What did you do today?

[Nanno]

It ended up snowing about 8 inches yesterday and it snowed gently all day today and gave us several more inches. It's 10 degrees out there right now. I'm not sure I approve of January weather in October, but I guess it beats drought and wildfire season. Phil and I are thinking of dressing as Santa and Mrs. Claus for Halloween (provided they don't cancel Halloween this year).

[Taffy]

I just looked at your weather.  NOAA says you're currently 16* with snow, freezing fog, gusts to 37 mph and wind chill of -4*.

My 36* with 31* windchill is pretty nice compared to yours!

I had the goats out while we were raking leaves today.  Joules prefers her es served to her in a can!

   

[Kat]

25.7 this morning here, that's nothing compared to 16 with snow and that windchill, omg... I spent an hour this morning cleaning and feeding before heading to work, hands got cold quickly every time I stepped outside the goat shed or touched something metal. Only wear those disposable gloves 'cause I'm picking up poop and pee-soaked stuff I can't rake up, gotta get a thicker pair of rubber gloves to put over those.

I need to pick up more leaves too before it rains again, spoil all their eating fun haha... well, they're rotting now anyway.

[Nanno]

As you can probably guess from the photos, I have been shoveling a lot of snow and breaking a lot of icy water troughs over the last few days. It was 9 degrees last night--way too cold for this time of year! I'm not ready for these temperatures for at least another 6 weeks.   
   
   

TinCup got very thin during late summer and fall. She's been gaining weight since I started drying her off recently and I was afraid she'd lose ground trying to keep herself warm, so I blanketed her. 
   

Petunia normally stays fat and doesn't need a blanket, but she was sick yesterday morning! She was shivering miserably in a shed by herself when I came out to feed hay. I brought her down to the house and realized that not only was she shivering and not hungry, she hadn't made any milk during the night either. She jumped on the stand eagerly but only halfheartedly nibbled at her grain and chaffhaye. Her temperature was 99.4. Then she started coughing into her feed dish. I worried that she was coming down with something so I gave her a shot of LA300 and a shot of vitamin B complex. I blanketed her before putting her back in the pen. She started eating hay when she got out there and I checked on her a few times throughout the day. Thankfully by evening she was her normal, bossy self and jockeying for a position at the feed rack and she seemed fine this morning too. Nevertheless, she's staying blanketed until tomorrow! Unfortunately the antibiotics mean I can't use her milk for a couple of weeks. Bummer!  
   

Hi Sadie!
   

My fences are a complete disaster right now! Hopefully they'll mostly spring back on their own once the ice melts off. 
   

Do you guys think we got enough snow? 
   

[Nanno]

The goats have been very funny lately. I visited my in-laws in Massachusetts last weekend and while I was gone Petunia came into heat and went looking for love. Phil found her hobnobbing with the neighbor's Nigerian Dwarf bucks (they have about 15 of them right now ) while the rest of the goats were bunched up in a corner of the neighbor's goat pen, keeping themselves as far from the riff-raff as possible. I was afraid maybe some of my other girls may have gotten bred as well, but this weekend they proved me wrong. Every single doe with the exception of Petunia came into heat yesterday or today. Finn has been running like mad all over the pen with his tongue hanging out while the girls flap their tails in each other's faces. They run from Finn because they know he's a dud, and poor Finn can't figure out why they don't love him. 

Petunia, on the other hand, has found herself the main target of the girls' affection. You see, she still smells like her date from last week and she's the only one in the pen with that maddening eau de bouc. I kept everyone penned today except Finn, Sputnik, and Petunia. I figured she could use a break. Well this afternoon, little Snowball came into raging heat and jumped the fence... to court Petunia. Petunia was furious. She hit Snowball as hard as she could and kept biting her ears, but the little coquette refused to be discouraged. All I can say is that it serves Pet right! She had no business conducting a rendezvous with the neighbor's miniature gigolos!

Thank goodness it looks like my neighbors may have finally rounded up their goats and shipped them to the sale barn this afternoon. I wouldn't mind so much about their goats if they would just band all the bucklings. If they had only one or two bucks my girls might not notice enough to troop down there, but the girls can't possibly overlook the stench of over a dozen rutting bucks!

[Kat]

Now that is funny!!! lol

[Nanno]

We've been very busy around here lately. I recently decided to sell my big horse, Skokie, and buy something more my size. Skokie ended up going to the Master of the Rockbridge Hunt in Virginia! I hope he does very well out there. I think it should suit him perfectly once he gets into the swing of things. With his dark bay coat and Seattle Slew and Secretariat lineage, he certainly looks the part of a well-bred Eastern Thoroughbred. I took photos of him on his last day here and he was so magnificent I almost regretted selling him, but I reminded myself that Skokie and I have never really clicked, and he's so big I get sore after riding him for more than an hour or two. Nevertheless, he looked as though he were posing for a statue in Kentucky Horse Park.
   
   
   
   

The day before Skokie left, my friend Tiffany and I drove down near Trinidad and picked up a young Morgan gelding I'd looked at a few weeks earlier. He's about 18 months old and I named him Pepperjack. He's absolutely adorable. I wanted a filly, but I couldn't pass this little guy up. Look at that sweet face! He's curious about everything and not the least bit skittish. He's going to be a lot of fun to train!
   
   
   
   

[Saph]

He looks very sweet. I love Morgans. Welcome, Pepperjack! I'm sure you will love your new home!

[Charlie Horse]

As a fellow morgan owner... Thumbs up!  Morgans are very rare here.  For all I know I have the only 2 in the county.  Your new guy is fantastic!

My horse Mare-ilyn (Summerfield's Spring Beauty) is half Lambert (Very rare type) and half US Cavalry+Lippet (Another rare type).  If I had the money I'd buy another just like her, since she's getting ready to retire from being useful soon.

https://www.lambertmorgans.com/

   

[IdahoNancy]

I was born and raised in Vermont. Morgan horses were everywhere, they were gentle and hard working. Moved west 30 years ago and rarely see them now.