Welcome to 4 D Farms

When I get a chance to come up for air and breathe I will be able to sit down and post. I have been extremely (and I use that word too lightly) busy. With dh gone I have been meeting myself coming in and out of the driveway some days. My neighbors are like “there she goes again”. We’ve had alot of exciting things going on around here and I promise to tell you all about it when I get a chance to sit down. Until then have a blessed day.

Its been real and its been fun but Im tired. Yep, weve been on the move everyday. Ill start back with last Monday night. I went to pick up the boys at school and we had about an hour to spare, I cant remember what we did.  Oh well, we left for karate and stayed there til 6:30pm. We had our supper (picnic supper) in the truck and we ate on the way to Savannah. Let me remind you these two places are in entirely two different directions. I fly like a superhero (no cape) to get these boys there (I forgot we took Hunter too) and guess what? They get to sit on the bench the second ballgame. He fussed at them when we got there and said, Yall were suppose to have been here the first game, we needed you. Well, we won the first game, so what is he so upset about. My face is flushed at this time and getting hotter. He tried to punish these boys for something that was not his fault. Considering the fact that we had been telling him for two weeks that our Monday nights were going to be like this, and I had even reminded him the day of the ball game. Not to mention we volunteered to take the second games since no one likes to stay for the second games cause it is so late. He is ignoring this fact. He also pulled some tricks on some other parents too. There were two parents ready to go home after first game. One mom had to be at work at 4am the next morning, and the other had a baby and wanted to get it home and in bed since it was now 8:30pm. Not to mention mosquitoes were out too. He purposely put their sons in the second game to make them stay and Dakota and Hunter could have had those spots.


That just ripped my attitude. I was hot and so were those boys. I kind of let my “upsetness” be known out loud. Dakota and Hunter were so angry at that coach. They did not say two words all the way home. WELL, I was saying words all in my mind cause I sent a message to the director of the league the next day.This is how this coach is.  He plays dirty. Well Momma can play that game too and Im not backing down. He runs all over and takes advantage of the parents. Cause his motto is My way or your child dont play! Parents have tried to talk to him before and stand up to him, he just throws his hands up in the air and says “whatever” like a little teenager. This is one momma he is not going to run over.


I also told Dakota to talk to their coach at school. He coaches high school base ball and wants Dakota and Hunter to play for him next year. He has came to two of their games to purposely watch them play. He knew they were upset. The next day I told David what happened and he made me hand the phone to Dakota. He talked and all I could hear was Dakota saying, “Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir!” I asked him what did daddy tell him to do, and he said I cant tell you cause you want like it. OH NO!!!! I was afraid of that. Well, David and I talked and we decided, that we have never let our boys quit in the middle of something, they were to carry it through, however, this situation was different. So we told Dakota it was his decision. He was to make a manly decision and we trusted him. It was to either quit or stand up to him. We have chosen to stand up to him. Thursday night they had another game. This time I was on my way out of town and my momma came to pick them up at school and stay with them all weekend. I was so nervous all that day and night. I did not know how he was going to “take care of it”. All I know is I told my momma before we hit the road that what ever Dakota decides to do just follow his lead. If he comes to you and says, “Lets Go!” Just get up and go and dont for get Dallas. lol

My stomach was in knots all night. You can ask my friend. I was about to puke again. I told my momma I would call a little after game began and see what was happening. Much to my surprise I called and she said he was getting to play and everything was ok. I told her to tell Dakota to call me as soon as it was over.  About 10pm he calls and he says he got to play in the whole game and that Hunter got to pitch. Hunter struck out alot of boys and only walked one boy. Dakota played center field and caught every ball and got a bunch of boys out. We won 18-8. WHOO HOOOO!!!!!! I was one relieved momma. I just knew there was going to be alot of drama and fussing. I did  not want my momma going through that crap, it should have been me. I was finally able to rest and calm down. Now, that was that game, lets see how Monday night goes since he want make it for the first game. Ill let you know.

The boys finally got to 8th grade Presentation Day at school. The night before we put the finishing touches on their bill board. We cut out pics, put on some camoflauge background, and shot gun shells.  This was the finished project.

I was so proud. We also put our farm logo on there for our duck dogs. We loaded up the next morning with bill board and wood duck box in tow. They made an 85. I thought they deserved a better grade than that. But they will not be forgotten. Oh, I forgot to mention while Dakota was cutting some caps off some bulletts, he cut his finger very badly. He slung blood, on the ceiling, window, walls, gun cabinet, carpet, etc. I guess you could say, alot of blood sweat and tears went into this project. By the way, his finger is ok, momma kissed it and bandaged it. When he got to school the next day, the school nurse, took care of it.

Dakota got his year book and I took some pics of some of  the pages in it and text them to daddy. Ill share them now.

This is the page we dedicated to Dakota. I love the pic of them pouting.

Cutest couple in the 8th grade.

Him and another girl got 2nd Alternate Most Handsome and Most   Beautiful in the county. YEA!!!!! Thats my boy.

All the class electives acting goofy as usual.

They had fun with these kids and made them look like mug shots.

This is his homeroom class.

His football page.

Dakota should get an award for being the most humorous. That kid can keep me in stitches til I almost wet my pants. Yes he has gotten in trouble for this, but someone had to. He lightens my day if Im having a bad one. Lifes too short not to laugh. We love our boys to pieces.

Here is the pages with Dallas on it. The submitted the wrong pic for class pic.

