Great blogs

A dear friend thinks our blog is something special and has given us an award. Check out her blog As Good As It  She is a wonderful friend and mother; her blog is uplifting and fun to follow.

More than an award, this is a way to share blogs you really enjoy with people that read your blog. So here is the skinny on the award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Make sure you contact these bloggers to let them know about the award.

7 things about Stout Ranch:
1. We love being outside on our ranch, riding our horses, playing with our dogs and even doing chores!
2. We are anxiously hoping to adopt and need help passing the word about our adoption dreams
3. We work too hard and don't vacation enough (C has 5 weeks of vacation saved!)
4. We breed show quality Nubian goats
5. We are vegetarian and trying to learn to garden on the Great Plains
6. We are working on year 14 of our fabulous marriage, are truly best friends and can't remember the last time we had a disagreement (weird, I know!)
7. We are christian and try to live worthy lives

I had a hard time picking 15 blogs because some are private so we picked our top 12.
1. Cheese Making  - Do I really need to explain this one?!
2. This Goat's Life - Cute blog written by a dairy goat
3. Cadence Dairy Goats - Great blog on goats and good goat care information
4. Gulley Greenhouse - My favorite nursery, really good gardening advice
5. Back Porch Soap - Soap making at its best!
6. Sleeping Dog Ranch - More good goat stuff :)
7. Improving Communication Between Horse and Rider - Fabulous riding help
8. Front Range Food Gardener - Helping us to learn to garden on the Great Plains
9. All Around Horses - More great riding and horse information!!
10. From My kitchen to Yours - Cooking!! Yummy!!!
11. Sisters Sharing Recipes - More Cooking!!!!
12. Quilting Ranny - Great blog to read, quilting info, give aways, and just good down home advice!

Goat care

I am still relatively new to owning and breeding goats and I am far from being an expert. I more every time I talk to another goat person. One thing I have learned is that there are as many different opinions on goat care, conformation, feeding, qualities and traits as there are goats on the planet. Everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks their opinion is right. It can be overwhelming to a new goat person, or even an experienced goat person. The best way to find the correct answer, sometimes there is no correct answer, is to research and go with what feels right to you and makes the most sense.

I have learned a few things over the past month or so that may be useful to someone else. First, extreme cold can be very bad. Well duh, you say. I mean to be more profound that that! When the weather turns cold, bitterly cold, it can affect our goats in many ways aside from them just being cold and shivering. As an example, cold weather can affect their rumen in a such that they are unable to properly digest their food. In a matter of days, they can drop a lot of weight and even have mineral deficiency issues. Mineral deficiencies can kill your goat very quickly and you may or may not notice that there is a problem. Our Lilly was one such victim. She was fine, in decent flesh and over a period of one hour went from acting normally to deaths door. Even with emergency vet care, she still died. Bitter cold can also cause your does to miscarry as Lacey did last week.

How does one counter this issue? I asked! One thing about me, I am not afraid to admit that I don’t know the answer and I am not ashamed to ask for help. We have a solution! But… You have to start before you have a problem. Once the cold snap starts you will be hard pressed to make a difference. You need to start preparing in fall or early winter. Obviously this year I didn’t start in early winter. Alas, all hope is not lost. As I said, hard pressed; I didn’t say impossible. We are going to do a few specific things to help our goats make it through to spring healthy and in good flesh. Please know that there is sometimes no help for a doe that miscarries and when Heavenly Father calls a goat back to heaven, she goes. Sometimes, there is nothing that you could have done differently. So before you read on, accept that.

All of these things we will next year, start in October. This year, we are staring now. We will supplement our grass hay with alfalfa. Our vet dislikes alfalfa pellets but most goat people I know feel pretty comfortable with pellets. Realizing that pellets are not made from the ‘highest quality’ hay but they are still better than nothing. They are also denser, there is less waste and pellets are easier to store. We typically mix our alfalfa pellets with our grain, which we have done but I haven’t been feeding enough. Grain is also a good for helping keep the weight on. With more weight, they can stay warm better and have a better chance of making it through the winter healthy. So our first step is to feed grain/pellets to each goat on a daily basis.

Our goats already have minerals/salt blocks. I like the blocks because they last longer and keep the goats occupied. Occasionally goats need a mineral boost over and above what they get on a daily basis. Finding a good loose mineral is important. Copper and selenium are very important for the health of goats, so check the label carefully. Occasionally you may need to supplement selenium even more. You will need to get it from your vet. I alternate between ‘Goat Mineral’ from Jeffers and ‘Golden Blend Minerals’ from Hoegger Supply. Both are spread over grain and put in the bottom of the feeder for free use by the goats.

I spoke to a friend this week that said she feeds whole corn during the winter months. Whole corn is easily digested and is packed full of protein so the goats can use it to stay warm with little digestion. It is expensive in feed stores so if you can’t get it direct from a farmer it is really not cost effective. In that case, I would stick to a good grain.

