It's Fall!

I love the colors of the trees around our house in the fall.  We've lost so many trees this year due to the drought, it makes me appreciate the ones we have left even more.....God's paintbrush is evident once again!

Our dear goat Lace is very pregnant.  As a result she acts as if she is starving....and will eat just about anything including dog food.  Unfortunately she managed to get the gate open and made her way into the milk room where I had some bags of feed stored.  I got home just in time to see this...

She probably ate about 10 pounds of crimped oats.  For those of you that don't have goats, a grain raid such as this can...and does...kill goats.  They overload on grain and as a result the bacteria in their rumen multiply at a rate that their body can not handle.  They bloat and can die within a matter of a very short time. 

It's been 2 days since the raid and she finally ate a bit of alfalfa today; I think she is in the mend now...but it was touch and go for a while.  Lace usually has quads, and going off feed this late in the pregnancy can cause a number of problems or even kill the doe and/or kids.  For the next 3 weeks everything she eats will go straight to the kids so every bite of food is very important.  I can not imagine how huge she will be by the time she kids....look at her now!

We are busy this week getting things ready for Christmas.  I am working on a couple of gifts for my nieces, ages 8 and 10.  I made a couple of travel games for them....a tic tac toe game that rolls up...

Being made of felt they can play it in the car and not lose the pieces...

And a checkers game with a little bag for the pieces...

Of course we have gifts from the kitchen as well....the beef jerky went into the dryer this morning...

There is still a lot to do....candies to make and cookies to bake!