That must have been one of his bad days, he didnt look too happy.

David said Dallas should get an award at school, for always taking up for his class mates against bullies. Yes, he got in trouble a few times for doing this, but someone had to. I think David is right. Thats my boys . Weve taught our kids to defend girls honor, take up for the little guys against bullies and take care of old people. If they get in trouble for this, just come see Momma and Daddy.

My kids are not perfect; they do their share at being mischieveious; but they are mine and Davids and we love them unconditionaly. They will grow up to be great men. Just wait and see……

Now to my exciting part, and I didnt get not one picture. (((

My friend Darlene and I got to go to Murfeesboro, TN for The TN Small Ruminant College. Ive been wanting to go for three yrs. We got there Thursday and found our hotel and checked in and got unloaded. We then got farmiliar with the surroundings and found us an Olive Garden. I love this place. We got us a meal and halfed it and still was so stuffed we were miserable. But Good.

We got back to room and rested and got in bed. Didnt sleep much, she didnt have her favorite pillow and I didnt have Dallas who has been sleeping in my bed since Daddy has been gone. Oh Well, we got in bed anyway.

That morning we got up got ready and go to the college. We loved all the speakers that day. One speaker was one of our friends that we both got our first goats from. They are the only Licensed Dairy in TN at the present. It is Jim and Gale Tanner and they own Bonnie Blue Farm, you can look them up on their website at http://www.bonniebluefarm.com

However, there was one speaker we felt should have been given alot more time for his presentation because I really needed to hear it. He was a veterinarian and he was covering Health on goats. Then the speaker on nutrition was wonderful. I will be stepping some practices up in my management program.

We broke for lunch and some cheese and yogurt tasting with goat milk. (of course).  Half way through, I get a phone call from the school. Oh crap, I said. Back to Mommy mode. Well, come to find out there was a problem with Dakota and a teacher. Dakota had been asked too many times to behave. Well, she finally said she was going to seperate Dakota and Hunter. I thought, “You just now thinking of this?”  Do I have to do everything? I mean really. Then she tells me of a problem they had had the  day before with a substitute teacher over  a stupid pencil. I finally got to vent for something that has been building up for two weeks now. She patiently listened to what I had to say (Bless her heart cause she was not the teacher who should have been getting her ear full). Anyway, a 10 minute argument could have once again been avoided by a few simple words…”Yes, you may go sharpen your pencil.” Instead this teacher starts mouthing and draws Dakota into an argument and then turns the tables and puts the blame on him and says he was backtalking. Well, if you started a fight over something as stupid as a pencil, I would too. I think I got my point across. Dallas and this same teacher have butted heads before and she did the same thing. Be care ful of the fights you pick, cause this momma bear finishes hers. I will be so glad when they get out of there. It is getting toward the end of the year, everybody is getting on each others nerves, and there is an excitement in the air that is hard to calm down. This is our last week. Halleluliah!!!!


Now where was I,   Oh, I go back to class. I did not have a chance to talk to the veterinarian cause he had to go back to class himself. Darn. But I got his email address. Ive got to email him some pictures of Cocoa. She is not where I want her to be in her health. She is still kind of sick and Im afraid the news will not be good. Whoever said shepherding animals was easy, lied, and Id like to kick them on the shins. There comes a time when you have to make a decision to humanely put one down for the sake of not seeing them suffer when you know there is nothing else that can be done. I think that is where I am with my precious Cocoa. It will be hard to find out the news but she depends on me. I cant let her down no matter what the decision, if he says we can fight, then we will fight, if not, then Ill love her til the end and make her comfortable. Ill let you know.

Where was I? oh, its time to go and we just go back to the hotel. We are so tired, we just start going through our package we received. Alot of helpful information and references and people to contact that will be glad to answer any questions and help us anyway possible.

Finally, some place I can go and talk GOAT all day long with other goat lovers.One thing I have enjoyed about my trip is sharing goat stories. I have told some of my stories and I have had people rolling and laughing til they cry.

We just eat light this night, since we are still full from all the good stuff that afternoon. We get ready to go to bed and we are lying there til about midnight listening to some  people above us have a party it sounds like. URGH!!!! We call the office and they said they would take care of it. It worked for about an hour. They kept us up most of the night.  If I knew I would not have gotten arrested Id have shown them how us rednecks take care of that.

Next morning were not bright eyed and bushy tailed, but were awake, halfway.  Our favorite part has come. We learned how to Artificially Inseminate a goat. YEA!!!!!!! Ive been wanting to learn this. I got to video tape. I saw this done a few yrs ago, but did not like it. This was more detailed, informative and etc. Most of all it was done by some of the local 4H’ers. One boy was in the 8th grade and has been inseminating his goats since he was in the 6th. The other was in high school. The speaker cracked alot of jokes to keep everyone from being, should I say, embarrassed. We enjoyed his presentation most of all. If I dont do it this fall I will be ready for this next fall, I hope.

Were done for the day and we are headed home. We are exhausted. Oh, by the way, Dallas found out there was two other kids there that were being home schooled and he was jealous that he didnt get  to go.

I finally make it home. Tired but excited to see everyone. Come to find out, my momma had a ball taking care of the animals while I was gone, no problems what so ever. They treated her better than they do me.  I was expecting the worse. I was sure to have a talk with them about that the next morning. They were wanting to know, “Hey, where is that other woman, the granny, we want her!” well, I never.  Seems my momma spoiled everyone while I was gone. The boys had a great time being with her. Im glad she enjoyed herself. I got her a birdhouse that is a big pink sunflower with a dragon fly on it. She loved it. She was on her way around 10pm headed home. I know my daddy was glad to see her.

