Cider Bend-February

 We had a very mild February on the farm. The snow melted, the temperatures weren't terrible, and for a second, we thought we might be done with winter. We knew not to be fooled though, we've lived in Idaho long enough to know better. But we'll take a mild February anytime.

We kicked off the month with a beautiful sunrise.

I get lots of Instagram inquiries about how Reeses is doing. She has quite a lot of people rooting for her, several that don't even live in this country. She has become a farm favorite for sure. I wish a could say that everything has been great with her, but she definitely went through a bit of a rough patch in February. She had another spinal cord stroke, and with each one, the recovery is longer and harder on her. She has good days and bad days, and I monitor her pretty closely. I've noticed lately that she has lost the spark in her eyes. Sometimes I wonder if she's held on so long because she knows we're not ready to say good bye. I was bracing myself to make a hard decision, and then she started to rally again. I feel really strongly that I'll be able to tell when it's time, and I know it's not far off, but I also know it's not right now either. 

Here is a video of her enjoying her morning walk, which she still loves.

I took Reeses on her usual walk one morning, and then when it was time to take the goats, she came out of the barn and started walking with them. I always have her on a leash, but she seemed so confident in going with them, that I just rolled with it. I think she enjoyed the company.

Stormy is getting more and more comfortable around me. He doesn't run and hide when I bring his food out, just kind of backs up and waits very cautiously. 

Donkeys:

The donkeys are great, but are definitely ready for summer.

During our big stall clean out day, Willow was even a bigger pain in the butt than normal. She knocked the wheelbarrow over several times, and refused to get out of the way. Mark was vacuuming out the stall, and she was right in the way of everything. He decided to vacuum her, thinking maybe that would scare her off. Ha, not a chance. She stood there acting like she was at the spa! Then Clover wanted in on the fun, so she backed her butt up to him and waited for her turn. 😂 I guess we know how to clean them in winter now.

Here's a small video snippet of what it's like trying to clean with Willow around. She's so helpful! 😅

She makes everything take 10 times longer, but look at that adorable face. She's really quite hard to get mad at. 💙

Here's some more cute Willow content.

We had to bring a few loads of dirt into the corrals to fill in some holes Willow had dug. We used the 4 wheeler to haul in the dirt, and the donkeys were very curious about it. The examined every inch of it. Often times when people come to the farm to visit the animals, they say they had no idea how small the donkeys were. It's hard to tell from my pictures and videos. The 4 wheeler provided a good size comparison.

Mark took a pause from the work to give Clover a massage. 😊

Cute little smooches!

Goats:

The goats are still just living their best lives.

Nothing cuter than goats frolicking in fresh new snow. 😁

Ginger always has to be leading the pack. One morning she went the wrong way and went quite a ways down the fence line before I called to her. Once she realized she was no longer in the lead, it was almost like a panic took over her. She ran back so fast! I wish I would have been filming the whole thing, but I only caught the tail end of it. 😆

After the goat walk, we usually go back into the barn through the back door. It's right by the hay barn, so that's where we keep the cat's heated water dish. Dolly discovered it one day, and won't go into the barn without drinking almost all of it. The other goats don't even give it a second thought, but Dolly will never pass it by. So funny! I filmed it one day, just so Mark could see. I'm constantly having to fill the cat's water now. 😂

Now that the snow has mostly melted, I discovered something really fun! The donkeys and goats love to race each other along the fence line. It's so fun to watch and has become my favorite part of the morning walks.

Willow lost this one because she wouldn't give up her giant tumble weed! 😂

Sorry for the video overload, but I think they are so stinking fun! Clover is the best; she loves to run, and literally can't do it without bucking! It's so funny! Enjoy these videos, and Clover's happy little kicks. 😄

Enjoy Clover's speed kick at the top of the hill! 😂

One of the more exciting things to happen to me on the farm took place in February. The goats and I got chased across the property by a mama and baby moose! It was so scary, but after it was done being scary, it was so cool! 😅

I had just finished walking Reeses, and got back to the barn. I always walk the animals in this order, Reeses, Donkeys, then goats. I'm not sure I've ever veered from that. When I got Reeses back to the barn, I had a feeling I should take the goats next. I questioned my own thought process, because I had never done that before, but I got the goats ready to go. So grateful I followed my gut! The goats and I had made it to the very far corner of the property when I looked in the neighboring field and saw what I thought was a moose. I'm practically blind without glasses or contacts, so I wasn't quite sure. I FaceTimed Mark and zoomed in to see if he could tell. It's a big field, and whatever I was looking at was clear in the middle of it, so I didn't think much of it. As soon as we rounded the corner, and the goats started running the fence line, the moose took off toward us! I soon found out it was a mama and a baby. I'm sure they would have left me alone and minded their own business, but the goats running must have triggered that response in them. They covered the space between us so fast! I called for the goats and took off running across the field, just praying the goats would come with me. Luckily the goats followed me like champs, and we made it to the other side of the pasture. My heart was racing! I felt better having both pasture fences between us, so that's when I started filming them. Also, Mark was still on FaceTime as I was running through the field. I'm pretty sure I eventually hung up on him while I was trying to get the goats back in the barn. 😅 I got a text from him that he was freaking out, and to call him when we were all safe. The goats were so good, and stayed right with me. I got them safely back in the barn, and then watched the moose come in my yard, eat our driveway trees, and hang out for a while. They hung around until that evening. I didn't walk the animals the next day in case they were still around. Now I look around me all the time when I'm out on walks. I'm so grateful I had the goats out with me, and not the donks. That would have been really bad! 🙏

Never a dull moment around here!

Once they started eating our driveway trees, I got in the car and drove up to them, thinking it would scare them off. They just stared at me, and casually kept eating the trees. I honked a little, and they eventually walked over the fence (yes walked, they just stepped right over with those long legs), and hung out in Larry's backyard for a while. 

There is never a day that goes by that I'm not grateful we decided to move out here. I love it so much! I'm antsy for summer to get here, because I love tackling farm projects, and we have a lot planned!