Repairs, etc.

It's been one of those spells where everything seems to need fixing.  First, darling daughter had an altercation with a mailbox in the Jeep.  Robby and I rounded up the parts and got that fixed and the new windshield is being put in today.  Yesterday, I picked up the Snapper mower from Wagler's Small Engine, where it had some gears replaced.  Finally, our Ford 2000 tractor had to have a new water pump put in.  All in all, the repairs pretty well exhausted our 'extra money'.  Oh well, we were blessed to have a bit stuck back for just these kinds of little emergencies.

Jeep Repair.

Our Ford 2000 tractor.  It has served us well for many years.

Yesterday evening, I headed over to a friend's house to drop off some shelving that I had stored in my outbuilding.  I had used all of it I needed and my friend had said he could use my leftovers in his building full of antiques.  We unloaded the shelving, then went on up to his barn where we loaded a dozen bales of straw--the remainder of his last year's straw--onto my trailer.  He will be putting in hundreds of bales of new straw soon.  I will use the bales in the next few days to mulch our garden.  I also gave a few of them to my neighbor to use on his garden.  He loaned me his trailer to make this run.

Snappers and goats

I took my Snapper mower over to the neighborhood small engine shop for a couple of repairs that were beyond my level of expertise.  While there, the owner's young daughter came out carrying a small stainless steel bucket.  She asked her daddy if he wanted her to milk the goat.  He told her to wait a second and he'd do it.  So, I naturally asked if I could go along and watch.

We headed through the barn lot where the cross-bred doe was making a pretty good ruckus.  I think she was feeling ready to be milked.  We entered the barn and she ran in through the low access door and hopped right up on the milking stand.  In just a minute, the goat was munching on sweet feed and my friend was milking away, rapidly putting the rich milk in the bucket.  He and his wife have five girls and three boys and he says this goat puts out enough milk for all of them.  His wife also makes yogurt with any extra.  I asked his daughter what the goat's name was.  "Nanny", she replied simply.  Hmm, easy enough.  Next, I had to ask if I could 'try my hand at it'.  So I grabbed on and pinched and squeezed, a squeezed and pinched but could only get one badly aimed squirt to shoot out onto my friend's little boy.  They laughed and he proceeded to show me how to sort of roll my squeeze down towards the end of the teat.  I'd like to say I figured it out and soon had the  rich goat's milk streaming into the bucket, but nope, I didn't.  I couldn't get the rhythm down. I tried again, with similar results.  So, humbled, I left it to him.  Maybe, when I pick up my mower, I'll time my visit so I can ask to try again!