Bad Luck & New Beginnings...

It was a rough weekend over at the Muddy Manicure. I got home Friday from a doctor's appointment and immediately started mowing the lawn. It felt amazing to get that completed and with the awesome new riding lawnmower I received as a gift from the coolest parents ever it cut the job from about 6 hours to 1.5 hours. Great right?!?

Well, afterwards I let the goats and birds out for their regular afternoon constitutional. I sat outside with them for a while, but then went inside to grab an iced tea (which I had to make). I was inside no longer than 20 or 30 minutes and when I came back outside Spatz was dead under my rig! I am devastated! I still don't know what she got into but whatever it was the other twin (Bug, renamed Goatie) didn't get into it. She's alive and well. Thank goodness!

I spent Friday evening frantically searching Craigslist for another goat and after hearing back from a couple people I was able to purchase one only 60 miles away. That's amazingly close if you're not used to Montana distances!  So without further ado, I'd like to introduce Lala. Lala is 3/4 Nubian and 1/4 Saanen, so she will be an excellent milk goat when her time comes. She is only 8 weeks old so it'll be a while! Lala was a bottle baby (thankfully weaned now) and so she wants to be right where you are. For those of you who have ever bottle fed any type of animal, you know what I mean. I had a bottle fed pig a while back and Piddy was the same way. :) So far Lala is settling in well, and we're working on her getting used to me, the dogs, Goatie and being touched everywhere. We're doing so well! :)

Goatie (formerly Bug) is doing much better now that she has a friend to keep her company, and to boss around! Goatie's name change occurred because she won't answer to Bug and I always greet the goats in the morning as, "Good morning goaties!" I think she though that was her name so I just started calling her that. And she comes to the name - done deal! :)

Here is a short video of Goatie and Lala playing in the driveway. It's a hilarious thing sometimes, and they do it every evening when I let them out to roam. I am on high alert from now on and the goats won't be left alone! It's always a learning experience. :/

Also...major victory! I was able to harvest a handful of spinach from my cold frame. I like to call them my window boxes. :) The one with the spinach in it was almost a lost cause on Friday afternoon because I wasn't watching the front end of my lawnmower and hit the frame! It was bent off square but I was able to man-handle it back into shape and only lost some lettuce. It was a good thing from my point of view. :) My other window box holds my precious strawberries, and I actually have some berries growing! It's awesome!!! :) I bought some window screen and will put it up this afternoon to keep the birds (and dogs) out of it while the berries grow. I'm not worried about bees, etc. getting in there to pollinate because the box is off square enough to have several areas where insects can get in to do their business.

Well, I'm going to do some old-fashioned pen-paling to my relatives now so I'll check ya'll later! :)