What did you do today?

[Nanno]

Aw, too bad. At least you got a cool photo before it was ravaged by nature!

[IdahoNancy]

Half a billion years! I wonder how many animals stood on that rock during that time.

[Nanno]

Phil and I took the boys out for a practice drive yesterday afternoon. We're planning to be in the Beulah Christmas parade on Friday but we haven't driven the boys since the State Fair parade back in August. They did awesome. Finn likes to pull a bit too hard when he thinks we're headed back to the truck, and Sputnik has learned that he can slack off whenever Finn is barging ahead, so Finn ends up pulling the carriage all by himself a lot of the time. I'm sure if we drove them more often he'd quickly learn to be patient and wait for Sputnik to pull with him. But neither of them is disobedient or wild, so I think they should be fine for the parade. Can't wait to get the carriage decorated! It looks so elegant even without lights. I'm going to sit up front as the elf driver while Santa sits in the back seat and throws candy.

[Nanno]

Guess who brought in our Christmas tree this afternoon? Yep, Finn was the hero and dragged this puppy all the way from the far end of our property. I usually had my horse Jet drag the tree home for us, but since I lost Jet last July we decided to take Finn. I did have Finn and Sputnik pull our tree back two years ago, but that was kind of wild and a lot more work than handling just one animal. So Finn got to volunteer. He did a great job! He would stop from time to time to let us know that the tree was getting heavy with snow, but as soon as Phil shook it out, Finn was ready to go again. Good boy!  
   
   

[Nanno]

Yesterday was Sputnik's turn to be the macho goat! I felled a small tree halfway down the big hill behind our house, and I thought I would be able to carry it up to the house myself. Well it turned out to be not as small as it looked from my back porch and was much too big for me to drag home in my arms. The goat herd had just disappeared into the bushes, but I called Sputnik and he came running from the herd, eager for the treats he knew would be forthcoming. He followed me to the house where I left the chainsaw and grabbed the breastcollar, singletree, and rope that were all waiting handily near the door where I'd left them after Finn hauled in the Christmas tree.

Sputnik did awesome hauling that heavy log up the hill in the snow. He paused once or twice near the top where the snow gave way to mud and made the going pretty tough, but a few cookies got him going again. He seemed very proud of himself when we reached the house, and I had some extra wood for our stove today. It's a blizzard out there!

[Mountain_girl]

Nanno, that's awesome! I've often thought of using our boys to drag logs...he probably deserved some extra cookies!

[Nanno]

Don't be jealous--Phil and I drove goats today! Finn and Sputnik haven't been driven since Christmas time, and they haven't pulled their single carts since sometime last summer I think. They did awesome and we even staged a couple of short races down the straightaway. I could tell that all the people driving by on the highway were green with envy. 
   
   

After we drove goats, I stopped to pick up something at the saddle club. It was muddy down there. VERY muddy. I started down the hill toward the arena on foot because I knew the truck would get stuck if I drove to the gate. About the time I was beginning to think maybe this was a bad idea, and perhaps I should fetch the item another day, my foot slipped and down I went, KERSPLATT! into liquid clay. Phil had a beautiful view of my acrobatic display from the warm, dry cab of the pickup truck. I decided I might as well walk the rest of the way to the arena because I couldn't possibly get any muddier at that point. I was far too muddy to sit inside the truck. I had to ride in the bed with the goats. Luckily the thing I had picked up from the arena was a mounting block and it made a good seat. I had to strip down outside so I could hose the chunks of congealing mud off my clothes. What a great day! We had a fabulous time goat carting, and we ended it with a hilarious new episode of "Disaster Wife" (one of me and Phil's inside jokes).

[Nanno]

It's been pretty cold the last few days. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise yesterday morning. All the trees were covered in a thick layer of hoarfrost.  
   

Yesterday was so cold I didn't let the goats out of their pen, but little Coral (who we affectionately call "Fuzzy") still had to come to the house to get milked. It's a long way back to her pen and didn't want to make her wait for me out in the cold by herself while I strained milk. So I let her follow me upstairs to the kitchen while I put the milk away. She's a sweet, timid little goat and she doesn't get into things when she's in the house. Most of my goats would behave like a tornado, but Fuzzy just tiptoes around and carefully sniffs things but doesn't mess with them. She's completely adorable and if I were to choose one for a house goat, she would be it.

"Can I come in?"
   

"What's in the sink?"
   

"Oooh... stovetop." 
   

"Did someone say I'm adorable?"
   

I love the lip-smacking. 
   

Off to explore the rest of the house! 
   

[Taffy]

What an absolutely stunning view of the mountain!  Coral looks right at home!  Better be careful or you'll wake up with her in your bed some morning!

Your weather is a lot nicer than ours the past 24 hours.  We're in the midst of a blizzard with 30-50 mph winds.  This type of weather isn't common here.  The entire region is under a state of emergency.  Our hay fields will love the moisture when the snow melts!

Here's the view out our window.

   

When I did goat chores the goats were all warm and cozy in their tank huts.  Joules, my 7 year old doe, took a long time to decide if she wanted to come out in the weather to  walk over to the lean-to.  She's such a diva!  

[Nanno]

Ugh... we've had 30-50 mph winds too. I hate wind. I can tolerate most other kinds of weather, but wind is just nasty. The goats don't seem to mind it, but I sure do!