Sanctuary visit

Thanks to the glory that is Knickers, I actually got a lie in this morning until about 8:30. Utter bliss.

At lunchtime we went to the local goat sanctuary to find a companion for Angie. Wow, what an unbelievable place! They have about 120 goats of all sizes and shapes, and an excellent setup; huge paddocks with big trees to climb on  - much better than anything we have at home tbh. We had a bit of a wait for Bob to show us the possible candidates he had in mind, during which time we very nearly froze to death on a number of occasions.That's because it is completely and utterly TATERS at the moment. Just as we were about to beat a path back to the relative warmth of the car Bob arrived and showed us two pairs he'd had in mind. Max and Millie first, small goats and very sweet but Max has horns that stick straight up and Millie is quite bumptious, so perhaps not best for us as first time owners. The other pair are an older pair of hornless girls about the same size as Angie, called Nadja and Grace, very docile and sweet. The upshot is that they're being delivered on Wednesday at 2pm. They came from the MoD, where they were used in experiments in pressure chambers :/

What the hell are we doing?

Sid and I went to collect some more Weatherboard, which we need to finish the goat hotel. We had an idea to try to flatten the area outside the girls' shelter as it was frozen into peaks and troughs. Not having a roller or similar equipment, we used the LandCruiser, back and forth, back and forth, with only moderate success. Lots of poo picking and such ensued, sorting of the field shelter etc, all in the stinking, freezing temperatures that made me feel like my arse was going to fall right off. I'm not sure it's defrosted even now, some hours later.

The ultimate irony about this time of year is that there is quite a bit more to do to tend to all the creatures, and only a few hours of daylight into which to cram it all. There's so much to do, I don't really know where to start sometimes.

Tomorrow, the plan is to finish off the field shelter and I really must do something with the boys. We also need to stat on a shelter for the chickens, on account of their reluctance to seek protection in even the worst of the weather. Certainly, it's never boring.