Feeling like February

Every year about this time Wayne will remind me to look at the calendar. I'll smile and say, "Okay, I know, I know...spring is coming." It seems that I tend to get the 'I'm tired of winter' struggles come late January or February. This year it held off until we all came down with a cold. It has now officially been experienced by all of the Jackson 9...Wayne was the last hold-out.

Yesterday I decided to take a dose of a special treatment...go out and 'talk' with the animals as I puttered in the barns.

The alpacas were first. Their barn got cleaned out again while they 'inconspicuously' watched. I would be shoveling and carrying the 'paca beans' out to spread in the field and feel eyes watching me. I'd look over at them and they'd quickly divert their eyes as though they were not the slightest bit interested in what I was doing. When I stayed in the barn for a moment or two longer than normal, at least one of them would come and peak around the door frame to check on what was keeping me inside. I get such a kick out of their pretending not to be interested. I finished the cleaning job by bringing them a fresh supply of hay. Now, all of sudden they couldn't get close enough! They were pulling the hay out of my arms as I tried to make my way through the gate without dropping hay into the giant mudpuddle.

The goat/rabbit barn came next. Little Creek has definitely grown up. He's almost the same size as his mother, but that doesn't seem to slow him down. He loves to jump up on the stall wall and then into the hay loft. His other favorite hang out is on top of the rabbit cages. Evidently he'd been hanging out on Esau rabbit's cage because it was tipped over. Esau was reassured that all was well and given an extra ration of bunny food. Arthur the Angora decided he should get some attention, too, which brought Diego hopping over to the front of his cage for some tlc.

The chickens have decided that the goat barn is a better location for egg laying than the nest boxes in the hen house so we have to go on a search for eggs every day. They really like going to the topmost bale of hay in the hay loft and use that as their nest. Katelyn figured out a way to get the eggs without having to face fearsome baby goats and protective hens...she goes into the woodshed (which is on the other side of the hay loft's wall), climbs onto the woodpile, and reaches through the opening near the rafters, quickly gathering the eggs and putting them in the egg basket or her hat--whichever is handy.

Mama goat was quite personable yesterday and wanted me to pet her. She's very fickle with milking--they never know how she's going to act--but she certainly does like to have someone to talk with. (Yes, she does answer!) She climbed up on the milking stand with no problem as I cleaned around the barn, but then she knew she wasn't getting milked--she was just looking for some left over grain in the milk stand trough.

Little Creek took the opportunity of my leaving the outer door open to jump over the stall wall and escape into the backyard. Thankfully, Katelyn had warned me that he was on his way out so he didn't get far before I got him pinned and back into the barn. He forgave me when I loaded up the hayrack with new hay.

I finished putting away the shovels and hayfork, picked up a few eggs found in the otherwise empty brooder, and returned to the house. Wayne was playing the piano. He looked up and smiled as I told him I was going to go 'hit the shower' since I smelled like a barn. Somehow spring doesn't seem so far away and I think I'll make it through the rest of the winter. I guess I just needed a dose of barn tonic.