Here is what we call Nanny Row. We've got kidding pens set up on one side of the barn. Just today we've brought in three does who look close to kidding and set up the heat lamps. Don't they look cozy! 
This is Meanie. (She's mean to other goats, but not people.) Look at that belly drag the gound. We think she'll give us triplets again this year.
This is Cheetah. She is 1/2 Kiko, 1/2 Boer and was born here two years ago. This will be her first kidding. 
This is Cisco. He's a registered Missouri Fox Trotter. He is owned by a friend of mine and she's decided to sell him so we've brought him to our place to try him out. We may take him off her hands! Here he is with his barn mate, Ditto, another horse that my friend is selling. They have just arrived and we're keeping them in the corral till all the horses are used to each other. Cisco is HUGE, every bit as big as Missy. Can't wait to ride him!
Group shot of all the participants and the four teenaged instructors.
Learning how to clip a show heifer.
Practicing showmanship.
Learning the cut locations of a beef carcass.
More grooming demonstrations. 
Door Prize - a pink grooming brush!
From left to right, Haley, Jennah, Erica, Olivia, Sami, Emily, ClaireAnna and Nicolet.
Things to do: Climb a gravel cliff. 
We did it!
If you could only see the hill they just climbed to get to this rock pile! 
Heading back to the barn after our hike. 
There is a donkey in there somewhere...Jack, do you need help?
My farmgirl! 
Duke is 3/4 Anatolian Shepherd and 1/4 Great Pyrenees Mountain Dog. He was born and raised in a goat pasture. Being with goats is all he's ever known. Both his parents were working LGD's with excellent temperaments. Duke is a very sweet, gentle dog. He loves human interaction but has to get to know you first. He is stand-offish with strangers, as is common with some LGDs, but he is totally non-aggressive with humans. When we come to the goat pen he greats us enthusiastically. We own two of Dukes litter mates and would not part with them for the world. Duke's owners have gone out of the livestock business and have asked me to find him a new working home. He will be 2 on Dec. 4, he is intact and weighs about 100 lbs.. Call 479-970-5396
This is Miller. He is a 2 year old chocolate lab that just showed up on our back step one day. He was a hairless, wormy, sickly, emaciated puppy, about 6 mos. old when we found him. We have helped him to recover from his early neglect and we love him very much but do not have the time he needs to make him happy. Miller loves to swim, go for walks or runs and to chase after the 4-wheeler. He even rides in a canoe. He has been started on some basic obedience and he learns very fast. He walks well on a leash. He has been house trained and crate trained, but has been an outside dog for over 6 months now, so would need a refresher course on those things. He is a wonderful, friendly, loving, fun dog and would be the perfect companion for some active person who loves duck hunting, water sports or jogging. Miller is neutered, wormed regularly and up to date on shots. We are looking for the perfect home where he will be able to become part of the family. He is wonderful with children. He just loves all people. He weighs about 50 lbs. 
Miller also just swims for the pure love of it. Here, this is what he is doing. When he gets out, he runs down the hill and into the woods where he knows Ted is chopping wood.
ClaireAnna, Katelyn and Curt
ClaireAnna and Katelyn being silly in the campground.
Cleaning up after the horses.
Katelynn on Pokey and ClaireAnna on Cindy, getting ready to head off for our first ride! That's Kate behind the white horse she road. 
ClaireAnna on Cindy in front of the "falling waters"! 
The girls with the Penka's new puppy, Tiny Tina, a.k.a Chomper
Curt and Malcolm
Is this working?
ClaireAnna on Missy and Katelyn on Cindy, playing in the creek.
Giving the mares a drink. 
Under the Falling Waters Horse Camp sign.
Lovin' on Katelyn's horse, Pokey.
Malcolm hiding from the girls.
ClaireAnna and Katelynn trying to make a fire. I should have taken a picture of the finished product. They actually did a really good job!
Olga and Justus Penka cooking chicken on the fire.
The wonderful camper that Susan so kindly let us sleep in - so much warmer then our tent would have been! 
Our trailer where the mares "camped."
A view of the campground. That's the Danzy's red truck and trailer and the bathhouse to the left.
I took this from the back of a horse.
But 25% of their offspring will be this beautiful white variation! 
And new to our poultry menagerie this year are these Bahama Pintails, which are "split for silver." Here is a normal Bahama Pintail. So pretty!
And 25% of their offspring will be this silver variation!
ClaireAnna and Lily 
ClaireAnna had two pairs in the same class so her friend, Sarah, showed her Silver Sebright pair while she showed her Milli Fleurs.
