Goat Milk Soaps.

One of the things we do around here to make some extra hay money for the goats is to make and sell Goat Milk Soaps. This is a batch of curing Cucumber Soaps. We do several scents here at CBF. Thanks to our girls who work extra hard to provide
fresh creamy milk for our table and our soaps we are able to make soaps nearly year round.
Typically we sell out during christmas season though I am making batches continually so will have soaps shortly again. Our scents include: Lavender, Lavender Oatmeal, Lavender Eucalyptus, Spice (Cinnamon/Clove/Nutmeg), Cucumber, Jasmine Green Tea, Clary Sage Flax, Tea Tree Oil, Pure and Basic (no scent/no colorant), Strawberries N Creme. We are planning on coming out with some new soaps in 2010. One thing we will be doing is a Gluten free/Corn Free soap. A person request from Dear Hubby who is gluten intolerant and has a corn allergy. Did you know that your skin absorbs what you put on it? So folks with sensitivities can have reactions to the things they put on their skin!!!! YUCK! We also use all natural ingredients in our most all of our soaps including Mica for colorants and mostly essential oils. WE do use a few "scent" oils in our soaps so if you choose one of those scents - they aren't all natural! Please bear with us as we transition to even better ingredients. Because we care about what YOU put on your skin!!!!

Update on new buck!

As some of you know, we have a new buck on order from Ironwood Ranch.
He is due in Jan (out of Pecan and Snickerdoodle) or Feb (out of Minnie and Jed)
We have been getting updates periodically from the Carpenters about the goings on there
and I get more and more excited by what I'm hearing. First, All of their does have earned their AR through I believe both ADGA and AGS. Minnie and Pecan both milked over 1300#'s of milk on the 305 day test this year.
Minnie and Pecan are both 1/2 sisters to Tirzah's Dam MCH Esperanza SJ Patience.
I also found out that Smarty Jones - Patience dam just became + *B thru ADGA and earned his AR herdsire designation as well which will make my buck's sire a *B/*S, and because Pecan has her * - my little buck will also have his * designation as well. Also, IF Jed's dam, Ice Sculpture, gets tested and earns her star (which the Carpenter's are sure she will) then Minnie and Jed's buck kids will also receive their * designation . No matter which way you cut it, this is great news for CBFNigerians. Oh, our 3rd choice doe is due this week. I highly doubt we will get one out of Gingersnap BUT it will give us a good preview of what we may get this year.
Congrats to the Carpenter's and the Ironwood Ranch goats who have worked hard this year!

Alyssa Update/Hana Update

Well, we've been getting some good news on the medical side of life. Alyssa just completed her 3rd set of "CLEAN" scans and is officially at 6 month in remission. They will be scheduling her port removal soon and then we have another set of scans in March. Dr. Winter is very happy with her progress and so are we! PRAISE GOD!

For those of you who have been praying for Hana Allen, she is home finally after 2 months in Cincinatti OH. Unfortunately it does look like she may have to go back for more surgery but we are praying hard her bladder recovers and doesn't need the augmentation afterall (for more reasons than one ;0) ! As of right now she has had some post surgery deterioration and her Dr. is thinking more surgery is needed but they will have some testing done locally to determine where her bladder is at then go from there - in the meantime, Hana is home with her family and getting some recovery time with her loving family and in her familiar surroundings.

Another update on a few of our organizations of the week - Children's Cancer Fund of NM recieved a $200 donation from Bosque Farms 4H club - Thank you ALL for your generosity!!!!
The money will be used to buy toys for their toy box at the hospital. This box provides new toys to be giving to kids when they go to clinic for treatments and appts. They also give toys to siblings. It really makes getting those treatments a little easier!

Light the Night/Lymphoma & Leukemia Society - We did the walk this past fall and through all of our generous family and friends raised nearly $1800.00 I know that LLS does research on new medicines that have helped the survival rate for blood cancers go way up (Hodgkin's Lymphoma has a survival rate of 98% right now!) and they also provide stipends for families of cancer patients battling blood cancers to help defray the costs of medical treatments etc. YOU all deserve a big pat on the back and we can't thank you enough for your generosity!

Bittersweet year for CBF Nigerians Ahead

As an animal owner there is nothing more pressing than finding good homes for those you can't or don't keep. After a lot of thought and sleepless nights I have decided to sell both Joie and Kokoro. It wasn't a decision I came upon lightly and really did not want to make but I really feel, with the crossroads I'm at in the herd and in my life I did finally decide to sell both girls. I did not think it would happen quickly at all but it happened much faster than I thought. Thankfully, both girls are going to what sounds like and incredible home in March. As much as I adore Koko, her pretty markings, her beautiful face....

It is Joie that I will miss the most. Joie has been and really is a very special doe for us. She has provided us with a lot of learning, wonderful babies, A TON of milk and she just is my Joie. But alas, I am going in a little bit different direction than I originally thought. Yes, we are still going to be concentrating on milk of course !!!! But when I began shopping for a new buck in spring we thought we were going one direction - a direction where Joie would have stayed here, but because that buck fell through and another buck is in the making (literally - he is due either the beginning of Jan or Feb) I felt the better choice was Joie's half sister Tirzah. I would like to keep a lot of babies this year with our herd name as well and in order to do so, minimizing my stress levels and given our very limited amount of space I needed to cut my numbers somewhere. I only kept Kokoro because I thought my older daughter was getting back into showing and now she's not wanting to show so Koko was an obvious choice.

