What did you do today?

[Nanno]

I hope you get some rain soon! The pond at the bottom of our meadow was more like a mud puddle. It never filled over the winter. This morning at 7:00 it was maybe 1 foot from full. Now at 9:30 it's 6 inches from full and the rain hasn't let up and water is rushing down the two gullies that feed it. The pond will be overflowing before this is over. The last time it was full was May 2017.

[Nanno]

And in other news, I looked in the Goat-O-Scope last night and saw a huge eyeball and then a hairy nose up close and personal. I watched for a few minutes and realized that Mocha was methodically pulling the bunched-up power cord out of the camera compartment and happily chewing away on it. We've never had a goat mess with the electronics before. The most they've ever done is give it a suspicious sniff. But Mocha was on a mission and I worried that she'd shock herself on it so I unplugged the unit from the house. This morning I found the bedraggled cord laying in the straw. She'd chewed it right off the camera. It's a good thing it was a cheap camera because there's no fixing it. Snowball is due this weekend. I hope we can rush order a new one before then!

[Nanno]

We have been blessed with a cool, wet spring, but although it was enough to make the grass grow long and green, it was not enough to fill the pond or make the creeks flow as they should in springtime. Yesterday and today that changed. The rain moved in around 2:00 in the afternoon and it didn’t stop. It rained and rained all afternoon, all evening, and all through the night. When we awoke in the morning it was still raining. It continued until around 10:30 a.m. and then stopped. It was never a hard rain that washed away across the fields and straight into the ditches. It was the slow, steady, soaking kind that saturated the ground and got deep into the roots. By the time it stopped we’d had around 4 inches.
   

The pond has not been this full since 2017. When we woke up the pile of rocks next to the cow was still on the shore. By late morning the rocks were a little island. Before the rainstorm, the pond was the size of the red circle and the rest was deep, sucking mud that kept animals from being able to drink from it.
   

The horses sure are enjoying all this grass! Every day is a feast!
   

And here is what's left of our Goat-O-Scope cord. Mocha really did a number on it last night! I wonder if she needs another copper bolus? 
   

[Taffy]

We came back from a camping trip today.  We'd had horrendous winds and a branch had fallen from one of our maple trees.  I hauled it to the goat pen.  Within 1/2 an hour they had devoured all of the leaves and the bark on the side facing up.  I flipped the limb over and exposed the bark on the other side then got out my chair and sat in the pen to enjoy some time with my goats.  I miss them when I don't see them every day.

Little Man was standing over the branch eating bark.  Then he got down on his knees to eat it.

   

I guess that wasn't close enough and the next thing I know he's lying down eating the bark!  Leif walked over to grab a bite, too.

   

Then that crazy Little Man laid down on his side and was chewing on the tip of a twig!  What a goof!

   

[Nanno]

They're such characters aren't they?

[Kat]

That's one relaxed, happy goat!

[Nanno]

What's all this??
   

A Loch Ness Monster moved into our front lawn!!
   

I saw this guy advertised for $100 in the Pueblo classifieds and I couldn't resist. Yesterday was me and Phil's 22nd wedding anniversary and we decided to make a day of it and get ourselves an anniversary present. We drove out with the horse trailer to pick this guy up (he's solid concrete and pretty heavy!!) and we went out for lunch and ice cream and mini golf before returning home with our prize. We had to bury it a bit because of the slope and to make sure goats can't knock it over on each other.  
   

Phil and I think this piece looks great in our front yard. 
   

The goats aren't so sure. Are Ziggy and Sonic brave enough to come in for a closer look?
   

Aw... Ruby thinks Nessie needs a kiss! 
   

Diamond thinks she found a friend. 
   

Baby goat attack! 
   
   

Dusty was pretty interested in the dragon for a little while too.
   

[Saph]

Happy Anniversary Nan & Phil! Leave it to you two crazy kids to turn it into a special memory!

[Nanno]

Phil and I had a very awesome time yesterday. We went up to Dawson Butte open space near Larkspur and made a day of it. I took my horse Dusty so I could ride the x-country course set up there, and Phil brought Finn so they could hike. We didn't see each other much throughout the day, but we both had a fantastic time! Dusty impressed me very much with her jumping skill and style. I started her jumping just a little bit last summer but she was very timid and we never jumped higher than about 2 feet. This year I started teaching a beginner jumping class at RCC Saddle Club on Thursday nights and we've been practicing gymnastic grids. We haven't set up any actual courses yet, so taking Dusty to a real x-country course with many different types of solid fences was a big step for us! She did very well considering how little experience she's had. She jumped every single jump on the course, and any time there was an option for a low or high effort, I pointed her at the high side. Not that anything was all THAT high. I think the biggest jump on the course was about 3 or 3.5 feet, but that can sure look big when you haven't jumped in 10-20 years like me! Dusty was good with the "big" jumps, but she was nervous of the weirder looking ones like the blue plastic barrels, the chicken coops, and this manger thing piled full of very messy straw. But even if she had to stop and look at some things more than once, she eventually jumped all of them. I was very proud of her!

Phil had a good time on the 5-mile loop with Finn. Finn was a trooper, but toward the end of the day he started to flag. Luckily I was done with my ride so I found Phil and Finn on the trail and got off so I could walk the last bit with them. That perked Finn up quite a bit. We were back at the trailers when some ladies who had just finished riding came over to meet Finn. They were blown away by his size, his beautiful horns, his striking colors, his proud demeanor, his polite handshake, and most of all his sweetness. Finn is friends with everyone and he loves being adored. I think those ladies fawned over him for a good half hour. One of them even had some peanuts in her truck which she let Finn have. She got a video of Finn sipping Gatorade from the bottle. He's gotten very good at drinking from a bottle. He barely spilled a drop!

We stopped off for ice cream on the way home and it was the perfect end to a perfect day.

[Kat]

You are definitely an excellent trainer with horse and goat!