Eleanor is getting to be really frisky, she runs and does those cute little side jumps, but she's also not letting me near her anymore :( I know it's better for them to have the bond with their mums and the others in the herd, but I'm always sad when they skedaddle away from me. Thinking about getting Parrot in a separate enclosure with Daisy May and Eleanor when she comes on her 2nd heat, but wonder if he's big enough. Really don't want Gabriel or Big Red doing the honours. I'll see if Immanuelle proves to be a good milk cow before cross-breeding on purpose.
Went to Fowler to pick up a ton of feed for the cows and chickens, while I had use of the truck today. Haven't seen Joan and her father, Stanley, for a while. Hopefully it'll come back earlyish tomorrow so that I can go get another 2 bales of hay from Mike. When I got home, Dolly was in the lower barn enclosure, thank you Herbie, but I though he was already in bed, so unpacked a ton (2,000 lbs) of feed all by myself, dropping half of it down to the lower barn, the balance in the shed for the chickens. There were 18 1/2 bags, so those babies were more than 100 lbs each. Think I'm going be sore tomorrow.
On Saturday, Jackie and I are going down to Ohio to pick up a tractor tyre or wheel for her dad. It's going to take most of the day, methinks, about 3 hours trip each way in the truck. But I'll be earning some money and will get to spend some time with Jackie, so it's all good. Need to save everything I can for the new furnace, seeing as we didn't win the Lotto :).
Aflac is the male duck that sort of stays in the front gardens. I treat him special as he has walking issues, and I discovered that the one Americuana rooster thinks he's his bitch ! Poor chap is constantly being jumped by the rooster, no wonder he hides. I call him, and he waddles up to get his grain. Rather sweet, but honestly, I should probably butcher him as he is fox bait. Also found where my Americauna hens are laying since I discovered their nest under the alpaca feeder in the lower barn, in the front under the protective screen I put in place to protect the 3 hostas. So tomorrow I'll go raid it for the eggs, seems about a dozen there.
I closed the hayfield today. They've eaten it down and I need it to have a good start come Spring. Checked the other 3 closed pastures, but there hasn't been any growth there, silly me to expect it at this time of year in this weather. So they have the main pasture with the pond, the original pasture which is half mud / poop mix and the veggie garden. They have a hay bale, although they much prefer the fresh stuff, and were very vocal today telling me about it !
Been approached by another head-hunter for a possible job. Also heard from Immigration that they need a copy of my marriage certificate before proceeding with issuing my updated green card. This is the 4th copy I've sent. Bureaucracy at it's best, I suppose. Their website says it takes 5.2 months to issue a new one, but at 5.3 months they request another copy of my marriage certificate, so think there's still a while to wait. Will see what happens. On both counts.