I know there will be a lot of tears this spring as Joie moves on to help a new herd get underway and I will miss lovely little Koko running around the goat pen. I do thank the folks who are buying Koko and Joie for giving them a wonderful loving home to go to. I hope Joie will be a joy to you as she is to me and I hope Koko fits into your herd and provides you with lots of ribbons, and milk for your herd. On a more positive note - we sold Joie's first daughter to a friend in Colorado - this doe was a favorite of my daughter Suzy - and due to health issues they are havng to cut down on numbers therefor Skye will come back to join us here at CBF. I don't know if this is wise but Skye has always been Suzy's doe even after we sold her so I know that maybe this doe is meant to be back in Suzy's hands so Suzy can start her own herd of Nigies. Our Colorado friends are keeping Skye's doe kid and buckling from this year so I guess that's the way the ball rolls.....Welcome back Skye.

Dixie Came Back for a Visit!

If you have visited our website recently - you may have seen the cutest goat EVER as our Home page Mascot! I sold little Miss Dixie to the sweetest family and they brought Dixie over to visit our local StudMuffin (Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm). She is hoping for a repeat of this year: 2 does and a buck (who is now a wether and lives with the same family) Or....even better....3 doelings?

I still think she is CUTE!!!

Look at that beautiful mug. She isn't quite in heat but is due in the next few days and she's NOT happy being in with the buck - well, maybe she isn't happy being away from her little herd (She IS the queen you know!) We are happy to have Dixie back even for a short visit - can't wait to see what she produces for the D Family

Hana Allen

We have been getting regular updates from Heather on her daughter Hana. It appears that things are going much better and Hana is doing very well. They were released from the Ronald McDonald House after they performed a surgery to remove Hana's ureter catheters which apparently were causing both the leak and the bladder spasms. It wasn't a scheduled thing but a frustrated mom who is concerned about her child's pain and discomfort moved mountains.
Thankfully the Dr.'s listened to her and they got this child in a place where she isn't miserable.
The next surgery is scheduled for Dec.1, 2009 and at this time will remove the rest of the tubes from Hana, do a minor fix up job on something and then HOPEFULLY after healing up Hana can go home. The Allen's have met a lot of really wonderful folks at RMH and the hospital and thankfully family members have been able to go to Ohio to help Heather out. Her hubby was there for the first couple of weeks, then Heather's sister came for several weeks and now their eldest son is there helping out. Hana is in much better spirits now that she isn't being plagued by those aweful spasms. Because of the Allen's, my next Organization of the week will be Ronald McDonald House (after I do some research!) even though we didn't use them it is apparent that they are a blessing to families who are dealing with very ill children and bring relief to their families in the form of a safe and often less expensive place to stay with a much nicer atmosphere than a hospital.

More Breeding News.

Dreams coming true! I had Tirzah in with Storm for 5 weeks in April/May and then again for a week recently and miss Tirzah wasn't cooperating AT ALL.

Finally, after a friend brought her doe over to breed to Storm, Tirzah decided he might be a stud muffin after all let him breed her. WE have had a sonogram confirming she is pregnant (about 40 days) now. This has to be one of my most waited for freshenings. We owned Tirzah's mom for about a year and she did not like us. We traded her (MCH Esperanza SJ Patience - she should be in the archives from 2 years ago) for 2 doelings and Tirzah was one of them. I had to wait a while for her but she was worth the wait!!!! I love this little doe. Her due date is Feb 27 (DH's birthday!)2010 and we are keeping a doe kid form this pair if we get one. Storm usually throws triplets and Tirzah was one of triplets so I'm hoping.....


Joie is also pregnant and looking so already - she usually throws me triplets. She is also bred to Storm so I have hopes there as well! Joie is due Feb 5th. I am looking forward to a bunch O little chocolates this year! We now have everyone we are breeding for spring kids. WE are now taking reservations on Joie's kids (we aren't planning on keeping any this year as we have several already and I want to keep some from other does this year) and I will take 1 verbal doe reservation on Tirzah in hopes that she'll throw me 2 does this year.

Joie may also be for sale when the babies are weaned. This will be a VERY hard decision for me as Joie is a foundation doe and one of my favorites but we seem to be at a crossroads in our herd. Needing to keep the herd small and wanting to keep several babies this year with our herd name on them.



Other breeding News: After a lot of thought and consideration we have decided we will no longer breed for Oberhaslis or mini Obs. We are keeping Miss Priss until she should leave us (probably not soon - she's only 5 this coming year) and breed her to a Kinder buck for meat for our family. Because Miss Priss has a few glaring conformation flaws (underbite, horribly attached udder and funky back hooves that require a lot of care) we decided it really isn't worth trying to breed her to sell quality Oberhaslis or Minis. We decided this was the best compromise for our family and for our customers. I do know where to get some decent Oberhaslis and Mini Oberhaslis so if you are interested email me - NMgoatgal (AT) gmail.com and I will gladly help you find one if that is what you want.



Last bit of News: We are buying a new buck. I had my heart set on a buck kid out of Agape Oaks Nigerians. Pam is awesome and has put together a wonderful herd of milky and show quality does and bucks. She has done an excellent job of proving her herd through 305 day testing (milk), Linear Appraisal and showing. I am super duper impressed with Pam's herd and when she bought a new buck this spring I knew I had to have one of his kids. After a lot of thought and conversations with Pam I settled on a few excellent choices but then tragedy happened. Ghiradelli died and several of the does I wanted the buck kid out of weren't settled by him. When I found out he was sick I began looking for a back up plan and found a few herds that met my requirements but still held onto hope that Mica or Catie were bred to Ghiradelli before he passed. Pam was super kind in letting me have a buck if the girls were bred despite so few being bred to him before he passed. When Pam let me know Mica and Catie were not among those bred to Ghiradelli I began talking with the other herds. I have settled on Ironwood Ranch.

I think that they have worked incredibly hard on their little herd and I'm am just as excited about working with them as I was with Pam at Agape Oaks. They have done Linear Appraisals, 305 day milk tests and do show their goats and have some nice genetics going on in their herd.