ClaireAnna with "Serious Black" Reserve Champion Cockerel.
Katelynn showing her Partridge Cochin Pullet.
That's ClaireAnna and Shiloh on the right.
GRAND CHAMPION MARKET GOAT!
Bath Time! 
Winner of Class 6! Waiting for championship class. 
Potluc
Fair is over, time to go home and sleep for a week! See you next year!
Getting Ready for the 1 minute sit/ stay.....
1 minute Sit / Stay.....
3 minute Down/ Stay.....
Judge awarding the Cloverbud High Point Ribbon to ClaireAnna for the FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW! 
Look closely at the picture below. This Ancona hen as began setting on a nest the whole flock has been contributing to. Unfortunately, it is OUTSIDE the duck pen. I will have to try to move them inside and see if she continues setting on them. She is not safe on the here.
Our Goose is growing up and is all feathered out now. Isn't he/she pretty! ( We don't know if it's a goose or gander!)
Ademir
Ted with Ademir
Ademir and puppy puppet.
Crystal and Ben. Engaged!
Shari and Ademir
Sweet little Garrett
Granny, Nathan, Sadie, Papa
Kim with Garrett
Garrett with his Mommy, Nicole.
ClaireAnna holding Lily's new kitten, Kitty.
Cianna.
Sadie
These six young ladies from our church are going to Trinidad on a short term missions trip, leaving Sat., July 11 and returning Sat., July 18th. Please pray for them as they travel and share the love of Christ with others. They are, from left to right, Kate Harmon, Christin Butler, Danielle Horn, Lindsay Howard , and Jancy and Jenna McCarty.
Many, many piles of brush like this have already been burned. Not sure what we're going to do with that trampoline!
This is the stack of fire wood created by just the branches of the 4 oaks from our yard. The trunks are yet to be cut up.
Jes and I helped ClaireAnna set up her bunk and introduced her to her cabin leader. We walked the whole camp grounds and showed her where everything was. Then we hugged and kissed goodbye. 
Thursday, we headed back up to camp. My plan was to let Claire spend the day with her cabin mates and leader while I helped out in the hand crafts. That way, she could have a wonderful Camp Awana experience without having to worry about not seeing mom for a week. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. For some reason, ClaireAnna was still teary eyed and cried anytime she was not with me. We ended up leaving after lunch. We don't really understand this, since Claire is a very confident and non-clingy child. I plan to try again next year, but I will volunteer at camp and stay the whole week with her. Hopefully, with year of maturing, she'll be ready!
My mom and her "baby", Sonny. 
My sister, Laura, with her step-grand daughter, Maiella.
ClaireAnna and Maielle.
My niece, Rachel, and her boyfriend, Mike! Baby is due in Sept. It's a boy!
ClaireAnna had fun climbing on the rocks at the marina, just like her brother and sister's did for many years every 4th.
Read the words as they change on the bottom of the score board!
We didn't get home from Chicago till after 8:00 pm. We were all just exhausted and hit the sack early. Monday morning, we said goodbye to Jes when she left for work and then packed up and headed out about 9:00 am. I could have made it home, but fatigue set in and we stopped in Ozark and stayed the night. Of course ClaireAnna wouldn't let me rest! We hit the pool, which we had all to ourselves, and swam till 10:30 pm! Claire just LOVES her new snorkel gear!
We got home today about noon and were SO happy to see Dad and Kate! Well, this year's Big Adventure is over. Hopefully, next year's won't be so Big! I'd like to have time to relax and visit more with friends! But my time with ClaireAnna and Jes was precious and special and I wouldn't trade it for anything. 
ClaireAnna and I spent the day here yesterday. We had a blast! And yet....my mind was somewhere else....sometime else. I kept seeing a little boy, climbing on the railings with a big grin on his face. I kept hearing his big sister telling him to get down with a light hearted huff. And there was another little girl, blond and sweet, holding my hand. Oh the many wonderful hours we spent together at this place - the four of us. We had season passes and knew the park like the back of our hands. We went to Freight Fest every year. We ate the funnel cakes and stayed till dark, got wet on Roaring Rapids and dizzy on Fiddler's Fling......There they are....running ahead to get in line on the Demon.......I look again.......and they are gone. 
