For the most part, it was a day at home and a good day for it. Temperatures were in the 30s and the sun was shining bright. Warm enough, I decided, to clean the goat pen. It had been more time than I wanted to admit since I’d done this. I did not clean the pen after the winter freeze, which was for all of January. And now its nearly mid-February.

We say that the animals that live with us have won the lottery, meaning that they lead good lives here. Less so, we think, for the chickens who do not have a heated roost. We ended up putting a four-gallon Millenium Gold bucket filled with hot water in their roost – this gave off considerable heat. And one morning Pete found one of the girls sitting on the bucket

It will be a great day when I go out into the pen, open the door to their coop, and encourage all three to come outside.

The goats also have not won the lottery, as today was indicated to me by the condition of their enclosure. I used the pitchfork, rake, shovel, and hands, yes hands, when picking up the frozen soiled bedding. I put the bedding in two sleds, and took it first downhill and then uphill to the manure pile behind the hoop house.

The top layers of the bedding, mostly hay, were fairly easy to access. The further down I went, the harder access got. I used my hands to pull the sheets away from the pen floor. It did not come easily because it was frozen. It did not smell bad – but I knew that as soon as it warmed up that there would be a considerable stench.

Swamp Thing and Sastrugi were outside, in the yard, as I was cleaning up. Sassy rode the manure filled sled downhill several times. They enjoyed the better weather. And I’ll bet that they were pleased to discover that they had clean, fresh bedding.

We had the opportunity to breed them this winter but didn’t do this. The timing didn’t seem right. I do want goat babies around. I would also like to get a puppy and another Icelandic gelding. Days off bring all this to mind. The problem is, I don’t get many days off.

I took a break once the pen was clean and took all the horses for a walk. They are getting bored with going around the loop. I need to vary the routine and to resume riding them. Today would have been a good day because it was Stuporbowl Sunday. A good day to go for a ski, which was what Pete did.

Me, it was important, getting the horses out.

The good thing is that the sun now sets at 5:45 p.m. So now, having more daylight, I have more time to spend with the animals.

Pete and I did go to town and pick up boxes for Tuesday. We’ll be bringing 750 books back to town. Tomorrow though, will be an easy day.

Next: 41. 2/12/24: Going to the Horses, Dogs, Chickens, and Goats