Spring? No, just January thaw :(

This week Mother Nature has given us South Dakotans a small taste of spring - and after -20's, it's that much more appreciated, let me tell you!

When I got to the farm my first job was to throw some hay to the crew, and then to shoo these two escapees back to their own side of the fence.This is the second time they've been in with the horses - not that the horses mind - but luckily it doesn't take much to get them back where they belong. Cute faces, but there's not much upstairs!

Speaking of cute.... This is Mama Kitty - so dubbed because when she first appeared at the farm she promptly proceeded to have a litter of kittens in the market lambs' feed bunk - a very bad spot for newborn kittens, as the lambs tend to dive into their alfalfa with all four hooves, no matter how loudly it squeaks. They really like to play king of the hill IN the feed bunk.

We moved the kittens. She moved them back. We moved them again. She moved them back. Ultimately and unfortunately, none of the kittens survived being jumped on by the lambs.

Mama Kitty is most happy when people stay at least one arm's length away. Preferably farther. So she was content to pose for her picture against the bale, as long as it involved me not touching her. Drop-off-kitten was also sunning, but he came running as soon as I stepped out of the truck, and wouldn't hold still to have his picture taken. Stinker! (Actually, literally he's a stinker at the moment - he's been sleeping in the barn with the sheep, and he's a little rank....)

Cats aside, I had intended to actually throw a leg across Sunny today, but it wasn't to be. I ended up doing some pruning instead. Poor Foxy - of the across the fence adventures in December - is bottom mare. She gets chased a lot. Her usual evasion is to scoot around behind this big old tree that stands in the lower lot. Over the years it's turned into almost an umbrella, which is great for shade in the summer, but since it's also fairly close to the fence on one side, it makes squeezing past difficult if you're say, being chased for sport.

So today I dug a bow saw out of the barn, and tackled some of the hanging down limbs. I can definitely feel my arms at the moment, but I managed to get most of worst limbs trimmed up to an acceptable level. Now Foxy can escape around the tree rather than being run into it when she's evading menacing teeth.

After that, I got them all de-mudded again, which took a while. One thing about spring, even mock spring, it sure is WET. And dirty - LOL. I basically stripped when I walked in the door on getting home. Between rescuing a stuck sheep and hauling the trimmed branches over to throw across the fence, my jeans were wet nearly to the knees with mud & manure, and I had hay in places better left unmentioned. (Although that's normal, and at least hay doesn't smell bad!)

Still, it was absolutely wonderful to get chores done in a sweatshirt & tank top. And mud washes off, right?!