How do I love thee, let me count the ways...

I love you enough to drag myself out of my warm cozy bundle of blankets at 3 am when the temp outside is -15 actual temps in order to make sure none of you are shivering and to give you extra hay to make sure you can generate enough body heat to keep warm.



I love you enough to lay on my stomach in amniotic fluid at midnight with my arm up to my elbow in your backside to turn your kid around and help you get it out.



I love you enough to carry 100 pounds worth of frozen hose in to my house every 5 days to thaw it, then slog through knee deep snow to make sure you have fresh water at all times.



I love you enough hand knit you sweaters so you won't be cold.



I love you enough to rinse out your bucket when you have been sick.



I love you enough to find that gap in your teeth adorable and still laugh myself silly over the funny faces you make.





I love you enough to say goodbye when you are ready, even when every part of me wants to hang on.





I love you enough to let you be you.

Bitter.

It is so cold outside that my camera wouldn't work.

I woke up this morning at around 3 am. Checked my email and my weather add on for Firefox said it was -15 degrees. Tsu spent the night hanging with our "bestie" Jer since they are both currently somewhat "under employed" so I had the house almost to myself. Tiff had been feeling yucky all weekend so she was mostly huddled in her room at her computer with her space heater turned up, groaning a lot about how horrible she felt.

At any rate, when I saw how bitter cold it was out there I bundled up in my mid-70's snowmobile suit, knit hat, scarf, gloves and muck boots and headed out to toss all the herbivores some hay to light up the fire in their bellies to keep them warm.

My glasses immediately frosted over to the point that I couldn't see and even breathing through the scarf the cold froze my nose hairs. Everyone outside seemed toasty warm, though all the goats were crowded as close to the heat lamp as they could get. I made sure everyone had fresh water as well, then dashed back into the house and burrowed into my sleeping bag on the futon couch. Before long I was buried under a pile of living furballs and one coat wearing skin ball, lol. If there were a way to bring the hooved (hoofed?)family members inside to keep warm I'd do it in a heartbeat, hehe.

I woke up several hours later and headed out to do my actual chores. It had warmed up to a whopping -6, actual not wind chill. I took my camera thinking I could get some updated pictures of the babies, but the screen on the camera wouldn't even light up in the cold. After i fed and watered everyone I just sat in the stall with the goats for a while and let the babies climb all over me. They make me laugh so hard.

This cold is just sucking the energy right out of me.

Our keeper, Chickory.

Hey! whatcha doing?



My plan for this year with our goats was for me to buy a nice meat type myotonic buck to cross with my does next breeding season, to wether Parsley to be said new buck's companion, to keep back a doe out of Sage and Parsley if I got one and to feed up then eventually eat all the other kids. That was the plan when Tsu had, ya know, a JOB.

Now it hardly seems responsible to be spending a couple hundred dollars at minimum on a new buck, and I didn't get my doeling anyway. So... I'm going to put a hold on the whole "buying a meaty buck" plan, and the "wethering Parsley" plan. I'll keep Pars as a buck for another year and use him on Sage in hopes of a girl next year. I'll try and find a local Boer or other meaty buck to borrow or rent for the twins if things haven't improved enough to let me buy my own. And to keep Parsley company so he doesn't have to live alone I'm going to keep one of the three boys.

I've decided to keep the first one since I am just in love with his colour and he is the most friendly and people focused of the kids. I'm going to wether (neuter) him and train him to pull and carry a pack. He already follows me everywhere, and wants to be right next to me all the time.

I'm comin' to get you!!




BIG stretch!!



Whatcha doing?



HEY! I'm right here!!!




So... the twins were exploring the baby table, lol. man, they crack me up.



I got a picture of Tulsa. He just showed up one day. Some times he is here, some times he isn't. He got his name because he meows with an Oklahoma accent. It's hard to explain. hehe.



He still takes my breath away. *sigh*