After talking at length with the Carpenters, I have settled on a buck kid out of Ironwood SJ Pecan2 *D/2*M and Ironwood SJ Snickerdoodle *S or Ironwood Ranch SJ Minnie and Jedidiah. The buck will inherit his star if he's out of Pecan and Snickerdoodle. Probably will get one eventually if he's out of Minnie and Jed. These pairs have already proven themselves and their genetics are wonderful. Like with Pam I know I am probably getting a buck with lovely conformation who is carrying some very milky genes! You can see them at http://ironwoodranch.weebly.com

Thank you Ironwood Ranch and Agape Oaks for working with me. CBF Nigerians is excited about bringing in this new boy when the time comes. Part of me wishes I could have had them both but that was not to be.

Day 4 - Six Flags! and Day 5 - back home.

seeing the Joyce's was the point of our trip but of all the activities, I think Six Flags was the highlight. I hadn't been to Six Flags since I was about 11 years old - BOY has it changed. There were a few rides there from when I went as a child: Parachutes, Crazy Legs (seen here) Shock Wave and Judge Roy Scream. We did go on a few of these for Nostalgia's sake.

But really, nothing beat most of the new rides and of course, I was so busy riding rides - I didn't take pictures. Silly ME! this is the Superman (one I did not ride)
so I took pics of those riding it - Nik, Alyssa, Marissa, and Aaron. Yeah, I know you can't actually see them - but they are there in that little car!!!!


Oh, here are the parachutes. But the best ride of all (which I did NOT get a picture of - was the Batman. the Titan was pretty awesome too. I would ride them all again and then the ones I didn't get to - Tony Hawk's Big Spin, Texas Giant, Boomerang, Log ride and a few others. Darn those one hour waits - Plus, some of us wanted to ride Batman again. YEP - we closed down the park and next time (if we ever go again) we are going when it opens instead of piddling around in the morning and not making it there until almost noon!
We could have ridden at least two more rides for crying out loud!!!!!

Day 5 - this was our last day in Texas - I really wanted to go out and meet Pam Ebert of Agape Oaks where I was hoping to buy a buck from this year but alas it was not to be. The Joyce's Son, Conner, had a playoff game and we wanted to go watch. I guess ya just can't get everything in on one little trip! It was, all in all, a wonderful trip. Thank you a TRILLION to Make A Wish
for making this wish of Alyssa's come true - We were all blessed beyond measure to go spend 5 days with our dear friends and get to do some "playing" while we were there. Something we could not have done on our own. Thank you, Thank you, Thank YOU!!!!

Day 3 - Medieval Times and time with friends.

Well, on day 3 we went to our friend's the Joyces' again - here is their house. They are renting and it's is a nice home in Grand Prairie. We spent most of the day hanging with the Joyce's (OH how I miss our regular days hanging with them!!!!) Then in the evening we went to the Medieval Times. NOW - silly me - I forgot my camara when we went to the Medieval times show. So of course - No pictures. But wow, the horses were so beautiful and well trained. I wanted to take the Friesian home in my suitcase but Alas, they wouldn't give him to me and really, I couldn't fit him in (over the weight limit for Southwest - SIGH!) It made me miss my horses a little bit. Well, a lot. Especially Ransom the dressage horse. Maybe someday.

Last of Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm babies for 2009

Well, they are finally here - Apparently we got the due dates wrong on Greys N Goats Zelda because she kidded the same time and within the same hour as CBF Serendipidy's Laikla who both belong to Camino Allegre. I got a call today say they had 5 babies - 3 girls and 2 boys born between 11pm and 12 am. WOW!!!! Here is one of Zelda's twins (2 does and one is for sure blue eyed!!!)

Here are Laikla's triplets - 2 boys and 1 girl. The girl has blue eyes and they are all very close in Color to Grandma Willow! (Willow was our first Nigerian doe) All of them look like they are nicely built and both momma's are sharing duties - they are both feeding all 5 babies and apparently Laikla did most of the cleaning!!!! (LAZY Zelda!)

Here is the blue eyed doe kid out of Zelda. Both of Zelda's does look like spittin Images and I think they are the only ones named - Marilyn Monroe and Audry Hepburn. CUTE - Congratulations Camino Allegre on your awesome kid crop for the year!!!! And way to go Storm, Zelda and Laikla!

Las

Dallas TX Day 2 - Make A Wish

Day 2 we spent the day with the Joyce family - partly at their house and partly driving around parts of Dallas unknown - we did not get lost - just missed the exit we were supposed to take. That evening the Make A Wish folks scheduled us to be at Dave and Busters which is sort of like a cross between the best Hamburger Joint you've ever been to and a Pool Hall AND an arcade (guess what the kids liked best?)

I could be wrong but the Dance Dance Revolution was a hit despite no one was very good at it. We had no idea how bad at it we were until we saw a couple do it who were incredible. Yeah- Not this girl - I dance like I sing - VERY BADLY!!

BUT - the highlight of the evening I think was the ride in the Limo to and from Dave and Busters. OH YEAH!!!! The kids loved the ride in the Limo and some of us loved it because we did not have to drive in Dallas !

See the stretch Limo? We were going in style!!!!!! Thanks Make A Wish and to the Limo company that provided the ride! It was AWESOME! I also need to thank the manager at Dave and Busters who covered ALL the meals so all we paid for was the tip and a few of the fun cards (like credit cards so you can play the games) YOU all ROCK!!!!

