Something nice to smile about

"I'm really not a morning person," I overheard someone lament the other day, "I can't seem to get myself out of bed before 10am."
10am!? I thought.  I can't imagine staying in bed so long.  At dawn the deer and other animals are out grazing.  The beasties are all ready for breakfast, yet anxious to go outside to graze and play.  Early morning light seems softer than later in the day.  Temperatures are cool, so the bugs seem minimal.

Out in the pasture, the girls are finding all sorts of tasties to enjoy.  The chickens are snacking on fresh grass and creepy crawlers.  The goats are delighted by the wide selection of things growing out there.  Some folks think that the only thing grazers eat is grass.  Each animal type, cows, horses, goats, even pigs, have different dietary needs, so the pasture needs to offer graze and browse to fill those needs.  A pasture suited for goats may be inappropriate for dairy cows, and visa versa.  Personally, I like the variety of ever changing flowers.

 Many parts of the pasture are carpeted with wild strawberry blossoms.  If we get good rains, the resulting fruits are large, plentiful, and delicious.  If rain comes sparingly, the wild strawberries are small, dry, and very seedy.  You can guess what we prefer.
Meanwhile out in the orchard, the apple trees are all doing well.  While dormant, they were pruned and checked for issues such as insect egg sacks.  I'm pleased to say, that so far so good.  We have a bounty of pink tips promising lovely flowers later in the week.

Spring has Sprung...toys

Did I mention that everything is a toy?  the girls got some new toys this morning.

The little goat shelter we built last year, was moved so that the girls could play on it.  As heavy duty as it is, they still manage to move it around, even with someones sister standing on the roof.

Of course, playing with the spool never gets old...

Spring has sprung...for the moment

The weather has warmed up rapidly.  Hard to believe that only a month ago the goats and chickens were bouncing around in the snow.

Franny mugging for the camera

 The girls have all been enjoying their time outdoors. As soon as breakfast is woofed down, they're busting out the back door and down the lane to their pasture.  We've been exploring different items to be used as toys.  Although based on our experience, nearly everything can be a toy.

The tie down straps to the portable goat house, that took us the better part of an hour to winch down, took them all of ten minutes to pop off and proceed to toss about the paddock.  The bucket of hay to supplement their forage is tons of fun to dump out and, while your sisters roll around in the straw, boot and butt the bucket, while jumping on and off the up tuned bottom.  The old wooden spool that at one time held wire (sans wire, of course) is not only a good perch but also an excellent way to scratch one's belly while preventing your sisters from playing with it.

Jellybean insisting that the weather is far to nice to wear a coat, as she helps me unzip mine.

At the end of the day, the little goat girls all come in for their dinner.  After their good night cookie, curl up for happy goat dreams.  Dreaming of further adventures tomorrow.