4/24/11

Easter or Christmas?

The calendar reads spring, but it's been fairly wintry of late.
The front pond was still icy on the morning of April 12; by afternoon the ice was gone.

Nearby Spring Lake has been open for several weeks now
but we keep slipping back into winter
with a healthy dusting of snow
on April 16
for Steve's customary Saturday morning walk around the block.
The weather has kept him from trying his new bike out on the Munger Trail.  Maybe white wasn't the best color for this area, and snow tires are still appropriate.
The Cloquet bunny proclaims Easter, but lately it's seemed a lot more like Christmas.
On icy and snow days
the herd stays inside 
to climb all over the wood pile and hay bales.
For a few anxious days, Kona's boy developed droopy ears
which can be a sign of weakness and abnormal development
but by the time he went to his new home on April 11
his ears were standing straight up again
and he was full of vim and vigor (thanks probably to the Vitamin E shots Barb gave).
Juju missed her penmate and playmate for a bit
but has been having lots of fun cavorting with Terra and Freya.
Every chance they get the girls race out of the barn
to see what new greenery is springing up in their pastures.
The babies are especially enamored 
of racing around their truck topper like Nascar speedsters
and jockeying for position as Queen of the Hill.
A wooden pallet also makes 
for prime real estate to be fought over.
Despite the weight disadvantage, Juju holds her own --
for a while, anyway, until Freya nudges her along.
Even the slightest elevation becomes a launching pad.
Barb uses a tape measure to keep track of the babies' weight gain
and receives lots of advice from the Peanut Gallery.
Juju is the friendliest of the newbies
and likes to sit on Barb's lap.
Lassi and Terra try to convince her she's a goat rather than a puppy.
After a hard afternoon's romp, Freya and Terra literally hit the hay
while Juju relaxes in her cave (which she has pretty much caved in from jumping on it).
There's spring in the steps, too, of our resident mink-squirrel population
and inevitable deer.
The geese are now nesting
and a flock of turkeys checks out the west meadow
but then heads back into the woods because the weather is just a bit too reminiscent of Thanksgiving time. 

4/6/11

April Fools

 April 1 dawned with
 another of Mother Nature's little jokes:
 a fresh blanket of spring snow.
 Finding no fresh greens for breakfast in his grazing area,
 a disgusted Mr. T heads back to the Gentlemen's Club to watch ESPN on his 52-inch plasma TV.
 Two days later (April 3) a little jokester arrives.
 Lassi's doe stuck her head out of Mom, looked around, and decided not to come out any farther.
 Barb had to go in after the rest of her, which was not much fun for anyone involved.
But little Juju-dhau is doing fine  
 (in keeping with Lassi's yogurt-based theme, she's named after "Delicious creamy curd from Bhaktapur, a must at all feasts. Juju Dhau literally means 'king curd.'")
 and Lassi is proving an exemplary mother.  Here the two cuddle together the morning after the birth.  Sire is Dodger's Chief.
 And then around sunset that evening (April 4), Kona went into labor.
This little jokester with the big noggin didn't even want to poke his head out.
 
 Kona worked toward exhaustion and Barb tugged away to help her
 until he finally popped out, feisty and strong from the start.
 While Lassi showers Juju with constant attention
 Kona feeds and bathes her boy regularly, but prefers to stay away from him much of the time.
 Fortunately the two newbies get along famously
 and love to cozy together like any pair of womb-mates.
 So the recent deliveries didn't go as easily as in years past, but all the babies are doing fine.
 They were like so many human twenty-somethings these days; they just didn't want to leave the warm and safe comforts of their first home.
 Mr. T is justly proud of his latest progeny (Alba's Terra and Freya and Kona's Boy)
and Dream is proud of her grandchildren, the triplets 
Dream's daughter Desiree delivered at Kirsten and Chad's place:
two doelings
 and a buckling. 
 Meanwhile, across the barn, Terra and Freya 
 
 survived the disbudding iron and are getting bigger and stronger each day.
 They love to get outside
 and see who can spend
 the least amount of time 
 
 touching ground.
 
  
 
 Back inside the barn they climb on anything that's elevated
 eat hay with Mom
 and crash together for a few rare moments of rest. 
 Freya has the same cute bug eyes that Alba had as a doeling
 and Terra does a mean imitation of Yoda.
 In non-goat critter news
 deer are boldly hanging around the house in broad daylight
 and watching to see when the gardens will get planted.
 Occasionally pairs of geese check out the still frozen front pond
honk to keep intruders away
and then move along.  "We'll be in Key West; tweet us if spring ever arrives on the Farm."