Day 1 Dallas Texas - Make A Wish

On Wednesday Oct 14th we got up VERY early, got breakfast and ran off to the airport to catch our 8:10 flight to Dallas TX on Southwest Airlines. We made it more than on time and had to wait at the airport for 2 hours. We arrived in Dallas Love Field around 10:30am. Picked up our rental Van and then headed for the hotel. We stayed at the Westin Galleria - here is a view from the outside - it is attached to a very large mall - the Galleria which has a skating rink on the bottom floor (big hit with the kids and YES - I forgot to get pics)

Here is a view from our hotel window - we stayed on the 15th floor and had quite the view of the city. Couldn't see much the day we got there as it was foggy and rainy. But it cleared up on Thursday!

Another view of the freeway and city as far as the eye could see - I guess I had no idea how HUGE Dallas was. It makes ABQ look TINY!

This is a picture of Downtown Dallas from the van - sorry it's a little blurry but it was the only time I could get a picture of Downtown. We didn't get near Downtown except the night we went to Medieval Times and I forgot my camara!

After we got to the hotel and got settled in (we had two attached rooms with 1 King bed and 2 Queens) It was very nice and the kids all took turns spending the night at the hotel and the Joyces' house. The Joyce's came to join us and we spent the afternoon/evening at the mall walking, talking and mostly window shopping as this mall is a bit on the swanky side for us Country folks (Stores like Saks Fifth Avenue/Norstrom's and Louis Vuitton were in this mall) We did go out to dinner at a BBQ place nearby which was nice.

For those who were wondering...

For those who were wondering about Hana Allen - she's doing well. She is through surgery and is now nearly at 1 week post - op. She is managing things pretty well but there are some prayer requests from the family - 1. Hana is having bladder spasms from the surgery which are extremely painful! please pray they subside soon. 2. Please pray her recovery continues smoothly and uneventfully - they are beginning to remove her from tubes/pain meds etc and she was actually up and walking for the first time today. 3. Pray that Heather is able to manage her duties solo until her sister gets to Cincinnati on Wednesday as Heather's hubby had to return home. 4. Pray that no one else at home experiences any more issues! Two of Hana's siblings experience broken bones recently and their chores have been done by others' They are deamed healed and back to normal chores and school but really, they don't need any more issues!!!!! Yep, she's still my HERO!!!!

Organization of the Week

Our organization of the week here I have been saving for some time.
It is Make A Wish. Most everyone has heard of Make A Wish. They are an organization
dedicated to granting wishes to children who have Life Threatening Diseases.
Because Cancer is life threatening, Alyssa qualified. She floated around several ideas but finally settled on going to Dallas TX to visit our best friend's the Joyce's. We are all glad that was her wish. We just spend 5 days/4 Nights in Dallas TX visiting the Joyces' and having tons of fun in and around Dallas.....For the rest of the week I will try to highlight the Dallas trip on the blog so those of you who follow Alyssa here can see how her wish went. I Thank Make A Wish for their awesome work in putting together a wonderful wish for Alyssa that blessed our whole family.
I think the Joyces' enjoyed it too! It was pretty awesome seeing a nearly nonstop smile on Alyssa's face for 5 days. I think everyone enjoyed themselves right to the last day!!!!!

Breeding Season is Here!!!! Want some Chocolate?

Breeding Season has gotten off to a start here at CBFNigerians.
Storm has been ready to go since August. Seen here after getting shaved for Nationals. He's not so clean shaven and nice looking now. Storm AKA Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm (Piddlin Acres BZ Hansel X Piddlin Acres PV Tansy) is our current herdsire who gave us several beautiful does this year (see CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars on our website http://www.cbfnigeriangoats.com/)

First doe in the breeding pen was Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre *D/*M(Nizhoni's PV Desert Wind X MCH TX Twin Creeks KM Fairytale Princess). Joie will be due February 5th. she typically has triplets. Storm threw a lot of triplets. I am hoping for some blue eyed chocolate triplets PREFERABLY DOES!!!!

After a rough start we were able to breed Nizhoni's DW Tirzah (Nizhoni's PV Desert Wind X MCH Esperanza SJ Patience) to Storm as well. Tirzah did not like Storm at first and would lay down if he tried anything with her but when another doe came for breeding she decided that she liked him afterall coming into a strong heat. Her due date is Feb 27 or 28th (we will be watching her for going back into heat just in case) Again, we are hoping for some Blue eyed Chocolate Colored Doe kids from this pair as well. IF you are looking for some Chocolate to add to your herd, that milks well please let us know and we will put you on our list in case we have some does to sell. I will be keeping a doe kid out of Tirzah this year if I get one but the rest may be for sale. I am not taking reservations at this time but will put names on a list for doe kids out of Tirzah or Joie and buck kids out of Joie ONLY - no other buck kids will be available this year since the rest of my does are first fresheners.

Hana, My Hero!

I decided I need to honor people in my life who show me how to live with HIS strength and grace.
My Hero today is Hana. Hana is 6 and is adopted from China like my own precious daughter.
Hana came here with some very serious health issues and has undergone several surgeries for her medical condition...Hana leaves to Cincinnati on Wed for another surgery. If you met Hana, you'd never know what she has been through, what she has to endure daily to keep her from getting sick. Hana does not let her medical condition stop her from being sunshine to those around her. Her smile warms the room and she is a delight to be around (acually, her whole family : Mom, Dad and 4 brothers and sisters are a delight to be around!!!!) She doesn't complain but makes the best of it and really, so does her wonderful family. Hana doesn't let her medical condition limit or define her - she makes me realize that limitations are not obstacles!!!!Hana - WE are praying for you and for your upcoming surgery little girl - know that we look forward to when you get back from Ohio and we can see you again!!!! May God rain down His peace and grace on you and your family during this difficult time.

Light the Night Walk - BEAUTIFUL!

