I just noticed that it has been almost a week since my last post! I apologize for such a delay!

Well, the time finally came for the goats to permanently move out of the pig pen. The pigs are getting too big and too aggressive. They’re starting to bite and we are concerned that they will injure one of the goats. Not only that, but one of the pigs was walking with a limp, the other day. We think she may have been seriously butted by one of the boys. She’s fine now, but we don’t want one of the girls (the pigs are all female) to get seriously injured.

We tried just letting the goats have run of the big yard; that lasted all of a few days. But they really loved it, while it lasted! We were having an issue with them coming onto the porch. They could get over or around any barrier that we tried. They even figured out how to out-maneuver the hotwire! Knowing that they don’t like to be wet, I decided to try a little experiment. As soon as I heard hooves on the porch, I would open the door and squirt him (it was always Ray) with the squirt bottle that we use on the cats. It worked! The goats don’t like to be squirted with water! It really wasn’t much of a deterrent; but it got him off the porch quickly! I didn’t have to fight with pulling or pushing him down the steps; it was so nice!

Unfortunately, the goats were being mean to Thumper. So, for Thumper’s safety, we dismantled the mobile pen and used some of the panels to cordon off a large section of the big yard, exclusively for them. This way, Thumper can go outside and not have to live in fear of the horn-ed ones.

Though, it’s his own fault, really… They had an uneasy truce going; but Thumper decided that he needed go off chasing Frank, barking at him. Well, naturally, this turned him into a predator, in their eyes; and he was no longer safe. They actually got to where they’d tag-team Thumper. He’d go around a bush in one direction, one goat would follow him and the other goat would go around the bush in the opposite direction. This put Thumper right between them, to get hit from two sides. Not fun! And eventually, he refused to go off the porch, at all. The poor thing had to be put on a leash and taken out front, to relieve himself!

So, now everyone has their own slice of the yard and it’s good! We put a gate between two of the panels, so I can go in and out easily. This is a good thing, because I cut the heck out of both hands, trying to handle the panel and the marauding goats! Those panels have some sharp edges! But now I can go in and out to visit, feed, pet, love, trim and generally hang out. It’s nice!

One of our friends built another three-sided shelter for them, today. The one in the pig pen has posts that are sunk in the ground, so it can’t be moved. But that’s okay, the pigs need shelter, too. This second shelter is smaller than the first, but it’s big enough for both boys to go in and lay down. They can stand and turn around in there, but not get up on hind legs (much) while inside. With this shelter, the back is lower to the ground, so they are able to jump up on it. It was great fun watching them play King of the Castle, today!

I used my new dagging shears and cut a bunch of fur off of Frank today. He hasn’t been handled much, recently, so he was a little reluctant to let me do it for very long; but I persisted. We had several short sessions and I was able to get one side almost completely trimmed. On the other side, I was able to shorten the length of the fleece and trim the loose areas around the edges. Maybe I can get some pictures (and more trimming) tomorrow.

We’ve been discussing getting a guard animal to live with the boys. The conversation was prompted by the offer of three miniature donkeys. I vetoed the idea of the donkeys, but it got me thinking. We do have coyotes in the neighborhood and while we have decent fencing (and hotwire), I’m sure it wouldn’t stop a determined coyote.

I did some research on guard animals and I think that the best for us would be a llama. I have not done any research into llama husbandry, so I have no idea how much work they are, but I know that they eat the same food as the goats. That will be one less worry, because goats are pretty cheap eaters! As an added benefit, llamas oftentimes have long fur that needs to be trimmed. Perfect! I can have llama to spin with my goat fur!

We may not need a guardian, right now. But certainly, next year, when we increase our herd, we will want something. Especially if we have kids, which we do plan to have, eventually. Next year we will get does, with the intention of breeding. Though the breeding may happen the year after next. We’ll definitely want a guardian, when we have kids – if not sooner.

So, I need to do some research into llama husbandry and start getting us prepared for that venture!

Some by nature, some by design…

These Violas are in one of my flower beds (and scattered about the property). Some we’ve planted and some have just come up on their own. I do believe this particular plant is a volunteer.

I believe this may be Lungwort… Or the Lungwort is a plant sitting next to it. Never-the-less, I planted this in my flower bed.

The sun shining through the leaves of the Quaking Aspen. My sweetie’s grandmother planted these trees 30 years ago. I love them!

