Notes From The Homestead

I need to start with the last thing first if I may, and I may because I’m in charge here.   WE HAVE BABY GOATS!!!!!    I am so smitten with the twin bucklings, and mama is apparently a champ because we had no clue she had even kidded.   We had a chaotic morning, with my oldest calling from a half hour away having locked himself outside his car.  Since the drive was necessary anyways, we scrambled to make it to a church service earlier than we typically go to and so I told my daughter, currently the one in charge of morning feedings, to wait until we got home at lunch to feed them {don’t worry,we feed late anyways, they are used to it}.   When we got home at lunch time she started screaming from the barn { the 3-sided ghetto-like structure that our animals are housed in shall hereby be referred to on this blog as a barn.  It bears no resemblance to actual barns, with actual character or stability.   It does contain hay and animals though, and so if you want to picture a lovely red, vintage barn here, please do so.  Just know if you visit the barn looks more like a back alley drug dealing shed. } Anyways,   she screamed for me and -BABIES!!!  At some point, I am guessing this morning, Meadow kidded and had 2 beautiful, healthy looking little bucklings.  We are over the moon, as these are the first babies born to the homestead aside from the aforementioned gazillion rabbits {the creepy white kind, not the cute kind} and kittens.  I am NOT an animal lover in the traditional sense, but give me baby farm animals and I turn into a sap who considers smuggling the babies inside to cuddle.

 

So other than baby goats, this week has brought more winter weather.  LOTS of winter weather.    It really  hasn’t stopped snowing for long, and just as it clears and sidewalks and mailbox areas get shoveled, along comes another snow.   It is beautiful, and the kids enjoy spending the weekends on the snow mobile that they earn the gas for by all that shoveling.   It’s fun to watch them enjoy themselves, but I am constantly yelling, “Slow down!”  and “Don’t hit my trees!”  I am guessing moms invented the phrase slow down.

This morning I awoke {for the second or third time} to the sound of a magpie.   That’s pretty typical here, and they don’t make the loveliest of bird sounds.  But when I went to start the car for church this morning, I was delighted to hear a much more pleasant bird sound.   Not quite the song bird melody that harkens spring, but a softer sound than that of the magpie’s screech.     It makes me eager for green.   To me, March should usher in with flowers budding.   In my head I am garden planning and seed starting, but the reality is still a world of white and will be for a while.   So I will be over here craving spring, but baby farm animals sure help.

P.S. those are adirondak chairs up to their arm rests in snow.