After about 2 months of fundraising for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society we finally went on the "Light the Night" walk. Team Blue Skies met at the Gardeschwartz Jewish Community Center along with probably several hundred other participants. Donned our Tshirts, received lit balloons, listened to music, herd several speakers talk about their battles with a blood cancer, watched the students of Baila, Baila dance studio
dance and chatted!!!!

Then we walked.

This is our HONORED team member wearing her survivor shirt and trying to light her survivor balloon. I can say - I walked for her - because I'm so grateful that she is fighting and surviving this battle. She is my little hero. It brings tears to my eyes because I am a selfish person. I don't want to loose my little girl (or any of my kids for that matter) but I know that this battle is a hard one and I wanted to do a little something to make the battle a little light for other families who are facing this diagnosis with one of their loved ones.

And despite all the fun, this seemed to be the highlight of the evening - The BATMOBILE!!!! I heard a rumor that this is the REAL Batmobile. And my kids were so excited!!!!!!!

If you want to donate to the walk - there is still time. LLS is still accepting donations for Light the Night until January 31, 2010. You may visit out team website or contact me for donation information - and to all of you who donated - THANK YOU!!!! Team Blue Skies raised nearly $1500.00....YOU all are awesome and I know many families will be blessed by your generosity!

3 More of Storm's Daughters

This week I was able to get pictures of 3 more of Storm's daughters as they were going to State Fair and were all clipped and show ready. These are his 3 daughters owned by Camino Allegre (two more does there are due this week!) This one is Camino Allegre Rogue - a Chocolate colored doe with white and some tan on her legs and belly. She is out of Camino Allegre Wendy

This lovely little girl is Camino Allegre Star who is one of twin does out of Camino Allegre Tinker Belle.

This isn't the best picture but this doe is by far the best out of the triplets (she looks like she could be a twin to our doe CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars. They are both blue eyed black and white does. Her name is Camino Allegre Storm. Storm is a gorgeous doe with lots of capacity, dairy character and length of body. Nice strait topline and legs. Storm did a good job on his does and we are thrilled to hear that Storm took 2nd behind Hippity Hooves NK Wendy at the State Fair Youth show! All these does go back to our Willow's first daughter CBF Serendipidy's Laikla. Laikla has definitely laid the ground work for a nice herd for Camino Allegre and we are proud of her and the Sedillo family for ALL of their hard work over the past few years showing and breeding.

They are selling Tinker Belle, Wendy and one of the triplets (not sure if it is Rogue or Star) but if you are interested in a nice show doe out of good milk lines one of these does might work for you. Please contact me to put you in touch with Camino Allegre if you are interested in one of these lovely does.

Rain, Rain.....

Living in NM we don't usually get a huge amount of rain every year. Going into Sept. we were still below normal for the year. So, I usually don't get real excited if the weather forcast says it's going to rain - here, that usually means we get enough to make dust stick to cars. My goats have been chanting "rain, rain go away come again - NEVER" this week as we have gotten a lot - really, we might have hit normal. Here are the babies peeking out of the hut to see if the rain has stopped.

And the adults, standing under the lean-to checking out the puddles.....which there are a lot!!!!! They do not like getting their princess hooves wet you know!

Some of the rest of us LOVE it when it rains here. If we don't get any more rain tonight or tomorrow (it is in the forcast) this will all be dry by tomorrow probably.

I see that starting Sat we should get sunshine again. I, for one, will be sad to see the rain go but I know my goaties will be so happy when it dries up.

Medical Update

Today was a whirlwind trip to the hospital for a whole slew of tests. WE made it!!!!
Our first appt was in Peds Onc. for labs and port access - we were 5 min late due to weather beyond our control and that made us almost late for appt 2 - EchoCardiogram in the Children's Hospital, thankfully that test went on time and was fairly quick which made us on time for Appt 3 - Pulmonary Function Test - that was interesting and at one point the machine wouldn't work for the test, so we moved to another machine and it wouldn't work either, then they had to call someone else in to troubleshoot the machines. After about a 40 minute wait they got both machines working and were able to complete the 4th breathing test. Just in time to run downstairs for her CT scan. WE were done by 1pm. I think that was the fastest we've ever been through the hospital for all her tests. We weren't sure we'd make it home before 5 but we did! We were on the way to my Aunt's to pick up the other 2 kids and were just behind a big accident (Dodge Stratus' don't win in fights with Hummers) and got delayed. Thank you a ton Auntie J for taking care of the kiddos today!!!! Sure made it a much easier day.
We will have results of all of Alyssa's medical stuff on Sept 28th. when we meet with her Peds Onc. Dr.

Thank you!

I was just left a comment by Naimhe at AllThingsGoat.com so I visited their site - TOO COOL girls!!!! I love your site and am excited that CBF Nigerians has a new friend on the internet.
Thanks!
Also wanted to do a few more Thank yous for those who donated to our LLS Fundraiser walk - WE MADE IT!!!!! Thanks to donations from G & G, Jaramillo's, Stricklands, Schwirtz', Thomsen's, and K. Partington we hit the $1000 goal we had set when we started this adventure. We are not going to turn down other donations of course so if anyone else wants to donate - LLS would love to have the donations! For those of you who hadn't followed the story, LLS was an organization that really helped us out as we worked through Alyssa's battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This Thursday she has follow up tests and then we will get results on Sept 28th.
All I can say is Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who were so generous and supportive of us as we went through Chemo and Radiation treatments, for all the prayers, donations, meals etc. I felt almost guilty asking for support on this LLS walk but reminded myself - we aren't raising funds for ourselves, we are raising funds to help the hundreds of thousands of families who will face this rather nasty diagnosis of cancer, who will weep tears of fear because a loved one is facing the fight, I don't know where we will be in this battle two weeks from now - I feel as though we are balancing on the razor's edge. Not a day goes by that I ask if we will be back in the battle or if we are one step closer to being considered survivors. No matter what - this battle would be harder to fight if it weren't for great organizations such as LLS, Children's Cancer Fund of NM, and many others who we've featured on this blog. AND all the individual friends and family members who have rallied around us to walk us through this, pray us through this and love us through this. We thank you and LLS Thanks you for all of your generous donations to this walk!!!!

