The icy season is upon us....

One of the things I detest most about January (and that particular list is LONG) is spending an hour every morning chipping ice out of all the waterers. Even worse is realizing that my hose has become an ice snake because I forgot to unhook and cover the hose spigot with the little insulated spigot snuggie. Tonight I had to refill the duck ponds bucket by bucket. Lovely. The critters don't seem to mind the weather overly much; they complain a lot less than their mama does. Ursula, who resembles a furry barrel, doesn't seem to like the cold either. Much to the annoyance of the other goats, she seems to have claimed the master bedroom as her own. She only comes out if the sun is shining or there's a snack to be had.

Harvey, on the other hand, loves to frolic and romp across the frozen grass. On the plus side, the freezing weather cuts back on the length of Harvey's benders; he's always home by dark now. He's a particularly content bunny right now, because he and Cinnabun got a Costco sized box of Wheat Thins for Christmas.


Raphael also made out like a bandit this Christmas; he got a bag of ferret treats and a brand new cozy tunnel to sleep in. He didn't seem to like the plain old boring hammock that came with his ferret condo, so naturally I felt the need to replace it with furniture more to his liking. For his playroom, Gene bought him two lengths of collapsible vinyl dryer duct. He loves rampaging through the new tunnels, chasing his brightly colored ping-pong balls. I don't think he misses his life on the streets one bit.