Building frenzy!

Unloading wood from the truck

Sunday was building day. After a lazy morning watching the finish of the Tour de France, H and I headed off to the big box store for some supplies. We purchase everything we needed (almost!) to build a sizable lean-to for Sass and to build a milking stand.

When we returned, we got started right away. H started work on the floor of the lean-to while I did some maintenance work in the garden. It needed watering and I had to do another mole Castor-oil treatment. I also did some weeding in the row gardening area. I have to admit - weeding is like peeling dead skin. Once you start, it's kind of hard to stop! It doesn't help that every time I pull a weed, there's another one just inches away begging to also be pulled...and so on and so on and so on.

Anyway, by the time I'd finished all that, H had a floor put together. We moved it to where we think the lean-to should go. Unfortunately, it's probably not the permanent location. Once the final fencing is in, we'll probably have to move it...and we don't think it's facing the correct way, either. It's good for now, though. So when we start on the walls, we realize that we forgot three long boards for the diagonal part across the top. H heads back to the store while I got started on the milking stand. I cut all the wood first. I made sure that I measured twice each time...just to make sure I got it right. Then I started putting it together. The plans I was following were really good and it was going smoothly. I managed to get the entire base built up with very little trouble. Then I built the frame for the part that holds the goat's head. When I started to cut out the curved opening for the goat's head, I had troubles. The 20-year old jigsaw wasn't happy with me. It died before I got one quarter of the way done! I tried a number of other ways of getting it cut, but it wasn't happening. And, because this step is critical, there was nothing else I could do until it was done. At that point, I gave up and put everything away. I'll have to stop and buy another jigsaw after work on Monday and finish it then.

We were able to get the floor and walls and half of the roof done on the lean-to. H will finish up the rest of it and then I'm going to build a stand for the hay. I'll finish up the milking stand tonight and hopefully have it ready by tomorrow morning's milking.

Lastly, we staked out where we want to put the permanent fence. We've decided to hire someone professional to install the perimeter fencing around the entire field. Then we'll install the cross-fencing dividers ourselves. Once that is complete (the perimeter) we are going to find Sass a friend. We are thinking a whether would be the best choice. Then we can 'borrow' someone else's buck to breed her when we are ready. We don't want a huge herd...4-5 goats tops! As it is, one goat is providing more milk that we can drink. I need to start making yogurt, ice cream, and cheese ASAP or we are going to be up to our eyeballs in milk before the week is out!