goats_bahhh

Long time since I've been in here. Small chat today...
Even though its Feb. I still am anticipating for summer for a few reasons. 1) school's out. 2) it will my last whole summer with friends b/c next summer we'll all be getting ready for college. 3) the fair. 4) no school 5) driving places b/c everyone'll finally have their license...maybe. I got mine Dec. 31. 6) no school.

And here's a pic of CJ the donkey:

Even though the summer is over, I'll catch up on things to say. At the fair, Penny got 2nd place in agility. I didn't enter her in Obedience class b/c it was so hot. For the goats, I got 3rd in showmanship, Licorice got 2nd for Senior Milkers, Jellybean got 4th in adult wethers, Peppermint got 2nd in dry yearling, and Cracker Jack got 4th and Gumdrop got 5th in young wethers.
My friends did get to see Penny though! (Even though I hardly spent time with them. I wish I could've walked around with them, but they left before the show ended. If they would've stayed another half hour, I would've had time. Oh well, maybe next year.)

So my family is getting a miniature donkey.He is going to be named CJ because his orignial name was Cracker Jack. I love the name Cracker Jack for him since boy donkeys are called jacks, butI already have a goat named Cracker Jack, thus CJ is his new name.

So far into my summer vacation, I've basically been working. On the weekdays, I gotta be at the dog kennel at 7am and on Sat., 6am. I enjoy working there, just not getting up early on Saturdays...not to mention getting paid :)

I have SO much to do still! I got done the Old Man and the Sea for English and I'm halfway done the Great Gatsby. I still need to prepare for the fair, finish a project book for 4-H that is basically a record for the whole year, and condition for cheerleading. Overall, my summer vacation is all about animals- working and preparation of the fair! No time for vacation this year, just mini day trips/weekenders.

Let's see, I took Penny (my dog) to training last night and she did decent. Still needs to work on some things though! I've also been practicing obedience with her and she's doing okay. Ughhh, fair time stresses me out, but it's still loads of fun.

Just in preparation for the fair, I have to: train Penny in both agility and obedience to get her ready for the shows, finish my project book, shave and clean my goats, show my goats, set up the booth for dog club, set up the booth or goat club, practice walking the goats(not to mention doing everything for each goat), trim their hooves, study the goat anatomy and the point system for showmanship, and so much more that I don't feel like listing. Although it may seem hard to believe that the fair takes that much preparation, it takes a LOT of work. I mean, I'm not trying to make people feel sorry for me, but it's only human nature to want to receive a pat on the back for all your hard work.

I really want my friends to see Penny in action in her agility trial! Not to brag, but she is pretty good......2 years ago, she received 2 first places and one 3rd place out of three different agility trials. She also got fourth in an obedience trial. Last year, she got 2nd place (I think) and 3rd place in two different agility trials and 1st place in obedience. Just watch though, knowing my luck, she'll mess up the ONE time my friends actually see her. Oh well, I know in my heart that she does great. Besides, win or lose, Penny and I both have a ton of fun. The goats as well have won some ribbons, but I tihnk they're posted already in lj a while back.

Wish me luck for the fair! If you wanna come, call me on my cell.

School is almost out!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here's some pics by the way




Beach



Tree



Dog

Just yesterday the new goats arrived! They're slowly getting bigger.


It's been a while since I've written, but anyway...

On Easter when I went to VA to see my brother who attends VT, I took a lot of pictures of the mountains; they didn't turn out well because I took them from the car. On the other hand, I took some pictures of Roanoke and there were some descent ones.

Now that its been a while, I can't believe that we were at Roanoke, the place where the VT gunman bought his gun, and at VT the weekend before the shoothing. (I took pictures of VT also, right near the crime scene). He had the gun while my family was there... Nonetheless, my brother was two buildings away from the shooting. What would have happened if the gunman decided to go just a few more buildings down? Would my brother have gotten shot? These questions still haunt me and I feel absolutely blessed that nothing bad happened to my brother. I can't imagine what the victims' families must be going through. It makes you really be thankful for the things you have b/c anything can happen in the blink of an eye.



PICTURES!
Water


Water Fountain


Overpass bridge at VT


Burris Hall at VT


Roanoke:



VA:

On March 27th, the new baby goats were born. There was an all-black girl with blue eyes; a blackish/brownish boy with white painted on the bridge of his nose and feathered at the base of his ears with has brown eyes; and another little boy that is chocolate brown with white feathered at the base of the ear and a white tip on the tail, and white splattered on his front knees with blue eyes. Their names are Sapphire, Cracker Jack, and Gumdrop, respectively. Gumdrop weighs 1 pound, the other are around 2 pounds. Gumdrop came out first and was delivered fine; the other two were coming out at the same time in weird positions so Cracker Jack had to be pushed back in to let Sapphire out. Then, Cracker Jack had to be shaken so he could breath. All are well now though. I'm getting the two boys. They are SO CUTE!!!


I will be leaving tomorrow morning to go to VA for Easter to see my brother at Virginia Tech. Won't be back till Sunday...will take some pictures and post them. I will also post the baby goats too. Wow, I have a lot of pictures to post but haven't done anything yet.

