I mentioned flat-pack cabinets waiting for me to assemble them in the last post, but although they're on the list, they're not at the top; so I only got one of the boxes out of the living room over the past two weeks. There were things that were more time sensitive that needed my attention, such as:
The bathtub taps. There was some fuss because apparently tub tap cartridges are NOT standardized so we had to order in the replacement parts. Thankfully they were delivered to the store within a week of ordering which was super nice. I got them installed right away and we were able to have showers again.
I've also done the seasonal well filter replacement and flush of the hot water tank so water pressure and clarity are **chefs kiss**.
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As I mentioned before, I've been tracking my goats cycles in order to get Honey bred this year. We also bought a hard-body "dog travel crate" in order to transport the goats safely. Asking around I found a local goat guy who had a buck that would work well for my needs (Dairy breed, not 2 hours away) and I managed to figure out Honey's cycle well enough when they met Nov.22 it was clear he could smell she was ready.
She was shy because she's a first timer but she eventually lifted her tail out of the way so he could get the job done. This means that since she didn't come back into heat 3 weeks later, she's knocked up and we should expect kids April 21st!
Star could smell the Buck on Honey and pouted for a few days but I want
her to keep producing into next year. We've dropped down to milking once a day and we're still getting a litre a day which is is plenty for drinking/coffee but not enough for cheese/yogurt/etc experiments.
This is a weird year since we're just starting out. If I bred Star too we'd have to stop milking for 2 months before her kids were born and couldn't take any of the new stuff for a month after which means 3 months of no milk. We should be able to breed both of them next autumn about 3 months apart so there's no weeks without milk.
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I got back into my coding project and, looking at the mess I left myself trying to do everything at once, I decided to restart with a
"Minimum Viable Product". Literally it's just a basic form that would digitize the notes I've been keeping on paper. That was fairly easy with my current programming knowledge.
Now, I'm working on what I'm calling "Minimum Viable Pretty". :-)
I'm learning what I need to make stuff look good. (Javascript, & CSS to make the HTML fancy) For example, I'm turning that basic form into a "wizard" which just means I can see one question at a time with next and back buttons. This will make it easier to fill out the form on my phone (I can have big inputs instead of trying to zoom) while I'm out at the barn instead of remembering everything to write it down when I get back in the house.
After I get that done I can slowly, one at a time, add the other features I had been trying to do all at once.
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My left wrist/elbow was hurting so I tried to stretch it but wound up needing a brace for basic tasks like dishes.
Now my elbow hurts if I were to do something like lift a dinner plate "wrong" without the brace with a general feeling of over-use, so I'm being very careful not to make it worse. (Kinda hard when something as simple as pulling up your pants in the morning might twinge the tendons.) I'm not 100% sure if it's just RSI (from milking/powertools) or if I damaged myself hauling hay or bumping onto something some day and just didn't notice until it caused problems later.
I've changed how I milk Star (sitting beside for a direct angle instead of standing and reaching under) but I can't switch sides or milk from behind because her entire career they milked her from the one side and she developed a significant tilt so if you try to milk from the other side, you can NOT aim at all and the teat just kinda squirts on your hand instead.
Pretty sure it's (golfer's/tennis elbow) tendinitis because I've had wrist tendinitis from office work before and I know a doc is gonna say ice, elevate, rest, and wait (which DOES work) so I'm going to do that but... "With proper treatment, acute tendinitis caused by overuse will usually resolve within three months, although complete recovery can take up to six months before you can return to sports." Even if I restricted myself to milking awkwardly with only my right hand (which I have done the past two days), can I really stop using my entire left arm for 3-6 months? Maybe? Probably not.
As of yesterday, I'm currently giving my left arm 98% of the week off by only using my hand to hold something light such as bread while I butter it, or gently hold a jar on a counter while I use my other hand to dig out the peanut butter. I had my arm in a sling yesterday but that just wound up hurting my neck so today I'm just using the sling when I'm up and doing stuff (like feeding the critters) as a reminder to not use it.
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We had some snow Dec 1 but it quickly melted, and that "weather bomb" that everyone was worried about was only two days of rain with overnight high winds for us. Currently partly cloudy, no snow, and just above freezing. Here's a quick clip of the girls playing next to the barn on Dec 6th.
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