Happy Christmas to all

And to all a good night... at least, a good night to those who don't have goats fixing to kid out. To all of those who do - we wish you sleep when you can get it and easy kiddings where you can watch from a polite distance as your does do everything right and then you can move along and get a nice cup of coffee. Chuck is keeping a closer eye than normal this year since we had the huskies attack a chicken so recently. I believe in survival of the fittest, and only keeping the best for breeding stock, but loose dogs are indiscriminate destroyers and I don't particularly want them reducing the pool I have to choose from. This also will be the first kidding season our LGDs have experienced with the does, so we want to be there for their first interactions with kidding does with brand new babies. The dogs, and our Anatolian in particular, notices every "difference" and we found last year that the dogs saw goats that broke into the field with "their" goats as a threat, and would try to run them out of the field. As soon as everyone was back in their proper spot, they were happy, and they would even go field to field and be happy with the goats as long as the goats were where they were supposed to be. There is a graveyard on the property and people still put flowers out, and we have noticed that anytime the flowers on the stones change, the dogs notice and check them out. In this picture, Kitty, the doe with the broken leg who still can move pretty quick on three legs, had gotten away from Chuck and taken off down the hill to see her old buddies. Bo was most concerned about this - there was a goat out of place! Horrors! So he jumped the fence between fields and ran down to save the day (in his opinion anyway).

I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday - Christmas, Hannukah, or whatever you celebrate. This is the time of year where we are reminded what is most important - family and friends. We focus on the joy of children, and rightly so. They are our future and all our hopes and dreams are embodied in them, and while life isn't perfect, it is so nice that at least for a moment, we can forget all our troubles and just smile along with Santa Claus...

And at the risk of being a little silly, I would add that yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!