A Little Love

We're going through crazy stuff in many directions right now, so sometimes I just need a little love. I took a break this afternoon and visited with my animals. Fiona and I had a good petting session before the donkeys wanted their love. Honestly, Patches will stand by my side no matter what. She fully trusts me and loves to literally be my sidekick. 

The goats gave me their love today, too. S'mores even gave me a kiss on the cheek! They're not as protective of their kids now and will allow me to nuzzle them more. 

We're still working on Ciarán and Coorie though. One day they'll begin to want attention and not just food, but today was not that day. Brogan and Flora though, will gladly take as much scratches as I want to give them. Here's hoping y'all all have a little bit of love today!

Chicks For Free

Once upon a time, not too long ago, you could buy baby chicks for barely anything. While we have ten wonderful chicks, we were thinking of buying two other heritage breeds to double our numbers this year. We had decided on buff Orpington and Jersey Giant. Yeah, good luck with that. 

See, Iowa is where the largest chicken hatcheries are in the country, and they recently fell into hard times. Now, there is literally a wait-list to get chicks and the earliest for us to receive them would be June. With our weather around that time of year, those poor little chicks would definitely die during transit from the heat. So, plan b. 

Now, I'm looking at anyone in Texas who have baby chicks for sell. We won't be able to get them sexed, but I've got a lead on lavender Orpington close to us. Here' hoping there are more females than males and we can get them before someone else does!

Levels of Mud

Did you know mud has different levels? It's quite similar to Dante's "Inferno". Picture this, in a Forrest Gump way. 

You've got swamp mud, clump mud, slick mud. There's sticky mud, mixed mud, pellet sized mud. You can slosh in mud, you can get stuck in mud, and you can slip in mud. Mud can be slung. Mud can be everywhere and anywhere. We've got your mud. 

Aside from us drying out mud, we've made great progress with all the new animals. Ciarán will let me pet her ear and offer a treat to Coorie. Coorie won't take the treat yet, but she does appreciate being asked. 

The kids are all getting bigger and stronger! Two of them are even brave enough now to let me pet them. They're spending less time cowering behind their mamas and more time playing with each other. By the time we get them weaned, it's my goal to make each one pet worthy. Meaning, they have no fear of humans and being handled. It's coming together!

Yuck and Eww

The whole farm is a disgusting mess right now. I can barely walk, there's mud everywhere and the coo stall is horrid. 

As y'all may remember, we have a small hole in the roof of the cow stall. All the ice has been melting into that hole it seems and this is also where the cows like to do their business. We need a truckload of barn lime and an industrial febreze to help us dry it out to muck it out. The smell is atrocious and the coos attitude is definitely affected by it. 

Supposedly, we're getting sun tomorrow. I sure hope so! Ciarán needs to learn who I am and I need to get as much kid time as I can before they find new homes. Bring on the sun!

It Figures Skating

I've never been an athletic person. I can trip just walking and the Olympics have never considered me for any sport. Today though, I created a figure skating gymnastics move worthy of gold. 

Picture this, I went outside among the icy tundra to peek towards the barn and listen for the animals. During this time, I also let me two pups out to burn some energy and get some potty action. Well, it was after all this when Kenzie had already gone inside and Reggie decided to stop to watch a truck go by. He was very concerned about the truck, but he was not concerned the door was open and Mango, one of two indoor cats, decided freedom was his. 

Ok, totally cute watching Mango and his fluffy butt skid to underneath the truck. Great that Kenzie scruffed him so he couldn't take off. However, this is where I took the stage. On my last step to the truck, my left leg shot sideways quickly into a split. I don't, and never have done, the splits. Various cracking sounds were heard in my left leg as my right leg tries to do a pirouette move with extra pizzazz. The dismount was my landing hard on my left buttock and yet somehow, my right hand sliced through Kenzie's hold thereby then grabbing Mango myself. By the time I came to a stop, I had Mango over my shoulder, Kenzie by the collar and the adrenaline was quickly wearing off. 

No broken bones, but my left bum to ankle is bruised and painful. Rob took pity on me (probably because he didn't want to take me to the hospital) and fed all the animals for the night. By the way, every living creature on our farm is doing fantastic, but even the coos are done with this ice!

Icicles Everywhere

We've come to understand that the land teaches us what we're made of. We handled teen degree weather with no water over Christmas, we handled dryer than dry summer with little to no water, and now, we're learning how to deal with ice. 

As we luckily still have water, we're keeping the animals stocked up with plenty to drink. Rob's been enjoying crushing the ice when it starts to form to keep the water liquid. The goat girls have been thirsty as they're milking their kids. Nutty has been urinating on his beard constantly as a rebellion for our separating him from others. The donkeys haven't really changed their habits with water, but the coos, that's where it gets fun. 

My coos have spent more time outside today than in the barn. They would drink the water from the trough as the sleet pelted them. Tonight, they were covered in icicles! Flora was upset I wouldn't brush her, but c'mon, I don't think brushing you when your fur is ice is a good thing. The pups love the potty breaks hearing the icy ground crunch under their feet. The cats are staying warm and dry inside and the chickens don't seem to notice anything different going on. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be the worst of the weather. We'll keep forging through as we always do!

I rolled down the window and the ice stayed! There's no window in this pic

Smart Mamas

We're slowly getting a hang of our new madness around here. Fiona is still the queen, but she's allowing Ciarán some leeway on the rules for now. We've doubled our feed/hay and Ciarán still acts like we're starving her. Does she actually care if anyone else including her daughter Coorie get to eat? No, not really. That's ok, we'll adjust accordingly and keep everyone happy and full. 

The donkeys are completely cool with being left alone right now by the others. Between the goats having kids and the new coos, they just hang out on the edge and look like gossiping sisters talking about the others. 

The truly amazing thing is how all the does have bonded together now. Cookie Doe had twins this morning, so we decided to let all the females stay in the nursery (the weather is cold and icy anyway). There's a heat lamp in one corner and a plastic dog kennel with the door removed in the center of the stall. The mamas are herding their young into one of the two locations. If it's too hot, they go to the dog kennel, if they're too cold, the heat lamp. They're all so cute and snuggly, but several mamas wanted my attention that they wouldn't let me take pics. Tomorrow's weather is going to be even worse, so we'll just keep everyone watered, warm, fed and happy until the sun comes out again!