6 and counting

So far all 6 kids were born while we were out, sometime late in the afternoon. Red Betty gave us 2 on The Husband's birthday (and yes, Brian, one is a boy). But Red Betty decided she only needs to feed 1 of them, so Hub is doing his favorite thing and bottle feeding Red's little lookalike girl. >>>

The other 2 colorful kids came yesterday afternoon from Bella. The one with the brown mask in both pics is a boy (I think) with his multi-colored sister in the top photo.

All 4 of these kids were born on the worst possible days, when even with the sun it was single-digit cold, and at night below-zero colder. All we can do is help mom dry them off and hope for the best. 

We are all thankful for the sunshine!

Yesterday afternoon, while Bella was kidding of course, we were visiting Steve and Deb up on a very frozen Oneida Lake. They built this beautiful Wiehlhouse all by themselves! And Deb made a matching gingerbread house inside. :)

Boys in the back, birthing and a birthday

During kidding season, the boys struggle to stay in the picture(s) literally.

Especially when frigid weather keeps the photographer inside for as long as possible. The setting sun and posing dogs combined forced me to capture them through a dirty window.

So far we still only have these 2 little girls out in the goat barn. The weather has warmed just a little, so we are hoping Molly goes today, on The Husband's birthday.

Go Molly!

Happy Birthday, Husband!

Goats (and cats) in coats

Well at least Susan Sontag didn't wait for the next cold snap tomorrow to give birth to her 2 littles. I think we have 2 girls, but they weren't too happy being zipped into their coats and checked for spare parts underneath. Thus the look from mom. Or maybe she doesn't like plaid.

But it is Molly Malone who looks like she is about to burst with a kid volcano. She can barely stand up, and has been that way for a few weeks. She is probably the one who will bear us gifts on one of the next 2 nights when it is supposed to be -6°. At least that's better than the -10° they originally predicted.

So I came in from the photo session with the goats in coats, and I couldn't help but notice the Willie in a perfectly sized cat coat. He was looking quite handsome himself, and would like to know why everyone is making such a fuss about goats?

Some of us prefer the warmth

On the frigidest of frigid days I can be accused of making it a bit too warm in the house, but there is only one house creature who prefers sunning himself on the porch when it is 10°. Or rolling in the snow perhaps...

More frigid

Not the best photo, but I had to go outside and quickly take this shot because the camera lens was frosting over...and so was I without my coat. 

This is the coldest I have seen here. It is a few degrees colder because this is on the back porch where the "sun don't shine" until much later in the day.

Update: Later in the day, about 10:30 am, the back porch had warmed up to almost -10°. Crazy Cyrus decided that was warm enough to go outside and lay down in the sun. Apparently some dogs do actually like the cold. I had to get The Husband to convince him to come back in.

Frigid

The below freezing temperatures are somewhat easier to handle when the views from inside are still beautiful, and the temperatures inside are hovering around 80°.

They are not easy at all for the outside creatures who do not have the luxury of snuggling on the sofa with me. Both roosters are truly suffering from frostbite on their combs, which somehow doesn't seem to affect the hens.

And we are still praying that no goat kids come until after this mighty cold spell has passed.

Snow shark

This is the same view out the living room window as the icy one from last week—with the addition of some extra snow and a shark swimming in the foreground.

This sleeping Cyrus is pretty much the only house creature who enjoys the cold. Even in single digit temps he will ask to go outside and lay down on the porch.

How could you like that more than "your" spot on the sofa? You must have some husky in you, Cy.

The wood stove is my friend. When it's up and running it is too darned hot in here...but that's okay...

Difference of a day

A coat of ice covered all the windows facing south when we woke up today. This was after enough of it had melted that you could actually see through to the backyard.

I am not sure how we could have had all the icy rain last night, and melting ice today, since the temperatures were only in the 20°s. Today looks to be the warmest day of the week—Tuesday has a predicted high of 8° and a low of -8°.

It was cold yesterday too, but at least we had blue skies. The goats weren't really interesting in coming out to pose for me. I had to lure them with some fresh hay.

I am pretty sure all of the ladies in these pictures are pregnant, even little Gracie. We are praying they don't feel like delivering their kids in the midst of this cold spell. Molly, who could barely stand up to come outside, will probably be the first to go. At least I still have plenty of goat coats from last year's cold kids.

Tiny moon and a Woody portrait

It was hard to decide which of these photos to make large. Both have a story.

The sunset picture barely shows the horizontal artwork left by some small planes. I was watching them for quite awhile until I just had to go outside to take some photos. There are at least 6 "contrails?" that you can still see. And a very tiny sliver of a moon.

The second pic is of the ever-prevalent WoodMan. He loves to sit by the woodstove, sometimes so close I don't know how he doesn't get singed.

But the story part is that our friend Julie painted a truly accurate portrait of the WoodMan and his charming personality as a Christmas gift for us.

You too can appreciate it in the photo.