Cider Bend: December

December was weird! We had the warmest December on record for over 85 years. We only got a couple dustings of snow, but lots of rain. I know we need the snow, but I enjoyed every bit of the warm weather. We had days in the mid 50s, and it was so nice! 

The beginning of a snow storm.

This is as much as we got. We didn't even have to plow our driveway. It just melted off the next day.

I was glad when we hit our shortest day of the year. It's always nice to know the days will start getting longer. I'm still enjoying the sunrises when I go out to do morning chores though.

So pretty!

Goats:

The goats are easily ignored. Not on purpose, but just because they are so easy to take care of and very easy going; they don't demand much from us. I realized this, and have made a conscious effort to spend more time with them. I have been brushing them more often, and giving them more love. They really are the sweetest girls. One of my goals with them for the new year is to get back to our walks around the property. After Reeses died, I got out of the habit, and I need to start it back up again. 

The goats got a new bed for Christmas, and they love it! I put it right by one of their feeders, and they were all torn between laying in the bed and scratching on the feeder. That resulted in them trying to do both, and falling right out of the bed. 😅

Cows:

Check out how stinking cute Opal is! She is seriously the sweetest!

I had my first big animal mishap on the farm this month. I got kicked by Ace! It was definitely bad! I had just dumped their food out of the bucket for them, and I was giving Opal scratches. I decided to give Ace some scratches too before I left the pasture. I scratched his butt, and he didn't realize I was back there. I scared him pretty good, and he shot his back leg out sideways and nailed my inner thigh. He's about 700 pounds, and he didn't hold back. Luckily it was a Saturday, so Mark was home and helping me do chores. He was in the barn, so I yelled for him a few times. He couldn't hear me, so I texted him that I needed help. By the time he got out to the pasture, I think I was going into shock. He helped me make my way out of the pasture, and I realized I could put a little bit of weight on my leg, so it wasn't broken. I thought maybe walking it off was a good idea, so I finished a couple things outside, and then started getting really sick to my stomach. I slowly made my way to the house, trying to not throw up. I could physically feel my leg swelling as I walked. By the time I got to the house, my whole body was shaking, and I was crying and couldn't breathe. It was like I was having a panic attack. I could not control my shaking or breathing at all! Such a weird feeling! Mark got me situated on the couch and started asking Grok all kinds of questions. After sitting for a few minutes, I realized I couldn't walk and could hardly move. I think it was adrenaline getting me through right after it happened, and that had worn off. Mark got me one of his trekking poles, and I started the icing and elevating. Grok said deep muscle contusions can take weeks to heal. Ugh! I have big races this year, and my training was suppose to officially start on January 1st. That isn't going to happen. 👎 The point of contact is fine, but my knee is pretty wonky. I'm hoping that once the swelling is totally gone, that it will be fine.

This is right after it happened. You can see the point of contact, but what you can't tell from the picture, was how huge my leg was getting.

This was the third day. The bruising was coming in. I realized he knicked the other side too, and a small section on my knee. 

This is about 5 days in. There was still plenty of swelling, and my knee is still bad. I'm gonna give it one more week, and if my knee isn't any better, I may need to go in for an MRI. 

Mark took care of the animals on Sunday, but he was back at work on Monday, so I had to do it. I had a little panic attack on my way out to the barn on Monday morning. It made me really sad, because I've never been scared of an animal in my life. My brain knew that Ace didn't do it to hurt me, but my body was having a totally different response. My heart was racing, and I couldn't get a full breath. I forced myself to go in the cow pasture like I always do. I tried to act as normal as possible, but I'm not gonna lie, if I was close to him, I definitely had a physical response. I assumed that was a normal response, so for the next few days I spent a lot of time out there, and that response started to fade. I'm a lot more cautious around the cows now, which is probably a good thing, but I refuse to be scared. I remember riding my horse when I was young. We were trotting and my horse tripped. I flipped over her neck and landed pretty hard on the ground, knocking the wind out of me. My mom explained to me that she tripped and she didn't throw me off on purpose. I remember saying I'd just lead my horse the rest of the way home, and my Mom not letting me. She made me get back on and ride the rest of the way home. I kept thinking about that and that's why I knew I had to force myself back in the pasture. Caution is good, fear is not, It's been over a week now, and I feel like I've got a good handle on it.

Ace really is the sweetest guy! He would never hurt us on purpose, but he's a dumb cow, and doesn't realize his own power.

Ace got a new halter for Christmas, and Opal got a new brush for scratchies!

Donkeys:

Clover and Willow are as cute and full of personality as ever!

 Ririe had their live nativity at the beginning of December. This was Clover and Willow's 4th year doing it. They did so good! It's a lot for them to be completely surrounded by people for an hour, and then be in the actual nativity. They are used to being around a lot of people, but it's always in the barn, where they are comfortable. It's totally different for them to be in a strange place. I'm always so proud of them when the nativity is over. They are a big hit with kids and adults.

Clover is the absolute cutest little thing!

Willow saw us hook up the trailer for the nativity, and she was ready to start her adventure. She is a tad impatient. When sassy Willow comes out, it is my absolute favorite!

I wish I could get pictures and videos of how good the nativity is, but it's pure chaos for a couple hours, so I can't even get my phone out.

Here's a little clip at the end.

The donkeys have only had to wear their blankets twice in December. It's crazy how warm our month has been!

I caught Clover taking a little nap. She looks so tiny in her big stall!

If you ever need to feel loved, just come over and be the donkey's treat lady! 😆 It's my favorite job!

The donkeys got a couple of new rubber chickens for Christmas. Their current ones are missing legs and heads. 😅 

They weren't very impressed! 😆

The chickens laid in the same place for a few days, but I've since seen them in different places around the corral, so they have warmed up to them.

Chickens:

We got the chicken run all winterized. We put up thick plastic to keep the snow from blowing into the run. We haven't really had enough snow to worry about, but December was windy and rainy, so it still helped them a lot. 

We are still finishing off the last of the pumpkins from our garden. I have enough pumpkin puree frozen, so the chickens have been getting the rest of them.

Watch CeeCee tip toe off with her cilantro. 😂

The chickens love 'clean out the fridge' day! They get all kinds of fun goodies. This was a salad they were very fond of.

I love watching the chickens come out of the coop in the morning. I usually stand there and say good morning to them all by name. 😄

I made the chickens a 'chickauterie' board for Christmas. They got crushed crackers, chopped pecans and cranberries, and parsley.

They also got a watermelon from our garden. They got nice and spoiled with treats.

Cats:

Floof and Michem are great. Michem is really fat, so we're gonna need to do something about that. This is how Mark gets her to exercise. 😂

Michem  loved the Christmas tree. She slept under it and loved looking at the lights. They also ate the berries off the bottom of it. 😠

Floof is a crack up! 

I found his standing like this on top of the washer. He was like this for a long time.

If there was a box that got emptied on Christmas, you better believe he was in it.

I took a bit of a hiatus from my farm social media. I tried to post some stuff on my stories, but I wasn't very good at making reels the second half of the year. I'm hoping to be better this coming year, so make sure to check out The Cozy Corral on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Instagram is where I'm the most active.