I had plans for some cute holiday-style pictures with the flock, but alas. Too much rain and mud.  I was able to get out very briefly the other day during a rare dry spell and get some halfway decent pictures of a few of them, but otherwise we’ve been stuck inside.

It’s not rained at all today, and the sun came out finally, so hopefully we will be drying out to an acceptable level soon!

The one bit of good news with all the rain is that the back field is getting pretty green. I’m glad we have been able to rotate everyone out front for awhile and give the pasture a chance to rest and recover and grow.  Then of course there is the issue of shoring up the fencing out there before we can put the flock back out.  For now, it’s nice to see that it’s not a wasteland.

And now, because the internet was clearly created for cats, I give you gratuitous feline pictures!

My little Miss Dilly.  She’s been spending quite a bit of time at the vet lately.  A few weeks ago we noticed a lot of bruising on her.  According to her bloodwork, her immune system was attacking and destroying her platelets, so her blood was unable to properly clot. She’s been on steroids and antibiotics, and will go back in a week or so for more bloodwork. She’s doing pretty well, and she’s the easiest cat ever to medicate, which is a blessing!, but I still worry about my little baby cat.

Sweet and cuddly Widget.  This little guy is the lap-lover we’ve always wanted. Most days he travels from lap to lap, sampling everyone’s cuddle offerings before deciding who he will settle in with for the long haul.

Baby Poppet. We’ve been calling her “Miss Schnurrbart” (schnurrbart being German for “mustache”).  That tiny little white upper lip just kills me with its cuteness. She can be very sweet and snuggly, but not nearly as much as Widget. She’s got a much more bossy, independent streak to her.

The older two kitties boycotted pictures. They are tolerating all the kittening happening here lately, but it’s clear that they feel we should be very grateful for their graciousness.

Sorry for being absent. We’ve been wallowing, both in the terrible, miserable, excessively rainy weather, and in what feels like the beginning of a terrible cold virus.

We did manage to get our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving; we bought a lovely fat one from the local nursery, and promptly had to buy several more sets of lights for it.  It’s far bigger than what we usually get.

I love having my little straw goat back out! Which reminds me, have you been keeping an eye on the Gavlebocken?

The kittens, of course, have been ecstatic for such a fantastic new toy! Thank heavens our friend Kim had a cat tree for us to keep them (somewhat) out of trouble.

Dilly is happy to be on the top, where she can see the birds from just inches away. Poppet and Widget like to hang out below, occasionally taking swipes at the long orange tail hanging down from above them.

Today they’re all happy to see the sun again, and have warm spots to stretch out.  It’s been pretty dark and nasty the last several days, adding to the overall malaise that I seem to be afflicted with. Even my knitting is growing at a snail’s pace.

The dogs have been tracking in an epic amount of mud (and poop, let’s be honest here), and everything just has felt damp and gross. We’ve all been parking ourselves close to the Christmas tree for some relief from the yuck that has been this week.

Against my better judgment, I’ve even left the front gate open so the goats could stay on the front porch (they just don’t want to use the calf hutches we have for them) and to keep myself out of the rain when I let the dogs out. They’ve broken several posts on the railings, and I don’t think I need to tell you what it looks like out there now.

But I will show you:

That’s right outside the front door. It keeps getting wetter and more ground in by the day. Fancy!

So imagine, now, the dogs walking through this to get in the house……and tracking it in with them.  On the plus side (if you can call it that) the kittens enjoy batting around the little round goat poops.

This is the reality of farm life.  We like to capture and share beautiful, idealized, sanitized pictures of life on the farm, but the reality is so much dirtier, smellier, poopier.

Still, I wouldn’t trade it.

What I WOULD trade, is this headache and sore throat.  There’s too much to enjoy about December for me to feel this way!

Paul has spent a lot of time outside working hard to get a new fence in place.  As of this evening, it’s about 99% complete.  Paul has some finishing “Orzo proofing” touches to put on it first. And by “Orzo proof”, I mean, “cross your fingers”. We think we’ve got it worked out, but we don’t want to be overly cocky.

It’s a fairly small pen, given what our needs are, but we are going to do it one section at a time, as we can afford it.

It did make me very happy to bring the flock up and put them out on fresh grass this evening while Lucy ran around and played without being tethered.

A very impatient Orzo surveys the progress.

Caramel

Oona likes how the new gate is looking.

Lyra and Willoughby

Alabama and Carina

The flock and dogs will spend the winter in this pen while we work on the remaining fencing and property.  For now, I am going to enjoy sitting on the front porch and watching my lovely flock graze.