In talking to our vet, she stressed the importance of putting our hands on each goat minimum once a week. While they may look ok, they may feel thin. She told the following story: A few years ago we had a 3 time National Champion bred to a National Champion buck. She was having a hard winter so we blanketed her. She looked good so we didn’t worry about her. She kidded in early February. She had a hard labor and we had to pull both kids. She died shortly after kidding. She was a bag of bones, she was so thin and I had no idea. I assumed that since she was blanketed, she was fine. Her death was my fault because I didn’t put my hands on her. I am a vet, I know better. Not only did I lose her, but she had two bucks so I didn’t have a doeling with her traits. I failed myself and I failed her.” After that story, two things stayed with me: Put your hands on your goat every week; everyone makes mistakes.

Since our little herd took such a hit when we lost Lilly, we are purchasing 3 more goats this weekend. One buck, Nephi needs a buddy and it will enhance our ability to provide breeding services. We are also buying two doelings. We will unveil all of their pedigrees in time, but we are very excited! Nephi has some of the best sires on his papers and P will be a great producer with excellent mammary and milk production potential. The new kids will complement our current herd and will allow us to offer bloodlines that are not often seen in this part of Colorado!

Glancing back & Looking forward

Another year has come and gone. As we look back on 2010 we remember it fondly and anxious wait to see what the new year brings. We have loved, watched our Gunner (Monkey) grow, were broken and got back up, made a lot of money on goats and invested in more! We gained family and lost family; gained a brother and sister, lost our second set of twins. We were approved to adopt. 2010 was a big year with a lot of adventures; as we are sad to see it end, we are excited to see what is coming our way!

We had a friend ask if we were making any resolutions. Simple answer: nope! The next question was 'why not'. We have plans and we already know where we need to go and in general, how we will get there. We know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, we know in general what the plan is and the path to get there. We know the path but we don't know every step and we are still surprised at how things work out. Will 2011 reunite us with our family (child and his/her Birth family)? Only Heavenly Father knows and we will continue to follow his gentler promptings.

Another friend asked if we are trying to be the perfect couple, put on a 'good face', if our blog is really who we are. Yep, this is us - in all of our imperfect and goofy glory. She then asked if our blog was an adoption blog: nope! Our blog started one day when I wrote the same email (with minor changes) and sent it to 5 different family members. I decided that it was ridiculous and we wanted a place where we could share what we want and keep private other things. She asked why our blog is public. When we started we didn't know how to make it private and I wasn't sure our Moms and my Uncle Ed would know how to log in! Besides we now have lots followers from other countries and we get a lot of emails from people that we would never correspond with if our blog was private. 'Do all of our friends follow our blog?' Nope, only a few friends know we have a blog. Like I said, we are fairly private and while we love our friends, we are selective with whom and what we share. 'But you just said your blog was public.' Yes, but how many people that read our blog actually know us in person? About 6!

What do we have planned for 2011.
First: C will undergo her final surgery to fix her neck; this will hopefully happen in the next 4 weeks.
Second: we will travel to California so R can baptize his little sister.
Third: we will do some serious riding this summer and will start Gunner.
Fourth: who knows; we haven't thought that far ahead!

Our wish for you:
"May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires.
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had, forget your home address!
In simple words ............
May 2011 be the best year of your life!!!"

Breeding success!

The goat mating dance is so funny to watch; bucks are gross and obnoxious! If you have never seen a buck acting like a buck and are not easily offended, I encourage you to visit a farm and ask to see their bucks. They make funny faces, goofy sounds and run around like fools (much like teen boys that I remember from my childhood and some grow men I know presently)  - I love it! And our Nephi is so persistent...

We purchased Nephi and Miss P from a ranch in Eastern Nebraska. A huge goat ranch, she had 86 does, 23 bucks and had already rebred most of them. We got a gigantic discount on both our goats by buying 'off season' and doing a package deal. It never hurts to negotiate - the worst they can say is no, right?!

Anyhow, both Nephi and Miss P were dam raised and when we brought them home, almost completely wild. All of our goats are dehorned and Nephi was descented as a kid, so he isn't super smelly. Both are getting better at being handled, Miss P is hard to catch and Nephi is hard to get to stand still.  Both did very well for vaccinations and hoof trimming but I can tell that we will need to start thinking about building another structure to restrain Nephi for shots and trimming as he is already almost too big for our stand. If you have any big bucks or have seen any buck restraints, please let me know - I am having a bugger of a time finding something that will hold a 200 pound buck!

Both Lacey and Lilly are bred to Nephi for 2011 kids. Lacey is due in March and Lilly in April. Miss P gets to wait until next year for her turn, I want to make sure she is big enough to handle kidding and she is still on the small side right now.

We brought in a doe (Twila) for Nephi to 'date' over Thanksgiving weekend and she was bred this week. Twila will be headed home next week and should kid in early May. We brought in another visitor (Daisy) today. She is actually currently cycling so Nephi is being diligent about being amorous. Since she was brought mid-cycle, she may not settle this cycle, so she will be staying through January 2nd to ensure that her breeding takes. That makes 2 outsider does for our first season of being official Nubian breeders offering buck services. With the savings from not having to send our does out and these two visitors, Nephi has now paid for himself and MissP!

