O Tannenbaum...

I almost didn't cut myself a Christmas tree... but now I'm glad I did.  It makes me smile.  :) 

If anyone local to me is looking for a church that has a Christmas Eve service, contact me for directions.  Ours is at 6:30 tomorrow evening.

Merry Christmas from Butterscotch Farm! 

Hay!!

As of today, I am the proud new owner of 81 bales of hay, lol. 

The goats are averaging 2-4 days per bale, so that should hopefully get them through the winter.

They fit perfectly on a little 8x10 deck that a friend gave me:

It's supposed to snow tomorrow, and wet hay is no good... so I am also now the proud owner of an improvised mini hay barn, built (aka cobbled together) by yours truly.

It has a tarp on it now, but a) it was too dark to take a picture when I finished, and b) it's kind of ugly, lol.  So you don't get to see the end result.  I might spiff the building up a bit later, but for now it will do.  

I'm grateful to God for giving me the strength, energy, and finances for this project - it's awesome to now have a stock of hay on hand!!

Happy Monday!  

Maybe I Should Buy a Canoe??

Lol, today is a "tuck your jeans into your rubber boots and carry on" kind of day, apparently.

And yes, this settles things in my mind... I will DEFINITELY be moving the goat pen to higher ground in the spring.  🙄

I hasten to add that the goats are fine... they waste so much hay that they probably have a 12" bed of hay on the ground in their pen, so the water only comes in the front a little bit.  Here they are enjoying their morning ration of sweet grain:

Maybe that area would be a good spot to dig a little pond someday!  😂

Anyway, happy Saturday!!  

Evening Routine

Chores have definitely turned into a routine for the most part by now, with only the occasional unusual event, lol.  I'm grateful that I don't have a ton of livestock yet for this first winter.

Most days, it's dark when I get home.  I say hi to the Collies, wrestle open the gate, and unlock the door, all while juggling whatever I've lugged home that day.  

Often I dump my stuff and start a fire first thing... the insulation has helped a LOT, but I'm often gone for 12-14 hours, and the temperature will drop to anywhere between 35-50 F, depending on what the day was like.

Then, while the fire is doing its thing, I switch from my work shoes to my rubber boots, grab a flashlight, and head out the door to check on the critters.

First stop is usually the chicken coop.  I peek in to see whether Floofle has decided to roost with his friends, or whether he's a despondent huddle of feathers on the floor.  The latter has been happening a lot lately, so I go inside, pick Floofle up, and put him next to the other chickens so he can stay warmer.  Here he is looking slightly resentful after I've relocated him: 

Next I head down to the goat pen, usually with a gallon of water.  I was using a big bucket that could go a few days without needing to be refilled, but it kept freezing, so now I just refill a small bucket twice a day.  I check to make sure the goats have plenty of hay, then say goodnight and tie their gate shut for the night.

Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture of the goats in their pen, but here is a nighttime view of their field and the trees behind it.

I head back up to the dome after that, and bring in a few armloads of firewood.  I give the dogs more kibble if they ate what was in the bowl, and put away groceries and other supplies.

Finally, if I didn't work a late shift, I can fix some tea and relax with a good book and with two Collies at my feet (or periodically trying to crawl into my lap, in Nala's case, lol).  :P

Happy Thursday!!!

Calling In the Cavalry

I had to call in the cavalry again this morning... the roof of my goat pen blew off last night!!

I knew it had to be fixed today, because we have some weather coming in tomorrow.  I didn't have enough tools and screws on hand, though, and handling those 15 foot long sheets of metal roofing by myself would be pretty challenging... so I texted Dad, and he and my brother Timothy came out to help.  This was extra sacrificial, because Dad has a bad cold, and Saturdays are Timothy's only real day off from work.  

They pitched in with a will, though, and after a couple hours' work, the goat pen was much better than it was before!  It's now nicely winterized, and should be pretty cozy.  :) 

Here's an in-progress shot, with the roof taken off: 

Timothy working on the roof:

And the finished product:

It's buttoned up quite nicely right now, with only the front partially open for ventilation.  You can't seal the pen TOO tightly, or moisture could become an issue.  As long as the goats can get out of the wind, and are acclimated to the weather, they're able to stay nice and toasty even with one side open.

So I'm grateful once again for the wonderful, loving family God has given me!  ♥️

I'm not sure that the goats are grateful, though...they generally seem pretty smug no matter what, lol.  

Happy Saturday!!