Like I said in my last post, today's heat index will be 110. When our oaks fell, they took with them all the shade they made over Lucky's dog kennel. She only has a tiny bit of shade now in front of her dog house. In this kind of heat, that is just not enough. So Lucky got a bath this morning and came in the house for the day. Well, Shani decided that wasn't fair and snuck in too! Oops! Don't tell Daddy the dogs are in the house! Shhhhh! I'll scoot Shani back out since she can find shade and water on her own. ( We can't let Lucky run loose, she is a scent hound and follows her nose where ever it leads her. We could never risk loosing her!) All the other dogs have shade and kiddie pools or other water to get in if needed. I worry about all the animals in this heat. We'll go down in early afternoon and freshen up/ cool down everyone's water. ( And probably douse ourselves too!) This is the hottest June I can remember in our 5 years here. Whew......it's hot out there!
One of our young Kiko does was accidentally bred when Romeo escaped his pen and broke into the doe pen. She had this tiny doeling Friday. ( Normally, our does kid in Feb/ March.) ClaireAnna named her Lyla. Her mom's name is Lola. She sure is a doll, but she is not doing too well in this heat. We find her panting a lot and she is nursing, but not enough. We've given her supplements and are trying to keep her cool, but short of bringing her in the house, there's nothing more we can do. Heat index will be 110 today. :( We sure hope she hangs in there. 
Cooling off and eating lunch at Pearl's in Pleasant Grove.
This will give you an idea of how big the root ball is. That's a 10 X 10 dog kennel and of course Ted standing behind it. 
And here's the single oak.
Good-bye trampoline! But the satellite made it intact! 
This picture doesn't tell the whole story by any means, but you can see a bit of the damage to the woods. This was a beautiful and favorite riding and hiking location along a creek. Right now, the creek is barely visible and mostly inaccessible. There are too many trees damaged or down to count and it will take us months, (years?) to clean it up. 
We were sad at the loss of our trees for about five minutes. Then we started counting the miracles and now all we feel is gratitude to God that he granted us so many!
Miracle #2: The tree that didn't fall. If this one had toppled at the same angle as the other trees, our house would have been destroyed. We are having it removed.....or we won't be able to sleep soundly ever again!
Miracle #3: This is where we found Lucky. She had run to the left of the direction the trees were falling and to the only spot she could reach that would be safe...how did she know? If she had run directly away from what she saw coming at her, she would have been crushed. ClaireAnna is holding the end of the cable she was tied to. I would say that her name fits her perfectly, but I know better then that!
Miracle #4: On Thursday, Cutie Pie had calved. Ted and I had found her and a little red, newborn heifer that evening. On Saturday morning after the storm, we moved all the cattle to the other end of the farm and locked them out of the damaged area. There are several trees with broken limbs hanging precariously and also a fallen tree that is toxic to them and we had to move them for their own safety. Sunday evening, my mom and nephews arrived just before dark. They are here on a visit that was planned before the storm. I told Kate to take the boys out on the 4-wheeler and show them the woods and all the fallen trees. As they rode around, someone spotted a tiny black calf. Huh? The cattle had been gone from the area for a day and a half. It took us a while to figure out what happened, but we finally realized that Cutie Pie had had TWINS! And we just didn't know it. When we moved the cattle out, the little guy got left behind. Cutie Pie didn't bawl for him since she already had a calf with her. We tried to reunite mom and baby #2, but at that point, she would not accept him. So, we put him in the barn and gave him a bottle. Boy was he hungry but other then that, he is unharmed!
We put this cute trio in a small chicken coop that is inside the barn. Two days later, we found the duck and one of the goslings dead. No blood, not eaten, just dead. The only "mark" was that the dead gosling's head and neck were wet and matted, like it had been chewed on but not so rough that there was damage. Wierd! This is the duckling that ClaireAnna raised in the kitchen for 2 weeks. The remaining gosling was put into the horse stall with the other ducklings. 
Walk Trot Class
Walk/ Trot lineup.
Trail Class. We can't believe Cindy backed around the corner! Didn't know she could do that!
Trail Class
Pole Bending
This is Cocoa. She's the runt of triplets, but now that her brother has been weaned, she is catching up in growth. ( Her sister died in a freak accident.) She is for sale.
ClaireAnna with her Lionhead rabbit, Lily.
We've got the large stall set up as a poultry nursery. In the large stock tank in the back center of the picture, is a batch of 10 Chinese Mandarin ducklings, to the left, in a pen made of hay bales, are ClaireAnna's new Bantam chicks and loose in the rest of the stall are Cleo, the lone duckling and Kate's new African goslings. 
You can't see the Bantams well, but there are 21 of them in several different varieties. 