I have several reservations for doelings our of our 2011 crop and we will retain one buck as a companion for Nephi. I have yet to decide if the retained male will remain a buck that we might rent out or will be a wether. I probably won't be able to decide until we see what he looks like and if he would make a good breeder. I hope to get a good selection of kids this year and am excited to see what they look like.

We have the buck house "love shack" finished and the horse barn almost done. As soon as we finish the new horse barn, we can move the horse out of the buck pen and start buying fencing for Nephi. Then... We can move Nephi into his love shack and will have the kidding pen ready to go! We have always had late April kids, so having kids in early March and early April will be a challenge since March is our coldest month. Yikes! However, having bred a bit early, it will help our kids to be bigger towards the end of summer and sell better since they will be breedable in Fall.

Three years ago I never imagined that we would be hip deep in the Nubian breeding business. Never thought that we would have top bloodlines in our barn and be making enough money to have a self sufficient herd! What a blessing.

I added a bunch of goat info to our website on the Homesteading page - eventually, once our web designer has time and we have money we will move it over to the goat section. It contains basic information on our practices for goat care. Everything we do is done at the direction of our vet, who specializes in goats and only goats.

If you have questions or thoughts, please leave a comment or shoot us an email! We love the questions we are getting and enjoy getting to know so many of you from all around the world.

Goat Stuff

We have had a lot of goat questions coming in lately. I have been trying to email replies to everyone as I can and will continue to do so! Since many of the questions are the same, I will start posting some of the information here on our blog and on our website on the Country Life page under Homesteading. Not quite the right place for it, but until I can get a Goat care page set up it will have to do.

Happy Goating!


A minor setback, a lesson and a blessing

I went to the doctor in tears on Monday morning. When my neck gets bad is causes a cascade of other issues like migraine headaches, numb arms, swollen hands, aching back, trouble sleeping and a bad case of the grumpies. Each of those issues cause more issues like lack of enthusiasm and a worse case of the grumpies.

So, I got there at 7:15 in tears and sat in the parking lot crying until they opened the door at 7:50. I saw the Doctor, who I might mention is wonderful, compassionate, understanding and very, very, very good at whatt she does. She gave me an anti-inflammatory medicine shot and sent me over to therapy for some massage and stretching.

Two things I would lie to share with you 1. the anti-inflammatory shot is wonderful and kicks in in 20 minutes. 2. it stings like nothing I have ever felt before - mind boggling stinging. 3. it is a shot in the butt. Not the hip, they do it square on the smooshy part of your bottom. Did I mention that it stings?! Yeah, now you get the idea!

Anyhow, I took 2 pain pills and sat in the Jacuzzi at the Senior Center for an hour. No, I am not a senior, not even close, but it is the only place that one can completely relax when in severe pain because there is a lifeguard on duty. It was wonderful. I drove home for the first time since March 3rd without any pain at all. Amazing!

At my follow-up this morning, she put me on the same medicine as yesterday only in pill form. You only have to poke me once to convince me that waiting 45 minutes for it to kick in instead of 20 is not such a bad deal! I return to work tomorrow and hopefully this is the last setback on the long road to recovery.

I recently ad someone ask - 'knowing what you know now, would you have surgery again?' My answer 'YES!' The pain before was from nerve damage and impingement, which if you have never experienced, I hope you never have to. If you have had it (say a root canal) multiply that by 20. If affected my arm and hand movement, coordination and strength and right before surgery was starting to affect my legs. I still have a numb place on my hip/thigh that I can't feel. Nerve pain and the affects of that are awful, muscle pain and inflammation - easy peasy. This will pass, it is all a part of getting better and I know that. Before, I was getting worse and there was no possible way to get better.

____________________________________________________

On to something more fun. Goats!

We purchased Nephi to breed to our does and possibly to offer breeding to others in our area. The interest has been outstanding and lucky for us, he likes his job. He has already paid for himself, which is the whole idea. We make a little money each year off the kids but for the most part, the sale of the kids pays for the hay and vaccines for the adults. Milk is an extra bonus.

We have had Lacey in with him for a month and she just cycled last week, we will know by the end of this month if it took or not. I left her in with him because he is still a baby (11 months) and he has become very attached to her. I know that at some point in the next month or two he will have to move over to the 'Love Shack' alone - ah, the sad, sad life of a bachelor! I just put Lilly in with him and hope that she will cycle this month. That would allow us to have staggered kidding, which would be nice for a change. This whole breeding this is new to me and I hope to figure it all out in the next year!

A lesson and a blessing
We just found out that one of our kids from this year, Midnight, has been given away to a new home. I know, given away?! I freaked out. What if she is abused or worse - eaten!

