winterwood farm

I brought our Uno baby to the vet today, and the results were not that great. The first thing he asked me was how old she was, to which I replied "I don’t know for sure."  I told him how we have had her for three years, and the farmer we got her from said she was a rescue goat and had several owners. He did not know how old she was, so we really can only guestimate. The vet thought she was probably around 10 years old, but she thats just a guess. He said that he thinks her kidneys are shutting down, and if thats the case then we might want to put her down. He did say that she looked pretty rugged, but her eyes still looked bright. I guess a caught a glimmer of hope and asked him what our options were. He said: put her down; baby her for awhile and see if she pulls out of it. The way we would baby her is to give her water with mollasses. We would have to force it into her, probably by a turkey baster. He also said that we could get her vitamins and mix them with water and again "force" it into her. So, thats what we’ll be doing.

If you are reading this blog, I am going to ask you to pray for Uno. I know that God is a big God and He cares even about goats. If its her time then go, then I pray it will happen quickly and without pain. However, if she can be saved by being "babied", then I pray it works. Please pray for her as well as for us as we care for her.

Our goat is still hanging in there. She is still skinny, but she does seem to be eating more!! :0)  She is v-e-r-y finiky, and that usually is not what goats are. As a matter of fact they are eptiome of ‘finiky’, as they pretty much anything and everything. So, we have continued to watch her, make sure she eats something, drinks water, and pray.

Onto other things, soccer season is almost over and of course we all know that after soccer season is the ONLY season…..Basketball Season!! :0)  This year my two dds will be playing, and I am looking forward to watching them. My dd (15) is a sophmore and has yet to play sports at the high school level. She played from third grade to eigth grade, but took a year off to get acclamated to high school work. I talked to the Althletic Director and I need to send a letter to the principal stating that she would like to play. I also need to send her grades and show that she is taking at least 5 credits. This is not really for the school, but for the division they play in. I really don’t mind doing those things, because she really wants/loves to play and it is a joy watching her.

Well, thats it for now. Have a blessed day in the Lord and I will ‘visit’ again with you another time. :0)

One of our goats seems to be under the weather. She is extremely thin, all the other goats are nice and plump. She eats only a little at a time, the other goats eat like…pigs. She gets shunned out of the barn, the other goats are nice and cozy.

We have pulled her out of the herd and she is hanging with the chickens. My dd made a coat type thing for her, because it is getting cold up her and as I mentioned she is skinny. We have been feeding her pretty much by hand. She loves: Corn flakes; Oatmeal; Tortillas; and once in awhile she eats….goat food. She only takes the food in small portions and in all honesty I think her teeth may be wearing down.

I called the vets office today to see if I could drop a sample of her…poop off to them. We did deworm all the goats about 4 weeks ago, but if she has another kind of worm it might show up under the microscope. In the mean time she’s bedded down in the coop with her homemade blankie for the night. I really hope and pray that in the morning she is doing better.

I will continue the post on shopping another time….

I have been in the frugal mode lately and the $100.00 I spend at the grocery store seems like too much. I am trying to get it down and as I do that I will post about it for those who might be interested.

Here is whats on the menu this week:

B~ oatmeal w/ brown sugar

B~ french toast w/ apples and brown sugar

B~ scrambled eggs and toast

B~ Blueberry Muffins

L~ Mac. and Cheese with broccoli

L~ PB&J with chips

L~ Egg Noodles & Parm. Cheese and veggies mixed in

L~ Left over chili and corn bread

L~ Soup from another meal

S~ Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

S~ Beef Barley Soup with Homemade Biscuits

S~ Speg. with Italian Sausage and Garlic Bread

S~ Cheeseburgers, French Fries & Pink Stuff

S~ BBQ Chicken, Coleslaw & Homemade Baked Beans

S~ Homemade Chili & Corn Bread

For those of us herbivores, I usually substute the meat with a soy type product or fill in with more veggies. One my favorite soy products is Morning Star Grilled Veggie Burgers. Yummy!!

Here is my list of to do’s for the week:

* Homeschool the kiddos in way that is interesting to them and me.

* Make a lesson plan for the month. I REALLY need to get going and get some plans down. It is easy for me to "fly by the seat of my pants", but it is just as easy for me to get distraced and not "fly" at all. ;0)

* Visit the apple orchard and get lots of yummy apples to "put up" for winter.

* Visit the county "farm", otherwise known as a prison, and buy some 50lb. bags of potatoes and lots of squash.

* Go to dds soccer game and be real life soccer mom. LOL

* Mail out a check to MarmeeDear for something I bought someone. I can give no more details on that. Shhh…..

* Get a list together for items needed for "Light Night", held at our church on Oct. 31st.

* Get a sign up sheet ready for "Light Night", for the much needed helpers.

* Go and paint a sign for "Light Night".

* Go to dr. (Ugg) I have to have a much overdo physical.

* Clean the house so that this weekend we can have family time and not have to worry about it.

* Go to the bookstore and buy a much needed copy of Around the World in 80 days.

* Huggle my children and snuggle with hubby.

* Last but not least, read the Word of God.

As a wife to a hard working hubby and mom to 3 growing teens and 1 growing pre-teen, I understand about food and the cost of it. In our home, the grocery bill varies from under $100.00 a week to $200.00 a week. On the weeks that I spend $200.00 the food usually lasts another week, but we may need to buy extra milk, bread, ect…  I count our grocery bill as every item we use. That includes paper products, dog/cat food, laundry det. , food, and everything that I get while grocery shopping. I probably should try a grocery food budget, of just food but I need to get the other things any way and I usually get them at the same time.

This is what I do:  Every week I make a menu, or use one already pre-made. The menu consists of 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 suppers, and snacks. It is not set up daily, but instead as a list of breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and possible snacks. I tried having a daily menu, but everyone liked it better having a list of possible meals and going from there. I guess we all like spontanity. ;0)

Once the menu is made, I write out EVERY single food item that is needed to complete the menu. If I have something already in house, I don’t write it down unless it is needing to be refilled or replaced. For instance if I’m making meatloaf and already have bread crumbs, I don’t write it down on the list. If, however, the bread crumbs are almost gone then I write it down and buy more.

I try to go to 3 seperate stores. The first one is the discount food place. I get things like cereal, bagels, sauces, ect… there. This place can be just as expensive as the reg. store, so I really need to pay attention to the prices. However, there are usually great deals on many things. The only thing is that the package it comes in will be dented, marked, ect…. If that bothers you, then don’t shop at one of those places. ;0)  I mark off my list anything that I got there, so I don’t accidently pick it up at another store. Then I usually head to Wal Mart……. (to be continued)