Sunday night looked like this:
Monday morning 3:30AM looked like this:
Heading out for morning chores on Monday...
...with my pocket loaded with carrot pennies.
A tarp "veranda," one of the extra shelters - there are always extras so scuffles won't lead to a goat being pushed out into bad weather - had collapsed under the weight of Sunday's snow, so I moved Violet and Sambucus up to join
the smaller group in the big barn paddock.
Here they are in the roundtop, happily tucking into the hay:
Here is the view from that roundtop.
All these images are a bit dark - the sun was never visible yesterday.
As usual, you can click to embiggen if you wish.
Put your boots on first.
After feeding and watering, I walked through all the paddocks,
dragging my feet to make a bit of a trail between all the shelters.
I save that chore for last because it's rather tiring and I am soaked with sweat by the time I'm done, and ready to head back to the house.
The goats don't really mind snow, but they do like it when I break trail for them.
Although I think Hazel, experiencing her first Real Snow, was looking for a place to attach a zipline in the barn so she could get to me and my pocket full of carrot pennies without wading through snow deeper than her belly.
(Don't worry, she got her carrots without any wading.)
By Monday afternoon the birdfeeders - which I had cleaned off first thing in the morning - were the scene of constant activity. The first flock of juncoes appeared, in a group of at least twenty. I always think of them as a sign that Winter is here.
This time, though, I really didn't need any extra signs.
I cleaned the feeders off again after evening chores.
~~~
At 4 AM this morning:
And out I go!
~~~~~
