deep freeze, GOG's, potluck, goats, ASU

We've been hunkered down, no snow but in a deep freeze with strong winds.
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Met the GOG's (Good Ole Gals) on Thursday for our Christmas lunch, we hit the buffet at the Broyhill Inn's Jackson Dining Room. The GOG's are a group of gals who met through our local Humane Society and somehow we started meeting for lunch monthly, we go to a different restaurant each month. Funny when I think back on the topics of Thursday's conversation, everything from Tiger Woods, urologists, divorce, suicide, doggie coats, and crazy cats. Oh, if we just ruled the world.
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Speaking of eating, we had a potluck at work today. I got up early this morning and made mac & 7-cheeses (photo - circled in red), it's pretty good especially when it first comes out of the oven. I also sprinkle a few green peas inside and top it with herbed bread crumbs.
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I had to take Wednesday afternoon off to take Cali to the Farm Vet (an hour one way), she's got a bad eye. Doc Beckworth came out with his magnifying glasses and examined her in the back of the pickup truck, diagosed as some kind of infection, and we're applying oinment 3 X's daily.
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Looks like our Deets is moving to SonnyAcreFarm, we're trading him for MoonFire to get new bloodlines. We could have used Deets on some line breeding, but since we are fairly inexperienced in goat breeding, we decided maybe it would be better to trade. MoonFire carries a lot of red genes too and we love red goats. I sure hope our other 2 bucks, MilkDud and Cahoot, give MoonFire a positive welcome. The wethers, Sundance and Cubby, get along with anybody.
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http://fiascofarm.com/goats/breeding.htm
The old saying goes: "If it works it's called Line-breeding and if it doesn't, it's called Inbreeding." This saying puts a very complicated subject very simply, but it has some truth in it. "There is no better way to improve your herd than with Line-breeding, BUT there is also no better way to ruin a herd." Line breeding (breeding closely related animals) can quickly improve a herd because the good qualities of the animals get accentuated. BUT the bad qualities are also accentuated. Because of this, you have to think about what you are doing, look at the animals and use your head. You can't just simply go by some arbitrary "rule" like "it's OK be breed grandfather to granddaughter", but look at the individual goats and decide if their particular good traits out weigh the bad traits.
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Deets

MoonFire

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The highlight of the weekend will be our Appalachian State at Montana in the FCS/1AA Quarterfinals. The Appalachian State Mountaineers are making their fourth semifinal appearance in five years while the Montana Grizzly Bears are in the final four for the third time in five seasons. ASU is 15-0 all-time when playing on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. On the video below, both of these guys think Montana will win. :-(