Sandy loves the snow, and                       everyone loves a new bale of hay.

This didn't come any too soon today.  I was out brushing off the latest snow from my car when I heard the stampede.  The cows ran out of hay sometime during the night, I suppose, and had been roaming around the pasture looking for something under the snow to eat.  Guess they reached the breaking point because all of a sudden they tore through the electric fence and headed to the other barn where hay for donkeys/goats/llama is kept.  I dropped the broom and ran as fast as I could, trying not to slip in the snow, to chase them out before they could ruin all the hay I had for the others -- for the second time this winter, I might add.

Needless to say, they were not happy to have to exit the barn, but exit they did and took off running back to where their hay was supposed to be.  When they realized, once again, they had no hay, back to the barn they came at top speed -- with me in their path after shutting the gate and heading back to the yard.  Whoa!  I did my "big girl" moves and, thankfully, they ran around me as opposed to over me.  A little scary to say the least.  Just at that moment, the fellow drove up with two bales of hay (to the tune of $90, which they will finish off by Tuesday night :(  (Thank goodness for my day job.)  More bad weather is expected all this week -- more snow on Wednesday and temperatures in the single digits by the end of the week.  How quickly $90 can disappear, disappear, disappear . . .

                                                           Little Patch

Not too sure Patch is up to the job.  I've only seen him "be" with three of the girls and now he's "being" with one of them again -- blanks?  Guess I'll find out early next summer.

                                         Very bold roadrunner.

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Yesterday my friend and farrier, Dell, came to do donkey feet.  I tend to put off this event for as long as possible because it's always such an ordeal (three hours in all this time)-- first had to lure the cows into another pasture, then lure the goats into their enclosure, then lure the donkeys into the barn (who, by now have figured out that something is up and just aren't too sure they want any part of it).  Thank goodness for feed that everyone is convinced they must have, at any cost.

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Am really worried about my little wether that has had all the problems written about in previous posts.  He's now coughing again, so I started him on antibiotics this morning in the form of pills that I crushed, mixed with maple syrup to put in a syringe that I modified and force-fed him.  Didn't work too well, so I'm going to have to get more creative for his dosage this evening.  Worry that he might not make it through this cold spell.

It's supposed to be colder than it has been in many years.  Just glad that, at least, the barns offer a little better shelter since I've had them worked on.  Going out now to put up a tarp to try to cut down on the wind.  I remember when I lived in Santa Fe that horses were dying because of the extreme cold one year.  Wish I knew what else I could do to protect my critters, especially the donkeys and goats . . . the llama and cows should be okay.