First day back at school was fine. Business as usual with teachers saying hi, happy new year, how ya' doing, etc., and administrators looking tense. Must be more budget cuts. Glad I'm in the trenches with the kiddos. We had a birthday in school today - my FAVORITE student Santana is 18 - and the double chocolate cake I hastily made in the morning was delicious. I'm not allowed to eat any but it was good to see the students chowing down with bits of chocolate icing in the corners of their mouths. I rushed home to find everything okay, no lambs or kids, and went about doing chores. Matt has something big going on at work having to do with the EPA - don't ask! - and I knew he would be late. Took me two hours to get bales down, everyone watered and chickens/ducks grained. Out of rabbit food but they adore the alfafa sticks in Libby's Luscious Hay so not to worry. I have some VERY pregnant ewes who are ready to go any time, but heaven only knows when they will drop their bundles of joy. I'm very nervous about the whole thing, but I'll do my best as usual. Got dinner made, Matt fed when he got home at 7, and fell asleep on the sofa at 8 or so. It made getting up at midnight for barn check much easier. Everyone resting, chewing their cud, with a few still chomping on the alfafa sticks. Alfafa means "good hay" in Arabic, and it certainly is. This hay is mixed with Canary grass, unfamiliar to me, but it's very palatable to the sheep and goats. Alfafa is a little rich ordinarily but with all these pregnant girls I am happy to have it. I try not to make a fuss when I do these middle of the night checks in the barn and just tiptoe out and listen for birthing or baby sounds. Still missing Baby Thunder. I got a nice night-night kiss from Luna, Lilly's yearling ewe lamb and Zack, my new ran. He saw me smooching with Luna and walked over to join in. What a nice boy he is. I hope to see the 4-H family I bought him from at Md. Sheep and Wool this May so I can tell them how well Zack is settling in. Took the doggies outside for a quick pee - still and cold out there. Now if I can go back to sleep for a few hours I'll be happy.
Can not wait to see the babies, this is my second year with no baby goats, the last year I had the goats I had ninety-seven babies with twenty-two on the bottle, had many triplets and quads. The life saver for me was a baby monitor, saved all the un necessary getting up at night and with it right by my bed I could hear them the minute they were born and be out and have them tended to before they got cold.
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