Freshly Bedded

My nephew brought a big round cornstalk bale to bed the back part of the barn.

Moose, Casey, and Margarita

It is a challenge.  This space is a bit tricky to maneuver with a tractor and bale, but he finally got it done.  I don’t know how.

We had to chip the big sliding door free from being frozen to the ground, so we could open it farther.  It was really an ordeal.

It did, however, make everyone happy.

Casey (in back) and Margarita (in front)

Myson checking it out

Next summer, I think we’re going to try to remove the first section of fence to make a wider gate area.  If we’re really good, we’ll redo the fence along the lane and make it wider and so the goats can keep the scrub brush and trees eaten from the west side of the barn too.

We’ll see how ambitious we are though.

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Relaxing in the Barnyard

Every evening the goats come up from pasture and settle in for the night.

Ava and Wanda

Stormy

Betty Lou

Athena and Cinnamon

Joani

It makes me happy to see them all lounging around and chewing their cuds.

An Ode to the Wheelbarrow

Aging with aching back
dreading the looming task
I seek help for my work woes
and find a hero in the simple
wheelbarrow–

The task at hand never fun
but progress seen boosts
the spirits; especially now
with my job made easier by a
wheelbarrow–

Now that the garage and buck pen have been scooped out, I’m moving on to the greenhouse.  It’s been way too long.  I figured it up and between the construction mess, rain, dry, llama/cow battles, and not having a manure spreader, it’s been five years since my greenhouse and barn were scooped. [Edit:  I was wrong.  It’s been four years; it just looks like five because the stinking llamas keep making their poop piles in my buildings.] There is no way it can go another year (although, goats don’t make the mess cows do, and the composting actually helps keep them warm in winter).  I picked up the goat minerals from the outside pen and removed my hobbled barrier to keep the llamas out.

I still don’t have a manure spreader parked right outside the pen, so I have to haul it across the barnyard, past the lounging llamas.  Then I have to go in the front door of the barn and out the first side door.

Odie and Maybeline

Then it gets piled behind the Love Shack.  This fall, when the crops are out of the field, it will get spread on it.  If my nephew doesn’t get around to it, well, I’ll have plenty of compost for next year.

I worked hard all yesterday afternoon.  I made some good progress.  This one is going to be a several day job though, because I’m old.  Seriously.  I scoop for four hours and want to take the next day and a half to recover.  I am sadly running out of time, so I don’t get that luxury with this building.

I do have some expert help though.  Tony is trying to make sure I get some good experience steering a full wheelbarrow around large objects.  So helpful!

Tony Llama

The goats had to check things out when they came back up from pasture.

Haley with kids Orpheus and Calliope

Cutie doesn’t look too sure about this.

Cutie (and Aphrodite behind her)

I’ll be really happy to have this building done.  I’m hoping to have it done before the weekend, because our nice, cool working weather is coming to an end.  Then I’ll just have the biggest and messiest building left to scoop–the barn.