Hunting... to no avail...

Paul took Caleb hunting with him this year. They went out twice together and Paul went once or twice alone. The first time Caleb went, it was a bone-chilling ZERO degrees out! Crazy! They stayed until noon with not even a glimpse of a deer. Then, just this past weekend (the last opportunity of the season), it warmed up to a whopping 30 degrees, and it must've felt like a heat-wave, because they ended up staying out all day. Unfortunately, they only came back with reports of squirrels, a possum and a ...bob-cat?

Our Goat Balli

Balli, our 4 year old Nubian dairy goat, finally died yesterday. We've been trying to nurse her back to health for the past two weeks. With the weather sooooo cold last week and the week before, and a change in diet, she came down with some sort of cold or pneumonia... We couldn't figure it out exactly. We didn't know if she was pregnant at the time, but a few days later she miscarried twin kids (that's baby goats for you non-farmers) and she kept going downhill from then on. I've read that a goat, after losing it's babies, can have the same depression problems as humans and just sort of give up. Even before her miscarriage, she was too weak to stand up by herself, so Paul and I have been going out at least twice a day to help her up and walk her around so she could keep the blood circulating to her legs. In the mean time, I had been giving her various shots prescribed by the "goat people" to help boost her immune system and appetite. We would practically have to hand feed and water her. Even cooking oatmeal with raisins and molasses just so she'd eat. At one point I was forcing Ensure into her mouth with a syringe for the nutrients... We've realized that you have to be somewhat hard-hearted when dealing with animals, because if it's a functioning farm, you are part of many animals deaths, whether intended or unintended. But when it's an animal you intend to keep and interact with individually on a daily basis, you learn it's personality and get more attached.

Finally, a few days ago, she started refusing food or water and we knew it wouldn't be long. To be honest, it was time. She was skin and bones from eating so little and the extra work was wearing on us. It was obvious she was suffering, so in the end, it was good to see her go.

On a positive note, she was a good momma and she gave us a cute black doe last winter that should be expecting another kid later this spring. In fact, if all goes well, we should have 3 does kidding this spring!

Sledding!!

We made it out sledding for the second time this year. We met some friends at Four Season's park in Shorewood. That hill is super nice for the parents because you can watch the kids walk up the side of the hill and sled down with a front row view from the car (while sipping some hot yummy drink, of course)!! Whoo-hoo!

Noah keeps up with the big guys!

Caleb and Seth's new thing was to snowboard down on their sleds. I tried to get video of it, but my camera ran out of battery...

Nathan went down with me once and was not too happy about going so fast. He was OK until we took on a little spin. I figured out that he was just as content sitting in the nice, warm car munching on banana chips. Poor Ellie looks like she's in distress in this photo, but I assure you, she made it up the hill just fine! In fact, she's quite the little sledder. Watching the kids sled makes me think that they are probably ready to hitch on some skis and hit the real slopes... We'll see...

Happy New Year's

Alright, so I'm doing a little catch up... and backtracking... to New Year's Eve. Caleb, Seth, and Noah stayed up long enough to ring in the New Year with Paul and I. The girls had an early celebration with us and then were tucked snug into bed. To confess, I took a little nap myself while the guys watched some movies waiting for the clock to strike midnight. I was up for the last hour waiting, but we all missed the "grand moment"... when we looked up, it was 12:03. Ah, well, there's always next year, right?

Here's some shots of us having our traditional New Year's Eve Eggnog! Yum! There's no store-bought 'nog that can compare to the thick, creamy, extreemly rich (aka-fattening), delicious taste of the homemade stuff. Mmmmmm-mmmmm!

Nathan's checking out the snow

I braved the cold weather and finally took Nathan out to romp in the snow. Well, he didn't really "romp" because I couldn't find any snowboots that were even close to fitting him. You'd think with five kids that have gone through that size I'd have some boots somewhere... even pink ones... but, nope. So, he got to ride around in the new wagon that Uncle Bryan, Aunt Jenny and Sydney gave us...

He had seen the snow before, but not really up close and personal. He got to feel it and taste it this time! I'm not quite sure what he thought... the only thing I can guess is that "it is COLD!" And then it was time to go back inside...