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2020

7K views 94 replies 22 participants last post by  NDinKY 
#1 ·
A thread for 2020 stories. It's been a year and a half. Please don't fight, backbite, or get political.

 
#7 ·
Here is my 2020. April, rescued a baby goat and fell in love. May 2020, the virus that shall not be named made me a widow. June 2020 rescued a second goat and fell in love again. Oh I am so fickle. July 2020 turned 44 -dang I am getting old. August 2020 rescued Mei the donkey calf - and lost her to pneumoniae. August 2020 rescued a red coat jackal from wild dogs - released to the coast where she belongs. Sept 2020 rescued a young puppy - lost him to abuse being too extensive. October 2020 got the virus a 2nd time. And now Nov rescued nibbles and doing day 4.
 
#8 ·
Here is my 2020. April, rescued a baby goat and fell in love. May 2020, the virus that shall not be named made me a widow. June 2020 rescued a second goat and fell in love again. Oh I am so fickle. July 2020 turned 44 -dang I am getting old. August 2020 rescued Mei the donkey calf - and lost her to pneumoniae. August 2020 rescued a red coat jackal from wild dogs - released to the coast where she belongs. Sept 2020 rescued a young puppy - lost him to abuse being too extensive. October 2020 got the virus a 2nd time. And now Nov rescued nibbles and doing day 4.
That is one crazy year. :hug:
 
#11 ·
2020 certainly has taught a lot
January- went on a trip and visited family
February- went back to college and began being harrassed, followed and stalked by a group of girls
March- still being stalked. Had the best grades by midterm and the closest group of friends
Mid-March- School announced it was closing, meltdown during last midterm. Landed dream job
April- Moved far from home --started dream job. Bought back a baby from my foundation herd.
mid-april- Working too much lead to failing classes. Found cameras in the house at my job. Was ignored at my job and anxiety went through the roof
Late April- Got fired after pointing out the cameras
May- Moved home. Took an old job back as a daycare teacher. Spent a lot more time with my family. Person who was causing the harassment at school reached out and apologized.
June + July- All beautiful
August- Decided to take a semester off. Flew to South Dakota to live on a ranch
September- Had so much fun in South Dakota
October- Came home. Bought a horse.
November- Turned 20. Did not hear from anyone, super disappointed. Working 7 days a week but enjoying my jobs. Jeep broke down.
Hopefully December stays quiet
 
#16 ·
2020 certainly has taught a lot
January- went on a trip and visited family
February- went back to college and began being harrassed, followed and stalked by a group of girls
March- still being stalked. Had the best grades by midterm and the closest group of friends
Mid-March- School announced it was closing, meltdown during last midterm. Landed dream job
April- Moved far from home --started dream job. Bought back a baby from my foundation herd.
mid-april- Working too much lead to failing classes. Found cameras in the house at my job. Was ignored at my job and anxiety went through the roof
Late April- Got fired after pointing out the cameras
May- Moved home. Took an old job back as a daycare teacher. Spent a lot more time with my family. Person who was causing the harassment at school reached out and apologized.
June + July- All beautiful
August- Decided to take a semester off. Flew to South Dakota to live on a ranch
September- Had so much fun in South Dakota
October- Came home. Bought a horse.
November- Turned 20. Did not hear from anyone, super disappointed. Working 7 days a week but enjoying my jobs. Jeep broke down.
Hopefully December stays quiet
Wow, that sucks. Why in the world did they fire you for that?
 
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#13 ·
4 major things happened this year for me:
Lost my dad in February
Gained 10 lbs. over the summer
Had to sell my herd of goats in July due to financial issues and their wellbeing
Just turned 16 today.

Not a happy year whatsoever, the only livestock I have now are 2 sheep and a chicken. I don't even now how long the sheep will last either.
 
#14 ·
@AlabamaGirl I know it may not feel it. But Happy Birthday. Happy health day. When life gives you lemons, throw them back and demand something sweeter. Yes you only got sheep and a chicken left but build up again. Yes money is tight but it wont stay that way forever. 16 is the beginning of a different adventure. The path may not be the one you want, but its a path with possibilities. Be strong and hold your head up high.
 
#18 ·
It was very hard, we were talking to him the week before and we were all expecting him to be ok. I remember him for the fun times we had, not the sad ones.
 
#19 ·
It was a handful of things but once I started poking around at the cameras (Its illegal to record tenants) they (the family) began to get extremely rude when I was working. But what started it was I said some stuff to my mom over the phone that somehow they would know about the next day at work. Finally I took pictures of the what I suspected were cameras and called my older sister who works for the state police, then the next day they fired me saying it just wasnt working out.
First warning was when I was trying to find the vacuum, looked all over the house couldnt find it anywhere, I was on the phone with my mom while looking, I knew where I had put it. Next day after I got back from the store it was sitting in the corner.
 
