The Aftermath of Tropical Storm Hermine

The girls decided a float was in order this morning.  Over the past two days we have received 10 inches of rain.  This pond was totally empty yesterday.  It is the overflow for the main pond.  About two years ago this was dug out, because we were losing the water onto the property behind us, and it flooded up into the barnyard and back pasture.  Last night I was jolted out of a sleep to Lauren shouting that the creek was flooded.  Sure enough I could hear the rushing of water, and by the security light could see the creek bed, bank to bank with rushing, roaring water.  Pretty cool, and yet scary.  By 9 a.m. this morning the creek bed held a few puddles, but the ponds are bursting.  With more rain expected who knows how much higher it will be??  The car was parked a little too close to the bridge, and was standing in water with the tires half covered.  You can see several places where debris collected during the storm.  The lightening was frightening, the thunder deafening and rattled the floors.  I could actually feel the air buzzing.  Pretty scary stuff.

The horses are supposed to arrive tomorrow.  We won't be going to get them as our help has her horse trailer surrounded by water and she cannot reach it.  The horse rescue will be delivering them.  Praise God!  I was worried for a bit.

I need to check the rain gauge to record the amount of rain we received today.  Thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine it has been raining all day, and all last night.  Supposed to rain tomorrow too.  I surely hope so.  A portion of the South Pasture was cut today, this should allow the rain to fall directly on the coastal grass and get it to start producing.  I haven't worried too much about the weeds, figuring they are good for the goats, but we do need better grass for the horses, so letting it get over grown with weeds is not a good idea. 

I researched pasture/land management and rotational grazing last night.  Very interesting reading.  Makes really good sense for all breeds of livestock, from chickens to cattle.  Specifically, regarding goats, it will allow the kind of plants to recuperate after they eat it all down.  The West Pasture, and Pond Pasture look really groomed after the goats have eaten all the scrub down.  They need to be rotated to the North, South and East Pastures so that everything is kept groomed, and the goats have adequate nutrition.  That reminds me, I need to purchase a mineral block for the goats.  I'll need to add that to my list of things to pick up tomorrow.  Also, fertilizer.  I need to start fertilizing the farthest pasture, so that it can start growing before rotating the horses to it.  I will be starting them out in the West and Pond Pastures, so will start fertilizing in the East Pasture.

This morning the goats barged into the goat pen, it was originally blocked off to them, but I guess the torrential downpour had them stampeding the gate.  Poor Dolly was pushed around, and the buck Larry ate all of her food.  I need to de-worm her tomorrow, plus give her some iron vitamins. She ate a little in the field this afternoon, but started looking puny again this evening.  Just laying around...I hope she make it through the night. 

Lauren had her first art lesson today, nothing much, just a basic introduction of the type of supplies she will need to acquire.  Very pricey!  Lauren will also be starting drawing classes next Tuesday a.m. at the same studio.

Hannah has her first ballet lesson on Thursday.  I need to find a black pair of pants for her, ballet shoes and a pair of tights.  She already has two leotards.  I really hope I find the time to pick up these items, as we have to get the horses on Thursday a.m., and her lesson starts at 2:30 p.m.

I recently stocked up on various art supplies, and the girls took the paint things out to the gazebo to paint this afternoon.  James had fun finger painting and sprinkling glitter everywhere.

"James and Sassy"

"Cactus after a rain"

I am currently reading several books at the same time (I know that sounds strange).  I am reading "Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats", "Lyons on Horses: John Lyons' Proven Conditioned-Response Training Program", "An Echo In The Bone" by Diana Gabaldon, "Horses for Dummies" and "The Family Cow".

Farm Record

Today the horse rescue people came out to evaluate our land for possible fostering of three horses.  We spent last evening going around the entire perimeter of the land picking up trash and brush.  Picked up two small trailer loads (yikes) and burned it all. 

