Jumping for Joy

Unseasonably warm…that’s us. Dry, Sunny, Beautiful Blue Skies in The Land of Enchantment.

Usually by this time of year, we’ve already had several snowfalls with accumulation. And we’ve usually had hassles with ice and fierce, winds with gusts into the 50 mph range. Not this year.

We’ve only had one little snow flurry with just a slight dusting that vanished with the morning sun. And most amazing of all is the temperature! At night we have dipped down into the teens, but during the day we enjoy temps up into the upper 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s (F). If we weren’t just a few weeks from Christmas I’d be thrilled, but I’m worried that we won’t have a White Christmas this year, something we can usually depend on every holiday season.

Yesterday I hand-sheared Luna, my Angora goat. It’s not perfect, but she’s comfortable, and I think she’s beautiful.

Right after her shearing, she was jumping and playing with her goatie friends, Latte and Mud Pie, as if she was a little kid. Luna is such a sweet gal

She’s about 5-6 years old now, and I rescued her from abysmal living conditions 3 years ago. She was kept in a muddy pen no bigger than the size of a small bathroom, about 5’ x 7’. The old man kept her in there at night and then tied my poor girl to young green horses during the day, supposedly to train them to have patience, or something. Anyone ever hear of that before?

Anyway, my Luna was expected to exist by nibbling the sparse weeds while out in the yard tied to a horse. The old man supplemented her diet with handfuls of moldy, brown alfalfa….when he thought of it.

When I saw her pitiful, picture on CraigsList, I could not resist her pull and I had to contact the man and make an appt to stop by and possibly bring her home.

When I saw her in her filthy pen, matted, muddy, and still with the green paint on her back from when he had purchased her as part of a Lot in a local Livestock Auction, every sensible part of me wanted to go back home, minus one angora goat. The old man said she was between two and three years old, and he’d owned her for almost a year. That was one year of her life, too long, in my opinion, and my sweet goatie gal will always have a home here with me until she takes her last breath.

But I digress.

Luna needs to be sheared twice a year, but I usually add in an extra trim or two, mostly because she tends to get a nasty, poopy, urine-stained butt and back legs when her locks get too long. But I also was concerned she might overheat with our warmer temps this winter. On Sunday, I went up to the barn wearing a light jacket, but it didn’t take long for me to start peeling it off and rolling up my sleeves because it was so warm.

I wonder if Apache, with her thick fuzzy winter coat is wishing she could shed a little bit, too.

I sometimes see her standing underneath the shade trees in her paddock trying to stay cool.

For now, we’re jumping for joy not having to deal with snow or ice, or turning on our furnace, or using the fireplace. And being able to play outside wearing a t-shirt is great!

 

But we are really hoping for some snow on Christmas Day.

Do you think Santa Claus can stuff a bunch of snow in his big red sack for us?