Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

A big thanks to everyone from our Florida shows who make leaving the comfort of our cozy home worth it! Now we’re back in good old P A.

A Nice Welcome Home

Brandy and family welcomed us home with a great trip to State College! Our granddaughter Madison is going to school at Penn State, and she likes going to sporting events. Brandy decided it would be nice for us all to get together and go see her, so she got us tickets to a Penn State hockey game. 

We went out to eat beforehand, and just had an all around great time catching up with Mike, Brandy, and the grandkids. 

Madison & Miley	Fred & Paul

Ryan and Lexi were excited to see us too, but they have a different way of showing it; putting us straight to work. While it would be nice to ease back into things, that just isn’t the way our lives are. 

From One Extreme To The Other

I realized a while ago that our lives (Mine & Paul’s) are full of extremes. We are either extremely relaxed with nothing we have to do (like between our FL shows, or when we RV out West), or extremely busy with no time to breathe (like when we get back from vacation, or during show season). 

Part of the reason we are so busy right now is that we packed our show schedule. Last year we still didn't know what shows would go on, and what ones would cancel. We couldn’t have a bunch of empty weekends after 2020, so we applied to more shows than ever before. What ended up happening? Nearly every single show we applied to went on as scheduled!

That alone left us busier than usual. Then on top of that, we also had very successful shows. Great news, until we realized we were starting to fall a bit behind. Complaining about good shows just seems in poor taste, so I won’t do that. I will say, customers please be patient with us - we are working our tails off! We are also starting to get caught up, and expect to be back on schedule by the time we deliver orders from our FL shows. 

Change On The Home Front - Wishing Driver Dave The Best

What else did we come home to? Driver Dave is retiring! While he gave us notice and he still has a few trips left with us; the delivery driver job is a difficult one - I know because Paul and I do a few deliveries every year. Since I do like to spend an occasional weekend home, I knew we needed to find another driver ASAP!

So we put an ad out, took applications, and interviewed many candidates; then we hired! Soon customers will be accepting deliveries from Driver Donnie.

We are very excited to bring him (and sometimes his wife) on board. We just know he/they will please our customers with their efficiency and excellent customer service. You can trust Donnie to respect your home, and to safely deliver your final balance due to us.

Finally Attending To Homestead Business

And so with the hustle and bustle of the shop, we also have the hustle and bustle of home. Specifically, knowing we needed to trim the goat hooves for the first time!

I am a new goat owner, so things like hoof trimming and shearing are all new to me. While I’ve watched many videos, actually doing the deed is a whole different story. On top of that, half of the information on angora goats say “never do x” and then the other half say “I only ever do x.” It is very confusing for first time goat owners! 

That’s why I decided to call in a farrier named Paul (yes, what a coincidence) to trim the hooves for the first time. Lexi got the information on him from a friend who has 6 fainting goats that he keeps neat and trimmed. 

Learning From The Expert

We had quite the group of spectators there to meet Paul and his wife. I figured the more people to learn, the more likely we'd get it right if/when we decided to try. Me, Lexi, Brandy (my daughter) and Miley (my granddaughter) were all there. 

Lexi watched Shiloh (our scaredy goat), and then helped with Enoch. He was so good! Once he was laid down, he didn’t struggle at all. It is like he knew they were there to make his feet feel better. 

I’m so glad we decided to call in for reinforcements. They were clearly pros. They helped us corral the goats, and were very confident and patient - I guess 40+ years of experience will do that! As a bonus, the farrier also knew a little about shearing!

We learned so much including:

• That the tools we had to trim the hooves were the right ones
• How to “flip” the goats, and hold them down with confidence
• To start shearing at the neck
• That the clippers we had just weren’t going to work (even though they came recommended from the farm store)  

Now I am ready for 5 more goats!

Just kidding. I do want more goats, and “farm” pets in general, but maybe I better practice on these two a little first!