Living In A Box .....................

............... of Xmas Cards.  It's very picturesque here but extremely hard work at the moment.

 
We still have no running water and Si is having to go and defrost the tap at the top of our land when the temperatures get up to 0C which is about the warmest we have experienced for the past week.  He is carrying down containers full of water which we are warming before we give it to the animals.  The only problem is that because they are only eating dried feed and hay they are thirsty all the time.  I didn't help matters yesterday when I fell over when entering the barn.  I fell over a hurdle which ended up flat on the ground with me on top of it.  A full container of warm water flew out of my hands and all over the floor.  I was more upset about the waste of water which then froze overnight into a solid sheet of ice.  I ended up with imprints of the hurdle on my legs.  I was even too sore to knit last night.

Looking on the bright side, doesn't the snow make everything look tidy?

The sight of the barn roof amused us.  It is obvious which side of the barn the animals sleep on.  They must be warm in there because they have managed to melt the snow over their sleeping area just from their body heat.  Today I was worried about Exhibition, she is our beautiful cria from Larralluh, sired by Wellground Close Encounter.  The other cria have started to eat Alfalfa, even searching the ground for any bits that have been knocked out of the feeders.  Exhibition hasn't been eating any although she is eating hay constantly and we haven't really seen her feeding from her mum.  I thought she was a bit on the thin side compared to the other cria so a call to Head Office was made.  We had checked Larra and there is no sign of mastitis but we were worried that her milk may have dried up, Les recommended goats milk and even told us which brand she uses if she has to bottle feed any cria.  Poor Si drove into Axminster to try to find it and then sent me a text to say that he couldn't find it so I recommended another store and he found it there, it had to be the exact brand.  We haven't done any Xmas shopping yet,  apart from carrots for the alpacas.  Oh no, I lie.  My daughter did some shopping in Liverpool for me yesterday.  She shopped for me while we spoke on the phone, she described items for me and once I had agreed she took them home, photographed them and put them up on facebook for my approval.  That's the way to do it.  If I didn't like anything she was going to change them for me today. 

These are now my 'Ladies who lunch'.  They only come out to be fed and obviously 'The Humph' is first in the queue.  She goes to the first feeder inside the paddock and stands and moans until the food is put in front of her.

I tried to get a shot of both of the goats in the barn.  Sweetheart stood still for me but Cherub was more interested in trying to eat my jacket.  They are staying nice and snug in the barn too.  We bought a new shed for them and have had the posts put in for their new paddock but all our time has been taken up with breaking ice, defrosting pipes and carrying water that no improvements have been done.  It looks as though we are in for a bit of a heatwave next week though with temperatures forecast up to 10C.  We won't know ourselves.  I might be able to cast off some of the layers, we will have running water, the snow will melt and we will be able to see grass.  I'm just hoping the girls will still realise what it is because it is costing a fortune in hay.

Today I have learnt that I shouldn't open my emails whilst drinking a cup of tea.  tt was hilarious.  The culprit knows who he is.