Cold Week Ahead

We're going back down to negative digits this coming week. Matt and I spent some time spreading a giant sheet of plastic across the opening to the very end of the barn. Even though the barn was cleaned out the big door still won't slide closed. Yes, a barn can be too big, contrary to popular belief, if you want to keep it warm. A hundred cows once kept this barn fairly warm, but my sheep and goats don't. The plastic will cut off the dark wall of cold I feel when I walk down to the East End. That's where I found the angora twins last night, little bundles of goo lying in cold dirt with steam rising. I gave them hay at that end today, which covered the dirt a bit. There is some advantage to wasting hay - it makes a pack to absorb pee and to keep babies off the dirt. I'm not happy about the flock being shut in the barn with no escape in the event of fire, but I don't like frozen babies either. Matt is leaving for a week in Rochester tomorrow. I asked him if he could have picked a better time but no, he waited six months to get into this OSHA training, and he has to go. The guy who did OSHA training for his agency moved to the West Coast and Matt is taking it over, but first he has to get certified. A week sitting in classes, then sleeping in a nice hotel at night. More chocolates on the pillow for Matt. He put together three more jugs for me to put moms and newborns in. We'll see what the week brings...