Road Trip!

So, when Alyssa was done with Chemo and Radiation we told he we'd go somewhere and do something so this Labor Day we decided to go to Madrid, NM. I hadn't been there in about 11 years and Alyssa likes places like that! On the way, we decided to stop at Tinker Town Museum in Cedar Crest, NM on the way. Tinker Town was definitely a hit.

This Museum is chock full of wonderful collectibles, miniatures - animated and non- animated, memoriabilia and other goodies! I don't think we saw everything there is to see but we sure had a good time. This is a tiny wishing well - the wheel does turn.

Tinker Town is owned by Carla Ward who I used to ride with at North Valley Farm back in my hunter-jumper days - seeing Carla was GREAT! Brought back a lot of memories. This Museum has also expanded a ton since I visited here last (I think Alyssa was like 2 or 3) and it was neat to see old favorites as well as a lot of new fun stuff. My favorite was the room with all the circus stuff in it!

We were all serenaded by the automated Jug Band and by Otto the one man automated band.

and you can't forget about all the walls that were created using bottles - this could seriously be designated a "green" museum!!!!!

Next time I'll put the pictures up from Madrid but not tonight! too much work to do to get ready for the Fiber show (see http://FiberPhanatic.blogspot.com for lots of Fiber goodness)

2009 CAE test results - All Negative!

For the 5th year running CBFNigerians is posting that all our adult breeding stock is CAE Negative. I called WADDL today to pay for my tests and they said my results were in - we are
all negative. So Storm, Joie, Tirzah, and Miss Priss were the only goats currently over 6 months of age that got tested. I still need to test Kokoro, Stars, and Coral to make sure they are - since they are all out of CAE neg. mom's I have no doubts that they are fine. We are really starting to get excited about breeding season now. I also learned that my new digital scale for milk testing is in and calibrated and I can begin Milk Testing other herds. NOW, I need to see if I can afford to 305 day test my herd next year - I sure hope I can! It would be so exciting to be able to begin to get AR designations on my doe herd. I also am waiting on pins and needles in hopes that our hay comes in before the rain from the Hurrican off of Baja comes in.......I was hoping today but didn't get the call - I hope he calls tomorrow morning so we can get our hay done before it rains. Oh, and tomorrow is our 16th Anniversary - WOW!!!! What an incredible 16 years we've had - I won't even begin but seriously - WOW!!!!
Well, off I go to get dinner fixed.

Alyssa Update.

I know we haven't had one of these in a while (and probably won't until after Sept 28th) but here is an Alyssa Medical Update: We have follow up tests which include a CT Scan, An Echo CardioGram, Labs and a Pulmonary Function test as well as a Port Flush scheduled for Sept 17th. We have the Follow up appt with Dr. Winter, her Ped. Oncologist on Sept 28th. I am asking for everyone to pray for Alyssa's tests to all come out clean. That is the only thing I REALLY want/need for my birthday so please pray the L*RD will provide! Thanks to everyone who continues to keep Miss Alyssa on their prayer list. WE still feel that our L*Rd is holding us up through all of this.
Thank you to all of the folks who have donated to the LLS Light the Night walk including S. Traeger, S & N. Hopfauf, the D. Family and more! All of you are awesome and I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your support on Alyssa's behalf.

Valencia county Community Expo.

This last week was spent down at the Valencia County Community Expo for 4H and FFA.

It was a great week for us and for many of our friends. I hope I can remember to congratulate

everyone!!!! Nik took first place in his woodworking project (the birdhouse), Alyssa took first in her Vet 1 project (a poster on Parasites), and her photography project (2 portraits of Matthias)

She took 4th in the 4H Agility show with Taylor and Nik did well with his goat project.

We want to congratulate all the kids who worked hard and their animals made auction but especially the Sedillo kids: 2 of their 3 Boer goats made auction, one of the girl's cake made it to auction and both girls won belt buckles in the Dairy goat division. Also way to go Reatta T. for doing so well with her pig. I know more kids did really well in a lot of different areas so I just wanted to sent out Kudos to them all for their hard work and perseverence to finish their projects.

More Thank You's

I just wanted to Thank a few more folks for their donations to our Lymphoma & Leukemia walk.
Thank you G & T Greenlee, and S. Traeger for your donations - we are now over 50% of our goal for the walk as a team!!!! All of your support is greatly appreciated. We are doing this for all of the kids and adults who are in the midst of this battle. We sure appreciate the support that LLS gave to us during this ordeal with Cancer - we want them to be able to support other families!!!!

Lymphoma & Leukemia Society - Light the Night Walk

AS team captain for TeamBlueSkies, I thought I'd update everyone on how our efforts are coming. WE have one new fundraiser/walker join the team - Thank you Erin Marshall!!! IF you'd like to join our team as a fundraiser/walker please sign up on our team page where it says JOIN at the bottom. http://pages.lightthenight.org/nm/Albuquer09/TeamBlueSkies.
We have also recieved a several very generous donations from several individuals - Thank you to Hector and Michelle, Erin Marshall, Jennifer Herring, Dr. Byron Wall, Emma Salazar and Marvin & Margaret Marez. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your support of this walk we are doing to raise funds to find a cure and new medical treatments for Lymphoma and Leukemia. This organization has been a valuable resource for our family during Alyssa's diagnosis and treatment of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Please, no matter the amount you can donate to help find a cure for these cancers - we'd appreciate it. You can again click on the link above and donate online at our team's homepage or you can send a check directly to me made out to LLS please email me at NMgoatgal@gmail.com to send a donation to me and I'll get it to the LLS office.
Thank you!

