After Four Days

By Friday morning, I was getting pretty darn good at making a cup of coffee on the stove.

I was doing pretty good at getting my chores done.  The peacocks were pretty good with the routine of waiting for me to bring out a light to go up to roost.  The hardest is the water.  With no electricity to the well house, I have to use rural water.

Butterscotch drinking; Daisy behind

That means going through gates or leaving the milk room door open.  It’s awkward, but it works.

Maisie in front; Venus behind

I’m taking care of mom’s cats for her.  She actually got to come home from the hospital four days after the storm.  While I was visiting her at her house (before she went to stay with my sister where she could be free from the chaos of after-storm life), I got a call from my neighbor.  I went home, and this happened!  Bless them.  They fixed the transformer across the road, and then they set the new pole in my yard.

By some miracle, the underground line just happened to be connected to the meter box.

That means I had electricity to the garage (soap room), and it also goes to the Love Shack and the barn!

No more flashlight to keep them safe!

Bless the electrical workers!  Granted I still have no power to my house, well house, or greenhouse, but I did convert my soap room into a decent living space.

I moved the computer out and was working on editing images.

It has air conditioning and I can cook in there and have hot water for dishes.  It’s been cool enough to still sleep in the house, and at least I am better off than I was.

The coffee pot is the first thing I moved.

And the dog was really happy to get to lounge around in an air conditioned space.

Sky

And my little town still had no electricity, so it also meant I could string cords from the garage to the house and remove myself from needing a generator.

The Goats Go to the Front Pasture

Considering Hera and Caroline can find a tiny spot to get through a fence, I figured the goats would find the big open gates, and I was right.

Haley and Joani coming back into the barnyard

The first thing they did was feast on the weeds south of the buck room.

My pastures are beautiful grass.  People are always asking how I get my pastures so clean.  It’s simple.  The goats like to eat all the weeds.

Here’s Casey working on thistle control.  Thank heavens they like eating thistles!

It only took a couple of minutes for Avril to find her mom and start nursing.

Astra and Avril

The next order of business was checking out the trees.

Haley and Moose

They also check the fences to see what they can reach.

They will keep all the trees away from the fences.

It’s important work.

Blaze

Daisy and Freddie were working on the wild grape vine.

Daisy and Freddie

Pretty soon they’ll actually make it to the bottom part of the pasture where it’s just thick grass.

I have to say, I was surprised that Cinnamon and Ava did not have their kids nursing.

Ava with a full udder; Cinnamon behind her

I didn’t separate them again, but I still got all of my milk.

Chow Time

After a week of cold, snowy weather, things are looking up.  Our temperatures are back to normal and we have sunshine.  That’s a good thing because if I hadn’t taken the camera out today, I had nothing for a blog post (I used my in-case-of-emergency recipe post yesterday).  The new moms were just coming up from pasture when I went out.

Moms and oopsie babies

Then it was time for all the kids to eat!

Sidney with Tilly (back) and Gill

Daisy with Poppy and Chrys(anthemum)

Bambi and Cinquain

Astra with Jester, Avril and Joker

I can tell which one of Astra’s triplets was the odd man out this time.

Astra with Joker trying to get a bite to eat.

Six was already done eating by the time I took her picture.

Cinnamon’s girl, Six

But she’s just too cute not to include.