This morning was church. Im still tired so this evening were just chilaxin’

We are still missing daddy, but we are being careful what we say, cause he is working really hard on accomplishing a goal with this job and I dont want to be the reason why he doesnt. We love him very much. He loves getting all the pics I text to him.I think we only have 3 weeks to go. Yea!!!

Ok, so I ask my students on Wed. night at church, what is the one main thing that they have learned from this year. They all said, “Pound someone with the love of Jesus”.
This is where you if you find yourself in a situation that requires physical contact, you can quote John 3:16 while you pound the snot out of them. They love that. OH come on, you know you laughed, I saw you. Dont be such a stiff neck. Funny thing is, my class from last year remembered it. lol Wonder if theyve ever used it, Ill have to ask. lol

This is our last full week of school. Tomorrow is school, karate, ballgames, bed late. Wed. night is our last night of Team Kid at church. We are going to have pizza and water balloon fights. We have warned parents that they may be a “Little” wet when they pick them up. Thursday night is another ballgame. Friday night is just “US”.

Well, Ill let yall know how our week goes when I come up for air.

Cya and God Bless.

If I look haggard and exhausted…its probably because I am. I have been so busy since I blogged last. With dear husband gone, its just me getting everybody where they need to be and then all my work too. Phew! Finally got a chance to sit down.

We are really missing dear husband. We dont dare tell him that, or hell get very depressed and lonely. It has been three weeks now. We are about to go crazy. Dakota is actually handling it better than I thought he would. He has actually became my buddy. He has been right up under me for the last few weeks. I asked him what was up and he said Dad was plan a and I was plan b. I am backup when dad is not here. Ok, Ill take his love any way I can get it. lol

I had to take him to the dr one day this week. I think he got into something while he was mowing last and it broke him out badly. I picked them up from school one day and he said I had to take him now. He scratched all day. That was not a good thing since that week had been the schools state testing in grades 3 thru 8. So I took him and he has to take a steroid but boy it has made him hyper and increased his appetite. I bought a gallon of milk that day and by that night it was already gone. It has also made him have hot flashes. While we were in the dr office he had to play a little.

He is just too funny. Hes been having trouble with his lower back for about a month but cant figure out what he has done, so while we were there we had them check that out too. So the dr. tells him to drop his pants and Dallas started laughing, and so did I. lol  Come to find out nothing was wrong with his back, the xrays were fine. He is just growing so fast his spine cant keep up. He is getting taller.

We have been able to do some things Ive been wanting to do lately.We got to go see my friend and her new babies.

Dallas got to play with his buddy

And Dakota got to ride. I didnt think he was ever going to get off. He was just made for the saddle. He is still my little cowboy.

I got to try my hand at it. It has been yrs since I have been on a horse.

Were still in baseball. Games have started. We just had opening day Saturday. We won both games. Coach likes to practice them late, but Ive had to put my foot down and say, lets go, its a school night. I get my kids off the field and who ever rode with me and we leave. Coach has to understand we are still the parents, we are the ones who have to get them up the next morning for school, not him. I personally dont like waking up whiney tails. He can get mad at me if he wants, but If it wasnt for us parents bringing our kids and letting them play ball, he wouldnt have a team.

We got our schedule and Im having trouble with Monday night games. You see he has scheduled double headers. He will not tell you what game your child will play in, the first or second. He wants everyone there at 6. You may play at 6 or you may play at 8. I can tell you what game we will be playing. We will be playing the second game because Dallas has karate on Monday nights from 5 to 6:30 pm. We will leave there and be there for the second game. I will not make Dallas miss his only activity one night a week. We have plenty more games to play on other nights as well. He can either like this too or not. Sorry if I sound miffled. The rest of the schedule is fine with me. Just Mondays are going to be hard til school is out.  From 8am to 3pm school, from 5pm to 6:30pm karate, then drive to an away game that starts at 8pm til about 10pm, get home about 11pm and get in bed ???whenever. It want be so bad when school is out. We only have two more weeks to go.

8th grade presentations are this Thursday or Friday, May 3rd or 4th. Then May 9th is Awards day, then May 14th 8th grade graduation. However Dear Daddy is very upset because he cant come home for graduation. I have been video taping everything event we do and taking pictures and texting them to him. It makes him feel like hes right there and a part of it.

Dallas went back to the dentist. He was suppose to get his braces off and thats all he talked about all week. He was so excited only to get let down because one tooth shifted and now he has to wear them 4 more weeks. He was so disappointed. I felt so sorry for him.

He did get a laugh at the office though. He too had to play. He had a pair of bubba teeth that he got out of a gumball machine a long time ago. He put them in his mouth and when the dr told him to open up… he did…and he shocked the nurse and dr too. Good thing they  had a sense of humor. They laughed.

While Dakota was playing ballgames Saturday, Dallas and I were headed the other direction for his first Karate Competition he has worked so hard for. We had to get up at the crack of dawn to get there early that morning and register. He was so excited. I needed plenty of coffee….

We got there and registered and he changed to his Ghi.

Her they are with their instructor practicing and warming up:

His first competition was grappling. Here they are getting the legalities  of the event.

