CrazyGoatLady

Thanks pnut and BillyBones! The goats are good. It's been a heckuva year to say the least. I'll try to get in here more often. It was very fun forging again and I surprised myself that I didn't forget everything I've learned. Y'all are doing such awesome work. I have pages and pages to go through to catch up Thanks Frosty. That hook was made from a very pitted and rusty old nail- thing I found on the property. No barbecue goat yet. I've got a young buck that I think may be shooting blanks...

Hey guys! I have a lot of catching up to do. It's late, but I'm still up. I thought I'd let y'all know I finally got back to forging Saturday. I was waiting to put my smithy together, but decided if I keep waiting, I'll never do it. So here's my first little project in over a year working with bare bones infrastructure. I hope this photo loads because I've always had a bit of trouble getting them on here. Nothing fancy, but it was fun

My signal has been wonky the last couple of days. Maybe I can get a quick comment to go through. I made a hammer handle from Bois d'arc. I don't know how well it holds up to that application because I put a head on it that I ended up not using much. Not because of the handle, just don't like the head very well. I know it sure turns your hands and fingernails yellow but can be a beautiful wood

Wow great looking axe!

Haha!

Hello Frazer and thank you! Will-I-Am, no, he's Boer and Spanish that I know of. He's a mutt I got him for his color. His dam is nearly solid black and his sire is chocolate with a white belly band. Hoping he'll add some good colors to the herd. Plus, his mother is a good, well built goat who throws triplets nearly every kidding. Buck stink is not for everyone for sure!

Good morning IFI'ers Too bad the rooster isn't in the picture. I could have said rise and shine Will-I-Am, we raised ducks when I was real young. And a few years back, we were given a bunch of them when a neighbor was moving. I wasn't very fond of them. They were Muscovy and they just aren't my cup of tea. Nasty critters. We cooped the chickens when we started out because I was always afraid the dogs would hurt them. Then our neighbors' Guineas started coming over to our house and I noticed the dogs didn't bother them. So I took a chance and let the hens out and they chased them a little, but have never hurt them. Never lost any to predators until recently. Moved to a different area and there are coons, coyotes, fox, pigs, hawks, owls and a couple of Bobcats have been seen on the neighbors game cam. I think a coon got one on Christmas day and sign pointed to a coyote getting two about a month ago. We did a lot of shoring up on the fence lines and started shutting them up during the day. Set out a live trap and camera. Only thing I caught was a cat and only seen wild rabbits on the game cam. Our hens are a year old. I think I'm down to 48 now and we are getting about 31 eggs a day. As far as eating bucks, I can't say. Even though I raise them, I've only eaten one. It was a young wether pit barbecued and it was good stuff. I wouldn't think buck taint would be in the meat though. My thing would be how old is he? Might be tough and not very flavorful. If it's like rabbits, when they get past about 3 1/2 months, they start getting where they taste very bland unless you heavily season them. The young ones almost don't need any seasoning they taste so good. And nice greenhouse. We just set up a small one and are preparing a garden area. Frosty, I don't think I'll try castrating a goat like the shepherds you mentioned either... what a mental image that left in my brain

Will-I-Am, nice looking goats! Frosty gave a good class about these critters. What breed chickens do you raise? My life wouldn't be complete without chickens, goats and dogs.

Thanks JHCC. That's what I was hoping is I could put them to use. It's a heavy pair for sure. Like my old champion flat bit. Michael, nice find. Definitely usable in the shop I think. Use it for dishing

This followed me home from... my home. The man we bought this place from had done some smithing through his life. He gave me a pair of flat bit tongs he made and a pry bar he made from a buggy axle when he was in high school in the 60s. He was a "collector" of things and I can assure you, he most certainly was! There's been a lot of just junk and trash to clean up, but we have found lots of usable hand tools, t posts, fence, etc. He gave me a big machinists vise and an old post drill. I have found lots of metal for the resource pile. Sucker rod, horseshoes, leaf spring, and some differing sizes in square, round, and flat bar and all kinds of goodies I can use. Anyway, I had a pile I had started for cleanup. I had found some files and screwdrivers in it already. But I was walking past it after feeding the goats this morning and these tongs were just laying there. How did I not see those before?!. Y'all reckon I can save them or are they too far gone?

Agreed Thomas. I have been using my real name on a couple of other things I'm on and I will from now on

Really nice stuff as per usual. Hammer is a beauty just like all your work is.

