Beating the Monday blues again!

 So cute he should be illegal!!

Here are the pictures from the weekend.  Unfortunately they aren't very good because cell phone and bad lighting, not to mention they are never still!  Anyway yesterday was their first day out in the yard.  They were terrified at first, but then they were so excited about all the room to run around and play. 

Zephyr was definitely happy to get outside too.

Hubby got her some pine limbs to eat, which the kids had to check out too.

 This little girl is super difficult to get good pictures of...

 Wading through the pine limbs.

The other reason it was so difficult to get pictures of the kids is because they spend all of their time trying to climb in my lap.

 Sorry it's blurry... both of them are trying to climb in my lap.

So then I tried to get selfies instead, even though I hate selfies lol.

 He was hogging the camera.

 I finally peeked around the little girl, her brother photo bombed.

 Then they both got in my lap and hogged the camera.

 Finally got a decent one with me and the boy.

 Then I got this one and decided to call it good lol.

 The little man nursing.

That's all I got.  Hopefully I can borrow my parent's camera next weekend and try to get better pictures.  I'm so tired of cell phone pictures.  I hope you enjoyed seeing the kids again.  They are so adorable!!  I like to just sit out in the barn with them after work.  They are so much fun.

Happy Birthday Amethyst!!!!

Happy birthday Amethyst!!  She's a year old today!  We let her out in the yard to play and explore so I could get some cute pictures, but first I want to share some of her old baby pictures!

Wasn't she so adorable??  Now here are the pictures from today.

 That expression kills me!

 She is so pretty.

On another note..... I so hate cell phone pictures....

 Love her racing stripes.

 She found the wagon of hay hehe.

 Get that camera out of my face.. I'm eating!

Champ and Taz were out playing in the yard too and for the longest time had no clue Amethyst was out.  When they finally saw her it was time for a showdown hehe.

 Champ and Amethyst immediately started headbutting.

 Taz was leaping around in the air for fun because he's a silly boy.

 Get him Amethyst!

When Jasper showed up Amethyst was way out numbered so we took her back inside before things got out of hand.  I think she had fun though.  We took her to the barn, cuddled, fed her hay, weighed her and just spent time with her.

Then because we're mean we gave her and the rest of the goats their annual vaccines.  Sorry for stabbing you with a needle on your birthday Amethyst! 

We spent four hours today giving vaccines, deworming whoever needed it, trimming hooves, playing with the babies, etc.  I did get pictures of Zephyr's adorable kids, but I'll share them tomorrow.  My back is killing me from all of the bending, crouching, etc. involved in trimming hooves.  Make sure to check back tomorrow for the other pictures.

Happy Birthday Jackal!!!!!

Happy birthday Jackal!!!!!  Can you believe he is ten years old?  How has the time flown by so quickly?  So for those of you who are new to the blog when we moved here in 2013 my grandparents (they live next door on the same property) started feeding Jackal cat food without me knowing.  He gained so much weight!!  Here are some comparison pictures....

Pictures from 2013.....

 ...before we moved above.

 ....right after we moved above.

Looked so good and was so healthy.

Then a year later here is what he looked like.....

It makes me sick to see these pictures.....

I hate myself for not noticing it sooner...

 Below is a comparison pictures....

 At the beginning of his weight loss program.

Now.

The part that is really depressing is he didn't have a single health problem before and now he is hypothyroid, has a slipped disc in his neck and has large fatty tumors.  I know part of it is age, but being obese messed his body up so much.

The happy news is he's lost ten pounds!!!  He's back down to 55 pounds which is close to where he should be.  He could probably go lower, but he will never look as thin as he did before because of the sagging skin.

 I'm proud of you Jackal!

It hasn't been an easy journey, but he is so much happier and healthier now, even if he thinks he's always starving to death. 

There is a sad story I have to share (and for my record keeping).  A few days after his birthday he was out in the yard minding his own business when he saw the neighbor's dog on our property.....we have a four foot fence... he trotted over to greet the neighbor dog, but the dog jumped back over the fence and ran to his buddy.  Then he and his buddy jumped back over the fence onto my property and attacked Jackal.  Just thinking about it makes me want to cry all over again.  My husband was outside and running as fast as he could to get to them, yelling.  Finally the dogs ran off and jumped over the fence again.  Luckily they didn't break the skin, but Jackal was so sore.  When I got home from work I was just petting him and he cried and flinched away where his ribs were bruised because they rolled him.  Even though he was acting submissive they were both on top of him.

My dad (who is big and scary) went over and told the neighbor it better not ever happen again and the guy said he will chain the dogs up.  The crazy thing is the guy with the dogs doesn't even live there, he was just visiting our neighbor.  So that was awful, but Jackal is doing better now and I haven't seen those dogs since.  I'm only letting Jackal outside when he is supervised unless he's in the small yard with five foot fence right behind our house.

Jackal, being a dog, has forgotten all about the trauma and is happy as a clam now.  So happy birthday to my boy (even though it was on January 30th hehe)!!!!