I felt sorry for his opponent because he said he was going to pretend it was his big brother. lol

He and his first opponent went for the same move at the same time…the choke hold. Well, Dallas tapped out because he said the other boy squeezed just a little harder. lol His last opponent was one of our guys. Dallas went for the choke hold again this time mission accomplished. The boy tapped. Dallas got third place in grappling.

The next was the presentation of their Kata. I was so nervous I thought I was going to puke. He didnt miss a step and landed every move. I was so proud

He won third place in this event.

This is one proud little fella. He thought those trophies were going to go somewhere. He told me to keep my eye on them. lol

Now heres one tired boy.

In two weeks he gets tested for his purple belt. I am proud of him.

He snoozed on the way to get brother at the ball park. We got home and just rested. Then that night we watched a movie together.

Everything is going good on our farm. Although the eggs I incubated did not hatch. I opened everyone of them and none of them were fertile. They were just rotten eggs. EEWWWW!!! I guess I gathered eggs too fast. That little cold snap we had come through too didnt help them.

Our garden is coming up great.

We have been so busy I have met myself coming in and out of the driveway. One day I had to take Dixie to the vet. Well, after getting half way down the road, I realized I had forgotten something very important……DIXIE!!!!!!!! So here I go once again back in and out of the driveway. I am getting wore out really quick.

Legacy is still growing, I swear he is the fastest growing “kid” Ive ever had. Here he is too sexy for his new collar

He likes to chase the chickens til they chase back….

AAAHHHHH!!!!!!! Help their after me…..

It want be much longer til I start weaning him. Everyday I let him out in the morning and nurse and feed everyone, then he gets to hang out with mom and all the girls.

Then at evening I let him nurse again, and then I take him back with the boys. He does really good and is catching on. Im so proud of mom too. I cant believe the transformation in her. I think Ive already said that. I will start cutting one of his feedings down.

My mom is coming this weekend to take care of the boys and the farm while I g0 with a friend to a two day ruminant class at the college a few hrs from home. We will stay overnight, which I have not done in years without my husband or boys. But I have been wanting to do this for the past three yrs. and I have always put my things aside for someone else. Well, this year, Im stingy, Im going for me. My mother is going to have fun. She will come up and I will show her the ropes. Cant wait til I call at night and find out how she did. The boys know what to do, especially Dallas. He will show her. She really is looking forward to it.

I will fill in everyone on our trip. But for now it is getting late and we have a busy day tomorrow since it is Monday and we have, school, karate and game.

Im going to be pooped.

Hope everyone enjoys their week.

Here is two thoughts Id like to leave you with:

Tammy Wynette said it best. “Stand By Your Man!” We love you David Dixon (daddy).

You have to love boys in order to see the young man behind all the goofiness and silliness. I love my boys and we have good time. They make me laugh alot.

However:

Last night boys were getting rowdy before bedtime so I ask them to please start getting ready for bed. That went in one ear and out the other. So I tell them a little more sternly that too went in one ear and out the other. So I started counting one two three they start scattering. Then Dallas turns around and says you gonna get to four? I said I should not have even got to two. Then as I grab my disciplinary tool aka belt they scatter again and scream like little girls. Mission accomplished. Lol

Sorry I have not posted lately. We have been extremely busy. I will try to catch you up. You might want to grab a cup of coffee or something. lol

Let me see if I can pick up where we left off.

We went back to my momma and daddy’s to pick up Dallas. He decided he was ready to come home. This made daddy and brother happy. Daddy hates it when his boys are not here. He goes crazy. We waited around for my dad to get off work so we could eat together. David went and got supper and brought it back.

We left my momma and daddys and got home after dark and I had to go to the barn to milk Miss You Know Who. We spent the rest of spring break with daddy taking turns spending quality time with each one and then together. He would take Dallas to karate, then Dakota to baseball practice. Yes baseball season has started.

Dakota had to drop the weight lifting for this time because this schedule would not hold up once daddy went out of town and it would just be me getting them to where they had to be. Then they go fishing and just goofing off together.

Since daddy is going out of town, he has tried to spend as much time with us as possible. We thought he was going to leave before Easter so we have Easter Family get together a week early.

This was fine with the kids cause they got to hunt eggs two week ends in a row and get all hyped up on candy. Well Daddy got a call and he didnt have to leave before Easter after all. So here we are at Easter morning.

I hate it when hes not in the pic. Then Dallas gets to hunt eggs again.

Dallas said he was getting his hunt on!

We had a Spring fling as school, which turned out to be nothing but a ball game between teachers and students or parents and teacher and students. But during half time the kids got to join in on dancing. This is Dallas and his friend Matthew.

This is Dallas looking good for the ladies at school.

They had spring pictures made and we ordered a package because they were cheaper than their fall pics. It was a good price. But Dakota did not like his, he said he looked goofy and he sent them back. I didnt even get to see them. This is Dallas.

They went to the dentist for regular cleanings and Dallas will get to get his braces off in a few weeks. But…….for a long time he will have to wear a small protective retainer. GRRRR, he didnt want to have to wear anything else. They said its to help prevent any shifting when his permanent teeth come in. He will be able to take it out when he eats or has to wear a mouth piece for karate.

Dakota has said that he is not for sure if he wants to play football next year in high school or not. This shocks me, cause he eats drinks and sleeps it. He want to try high school baseball. I told his this was his decision. We have never made them play a sport they didnt want to. He will have to change his schedule for his classes though.

