Fall

Fall is definitely here, and shifting fast into winter. Chuck has been doing a lot of raking, with help from his apprentice. I shut the hive down for the winter, which involves administering some natural pest control, wrapping it in plastic, ventilating it, keeping mice out, and lots of finger crossing and prayer that they make it through. In the summer, the hive is literally buzzing with activity, and it was very strange to peer down into the hive and see them all in there, still and silent. Not to mention being able to work the hive with no protective gear at all. It made me feel the winter wind in a way nothing else has; not even the geese that pass overhead or the deep frosty fields.

The goat boys all sprouted their winter coats, which makes them look like little puffballs. We got four new goats, all retired adult ladies. They are a mix of pygmy, dwarf nigerian, and boer. They are pretty typical goats, with the exception of one. Her name when she arrived was Sparkles, but that fits her so poorly in so many ways it quickly morphed to Sprinkles, and then Sprinks, which does suit. She is the Goat Who Walks Alone, and All Things are Food to Her. She was pregnant earlier this year, miscarried when she got butted in the stomach, and then had a massive infection that very nearly killed her. She is unique. Despite goats' reputation, they do not eat everything, and all of ours particularly do not like people food. Winter and I were at the barn one day. Winter was munching a cracker, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Sprinks amble by and suck the cracker right out of Winter's hand. Winter gets furious when Jezebel steals food from her (which happens often), but she was so shocked to have a goat do this that she just stared, open mouthed and empty handed. A couple of days later, Sprinks managed to snag a donut, and since then we have been frisked for edibles whenever we approach her. She is the goat that would eat a plastic bag chased by a tin can. She is also always alone. This is very odd behavior for a goat. She just doesn't seem to care about the fact that she is a herd animal. She also has this bizarre, deep "blaaaht" of a cry, in a whiskey and cigarette voice. The rest of the goats all say "maaaah!" in a chorus of cute, but not Sprinks. The rest of the goats all fear Jez, but Sprinks just butts her as hard as possible, then goes on about her grass munching. She is our favorite goat after the boys. One of the other goats also chases cars, which I found out the hard way when I had to retrieve four goats from the cemetery at the base of the hill. Fortunately, Chuck's portable electric fencing is working really well.

Round up of other news: The new baby is a girl. Going by the ultrasound, she is healthy, slightly less active than her big sister, and still due on March 10. The pregnancy is going well, except that the combined weight of toting one in utero and one in my arms all the time is killing my back. That and heartburn.

I got a new job, which I will transition to over the course of November. I will still be at Dartmouth, but will be within the Medical School, working with grant budgets for two research groups. I think I will be very happy there.

Winter has been working on her words...she can now say dog, ball, baby, banana, bubble, uh-oh, and hi. She also has words for things that she uses repeatedly, but I am not sure what she is saying. For example, she has her own word for the cats, but we can't really discern what the word is...at the pace she is going, we will know before too long.