With Maggie out of the action, we really haven’t gotten a lot of extra work done this summer.  We had big plans, but well, it’s just been harder.  Jessy and I have been trying to get to a few things and we’ve accomplished some, but well, it was time to call in some reinforcements!!  Yes, strong teenage boys!

I asked Jeremy, the son of our neighbors, and his friend Chris down for a day to help out with a few things…  They were eager to help out and a little pocket change was great incentive.  I wish I could have them out a couple times a week, but I think I can only afford a day a week or so.  We’ll see how it goes, budget wise…

The first project up on the list was to dismantle the broken chicken tractor in the garden.   It was an eyesore and we wanted to scavange the good lumber from the frame!  They had that apart in no time flat!  Jessy helped and they moved the fence that was around it out to the back side of the garden.

I think it looks lovely!  Opens up the area nicely.   Then they dismantled the third small coop in the poultry barn that I had built last fall.   Our plans have changed and there was really no need for that third pallet coop.  And it’s in the way for us to use that area for hay storage in the winter.   And we needed the nice heavy duty pallets for our ram shack we were building up front!  Well, in no time, they had that done too!  

The chicken tractor was sitting up on a bunch of old wire spools and so we didn’t want to waste them…   Jeremy moved them out to the back pasture to add on to our goat fort…  which he renamed for us…  it’s now officially the GORT… haha….  and the goaties love it!

Rana and Rafeka were skeptical, but they are always skeptical…

Later that evening, Jessy and I went out to show them all their new addition to the Hillbilly playground.

Of course, the goats were ready to try it out.  Momma Noel as well!  (Mostly because there was cookies involved in the grand opening celebration!)  

Angus was glad that he could have a cookie, even if he could care less about the gort.  

Can’t you see Ivy grumbling…   “Dang it, this is a goat thing, let’s go graze…”   Which they did.

“Hey!  I can see my house from here!”

Kitty Duke is not impressed.

Rana and Buttercup are battling for king of the truck cap.

 

It has already provided quite a bit of amusement for the us and the goats.  Even the sheep kind of play with it.  They like to rub on the lower spools and will lounge underneath them in the shade.

And under the cap is a nice place to hang out in the shade or avoid a little summer shower.   I am going to build them a nice little rain shelter for everyone soon enough.  That way I can leave them out there longer and not worry about the heat or rain.   They really don’t like to get rained on hard…  light sprinkles are fine, but anything heavy or steady and they all complain.

“Sure, I can make that slide….”

Harley thinks it’s all nonsense.    But then, he’s becoming quite the little grown up ram boy!  All serious you know.

Cody is not thrilled either.  It’s a goat thing.  He’d rather graze.

Bucka Too taking a few girls for a stroll in the evening pasture.

Jessy practicing her yoga pose “goat in lap” ….   

Daisy doesn’t understand why kitties get to sit in lap and not goaties…

My little sweetheart, Buttercup.   She just loves to love on me.  She is the most affectionate farm animal I’ve ever known.  Rafeka is getting very comfortable with attention as well.

Daisy and Buttercup vie for closeness to me on the spool.  They are very silly.

Beautiful Rafeka…  he loves to strike a pose.  His hair is getting so nice and long….

Duke Kitty getting a lot of attention, that he’d rather not have…   He just wants to sit and look pretty!

Anyone for a goat mower?  We can add a section goat for no charge!

Well, it was just amazing what those boys got done.   They dismantled the coop and tractor, hauled all the wood over to the salad bar pasture.  Removed a fence from the weed patch, and all the posts too!   They mowed several areas and weed whacked down a bunch of thistles in the middle and back pasture.  It was simply a blessing.   Really gave Jessy and I a little break, and a boost in our morale a bit, to see some things get finished up that were lingering a bit.  I hope to have them out again because they are great helpers, eager to do things to help us out, especially without our Maggie on the scene!  And did I mention, they are just fun and delightful to be around.  That’s the icing on the cake.   Can’t wait to see what they might do next week!!!

 

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