Dakota does not have a face book account anymore. One night while he was on the computer, he got into an argument with another boy. He thought it made him look and sound really cool to throw in a few curse words. Well, daddy caught it. He told him it did not make him look cool, it made him look like a jerk and his friends thought so too. Hard lesson learned.

Next week starts TCAP testing in our state. State Legislature has passed a law that the TN State Tests counts as 15% of their final grade. This does not set well with some parents because some students have trouble passing this test. I dont know what they will do. It is a stress full week for the students and teachers. They are reviewing them daily to get them ready. All I can do is sit back and pray daily while they take these tests everyday.

This is the last few weeks of school since 8th grade graduation is May 14th.  It is important that both make good grades the rest of these weeks. I think they will do fine. Im waiting to find out when their 8th grade presentations will be. I would like to go and video tape. They are finished with their duck boxes and written report. All they have to do now is make their poster board.

Now let me bring you up to date on  my Drama Princess and Legacy. First, Princess. You would not believe the transition with her. It took alot of patience on my part and consistency. Not to mention alot of praying and biting my tongue. We went through a stage to where she wanted to outsmart me by not letting her milk down. We tried everything. One night Dallas and me went down to the barn to milk and we were singing Old McDonald, and she didnt like it. we went back to singing her favorite song and wouldnt you know it, her milk started flowing. We couldnt believe it. We just laughed. Weve gone from her kicking and screaming when it is time to get on the milk stand to her jumping up there all by herself now.. I dont even have to hobble her…One time I fooled her and slipped Legacy up under her to nurse…she didnt know what was going on…

All she knew was that something felt funny!  I have come to the conclusion she did not like my milker. I had to start milking her by hand and she will stand still. The minute I get my milker out to start milking her, she goes back to kicking. I REALLY WISH she would let me use my milker.  She now even has patience with me when I have to stop and rest my hands. She will turn around and look at me as if to say, “You alright?” Then I will go back to milking. So, I had this brilliant idea. If she would let Legacy nurse now, he would get fed plus she would get milked at the same time and I could let my hands take a break. This has gone rather well, she lets him nurse….

We have come a long way to get to this point. So I let him nurse in the mornings and evenings. He gets a bottle in the afternoon. But it is so0n fixing to be time to wean him, since I like to start weaning at 6 wks. At least he will have this time with her like he should as nature intends. This will help her learn better parenting skills for next year. lol

This is how Legacy is doing. He has grown  so much. Can you say SMALL< MEDIUM AND LARGE?

I transitioned him over to the bucky barn to learn to be a man. He gets to hang out with Daddy and Uncle Bucky. They treat him well. He is learning fast. He is not wanting any grain right now but he is learning to pasture with the boys and eat hay too.  The boys play with him. He gets to spend time with Daddy and Mommy. I let him out in the mornings with mommy and then he helps me do chores. He still follows me around like a puppy dog. Then when were done he goes back with the boys.
Daddy Zorro, setting a good example to son. “Now, son, this is how we stand on the milk stand when they have to do any routing care for us.”  “Ok, Daddy.” lol

Legacy has learned his first farm lesson. If you don’t want pecked on the head and ears you do not stick your nose in a nesting box where a broody hen is sitting on eggs. Lol

He has been watching momma eat out of her trough.

Princess now, hollers at me from way down in the pasture when “she feels” its milking time. She will call me until I come and demand to be milked.

We have come a long way since she gave birth. She has been a true test, but we have succeeded. I am so proud.

I still love to see Mommas with babies. This is Cocoa with one of her twins from last year. They stick together like glue.

I still think however I have moody, physco, hormonal goats still in the barn. Joe Joe and Ginger are so big they are miserable. They moan when they breathe. I feel sorry for the. They still have half of May to go. Tasha is getting more loving towards me but she is not due til June. Tasha really has the personality of her mom Tisha.  I have done routine maintenance on everyone. Worming, vaccinating, and hoof trimming. This is the season for livestock lice. No, not the kind we humans get, this is livestock lice. Kind of looks like dandruff. I have tried something to see if it works. I sometimes use a drench wormer. I put some in a spray bottle and sprayed their coats with it. Ill let you know how it works.

We got alot of stuff done before daddy had to go out of town. We got Dakota working on the mowing of the lawn. This is now his job. Daddy laid down the boundries and showed him what to do. Dakota mowed for two days on this yard and weedeated. He also picked up any sticks and trash along the way and sprayed for ants. He worked so hard and it really looked wonderful.

He may have a summer job with daddys cousin mowing yards. This will help him learn. He will get paid for our yard. He wants a job so bad. I will have to find Dallas a job for this summer cause he wants to get paid too.

Susie is at the breeder to wait for her to come into heat so he can breed her. Missy is doing great in her training.Dixie is like a little lost dog without them here.

While the boys were in school, David and I got most of the garden planted.  We planted tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, corn, peas, watermelons, pumpkins, sunflowers, broccilli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots, spinach, onions, garlic, cucumbers and lettuce so far. We worked so hard for a whole week, I could not hardly move. I hurt in places I didnt know I had. He hooked up all my sprinklers again for me. We had put them away for the winter. We now have peas and corn and sunflowers coming up.

He finished putting up my green bean fence. I still go to plant those one day this week.

The rest of the time we tried to spend more time together before daddy left. Well that time came and it wasnt pleasant. Dallas woke up crying that morning. He has never cried before. This about killed daddy. Dakota woke up clingy to daddy. Every time he passed him through the house, he would reach out and hug him. Daddy knew this was not going to be easy. He took them to school that morning. They were off ok. Daddy said next time hes going to wait til everyone is asleep and sneak out in the middle of the night. I told him he better not. No one was looking forward to him leaving. We have great neighbors that watch over us and that makes him feel at ease. We do have great neighbors.

