The waiting is the hardest part

 As Duluth celebrates the return of its Olympic stars

 including Maddie Rooney (goalie, gold medal winning Women’s Hockey Team)

 and the Duluth Curling Club (aka gold medal winning Team USA)

 MeadowWild prepares for the Goat Olympics – at least the Kidding competition.

 If Eliot’s April is the cruellest month

 MeadowWild’s February is the longest month; 

 winter drags on well beyond the time that cold and snow seemed new, bracing and welcome

 and the suspense connected with kidding is nerve-wracking.

 It doesn’t help that for weeks other farms have been posting photos and videos of 

their cute baby goats, such as the McCann Farm’s trio from Echo and Mojo.

(photo courtesy of Brian)

All that adorability makes it even harder to remain patient as the MeadowWild ladies take their own sweet time getting ready to deliver.

 

 The birthing suites are constructed and equipped 

 (under curious eyes)

 and heinies have been clipped on the first two entrants (Alice and Cheeky), who could deliver at any moment now.

 February continued the roller-coaster rhythm of this year’s winter;

 the thermometer dropped to -25 on Feb 6

 then soared to a record-breaking 43 on Valentine’s Day,

 then back down for below zero nights, then up to an unusual 45 on Feb 26th.

 During the cold days, Momma Kitty continues to stay comfy in the sunny east window of the garage protected by her mountain of hay bales.

 Dustin has cozy beds in front of most heating vents

 but takes occasional time out from napping to check his “likes” on Facebook

 and demand attention by positioning himself in front of the desktop computer.

 After an unusually dry winter, snow levels are catching up with a succession of storms

 and March tends to be snowier here than Feb, so we’re sure to enjoy lots more.

 Vigilant Cat, almost buried, scans the skies in vain for signs of spring.

 In between the recent storms Barb took the girls out walking,

 hoping to jog some babies loose. 

 Alice checks out the new tires on the Goatmobile; a flat in one necessitated replacing all four (damned modern AWD vehicles) at a cost of $1038.01.

 Then back to the barn to continue waiting

 all under the watchful eyes of the gentlemen.

Our next blog entry should be full of enough baby goat cuteness to trigger

 sugar overload warnings

and diabetes alerts.