No need to panic, I am such a fool. She has been given to a home with a small child with Downs Syndrome. He loves Midnight and she is doing very well. Animals can bring such joy and healing, even healing that is inexplicable to doctors. They are more in tune with the subtle changes and delicate spirits of those with disabilities. Will I miss Midnight, yes without a doubt. Does she belong to this small boy, yes - it was destined to be before she was even born. It humbles me to know that my sweet little goat may help this dear child. What a blessing for us both.

How arrogant was I to be upset?! How arrogant to think she was mine?! Lesson learned. I was merely a vessel to get this little goat to this little boy. Heavenly Father's hand is so entwined in my life and I must learn to trust Him, He will not lead me astray. Thank you Lori for helping me learn this lesson!

Pumpkins

I was talking to a co-worker this morning about Halloween, weekend plans, weird costumes and weirder people. During our conversation I mentioned that at a training I presented last week, one of the guys came in with homemade Cajun spiced pumpkins seeds.I was surprised that people still do that kind of thing. I remember my Mother making pumpkin seeds once or twice - actually I remember eating them and not the making at all. So, in talking to my friend, I decided that I was going to make pumpkin seeds tonight. Being the adventurous cook that I know her to be, she agreed that it was a good idea and helped me find recipes.

The recipes (posted at the very bottom of this post) call for 1 cup of seeds. Do you have any idea how many cups you get from one pumpkin? Me either, not a clue! So I got 4, just to be safe. I am happy to report that 4 pumpkins is plenty.

So here we go...

I arrived home to find Max munching on leaves.He had a snotty nose and was coughing. It was a 'boogie' nose and was worth calling the vet. We decided that he did not need to make the trip in, but should probably be put on antibiotics. I grained everyone (horses get grain at night in winter), gave Max his antibiotics and went back to the house.

Feeling industrious and wanting to assert my independence now that my neck is doing moderately better, I decided to change the recessed halogen light bulbs in the kitchen. I have no idea how they do it, but flies and moths crawl in there and die. Very small space and not a lot of room - you would think they would be smarter than that. Anyhow, I got that done and cleaned up all of the little bodies and decided that it was time to tackle my next project. Either fix the milking stand or harvest pumpkin seeds. The milk stand weighs about 100 pounds and I can only lift 17, so that was out. Harvesting pumpkin seeds only requires a knife and happen to have several of those!

I set them up on the tailgate and started. I carved two. Not bad at the carving but the harvesting seed part is awful! Have you looked at the inside of a pumpkin recently? It is stringy, sticky, slimy, orange and smells a bit off.  Bleck!

I took the carved face pieces out to the goats to see if they would eat it. Lilly, as usual, picked at it and nibbled a little. Portugal ate a few pieces and decided that she likes grain better. Nephi ate as much as he could but Lacey, the pig kept pushing him out of the way because she loves pumpkin! She loves everything but especially pumpkins! At least I have something to do with the jack-o-lanterns when we are done. R met me at the house and we finished carving and harvesting seeds from the final two pumpkins. I think they turned out very well! What do you think?

I took the seeds inside to start the 'making' process. If there is a simple way to get the seeds cleaned and detached from the gross stringy stuff, I would like to know. That was the hardest part of the whole endeavor and the point at which I almost gave up. If you have an idea, please leave me a comment or email me!

The dogs of course wanted to play and be obnoxious. I am trying to learn to use the video feature on my phone, so here goes:

I set the seeds to soaking while we went to ride. Of course I couldn't ride Max because I am concerned he is getting sick. I am thinking maybe he is allergic to some of the leaves and wood chips that we had delivered last wee and not sick, but we will have to wait until tomorrow. 

R rode Bella and worked on loping around the field. I started Molly and tried to show Mom how to sit the trot with out bouncing around too much. She did a fantastic job and had a great time. She and Molly are a great pair and work very well together. I am constantly amazed at how far they have both come in the last 3 years. I'll try to get some photos next time.

  

When it got dark, we lit the jack-o-lanterns; what do you think?! Success?

 

 

After an few hours I went back in to finish my seeds. I did one Sweet and Spicy and one Garlic and Onion. R really likes the Garlic and Onion! I am planning to take a sampling to the Ward Halloween party tomorrow. The recipe for the Sweet & Spicy is below, for the others I used a bit of oil and the Garlic & Onion seasoning for burgers.

Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients
1 cup raw cleaned whole pumpkin seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
Place the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet, and spread them out into a single layer. Roast until brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Set the seeds aside in a large bowl.
Place the cinnamon, chili powder, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a bowl, and set aside.
Place olive oil and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, and heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar turns a light golden brown color. Watch it carefully to avoid burning.
Pour the caramelized sugar mixture over the roasted pumpkin seeds, and stir to coat. Pour the cinnamon-chili powder mixture over the seeds, and toss to coat the seeds with the spices.

