Well I'm at it again and being destructive...but this time it's my phone!!  There's a reason I had a go phone all through college.  I don't know about you guys but I can't seem to handle nice phones, especially this iphone.  They either magically disappear, break, or I drop them in something.  I will say my iphones been a trooper and has survived A LOT living the farm life.  However it's hit a new low.  A couple weeks ago I've lost all function in the round button on the bottom which if you know about iphones controls pretty much everything allowing you to go in and out of apps and calls and messages.  Yup....this means I have to turn my phone on and off to do anything different.  Thank god I've learned my way around Maui and don't rely on maps like I used to.  How did this button break?  I dropped it in POG!!! You know, the passion fruit, orange, guava drink we interns drink by the gallon.  I was making a big move on words with friends and PLOP!  right in my rum and pog it went.  Ok so I can deal with this.  My phone clearly wasn't too happy about this but that isn't the worst of it.  Yesterday morning I experienced my dream and goal of being an intern at surfing goat dairy.  I helped Scout (remember the beautiful pregnant goat in my last blog?) deliver her first of triplets who was a breech birth.  In case you don't know much about the birthing process or forgot a breech birth is when the baby comes out backwards or butt first instead of the normal position with the two front hooves and head.  I was training Teo in Fed-ex (reason why to follow) and I heard the familiar grunts of a mama pushing and having contractions.  I knew Scout was put in the birthing stall not too long before we started and went to check on her and sure enough she was pushing her first one out.  But when I looked I didn't see hooves...I saw...well....wait...is that a....yup! There's the tail haha that's definitely backwards.  There were no back legs visible so I sort of pushed the baby back in and had Erin get Eva for guidance.  Number one reason why I love Eva besides the fact that she's one of the most bad ass (excuse my language) women I've ever had the pleasure of meeting...she LOVES to teach.  And not only does she love to teach (being a teacher in her past profession) but she's great at it and does it in a way where you will learn by experience and being hands on.  She talked me through it outside the stall and had my reach in and feel for the two legs then one at a time pull each forward so they came out before the butt.  I'm starting to get much better at feeling whats what in there haha the first time can be kind of scary and confusing.  Eva said I was lucky because it's not always so easy to tell its the butt and I was able to see the tail.  So once I got the legs positioned I waited for Scout to give another push and pulled the little guy right out.  After getting the fluid off his nose and out of his mouth and having Scout lick him I rubbed him down with hay.  He was so little and looked like he was having trouble breathing.  I've noticed a lot of times once you get them out and clear off their faces they're pretty alert and let out some sneezes.  It totally reminded me of the t.v. shows where doctors are saying "come on baby, cry" after suctioning.  I was just waiting for the baby's little sneezes.  He had some small ones but he still seemed stuffed up.  So Eva came in and showed me a couple tricks to get them going.  She pat his belly and he sneezed some more and tried to clear his mouth and nose out more then (my favorite part) she picked him up and sort of swung him in his arms back and forth gently but enough to help open up his airway.  And sure enough more goop came out haha.  After that she put him down by mom and said to continue doing just that and rubbing him down.  I was nervous for him but he started perking up and picked his head up to mom.  Later in the day when I came back from deliveries he was out with the other babies and looked so fluffy and great!  It's hard to describe the feeling of seeing something like that through and seeing them transform from coming out of mom's womb to being a more active fluffy healthy looking baby.  I gave him lots of snuggles after work : )  Like I said he was one of triplets so after him came the other two both with one arm stretched out and one back.  In this case you can just grab behind their little head and pull them out that way while mom pushes.  Scout did such a great job!!  And I really don't know how she did it, she's so small!  Back to my cell phone story...what the heck does this have to do with it?  Whelp, after Scout's delivery I had to finish up Fed-ex with Teo and then we had a staff sanitation meeting which I had to leave early from to rush off to do deliveries.  And I just couldn't find my phone ANYWHERE.  The last I remember having it was right before Scout.  I had Alicia call it and was praying it didn't fall out of my pocket in my baby rush and I could've sworn I heard it ring but just couldn't spot it.  I had no choice but to go do my deliveries and hope it pops up while I'm gone.  It popped up alright.  Kelly found it after cleaning the birthing stall.  Not only did she find it after cleaning the stall but she found it as she was dumping the muck bucket.  Yup...after getting a nice POG bath my phone also got a lovely afterbirth bath.  Covered.  The good news is it didn't break anymore than it was already broken but I have to say this was the worst I've ever put a phone through haha.  You know what's amazing about the birthing process besides the new babies?  Birth fluid cleans jewelry better than anything!  Ok..I know that sounds so weird but I kid you not every time I end up covered in the stuff my ring looks spectacular.  Like brand new!  Who knows...maybe I'm on to a new type of jewelry cleaning product.  Only kidding ; ) 

                                                       Mama with baby number three!

