Rain and rain

Rain and Snow are 2 of the young females born last spring. They kidded a few months after the older does, choosing to give birth in warmer weather. Sadly, Snow's 2 kids died in a rough birth. Rain did not even appear to be pregnant, but maybe that's because she only had one small kid in there. Surprise kids are always welcome.

The new chairs out by the firepit are not going to be used anytime soon. Far too much chilly weather with rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Must be spring.

OLD and news

Even though that big birthday is more than a month away, I am proud to say that this OLD lady successfully enrolled in Medicare to start on Saturday. 

I felt old for the first time when I hit 60. Now that I am on Medicare, I feel really OLD!

There are several news at the newspaper where I work: new editor, new publisher, new owners. With a generous gift from Jim, previous owner of all those titles, I bought 2 new Adirondack chairs. Now we just have to hope that the snow is finally gone. 

And the last pic is the best pink moon shot I could get. Another new: one of those little white goats gave us a new kid yesterday!

April showers?

So all those gardening tools on the table aren't going to be much used in the next few days...

We got a little snow shower yesterday that had pretty much melted by the end of the day. This is not uncommon for this time of year in Upstate NY. Then today we got a bigger snow shower, as in several inches. Also not uncommon. Now we just have to hope this will all melt by the end of the day. Probably not since the high for today is only 37°. But tomorrow brings 54°, and Saturday 61°, and both are predicted to be sunny. We'll take it.

That final pic is pre-snow. I was chatting on the phone and the setting sun was reflected in my favorite Milton Glaser poster framed on the wall in front of me. The sun was halfway down behind the mountain. So pretty, but only visible for a few minutes.

Jersey Girls

Kathy and Karen are officially no longer Lucy and Ethel—now Lucy and Ethel are the goats. These 2 little goat kids have moved from Upstate NY to Egg Harbor Township to become Kai's new Jersey Girls.

Karen did provide some entertainment for them on the 5-hour ride south, and I have the video to prove it, but I will spare you. Let's just say there was some singing and yodeling involved.

She even baked peanut butter cookies for the goats, but the goats were so well behaved they didn't need them.

Sharon, the mom goat, was supposed to go as well, but there was a last-minute change of transport vehicles, so she will have to wait for the next trip. At least these 2 sisters have each other for company. And Kai will be spending plenty of time with his babies. He even wanted to sleep outside with them last night.

Best wishes in your new home, Jersey Girls!
 

Finally captured those ducks!

After several tries in setting up the trail camera to catch a picture of the Common Mergansers, I succeeded. Somehow magically I caught a pair of Wood Ducks as well! Wood Ducks are really pretty, so I will try for a better shot. Cousin Greg might even be inspired to sit down there for awhile with his good camera...

I am not sure if any of them, or the Mallards, are nesting there. They all seem to come and go frequently. I am just happy that we have so many different species.

Lucy and Ethel and the goats, and the merganser

Happy Easter everybody!

I just found out that Lucy and Ethel are coming to visit this week to take home some goat babies.

Good friends Kathy and Karen are riding along with Colleen and 3YO Kai to steal away 2 of our adorable goat children. For as many years as I have known these 2, since grade school, Karen has always put a smile on all of our faces with her antics. More than a smile, laughing so hard you cry kinda thing. I am thinking a 5-hour ride from here in Upstate NY to South Jersey with 2 goats in the back of the car should provide plenty of opportunity for comedy. I need photos AND video ladies!

Speaking of photos and video, I still have not been successful in capturing the merganser ducks on the trail camera. They are camera shy. I did however catch a glimpse of the male as he escaped when I came close. He is very protective of his mate and both flew off before I could do better than this...

All 4 of them

I managed to capture the inside animals, all 4 of them, but no luck with the ducks yet.

If you want the video version of the WoodMan preparing for takeoff, you will have to find me on Facebook. He was truly enjoying the winds from the south, since they brought with them the fragrances from the recently emptied pig pen.

Cyrus and Willie have been joining me in bed in the morning while I try to catch up on my lost hours of sleep. I think they are jealous of all the attention to the Woods. He is still waking me up a few times every night to go out, but at least now he goes back to sleep when he is done.

Monkey spends most of the day downstairs. Sometimes he makes himself a little cat wrap on the sofa, just waiting for someone to sit on him. Willie has recently been very brave about joining him. He had been a totally upstairs cat since we brought home that hound dog in 2012. Only recently did he discover all the fun and cookies to be had if he comes down to play with us.

He is in my lap right now helping me type. He needs help with his spelling.

 

Fine craftsmanship

I posted earlier about some beaver work near the spot where I do the water testing. In the large photo, that would be off to the right at the top. The Husband assured me there was more extensive evidence of beavers at work upstream just a bit, and how right he was!

This is the same spot where they had a dam a few years ago that got washed away. Now they are hard at work restoring their home. (I think the red tree is a wild cherry—quite beautiful even in this sad condition. If any tree lovers know better, please ID for me.)

I set up the trail camera on the large tree in the last photo aiming toward the creek and the dam. I hope to get a few photos of the beavers at work in the next week or so before that tree comes down as well.

The real reason for walking down there today was in search of the mystery white duck with a black head that I have seen recently. Too hard to identify, even with binoculars, from the house. I saw it and its mate just before they flew off. The trail cam should catch them too if I aimed it properly. 

The white one was definitely a Common Merganser, according to my Sibley Guide to Birds. The male is only that color from November through July, breeding season, and its head is dark green, not black. The female had the more common coloring for mergansers, mostly gray plumage, with a reddish brown head and a red beak.

So next post will hopefully have some duck and maybe even duckling pics (fingers crossed!) and I will post a Woody update as well. Getting him off the prednisone altogether may be the answer to all the problems he and I have had in the last few weeks.

Better WoodMan and turkey visitors

After consulting with our local vet, we have learned that most of the problems Woody has had in the past week and a half are because of the high dose of prednisone he was prescribed. Drinking too much water, waking up to go out 3 or 4 times a night, constantly begging for food even just after he finishes eating. Dr. Powers cut the dose in half on Friday, and the WoodMan is much improved already. He is almost back to his normal crazy self, and I am almost back to getting a full night's sleep. Almost...

I was happy to have 2 sleeping dogs yesterday afternoon when the turkey parade came for a visit. I find it interesting that they always seem to wander in single file. They are the largest birds I have had so far at the bird feeder. :)

And yes, we still have more than enough snow.

Woody says he's not that blue

Woody says he's not all that blue. He even gave up his blue bed so that the cats could enjoy the sun (which has been hard to find this long winter)!

With the meds he is on, he seems to be doing just fine. He proved that by singing with Gillian Welch last night—trying to convince us that those spare ribs in the oven (that The Husband cooked!) were truly ready to eat. Hungry and crazy as ever. That's my boy!

Blue Woody

Just about everything in this picture is blue, including the WoodMan. We found out after a rough day for him on Friday, and a trip to the emergency vet, that he has an aggressive cancer.

With the meds they sent us home with he is almost back to his normal self, but we don't know how much longer he has. When he stops being his normal (crazy) self, we will know that his time has come.

This black hen comes down the long icy driveway just about every day, mostly by herself. She is a believer that spring is here, in spite of the icy driveway. 

Woody will be happy for spring, because I might just let him go off-leash for some more good romps. We are all looking forward to plenty of romping in the spring!