The Gingerbread Dome

My brother Timothy spent all day Tuesday helping me insulate the dome... I would say it's about 90% done now.  There are a bunch of little gaps I need to fill in, because fastening rectangular batts of insulation to a spherical surface doesn't exactly work, lol.  

I already notice a big difference, though, even with the gaps - yay!!

I decided to go with Rockwool batts, which were recommended by my friend Scott, who is a contractor.  This kind of insulation is way healthier to work with than fiberglass, and is moisture and flame resistant.

We wired it to the struts - "we" meaning mostly Timothy, as we only had one tall ladder, and we pretty quickly reached a height where the ladder was a necessity.  Thanks, Timothy!!

The only bummer is that this stuff is wicked ugly, lol.  I want to find some way to cover it (with sheets, maybe??), but until then, it looks kind of like I'm living in a spherical gingerbread house.

Ah well... better to be warm, and have ugly walls, than to come home to 15 degrees Fahrenheit inside!!  :P

Happy Thursday!

Monday

This is actually mostly about last Monday, lol.  It's just been busy, and I was still processing some emotions - it was a rather tumultuous day.  If you follow me on Facebook, you know that Thea finally found a new home with a very nice couple about 1.5 hours from me.  They drove up Monday morning and left with Thea early that afternoon.  And then I proceeded to cry off and on for the next couple of hours.  :P 

Eventually I went out to run a bunch of errands because we were going to be getting a snowstorm in the late afternoon and evening.  I got back to the dome and was cooking supper when Thea's new owner called and said, "Sarah, we lost the dog."

They had literally just arrived home, and were taking her on a potty walk, when the wife tripped and fell, dropping the leash.  And of course, Thea does not like strangers, and since she didn't know those people yet, she took off running when they called for her.

I reassured the husband that this could have happened to anyone, and asked him to let me know if she was still missing in the morning so I could go help look for her.  (I couldn't go out in the storm that night because my truck needs new tires.) And then I hung up the phone and cried a bunch more while messaging my Mom and some friends to say that Thea was missing.  Lol, I went through a lot of tissues last Monday!

In the end, Dad and Mom graciously offered to drive me all the way down to Thea's new home in Dad's car, which has good tires.  So I carefully drove the 20 minutes to their house, and we headed out together into the snow with a prayer for our safety and that we would be able to find Thea.  I brought Thane along in case we needed his help sniffing Thea out.

We were headed south, and eventually drove out of the snowstorm.  By the time we got to the area where Thea was lost, there was no snow at all.  

We stopped the car a couple houses down from Thea's new home, rolled down the windows, and hollered for her.  

And... she came right to us!!

I opened my door and pulled her up into my lap.  She was wet and trembling, and her paws were a little raw... but she was okay, and SO happy to see us and Thane.

It was one of the hardest things I've ever done to walk up to her new owners' door with her - I wanted to just take her home and never let her go.  But their joy and relief at seeing her was heartwarming.  

I guess they searched for her for 3 hours that afternoon, walking 10 miles, and calling the police, the local vets, the animal shelters...  And they had planned to stay up all night in case she came back.  That level of dedication comforted me as I left Thea behind with them... though I did cry again as we drove away.  

I'm incredibly grateful to God for my parents, sacrificially driving me down there, and for protecting us and Thea.  It truly felt like a miracle when she just ran right up to us.

I got an update today...it sounds like she is settling in very well.  She sleeps on her new owners' bed at night, and has already trained them to give her tummy rubs every morning, lol.

I still miss her... I'm sure that will take a while to get better... but I'm so grateful that God has provided this wonderful new home for her. ❤️

In other Domestead news, Nala has joined me and Thane on the bed (I crated her at night before because 3 dogs on the bed was way too many!).  

I made a bit of progress insulating, and hope to finish the project tomorrow with my brother's help.  In the meantime, I've discovered that I can warm a couple bricks on top of the woodstove and then wrap them in towels and take them to bed with me.  :D

Dad finished getting my solar panel hooked up; that will run my composting toilet (it has a fan, I guess?!?), and will supply the necessary power to tell my fridge to run off the propane, LOL.  And hopefully there will be enough juice left over to charge my phone and laptop.

Oh, and Rhode came back last Monday... she should be due on April 8th!  :) Unless my chickens get busy before then, hers will be the first baby animals born on Butterscotch Farm.

And not specifically Domestead news, but a HUGE praise for a true miracle- a beloved aunt of mine got an amazing new prognosis, and it looks like we get to have her around for a while longer.  ❤️❤️❤️

So life goes on.  Some days are fun, and some days you want to buy stock in Kleenex... but God is always good.

Happy Monday!!