We were hoping that he would have been able to take me back to the dentist to get the other side of my mouth, but my appt. was two days after he left. My mother in law took me. I didnt feel a thing cause I was sedated again. They made my visit so pleasant. Mostly cause I was sedated. Lol. We got back home and she went and picked up the boys. It was Wednesday, which they usually stay in after school and I come to the school with the church bus to pick everyone up. But, they did not want to go to church without me. So she took them to get something to eat and get me some yogurt and soup since thats all I could eat. I slept the rest of the day.

I would like to say thank you to Dakota and Dallas for taking care of me. They covered up daddy’s tomato and pepper plants to protect them from frost. Dakota did some laundry without being asked. They gave legacy his bottle when needed. And Dallas kept me supplied in kisses and hugs and got me whatever I needed. Our family pulls together and takes care of one another. Thank you boys I love you very much.

Schedule has been hectic lately. Karate, baseball, church, garden, chores and grocery shopping.I have not grocery shopped in I couldnt tell you how long. David is the grocery shopper and the finance keeper and bill payer. I hate it.

We paid so much attention to the outside and getting things done, that the inside of my house looks like a tornado went through it. Now we have to spring clean. I have been working on one room at a time. Ceiling to floor, curtains are being taken down and washed. PHEW!!!! Once Im caught up I intend on staying caught up.

Dallas is getting ready for his first competition in karate. It will be on a Saturday and it is about two hours from here. We will  have a busy day. He will compete in his second kata..Hian Nidan,and grappling.

Dallas wanted to spend a few nights with nanny so we let him and they spoiled him rotten as usual. I took my other handsome feller out to eat. And then he went with the youth for movie night one night. Im trying to keep them busy to keep their mind off daddy being gone. But Im getting wore out.

The boys have gotten in to a little mischief at school. I had already warned the teachers this might happen if they got to missing Daddy. They are helping.

I wish I could say more about that but they read my blog too. Lets just say on a few occassions I have sided with my children because I felt they were in the right. They know my feelings on these situations and I will not futher discuss them here.

The last thing I did was plant 4 rows of potatoes by myself. I came in and couldnt feel my arms. I was shaking from being so tire. I took a much needed shower and laid down on the couch and fell asleep.

April the 14th, 22 years ago, David and I went on our first date. We have been together ever since.

I love this man with all my heart and I appreciate everything he does for his family. He is very devoted, dedicated, loyal, and he sacrafices everything for us. He is a great husband and father and provider. I will not mess this good thing up. I love you David Dixon.

Well, I hope I have caught everyone up, I hope most of all I have not bored you to death or put you to sleep. Im sorry it has been so long. I just have not had the spare time to blog. I will try  to stay on top of things so I do not loose any faithful readers. I hope you have enjoyed reading. Thank you for your patience. Remember If I can have patience, you can too.

C U and God Bless

Yep hes getting more spoiled each day.  This morning while I was doing all my chores Legacy followed me aroud like a hound dog puppy. Up under my feet. He goes and helps me gather the eggs, feed the chickens, he goes to the Bucky pen to feed the boys.  The boys treat him better than the girls do. They sniffle of him, but sometimes run. The girls butt him all over. He even followed me all the way back up to the house after his afternoon bottle. I had to walk him all the way back down to the barn. Momma want have anything to do with him. I put him and her together at night in the kidding pen, but she still runs from him. I dont think she has that mothering instinct. I d understand it though, she was the spoiled brat when she was born. Literally, she could just whimper like a whisper, and Momma would hear her and no matter where she was, she would come running and trying to find out what was the matter with her baby. I think Princess did it on purpose sometimes just because she had momma wrapped around her little finger.

He likes going to the Bucky pen, and since they treat him better, in a few more days, I will try to put him in with them. He is already drinking water a little and nibbling on grass. Here are the boys eating good clover.

Ive made sure Legacy can jump up to get into the barn and come back out so at least I know he can get in out of the rain. So one day I will make the transition. It is fixing to be time to disbud him and this is the part I hate.

Im collecting eggs for the incubator and someone laid these two green eggs. I dont know who.

This is the chicken I was telling you about that stays on the milk stand watching Legacy.

Dallas has decided he wants to spend the rest of the week with Granny and Poppa. Daddy and brother cant stand it, they want their little buddy back. I told them  to leave him alone he was having a good time.

I got outside today and tried to get some work done. I had to patch part of  the fence cause when I went outside this morning, Miracle was on this side of the fence trying to get back in. I knew exactly where she got out at, cause Ive been telling myself I need to fix that some day. Well, today was that day. Then I extended my green bean fence that I didnt finish last year. So this year there will be more green beans unless I decide to half it with something else. I wanted to hook up the sprayer to the 4 wheeler, but I couldnt get it to work. Then I wanted to spread lime with the 4 wheeler but couldnt get the spreader to work. Oh, Sweetheart!! Thats usually how it goes, when you want to do something, nothing works. So, I finally said PHOOEY!!!!! and came in and took a much needed shower since my ankles and calves had done swelled up on me. Then I flopped down and took a nap.

I have still been working on my goat page, I promise not much longer. It has taken me almost 2 yrs to research and learn from experience somethings that I want to share.

