Getting ready for winter

We've been enjoying the nice fall weather while rushing to get everything ready for winter. Our first taste of winter came on Friday Oct 4 with 3 inches of snow and a very cold frosty day. The new barn hadn't been totally winterized yet and was a bit drafty. The sudden cold caught as off guard and realized how much still needed to be done. The hose was frozen and I hadn't plugged in the water heaters. Many of the goats came down with a cold - been treating them with essential oils and they are much better now. Had not received the winter supply of hay yet either. That supply started showing up on last Tuesday. The new "Garage in a Box" shed are now full. Three hundred bales each (that's about 15 tons). Still need about 3-400 more before we are totally stocked for the winter.

Barn is painted!

And so is are the new chicken houses and so is the goat.
Thanks to Laura and Claire for helping me get this done. We finished just two days before we had a week of record setting rain.

Molly and I

Molly and I spent Saturday at the Humphrey Museum and Memorial Park in Evergreen. They were having their annual Hay Day event. Since Molly was a bottle baby, I'm her mom and she loves to spend time just with me. She loads easily in the car and walks on a leash. We walked the grounds talking to visitors about the benefits of dairy goats. We climbed the stairs to talk to the volunteers passing out cookies (Molly wasn't allowed a cookie - she ate pine needles instead). We rode in the hay wagon and listened to the Original Cow-Boy Band from Idaho Springs. It was a great time!

The younger goats in the background are the two that I donated to the museum a couple months ago. Betsy and Apricot are doing very well and are well tended by the museum director and staff..

Barn totally enclosed!

Still need to cut out one window. Interior dividing half walls missing. Need to add rubber stall mats to the floor and of course some paint would be good.

And it has a roof!

 Tom and Tad have made this project much easier on me.

 We got the roof on and tar papered yesterday. Still need to shingle.

 It will be nice to move some of the does out of these metal huts! The two horned girls who don't play nice with other goats will have their own stalls. Mini Mel will be with her daughters Firefly and Junebug. Brigette will have her personal stall next to them. There will be a sturdy half wall between with walk through gates. This is in the lower lowest level. The two upper levels will be connected for all the does and kids that currently live in Arlo's Pad.

Hope to enclose the walls and hang doors on Monday.

Goat inspection tour

So far the new barn meets the requirements.

Busy summer

Been working outside instead of on the computer most of the summer. Trying to get the new goat barn built so one of the others can be turned into a real milking parlor. Since we live on a hillside, building is always a challenge. The optical illusion of what is straight is amazing - yes we are using a level. Here's how the barn is progressing.

Hoping to have it liveable by the end of next week.