, in the 25F chilly night air at all the cars.  Chevy Malibu, Chevy HHR, VW Bug (no way our luggage will fit in there!)...and one Nissan Altima...which was already being sat in by another family.  DANGIT!  So we decided the HHR was our best bet, since it has room for us.  Fortunately it gets GREAT gas milage, but I hate it still.  Wussy little car...and the seat is impossible to adjust!  That reminds me... I need to look up the owners manual.  Anyhoo...we headed to our hotel.

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

We stayed in a hotel overnight, which was fantastic, had our delish breakfast, and then watched Four Christmases in our hotel room.  This was a funny/frustrating movie, check out IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes for reviews..as that is not really the premise of this blog!  We packed up our stuff and headed for......TARGET!  Because I forgot my belt! We had lunch at this gourmet burger place called Diego Zhane's, and it was fantastic.  It was a total pain in the butt to find, but we found it, and it was yummy!  I had a tasty salmon burger, Kiefer had his first Buffalo burger, and Kate had unlimited grilled cheese sandwiches.  I also had some of their tomato basil soup.  YUM!

Then right to my aunts house.  We got ourselves situated, and had a lovely dinner with my family.  I had forgotten how much I love spending time with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  I think after dinner we visited grandma (she lives in an apartment below the main farm house.).  We finished up the evening by watching Home Alone (which my daughter had never seen before).  This turned out to be an excellent choice, and everyone laughed.  Then we went to bed!

By they by, dinner was accompanied by home made goat cheese.  It was fantastic.  We had a pepper jack, and a chev with honey.  Oh and btw, the honey comes from their friend's bee hive.  Fresh made cheese, fresh gathered honey.  Amazing.

Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Today was very exciting!  We started off the morning with a hot breakfast of cream of wheat topped with fresh honey, raisins, and fresh goat milk.  Yum!  My aunt also makes fresh yogurt, but I haven't gotten around to trying any yet.  I'll have a snack of it before we leave =D.  Next we proceeded to take the goats for a walk!

They are so funny, all you have to do is walk away and they will follow you!  I was feeding them some stalks off the bushes.  Also, apparently goats really like to eat pine trees too.

Even Kiefer was playing with the goats!

We are already getting to know the goats.  This one reminds us of our friend Sean...we call him "One Horn"

My uncle said that us taking the goats for a walk was a big help, because it allowed them to get their stalls cleaned quickly.  Yay for being helpful!  There are a few other things we're trying to help out with while we're here.  I have NO problem with earning my keep.  In fact, I'd like to make dinner for them one night.  Tomorrow night will probably be the best night for that =).  We'll bring taco Tuesday to the farm!

We ended the night by introducing my uncle to Top Gear, and watching the pilot episode of Firefly with my cousins.
The plan for today is to visit the Denver Museum of Science and Nature.  Grandma gave us tickets for it, which is extremely helpful!  Time to make sandwiches!

Look for more posts later!