Pepper, Rain, Bruises and Fiber

Weird blog title, I know. But I've got such a modge podge of photos and experiences to add in this post that not one title fits. So.....

Both Jackson and I, me upstairs, and he downstairs were worried what we might find upon walking out to the pasture after seeing this sight. The night before Pepper had a tummy ache and even refused food, which is very unlike him. Thankfully, we realized that Pepper was just cuddled up with the lambs, Svetlana and Blanca, fast asleep.
We experienced some very heavy rain a couple days ago. Much needed here, but we were worried about Baby Doll, as she has never wanted to stay in the barn with the llamas, goats and sheep. John decided to try a new tactic by just keeping the barn gate open and giving Baby Doll free reign of the entire 2 acres of pasture, while inviting her to come in and eat the hay left out for her inside the dry, cozy barn. It worked!
It got to the point that John was able to leave the barn without Baby Doll leaving with him. She would remain inside munching happily on her hay. And as the rain drummed down harder, she stayed in the barn, only leaving when the rain stopped or slowed down.
By allowing Baby Doll to decide to go in and stay inside the barn on her own, we finally were able to get her to actually enjoy being in there. Now we are finding that whenever we are in the barn, she wants to come in and join us. She actually seems annoyed that the angora goats are back inside HER space! hehe
We were all so excited to see Baby Doll willingly go in and out of the barn while tolerating the llamas, goats and sheep.

For a few weeks now, my neighbor friend has been trying hard to get her beautiful Arabian, Annie into the trailer, so that she can be taken up to be bred in Colorado. Annie has only been in a trailer one time. And she's stubborn, smart and confused about the entire trailering experience. The other day I went over to lend a hand and we spent several hours, unsuccessfully working at getting Annie just to take one step up on her own into the trailer. We started off using her trailer and then brought over mine, which has a ramp, instead of a step-up. But we didn't make much headway, except in creating a few bruises.
My frustrated and tired neighbor friend and her even more exhausted horse.

Got up to the barn pretty late. Usually Jones, our new barn cat that just showed up one day on the ranch, enjoys coming with us, too. The Angoras like to give Jones a hard time and give him a few head butts. Jones seems to think they are just petting him or loving on him. He ends up rolling on his back and purring. Silly boy! This is Lily giving Jones a hard time.
Jenna loves to spend as much time as she can in the barn with the animals, too. She enjoys hand-feeding the goats and sheep during feeding time. They all seem to like having her around, too. Here she is feeding Cloud, our angora wether.
The other evening, when I had left my camera back at the house, Jones was up in the barn with me and found, what I thought was a mouse. It screamed very loudly when he caught it. But when I got a look I realized that he had caught a baby rabbit! I was able to rescue the baby rabbit and even held it for a few minutes until it's poor heart stopped racing. And then I released it, where it ran back under the hay pallets in our barn. Usually, though, Jones only hunts and captures mice. He's a very good hunter and he seems to capture and eat at least a mouse or two per day. We are working in training him to be a full-time barn cat, instead of hanging out down at the house most of the day and night.
It seems that the rain has another benefit, too. The angora goats' wool looks and feels so much silkier now with a lot of gorgeous curl. I can't wait until fall when we can shear them and I can start working with their fiber. Isn't Lily beautiful?