Joy in the tiny things! (Newsletter)

Good morning friends!

Was this the best timing or what??

It's the little things in life isn't it? The tiniest happy moments often just tickle me in ways that other people don't always get lol. I guess I think that there are so many yucky periods in a human's life—illness, layoffs, death, taxes, elections ha! that if we don't find joy in little moments then what's left? I guess I want to have as much happiness as possible so I really keep my eyes open for it.

Lots of happiness on the Mother Ranch this week! I met a lovely young couple who visited for her 21st birthday and they were just genuinely gentle, nice people. I always feel like I get the best visitors! People who love animals come to the ranch and of course animal people are the most wonderful!

My dad's birthday was last weekend and we had a family party to celebrate. I made his (and mine) favorite birthday cake, German Chocolate! Many moons ago, I did a short stint making delicious gluten free cupcakes (that no one could tell were gluten free) because it made me happy and it made others happy when I shared :-) Here is a pared down recipe of my German Chocolate Cupcakes if you want to give it a try! I keep thinking I'll make how-to videos for all my cupcake recipes but I haven't made that happen yet.

Dad came prepared for birthday animal snuggling time with cut up carrots and a mechanics jumpsuit so he could get fully wallered around by the baby goats and donkey:

Tuesday morning I woke up from a nightmare at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep so I got up to work. The sun came up and I veeery quietly stepped outside to snap this with my big camera—the steam, the morning light...happy sigh. All four babies still doing well:


At 7am I saw Brad walk by my office windows. Huh. What was he doing out so early? I waved but he looked so serious I put my shoes on and followed him. This is what he was serious about:

He had heard Tessa doing her Angry Big Dog bark, woke up and looked out the window to find that the horses (we both think it was big boy Wynter) had broken into the goat's pasture! OMG!

The latch was moved (which would take a lot of force) and the extra security chain was snapped in half!

The poor goats were racing back and forth from the mom/baby area and back around to their pasture. They didn't know what to do with themselves! Luckily the donkey decided he was more interested in the grass than chasing goats. Also lucky, the moms and babies are locked into their side and weren't at risk at all. The outer pasture fence is just 3 board for horses, not goat proof at all so I'm thankful this all happened in the morning and was caught early.

And in another story of It's Never Boring to Live on a Farm, Brad and I were out doing chores on Monday afternoon. We went out early because he saw it was going to rain in 30 minutes. We figured we'd knock them out fast and be back inside before it started. Evening chores always take less time. We had just finished and were standing in the new barn, which, if you remember, is basically a 40'x40' "lid" lol. The sides have fencing but it's super open and airy because the weather is mild 3/4 of the year and in the summer it's hot and humid without a smidgen of breeze so we wanted as much air as possible. Suddenly the wind picked up, thunder and lightning was booming and cracking all around us, and the skies opened. It uh, felt very different than viewing it from inside my house 😳 Brad and I like storms, they are fierce and wild and exhilarating but this was more hair raising and adrenaline pumping. Gulp. Later it would remind us of storms we had been in during our whitewater kayaking days. The question was always, "Am I safer in the middle of the water or on the edge under these huge trees?" We were lucky then and on Monday too—we were safe.

Our French drain was completely overwhelmed and the water flooded into the barn:

It was actually a good thing, now we know what other things we need to do to keep that from happening next time. A bigger berm, possibly another drain, and a 4"x6" treated beam in the ground. We also learned that we will NOT be dry in a storm! The normal rain we get, sure, but a full blown thunder storm? Nope. If we get caught in another storm, the plan is to get in the goat barn. Underneath it's exterior siding is an actual log structure. It's very sturdy.

As it was lightening up a bit, Rayn came over and stood near me, eyes wide and worried. She's the only one who comes to me for comfort:

We measured water in a bucket and realized we got 2" in about 30 minutes!

Again, good timing, since we (mostly Brad, but I've been helping when I can) have been working on getting the barn finished up—the fence around the edge and the flooring.

So. Much. Lumber:

I finally spent enough time to learn how to stretch fence! We started off with a huge 100 ft roll of ridiculously heavy wire horse fence, propped it up on the posts and tacked it on one side so it didn't go BOING! and roll back up. Gloves and safety glasses ON!

Next up, a photo of the cutest donkey in all the land:

Attached ginormous ratchet straps to the fence and the tractor and ratcheted the fence taut:

Hammered staples in 4 places on each post.

Cut the boards and attached to the posts. I learned how to use a circular saw! There will be a 10' gate on either end.

Brad, getting started on the first steps to putting in a stall door. The horses and donkey are all so used to the construction now they don't even flinch when they hear power tools but I was still watching like a hawk:

The 50 stall mats and gates arrived! By next week, we'll have flooring! Brad is on the tractor right now, leveling the ground, adding the super fine gravel, then more leveling, and then the mats. What a process!

ODDS and ENDS:

Oh my lord.. stubby little gosling wings 😍

I wonder what this baby is saying to its parents??

After the storm I got to try out the new tiny chainsaw, isn't this the cutest thing?

We had some small trees come down in the forest so I cut limbs off and brought them to the goats. The babies even got a tiny branch:

But then I found Rayn leaning over the fence trying to reach the goat's goodies so I pulled one of the bigger pieces over to them and they were so happy—stripped it bare and even went to work on the bark:

THIS WEEK BUT YEARS AGO:

My dad's birthday week, many years ago when ManChild was a very long legged 3 years old. They had squirt guns and my dad would say, "Ok, you yellow bellied, lily livered—DRAW!" and they would blast each other, running all around my parent's back yard giggling. I can still hear ManChild, who back then couldn't say his Ls or his Rs, "Ok you yewwow bewwied, yiyy yivewed, DWAW!" It still makes me laugh!

ManChild in 2019 with his favorite baby goat Poppy who is now one of our bucks. Sadly there is no more rolling on the ground, hugging him—now he's a ManGoat who pees on his own legs and beard to attract the girls 🤢 but boy did they LOVE each other back then:

The weather in Colorado is just as weird as North Carolina, except there you could see it coming! This was the view from our house over the front pasture to the Rocky Mountains in the distance:

And the view to the east:

Such magnificent clouds!

All that wide open makes my heart happy but I did miss the trees! I think that's why I love our new place so much—we have lots of trees AND the ponds mean that we can see the sky too!

MEMES OF THE WEEK:

GIVEAWAY:

Whoops, I did it again and forgot to switch out the print! This week's winner of the Leda baby goat print is Nancy! Keep an eye on your email Nancy!

See all of the prints of my original watercolors in my Etsy store!

Thank you for reading :-) My blog is reader-supported—that's you my wonderful friends! The best way to support my work locally (Research Triangle area of NC) is:

I'm a life coach and partner with horses to help people heal—schedule an Equine Gestalt Coaching session.
Or, schedule a NeurOptimal Neurofeedback session.

Commission a painting or bring your logo idea to life,
buy a tshirt or a print with my artwork.

Out of state?
Call for Zoom or phone coaching (feeling anxious, stuck, or out of sorts?)  Remember to forward this email to a friend and Subscribe to my YouTube channel!

If a friend forwarded you this email, you can subscribe here.