                                           The little weak guy!!  Look how good he looks : ) 

So I probably don't need to spell this out but obviously the second round of kidding season has begun!!  The most wonderful time of the year.  I'd give you a count since I've last blogged but I honestly have already lost track.  25-30 maybe??  Oddly enough Teo and I have both agreed it's much easier with 18 or so born in a day.  Easier to keep track of!  At this point I'm not sure who gets fed what and is where.  Then again it's harder for me to keep up when I'm doing side jobs like deliveries and Fed-ex and milking rather than feeding in the morning.  Which I'm definitely not complaining about because I LOVE milking!  I just noticed the other day how much I've gotten to know the does because of milking and clearly remember thinking how the heck am I gonna learn the goats names and such as I watched Dan milk during training. 

    Mama Teo getting mom to the milkstand.  She names the triplets Mac, Nyx, and Nars                             (cosmetic-themed names since she went to school for make up)

                                                                        Little Mac!

                                                                          Pig tail ears

                           We've had lots of triplets this second round.  *Photo taken by Christi

                                        Watch out Oliver!  Erin's found a new favorite ; )

I mentioned earlier I'm training Teo in Fed-ex.  She'll also be taking over deliveries in a couple of weeks when the baby craziness slows down.  I've decided to leave Hawaii earlier than planned to go back to the Alaska Wildlife Center for the summer.  It'll be really hard to say goodbye to everyone here and the goats but as my wise advisor once told me "recognize forks in the road, you can always go back to your original plan".  I love Maui and my adventure here and I know it won't really be a goodbye but a see you later.  That being said I still have two more months here of goatie blogs : )

What's been going on since I've last blogged??  Not a whole lot but kids and more kids.  The good and sometimes feels like bad part about apprenticing here is that I'm always learning.  It only feels bad when I feel like I'm never gonna get it haha.  But hey life would be pretty dang boring if you knew it all in 6 months since you started a job right?  I can say in the last month or so I've noticed a boost in confidence in myself.  Maybe I'm growing up more?  Physically I turned 23 since I last blogged.  Yep...another year further from the age people guess that I am haha.  But it was a different birthday being surrounded by my Maui family instead of my loved ones at home.  Nalani had the great idea of having a pizza party for me which was both delicious and fun.  My coworkers and Thomas and Eva gathered at the pavillion where we enjoyed a pot luck dinner.  High lights of the night were Eva's caesar salad cooking lesson and the song Daniel wrote for the occasion.  My favorite caesar salad EVER is Eva's.  It's so fresh and after I told her I loved it so much she showed me how to make it in cooking show fashion at the party.  It was pretty funny.  And Daniel, who's learned guitar while here, wrote a song which had a verse for each of us and played it after the party for us interns and Cody and Monique.  It was hilarious.  

Hmmm what else have I done in the last couple of weeks??  Kelly, Daniel, and I finally went to the little sugar museum they have here.  It was really interesting!!  I had no idea how the process worked from cane to sugar.  I can't believe the hard work that people did back in the day before we became more developed.  And holy hot, the outfits they wore to avoid GIANT THOUSAND LEGGERS! (like the ones Chels and I got in our basement room of the oakhill mansions....jk...WORSE)  and getting cut up and burned were unreal.  I would sweat my tush off.  

                                           The rainbows here never cease to amaze me

                                                                      Mmmmmm sugar!

I also had another visitor.  Jeremy came to vacation in Maui and I was able to spend some time with him.  We went to Ho'okipa one windy day to avoid getting sand blasted and I took him to my favorite shaved ice place.  Daniel, him, and I also went on a whale watching tour...something I've been dying to do!  It was sooooo windy the day we went so it was harder to see their spouts and such but we saw a lot of flutes and even saw a whale half breach really close to the boat.  It was awesome and I feel like it didn't even happen it was so quick.  I've always wanted to see that!  Now I just need to have a whale get as close to me as the one in Life of Pi and my life will be complete ; ) 

                         Yup....Jer's white Alaskan skin couldn't handle the Maui sun haha

 Teo and I also had to say goodbye to our Little Bit and Piccola.  It was SO hard!! But at least we know they're in good hands in Molokai.  I gave her a nice makeover to get ready for her new owners and proceeded to take way too many pictures.  By the way if your wondering what the dirt smudge is on my forehead it was Ash Wednesday.

