First, you're going to want to check out this, from one of my new favorite sites.

This morning during b'fast we saw an story on the Today show about the wash machines that explode and sometimes injure people. I told her, "There's another problem we don't have to worry about."
I feel bad about what Pam deals with to live in MoHo. She has to go into Eugene to do laundry and the kitchen is not very nice.
One day....

Her birthday is the day before Valentine's Day. We don't usually give each other gifts for days like that but in this case I came up with an idea so perfect, so ideal for both of those days that I'm going to spring for the bucks to make it happen.
I'm going to get a new toilet!

Did you know that besides lower ceilings, smaller doors, and no trim anywhere, the builders of cheap mobile homes put in the cheapest toilets available? I think ours is about 24" tall and 20" around. We both hate it. I would have swapped it out a year ago, having done lots of toilet installs, but that task here is a rule buster.
Rule: any plumbing job requires at least three trips to the hardware store (in our case, 15 miles away).
In this case I think it would be closer to six. The bolts holding the toilet to the "closet flange" (the top of the plumbing under the floor that the toilet attaches to) are gone, having rusted off decades ago. Chances are very good that the closet flange is also rusted, with a good chance it's a design unique to 40-year old mobile homes.
So I'll buy a toilet and pay the plumber to install it. He'll have all the parts that might be needed on his truck and won't stress out over all the things destined to go wrong with this job.
A new toilet! How romantic is that?!

Speaking of romance, meet Chocolate Sundae! She's a two year old Boer doe that Marta is going to GIVE to us! When she was younger Sundae got Listeria, which is almost always fatal for goats, but Marta went to crazy lengths to keep her alive, so just her existence is remarkable, and a testament to Marta's commitment to her animals.

Listeria attacks the brain and in many ways mirrors stroke symptoms. Goats with the infection often walk in a circle continuously and have a head that turns to one side. Sundae recovered from those symptoms but her jaw never realigned. This isn't a great pic but you can see that her lower jaw doesn't align with the top. That means Sundae has trouble eating browse like most goats. Marta makes a mash of beet pulp and adds some grain to it. Sundae tries to eat hay, but mostly it turns into a moist ball of mush in her mouth that she can't swallow. And the stronger does tend to push her away from the hay rack, so she requires special care. That time and attention is tough for Marta given the size of her herd, so she's offered to give us Sundae, knowing we'll take good care of her.
But wait! There's more!

She's going to breed Sundae just before she gives her to us! (This is where the romance comes in.) Some goats come into heat twice a year for three days each. Other breeds, including Boers, come into heat for three days once a month. Marta thinks next weekend is Sundae's next cycle, so if she shows the typical signs (tail wagging, bleating, and excitement at the sight of a buck) she'll put her in with one of her bucks for a week. Five months later...birthing!! This will be Sundae's second kidding; the last one resulted in a deformed kid that died. That's not unusual for a first birthing, and the second is usually twins. After that first birth Sundae was a huge milk producer, so in that sense she's a proven doe.

One last goat note: the vet was here at noon today. He gave both Itzhak and Asante an exam and took a fecal sample from Asante. Itzhak wouldn't cooperate, but Keelan thinks whatever is afflicting one is the problem with the other. He'll do an analysis on the sample and get back to us tonight or tomorrow with, we hope, a diagnosis and treatment plan. They're both very active and, surprisingly, putting on weight. Since Monday Itzhak has gained 3 lbs. and Asante gained 2.5 lbs. Imagine how they'd do if they didn't have scours!
Hopefully soon.

There's more non-goat news, but Pam has dinner ready so we'll save it for tomorrow.