Two more babies

My mom and I drove down to Burnet over Mother's Day weekend.  My sister and her friend were meeting us to run the Jailbreak race on Saturday.  Our Nubian, Daisy, was due to kid on Mother's Day - I figured she would kid late like Lacey and have her babies when we got back from our trip.  Of course not!  Friday night, Jason called at 10:30pm and announced that we had twin baby girls!  He said that they were doing well, but he wasn't sure if they had gotten their colostrum.  So then I began to worry :)  He went back to the barn and completed the fun task of forcing the kids to nurse, just to make sure.  About midnight or so, he called back to say that they were okay - whew.  I finally got to sleep after worrying about the girls for a while longer.

After the race

Saturday morning we drove out to the race site and enjoyed playing in the water and mud on a nice trail run in the Texas hill country.  If you haven't tried one yet, mud runs are pretty fun - this Jailbreak was about 3.8 miles and we finished in under an hour (no, we didn't win :)  My training consisted of chasing Liam around playgrounds about once a week, gardening, hiking, taking the goats foraging and playing indoor tag.  This turned out to be pretty effective for a fun run!

After the race, Mom and I drove on to Fredericksburg, a German town that was founded in 1846 - pretty old for Texas standards.  There were some great old buildings there - both log and rock.  We ate lunch and then breakfast at the Old German Bakery - yum!  Freshly baked bread and Danishes, German pan fries and pancakes, etc.

We shopped Main Street and the local antique malls.  I bought some honey that came from Rogers, TX and we learned from the seller that bee stings can help your arthritis - good to know.  I also got a harmonica and a little flute to bring home for the boys.

We left Monday and headed for Enchanted Rock.  We planned to take the hike to the top and back.  Mistake #1 - Mom is afraid of heights and we learned that the trail is not for the faint of heart.  Mistake #2 - So we detoured to walk the mile and a half around the base.  The first quarter mile of that trail was covered in tumbled down rock (boulders).  The trail leveled out around the back of the rock and then the descent back to the main trail was pretty steep.  Mistake #3 - Not taking a walking stick (or 2) for the climb down.  So, basically, the trail wore Mom out!  All the Autry girls got a workout this weekend - Shonda and I in the race, Mom on the hike - we rock!

Sunny and Margie

We returned home Monday evening and I finally got to see the sweet babies.  We decided to name them Sunflower and Margarita, in honor of their mother.  A couple of days later, when Daisy's milk came in, the daily goat rodeo began.  These are her first kids and so her first milking experience, as well.  The daily show also became my new strength workout.  Jason said he was laughing with me, not at me - yeah, right!  We didn't have a headlock, so she'd try to hang herself by jumping off the front of the milkstand (she was tied by her collar).  In other words, fiasco :)

Our friend, J, gave us a metal milkstand the next weekend - a lifesaver!  I wired it to the post (set in concrete), then added a pallet constructed of 2x4's and 2x6's for the headlock and another pallet for the side (to keep her from leaping off the opposite side.  This set up doesn't budge (otherwise, she'd probably flip it!)  Now, she is getting much better with her milking.  She is a naturally gentle goat - just a little ticklish underneath - who could blame her? 

The Daisy clan