Partly sunny and 41°F this afternoon. The snow piles are shrinking, the corrals are muddy.
Turned the five-week old lambs out in the pasture with the rest of the goats and sheep. The sheep have been sheared but seem to be maintaining their body heat well with the extra hay they have been given and the dry bedding. In years past, the temperatures have been much colder, resulting in shivering sheep that I keep in the barn at night. It's nice to see the lambs exploring their surroundings.
This coming weekend, one of the ewes (she had quadruplets--one died two days later) and three other ewe yearlings and our milk goat Sugar will go to their new home on the west side of the state. A couple of the lambs are bottle-fed to help supplement the ewe with only half of her udder working. The lambs now recognize our voice and run for the bottle. Ellie (my 20 yr old daughter) will be sad to see those bottle babies go, but she will have plenty more kids (goats) in a month or so.
Luke (6) has been riding his bike on the icy-snow-packed driveway. It's melted just enough to create a rooster-tail behind him as the tire picks up some of the muddy slush, leaving a splattering of mud up the back of his coat. He loves being outside. I don't care how dirty he gets and how many pairs of pants he wears the knees out in; he's active and occupied. Heading out now to see what he is up to.