New Medical Updates for Alyssa

Well, after a month of rest (bliss, wonderful hospital-less bliss) we are back in for follow ups and
port flush tomorrow. SIGH! It will be fine I am sure but again, it means a whole day lost at the hospital in Albuquerque. I hate wasting my whole day in Albuquerque (gee Dee tell me how you really feel!) but we know these things are necessary. For those folks who asked if Alyssa needed more scans etc. the answer is YES. She will. The Radiation specialist thought that we wouldn't for "6 months or so" which I thought was ODD but when I called Pediatric Oncology about getting Alyssa's port flushed they didn't even know that she had finished Radiation and they said
that indeed Dr. Winter would still want her to do more scans soon. I figured as much!
but for tomorrow it's just Radiation follow up and of course a port flush.
So much fun. On a few other notes: We are about caught up with Nik for school, Alyssa is plugging away, and Suzy is ahead. The house and goat pens still need work but I'm pluggin away at that and of course all the yarn/fiber/gourd projects for upcoming shows etc. If you want to see what is up there go to http://FiberPhanatic.blogspot.com or click on the link to the right.

Organization of the Week - Baskets of Hope.

Another wonderful organization that blesses children with Cancer. The third time we were in the hospital, while Alyssa was sleeping of her 2nd round of Chemo, I stepped out for a bite to eat and came back to an ENORMOUS basket of goodies: books, music, CD player, toys, candy, a teddy bear, hats, and more. Alyssa was asleep otherwise Astro the Isotopes mascot would have come and visited as well. Anyway, I think that this organization is great. They want to bless the children and their families, to "nourish them mentally, emotionally, and spiritually". They pray for these children as well. This organization is my pick for this week's Organization of the week
Thank you guys for blessing Alyssa with one of your great baskets of Hope during a really hard time for us.
If you desire to be a part of this ministry in any way you may visit their website at www.basketofhope.org or call their office in Albuquerque Marge Davis at 828-0172o or email her at mdavis@basketofhope.org.

Bummer! Or Not....?

Well, last night I took Nizhoni's Joie De Vivre *D/1*M and her 1/2 sister Nizhoni's DW Tirzah to the vet to get sonogrammed. NOT pregnant - neither one!!!! Personally I'm not sure whether I'm really dissappointed - I was really looking forward to fall babies running around and entertaining us - or not - Less work, no need to disbud, tattoo, give shots and try to sell those that we aren't going to keep(Worse yet, what if we got all bucklings!!!) I was wanting to milk the girls thru the winter and be able to breed Miss Priss early this year as we are breeding her to the Kinder buck this year for meat - gotta give those boys a lot of growing time!!!! Assuming of course that we will get boys. Anyway, that is the news. OR lack thereof.
I am still trying to firm up some breeding plans but tentatively this is our schedule and the intented beau for the girls:
Nizhoni's Joie de Vivre - October - Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm - Blue eyes possible
Nizhoni's DW Tirzah - October - Nizhoni's Orion
CBF TD Kokoro Kiseki - Nov/Dec - Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm OR MCH Lost Valley ML Nekoda *S
CBF CS Paint Th'Sky with Stars - Nov/Dec - MCH Flying Goat Jazzy Blues *S Blue eyes Probable
Darkwind Goats Blue Denim Coral - ???? - Piddlin Acres H Calm the Storm. Blue Eyes Probable
WE will be taking reservations on Joie's babies as we aren't planning on keeping any of hers this year - we have so many of her's in the herd already. The rest we will be evaluating as they come. There will be NO bucks available out of any of the does except Joie. I have a doe back deal on Stars sister who will also be bred to Jazzy therefor I might have babies available out of Stars as well but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.
If any of these interest you - please let us know as early as possible. Normally we require a $50 deposit to hold a kid but we will take names and then when they are born we will contact those on the list. IF you need to see current pics of the girls you can check our website www.cbfnigeriangoats.com .. Also, we will post the bucks pics as soon as the breeding takes place. Thank you for placing your trust in us to provide your next Nigerian Goat!

Agility Goat!

My daughter wanted to set up some loaner agility equipment so she can work with her dog before County Expo and the biggest place we have to set it up is in the goat pen so we did.

Well, I went out to feed and low and behold Tirzah was doing the dog walk. I think if I tried hard enough I could probably make an agility goat out of her....LOL!!!! Sorry about the poor quality of the photo but if i got any closer she'd think I came out to feed and would jump off. click on the photo to see it blown up.

