Possible Snow

There was quite a bite in the air when I went out to take care of the goats this morning.  I am realizing that at least so far, strong winds are normal around here. But today, it felt different.  It felt like snow. As I headed towards the goat yard, I saw that something must have really spooked them, or they got spooked by the wind, because their hay bucket was clear out of their shelter and their water was knocked over inside. Either they had a run in with some animal, or more likely, the wind spooked the hell out of them and they all dashed for the exit together, tossing plastic buckets out of their way in their haste to leave.

Corvallis portable goat shelter

This design of portable goat shelter served me well in Corvallis as I moved Butterbrickle and her twin wethers around to to different places. I thought of it after unloading some cattle panels one day. It takes two people, two cattle panels, 6 T posts, a good, strong tarp, a doz small bungee cords and about twenty minutes. It works great and the goats have always loved it.  Well, until we moved here anyway. I didn’t need it to start with, so I just put it up when we moved to our little house a month ago.  The school owns the lot right next to ours and since Geno teaches Ag Ed at the school, they are letting me put the goats there. Well, that shelter has stood up to some pretty strong winds, but it is not the girls’ favorite place to hang out like it used to be in calm and rainy Corvallis. Here, the tarp takes on a life of its own and is forever trying to lift itself and half the town off the face of the earth. It almost screams sometimes as it beats out its frustation at the cords and wires I use to hold it to the cattle panel. It’s about worn out with the struggle now and beginning to leak in the bargain.

To add gravity to the situation, I’ve been hearing coyote songs at about 2 AM the last week or so, seemingly, under my bedroom window, right next to the goats. And, frankly, I’ve been a bit worried. Which is saying a lot for this ole coyote song lover. The goats are healthy, but, that back fence is about to go down. (See my last blog about fence posts) The doelings are not big enough to fight off a pack and Butterbrickle is getting pretty pregnant. I really did not want her to have to fight off coyotes. And now, it was feeling like snow is on its way and the goats absolutely needed their own little spot in the “barn,” even if it wasn’t pretty. But first, I had to go to Canyon City to cast our ballots for this very important election. Voting has been pretty interesting and expensive, because I had to go in to change our address so that we could vote: it was too late to mail that in. Then, we got our ballots right on time. Only problem was, there was no ballot! We got the secrecy envelope; they had our names and addresses spelled correctly; we got the instructions for voting. We just didn’t get a ballot. Now I joke that it is Gene’s fault because he registered as a Democrat. Before you accuse me of being judgmental, I was joking, but consider this: When we did get our ballots, many of the seats, whether they were for forest council, county commissioner and even state representative, there was only one candidate and that candidate was a registered Republican! I think that is interesting and a cause for concern. I would be concerned if it were all uncontested Democrats too. At any rate, I drove back down to the election office, which is located in Canyon City at the County Courthouse and got the ballots, then I drove back down today to place the ballots in the ballot box. So, three eighty mile round trips, but it was worth it! I must say there was a steady stream of cars pulling into the courthouse parking lot and people delivering their ballots, so I think Oregon’s voter turnout is going to be good after all. Here’s an interesting fact for you. There were only three ballot boxes within  forty miles of us. One at the Mt. Vernon Post Office, one at the Grant County Library in Canyon City and one at the County Courthouse.  That is scary. If someone can’t drive and doesn’t get their ballot mailed on time, they don’t get to vote. There are no drop boxes, to my knowledge, in the schools or anywhere.

The"Barn"

But I digress. I did not get around to trying to resolve the snow, goats, coyote issue until I got back from town. By that time, I’d seen the dusting of snow on the north face of Long Creek Mountain and had resolved to get some type of temporary stall into the barn and get the goats in there before night no matter what. Take my advice. Remove the words “no matter what” from your vocabulary. It challenges the universe to test you. Every step of the process was like trying to put the heart back in an artichoke.  I  preservered and got the stall roughed in with the help of a couple of pallets, a few T Posts, nails and binder twine, and then, dark was closing in. Much to my joy, Geno came home and rescued me at this point in the saga by helping me finish up. All the while, the clouds got colder and the wind bit my ears off before I stopped to get a hat. So, it wasn’t until full on dark (don’t get me started about daylight savings time) that we finished and prepared to show the girls their new home.  Now, Butterbrickle is not a a 4H or “family” goat. She is a herd goat and she is not all that tame. The little doelings are the same. So, they don’t just prance up and frolic about me when they hear my voice at night. No. Night is different. Who knows what I might be.  Add the evil flashlight eye to the equation and then sit back and imagine two people madly trying to herd three very skittish goats down to the shelter and through the gate to their new warm cozy stall. HAH. Butterbrickle may be pregnant, but she is still fast as greased lightning when she has a mind. It is a great aerobic work out, but kind of stinky, since there is no light to see by and lots of “goat berries” to slip and slide on.  Then, it started to rain. sigh. I paused to wonder if I had it in me to mange a goatherd, then Gene had the the brilliant idea to just corner Butterbrickle, attach a lead to her collar and lead her to the barn. The little girls would follow. And that is just what we did. Although it took my additional brilliance of trapping her between the fence and a huge lilac bush and Gene and I. As it was, I had to make a full rolling tackle and hang on somewhat upside down on the ground underneath her neck until I could get her leash on. Three minutes later, the girls were all snug in their stall. Whew. and so, here are some feel good pictures and maybe a pair to make ya’ll laugh. meanwhile, it’s raining at the present time, but snowing hard in Seneca (between Burns and Canyon City), and it’s 37 degrees and dropping. Maybe I’ll have snow pictures tomorrow.

Cozy warm stall

Best Friends

Whachoo lookin at?

I could just kiss you

Yuck! What was on your face?

so, for now, my dears, as my good friend Tim would say; Ciao Spumoni baby!