This is a close-up of what I believe to be Yarrow; it is native. I wasn’t paying attention to properly identifying the plant before I snapped the photo. There had been a butterfly enjoying the flowers; but by the time I figured out why the camera wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do, it was gone. HUMBUG! So, I just focused on the flowers, instead!

I love that the camera can pick up tiny details that my own eyes will miss. Yeah, need to get to the ophthalmologist… Yay! Bifocals!  .NOT.

Needless to say, the goats’ mobile pen isn’t coming anywhere near any of this stuff – except the Yarrow.

Most folks consider Yarrow to be a weed; but it is a remarkably useful medicinal herb! And while we haven’t used it yet, it is quite welcome in our yard.

I was able to get the goats out of the mobile pen, all by myself this evening. Yay! If I can get them out, I should be able to get them in… Theoretically…

After we had been in the yard for a bit, Frank went to the corner and stood there, stiff as a board, looking off towards the woods; Ray soon joined in. My heart started thumping a little, too, as I wondered what was out there… Coyote? Deer? Cougar? We could hear something rustling and crashing around through the underbrush. We watched intently, waiting to see what sort of predatory monster was going to come bursting through the trees. And we were poised to flee. (Yes, I think this way because I’m a city girl who has been transplanted to the country. I’m often a little paranoid when I’m outside.)

Well, in just a few moments we saw them, weaving in and out of the trees on the edge of the forest. First, a small black and white streak. Then a bigger brown, white and black streak. I realized that it was Thumper chasing Domino (aka The Demon). That meant that Thumper somehow got out.

The Demon is a kitten (about 9 months old) that Thumper raised. So they chase, and rassle, and generally play rough. Woe be to the human that tries to play with Domino, sans chainmaille gloves… You’ll walk away bloody. He’s not mean, he just doesn’t realize that humans are soft targets.

Anyways, I just knew they were going to head into the woods, so I thought I’d better get out there and try to get Thumper back in. Naturally, he was ignoring me, until I said the “C” word… Candy… Mmmm… Yummy candy… Well, he quickly changed course and came right for me. When he got halfway across the yard I started running for the door, hoping he’d chase me. He did. He fell for it… So, he got some treats for being good and coming back. Thankfully, I made it up the steps before he got to me. I feared that we would trip over each other, racing up the stairs.

James and I sat out on the back porch for a little bit, after getting Ray and Frank into the pig pen, and Thumper showed no interest in the gate, at all. I was wondering if perhaps he had realized that he could get out, or if I left it open. Yeah… I’m inclined to say that I must’ve left it open, when I went to get the boys from the mobile pen. Bad mommy! Lesson learned.

Oh, and another lesson learned this evening… The hot-wire is working! I went to lean the pitchfork against the fence and ZAP!!! The back of my wrist touched the hot-wire. Oh yeah, she’s kickin’! No worries there! It’s working for sure!

In other news, I’m bidding on a camera on eBay. I’m so tired of taking horrible, awful, terrible phone photos! Our bills are lower this week, and my birthday will be in a few weeks. So, I’m going to try to get myself a decent digital point-n-shoot camera. Then I’ll start posting project photos, more goat photos, more hound photos, maybe some kitty photos… It will be fun! I’ll know in less than four days, whether or not I’m the winner. Hmmm… Maybe I should go increase my max bid…

I thought I’d better post a photo of Thumper, the resident Basset. After all, the blog is called “Goats and Hounds”.

Please pardon ALL of my photos; they are taken with the camera on my phone.

He likes to sleep on pillows. They’re such angels when they’re asleep, aren’t they?

The goats were baa-aa-ad today. I’ve been trying to teach them to stay off the porch (they “knock” on the door with hooves and horns). We finally ran some of the electric fencing across the entrance and they managed to figure out how to jump over it.

When I was cleaning the pig/goat pen, they decided that they needed to get totally rambunctious. They were chasing each other all over the place. I’ve never seen them that crazy! Naturally, they kept going onto the porch. Even when I tried to block their path, they just tried to ram their way past me.

So, I grabbed their leads (their leads are always on, unless they’re in the pig/goat pen, for this very reason, so we can catch them when we need to) and dragged them into the pen, with me. They didn’t like it much, because they’re used to being out of there during the day (in the main yard). I didn’t feel confident enough to be able to take them out to the mobile pen (tricky “door”), where they’ve been spending much of their time lately. They were being rowdy with the pigs, too; but they finally settled down and took naps. Thank God!