Nephi and Portugal

It is once again breeding season and we have been contemplating logistics for this year. We typically spend 2 days traveling (one to take them and one to pick them up), 2 tanks of gas, $35 per doe and 2$ per doe per day boarding at the buck facility in Eastern Wyoming. Granted, he is a wonderful buck but the breeder has been in business for so long that her lines are very inbred and they are all over the area.

Our girls are from Southern Colorado lines and mixing them with Eastern Wyoming lines produces great kids. There are a few issues with this path. 1. Who will the kids be able to breed with? 2. How long can I keep paying ridiculous fees to breed each year? 3. How can I afford to buy one of her bucks - but if I do, I go back to question 1)?

What to do, what to do? I know, lets go to Eastern Nebraska to get a $600 buck at discount, throw in a $350 doeling at discount and save some money. We got both at a deep discount and did not spend over $300 for both! WOOHOO! We got to name both; check them out!

Meet our Buck:
Double Z Karim's Nephi

Meet our new doeling:

Double Z Miss Portugal

We are completely changing the breeding and lines available in Northern Colorado. We are mixing Southern Colorado lines with Eastern Nebraska lines. The kids are going to be fantastic! Check out our website for more information on these new additions, for breeding information and to reserve kids.

We will be offering limited breeding to Nephi this year and Portugal will remain dry until she matures a bit more. We are getting emails for reserving kids already! Here we go!

Post Script: For those wondering, Nephi is de-scented which means he doesn't smell terrible but he is still a buck! Bucks are nasty critters and they have terrible manners - but they are funny as heck!

The road we travel

I have been home since Sunday night and the reality of the surgery didn't start to hit me until today. My neck and back pain is gone and has been replaced by a plate and 2 screws! My pain has also been temporarily replaced by foggy drug brain and choking but the pain is less, no more tingling fingers.

Overall, surgery went well and I am glad to be home. I was released 2 days later than originally anticipated and had some unforeseen complications. When the doctor came in on Sunday and told me they were going to keep me until Monday, I revolted! No way! I am done, I am leaving, just tell me what I need to do and I will do it... After a hard push on Sunday and a battery of tests, some pleading and begging on my part, I was released late in the day and able to come sleep in my own house with my animals and the smell of fresh healing country air. I am happy to be home and be back to living my life on my schedule and according to my timeline. It was hard to be gone from home for 2 extra days, extra unplanned days! My Family came to bat with the chores and endless things that needed to be done while I was out.

I started taking over some of my chores today, mainly the milking. I hadn't realized how much I enjoy the time outside, doing things around the house and for the animals. I also didn't realize how many chores there are! We are taking it slowly but are making it work. I am getting up a bit more each day, but like I said, taking it slowly. I have a new pain in the back of my neck, not sure what it is related to but trying not to aggravate it. I figure it must be part of the healing process. I'll take it easier tomorrow and maybe, just maybe I can talk the man into treating me to a short drive to town.

My time in the hospital gave me ample time to reflect on the many blessings I have. On the many ways Heavenly Father has prepared me to be in here, in this position at this time. The way that all of our small travels have gotten us down this road to recovery; not only physical but spiritual and emotional as well. We have come to know in our heart of hearts that we are blessed, blessed to be together and blessed to be living where and how we do. I am over taken by tears when I think of each individual trial, all of our losses and successes that have brought us here. We are on the correct path and only need to follow the road to the end. Endure, that is the final part of the puzzle. Who knew one word could hold so much power...

*****
Adoption:
We had our home visit today. Kelly, our case worker, came by to take a look around the place and chat with us a bit. I had not realized how stressed out I was about having someone come into my home and judge me. I know he isn't 'judging' me per-se and he has done tons of these visits but I wonder what specifically catches his eye and what specifically does he take note of. I wonder what crossed his mind when he realized that he was in the middle of nowhere but not far from town. I know without a doubt that Kelly is called of God to be a Case Worker and that he has been blessed with powers of observation to help make Heavenly Father's families reunite.

I wonder; does he have a sense of the match that will be made? Does he know in some part of his being what type of Birth Family will be attracted to each couple? I wonder how much his job weighs on his mind and how he copes with the excitement and release on a regular basis. We are blessed to be working with Kelly and are grateful for his expertise.

It is funny, we didn't frantically clean or put things away. After just coming home from the hospital the place was a bit rough around the edges compared to how it might normally be, but this is reality! I am glad Kelly was able to look past the cluttered counters and hopefully see the Family we are trying to build. We feel blessed to have met and be working with Kelly. He is an inspiring spirit and a fountain of wisdom. We are humbled that he even considers us worthy to take part in an adoption.

It seems as though we are surrounded by people who just delivered, are pregnant, have just received their placement or will be adopting in the next 2 months. I am thrilled for all of them and wish them the best. It is truly exciting to see so many families being started and completed through this miracle of adoption and at the hand of Heavenly Father and Kelly. We will continue to have faith that Heavenly Father will bless us with our child at the right time and when we are sufficiently prepared. I have faith - I must have faith, for without faith, there can be no hope.

