A cold New Year

Happy New Year! It's absolutely freezing here - -35 with the windchill. This morning when I went up to the barn I was surprised at how cold it was outside. It looked like a really beautiful day out and it was in a lot of ways, but looks can be quite deceiving... and deadly.



Everyone wanted to go straight back inside....

They couldn't get down their path to the barn quick enough...



Because a couple of my goats enjoy pulling wool out of my sheep... I won't name names but.. *cough* Brie... the sheep have been staying in the barnyard with the baby goats during the day. Henrietta has decided to jump over the fence to join them. But because she has been spending so much time with the Pygmy kids, little Ruby is really starting to become less nervous and more friendly which is just what I was hoping for...



Braveheart says - time to go back inside!



Little Firefly, the quietest of three Pygmy kids... is turning a lighter grey. She's so pretty.



Puffin: "pick me up! it's cold down here!"



Puffin is for sure the smallest but also the one with the biggest personality...



Max takes excellent care of the babies, he never lets them out of his sight...

After saying hello, everyone got extra bedding and went back inside the barn where it is nice and warm and cozy. They then got extra food and they are all much warmer and happier now. It's not supposed to warm up today or tomorrow either.



I got new meds from the Vet yesterday for Sammy, the ones I've been using have helped some but not nearly enough so we thought we'd try something else. These meds are longer lasting so I get a short break from giving him needles. If we don't get the improvement we need from these meds, the Vet will come out and we'll see if there is anything else we can do. He is happy and eating, and he has no temperature or anything but he's completely unable to use those front legs and they hurt... The pain meds are helping for sure, but only if he keeps those legs tucked in. They have not become painless and mobile enough for me to work them very much and we haven't regained any flexibility. I have got the swelling down in them considerably but that's it so far.



I was worried about him being cold so we covered him last night with a quilt Jim's mom gave us for the babies.. it's been well used on this farm for goat kids, the dogs at the house, in the truck. It's been around a lot and right now it's still on Sammy, keeping him warm.



He's such a big mamas boy, and he just wants me to hold him, which I do. I wish I could have all the pain. He seems comfortable today. I just wish we could get the legs working again. I've not given up hope yet, but I wish I saw more improvement than I have. We had a very good snuggle yesterday morning and again in the evening.



I shared this photo on FB this morning because I was looking at old pictures... he was only a few days old here and very sick. I've been very fortunate to bond with a lot of animals in my life, but Sammy has been different in many ways. He still today acts just like he did when he was only a couple of days old, he thinks he's a 100 pound horned teeny baby.

As Kevin told the Vet, the sun rises and sets around him in my eyes and it's true. I want him better. Kevin reminded me this morning I saved him from a certain death and he's had four wonderful years of life which is more than anyone ever expected. I know that, and I've known it his whole life but I refuse to give up until I have no other options on the table. I looked back to last years New Years post and it was also about Sammy! http://ourforesthaven.blogspot.ca/2012_12_01_archive.html.



Jim asked me to come and look at some really strange tracks with him after we were done putting everyone away again...

Kevin managed to plow some of our trails but not many - the snow is so miserable to get around on right now which is making it very difficult for logging. It's so frozen it's almost impossible to plow... it's the kind of snow that is only good for one thing - making igloos.

For the most part you can walk on top of it, but if you do break through, it's horrible, it hurts and you get stuck. We have almost no deer around right now which is a first - it's been one of the worst winters we've seen for the deer and we've had winters with plenty more snow and even colder than this one... but the consistency of the snow is good for predators and terrible for the deer.

Jim was pretty convinced he found Big Foots tracks in our hay field. ;)

I did find a website that claims Big Foot is indeed in Ontario and has been seen several times... even once, eating blueberries up North. And they even have photographic evidence! But it seems our tracks did not have the right toes, although the size is about right.

They could have been caused by a few different critters, we know the likely suspects...

But we are still keeping our eyes out just in case Big Foot is hanging around...

Come to think of it, I just set some fudge out on the back porch to set up and I better go check to make sure he has not taken it!

I wish each of you a very Happy New Year, and I leave you with this:

May the sun bring you new energy by day, 
may the moon softly restore you by night, 
may the rain wash away your worries, 
may the breeze blow new strength into your being, 
may you walk gently through the world and 
know it's beauty all the days of your life.
-- Apache Blessing