#recooperation

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Cooper out with the herd. #belmontgoats #goats #reCOOPERation (at The Belmont Goats)

[kihaku-gato]

Tired plants in the New Living Room in the new House addition, Photographed October 9th 2017

No watermarks, no super high photo quality (from here on out I can no longer guarantee my “update” photos will be perfect quality, the phone isn’t exactly a stellar platform for quality over here), but I said I’d post my own content so posting I am.

Finally did something I wished I was able to have done so much sooner; get all the houseplants a well overdue heavy drink and a move to one singular room (new, thanks to it being a room from the still-in-progress house addition) for some badly needed semi-pampering. The vast gigantic majority of the houseplants have been heavily neglected since they had been moved from the apartment so long ago; between them being all scattered in various unusual window locations, the fact that most of the house sinks are too shallow for the average watering can (only the kitchen sink is deep enough and is on the other side of the house from where the plants formerly were), the fact that I was stretching most of my energy between family shenanigans and greenhouse maintenance, and the final fact that I’ve had the ultimate chronic case of gloomsville, it was inevitable that they were going to be neglected badly. As such there have been a lot of plant fatalities this year too; african violets, orchids, christmas cacti, most tropical-type houseplants, even an entire Hoya carnosa and gigantic Dracanea, many have died to either dehydration or to pests coming to finish what the dehydration started. In fact there may be more fatalities to come due to starting the needed plant care so late. Some plants I may in fact discard if they don’t improve (I think of my only echeveria in particular when I type this, as it had issues long, long before it was moved to this house and it’s always been surviving by a thread in my care). 

At this point I’m not going to do my usual stomp-in-the-ground “I WILL DO THIS I AM THE MASTER AND KICK LIFE’S ASS” attitude, it no longer works with the edge it once had. Still, these plants have done their best without me, and even if it’s no longer what my past self would call “my best”, I will still try to muster energy to help get these plants back into their former glory (some of you may say “these look fine to me”, you need to keep in mind that the closer one looks/photographs them, the more you’ll see the stress/damage that’s been done. The Pothos, Jades, and Spider plant show the stress the most obviously), give them the water they need when they need it in a timely manner, and if time/resources/energy allows it, I may even repot some of the plants that need it (some like the Cacti have long since outgrown their pots, in contrast some like the christmas cacti and jades are fine in their pots, but need an entire potting soil overhaul due to it becoming nothing more than a soilbrick of death).

Recooperation/adaptation does not always work good on it’s path, but it will eventually get there with some time and change.

[thebelmontgoats]

Cooper and Bambi reunited and lunching. #belmontgoats #goats #recooperation (at The Belmont Goats)

[thebelmontgoats]

Sibling time. #belmontgoats #goats #reCOOPERation (at The Belmont Goats)

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Private table for siblings. #belmontgoats #goats #reCOOPERation (at The Belmont Goats)

[thebelmontgoats]

Bambi and Cooper dinner, before Dusty ruined it. #belmontgoats #goats #reCOOPERation (at The Belmont Goats)

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Bailey is in heat and trying to get to Cooper. #belmontgoats #goats #reCOOPERation (at The Belmont Goats)

[thebelmontgoats]

Our goats are not especially adventurous compared to others we’ve seen. But upon arrival to host tonight’s visiting hours, we found Cooper outside in the field with the herd instead of inside the Re-COOPER-ation Pen. Near as we can tell, since the pen door was still locked shut, he decided the 6-inch box for him to sit on provided just enough leverage to pull himself over the back pallet. This is not the sort of stress and strain he’s supposed to be engaged in, so the box is gone, and we will be doing a bit more barricading. Cooper, if you know him, is our Dennis the Menace goat, always sticking his face right where we are using, say, a hammer or saw. So perhaps this should not have been unexpected. #belmontgoats #goats #reCOOPERation (at The Belmont Goats)