Cider Bend-October

 I love fall on the farm! Everything is beautiful, the mornings and evenings are crisp, but usually warm up nicely during the day, and we feel the push to get stuff done before winter hits. Although I don't love the shorter day, this is the time of year when it's dark when I head out to take care of the animals in the mornings, so I'm out there for the great sunrises again.

Run-In Shelter:

Mark started the run-in shelter out in the pasture clear back in June, and it finally got finished in October. We are training for a 100 miler, so we have been gone doing long runs in the mountains every weekend. It's been a crazy year, and the race has consumed our time. Projects on the farm have been put on the back burner for the most part this summer. This was one that we knew needed to be finished before winter hit, and Mark got it done just in the nick of time. It turned out so good, and the animals already love it! 

He marked it off on the ground for me so I could see if it was the size I wanted.

The building began! He was often out there getting help from goats, cows, and donkeys.

Every time I let the donkeys out in the pasture, Willow would go inspect all the work that had been done since the last time she was out there. 😄

Bailey, Mason, and Nora were here for a few days, so Mark got some much needed help from Mason. It was coming along nicely!

The donkeys used it for shade long before it was finished.

The cows loved napping in it. Made us feel good to know it was going to be used a lot.

We literally finished painting it one day before the weather turned too cold for paint. 😰

It turned out so good! I just need to hang something fun on the front wall. I'm sure I can find a good sign.

The day after it was finished, we got a rain storm, and the donkeys took shelter. Yay!

Our pasture is very exposed and the animals needed to have somewhere to go to protect them from the sun in the summer. They will be able to have more room to run around in the winter, but needed protection from the bitter wind, snow and cold in the coming months. 

Chickens:

Things have been interesting with the chickens this month. Tillie and Fern were living happily in the coop with the other chickens, and then one day the mean girls started pecking Tillie like crazy again. She was a bloody mess! I moved them into a stall in the barn. I doctored up Tillie, but it took her a while to heal, and by that point the idiot rooster wouldn't let them back into the flock. So, Tillie and Fern have taken up permanent residence in the barn. I never thought I'd have barn chickens, yet here I am. 

A friend from church pulled up all her sunflowers at the end of the season, and brought them over for my chickens. Everyone, especially Tillie and Fern, loved them.

When we tried to reintroduce Tillie and Fern to the flock again, the first thing they wanted to do was take a dust bath in the sand. Once we realized that they weren't going to be able to stay in the coop, we hauled a load of sand into the stall so they could still have their baths.

I was cleaning the cows stall one morning, and I looked out and saw Fern wandering around the barn looking for me. She pushed the board out of the way and went right under the gate. The cows were pretty fascinated by her. 😆

Now each time she hears me come into the barn, she tries to get out and help me with chores. She follows me around and pecks my feet if I don't pick her up or pet her. It's pretty funny! She supervises Reeses. 😂

Donkeys:

There was a trend going around social media to see how many of your animals would like candy corn or the candy corn pumpkins. I tried it, but forgot to post my results. Only 2 out of 7 of mine would eat the pumpkins. Clover and Roxie loved them! Willow really wanted to like it, but she finally decided it was a no for her. Both cows took a hard pass and wouldn't even try them. Ginger and Dolly wouldn't try them either. My goats are picky though.

The donkeys had the cutest Halloween costumes this year. I tried to match their personalities the best I could. 😂

*Side note-I've never seen a donkey (or human for that matter) rock a pair of red tights quite like Willow did. She worked it! Poor Clover has such skinny legs, her tights wouldn't even stay up. 

Goats:

Here's Roxie being the only goat brave enough to try a pumpkin. She loved it! A girl after my own heart.

Cows:

I just love my sweet cows! They love all the pampering they can get!

This picture is a good perspective on how big Ace is getting.

This is what Ace did when I tried to rake up their corral. He stood right in the middle of any pile I was making. He thought I should be giving him loves, not raking his corral. 😆

Cats:

Notice how I titled this section cats and not kittens. Floof and Mischief are all grown up! 😭 Now they are just cat size pains in my butt, and spend their days wreaking havoc on my house.

Stormy is doing great! She looks so good and healthy. She is getting a lot friendlier with me. She follows me out to the chicken coop each morning when I feed them. She even brushes up against me sometimes when I'm feeding her. I wish she would let me give her scratches. Maybe someday.

Reeses:

I was getting asked quite a bit on social media how Reeses has been doing. She has a lot of people rooting for her. 😊 She has been struggling, and it has been getting harder and harder for her to control her back end. I filled her pain meds for the last time, and have decided that when they run out, we're gonna make the hard call. I didn't tell that to anyone besides my immediate family, but I wanted to film her walking to show what a struggle it was becoming for her. She still loves her walks every morning, but they have shortened to only a half a mile, and she often falls and can't get back up without my help. She also is to the point where she can't control her bladder, and I'm not going to let her go on lying in her own pee. It wasn't an easy decision for me to make, but I wanted her to be able to walk into the vet's office on her own, with a little bit of dignity left. I think she would just go on living, even if she was in a lot of pain, if that's what she thought we wanted her to do. I just can't do that to her. It's so hard knowing we only have a month left with her, but I know it's the right thing to do. I shed a lot of tears on our walks, and it's been a hard month, but I'm just soaking up all the time I can with her.

Random Stuff:

The shorter days means I go out to feed in the dark each morning. A perk to that is that I'm out there for all the sunrises again, which I love. Here are a few of my favorites from the month.

When I walk out of my house and see how pretty my barn is with that back drop, it makes me feel very grateful for my life.

I love a good Idaho sky.

We also had snow this month, a little too close for my liking. It didn't stay for long, but we've been gearing up for when it does.

Starting to have frozen animal waters in the mornings. Time to pull out the water heaters.

I love lighting the house and barn up for Halloween!

I can't believe October has already come and gone! This year has flown by so far! We hope by this time next year there will be lots of changes and improvements made to the farm. We won't be running any crazy races next year, so the farm will be our top priority. Can't wait for what's in store.