                                                She was very curious about the brush

                                                         ....Little Bit was my valentine

                                     *All these pics below were taken by Christi....LOVE

                                                           Trying to catch my baby

                                                                             Got her!

So a lot of times as you guys know I let time get away from me and by time I get to blogging I forget all the day to day stories from working on the farm.  Hence a blog I don't particularly find interesting...or at least doesn't quite reach it's potential I think.  For my readers out there is there anything in particular you want to hear about when it comes to my life on the dairy and Maui?  If so let me know!!  I'd love to fill ya in and any suggestions on blog topics would be great. 

Well it's back to the farm I go.  After putting myself on farm lock down to save money I broke down and went out today on my day off...also Eva may have jokingly threatened to chase me off the farm if I didn't leave.  Probably because I've been hanging around too much and got to the point where she caught me cleaning up placenta from slope on my day off haha...don't ask.  WOW today was much needed.  Beach time and coffee shop = total relaxation.  I just need to get my butt back to yoga and work this achy back out.  Aloha! 

                  This is what happens when your the lone male intern among 5 females

                 Poor Sabrina in the sick stall BUT we give her lots of love and alfalfa                                                                                           *photo courtesy of Kelly

                   Haylee decided to have her twins after dinner time while we were playing                                     pictionary.  So these two little rug rats got to stay in the feed room in a                                                                       bucket.  Fulchur is watching over them 

                                                                       Baby play pen!

                                    Anyone notice something strange about this baby??

                                           Me and Time ("Little Tee")  *taken by Christi

             She's always making this face after eating...MORE MILK PLEASE!  *taken by Christi

There must be something in the water here because I have somehow become the clumsy accident prone one!!  I kid you not.  If we were a warehouse with one of those light up signs that says so and so days since we've had an accident I would've been the one that knocked it down to zero again.  So it was a typical day outside and Daniel and I were getting ready to give the babies in Hansi dewormer.  Now that they've been building up their rumens we let them graze the arena full of hay and such during the day.  So since there are 61 babies total to deworm you can imagine one would want some organization.  So we decided to lure them back to Hansi with alfala hay.  Of course we didn't have any left in the grain bin so I went to load a bale of it onto the golf cart.  Now working on a farm I've come to realize how important it is to be smart and not kill your back.  I'm still pretty bad at it always having an achy back after hoof care but that day I thought I'd use my head and problem solve how to load this heavy bale of hay.  So I rolled it on a green cart which was level to the golf cart and rolled the bale on.  In my head I was doing a little dance and was proud of myself but that idea went POOF!! and disappeared as I also watched the golf cart disappear before my eyes...into the milk stand!  ALWAYS TAKE THE KEY OUT OF THE GOLF CART IGNITION!  Yet another important rule I won't soon forget.  Yup the golf cart went pedal to the medal right into our precious milk stand.  That baby had so much force it went a little underneath and pushed the milk stand into the grain bin on the other side.  Well folks, there is a god and I have good karma (which I've now used all up) because nothing serious was broken and the milking system still works perfectly fine.  I was so terrified I had damaged part of the livelihood of the farm.  You know what the best part of the accident was?  Eva's reaction.  Her and Angela rushed out from the office and checked on me to make sure I was ok and then she started laughing and took a picture!!  So yes, below is a picture of me laughing/crying while Ghira and Angela comfort me haha.  Sometimes we have to learn our lessons the hard way....and you can bet I won't be leaving any keys in anything that moves again.

So that was the excitement recently.  Like Eva's grandson your probably concerned about the golf cart.  It got a little banged up but with Sean's maintenance skills slash skill in cleaning up after the not so bright intern moments it's doing just fine.  In fact, that was another project I had this week.  Eva bought some fabric and had me figure out how to reupholster the golf cart seats.  I have great memories of helping papa reupholster one of the many antique chairs mom and dad bought but it's a lot different when you don't have papa there to help haha.  Not to mention having to deal with warped screws and rusted out washers, etc.  But after a full day of taking the seats apart, fixing them, and putting them back I did it!  It felt good to accomplish a remodeling task like that alone.  There were definitely a lot of choice words involved and sweat but I have to say I think the golf cart is looking pretty sharp. 

