"Little" projects...

 There is a distinct chill in the air, reminding me that the lovely seasons are over and cold, wet, and windy weather is on the way. Because I have livestock, I spend quite a lot of time thinking about ways to make them more comfortable in the winter and to streamline their care. I've had a little idea tumbling around in my head, and yesterday Chris helped me put my plans into effect. 

The main room in their cozy is 8'x12'. I asked Chris to put up a tall board along the floor, reducing their bedding area by about 4 feet. There were two reasons for this. The first was that limiting the bedding area meant that their shavings would be deeper and warmer. The second was that by doing this, I could move the hay bags to the end of the space away from where the shavings are, so that spilled hay will not mix with the shavings. When shavings, hay, and excrement mix, it gets heavy and difficult to move. By keeping the hay away from the bedding, I can easily sweep the spilled stuff up (goats do waste a lot of hay!) and make keeping their space clean easier. There is a saying, "goats poop where they eat." By slightly separating the eating area from the sleeping area, the bedding may stay cleaner and drier longer. We shall see.       

The goats look very snuggly as they sleep in their new, abbreviated space. I'm so pleased to have this little idea of mine put into effect. (Thanks, Chris! You are the sweetest.)

 Next up was a refresh. Many years ago, my sweet friend Chez sent me a marvelous gift. She bought a vintage silver-plated tray and painted the center with blackboard paint. I keep it in my kitchen and write a variety of messages on it. The paint has become worn from constant use. It looked like this: 

Chris kindly brought me some fresh chalkboard paint. To my delight, it took just a few moments to spiff up my treasure. 

Meanwhile, the final thing left to complete our wonderful deck project was to have some stones placed at the base of the stairs. The project is almost done, just a few minor finishing touches left. I am delighted. When the grass grows in around the edges, it will look even better. It is an attractive and safe place to land. 

We recently had the field fence that separates the pasture from the back yard moved out, giving us more "living space." While we were at it, we removed the fence between the hen yard and the back yard. In an ideal world, the birds would stay out of the backyard, but they took the fence as a mere suggestion. Removing the fence made our space look nicer, and it will make mowing and navigating in and out in bad weather more manageable. The problem was that the lovely little rock wall in front of the coop looked chopped off once the fence was moved. More stones were brought in to extend it a bit, and one huge flat one to merge from the human area to the bird area. It looks magical. I'm going to plant some daffodils around the rocks, and it will look oh so sweet in the spring. 

The flower beds are all cleaned up, the last lawn mowing done, and now it is time to turn inward, both figuratively and literally. As the days grow shorter, we can take a bit of time to rest, but I also plan to tackle some indoor projects. The kitchen cabinets need to be cleaned and organized before the "cooking holidays" are here, and the basement? Oof. It needs some help. 

We have managed to have a lot of "little" (and BIG!) projects taken care of this year, and I am tickled with all of them.  

Getting started...

 I often find that getting started on any project is the hardest part. If I sit down to write an article, I may struggle a ridiculously long time to get the first words typed, but once that is done, the writing flows.

 My fall "to-do" list is sitting on the kitchen table, and it is daunting. One thing on it was to move the firewood from last year close to the house so we could burn it first. This year's wood is neatly stacked along the driveway, and we wanted to keep the old stuff separate. There is a little grassy area just by the main entrance that was a likely spot to put it, but I was concerned it would look junky. Then I had the idea to stack it in a circle, which I thought would look tidy and nice. Over breakfast this morning, Chris asked which top three things on my list I hoped to get done today. Getting that wood taken care of was number one. I ran a quick errand, and when I got back, he had laid out a perfect circle and begun placing pieces of wood down to build the stack upon. I was so pleased to see that circle begin, I jumped right in to help. It was a beautiful morning, and we soon struck a nice rhythm, listening to the thunk of logs as our project began to take shape. 

We are both pleased with the end results. 

Next on my list was getting the windows put up on the goat house. Cold weather is coming, and (hopefully) some rain. We take the windows down in the spring so the goats have fresh air, but I love having the windows firmly attached before the cold winds begin to blow. 

In this picture, Charm, the little brown goat, is staring up at the new addition. I think she is grateful. They have already begun growing their thick winter coats, they know the seasons are changing.

The third item on my list was a doozy. The floor of the goat room is sand, topped by very (very!) heavy rubber stall mats. These mats make it easy to shovel and sweep soiled bedding up, give the animals solid, smooth-fitting flooring, and add a little insulation as well. One of the mats was deeply sunk down in one corner, making cleaning difficult. It was also a trip hazard. Chris gamely jumped in, muckling the mat with stout pliers to pull it out the door. We had a couple of hundred pounds of sand in the truck and filled in the hole. Then we (mostly HE) dragged the mat back into place and spread a layer of fresh shavings. The goats seemed to approve. 

We crossed a few other smaller items off the daunting list today, as well. Then a shower and a much-appreciated nap. I didn't need much help getting started on that. 

Getaway...

 Saturday morning, we scooted out of the house as soon as the chores were done and headed to Greenville, Maine, for a little getaway.  We spent a weekend in Greenville last fall and loved it, and could hardly wait to go back. Chris reserved us a lovely room at the Greenville Inn, a charming old establishment with gorgeous woodwork, vintage wallpaper, stained glass windows, and  wonderful staff.      

  Our room even had a fireplace, but the weather was so warm and perfect that we didn't get to try it out. 

We spent a lovely afternoon on Moosehead Lake riding on the tour boat Katahdin. The foliage was at peak perfection, the mountains rolling darkly on the horizon. A feast for the eyes. 

The cloud formations were stunning. 

Back at the Inn, we sat on the porch and enjoyed a glass of wine and more beauty. 

We had a nice supper out, thought the king-sized bed was ridiculously large, and were up early for more exploring. 

We met a friendly local and visited a bit.

We took in more beauty. 

And in general, enjoyed uninterrupted time together. It was a lovely autumn weekend, well celebrated.