Journal Update

We have had some very cold mornings and beautiful afternoons this week. Also .5 of rain when a weather front came through. Overall it is still very dry.

We did see the three-legged deer this week. She was in the back browsing on new grass coming up in the yard. Yesterday morning there were five bucks together in the back. Interesting to see them together as a group. Birds are very active, seeing 6+ on the feeders at a time.

Nothing too exciting happening on the mountain. Did help get some neighbors horses from the road back to their pasture. I also had one of the small goats in road as well. I think I found the hole she got out of and repaired it.

Journal Update

Same winter type weather. Some days nicer than others. We did get .50" of rain. We are really dry and the tank is completely dry. I should scrape the bottom while I can. Still a burn ban and it has also been windy most days. No grass yet, but you see some green beneath the thatch.

The goats are doing well, the little ones are getting big. The male is starting to get larger than the girls. There are lots of birds on the feeders and a lot more squirrels as well. Looks like the wildlife are coming back. I did hear strange noises toward the mountain pasture so walked up there very late. I didn't see anything odd although I did spot several blue eyes reflected in my spotlight. It turned out to be deer. The stars were absolutely beautiful in the cool crisp air.

Journal Update

The weather is getting a little better. It's cold overnight, but warms up during the day. We received .6 inches of rain early yesterday morning which was needed. Its supposed to get cold again in next few days so I filled the stock tanks and filled all the bird feeders. I have seen deer, but I've never seen the 3-legged one again. I also saw the first fox of the year since last post.

Goats are doing well. Momo got into the county road somehow. When it warms I need to work on that fence again.

The county has been working on the county road again. Someday it will get paved, but it is a mess and has been for well over a year since they began working on it.

Roadrunner

Recall this time last year when we had too many foxes. I haven't seen any fox this year. Yesterday I did see a Roadrunner in front of the house where the previous Roadrunner used to hang out for several years before the fox problem. This one isn't as big so I assume it's a young hen looking for home territory. It's welcome. It took a while to get used to the old Roadrunner pecking on the front window of the house. It would really give us a start as it's a very loud noise. It's like someone beating on the glass with a coin. We did get used to it and it would run away as soon as it got our attention. Always the same window too. It may have just been saying hello. Very interesting and I did miss him last year, glad to see one is back, but she doesn't have to knock to say hello.

Journal Update

I didn't mention the goats in last update. I wanted to get a photo first as the kids are getting so big. They seem to stay in individual family groups now where as before all eight kids would stay and play together during the day. They still do somewhat, but when they move or browse they now stay in three family groups. At least all the kids have a mother or big goat with them. Momo is the one in the foreground of the photo. Note her horns. Good form and tail. She looks like she will be a good goat. That's goat feed that you see on the ground.

Very windy today. Some weather fronts have come through, but all the rain has stayed north of us. We could use some rain.

Journal Update

It's been the same cool winter weather until yesterday when we had a beautiful day with a high of 73°. A great day to get caught up on some chores. I did some trimming of cedars which have grown into the roads and trails. Then cut a big cedar and used it as a rake to sweep the gravel roads. The tractor is starting and running very well for not being used much over the winter.

I've noticed some very early signs of spring. Clover is coming up in several places along with something that looks like chickweed. No buds on trees yet. The goats stay up on the mountain longer so something may be coming up.

I saw the first Cardinal of the year on the water fountain today. May be time to set out an early Hummingbird feeder.

I saw something very unusual early this week. A three legged deer. I'll spare the details, but it had no use of a rear leg. Walked fairly well although oddly and didn't seem stressed. It never saw me, but disappeared when I went to look a second time so I guess it can move fast when needed. I have no idea how it is surviving, but as I mentioned I haven't seen signs of any predators lately. I'm not keen on culling deer as I let hunters do that, but this needs to be done. Because of the obvious handicap I thought I would start seeing it around the deer feeders, but I really haven't seen it since. I can't imagine it being able to jump a fence, but maybe it does.

Journal Update

It was a cool cloudy week (30-50°'s) with about 1/2" of rain one day. Overall though it has been very dry so the damp weather was good. I've noticed more deer drinking from the tank by the house and it's because the stock tank has now gone dry. I think they were drinking from the fountain while we were away as well. It did warm up to 70° and got in some work but mainly filling bird & deer feeders, water tanks, fountain, and some road work.

I have noticed more critters this week so they are coming back. Deer hunters probably scared any big cats away.

The kids are getting big and are active. Hopefully there will be grass for them soon. They are really eating the food now and increasing the number of bags of feed needed.

Nothing real exciting happening on the mountain this week.

Journal Update

It seems every time we go out of town it gets real cold and it seemed to be true this past week as well. Neighbors report a low of 18° one night. Thanks for feeding the animals, sorry it was so cold. The kids look so big after not seeing them for a week. Amazing. Looks like some rain this week and it is needed.

Journal Update

We had nice weather over the weekend with temperatures in high 70's. Finally some weather to work outside so the project was clean out the barn. Took awhile, but that was accomplished along with some tree trimming nearby.

The baby goats are young goats now. All of them have their horns started. Jerry, the only male, dropped his goods although we are not going to band him. May need him to trade off duties next time we need a billy goat. They are now eating the goat food and trying to browse as well. Won't be much grass until spring though. Lost one of the big gold fish. There was ice last week on the tank and I'm guessing a raccoon or something was able to trap it. This fish had grown from the size of my thumb to almost the size of my hand.

Hopefully the good weather will continue and we will have an early spring.

New Year Update

The weather has continued with very cold mornings and warmer in the afternoons. A few very cold mornings in the mid 20º range. Too cold or limited time/daylight for a lot of outside work.

The kids are doing fine. They are just now taking serious interest in the goat feed. They rush the gate with the adults at feeding time. Over a month old and they are filling out well. Some look real good as far as form and confirmation goes, but I don't 'show' goats. They will be keepers though for sure.

Still plenty of ladybugs (at least indoors) and finches around. I put out the snacks, cookies, trail mix, nuts, etc. left over from the holidays and that has attracted a few raccoons and squirrels. So they are not all gone. I am curious as to what culled them, but we have also cleared more on top of the mountain so they do have less cover near the house. We are still also getting a lot of deer at the feeder.