Queenacres Family Living: Need more hours please!

I have come to the conclusion that there are just not enough hours in the day. This is especially true for me since I must have at least 8 hours of sleep at night, and do best with a 15-20 minute nap each day. I know, it sounds like a lot of sleep, and I tend to think I am lazy.

I am very much like my goats in that I am a creature of habit. I do the same thing from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning, until 8pm when I lay down at night. Since I have a zero short time memory, this is the way that I have to live my life or things just would not get done. I am at my absolute worst when my schedule is off.

My morning schedule is the most important. If I can stay on track until about 2 and then nap for a few minutes...I can handle most anything the rest of the day. I guess I'm more than a little neurotic.

Here's a glimpse of my morning...

Bob is usually off to work by 5 am or so. I usually get up about 6. The first thing I do is let the dogs out to potty. We have 5 dogs, they all live inside. Actually Bob and I have 2 (Grace & Taboo), Ben has 1 (Oscar), Stephanie has 1 (Ty), and Rebekah has 1 (Joey). But I put them all out to potty in the morning.

By 8 am I : wash up and get dressed, plan dinner and pull something out of the freezer to thaw, thaw dog food (we raw feed our dogs), feed the cat, feed the birds (pet birds), start laundry, clean the bathroom, sweep and mop the dining room and hallway, check e-mail, make a to-do list, start a pot of tea (for iced tea), water the garden (my porch plants), and check the milk status (when we have 4 gallons in the fridge, I pull them out to bring to room temp to start making cheese); and get ready to milk the goats and do barn chores.

These are the happy faces I see in the morning in the garden. I LOVE this time of day, just me, the Lord, and His creation.

THIS is why I do barn chores early. I just can not deal with the heat these days. I used to stay outside during the heat of each day and loved it. Now, when it gets above 85º I'm dying!

By 8 am I'm busy with barn chores. I make sure everyone is okay from the night before. Check the poultry for food and water, and by 8:05 Faith is letting me know that it is past 8 and she is ready for her breakfast and milking!

Isn't she beautiful? She's the best goatie. She carries a pack, pulls a cart, and gives over a gallon of milk a day. Just don't be late with breakfast!! Here's what a goat breakfast looks like at our house. It's a 16% dairy pellet, a scoop of dehydrated alfalfa pellets, a handful of pumpkin seeds, a sprinkling of kelp, a spoonful of vitamins, and a half a coffee mug of calfmanna. Happy cows may come from California, but happy goats live in my backyard!!

and of course their cookie for being good milkers!

Here's what we get in return for our hard work and care for our goats...

Then I take the milk into the house, where I weigh it, record each does' milk, filter it, and cool it as quickly as possible.

The babies are fed next. Clover (4 mos) is old enough to go without milk, so we are teaching her to eat up on the milkstand while the 2 younger kids drink the milk from the bucket.

While they're eating, I rake out their pen, fill their hay manger, and make sure they have clean water to drink. Once done eating, they go back out to the kid pen; and I come in and get everything washed, sanitized, and ready for the evening milking.

By 10am I am done with barn chores, and usually with my 2nd or 3rd load of laundry....and it starts getting too hot outside. I try to keep the house opened up until it hits about 80º.

My next chore is waking up my sleeping beauties...

...can you tell it is their Summer break? The girls and I spend a lot of time doing things together. When they are awake.