*****
Website:
We have gotten some questions about our website that I thought I would share. Our website is coming along, although not quite on the timeline we expected. Somehow that doesn't surprise me or bother me. It seems as though nothing in our lives travel the anticipated time lines we have set.

Our website will encompass many areas, only one of which is adoption. We already have our blog and very soon will have our profile posted on the LDSFS website. We want Birth Mothers to know as much about us as possible and what a better way then a few pages on a website?! Yes, our profile will be up on LDSFS but we are limited in how much we can share and it can be overwhelming to view so many profiles and blogs while contemplating adoption.

We talk about adoption in our blog but our blog is mainly to share the goings on in our daily lives with friends and family who live far away and want to know about our latest adventure - it also saves me a ton of time in email! The Adoption portion of the website will only be geared towards sharing about us, our lives and families as a Birth Mother would like to know. Don't get me wrong, I want to get our names and information out there so our Mother will be able to find us but we are also private people and like to keep things of our lives private. I cannot imagine handing out business cards and putting magnets on my truck advertising our adoption intent. Dearest Birth Mother, where ever you are, I hope and pray that we will meet soon!

Secondly, we live on a ranch and have Purebred goats that we sell each year. Our website will assist us in selling these animals and will open new opportunities for breeding that may not otherwise be available. Gunner is a stud colt who may or may not remain intact. If we choose not to geld him, we will use the website to promote his stud services.

We also have a "Country Life' Section (this might be the part that I am most excited about!). It will cover gardening, food storage, self sufficiency, our animals, crafts, sewing, recipes, cooking, photography and just general suggestions shared from us and our readers to help teach skills and crafts that will enable one to engage in a self sufficient life and making the most of what you have. We are excited to have this portion of the website dedicated to a lifestyle that we are coming to embrace and so many others want to share.

Our petting zoo and little boys

I work with a brilliant engineer named Randy; we share a cube wall. He has three grown kids and two grandsons. Whenever his grandsons come to the office with him, you will find them in my cube talking about animals, trees, bugs and other such interesting things that little boys enjoy. Nick is 5 and Nathan is 2.

On a whim, invited Randy to bring his grandsons out to our place to feed the baby goats and play with the horses. He called on Saturday afternoon and brought the boys out with their dad, Jake, and aunt, Katie, (Randy's son and daughter).

While they were here, out neighbor to the south was doing some target practice and one of the Guardians came over to say hello. He is the big white dog in the photo and his name is Rock. I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from their visit.

I had a great time with the kids and it reminded me of our babies, all four that we have lost. Our sweet twins, I miss them so much but I am grateful for the time we had with them and the lessons we have learned since their loss. We are traveling on a path that we may not have found otherwise.

Watching these little boys renews my faith that Heavenly Father has a child waiting for us and a Birth Mother who we know from another place in time. I know that some way, some how, we will find each other and be able to start our own family through the miracle of adoption. I pray that we will be connected and be able to recognize each other.

It does my heart good to be around little children and to be reminded of their unconditional love and their thirst for knowledge.

Changes

So many changes in the last few weeks; nothing ground breaking...

Salem, our sweet adopted kitty disappeared. We think he wandered beyond the boundary that the Guardians protect and became a kitty biscuit for the coyotes.

Ducky, our 13 year old kitty disappeared. We think the HUGE red tail hawk got her because the hawk was hanging around and Ducky never travels far. Being 13 years old, she was unable to out run a hawk.

I have to say: it is all my fault. I take full responsibility. For our adoption home study we had to provide vaccination records for each animal (no small feat when you live on a farm). As we stood in line to get the three cats vaccinated and I looked in dismay at the cost, I said the following to R: "Just watch, I am going to pay $120 for vaccinations for barn cats and in 3 weeks, they will get eaten." Sure enough, they got eaten; I will never say that again.

After 3 weeks of waiting for one or both to return home, we went to the pound to find another kitty. We still have Jasper, the spastic orange tabby given to us by Momma Sherri (R's Mom). We came home with Jake (see photo below). He is just as spastic as Jasper and since they are about the same age, they get along just fine. We are working on fattening Jake up, not for the coyotes but because he was a little on the thin side. He seems to be happy and this weekend we will allow them both to go back outside. Since Salem 'left' our rabbit population has exploded. I feel much better knowing the dog or cat ate the bunnies rather than living with guilty conscience and less ammo.

Shameless plug for our local humane society below:
We have gone to several shelters and rescues over the years but I have to say that the staff at our local Humane Society work harder than most and reap little reward. They were able to meet with us and match us to a kitty in under 30 minutes. AND they have half-price cat day (who knew?!) so Jake was only $12.50 and came with a collar, carry box and a bag of food; I think I might have paid $2.50 for the cat! We may be back in another week or two to get another kitty (3 seems to be a good number around our house).

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The babies are growing and eating more and more. They leave home next weekend. While it will be sad to see them go, I will enjoy not having to feed 3 times a day and I will actually be able to use the milk.