#42 ·
That whole situation was strange. The house they "gave" me was beautiful but things went downhill fast. It was sort of a relief to leave. Felt weird living in someone else's beautiful house.

Man Jessica, youve really had a rough year.
Im not even going to pray for a better year next year because for all we could know this could just be the start of a decade.
 
#22 ·
Oh gosh I wish I could have just slept threw this year.
So long stories short. The end of ‘19 my son broke his arm. It was a week of stress not knowing if he would need surgery or not. New Years they rebroke his arm and put another cast on but he didn’t need surgery.
My husband got a “partner” for his side job and neither one of them understood the whole tax thing so the partner made a lot of money and we lost our tax return.
With the covid and the tax thing I sold half my goats.
Then doctors thought my mom had bladder cancer. Nothing with the doctors is ever fast so that was 8 weeks of not knowing, but turns out she is ok.
I tried to kill my daughter in June I think it was when we were vaccinating cows and a pipe broke and flew and hit her in the chest when I had her helping me. She ended up on the ground out cold convulsing. After a night in the ER she was fine but I thought it had stopped her heart or broke her chest.
Then my dad hit his head on a trailer one day. He was very agitated that day and the next. He drove 8 hours to their other place and my mom called and said she thinks he had a stroke. I told her get him to the ER now! He went and turns out he has AVM and when he hit his head he probably got a small bleed but was not currently bleeding. They put him on meds and he had his check up dr appointment yesterday and it’s not getting better so probably brain surgery.
My mom and dad has just left the ER when she mom got a call that my uncle (who has bone cancer) has the covid and they have to put him in a coma. He won’t make it so talk to him on the phone before we do it. In the end he did make it but he has a lot of lung damage and now has I believe it’s called cushings disease from the meds he is on.
Then summer really hit and a fire broke out. Went throw our range in the Forrest. My parents hauled as many cows as they could to one area that was all rock because it is a 3 hour drive home and only had my trailer which could haul 3 pair at a time. Well some how THAT was the worse place to haul them and it burned the hottest there. We finally got enough snow that we are calling it. Out of 113 pair we brought home 38.
In the middle of the fire, my favorite goat Xena went down. I had to put her down. Then my one jersey Swiper went down. I bought her with a bum leg so thought that was the issue. The next day my other Jersey Karen went down. I went to get a hip lift from my friend, forgot to lock my dads puppy up before I left. He killed our favorite little doe kid princess. Long story short on the jerseys the one with the bum leg is fine, Karen got a wild hair up her butt one night and went up a hill to get acorns and fell down with her head down hill and died. Then Hush the Holstein my parents literally went into the fire to save I think had too much lung damage and she died. So 2 out of 3 of my favorites died.
Now I find almost half my does are open, although I’m not giving up hope and going to ultrasound them again next week. And last night my calf that was born in the middle of the fire and I have been nursing along died.
So pretty much at this point I’m just taking the punches but this has been the WORSE year for me ever. I would say it will be better next year but I’m not jinxing anything. Because as bad as it was I know it could have been way worse.
 