Then, when my sweetie got back from running an errand, we took them out to the mobile pen. We just brought them back into the big yard a little while ago… Yep, still being rowdy… So, we put the electric fencing across the entrance to the porch and then put a couple of boxes on the steps. So far, so good… No knocking on the door… Yet.

I decided to go ahead and post some photos of my boys.

Here they are on their first day at their new home. Ray is the gray one and Frank is the black and brown one.

As you can see, they were quite furry when they arrived. The gal we got them from had snipped some fur off of Ray; but Frank was too skittish to be trimmed, so he is in his full coat.

Here is Ray today standing up on one of the panels of their new mobile pen. As you can see, we were able to get most of his fleece trimmed off. At the time of this photo, he still had three small places that needed trimming. We have since taken care of them. So he is nice and clean, now!

Here is Frank enjoying some bark from one of the trees that’s currently inside the mobile pen. We were able to trim some of his fur. His coloring makes it hard to see, but we got most of the fleece cut on this side. We were advised to just pin him down or tie him up and just get it all cut off. But, we can’t do that. He’s already skittish and we don’t want to traumatize him any more than we need to. We just trim when he lets us, and we stop when he walks away. You can see Ray’s head at the bottom of the frame. He is such an attention hound! He was saying, “No mommy! Look at ME!”

We built the mobile pen out of cattle panels. It was placed in a nice, dappled-shade area, where they had access to trees, weeds and grass. Naturally, we put some hay and water in there; as well as a large wooden spool and a small end table. They enjoyed jumping around and stretching up to reach the tree branches. They played “King of the Hill” on top of the spool… Frank won.

I was working in the yard on that side of the property, today; so it was nice that they were able to see me and talk to me, all day. The boys enjoyed having a change of scenery, too. I think the mobile pen is going to work out great!

I was able to trim some more on Frank, finally!

He decided that he needed to jump up on a makeshift “table” that we have out in the yard. The “table” consists of two sawhorses topped with three wide boards. It’s such an unstable surface, I really don’t like the goats being up there – but they are nothing, if not determined. And until we come up with another solution, it will stay.

So, when he jumped up there, I said “If I let you stay up there, will you let me snip some of your fur?” and he did! So, I got busy with the scissors! A friend loaned us an old pair of dagging shears, but they scare me. Huge scary blades! So, I just used a small pair of scissors that I felt more confident handling.

He would let me snip for several minutes and then he’d jump off the table. A minute later, he’d jump back up and we’d continue with the trimming. This went on for about 45 minutes or an hour. I was quite pleased! When we were all done, he was running and jumping all over – head-butting his brother. It was a joy to see! He was obviously pleased, as well!

We had a birthday party to attend this afternoon and left my son home with the animals. He sent me a text a few hours later saying that the goats were on a rampage. Apparently they had messed up the “table” and the porch and they learned how to unplug the fence (hotwire). Oh boy! He managed to get them into the pen and turn the fence back on (pen and fence are on the same charger). We didn’t get home until after dark; but he warned me that we have quite a mess to deal with in the morning. I’m so not looking forward to that! I guess it’s time we evolve and add another layer of hotwire. They say there is no fence that will hold a determined goat; I’m certain this is true.

We left Thumper home, too. It’s so nice to come home to that wagging tail! He acts like he thought we’d never return; he’s so happy to see us. We don’t leave him home very often; so that greeting is usually reserved for visitors.

This is my first ever blog post. Really, I only got this blog because some other blog sites throw errors when I try to comment, without having a blog identity to log in with. So, here we are…

I live in Central Oregon with my fiance, four cats, three pigs, two goats and a Basset Hound.

Frank and Ray are our Nigora goats. They are wethers (neutered males); and we’re not planning on doing any breeding, at this point. But, we may decide to do so in the future.

Thumper is our Basset Hound. He is our second; our first boy, Max, died. We are hooked on this breed! We already know that when Thumper is gone, we will get another Basset.

Besides the animals, my interests are: spinning (the reason for the goats!), crochet, knitting and needle tatting.

I don’t know how often I’ll update this blog… Maybe I’ll enjoy talking to the internet and maybe I won’t… We’ll see.