november notes

 

Dara at the door.
If he comes in, I will put his collar on.
If he stays out, he will not have his breakfast.
It's a conundrum, isn't it, Dara?

For a couple of months, since I started feeding the goats individual pans of chaffhaye in lieu of hay either once or twice daily, I've been shifting the herd into a collar-and-tie routine; collaring and tying every goat, for every feed, in three small groups and in a very specific order to prevent fisticuffs. Patience has paid off, as it usually does in Goat World: bit by little bit, the process has become more streamlined. For several weeks, the morning feed was taking upwards of three hours. Just the feed; not hoof trimming or any other attention. Now it's generally a little more than two hours. One morning last week I was astonished when I went back into the house (for my own feed) and saw that the pans had taken less than two hours. My first thought was that I had somehow forgotten one group of goats. But no, it had just been an exceptionally efficient morning. Which has not been repeated. Yet.

This month we've had three light snows that stayed on the ground for at least one day. The most recent was ice pellets mixed with snow, and there was enough of it that working on the barn and Peace Pavilion roof had to be postponed until the coating of ice melted. Luckily for me, my Occasional Helper came by on the Friday after Thanksgiving and "brought a plate" as they say here. When I pointed out that the barn roof was finally clear, he offered to hop up and quickly rearrange the massive tarp that had been blown awry in the storm.

I enjoyed the turkey dinner tremendously, but having that brand-new sixty dollar tarp secured against damage to itself was a positive thrill.

There's always something interesting to see on morning chores.

Wild blackberry (Rubus) leaves at their most colorful:

Of course many colors are muted at this time of year,

but all the easier to admire the textures.

Like this bee balm seed head:

Lately the letterbox yields only bills and charity appeals, 

but seeing this milkweed pod lit by the morning sun 

made yesterday's trip to fetch the mail more than worthwhile:

Speaking of charity appeals, today is Giving Tuesday, when many charities receive a match for any donation made. I try to remember to make my annual donations on this day, to double their impact. Sometimes I forget and miss the day, so writing about it here is an effort to jog my own memory. Also, in case helpful to anyone.

And now out to the collars and ties. Later today my Occasional Helper's working hours are being reassigned from the barns to chauffeur me around. Because I need to get to the Registry of Motor Vehicles in order to renew my license. Ironic, no?

Have a lovely Tuesday!

~~~~~