wordless friday

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day five

Yesterday, Tsuga took her 4-day-old kids outside for the first time. She considered it the day before, but was prevented; I placed a 12-inch board across the barn doorway so Tsuga could step over it to go in and out but the kids had to stay inside, nice and dry. The barnyard area is SO wet. Residual ice is slowly melting under a layer of bedding the hens have thoughtfully thrown out of the barn. I can do nothing about this mess until the ice is gone.

But yesterday was sunny and warm, and when Tsuga called the kids they just leapt and scrambled and tumbled right over that 12-inch board, so I took it down. Then I built a ramp for tiny goats to play on. This involved setting one end of the board on a rock and getting out of the way.

I didn't get any good pictures of the kids on the ramp yesterday, mostly because I was laughing so hard. But if you've never seen the flexibility of kids, you might like this snap:

Last night it was very windy - trees were bending hard and I called Piper back from a romp in the woods because I could heard big limbs cracking everywhere. And it was cold. This morning, long after the sun was up it was still only 32F and there was a biting wind, so guess who was wearing a coat again:

Training for Half Dome

And guess who else was wearing a coat today:

Yes, both the kids were nattily dressed today!

Tsuga is still wearing a bit of cashmere - she's plenty warm!

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Here is another little video, taken today.

I moved three of the yearlings into the adjacent pocket paddock,

and at one point, you'll see the babies

meeting Azalea.

Azalea is not a big goat.

The babies are tiny!

Technical (ha!) note: I recommend "muting" this one.

There was heavy machinery roaring

through the whole thing, 

and Campion was yelling his annoyance.

(Which was kind of annoying!)

I didn't think of recording without sound.

Such a rookie...

Happy Thursday!

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consider the source

According to the news, yesterday was the Queen's birthday.

"You have been misinformed.

It's May 7th."

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notes from day three

I thought the little grey baby might benefit from a goat coat, especially during yesterday's rainy, raw weather.

Here's a general thought:

no matter how much a person learns from books,

raising animals involves a lot of guesswork and gut feelings...

will such-and-such help? will it hinder?

You rarely get instant confirmation when you make

these judgement calls, but this time I had to laugh:

literally within seconds of donning her polarfleece coat,

the baby simply dropped over sideways

- on her sister - 

and was sound asleep.

Soooo warm!

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Tsuga has phenomenal mothering skills.

She's not a fretful helicopter mum,

but she is aware of her kids

and communicates with them frequently.

In the barn, she even sweeps her feet along the ground

instead of picking them up and plunking them down;

a technique I recognize because I use it myself

when there are new babies underfoot.

~~~

Today while there was a little more sunlight,

I tried to get some pictures of the black kid.

She's pretty darned cute.

Don't you agree?

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I had to spend a lot of time mending fences today,

but went and sat in the barn a couple of times for a break.

Tsuga is being very nice about sharing her kids with me,

but mostly she needs quiet time alone with them.

She doesn't want the other goats around yet, either.

This is all fine.

But it had meant a lot of rearranging of goats,

and hurried mending of winter-damaged fences.

There was a lot of excitement today when Vinca figured out

that she could slip through a tiny gap

into the pen with the big wethers and the matriarch doe.

Good gracious.

And then the boys found that tiny opening and made it BIG.

Instant Priority Task.

I did such an ugly job of temporarily patching the gap,

it is truly embarrassing.

It was, oh my gosh - you know what it was?

A stop-gap measure.

I just hope very much that when I go out in the morning,

all the goats will be where I left them tonight.

Especially Vinca!

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Day Three:

a good day in the barn.

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assuming nap position

I took this yesterday morning, when Tsuga's little black girl was having breakfast (again) and her little grey girl was settling for (another) nap. Hope it makes you smile!

Today before sun-up, I was watching the goatcam and laughing like a loon. Both babies were bouncing around, full of beans. It is astonishing how quickly their coordination develops, literally from the moment they are born. These first couple of days are mind-boggling, every time.

It's a rainy, raw morning, but all is well in the cozy barn.

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By the way:
if anyone has advice about posting videos, please let me know in a comment or email. I tried going direct-to-blogger using the video link in the editing bar, but after loading this video the quality was so poor I took it down immediately. Not entirely comfortable about putting my goats on YouTube, but so far it's the only solution I've come up with. And I'm still not satisfied with the quality; the original is quite sharp.

Any advice appreciated!

ETA: I just switched the little player button to HD and watched it fullscreen. I recommend this if you want to see every wavy little hair on that grey kid. And I'm pretty sure you do  :)

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