Dakota has put me on a tight schedule. I told him not to sign up for too many things at one time this spring and guess what he did. Tues. and Thurs from 3-5 after school is weight lifting for the football boys at the high school then from 6-8 is baseball practice. How in the world am I going to feed the baby when were not here. HUM!!! Guess he’ll just have to go with us and we will have to pack us a picnic supper. lol Dakota is gonna be one tired dude on these days. Not to mention Monday night is Karate for Dallas and Wed. night is church. Im going to be one tired dudette on these days.lol

Well, I got to go milk and fight with Drama Princess again and give the baby its night time bottle. Then next babies to be born will be in May.

Hope everyone enjoys their night.

Yep hes spoiled. We cant hardly walk away from the barn without him running and following us like a little hound dog. Dallas is spoiling him too.

Got Milk?

Momma still want let him nurse, so Im having to milk her and give it to him. He gets so lonely sometimes. I wish she would have had twins. I think there has been a chicken thats taken a liking to him. When I went to give him a bottle one time, he was under the milk stand asleep and the chicken was on top of the milk stand resting.I let Susie and Dixie in the pasture this morning while I was doing chores. Now Dixie is a scardey dog with the goats. She is terrified. So I held Legacy up in my lap and Dixie “creeped” over to take a sniffle.She licked her and loved on her so did Susie.

Its getting somewhat easier to milk her. My lip is getting better by the way. I have tried a new way of hobbling (hogtying) her to get her milked without kicking so much. lol  She still wants to kick but the way I hobble her it is hard for her to. She still dont like having her udder touched. I keep telling myself this too shall pass, but Im getting impatient. Shell get the hang of it before too long. I hope she does before my momma comes to take care of them for me or my momma want touch her. lol Shes giving plenty of milk but she has started getting clumpy poop, that is a sign of stress, and stress brings on parasites, so she got wormed today. She also got vaccinated. This is suppose to be done before they give birth, but since she was a surprise It had to be later. I gave the baby some C and D antitoxin until it can be vaccinated properly after it has built up immunities.

Dallas decided he wanted to go to my Momma and Daddys for a few days on his spring break, so me and him headed that way yesterday. We got to eat supper with them. When I got back, I went down to the barn and milked. It was dark but it was so peaceful and the stars were pretty.

Dakota starts baseball practice today. Him and Daddy have fished the last two days and they come in telling the funniest stories on each other.

Daddy says your never too old to get hugs and kisses from momma and daddy. lol

The boys had dentist appts. Monday and Dallas will get his braces off in 4 to 6 weeks. But, he will have to wear a small retainer for the remainder. Crap, we wanted no more metal in our mouth at all. They said its just a precaution so no teeth decides to rotate or shift later. At least he can take it out when he eats or has to wear a mouth piece for karate or football this fall.

Well its time to go give the baby a bottle. More spoiling to do.

Hope everyone has a blessed day.

Ok, Ill fill you in on the latest. I went back down to the barn later that afternoon to try to get her on the milk stand again and  I start to grab her teat to let baby find it and she butts me and now I have a fat busted lip.  This is the thanks I get. lol

Later that night after supper, Dallas and I got our stuff ready to go down to the barn and spend the night. We get all set up and got the baby and momma settled down for the night. So we try to go to sleep.

OK stayed, not slept, in the barn last night. I have not slept all night. Momma has talked to baby all night, I heard cud chewing, licking and smacking and crunching on hay, Joe Joe butting everyone out of the barn, cats climbing, coyotes howling, dogs barking, and then out of nowhere the roosters start crowing way before sun up. There looking mighty good at this moment when I imagine them fried. Momma and baby are fine. She doesn’t like being left alone with him. As long as I’m there she’s fine. We didn’t get cold til around sun up and we high tailed it to the house crawled under the cover and went nighty night. I am sleep deprived, my lip is twice its size this morning, I’m cranky. It’s going to be a long day. I will try to get her to nurse again this morning. But I will guard my lip carefully.

I am asleep on the couch and finally toasty when Dakota walks in and wakes me up and tells me to come outside. To my surprise they got up this morning and went turkey hunting for first weekend of juvenile season. He killed his first turkey.

We take some pictures and while they are taking care of it, I make myself some breakfast and drink some much needed coffee to wake up.

I go back down to barn to do chores and feed. I get Princess back on the stand,after she takes me for a rodeo, and we try this again. After about 30 minutes of kicking and hollering her head off like I was torturing her (such drama), I have to hobble her. I hate doing this, but I dont want kicked in the head either.  I let her settle down and get use to her feet being stationery. lol Now, I rub her, soothe her, sing to her and finally I just have to get the job done. I have to do this or shes going to get engorged and be miserable, she just has to learn to trust me. I get my milker out and she fills up a whole quart. Since shes still squimish, she is not letting all her milk down at this time. That will  come later when she gets more comfortable. I was so proud of her, I praised her and gave her some treats to boot.

Legacy is very frisky today, Im glad someone is. Im still walking around like a zombie. If your having trouble understanding my post, sorry, Im still exhausted. Tonight when I go back down to the barn I will try to milk her out again, but I will try to sneak baby up under her in the process. Well see how that goes.

Dallas was suppose to go turkey hunting this evening, but he is so exhausted too he is taking a nap. lol

Hope everyone enjoys this Lords day.

Oh, and Im so excited, I have reached 2001 readers. Thank You all so much. I hope I can continue to make your reading more enjoyable.

