Went to milk, and saw Herbie was out. I started a fire in the wood cook stove to ward of the chilly temps in the house and went down through the tunnel to milk.
Daisy May is getting the hang of it, I didn't have to chase Eleanor into the milk parlour this morning and got her up there with a few foot stamps.
Then I did a silly thing, unclipped Dolly before going to shovel the nights' poop from the lower barn. She promptly moved over to share Daisy Mays' grain and when I went to shoo her out (she didn't want to leave even when I waved the poopy spade in her face) she took the vacuum line with her ! Damn. Fortunately she had given me enough milk for Melissa so I poured all of Daisy Mays' milk for the dogs and cats as I wasn't 100% sure that nothing yucky was sucked up the line. Note to self : don't think the cows aren't grain hogs :).
Dolly then ate and ate hay in the lower barn while I finished up with Daisy May, actually not wanting to share it at all. Closed the milk parlour and then walked her back to the pasture. Back in the house checked what still needed feeding, Bandit and Mischka, Aflac and the roosters in the horse trailer. Watered the cows / horses / alpacas, duck / goose trough and the one in the lower barn enclosure. Done and returned to warmth and wonderful smells. He'd made blueberry pancakes (from a pre-mix), bacon, scrambled eggs, blackberries and raspberries. Poured maple syrup over the pancakes, poured a glass of milk each, made a cup of Earl Grey tea and went to have breakfast. Thank you, it was delicious. Cold, but delicious.
We kept the wood fire going all day, raised the temp downstairs to the high 50s. Still 30 degrees plus higher than outside. It snowed, first little balls, then small flakes. Not enough to stick, but warning for what to expect tomorrow.
Took a bale out to the veggie garden for the beasties, collected some eggs, did a load of dishes, packed away 2 loads of laundry - Herbie has clean work-clothes for the week, and then cut his hair. He had curls, always a sign it's too long.
Dolly actually looks forward to going to the barn in the evenings, tonight she was waiting from about 4pm. I just call her, open the gate and off she goes.
Baked a chocolate fudgy type dessert in the slow cooker. Chocolate, pecan nuts and chocolate sauce. I had mine with vanilla icecream, yummy, but think I'll tweak the recipe next time.
Herbie is sleeping, so maybe I should go tackle the kitchen.