Here are some pictures of what her chicks will look like all grown up.
Our second batch of Mandarins hatched 10! We will be keeping 2 and I have sold the other 8 to a gentleman in northern IL. ( I love the Internet!) I will be delivering them to him on my way to visit Jes in Late June.
This is Cleo, the only other duckling hatched here this year. She is now out of the kitchen and living with her new best buddies, Kate's African goslings. In this picture, she is 3 weeks old and they are 3 days old. Soon, they will dwarf her. 
Here's what the African geese will look like, all grown up. 
We bought a new nannie goat and her doeling the other day from a local Boer breeder. Isn't she COOL! We love her color and think she will make some beautiful kids with our buck, Romeo. And so will the doeling when she is grown. Kate named the nannie, Frenchie, and ClaireAnna named the doeling, Shiloh.
Two really pretty fall hiefers. We are going to catch the one in the forground and halter train her for ClaireAnna to show at the fair. They are 50/50 Red Angus X Fleckvieh Simmental
This is Shiloh. ClaireAnna named her. She is 50/50 Red Angus X Romagnola. The Romagnola are an Italian cattle with white hair but black skin. This hiefer got the red hair from her Red Angus sire and the black skin from her Romagnola dam. ( you can tell by the black nose) She's a cutie!
Red Angus X Fleckvieh Simmental spring heifer. See the pink nose?
A couple of fall calves.
This handsome hunk is 75/25 Angus X Fleckvieh. He was not banded as a newborn and has turned out so nice that we are marketing him as a commercial bull. His dam is "Dumb." Yes, that is her name. She always gives us one of our top calves of the crop and this guy is no exception.
This heifer is only hours old. She is HUGE! 
The ducklings have just about doubled in size. I've sold the entire clutch of Mandarins - all eight - to one guy. He is driving 4 1/2 hours from Louisiana to pick them up. The best part is that he is paying $200 for the batch! Whoo hooo!! Poor Cleo, the Ancona, will be left alone again. But I'm sure ClaireAnna will see to it that she has some company.
This is Romeo. He is our 100% Boer, painted buck. We traded a horse for him. He is not turning out as nice as we had hoped, although we have changed his feed and are waiting to see how he fills out on the new stuff. I kinda wish I had the horse back! But....he will do till we can raise up another buck we like better. Or maybe sell some kids and buy one. I like his color! And his is friendly and easy to work with.
This is Brook. She is a pretty, black headed, half dairy, half Boer, doe. She was born here last June. We like the dairy mixed nannies because they give lots of milk and grow a kid fast!
This first doe is Grace. She is a high % Boer we will be keeping from this years crop of kids. She is only 3 months old and very muscular and healthy. I guess Romeo can get it right if he tries! The little red doe behind Grace has been sold to a 4-H girl. 
This picture gives you an idea of how gigantic Bo is. We don't know where he gets his height from. He is much taller then either of his parents. Ted is wearing his "summer" jeans since they give him a little circulation! He doesn't wear shorts on the farm no matter how hot it gets so this is his compromise. LOL
Doesn't Shani look dead???? She was tired from running ( her usual activity) and plopped down in the dirt. She paddled her front legs a bit to expose some damp cool dirt and then just lay here. As I took the picture, she opened her eyes, but kept her gaze forward and didn't raise her head. Hence the death pose! Funny! 
But zoom in, and you will see WHY they are so happy. Bocephus! 
What a good boy! He is 17 months old now, all grown up and doing his job. He is just the best livestock guardian dog we could ask for. The goats trustingly follow him out to pasture each day. They come running back to their paddock if he barks the alarm. His bark, alone, keeps predators and stray dogs away from the barnyard. And by the way, he is GIGANTIC! I can pet his back without bending at all! And sweet and gentle as can be. He does chew up the stray halter if left in the barn. But we are learning to put them away. Other then that, he is the perfect farm dog!
What a little stinker! As of now, we have decide to let her hang out at the house during the day, but we have no choice but to put her back at the barn at night or we would never get to sleep. Remember, she is guarding us - from every single night time sound and movement. Bark! Bark! Bark! Thank you, Shani, but .....no thanks! So, much to her dismay, she is spending her night time on a chain in the barn - the only form of confinement she has been so far unable to escape! Poor baby! We love you anyway! 
Missy had her foal. As you can see, she is another Lethal White Overo. Soon after this picture was taken, we transported the filly to the vet for euthanasia. This is our second LWO foal out of Missy and it will definately be our last. For an explaination of the whole situation, see this previous post.
