It Rained A Little

And then it rained a lot!

I think we are out of the woods.  I'm still waiting to hear how last night's thunderstorm turned out in relation to the fires.  It was pouring buckets here, pounding on the roof.  Excellent.  But also a lot of lightning.  Bad.  Everything is well drenched this morning.  I think we are safe now.

Mindy is doing ok, mostly back to her former self.  She won't allow us to milk her, but the engorgement has subsided.  She jumped the gate (4 feet high) to escape the milk room.  She's not looking for her baby, and looking thinner.  Whatever may have happened, I'm not expecting her to be raising a calf this year.

Dorie still looks quite hefty, but not as big as she was. Sharlotte is doing well. She's very energetic, and oh so cute. Very shy though.

Rear view of Dorie still shows quite a bulge in the belly, but she's lost weight in her hips since winter.  I will probably keep watching and waiting all summer.

4 days of steady fencing, and Casper is still escaping. We've got three strands of barbed wire above the field fence on the south side, and uncrinkled the field fence where it was smooshed up. We replaced 10 posts so far, that were broken, damaged, or weak. The west side has two strands of barbed wire above the field fence, and one below. There were a couple of low spots  that he may have been going under. The north side is still good and solid from when we fixed it two years ago.

 The east side still needs a couple more new posts. There were about 8 posts that the critters had managed to push the staples out of at the bottom, so the field fence was hanging loose. That's all fixed, and two strands of barbed wire above. We'll put a third strand up before we call it done, although I can't believe he's getting out there. #2 keeps joking that it's starting to look like a prison fence.

Which brings us to the mess around the barn. The fence that they all wreaked havoc on throughout the winter. There's field fence, with chain link attached to it right around the barn. The previous owner raised turkeys where we have the hay lean-to. There's one strand of tight barbed wire, and about 6 strands of loose, patch worked barbed wire over the bad spots. I don't believe he's getting out there either. Time will tell though. Another week at most, and it will all be repaired/replaced. If he's still getting out then, my suspicion will be confirmed. I believe he's jumping the fence. And if that's the case, he will be living in his own paddock around the barn, once we get the winter sacrifice area fenced off eight feet high.

 The bad news to all of the fence repairs- particularly over those low spots on the west side- is that the goats appear to be trapped. They are supposed to go out the back and browse through the day, cleaning up the brush and reducing our fire risk. We're making plans to install a goat gate for them- a narrow opening in the fence with a bend that the bigger critters shouldn't be able to maneuver.  In the meantime they're stuck eating hay and grass, which really isn't an ideal diet for a goat.