More introductions

The temperature is still bitter cold, but the wind has died down some so I made the trek out to the barn to take pictures.

First, I'll introduce you to Bonnie. We'll be looking to add a Clyde soon.
Bonnie is half German Shepherd and half Black Lab. Caleb panicked when I was describing her mixture. He said, "Mom! Isn't that Lucy?!?" I assured him it was not. Lucy had Siberian Husky in her which made her have unfathomable energy and a strong desire to pull us all over the neighborhood. Anyway, Bonnie is a puppy and still young enough to train before she gets too strong, like Lucy.

Bonnie is staying in the dog run for now. Eventually, she will be able to run all over the farm, but until we are sure she will not run off or harass the other animals too much, we are keeping her on a tight leash, so to speak. She is very sweet and playful. But, then, what puppy isn't? I thought she was going to howl and whine the first night, but the cold drove her into the coop part of the dog run.

Next, we have our new three pygmy goats, Snickers, Skittles, and Soda. No, no sweet-tooths (or is it sweet-teeth) around here!
They are half-sisters. Snickers is the littlest and whitest one on the right. Soda is in the middle and Skittles on the left. They are currently terrified of us. Whenever we are around, they all line up and stare at us, as far away as possible. This, incidentally, is the same position they were in on the ride home in the back of our minivan. They are about 8 months old. Pygmies stay very little, but are good milkers (if you can fit a pail under them!) We'll be hoping to breed them as soon as we can find a buck "for rent".

We took Bonnie in to meet the goats. I'm not sure who was more scared. The goats didn't run from her as much as they do from us, but they definitely looked concerned. Bonnie just had no idea what to do with them. Well, she learned about goats! She was standing in front of them, just sniffing and looking, when Soda gave Bonnie a good head-butt. Bonnie was none too pleased. Poor thing. But, I suppose she will keep her distance from now on. The trick will be to get her to guard them while keeping a healthy fear of them.

So, that is what we've been up to. Adding 5 new animals in as many days. Our neighbor just laughs and thinks we are wonderfully optimistic and naive. She says she remembers moving here and being just as gung-ho as we are. Hey, if we knew what we were getting into, we might not try it. And what would be the fun in that?