April 19:  Sunday was a nice quiet stay at home day.  Just the necessary chores and meal preparations.

Daughter and her husband dropped by for a short time.  We had a short visit and they left.

Evening was TV time and then to bed.

April 20:   Daughter-in-Law came about 9:00 AM to pick up curling irons.  Dark Haired Beauty is having a dance recital in a couple of weeks and is having pictures taken this coming Saturday.  She wanted her hair curled and Mommy didn't have a curling iron, so they are using mine.

While out in the barn doing my chores our Old Neighbor and his wife showed up.  We had a nice visit out in the barn while I finished, then had to cut it short because I had a Paradontist appointment.

When I got back from my appointment, we had lunch and I set about making bread.  When all done, I had six loaves of regular white bread, two dozen dinner rolls, and three loaves of "artisan" bread, one of which we ate with our supper of Bear round steaks and broccoli.  The Bear was really good.  A friend whose husband hunts traded the Bear for Lamb some time ago.

Then it was chores and TV time again.  Not much on so I read.

April 21:  Things are getting close for kidding.  At about 5:30 AM (slow time), I went out to check on Ida.  She was laying in the straw, quite content with no sign of anything happening.  We are down to four days with her.

Morning chores and breakfast over, I decided it was time to straighten my sewing/craft room.  It was a mess from stamping projects, sewing projects and carding.  It took me until about one to get it in some semblance of order.  Then it was lunch time.

The rest of the day I spent reading, "Haymaking" by Steven R. Hoffbeck.  It is due back to the library soon and I wanted to be sure that I had read it.  I finished it by around 5:30 PM.

Since I had about one half hour until it was time to start dinner, I decided to dust and sweep the livingroom.  What difference that made, didn't realize how dust it was!  Then the flow of dusting and sweeping took me, and Husband, into the parlor and dinningrooms as well.  Much dog hair on floor!  Very productive half hour!

At around 4:00 PM, while reading, Oldest Son called to ask if we could watch Dark Haired Beauty on Wednesday as there was no school.  They some how had missed it on the calendar.  No problem, just a small adjustment in schedual.

Our dinner was leftover bear and broccoli.  Then chores and TV time.  Tonight we had two shows that are worth watching,  "Deadliest Catch" and "The Alaska Experiment".  Then it was bedtime.

April 22:  Three days until the due date and still no sign this morning.  Here's hoping that while granddaughter is here, Ida will decide it is a good day to kid.  That way, granddaughter will get to see a baby goat born.  Her doe isn't due until much later, but we  hope that she can be here for it, if possible.

Best laid plans...no kidding today!  Dark Haired Beauty was here as planned, but no kidding.

We did have a good day though.  We did some baking, two brown sugar tarts, and an Oatmeal pie.  She did her homework.  And we also brushed a horse and did a little work on an embroidery design for a skirt for her.

Husband ran my Meals route and did some errands while out.  I stayed home with granddaughter, skipping Fiber Gals Gathering.

Around 5:00 PM, Mommy came and picked up DHB.  Then it was time to get dinner in the oven and relax a bit.

Evening was quiet, I did some reading with some TV.  All was good.

April 23:  Haven't been out to barn yet...6:00 AM, going out to check now.  Nothing! 

Had the day to myself, Husband went to Daughter's house to help Son-in-Law do some remodeling on their kitchen.  He wasn't home until after three.

I did the chores, watered the critters, pulled the straw off the new strawberry plants(all of them are doing well), scraped the loafing shed, scraped in front of the door to the goat shed, scraped the driveway (to level it a bit), pulled the milking stands out and cleaned them, dusted the cob webs down in the milking parlor and got it cleaned and ready for milking to begin again.  Sure looks nice when you first walk in now.

We had leftover meatloaf and green beans for dinner, then watched some TV.  Husband did all the chores this evening, once milking starts I'll have to do at the very least that part of the chores.  I really do feel like I'm on vacation not doing any thing tonight.

Back was tired and rest of body kind of stiff tonight.  Feels good really, it means I have done alot of constructive work.

April 24:  Out in the barn at 5:30 AM to check on Ida...still just waiting.

Another constructive day, Husband gone to help Son-in-Law.  I did the chores, then planned to put chicken wire around the kid pen.  Have had kids get caught trying to get through the cattle panels, so figured chicken wire would stop that.  I wasn't able to find any of the tools I needed to do the job, so then I decided to mow the lawn.

Started the lawn mower for the first time this year.  No problem, Husband had the battery charged and in place and gas in the tank.  I had just made my first pass around the yard when I saw Husband was back.  They didn't work very long!  Husband had helped as long as he could be of help, they were at a stopping point.  So he came home.

We decided that now was the time to give cleaning the goat shed a shot.  Two years of build up, NOT going to be easy!  All in all we made four loads in the truck, which we spread on the garden area for next year.  Not all done, but we can work on it more tomorrow.  Bones will be sore for the next few days, for sure!

It was still early only about 4:30 PM, so I finished the lawn.  Then cleaned up and made dinner.  We watched the news while we ate and then did evening chores.

After chores, we did our first porch sitting of the year.  It is unseasonably warm...80 degrees plus.  The evening was warm as well.  Bed felt really good!