That's how much time we had without rainfall.
You can imagine how much I tried to get done outdoors.
As soon as the sun came up yesterday, I started shifting goats in an elaborate series of dance moves - a pas de quinze? - that went on throughout the day: getting this goat through this gate while keeping that other goat back in the other paddock, until every goat had had the option of spending several hours with their little group of special (currently) pals, stretching their legs on solid ground, with dry footing and the sun on their backs.
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| Now. |
They were less excited about it that you might think. Most of my adult goats aren't comfortable with change, but I thought this would be such a pleasant change that there might be high spirits and leaping about. Nope.
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| Also: Now. |
But today, on the second not-raining morning, they were ready. As soon as I went into the paddocks they started leading me back down to the Upper West Side, which is a small slope (of course) that's got it all: sunny, shady, rocky, sandy, grassy, and dry. Since I knew rain was forecast for late morning, I got almost all of them down there in two groups, early enough to enjoy themselves. Which they did.
The rain held off til after 1, which was nice because I had time to shift goats back to their usual locations without racing around. And after two hours of working in the mucky paddocks with my Occasional Helper - who hasn't been here for a while and may have been quite sorry he came back today - I even had time for a shower and lunch before the thunder started rolling.
And then I cancelled everything planned for the rest of the day.
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| Could be any time, really. |
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