Walking Down My Road

Early Monday morning (or the middle of the night; I have no idea), before the sun was up, I got woke up by the lights and sirens of the fire trucks going past.  Because I live a mile from a main highway, most times when they go by, it’s because of an accident on the highway.  I rolled over, hoped it wasn’t too serious, and went back to sleep.  When I got up in the morning, I went out to milk.  I was immediately hit with the acrid scent of burnt wood.  I remembered the trucks from earlier, and got worried about what had burned.

Cutie

After chores, I decided to walk down the road and see what it was.  I have to admit that I enjoyed the walk along my road.

Edited: It’s partridge pea

birdsfoot trefoil

Queen Anne’s lace

Edit: It’s mullein

chicory

milk weed

Just at the end of my property, someone came out and thought about joining me.  I was a little surprised to see a deer this size without an adult.  Hopefully the little one knew where it was headed.

More wild flowers!

Queen Anne’s lace

milk weed

I don’t know–tell me what this is

wild parsnip

chicory

As I neared the end of the road, I was becoming optimistic that the fire hadn’t been one of my neighbors, but then I saw a wisp of smoke.  My neighbors lost one of their buildings.  The thought of fire on the farm is very scary, and I’m glad they didn’t lose more.

It really left me grateful to see my barn roof as I walked back home.

You can see my barn’s roof tucked between all the trees.

I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my barn or any other building.

Fionn

Hopefully, I never have to find out.

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Always Fence to Fix

The nice weather and snow melting away means the goats have started going back out to pasture.

Even my old ladies left the Love Shack and lounged out in the front pasture for a while.

Clover, Lily, Cupid, Harley, and Pistol

Saturday morning, I looked out the window and once again saw my goats in the no-man’s land at the bottom of my farm.  Seriously?

image from last fall when they were naughty

After doing major reworking of the barn, so my moms could have another section for them and the kids, I got the rest of the herd back where they belong.

Caroline

They might look all innocent just basking in the sun, but they were just waiting for the opportune moment to sneak back down the hill and get out again.

Luckily, my nephew came out and set several posts across the ditch.  I believe the goats went around my snow fence (this was after I tied it back up).

Then I went into town and got the Ranger.  It was nice to have it out again, even if it was to haul panels down to fix the fence.

I really didn’t think I’d make it if I tried carrying the panels from the barnyard.

I got a bit creative, and managed to get it blocked.

Hopefully, this will work for a while.

Everyday Things

While we’re waiting, along with checking goats numerous times around the clock, I still have all my everyday things to do.  Part of that is wondering if I should try to move more goats into the garage with rain in the forecast for Tuesday through Thursday.

Cutie

The warmer weather means my back door in the chicken room is thawed, and I could put Athena and Hera over there with everyone else if I need to.

Gidget and Hera

I’m a bit worried about the back cattle lean-to though because all the rain and melting snow runs through it.  It is likely to become a muddy mess.  They do have a fair amount of space that will stay clean, but I might have to figure out something else.  I’m just not sure what.

Myson, Casey, LilyAnn and in back Maybeline, Buster, Vinnie, and Stormy

Then there’s the maintenance of my panels that I have separating everyone.  This one was completely undone.

I have to keep my panels in place or I’d have everyone mixed together.  I don’t want that.  It’s a lot harder to check and keep my pregnant girls where I want them to kid when they are all mixed together.  Besides, some big wether keeps thinking he wants his mommy, but his mom needs to focus on the new babies coming.

Moose

I also got new salt/mineral blocks put out.  They melt so quickly in this wet, snowy weather.

Stormy (and a LilyAnn butt)

I am still feeding full hay.  Over the weekend, I ran out of hay on the bottom. I had to start throwing it from above.  At least, I’m not worried about running out.

Astra

There’s still a lot up above.

No babies yet, but if I get busy and can’t get blog posts up you can follow along on the farm FB page for almost real time updates.