And the Rain Comes Back Again

I'm sitting here with my morning beverage and listening to the generator run. Not a sound I like to hear very often as it means we don't have enough sun to run what we need. We are always at the mercy of the weather here, not just for our power but for everything. We did have a few very nice days last week and were able to get quite a bit of work done outside. The ground dried up and I even was able to drive my car up to the house from the end of the driveway! Nice! Not that I had anywhere to go but I hate to have it sitting half a mile away. Maybe some day we will be able to put in a proper graveled drive but right now if the ground gets too soaked I have to leave it there and take the quad to it if I need to go anywhere. So that is where it sits again this week, luckily we were able to get it out yesterday before the ground soaked up too much of the rain.

The rain has caused other little problems too. The goats refuse to leave the barn. These girls are total princesses! They don't like to get their feet wet. They don't like to go anywhere I am not. We just shake our heads at their silliness. Don't they know they are farm animals? So there they are sitting high and dry in the barn calling to me because they are hungry and refusing to go out and eat. I guess they figure I will bring the feed to them? Silly goats. Today I refuse. Although the clouds are threatening rain so far all it has done it spit at us a little bit, not even enough to get wet. I feel like a bad, mean mommy but what am I to do?

I have spent a lot of time with them over the last weeks since we brought them home trying to teach them to be goats. At first they refused to go out to the pasture as it was a big scary place and they were jumping at their shadows constantly. I ended up taking a lawn chair out with them and sitting there for hours on end. Calling them back to eat every time they got spooked; usually by the wind or a bird flying overhead.

Then I finally graduated to taking them out and slowly leaving them there as they got down to the business of eating. Of course I had to jump the fence and walk away across the field as if going somewhere other than the house or they would just run to the barn and call to me. Then finally one day I decided to lock them out of the barn and see what they would do on their own. It took a few hours but finally they went out to the pasture. Of course they came running back every 15 minutes or less to see if I was coming out but eventually they learned to stay there longer. I finally thought things were improving but now it's cloudy and spitting a bit and they refuse to go anywhere. Sigh... I'm totally stumped. What to do? I have a lot of things I want to get done today and standing out there with them today is not something I want to do. I spent about 15 minutes with them after milking but as soon as I left they went right back in the barn.

I just walked out to check on them again and the only one who would even stick her head out of the barn was Silver Doll. Yep, I have princess goats. Well! Too bad for them today because I have other things to do. Bad mom or not they are not getting any more of my time until milking time. Really! I'm not going out there again! Nope, not going to do it........ crazy goats.