Bosque Farms Fair/Medical Updates

As most of you know we've had a rough year here at CBF Nigerians. I am TIRED.
We were planning on showing at the Aug. 1, 2009 ADGA Youth and Open show in Estancia but because we decided that our tight budget was better spent on hay, CAE testing the whole herd and a new buck who should improve our herd in both the milk pail and the showring we decided we were calling in quits for the year after the Bosque Farms Fair show. This is a 2 hour in the evening on Friday at the local fair. It's really just for fun!!!! I hope more folks come show this year than did last year (we swept EVERY class last year but every goat there had our name on it even if we didn't own it!!!! BUMMER!!!) I would so like to see an even better turnout this year - just for fun though many folks are probably planning on using that time to get ready for the Saturday show. Aside from the news that we will (GOD willing) be adding a new buck to our herd next year we are also going to take two does to get sonogrammed on Friday and since a lease buck we were going to get didn't work out I'm hoping these two are pregnant. I had a back up plan and I will use it now. I will be accepting a reservation (no money until birth) on the two does that are due (mid to late Sept and Oct 2) Everything but a doe kid out of Tirzah will be for sale. Bucks will be wethered and sold as pets unless we get a blue eyed buck kid out of Joie - that is reserved. Then we will begin our breeding plans in as early as October. For those of you interested in doe kids out of our herd this spring here are the tentative plans. If Tirzah isn't pregnant - she will go visit Joie's beau from last year in October, Piddlin Acres KR Tapdance, First doe is owner reserved. Next is CBF TD Kokoro Kiseki - she will be going to visit MCH Lost Valley ML Nekoda *S in Nov/Dec along with CBF CS Paint Th'Sky With Stars who will go visit MCH Flying Goat Jazzy Blues *S for a linebreeding on MCH Lost Valley KW Orion *S. This breeding also will bring in PrairieWood Player *D who was breed leader last year for one day milk test production!. Jazzy's dam earned her star this year as well at our club's one day test. Owner reserves a doe kid from Nekoda and Koko. Little Darkwind Blue Denim Coral is so small right now that I have NO current plans to breed her unless she hits a major growth spurt between now and December. IF she gets big enough to breed over the winter she will go visit our own CBF TD Daredevil who is owned by Camino Allegre in Belen, He is out of Joie and Tapdance. That's the plans for now. IF any of the above mentioned breedings interest you please let us know. Hope you all have a fun rest of your show year and Good luck to all our readers who are heading into State and County Fairs - we wish you all the best for big wins!!!!

That is all for the goat news. Now for the medical news - ha - there isn't any BUT We signed up to be team leaders for the 2009 NM Lymphoma/Leukemia Society 'LIGHT THE NIGHT' walk.
We are looking for sponsors for our team. If you are at all interested, please feel free to go to our team websitehttp://pages.lightthenight.org/nm/Albuquer09/TeamBlueSkies to donate on line or email me and you can donate to us through snail mail. The walk takes place on Sept 26, 2009 and we welcome any and all donators and walkers to come and join us!!!!!

Update on a past Organization of the Week.

Not too long ago I featured Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as our Organization of the week.
The folks from this Organization are awesome and we are getting a chance to help them out.
I was asked to be a team captain for their Light the Night walk/Fundraiser. I agreed.
IF anyone is interested in walking with us - The MORE THE MERRIER!!! IF anyone is interested in donating to them please visit our team website. WE are walking to honor Alyssa and she is going with us as our honored member. Alyssa has named our team Team Blue Skies.
our website is http://pages.lightthenight.org/nm/Albuquer09/TeamBlueSkies .
I'd like to share a little statistic with you all . In 1960 the cure rate for children diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma like Alyssa was only 5%. In 2000 the cure rate for children diagnosed with Hodgkin's was 96%. WE personally would love to see the cure rate be 100%. We would rather not see one single child die from Lymphoma. The cure rate change is very good for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Leukemia as well but we'd also like to see these be 100% as well.
NO parent should have to loose a child to these diseases!!!! We are so blessed to still have Alyssa!!! Please, if your heart is in it donate to this organization so they can find a cure for Hodgkin's and all of the Blood Cancers. WE would appreciate your sponsorship for this walk.

Organization of the Week - Cancer Services of NM

The Cancer Services of NM recently put on a zoo night for kids with Cancer. This was our first introduction to this group and we had a roarin' good time at Zoo Night. It was in the Evening and the only folks there were the cancer patients and their families. They fed us dinner, allowed us time to walk around the zoo, had a drawing for some GREAT prizes

Mr. Polar Bear is sulking because NO one wanted to paint his face!!!
And he's not invited to the next event put on by this wonderful Organization: The Family Cancer Retreat in Glorietta , NM. OH, and he didn't get a goodie bag or free pizza from Papa John's, one of the Corporate Sponsors: BTW - this is a great place to thank all the Corporate Sponsors for caring about kids with cancer to sponsor events such as this one which blesses NM families dealing with the trials of having a child with cancer - Thank you Gap Inc, Papa John's, NW Optimists, Isotopes, Graphic Connection, Creamland, Advanced Communication & Electronics, Everest Digital Scanning, KRST 92.3, CheatCodes.com, and the Printer's press. You all are AWESOME!!!!


Beautiful Peacock was strutting his stuff at zoo night as well.
Alyssa strutted like a pea cock after winning a brand new Nintendo DS in the door prize drawing. Despite the humidity it was a lovely relaxing evening at the zoo. I hadn't been in a long time so I was kind of bummed that I didn't have time to walk around to all the exhibits. I guess that means that we will have to put that AWESOME family membership to use more often from my mom's boss - Thank you Again Maggie for that AWESOME gift!!!! And Thank you Cancer Services of NM for all you do!!!! If anyone wants to Donate to this worthy organization - you can go to their website at www.cancerservicesnm.org

My How They Grow.

At Quad show this doe seemed so small I was beginning to think maybe she was going to be a tiny little think. Well, Today I shaved her for the Bosque Farms Fair next week and look at the lovely girl I found under the hair. she has the nicest body capacity of any of my youngsters, a nice wide chest floor, good ribbing, long lovely neck

Good width from thurl to thurl and between the hocks. I can't wait to see how she freshens out this coming spring.

And is probably one of the most well put together does I've bred to date. This is with minimal setting up. I also love the beautiful head on this girl. IF Tirzah is not bred to Storm she will head out to have a date with Koko's sire PiddlinAcres KR Tapdance because Tirzah is Joie's half sister and I like this breeding so much I'd like to get another doe close to Koko if I can. IF she is pregnant she is due in Sept and I'll breed her to Tapdance in the spring.

I am thinking hard about breeding this doe to Lora's buck Nekoda or her new buck Warrick.

Probably will do Nekoda, since I've been wanting to breed a doe to him for a long time now.