"No, that's not a group home...that's my family."
This quote describes my life.

A stack of post-it notes.


Keyboard.


Stones in the driveway.

I finally got my permit to drive after finishing behind the wheel. So far I have driven to and from church and fay'es house with my permit, not including where I drove during behind the wheel which I went to pretty far places.

All I can say is OWWWWWWWWW!!!!! I can hardly move without wincing in pain all b/c of gym class! Today is a lot better though than yesterday.

Hey, I just feel like talking about my animals because I love them so much.
I haven't practiced with Penny for a while in agility and obedience. I guess I should; although, last year I only practiced with her like 4 times a few weeks before her competition and she still got 3rd place. Regardless, I know I should but I'm too much of a procrastinator. She really loves to go to agility practice though. Every time I get my treat bag she wags her tail uncontrollably, and even more wildly when she sees that I get her leash.

The reminds me, I guess i should really practice walking and handling the goats for showmanship. I learned my lesson last year about that... since Licorice was touchy around her hind legs. I have been purposely touching Peppermint's back legs a lot to get her use to it and I think its working...of course it could be the fact that the other goats don't like her so I'm basically her only friend. I think she'll do good at the fair though. I just hope she grows a little more- If I can remember right, the other two were bigger tan her at her age now. Hmm, maybe she's just on the small side or maybe the others were a little big.

In just a few weeks, the kids should be born!!! I'm hoping Jewel (Licorice's sister) is going to have a chocolate or golden boy...or girl, preferably a boy though. I think I'll name it Hershey if choc. and not sure for golden. If a girl, cocoa for choc. and chiclet for golden. Or I'd like a multi-colored kid...maybe I'll name it Skittles or something. I'm not sure. I just hope I'll be able to see the labor this year since last year I missed it by a few hours because I was on a camping trip!

Here's my class ring in its box. It's laying on top of my old yearbook.


This is Penny in her towel after her bath. Tootsie is staring her down.


And here's Mickey after his bath.


A herd of deer eating the corn we put out.


Peppermint on the stump.


Tootsie after her bath.


Jellybean being naughty by tipping his water over after I had just filled it.


The sun setting.


Penny cocking her head because I made a high pitch noise.


Don't ask why! I felt like taking a picture of my light bulb.

So here's just a few things I'm considering for the future...
I know I am going to work at my dog breeder's kennel in a few more days/weeks (not sure yet) but I've been doing that on and off for years. I think now though I am going to work more hours than in the past.
Also, I think I am going to volunteer at a zoo this summer. Hopefully I'll get to be able to interact with the animals and learn about their habitat/nutrition needs and such.
What else... Oh yeah, I am going to work at some 4-H dinner as a waitress. I'm excited yet nervous in a weird way because I just hope I don't screw something up with the orders or whatever. Haha, I guess I'll just have to see.


I've been getting a lot of college brochures in the mail lately! Every day, I keep on getting on the average of three a day. Of course, none of them will work for me because none of them have the major that I'm interested in. *Sigh* there's only one college so far that I'm VERY interested in, but I need to have a broader selection just in case I'm not accepted. Whatever, I'm not going to stress about it. Things will fall into place sooner or later.

Oh, here's more pics of the white deer, but they're still hard to see.

Today I had school off because of a snow day..mostly from ice. I'm very happy! So, I decided to take some pictures. Hope you like them. Oh and the last picture wasn't from today. It was taken a few days ago. It's a blurry picture b/c I had taken it through a window and it was really far away, but anyway, it was a white deer.

Soooo.... these pictures are during Christmas brake. My friends and I went ice skating, of which only one of us has done before so picture a bunch of 15 and 16 year olds clumsily skating with 6-10 year olds skating smoothly and not falling, except Meghan who can do jumps and such. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, so enjoy these pictures.

Sorry I haven't written in this for a while. I've been so busy!
So lately...
I passed my written driver's test with a 94! I am glad that mid-terms are finally over though!I didn't do to bad on them-all A's and B's...except chemistry, but that's a whole other story...
Let's see- last night i went to my church lock-in. Wow, that was a LOT of fun! The band was good too, even though the whole band couldn't make it but at least one showed up and he was an awesome guitar player, not to mention not a bad voice considering he was doing it solo.

Today, I've just been doing homework and tomorrow I am going to work on my 4-H presentation. It will be on how to make a first aid dog kit and how to use each item. I'm kinda nervous though because I don't know if I can drag it out to the minimum requirement of 8 minutes.

That's all for now, but I'll try to write more often.

First day of school today. Everything went well, but school is school-not too exciting. Tomorrow is the real challenge because it will be a full day, not half like today was. Oh well, life moves on whether I'm ready or not...

here's some random pictures...
this is peppermint in her hay bag..who knows why...

here's my other goat, Licorice

sooo.... penny my dog got 1st place in obedience at the fair, and out of three agility matches, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. i'm very happy.

now, i'm reading a tale of two cities... i'm a procrastinator, so that means schools starts very soon...let the stress begin!