We have been approved for the horses.  We have plenty of grass and water for them.  We also have enough panels to make two pens, with enough tin to make a three sided shelter for the horses. 

Dolly, the dairy goat, is looking quite puny.  We have isolated her in the pen, away from her baby.  She is still nursing the 6 month old baby, and I think it is taking too much from her.  I am giving her free choice coastal, 12% protein goat feed laced with bicarbonate of soda and molasses.  I will put a salt/mineral block in there tomorrow.  If she doesn't look improved in the next few days, I'll get some alfalfa, which has a higher level of protein.  I'll check on her tomorrow to see if she looks better.  The positive thing is that she doesn't have scours (diarrehea).

I am so excited!  It rained last night! A LOT!  I haven't checked the rain gauge yet, but it started raining around 8:30 p.m., and rained the majority of the night, not stopping until about 7:30 a.m. today! Everything is already greening up!

We have been working really hard on school work lately, and the girls are doing great.  Lauren has been working really diligently on her math and handwriting, without me harassing her.   I am so proud!  Today we went to run errands and she brought along her McGuffey Handwriting booklet to work on in the van.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day at the Witte Museum.  We toured the Dinosaurs Unearthed! exhibit.  It is only there until Monday I believe.  We caught the tail end of it.  James was fascinated, as well as, extremely frightened of the animatronic dinosaurs. 

The girls had a lot of fun in the Science Treehouse, with Hannah riding the Counterweight Bike for the first time.  Other than that, I really think the Museum needs to update their Science Treehouse, and "spice" up the exhibits.  Live demonstrations would be cool.

Lauren is enrolled in the Wilton Cake Decorating Course at a Michael's in San Antonio.  She has been interested for a long time in learning how to do "fancy" cakes.  This is just the Beginner's class, so she and I will gauge how she is interested, and how she performs.  If everything goes good, she can sign up for the second course.  I have also called about enrolling her in a local Beginning Watercolor class under an artist at a local art studio.

Hannah starts ballet in San Antonio.  It is a really cool program designed for home schoolers and best of is FREE! It is far to drive, but I think the FREE factor greatly makes it beneficial, plus I get to see how involved/interested she will be without spending a lot of money for lessons. 

I really wanted them to learn to play the violin, but they are not interested.  Nothing worse than forcing a kid to learn an instrument who really has no interest.  Very painful for all involved.  I remember desperately wanting piano and violin lessons.  I was able to do both, and enjoyed it.  I wish I would have stuck with the piano, as well as, the violin.  Would be way useful now as an adult.

We plan to work this holiday weekend on cleaning up the property.  The girls and I will be picking up lots of trash, filling up the bed of the pickup.  Our new trash service starts on Wednesday.  We will also be working on a little fencing project to help keep the goats off of the vehicles, and in their pen.

On Sunday, we have an appointment with a local horse rescue, to hopefully foster a few horses.  It will help all around.  We will be able to relieve a load off of the manager of the rescue, give a few horses a place to be, and it will enable the girls to see the work and responsibility needed to care for a horse, before jumping into purchasing our own.  If it works out, we may adopt the ones we foster.  Other than a shelter, we have a good setup for horses.  A shelter isn't really necessary here in South Texas, but it will be a nice thing to have.  We have all the building supplies laying around, so a work detail will have to be arranged with family members and a couple of friends to get a small extension added onto the current barn.  Yes! I have a barn, but it is full of household goods, a lawnmower and other assorted tools.  No room for any livestock.  There is already an attached chicken yard, goat pen, with covered shelter for the goats, so a run for the horses/donkey will be easy to add (for someone experienced) and an added benefit for them.  I am not sure if it will be as cold as last Winter, but a bigger shelter is needed.  Our donkey "Jack" fit perfectly in the barn, but I don't want to add 2-3 horses.  That would be a recipe for a fight. ;-)

Here are a few pictures of our Witte trip.

James - 19 months

Hannah - 7 years