February 8, 2014. More snow.

Brrr...
Last night's somewhat unexpected inch of snow kept me home from a tourism conference where I was supposed to help promote this beautiful, wonderful land that we live in.

We live in the Arkansas Ozarks. The northern edge of the south, the western edge of the east. Usually a moderate climate with four distinct seasons. This winter is a real, solid winter.

We had our first snow storm the first week in December. We've now had snow covering the ground for most of two months. But it's just winter, and spring is on the way.
Today I went out to take pics so that I could look at them to cool off this summer. 

Tillie is due to kid next week. She'd like to go up in the woods.

My sweet potato slips have been too cold to do much.

The non-breeder pen likes their shelter.

Pequena and the angoras have trouble walking on the ice crust over the snow.

The yearlings are loving playing in the snow.

The Alpine dairy goats are hoping for some sun.

The Lamancha dairy goats prefer to stay near the shelter.

The bred ewes hang out in their shelter, but they do have to
walk down the hill for water. They need the exercise.

Boomer and George keep an eye on the western front.

Durfria was born in 1982. She's seen plenty of snow.

Shepherd's Crook, our current favorite multi-use tool

Lena clears the ice off the horse & dairy goat shelter.

We are shepherds and one of the tools we learned to love, long, long ago, was a shepherd's crook. We tried several styles, but we find the old fashioned steam bent hickory is our favorite. You just can't leave it out in the weather or it will straighten back out.

We also love our portable shelters for our critters. They allow us to rotate grazing, to use deep litter bedding effectively and to manage our five acres sustainably. But we do have to be careful of snow loads on the hoop houses and tents.

This latest snow came down as ice, then wet snow, then more ice. Kind-of a creamy centered snow cookie effect. It is entertaining to walk on, but has been harder than heck to get off the road and a real challenge to remove from the shelters. We had our first hoop house flatten under the load with this snow. Boomer and his girls are all fine, and those hoop house panels will now be fence, once we get them out from under the snow.

We knew the first morning we had to get the snow off the dairy goat and horse's shared shelter. Shovels and brooms didn't work. Climbing up and tugging didn't work. Finally, we found the great multi-use tool that did the job - our good old shepherd's crook.

Stay safe and warm this winter, it's starting out challenging.

Kids and cold

Erie had her kids this afternoon. One huge boy, one bitty boy and a stillborn.

Normally, (whatever that is!) our average temperature this time of year is 38 degrees. It gets down in the 20's at night, maybe the teens, and up in the 50's during the day.

Over the years, (since 1987!) I have found that I like to kid out the goats in February. The weather is usually pretty nice and dry and comfortable for being in the barn at all hours of the day and night.


Well, this year is not normal - not by a long shot. It has only gotten above freezing three days this month and it has been below zero most nights. Today it did almost get up to freezing. It was bright and sunny. And now, at almost 10:00 p.m. it is back down to minus three - that's 3 degrees below zero.

Our barn is generally warm and comfortable, but it isn't heated. I put a heat lamp in there, but the little goats were still not thriving, and heat lamps scare me because of their fire potential.

So, Lena and I build a big, crackling fire in the stove in the workshop, built a little pen out of pallets, bedding it with junk wool and several old blankets and brought Erie and her boys into the workshop.

I just went out to stoke the shop fire and check on everybody. Yampa is close, but I think still a few days off. Erie's little boys are up and toddling and happy. They are getting the faucets figured out and they think their soft bed is super to sleep on. Erie is warm, but worried. In spite of the fact that she has been driving everyone out of the barn with dragon yowls all day - she doesn't like being alone. I left her a radio, perhaps that will help, a bit.

If I were a little less tired, a little less worn out by dealing with all this cold and ice and snow, then I'd stay out there with her tonight. It would be nice and peaceful to sort and pack, and Shawn is on the road, so I am lonely, too. But I am tired, so I've set the alarm for midnight, to check on everybody, and I'm going to curl up in my soft feather bed and listen to the radio...

Thought trains and pogo sticks

Do you ever loose your train of thought?
I do, frequently. And my life can be chaotic enough to loose a whole, great big, long train - along with its tracks!
When I examined it, I realized my thoughts are not like trains. They are not predictable, following set tracks and schedules. They are not big and strong, blowing their whistle as they blast through my mind. No, often I can track them, but it is more like following bunnies through the snow.

"The snow, there wasn't much last night because it is too cold. Seven below, in fact right now at 5:00 am. The goats who are due are even being friendly and sleeping in a huddle in the barn, even though Erie is so close she really can't stand to have any one touching her. They say the high today is supposed to be 15 degrees. None of this ice and snow is going to melt at that rate. I could start a fire in the shop and work out there today, but really, I have a lot of office work that needs doing. How are we going to get the fencing panels dug out of the snow drifts so we can take them to Arkansas? Does Shawn have everything he needs to leave for this mornings trip? I should check the spare tire situation.... Ah, the house is so warm after checking on the goats."

That was the basic trail of thought as I went out to check the goat barn this morning. You can track these thoughts. They leave a trail. But, sometimes, my brain confounds even me. Especially when it is in creative mode, my thoughts are very random. It's like my mind is excited and is on a pogo stick.

Great ideas for a new rug, must draw weaving drafts ^!^!^ dogs, need bath ^!^!^! Do we have frozen peaches^!^!^Would that blue wool look good on a felted stress ball^!^!^Need to call my mom^!^!^What are the horses up to?

And so on. I am usually up and working when my brain is hopping around like that, but if I am ever here writing and you really cannot follow the post - now you'll understand.

Have a bright and shiny day!