I just sent 11 of my favorite does to be boarded with friends. It kind of tore me up to do it; some of them are due to kid within the month. I kept feeling as though I'd betrayed them somehow, even though it isn't permanent and I know that I can't adequately care for them right now. Those goaty faces peering over the sides of the horse trailer, expectantly, somewhat bewildered, haunt me. *sigh* When will I see them again? When will I care for them, pet them, milk them again? Will I see their kids? I don't know... All I can say at this point is that at least I'm not selling them, and Vicky will be feeding them up so they'll have be in good condition when they come into milk, which I've done every other year but couldn't this one.

:-(

This leaves... 10 goats total remaining here, and only one is due to kid in the next month or two. I kept her here because she'll be needing a C-section. She's.....9 years old this spring, a good old girl who's lived a long, faithful, productive life. A few years back, she had such a difficult birth that I was amazed she survived. Vicki was there to help or she would have died... So she lived and even managed to get pregnant again, but the birth left her with such scar tissue that her cervix doesn't dilate anymore, and it has to in order for kids to emerge naturally. I *should* retire her. The problem is that she's dear to my heart and has many good traits, and I have only one daughter to show for her entire lifetime with me. I want at least one and preferably two more daughters. Last year the C-section yielded triplet bucks, arrrgh!!! She looks like she's got another huge set of triplets in there now (please, please, at least one doe this time!). She's due the 13th. Believe it or not, I'm still paying off the vet for last years C-sections (another doe had to be done as well). It runs about $250 per goat. Not bad if there's at least one doe kid, but kind of a loss if they're all bucks. Another thing: last year I hauled her in the trunk of the Oldmobile- Hey! it was an emergency, OK??? This year, it'd be nice to arrange something more pleasant for her.
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The job is going about as well as can be expected. I can't complain- it's a job, they're decent to me, and they're incredibly patient with my bungling attempts to learn the ropes. Still, it doesn't pay well, and there's just no way I can get ahead like this without resorting to child care. I haven't heard back about the other job, but this is likely due to the fact that I'm out of the house much of the time during business hours, or online. In all honesty, what will I say if they call and want me to start right away? I guess I'd say 'OK, I'll be there' and then tear my hair out trying to find a way to make it all work.
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Books- just finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. The title alone cracks me up...ha. I loved this book from start to finish, but I've had a hard time arousing interest or even amusement from anyone else regarding it. *shrug* For example:

The Electric Monk was a labor saving device, like a dishwasher or video-recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the trouble of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you from what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe. Unfortunately this Electric Monk had developed a fault, and had started to believe all kinds of things, more or less at random.

See, I think that's hilarious. I love it. Ah, if only life were that simple, eh?