Two geese—last year’s goslings—have been co-setting a clutch of eggs in the goat stall, to the great chagrin of the goats, who are subject to hissing or actual physical violence whenever they wander too close. One of the eggs hatched a week or so ago (it had been in the nest a lot longer than the others), but the gosling was deformed, having one leg on backwards. The geese rejected it, even burying it under the bedding in the goat stall, so the decision was made—at the girls’ request—to kill it.

So the two geese went on setting the rest of the eggs, but no longer content with a corner of the stall, they moved the nest and all the eggs into the exact center of the stall, effectively preventing the goats from being in there at all, so, fed up, the girls took the eggs, put them in a nest in the barn aisle, and showed them to the geese, who now want nothing to do with them, of course. But the two muscovy ducks want them, and are not only setting them, but are bickering over who gets to. So we’ll see how that turns out.

We had three muscovies when we moved here—a drake and two ducks—but sometime in February, something—probably a coyote—got the drake. We were heartbroken, as he was a big, goofy, quiet, gentle bird. The two ducks are desperate to hatch some eggs, but, since they’re obviously not fertile, we keep taking the eggs away. So now it’s time to find a drake. That may be one of today’s projects.

Whatever got the drake also got one of the geese. We thought it got two, but the girls recently discovered the second missing one out in the pasture, setting her own clutch of eggs, not bothering anybody.

Here are a couple of pictures that I shamelessly swiped from my sister’s blog (actually, she gave me permission. Well, for one of them, anyway). They’re from her trip up here earlier this month.

They’re great pictures—thanks, T!

There is so much to do! I love it, but it’s a little overwhelming, too. Actually, it’s a lot overwhelming.

This morning started with pre-algebra. Heaven help me. I couldn’t grasp this stuff when I was in school; I’m doing better now, but it’s a challenge! ED is doing great with it, but I have to keep up with her so I can help her when she gets stuck. Bernard is working on long division—fortunately I still have a pretty good grasp of that!

I bought a washing machine last week, and I’ve been trying to catch up on all the laundry that got classified as “non-essential” when I had to haul it to town to the rather nasty little laundromat, which is now terribly hiker-infested (it’s AT through-hiker season in Hot Springs. It’s just about gnat season, too). I don’t have a clothesline or a dryer quite yet, however, so there are sheets and blankets draped all over the porch. It’s a festive look.

The cleaning out of the barn is proceeding rather slowly, but proceeding it is. I took five huge wheelbarrow loads of gorgeous manure out of the goat stall today; it’s in a pile along with a whole lot of sheep and cow poop—mellowing for the garden.

Tallulah is due to kid on the 11th of May, and I’d like to get a kidding stall ready for her. It’s not strictly necessary—she could just kid in the stall with the rest of the goats—but she likes a stall of her own so much. Tallulah is the herd queen and she takes her role very seriously. If something threatens the herd she’ll always turn and face the threat, letting the others run for it, and she leads all the others on walks, but she expects preferential treatment, and in her mind, that seems to mean a room of her own. And since kidding time is really the only time I can make that work out, I try to oblige her.

I’ve been potting up tomatoes frantically—they very quickly outgrew the cute little pots I had them in, and I’ve been whaving to water them three or four times a day! Especially with this strange hot, dry April we’re having.

DH is cooking a batch of poke for supper. The girls showed up with armloads after their walk today—we all love it. DH cooks it in two changes of water, and then in butter; it still leaves our mouths ever so slightly tingly.

Three of my family members had the good grace to be born on this date: my dad, my darling nephew, and my sister B*, thereby saving the rest of us the trouble of remembering so many pesky dates. I’m sure glad you were all born (especially you, Dad, for obvious reasons)!

I’ll be thinking about you all while I clean out the goat stall and plant peas in the garden!

DH has been working on our spring for the last few days; we haven’t been drinking the water since we’ve lived here, because it was obviously getting groundwater contamination, but we were using it for cooking and everything else. It finally, though, has gotten too bad to want to use for anything, and DH couldn’t stand it anymore. So he has the system taken apart, and the spring itself cleaned out, but the reservoir is riddled with huge gaping holes, and water is seeping in all around. He’s using surface bonding cement—-if that doesn’t work, I think he’s going to line it with plastic pond liner, and then cement.

So we have no water in the house, and are hauling it in buckets from the spring. It’s not so bad for household stuff, but two horses, five goats, five sheep, a cow, and a very large dog can drink a lot of water! My everything hurts. And no hot shower in sight.

DH and I went last weekend to Greeneville, Tennessee to buy hay from the farm co-op. It was a soft, rainy day, and the trees were all in that tender shade of green that’s like a long-awaited drink of water for winter-weary eyes. Dogwoods were beginning to bloom, and lilacs were covered in purple. We stopped at a huge lilac that was sitting in a tangle of blackberry brambles in a field in front of some industrial looking place, and picked a couple of sprigs of blossoms, and dug up a young plant to bring home. The ride home was delicious: redolent of the sweetest, greenest hay and the heavy, purple scent of the lilacs.

Also last weekend, we had the nicest visit from my sister and her family, and my folks. T* took some great pictures—they’re up on her blog if you want to go check them out.