So besides running into things work has been the usual.  A few of the mamas that gave birth have been eating less so we've been spoiling them with ficus branches, alfalfa pellets and molasses drinks. All the goats also have access to baking soda on the goat walk now.  It helps with tummy aches...who would've thought! We've been giving the babies rounds of vaccinations and dewormer.  Working with so many babies can be crazy sometimes...as you can see below this is what they do with your hair by time your done.  I left it that way to show my co-worker in the dairy and the tourists were looking at me like I was crazy haha.  I also tackled some hoof care with Daniel.  We did the Pond ladies and Mandolin kept biting me!! I was so mad at her I had to get Daniel to hold her head away from me.  You'd think they'd be happy to get a mani and pedi haha.  Below are before and after pics of Spatz's hooves...they get back quick and shes one of those goats that gets hoof care often.  You can see I didn't do a perfect job BUT theyr'e much better than they were.

Superbowl Sunday I got to actually watch the game and do something fun!  Nalani took me and Daniel home with her to Hana.  I've been wanting to go to Hana since I got here and it exceeded my expectations and hype.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I cant' even imagine growing up in such a beautiful place.  The road to Hana is well known but I didn't think it was as bad (to drive) as everyone says.  It's just really really windey.  I actually felt a little nauseous haha so next time I'm taking a ginger ale.  It took us a while to get there because it was so beautiful we wanted to take a lot of pics and Nalani acted as our tour guide and took us to some good stops along the way, including "halfway to hana" to get the best banana bread I've ever had as well as some coconut candy.  When we got to Hana itself we went to Nalani's sister's for the day.  They have a HUGE living room with picnic tables which is perfect for their family's size.  They are a group of 12 siblings!!  So we met a lot of her family and spent the day watching the game and eating good food.  It's amazing how welcoming and loving people can be here.  I'm very thankful to have Nalani here...she is a piece of home away from home and has taken a sort of motherly role on for us interns.  Daniel and I also snuck away for a little bit to black sand beach which is literally a short ways down the road from Nalani's sister's.  Her family has a lot of land right there in that area.  Can you imagine?!  Right at black sand beach are the Waianapanapa caves...you can read the story of the caves on the sign below.  The water was SO clear.  Daniel jumped in but it was way too chilly for me.  I can't wait to go back to Hana again.

                                                               Do you spot Nalani??

                    Nalani's brother Tony's fruit stand!  He has the BEST avocados I've ever had

This last week another new intern arrived!  Her name is Kelly and she reminds me so much of all my sorority sisters at home.  She's a true country girl with lots of camo and an awesome bubbly personality.  I can tell she's going to be a lot of fun : )  The only problem was we thought she was arriving Feb 14 when she was actually coming the 4th!  So Daniel and I had about 2 hours to completely clean out and organize the intern room for her since Alicia is staying a little longer than planned and there's no shed for her.  And boy there was A LOT of junk in there from past interns.  We threw out a lot of stuff.  But it was ready just in time.

I'm gonna end this post with THE BEST NEWS EVER!!!  My Little Bit and Teo's Piccola have been sold together as pets!!  A women wanted two small goats to live with her in Molokai and Eva chose our babies.  I'm so happy they will live happily together with a new owner.  They also get a private plane ride haha.  They leave Thursday and though I'm sad (and pretty sure I'll shed a tear or two) they'll be leaving I'm so happy we found them a good home. 

                                  Ghira posin for the camera ; ) he reminds me so much of Seamus

                Katelyn and Gertrude snuggled up under the milk stand ramp while it was raining. 

               These two are ALWAYS together!  Two peas in a pod.  Goaties can have besties too

                                      EWWW stick bug Thomas found and put on my arm

                                     handsome Poi got a new collar! yes...we put hearts on it.

                                    but don't worry, it'd take a lot to emasculate this billy

                       Spoiled Piccola jumping in mommy's (Teo's) bucket of hay like a brat haha

                                            Scout!  She's really pregnant and due soon : )

                                             Yup....Angsthase loves to ride the golf cart...