Puzzled as to what came first?  Ponder no more. Careful observations made right here under the Starry Sky have answered the question once and for all!

It

is

the

CAT!

No really! I can prove it…….

There you have it. ; )   Courtesy of my favorite rural scientists. Data collected during a recent barn paving project. No animals were harmed during the production of this post. 

(in fact no animals were moved! Oddly enough, the cat WAS sitting on this egg.  We are renaming the cat Horton….)

…"The One in Which the Power Lines Snap, the Goat Has Triplets in the Dark and I Turn 40."

It has been an eventful week in these parts. I think it was my fault. I did say our "last storm of the season" not too long ago didn’t I?  Jinx.  This one really kicked us in the shorts as my friend Barb would say. After a long rain the sky turned to snow piling up on top of the mud. Wind sheers toppled and snapped power line poles and left them strewn along roadsides like a giant game of pick up sticks. The power went out Tuesday afternoon and Allen was sent home. Too late as it turned out. It was like working his way through a demo derby trying to navigate the highway home. He arrived just as it was getting nippy in here and we fired up the generator and hunkered down in the RV.

I started dinner in there and Allen and the girls went to do barn chores.  I was summoned right away. Sapphire (the goat ; )) was already delivering her first kid. We caught that one and started to stimulate and warm it up while Allen rigged up a spotlight plugged into the generator. It was a smallish buck and looked good. We got his cord dipped and blew him dry. Before too long the second kid was presenting. She seemed to be working harder with that one. After waiting and watching Allen gloved up to assist. Fortunately just a wee bit of a pull and the kid birthed. Another buckling, this time breech, but with both feet in position.

The doe was a trooper and the kids had the neonatal care routine down pat though we would have given alot for warm water. The buck was pretty ‘gunky’ and needed more help getting his lungs cleared and up and moving. We tried the swinging thing on him – hold him by the feet and gently swing in a rocking fashion per the 4H ladies’ advice. At least I am pretty sure that was the advice. If not he was no worse for wear. <g> He came around just as we looked at Sapphire and said hmmmmm, you don’t think…….?  Sure enough, she was laboring again.

The next kid was a doe! Woo hoo! My farmer was pleased we got a keeper out of the bunch. She was vigorous and breathing well so we repeated the neonatal care steps and started to clean up the mess.  That last part was a challenge. We looked like we had been to the butcher shop by then and nothing but cold bottled water to clean up with . Suffice it to say – ewww. We waddled back to the camper and went through what sounded like Armageddon from the inside of that oversized tin box. We woke up to a foot of new snow.

Our neighbors called on the cell and told us not to go down our road since a line had gone down across it but it was buried in the snow and not readily visible. Allen walked down the other way to assess. He found a truck passing that gave him the best way out. It was warming and melting so we decided to try to get to town to get more gas and water and a generator for our friends who were told to expect a week without power. We literally passed 37 ditched cars between us and the next town ten miles away. 37 cars and two broken down snow plows! The poles lay mangled beside the roads. Ironically when we went over the hill into the city there was nothing! No snow at all. Like night and day.

About that time I remembered – Oh yeah. It’s the big day. I am officially OLD lol! My 40th was Wednesday. I have to admit this was the birthday I had been fully planning to ignore altogether. I have never been a ninny about birthdays and generally really looked forward to them. This one just seemed so significant. Whatever the coming years bring it is not likely to be the beautiful sweet babies on a regular basis that the last couple decades have blessed me with. Us ‘self-indulgent overbreeders’ find that a little depressing. (thank you Katie,whoever you are, it was a lovely birthday wish ; p )

Fortunately for me I have the best friends and family I girl could hope for. My mom had sent me a hand embroidered apron and little teapot cookie cutters from Victorian Trading Co, a must have catalog ladies! 

Rebecca must be psychic because her tea, tea towel, and tiny sugars had arrived almost right after that. Jen’s card had me rolling. She and I rang in 30 together . This years card has one chick pushing the other up the big hill saying "You First!" (I am telling ya girlfriend you’re right behind me!) And just as the snow began to fall the UPS man slid in the drive with the most stunning stone beaded rosary I think I have ever seen. Elizabeth had commissioned it from beadsofmercy.com. It is a one of kind, as are all of Kimberlee’s incredible pieces. Allen surprised me with a copy of Maryjane Farmgirl. The man knows me. ; ) I think Moira may possibly have won the prize however – her card says "Happy 40th Mom! and in parentheses she wrote (but you look like 20!) Bless the child. <g>  SO, the birthday that wasn’t supposed to happen happened and happened big enough to be etched in my memory for good. God does have a sense of humor. I am taking this as a sign that He has wonderfully exciting things planned for my middle years. (middle, did I say that??)

We huddled in the camper for a second night on Wed and then got the great good news that our power was restored Thurs afternoon. By the weekend the snow was gone and the kids were in shorts. Unbelievable. Many of our neighbors are still without power however so please say a prayer for them. We welcomed the change of both weather and fortune because our yearling doe went into labor yesterday morning. This turned out to be our initiation into assisted kidding. : o  She is a small doe and was working darned hard. We waited and waited and just nothin’ was presenting.

She was getting visibly tired and uncomfortable and we had that talk with the kids – the one about God giving and God taking away. Finally Allen did the authentic farmer thing and took action. Someone had to go in after it and I had tagged him <g>. After the initial grossing out passed the fear kinda sank in. He found the hooves and nose presenting correctly but it was a giant buckling and he could not get it budged. We worked and worked with her and the doe just howled. It made us sick at heart but being that far from a vet it was one of those do or die situations with nowhere to go but ahead. Allen about gave up hope when finally we got the head and shoulders out and could deliver the kid. Man oh man. What an ordeal. And let me say the kid looks like he was on steroids! Huge!

We went with a cheese theme this year so the caprine roll call now includes Colby, Jack, Brie and Parmesan. I snapped pics throughout the birth of the triplets so if you homeschoolers want to see an actual kidding drop me a line and I will send them. I just don’t want to offend any urban sensibilities by blogging them. They are very, um, natural loL!

The other excitement from last week was that we had a meeting at the capital with our representative about the power line project. We are encouraged by our visit there and praying that everything is coming along just as God wills it to.

Well, by now I have no doubt taxed your attention spans. I imagine farm tales are a good deal less enthralling when it isn’t your farm. Still, it’s been a full week and I couldn’t be happier both to be living it and to have dear friends to share it with here. Life is good. : )