Green! Green! Green!

What a week! It’s happening … spring is here in all her splendour!

Flowers are popping up in the gardens and in the woods. I’m very happy to see that goats don’t eat wildflowers either! I knew the jennies just left them alone. And the leaves have opened! They are very tiny – but there is sooooooo much green in the woods again. Love it! Of course … along with those bursting buds come the black flies. And boy – are they here! I feel the most for Bella. Seems they are attracted to her black coat. She looks like a comic character with a cloud of bothersome biters circling her head and neck. At least she is quite content to let me brush on repellent and rub bug cream into her beautiful ears. This evening when I went out to take out their dinner she was the first one that showed up at the feed barn door. She had been in the barn in the shade behind the sheet covered door … while Darby and Rosie were fine with being down in the front paddock with the free choice hay bale. It is very rare that the three of them are not all in one place. Guess Bella just decided being on her own was the lesser of two evils!

We had such a nice breeze this morning. That meant the jennies and the goats were all out when I got there. We were able to kick around together in the woods and out front. I had to close off the hillside and the woods to the donkeys this afternoon … Rosie was showing signs of diarrhoea – which for her is a sign that she is getting too much sugar. Not worth the risk that she’ll founder on that. So … goodbye hillside until August. The goats, on the other hand, are still able to get up there. It doesn’t seem to be bothering them … and … it would take some more fencing to make it possible to keep them out! If that becomes the case they’ll need to stay in their own paddock. I’ hoping that doesn’t happen. It is really nice to have them with us.

The Rosie and Goldie antics continued this week. I have a cozy chair in the back paddock. For years the jennies have noticed that when I sit there they can get me to brush them for a looooooooonnnnnnggggg time. Now it seems Goldie has also realized that when I sit there HE can find a place to sleep on my lap for a loooonnngg time. 😉 Notice above the two of them staring each other down!

Yep – eye to eye. You can see that Bella is moving in on their right for HER turn. And then THIS happened …

No … not the Rosie butt moving in for some scratching … the LILY character (hen) deciding there must be something very special happening up here in this chair… She joined in on the action too. Made me laugh right out loud. Yes – I am officially that crazy lady with the creatures as pals.

I’m satisfied with that! Hey – in that vein – have you ever checked out the art of Deb Weiers? I love her quirky drawings. And a theme keeps popping up in her work in which she shares her loves of creatures. Check her art out on her website here. I’ve been trying to draw some of her amazing faces.

This is one of the uses for my tractor. Life in a small village is great. Some days you need to help the Parham Bicycle Gang get home … especially when some of them are quite little and have tired legs. 😉

Have a wonderful spring weekend – in the northern hemisphere. And … sorry … down there in South Africa. Hope you have a beautiful fall weekend! 😉