Our dear Phoebe left last weekend - no, no, not a coyote or hawk snack. She was purchased by the Burdick Family of Castle Rock, Colorado. She went to a show home and will be pampered.

Phoebe was our last and final tangible reminder that we lost our twins. We kept her in anticipation of having 4 mouths to feed, then we lost the twins and still had Phoebe. With her gone, I feel like we are finally turning a corner and moving forward. We had our first interview with our case worker two weeks ago and he didn't laugh at us and tell us no, so that was encouraging! We have our second interview scheduled for the end of this month and should be good to go by July.

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Babies, babies, babies!

Both Lilly and Lacey had their kids this weekend!

Lacey had twins; Midnight Lace and Chantilly Lace. Lilly had a single doeling; Dawn Lilly. We are so lucky and they are so cute.


Stout Ranch Midnight Lace




















Stout Ranch Chantilly Lace




















Stout Ranch Dawn Lilly




















We have already sold all three to a wonderful family in Sterling who will be picking them up in 4 weeks. The Dill Family has small children who want to bottle feed the babies and can't wait until school is out so they can start.

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It feels strange to be giving them up when we have spent the last 5 months bonding to them and watching them grow inside their mothers; to witness their births and feed them and cuddle them for the next 4 weeks. It will be a sad and joyous day when they go to their new homes. I have faith that they will be well cared for and that this is the right choice to make. We can't keep them and they will have a wonderful home. As small as this heartache is for us, it provides a small taste of what Birth Mothers must go through. I have so much love and respect for the Mother who will someday choose us to raise and parent her child.

He Lives

Occasionally the Church sends out new messages to spread the word. We enjoy these messages even as members; they are a great way for us to shore up our testimonies and remember why we are here and why we are doing the things that we are doing.


Watch a new Mormon Messages video, "He Lives " to see and hear modern-day Apostles testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that He lives today.

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Our first adoption meeting is scheduled for the end of the month. I am nervous. All of a sudden I am having insecurities pop up that I was not aware I had; What if they don't like us? What if we live too far out of town? What if... What if... I have to keep reminding myself that we are guided on this path and that we receive daily promptings that this is the path we are to follow. Our faith will sustain us. We know there is a Mother and Child out there for us and that some how, some time we will find each other.

Our baby goats are due in 2 weeks! It is getting closer and my excitement is growing. what kind of babies will we have? What will they look like and what will their personalities be?! I am so excited! (remind me that I said that when I am complaining of lack of sleep!

Patience is a virtue

What a week! We went from the high 60s to the 20s over the span of a couple of days. I can tell; spring is on the way. The horses are starting to shed - it will be a very hairy spring around the Stout Ranch. We have one month left until kidding season; we bred both does and have bets going to see how many of what we will get. Robert is betting (hoping really) for 2 bucklings. That way we can take them to auction and our herd will not increase! I am betting (hoping really) for 3 babies; 2 doelings and one buckling. I would like to have more options for the does we keep. At this point there are too many variables to guess and making plans seems like a waste of time and energy. We will find out on April 24th! We are still having to be patient - since we have been waiting since November, I think we are doing splendidly!

We planted our seeds for the garden two weeks ago. We start them indoors during early March when it is too cold to put them outside. They will continue to grow in pots on the breakfast table until mid-May when it will be warm enough to put them outside. It is so fun to watch them pop up; small and fragile, struggling towards the light. In mere days they are 2-3 inches tall with big beautiful leaves. Last year, not knowing what I was doings, I over planted on some things and under planted on others. This year, I have a nice variety of everything and if all goes well with the hail and wind, we should have a nice harvest!

I was sitting here watching my seeds and thinking that they could be compared to the parable of the mustard seed and our struggle to increase our faith and share the Gospel. But as I sit here watching these tiny seeds that I planted a few short weeks ago struggle to live and grow I am reminded of our personal seeds and our personal struggles; how we can help each other's seeds to grow and thrive just by being more tolerant and understanding. We each face different struggles as couples and as individuals. We, each of us, has within us a tiny seed that struggles to live and grow and thrive. I don't know your struggles, just as you don't know mine. I also don't know the struggles of the rude man in the grocery line or the lady that cut me off on the freeway. But when I take the time to remember that we each have our own private impurities, challenges and struggles, it makes the small offences of another seem even smaller. How much easier is it then to forgive and uplift each other?!

Empathy by Kelly Miller

When empathy is learned
Our heart to another is turned
As births buds of charity
That we can comfort with clarity

From our own pain we see
And feel with deepened depth
Such that it is the seed
Of love's flower we'll not forget

It seems that all is moving very slowly on the adoption front. We turned in packet 3 almost one month ago and so far, not a word from the Case Worker or even the support staff. I suppose they are very busy and I like to imagine them working fervently on our paperwork round the clock! The reality is that there are several couples in line ahead of us and we will be learning the virtue of patience. Patience will become a dear friend by the time this is all said and done, I just hope I have enough patience to enjoy the ride.