I am pretty well known for my love of goats (like y'all couldn't tell) and at the time, I thought being more anonymous online would be better. So, crazy goat lady it was. My name is actually Michelle (Hockett), but I've been called Chellie all my life. I've thought about actually changing my screen name to my real name but I don't know how many would know it's me and don't want to confuse anyone

Thanks for the prayers Frosty and everyone else who are doing so. There has been so much tragedy and suffering through this. We haven't had it bad at all compared to a lot of folks. Our water was out for 2 1/2 days and the blackouts weren't bad. Only 2 days of those also. We only lost one baby rabbit, but that is par for the course. Not unusual to lose a couple when you have multiple litters even in good weather. I heard a story about a couple who have a small farm and they put their chickens in the den of their house to keep them from freezing to death. I would have done it as well if it came to that. I know ours didn't come out of the tractor for 3 days. Never seen a time when they wouldn't venture out. Tommies work was closed all week and he found out yesterday they are still going to pay everyone 40 hours. They are really good to their employees. They reached out to everyone to make sure they were ok and offered help if you needed it. I'm thankful he's been home though. I would have been in bad shape trying to do this by myself. Today is supposed to have a high of 42°. Used to, that sounded cold. Now it sounds like heaven to get that warm. My perspective sure has changed. I won't touch the politics behind this, but I sure have an opinion about it. And preparedeness, prepping, whatever you want to call it just got ramped up. We did well with most things, but now have a whole new insight into what else is needed and what to plan for in the future. Thanks for all the great advice you guys are giving to us who have never really had to think about things like this before

We're sitting above ground. Im pretty sure it's just us because our neighbors down the road have water. They didn't last week, now we don't this week. Completely my fault because we had running water iast night. I hope they aren't busted either. And we are leaving faucets open just in case. But if it's a few days, we will be ok. Just a lot of extra work that wasn't necessary. Sorry, I'm just angry with myself for letting it happen. Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it

We are going to start moving heavily into meat production with the goats. And the pigs are plentiful in this area. Trying to get away from dependence on grocery stores. Plus we have the rabbits. We had meat chickens in the works until covid ruined everything last spring. We haven't ordered chicks, but with this freeze, I'm glad we don't have them. This pistol is a Pieta SAA .45 colt with a 7" barrel. It's my EDC. I Wanted a Ruger Vaquero, but couldn't afford it...I get made fun of because I carry a revolver. My other is a S&W .357 snubby that belonged to my Dad. It's amazing to me that I even hit that pig because it was dark. I just saw the outline of a pig and pulled the trigger. We actually shot 3 as we were hunting with our neighbor. We tracked the blood trail on one for nearly 2 hours at midnight and the temperature dropped to 32°. We probably walked 4 or 5 miles through the woods. The trail went cold and we never found it, but it was super fun

That gave me a good chuckle! Us Texans excel at a lot of things () but coping with this crazy weather stuff ain't one of them. I was watching the news and the guy was saying that it was the same temperature in Texas as it was in Alaska and I thought of Frosty. It was -6° this morning y'all... messed up and forgot to run the water so it's frozen. We are also in rolling blackouts. Both of these things are a first for me. The frost free pump is really saving us as we are hauling water up from it. I'm thankful though because all the critters are alive and there's folks here that are going through very hard times. It's supposed to start warming back up Thursday. It can't come soon enough

That's the one! Thanks arkie

Thomas, my neighbor asks me a lot of questions about the critters. I was explaining that very thing to her and it was funny to watch her face scrunch up. I told her it also makes them stink and when the wind blows, you'll know it

I should have said Hydrant instead of pump. I think of it that way because of the pump handle. It drains all of the excess water out of a weep hole that is buried below the frost line. You probably already know that. I'll work on getting my terminology right! Anyway, it's saving our "you know what's" on having available water close to hand. Thanks for the info on solar heating. We have been looking into that as well and pumps or the building of one for the well also. We went from a well established farm a bit over an acre to nearly 12 wooded acres with lots of cleanup and basically wild, virgin land. The previous owner ran horses on it at one time, but many years ago and he is disabled. Still learning how and what to do in a completely different environment. Was ill prepared for this bout of icy weather

He's Boer and Spanish I know for sure. I know more of his bloodline on his dams side than the sire. I hope we aren't snowed in long enough to eat the birds... got a lot of meat in the freezer. Including a couple of hogs we took in December. I got one with a .45 colt revolver. I'm pretty proud of that

Thank you Frosty. I'll get together with Tommie and we'll figure a way to get them some warm water. You reckon for the chickens too? I don't want to speak this evil out loud, but we are forecasted two or three mornings of below zero temperatures. I don't think I've ever seen that cold in my life

Haha funny. I didn't know if you had seen this. Are the pictures of the goats visible? I got birds galore this morning. I'm gonna go broke feeding them, but I'll see to it they'll have food I have suet and nylar seed out also

Hey Frosty, I have posted a little to the Show Me Your Goats thread. I don't guess anyone has seen it or haven't commented yet. Thanks for the advice on water. This polar vortex type weather is a rarity for us so I don't usually have a lot of problems with water. I usually just have to break the top a few times a day and it's good. Now, it's freezing within 10 or 15 minutes. We installed a frost free pump in the pasture and that is one of the best things we've ever done. I would have to figure how to get hot water down there and keeping it hot. The pasture is a ways from the house. I've never heard of putting a ply wood disc in the water. Great information and great information for driving. Most people around here probably don't know how to drive in this stuff because we don't get much experience with it. 15° and its been snowing all morning. Real snow too. No sleet or frozen rain mixed up in it I feel the same way when I start complaining or feel sorry for myself. I hope your surgery goes well and I will keep you in prayer. Then you and all those grand boys can get to forging!

Oh my bad! I think I need better glasses. I zoomed in and I can see it. What lovely detail. Very beautiful. I will be sure to look more closely from now on