I Need Sunshine

For the last what seems like forever, we’ve had snow and rain and fog and gloom.

robin in the crab apple tree during snow showers

I think we’ve had an hour of sunshine here and there, but otherwise, it’s been pretty yucky.

Goats at pasture in the fog and drizzle

That means the kids are mostly playing inside.

2TC, Scooter, Butterscotch, and Flora

I kind of feel like Cutie–just staring outside wishing the mud and fog would disappear.

Cutie

I’m really ready to move past mud season.  Sky needs to learn to wipe his paws before coming in the house.

Sky

It’s also hard on the goats’ health.  Poor Trace ended up with pneumonia, but after banamine and antibiotics, she’s feeling much better.

Trace and Quatro

Here’s hoping to better weather soon.  In the meantime, I just keep planning my garden.  I actually have some seeds that have already sprouted!

okra sprouts

Some are to be transplanted outside, and some are my experiments in container gardening.

green bean sprout

I also spent a day making these feed sack garden bags.  I have a dozen of them ready to go!

I had the bags in the garage all neatly stacked to make my tote bags that I sell, but you might remember Antigone was in the garage for a while over the winter, and she was horrible about playing in them and throwing them on the floor.

Wanda in Antigone’s mess

That means I can’t use them for nice tote bags.  The mice might have played in them too.

mouse provided drainage hole

I plan on planting potatoes and other veggies in them.

I have my big pile of compost behind the Love Shack, so it seemed like a good plan for putting both the bags and the compost to good use.  We’ll see how it works.

Chores When It’s Really Cold

The really cold (but not quite stupid cold) weather we are having right now adds another level of challenging to doing chores.   Part of that is because the animals went from pretty mild temperatures to really cold temperatures.  They have to have time to adjust, and they didn’t get that.  Even Odie is acting a bit cold.

Odie

I worry about Wanda with her fur not completely grown back.  The greenhouse is a bit warmer for her than the main barn.  (The hazy look is my breath steaming.)

Wanda and Aphrodite (and Athena’s body)

Caroline is her typical brat.  Not even the cold can change that.  You’ll notice Anubis on the shelf below her because Zeus is still kind of pushy.

Caroline (Anubis below and Zeus’s back)

I’m glad it did this over a weekend when I was home to check everyone more frequently.  I’m also giving them an extra feeding of hay.  This would be easier if we hadn’t had the ice that froze my door down.  At least I can open the top and throw my bale of hay out and then climb over.  It’s just another level of fun.  Although, I have gotten it chipped away so I can open it enough for me to sneak through now.

Moose

This extra feeding helps me check on everyone.  If someone is not getting up to eat or is just standing there shivering and not eating, they need to be moved.

Cupid and Cutie

That’s why Stormy got moved to the garage on Saturday.  She was lying in the barn shivering, refused to get up and wouldn’t eat when I put hay right in front of her.  She’s doing much better now.

Stormy

Sunday, Dolly joined them.  I have a couple more old ladies and the young kids that I’m keeping a close eye on.

Antigone and Dolly (Pistol across the front)

The front door to my garage is also frozen shut, so I have to carry hay through the milk/soap rooms, or I can climb the fence and go through the buck room.

Xerxes and Hilda (the door that will open between them)

Poor Xerxes still is the biggest chicken on the farm, but he’s also hoping I bring him lots of grain.

I’ve also been breaking the ice off my cattle tank.

Penny

The heater is working, but it is warm and the steam freezes, and it just keeps freezing until it’s completely iced over.

Luckily, the cold is supposed to break tomorrow, and I can put my old ladies back out of the garage.  Of course, with the warmer temperatures comes the threat of more rain, ice, and snow.

Crazy Weather

The crazy damp, warm, cold, windy, snowy weather all mixed together is really hard on the animals.  My nephew has been treating sick calves because of it.

Trying to stay out of the crazy wind on Sunday.

Maggie came up from pasture early on Saturday, and she was obviously not feeling well.

Margarita and Maggie

I have her in the Love Shack with a heat lamp and her daughter.

Trying to stay out of the crazy wind on Sunday

She’s been treated.

Hopefully, she’ll feel better.