Uh, you remember me telling you that I was going to have to keep my eye on Princess for the next few days, cause I didnt feel like she was going to make it to the end of  May? Well, she didnt. When I left them last night and went to bed, something kept nagging at me all night. I go down to the barn this morning and see she is leaking birthing mucous and amniotic fluid. WHoo Hooooo the game is on. I got all my chores done very quickly, and got the kidding pen ready for her and got her fanny in there pronto. Its a good thing cause a little later she started pushing. She had a hard time cause it was a big baby.

Here she is getting ready:

Here “he” is Yep this is Dixon Farms Sasha’s Legacy:

There is only one problem, she is scared to death of him. She runs from him and she want let him nurse or anything. I hold him up to her and let her smell him and get use to him. She is so nervous. I got her on the milk stand and tried to get her use to me touching her udder and she kicks and throws a fit. This is going to take some time. So, in the mean time I have got some powdered colostrum to feed him til she realizes what her udder is for. He is so friendly and sweet. I just love him.

I have left them alone for a few hrs to bond with each other. She talks to him and such, but still nervous.

Well, this is the little devil that did it. Yep, my little man Zorro, not even a year old. That means he bred back in Oct. with her. Sneaky thing. Look, he looks guilty and he thinks hes in trouble…lol

I guess he proved to be very fertile at a young age. Way to go Zorro.

Well, I was suppose to plant plants in the raised beds today, I may get to them and I may not. Dallas and I already have out “bed” made in the loft of the barn, thats where well be tonight so I can keep an eye on mom and baby and feed him til she learns to. Right now Im in much need of a shower since Ive got birthing goop and baby slobber and colostrum all on me.

I will keep everyone up to date on how things are going.

Well, I got some computer time this evening so Ill catch ya up.

First, Ive decided not to draw blood on my girls, because Im sure all are pregnant except Cocoa. She has just been too sick. Besides, Im seeing visible signs anyway from the other 4:

Ms. Drama Princess is showing  big time. Her horns have  got to go after her baby or babies are weaned. When she was a baby we disbudded twice and she still grew some. Oh well, their coming off! They hurt. Im really watching her closely cause she is showing signs that I dont think shes going to make it til May. If she has them before May, then Bucky is not the daddy. That means my little man Zorro would be pretty “fertile” uhem! at a young age. We will have to wait and see. She “DOESNOT” like you touching her. She will kick and buck. Thats alright shell need me when these babies are born and shell change her tune a little. lol This will be her first babies.
Where did everybodys heads go? lol Ginger is the spotted one on the far left. If I remember correctly she didnt really start showing til closer to the end then she blew up like a balloon. Shes beginning to get a little puggy. She gave me triplets last year. Tasha is the third from left, shes puggy too, this is her first babies too. Joe Joe is the 4th from left,the first black one. She is an old pro, but she looks bigger this year than last year and she always gives twins, but she looks bigger now. Maybe shell go for triplets this yr.  Everyone is not due til May. Next yr Im getting an early start.

I found a buck I was interested in but another friend beat me to him. They came as a package deal so shes getting 4 does, and the buck and a few extra things the owner is throwing in for a steal. I can still buy him later if I want him. He is very handsome, his name is Yazoo born 2008.

My friend and I are going to work on his hooves though. They can be corrected. But he is a Brute one isnt he?

I put the boys to work one day helping in the garden, we got my raised beds fixed. This time they want have to be moved again. We got them all filled in with humus, dirt and top soil.

A little work never hurt anybody. Its better than letting them sit in all time playing video games.

In class the other night some girls left me a few notes in my Bible. This is why I love to teach.

One of my sisters put a pic of us on Facebook and I totally forgot about this pic.

Im the baby by the way…lol

Next week will be spring break and I have so much to do. I have hooves to trim, coop to clean out, house to clean, etc. etc.

Dakota has decided he wants to play baseball this spring. Crap, I thought I was going to have my spring free this year. Oh well, thats what us moms do. Right now the High School coach is letting the 8th graders who will be playing freshmen football next year, come to the high school when school is out on Tuesdays and Thursdays to lift weights and strength train from now til the end of the school year. Dakota is so excited. He loves it. He already feels like hes in high school.

One day this week I did a boo boo: I took the wrong medicine one morning. I have two prescription from my Dentist one is for infection the other is the one I’m suppose to take to sedate me before I come back in the next time. Well, guess which one I took?  When I realized what I did, I remembered I had done the same thing the day before. I could not for the life of me figure out why I had gotten so tired and loopy all the sudden. I saw what I did wrong the next day when I did the exact same thing. I had both bottles side by side and grabbed the wrong one by accident. I knew I had to hurry up and get my chores done before it kicked in. So I was back in bed by 9:30 am and slept til 2:30pm. I would not have woke up then if my stomach had not been growling. It was Wednesday night too. I had to get someone else to drive the church bus, there was no way I was going to do that with those kids lives in my hands. I was still loopy when I got to church, it finally wore off today after I slept it off last night. Now I have to get another presc. from the dentist. They couldnt help but laugh when I told them what I did. I let them slide this time.lol

I posted some things on Facebook I wanted to share with yall…

Iam so spoiled then.

This reminds me of my grandparents.

This reminds me of my boys!

This is beginning to be me.

This is what we need to be saying:

Well I guess Id better go for now.

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mstracydixon@yahoo.com

I have just now finished my Poultry page for our blog. On the left side bar click on tab that says Poultry. I hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions feel free to contact me. Thanks.