#23 ·
Oh gosh I wish I could have just slept threw this year.
So long stories short. The end of '19 my son broke his arm. It was a week of stress not knowing if he would need surgery or not. New Years they rebroke his arm and put another cast on but he didn't need surgery.
My husband got a "partner" for his side job and neither one of them understood the whole tax thing so the partner made a lot of money and we lost our tax return.
With the covid and the tax thing I sold half my goats.
Then doctors thought my mom had bladder cancer. Nothing with the doctors is ever fast so that was 8 weeks of not knowing, but turns out she is ok.
I tried to kill my daughter in June I think it was when we were vaccinating cows and a pipe broke and flew and hit her in the chest when I had her helping me. She ended up on the ground out cold convulsing. After a night in the ER she was fine but I thought it had stopped her heart or broke her chest.
Then my dad hit his head on a trailer one day. He was very agitated that day and the next. He drove 8 hours to their other place and my mom called and said she thinks he had a stroke. I told her get him to the ER now! He went and turns out he has AVM and when he hit his head he probably got a small bleed but was not currently bleeding. They put him on meds and he had his check up dr appointment yesterday and it's not getting better so probably brain surgery.
My mom and dad has just left the ER when she mom got a call that my uncle (who has bone cancer) has the covid and they have to put him in a coma. He won't make it so talk to him on the phone before we do it. In the end he did make it but he has a lot of lung damage and now has I believe it's called cushings disease from the meds he is on.
Then summer really hit and a fire broke out. Went throw our range in the Forrest. My parents hauled as many cows as they could to one area that was all rock because it is a 3 hour drive home and only had my trailer which could haul 3 pair at a time. Well some how THAT was the worse place to haul them and it burned the hottest there. We finally got enough snow that we are calling it. Out of 113 pair we brought home 38.
In the middle of the fire, my favorite goat Xena went down. I had to put her down. Then my one jersey Swiper went down. I bought her with a bum leg so thought that was the issue. The next day my other Jersey Karen went down. I went to get a hip lift from my friend, forgot to lock my dads puppy up before I left. He killed our favorite little doe kid princess. Long story short on the jerseys the one with the bum leg is fine, Karen got a wild hair up her butt one night and went up a hill to get acorns and fell down with her head down hill and died. Then Hush the Holstein my parents literally went into the fire to save I think had too much lung damage and she died. So 2 out of 3 of my favorites died.
Now I find almost half my does are open, although I'm not giving up hope and going to ultrasound them again next week. And last night my calf that was born in the middle of the fire and I have been nursing along died.
So pretty much at this point I'm just taking the punches but this has been the WORSE year for me ever. I would say it will be better next year but I'm not jinxing anything. Because as bad as it was I know it could have been way worse.
Sounds like a very rough year...
 
#24 ·
I'm so sorry for all of the hardships everyone has faced :( If in December of last year you had told me we'd get hit hard with the virus and the lockdowns, etc. I would have said no way, not here!

Honestly, things turned bad for my family in Dec 2019, and just keeps spiraling out of control.
My step nephew committed suicide.... he struggled for years with depression, and just when everyone thought he was doing much better.... He had just turned 15 :'(
About 2 weeks later my sister in law told me she was having some issues and they thought she had cancer. January she found out she actually had Leukemia.
She seemed to be doing well, Bone marrow transplant from her son this summer, was doing good, then the last few months she's been going downhill and is currently in the hospital and they can't figure out what is going on. Vitals and all are good, but she's having issues they think could be some kind of virus that they can't pinpoint (memory loss, slurred speech, sometimes not responsive, forgets who she is/where she is/etc.). My brother can't visit her because of hospital restrictions.
Oh... and my nephew had Covid weeks ago! But thankfully she nor my brother got it which is a miracle honestly.

Add in losing our beloved neighbor to cancer at the start of the pandemic in March, then my beloved uncle passed away from a rare liver cancer in May.

As far as goats go, we've had a pretty good year, but I hold my breath until 12/31/20 at 11:59pm lol.
We had a really nice kid crop earlier this year. Our last kids were born in May, and next kids are due the last few days of next month, so yep... won't say it's been a good year with goats until 11:59pm lol
 
#25 ·
I'm so sorry for all of the hardships everyone has faced :( If in December of last year you had told me we'd get hit hard with the virus and the lockdowns, etc. I would have said no way, not here!

Honestly, things turned bad for my family in Dec 2019, and just keeps spiraling out of control.
My step nephew committed suicide.... he struggled for years with depression, and just when everyone thought he was doing much better.... He had just turned 15 :'(
About 2 weeks later my sister in law told me she was having some issues and they thought she had cancer. January she found out she actually had Leukemia.
She seemed to be doing well, Bone marrow transplant from her son this summer, was doing good, then the last few months she's been going downhill and is currently in the hospital and they can't figure out what is going on. Vitals and all are good, but she's having issues they think could be some kind of virus that they can't pinpoint (memory loss, slurred speech, sometimes not responsive, forgets who she is/where she is/etc.). My brother can't visit her because of hospital restrictions.
Oh... and my nephew had Covid weeks ago! But thankfully she nor my brother got it which is a miracle honestly.

Add in losing our beloved neighbor to cancer at the start of the pandemic in March, then my beloved uncle passed away from a rare liver cancer in May.

As far as goats go, we've had a pretty good year, but I hold my breath until 12/31/20 at 11:59pm lol.
We had a really nice kid crop earlier this year. Our last kids were born in May, and next kids are due the last few days of next month, so yep... won't say it's been a good year with goats until 11:59pm lol
Same! Last year I was having fun with my dad and playing with the goats, I didn't know I'd lose them all within a span of a few months..
 
