It was a l--o--n--g weekend filled with good, bad, and middling. Our oldest doe Gypsy is ill. I think we finally settled on hypocalcemia or milk fever as a diagnosis. One friend suggested entero... but pretty sure that is not it. So this entailed 2 trips to town by my incredibly sweet dh (who also stopped at Sonic for me for a chicken sandwich, fries, and a Rt 44 cherry limeade since he KNEW I had not eaten), spending $$ earmarked for work boots and a computer desk on goat meds, lots of trips out to medicate, take temps (ugh), and baby her. She has improved some and did not go any further down hill. Praising the Lord and thanking him for my group of goat experts and their willingness to help! Sharon thank you for the phone calls Sat and thank you Vickie and Kaye for all your help on the board and through email. Anyone with dairy goats.... this forum is a blesssing - http://dairygoatsplus.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1

Besides caring for Gypsy Saturday, I spent time getting ready for Mother's Day. Dh promised the boys root beer floats if they finished the doe area that day so I needed to make ice cream (we do not buy ice cream, but rather make our own - recipe below). I also got a roast all ready to slow cook overnight, made a nice baked cheesecake from our own eggs and goats cheese, and did lots of laundry (Mt Neverest).

Mother's Day - Dh had asked what my hopes/expectations were for this day and I said... a day of *farm work* and a nice massage. I got both!

We got up and dh made coffee while I prepped goat meds (he even made mine first - I am off caffeine). I had my first cup while filling multiple syringes. Becca and I went out and dosed Gypsy and took her temp. She is fine with all the injectibles, but hates the orals and the temp taking. I had my second cup while loading the washer.... Mt Neverest again. And my third while checking in on the computer, nursing a little one, and enjoying the 2 slices of cinn raisin toast Isaac made me.

Then the fun began... NOT. LOL We decided to start with disbudding Toffee & Coco (burning the horn buds off so they can't hurt themselves or each other with horns later). These 2 girls were a bit older than we'd like to be doing this, but I was unable to reach the local goat lady for help... so had to wait until my newly purchased iron arrived on Sat. Dh had done it under someone elses direction before... but this was our first time solo'ing and we did not have a disbudding box. We got them done.... and we'll see. We also went ahead and *banded* Sausage to turn him into a wether. Not our first choice on methods, but at this time the only choice available to us. By the time this was all done and all had recovered we decided to just do an early lunch... the roast I slow cooked followed by the cheesecake.

The rest of the day was spent on farm work. Molly, Caleb, and Noah played in the yard, Becca watched Micah and held down the house, Aaron & Isaac finish finished the doe area (they had come close enough to earn the root bear floats the night before) and mulched some garden beds for me, Dh put up almost 330' of new fencing to give us a nice big browse yard for the goats, and I did a walk and tidy and pick up, put in all my new hose guides in the garden,  worked on pacing off some of our new projects (new yard for Max-dog, expanding the doe yard, new buck yard, and new turkey yard), and continued to care for Gypsy.

We had leftovers or crackers and cheese for dinner followed by the second half of the cheesecake... and I did get my massage. It was quite a weekend.

Oh! And for Mother's Day I was blessed with -

8 Cadbury caramel eggs from Isaac

a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate caramels from Aaron

$$ towards dinner out or take out with dh from Becca

flowers from the yard from Caleb & Molly

lots of smiles & cuddles from Noah & Micah

and dh... says my new all -fridge coming Tuesday is my Mother's Day... that is great! I am thrilled. (I'll share my *Sears Epic* later)

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (in a Cuisinart counter top electric freezer)

into a 1 qt jar or container WITH a lid add -

3/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 c goats milk (if using grocery store milk do 1c milk to 2c cream)

1 T real vanilla extract

shake WELL

start freezer, pour in mix, wait 30min or so viola`, scoop into covered container using rubber scrapers

note: vanilla does better if you freeze it 1-2 hrs before serving