OK....... pant... pant... been busy around here trying to get things back to normal. Thank you all for the congrats and kind words. First of all... if you'd like to see the girls, go to MSN and the Goat Shed, photo albums, the Geminis I guess my story begins 3 yrs ago when I wanted just an ordinary milking goat for milk. I like to make cheese and fudge. My husband suggested going to a goat dairy dispersal auction and looking. I fell in love with the laManchas which came out first. We also were thinking at the time of doing embryo transfers with boers and needed a big doe. Well hubby set a 100.00 limit and I lost out on the munchies. Then I went downstairs and he later proudly said he bought a registered goat. I said, "nice!" she is a American Alpine named Jackie. Well I fell in love with her and 6 months later sent her papers in. When I got them back I dropped my jaw, she had grand champions in her lines. Well that explained her attitude! We never did do the embryo transfers, instead we bred her to improve her qualities. This Feb., after breeding her to a Sweet dreams buck I imported from Calif she took and gave birth on valentines day to a doe we named Jackie's valentine. I'll have to continue this later as its thundering out anyways, I decided to show at Nationals this yr in Raleigh as it was so close to us. I never expected to place or even make the cut. she did, was 5th, and Maggie was 7th in the senior alpine class. I just cried I was soooo shocked. Storm is getting closer so i'll write more later. Bernice

-- Bernice Raymond (geminigoats@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000 Answers Bernice I hope youget a chance to tell us more. I found the gemini goata and Organics site and saw apicture of Jackie. she looks very pretty. I couldnt find the goat shed though. do you know the web address? Denise

-- Denise (jphammock@earthlink.net), June 28, 2000.

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Great job Bernice, I am also commenting on this thread to get it back up on the main board, got several requests for the rest of the story, guess they missed your post! We are so proud of you anyway! :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), July 03, 2000.

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Thanks Denise & Vickie:):) The addy to the Goat shed I'm not exactly sure, but go to http://www.msn.com then on the middle of the page you will see communities, click on, this will take you to another page with a search community box, type in goat shed and you should get there. OK.... now to continue with my story. Those storms we had last week rolling through were wicked! As i was saying I was so shocked I had tears running down my face. I recall getting the goats ready for the class. A friend of mine who raises Nubians and who is a great show person offered to show Valentine for me and then a young gal who was in 4-H asked if she could show Maggie. I said yes to both. I was a bundel of nerves and don't think I could have done it, I did show our recorded grade that Sunday. Shaggy took 11th out of 16 in the class. She was in 10th place but lost to a sabel behind her as she had more size and width. We got the girls to ringside and i was watching the jr & intermediate classes. I was getting nervous, especially when I saw the size of a sr. kid that was huge.. I knew any hope was gone then. I just can't grow them that big, kid was probably 70 pounds. I saw all the entries and thought there was no way. Yet... somewhere in my heart I had this feeling and I kept saying to myself, "NO WAY!" see... this was our first really serious show/milk quality breeding and i just didn't think it would connect this early in the game. I kissed my girls bye and hugged them before they went into the ring (my 4 legged kids) and then went to sit down with my friend Leslie. I was on pins and needles as it takes sooooo long to judge a class. But there were only 29 entires in the class. I was watching them walk around the ring, I noticed Jennifer Bice was feeling Valentine on the rump as she was the goat behind her. I got diverted a bit by a story Leslie was sharing with me and it happened so fast.... Cathy, who was showing Valentine motioned to us to get our attention and pointed to Val. I was not comprehending what was going on, I thought there was a problem. Leslie explained to me Val mad ethe cut and was in 5th place. I sat up in the chair and stared, Cathy gave the thumbs up sign. Surely this was not my goat! But it was. I was watching intently now. I saw the judges make 3 lines. Val was still in 5th. Now the focus was on lines 2&3. Madgelina was in line 2 at the end, she was in 17th place. I really was amazed now as i expected to be in last place as we usually are! No joke, we have that spot reserved, thats the joke anywyas at shows. the young gal showing Maggie had never been in a formal show as this was and she was doing great! I kept staring at Valentine and suddenly it hit me; she was in 5th place and staying there, I just cried as I never expected it and all the tensions of the nationals faded in my good bawl! Well.. while I was crying on Leslie's shoulder I missed Maggie moving from 17th to 10th place. I remember a gal from the NC club coming over to me and telling me to get to ringside so i could see..... just as i did Maggie moved from 10th to 7th. this was too much of a shock for me... but I was not teary eyed anymore, just amazed. I am still in awe of these wins as we never expected to place as high as we did. I thought back to all the hard work over studying bloodlines and the expense we spent on bucks, almost $1,000 last yr. and felt it was well worth it. This really was a lot of hard work and I don't expect to always do this well.. but I'm going to try harder for sure. Well... now I must end my story as hubby is calling for me to help him lock up the bucks as they are rutting now and getting crazy. Take care and thanks to all. So please remember, that dreams can come true, if you try hard. Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), July 04, 2000.

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Thanks very much, Bernice! I am soo happy for you. It's such a joy when you can do well with something you love! Next year 1st or second, I'll bet!

-- Doreen (livinginskin@yahoo.com), July 04, 2000.

-- Chamoisee (chamoisee@yahoo.com), June 24, 2001