#26 ·
2020 is hard, has been hard on many of us in varying ways. I have someone elses bad calls on inbreeding kill a good doe. Ive had dogs kill a few of my goats. I had a young buckling get injured ( show goat) that can just now walk decent. But he didnt die in 10 days like the Vet said. Ive had to end my practice due to covid and the health strain on my family. Im retiring in a very unstable economy..and adjusting to this new life. Im raising goats and helping others all I can.
2020 has used alot of us like a baseball hitting the ball. But Im still standing. Im still working with life and helping others realize theyve been hit...but they are Still Standing! What doesnt kill us...makes US STRONGER! So 2021 will bring us another challenge..lets see what we can do together to get through it. :bighug:(highfive)
 
#28 ·
Jessica - OMG I am so sorry, I am just getting a chance to really read the replies and while I know a lot has been happening your way, I didn't realize just how much :( Praying everything gets better for you. Why must our favorites be a target for such bad things?
I sure hope your Dad will be okay, that is so scary, but hopefully if he has to have surgery it will be minor?
My Dad has a swollen kidney that they can't figure out what is causing it. He has no pain, no blockage, but I do think he isn't telling us everything.

2020 is hard, has been hard on many of us in varying ways. I have someone elses bad calls on inbreeding kill a good doe. Ive had dogs kill a few of my goats. I had a young buckling get injured ( show goat) that can just now walk decent. But he didnt die in 10 days like the Vet said. Ive had to end my practice due to covid and the health strain on my family. Im retiring in a very unstable economy..and adjusting to this new life. Im raising goats and helping others all I can.
2020 has used alot of us like a baseball hitting the ball. But Im still standing. Im still working with life and helping others realize theyve been hit...but they are Still Standing! What doesnt kill us...makes US STRONGER! So 2021 will bring us another challenge..lets see what we can do together to get through it. :bighug:(highfive)
I am very sorry about your goats, I had no idea you had lost some! Then your job and needing to retire early. I agree, it's very scary right now. We've gotten by with one regular income over the years, but with my son's tuition, trying to get ready to finish the new barn, and holidays, the strain is definitely on us. My son is working very little and had decided he was going to paint his car, so it's all taken apart and he has to get into his savings in order to try and get it finished (why my husband agreed to this project is beyond me!). I'm hopeful my son can find another job soon, or at least a 2nd part time job.

I am supposed to start a job any day now, nothing exciting, but I do worry about the virus and bringing it home. I haven't worked a regular paying job since 2006, so it will be strange. Thankfully, my arm is much better, no where near 100%, but I definitely feel I can do the job without any issues :) I'm also hopeful our son's tuition will go down next semester as he will have 2 less classes.
 
#31 ·
Just the highlights I think.
Feb. Angie's quads
March. Frankie's triplets I had covid when they were born and 1 doeling was trampled.
She was brought in beside my bed so I could nurse her while my grandson did his best to nurse me. I had a mini stroke and survived, the doeling is blind in one eye and survived.
April lockdown and recovery
May
June hookworms
July

August. Fires. The police arrested 3 people who were setting fires. They set 53 in 1 day.
We never had to battle big flames but, the smoke was not good.
We lost Angie and 2 of her doelings, 1 of Frankie's daughters, my yearling toggenburg, and Dexter's yearling son.
The goats that survived seemed to have avoided getting major lung damage. The difference, I believe is that this group spent days laying down and breathing through the grass.

I still have Franky and Destiny, her half blind daughter. One of Angie's daughters. My toggenburg bottle kid. Silver, the buck I bought last fall and Jax the wether.
The 2 milk bred lambs survived, the white one, Millie, has some lung damage.

DH spent most of the summer locked down in an Alaskan village. He's here now and able to help some.

Life goes on
 
#33 ·
Just the highlights I think.
Feb. Angie's quads
March. Frankie's triplets I had covid when they were born and 1 doeling was trampled.
She was brought in beside my bed so I could nurse her while my grandson did his best to nurse me. I had a mini stroke and survived, the doeling is blind in one eye and survived.
April lockdown and recovery
May
June hookworms
July

August. Fires. The police arrested 3 people who were setting fires. They set 53 in 1 day.
We never had to battle big flames but, the smoke was not good.
We lost Angie and 2 of her doelings, 1 of Frankie's daughters, my yearling toggenburg, and Dexter's yearling son.
The goats that survived seemed to have avoided getting major lung damage. The difference, I believe is that this group spent days laying down and breathing through the grass.

I still have Franky and Destiny, her half blind daughter. One of Angie's daughters. My toggenburg bottle kid. Silver, the buck I bought last fall and Jax the wether.
The 2 milk bred lambs survived, the white one, Millie, has some lung damage.

DH spent most of the summer locked down in an Alaskan village. He's here now and able to help some.

Life goes on
:hug:
 
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