Russell’s looking good on his Yamaha 80. It’s a 2-stroke engine (which means it takes mixed fuel and you better always keep an eye on the oil level) which also means it’s pretty quick. It has no clutch but it does feature a gear shifter, 1 down and 2 up. This is Russell attempting a modest jump, but he’s being extra careful and going a bit too slow so the tires don’t actually leave the ground. When our friends the Young’s come over with their 4 wheelers and dirt bikes, that’s when you see some real action. I need to get some pix of them up on this blog.

We got all the work done and the older kids were able to get to the dance like they wanted. Unfortunately for Rebecca, on their way back from Oklahoma they got stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam north of Fort Worth and she didn’t make it home in time to get to the dance. This is Ryan with his cousin Paul at the dance. They decided to wear their SteakBurger nametags for some unknown reason. I think they assume it will be a good conversation piece. I think it’s just kind of goofy but in a fun “napoleon dynamite” kind of way.

Saturday, we had an early morning (try up at 4:30AM) youth temple trip and we were back by 11AM and had to hustle to get the Saturday chores done before the teenagers wanted to head back to a dance at the Church that night. This is Ryan on the Zero Turn — the only way to mow sizable plots with lots of trees and fence posts. It took us a while to settle on a mowing solution and we went through various pieces of equipment but this Kubota 28HP Diesel with a 72″ cut is the ticket. That roof comes from the tractor actually, but it does provide a little shade when it gets to hot season.

I know you’re all hanging by a thread wondering if the new fruit trees we planted are budding and blossoming. Well, take comfort, and note the progress of these pear trees. Does it seem possible to you when you see how thin these trunks are that these are guaranteed to bear fruit this year? I don’t know about that — 2 pears on this tree and it snaps, seems like to me anyway.

Rebecca’s got the truck and trailer all set up and ready to head out to Oklahoma for another horse show. It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m sure she’s wearing green under that coat. You’d think it’s arctic weather with that coat she’s wearing but it’s only about 50F out there. I’ll let you know how she did at the show, she’ll be up there Friday and Saturday.

From these mama goats plus 2 pygmy goats, we now have 15 goat babies. That’s amazing to me. Rebecca has taken to feeding them in this fashion so they each get plenty without stepping on it or pushing each other around. The chickens like to get in on any feeding that happens too. The baby goats are in and out of this pen. Out when they want to explore, but they don’t stray too far from their mothers.

The little babies are constantly exploring outside of the pens. The follow the behavior modeled for them by their mothers and nibble on grass probably wondering why their mothers like it so much.

Cute little baby. This is one of the babies that is bottle fed, so when you go by the pens and kneel down to take a picture, they really come running expecting something tasty. Sorry, I only wanted a picture.

This is the multicolored baby, she (or he, maybe, I don’t remember) is one of the most playful, always jumping and prancing around.

All goats love to climb things. You find them in the oddest spots. This baby goat has climbed into a horse feeder in one of the horse stalls. We don’t keep any horses in this barn, but the chickens had taken over these feeders as egg laying nests. They had arranged a nice nest of straw and usually in the afternoons the chickens will make their way one by one to the nests and lay their eggs. That’s when they make a bunch of noise, by the way, trying get that egg laid.

Those twin pygmy goats are maturing — not growing much, but definitely doing well. In fact all 15 goat babies are doing very well. 2 have to fed by bottle but that won’t be for too much longer.

Spring comes on like the dawn of a new day. You wait and wait and anticipate. You announce it’s here and then it seems even nicer the next day. Then it gets cold again and it seems like winter won’t concede. Then, before you know it, it leaves, without any fanfare or farewell. It’s just gone and it’s hot.

Some trees are starting to blossom. These purple trees (not sure what they’re called — maybe someone out there does) are the first thing to blossom in the Spring. Spring flowers will be on their way soon.

We had some good friends stop by Sunday afternoon to see what all the excitement was about a few goats. The two little girls were quite brave to face their fears about the dogs. I think by the time they left they were no longer too petrified to funtion.

Some friends from Italy (TX) over on Sunday afternoon to see all the new baby goats.