We were talking about the process the other night and we realized (again) that it doesn't really matter how long it takes, our dear child and his/her Mother will be ready and waiting for us when the time is right. We keep having this same epiphany each time we start to get worked up about it. This is our constant struggle, our thought to keep in perspective, our seed that needs to be nurtured...

Goats

We retained our two main does this year and bred both.

The Marimac Sparkling Lilly (left) and The Marimac Sweet Lacey (right) are both bred to Mega-Milkers Timeless Tradition for late april kids.


Mega-Milkers Timeless Tradition

Last year, our Lacey and Timeless gave us Stout Ranch TimeleSweet Phoebe. We are allowing Phoebe to grow this year and will breed her next year. She is a very angular and correct doeling and we expect great mamary from her.

We are taking limited reservations for kids, as we expect to retain at least 1. We are excited to see the products of our breeding efforts and will have a buck available for breeding next fall.

Chores and the wicked sprinkler

Well our garden this year consists of 6 tomato plants (with very green tomatoes) and two stunted squash plants which we found after we cut down the three foot weeds! I am convinced that they survived because the weeds protected them from the hail and wind and I am hoping the tomatoes ripen before the frost comes, but at the rate they are growing, it might be a while. I anticipate the we will be building a greenhouse next season!

R is great, he is back with his old company and has finished his 'probationary period'. He is back to being their top Foreman and is enjoying the work again. And our health plan starts next week! WOOHOO!

Dogs are all good. Dozer (the bulldog puppy) is just over 1 year and weight 65 pounds. He is getting better at listening and coming when we call but the stubborn bully streak is still very prominent!

We are planning to breed all three goats this year and will be selling all but 1 of the babies. I have come to then conclusion that I can not control who buys the babies or what they are used for (pet vs food) and I am finally OK with that.

Max (my gelding) is still about 75 pounds under weight. We are having some tests done at CSU to find the cause. I fear that if we can figure it out and get some weight on him before winter, he may not make it.

Funny story.

We were outside burning 'goat heads' yesterday. These little buggers are noxious weeds with seed pods that have 1/4 inch thorns (one actually punctured my riding mower tire last years and gave me a flat!). Each small plant can produce hundreds of seeds and they will quickly take over your property. Horrible plants! Anyhow, we were out burning goat heads as they have made the jump from the mail box to the driveway. Logical, as we DRIVE over them and help them spread.

So we were out yesterday afternoon burning weeds with our new weed burner. Did I mention that it was 95* out yesterday while we were burning weeds? I made it from behind the house, down the driveway to the mail box and 1/4 of the way back before my delicate sensibilities started to over heat. Lo and behold, the sprinklers were on at the house! I quick, passed the torch off to R, who was my fire brigade in case of a runaway grass fire, of which I had several, and I went back to the house. I walked through the sprinklers to get a 'mist' and cool off.

Well, about this time I noticed that one of the sprinklers was not sprinkling. Hmm, I am a competent woman, capable of many amazing things, I will fix said sprinkler myself! Excellent idea.

So I bend over the sprinkler and start trying to twist off the top to make it sprinkle. No progress. Ah, Maybe there is gunk inside that needs to be cleaned out!! I twist off the top. A GEYSER of water comes shooting out and hits me square in the face. Very cold water. Quick try to put the top back on. Too much pressure, water shooting 4 feet in the air, I am drenched and choking. Quick, use finger to pug hole. Whew, immediate relief.

Umm... Now I am stuck. Finger on hole, water geyser temporarily staunched, and can't let up finger to fix sprinkler head. I let go of the hole, water spraying everywhere, and run to turn off the sprinklers. Ah, I am brilliant. Now I can fix the sprinkler without getting drenched. I did mention that I was a smart woman, right?

So I, without looking at the sprinkler head in my HAND, walk back over to the 'broken' sprinkler. Well, when you turn off the water, the sprinklers go back into their underground caves for protection from mowers and chewing puppies... So I look and; oh nice, I can't stick my finger in the hole far enough to see what the problem is. And instead of looking at the sprinkler head in my HAND, I walk back over and turn the sprinklers on again so I can figure out what the issue is. Earth to me, the issue is with the piece in your HAND!

As you might imagine it takes the sprinklers a minute to build up pressure and turn on. Meanwhile I am again bent over the broken sprinkler peering into the hole trying to figure out if I broke the system. Why is water not coming out? I can hear it hissing... Oh, there it is. As the GEYSER shoots out and once again hits me in the face...

I am not normally one to admit defeat so easily but I give up. I quit, game over. Quick finger on hole, with one hand put spring back in top and quick screw in place on sprinkler. Look! Still broken and not sprinkling. At this point, who cares? Let R get hit in the face for once. Did I mention that he was burning weeds, watching and laughing the WHOLE time? Guess we have been married long enough that I am not longer a damsel in distress who needs saving. I am now just the competent, capable woman who is wet and can not fix the sprinkler.