Work on Break

I’ve decided the good weather this Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time for me to get caught up on hooves.

Dolly

So far, I’ve managed to do twenty-nine sets of hooves.

Ostara followed her mom in, so she got hers done too!

That’s a good thing.

Moose was a pain, but they are done.

I still have more to get done.

Wanda is going to be a challenge to catch.

Hopefully, I can get most of them done before our next cold front comes through because I don’t like exposing that new hoof to the frozen ground. In the evenings, I did some knitting.

I look like an old woman with my cat and blanket and knitting.

Of course, I had my helpers.

Herbie trying to help; Rocky supervising from the bean bag.

I did finish the shawl I started quite a while ago.

I like how it turned out.

Another task I tackled over the long Thanksgiving was doing some yard work and cleaning the garden up.

The weather was nice enough to take the Ranger out.

Well, I finally pulled the tomato cages.  That’s about it.

You can hardly see them for all the weeds.

But it’s ready for winter, and whatever that might bring, now that harvest is done.  I really like seeing this–my field harvested and you can see the curves of contour planting (another way to help protect the soil from erosion).

harvested corn field

I think I managed to get a lot done this break.

Around the House and Stuff

With all the craziness in the goat herd lately, I haven’t shared much else.  But my evenings have been spent enjoying the relaxation of knitting.  It is also something that I can put my feet up and rest those ankles.  I will say, the anti-inflammatory my podiatrist prescribed has done amazing things.  I can walk again without pain.

Herbie modeling the shawl I’m making

I put a pause on my shawl to create a Halloween costume because I really love making Halloween costumes, and knitting adds a whole new level to that.

Bob helping me out; Rocky sleeping under the coffee table.

I made a crow! I can’t wait to see it on the little bird.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get pictures of him and his older brother who is going as a scarecrow.

hat, front and back; thanks to my mom for cutting out all those feathers

Now I’m back to working on my shawl.

And Bob is my new knitting companion because nobody else is coming near my lap with him up there.

Bob knows how to relax.

I’ve also been doing some other errands.  You might remember I had some work done on the Ranger last May. Well, the tires I ordered for it finally came in, so I had to go pick them up.  Bless my son. He’s already got them on the Ranger.  He did say the old ones were shot, so this is a good thing to have done.

Here’s the reminder that this time of year you need patience to drive out in the country.  There’s lots of big equipment on the road right now.

Don’t worry about me taking a picture while driving. We were only moving at a snail’s pace.

I also took my mom to town to get a little freezer.  She’s been wanting to get one for quite a while, and it was finally time.

Mom and the new freezer

So it’s been busy, even when I’m not with the goats.

Getting Things Done

I’m kind of getting life out of order on here because I keep interrupting things to give you baby updates. Wednesday morning my dad went and brought home my Ranger!  Yay!

I immediately loaded it up with my fencing supplies.

It actually took just a short time to get the fence over the ditch repaired.

Then I went back up to the barnyard and opened the panel.  It took all of about five seconds for Cinnamon to head out into the lane.

Cinnamon

Then it was a flood of goats and llamas.

 

The llamas took off

The goats browsed their way out.

I really had to get them back out there because my boys didn’t have a lot of food left.  I’ve been supplementing with sweet feed and hay.

Frodo and Benji on the short grass

So I immediately moved on to the next step.  I put panels around the cattle tank and across the barn door.  Then I opened the north paddock and bribed Flower and Cutie to go into the birds’ pen.

Cutie with Bumble and Flower

While they were in there eating sweet feed, I had the bucks come through the garage and drive and barnyard into the north paddock.

Freddie and Xerxes

This is the usual: Xerxes on his own and the other three sharing a pan.

They were quite happy with their new accommodations.  Then I let Flower and Cutie out of the pen I had them shut in.

Cutie seemed to wonder why she had been kicked out of her plush accommodations with room service.

Cutie looking at the bucks

But I still had more moving and work to do…