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(11/7/96 - Submitted to M.D.T. Magazine)

 JUST RAMBLING 

I don't have any soap box to get up on this issue and nothing miraculous has happened around here since Gizmo saved Connie from the flood.

 I do know it's time to put away the iced tea and break out the Ovaltine - winter's a coming.  This farming life doesn't get any easier as one gets older and nothing's easy on a hillside farm.  All the firewood is ricked up and hay delivery for the winter has been arranged.  After looking for three years I have found a "hay man" who can deliver 350 bales of good Ohio hay on demand in a rig that can make it up the drive.  No scrambling for hay this year, but the Lord givith and the Lord takith away.  The local sawmill has closed down and with it went my cheap close source of sawdust bedding.

 As I write this it's late fall and we are busy getting everything done we possibly can do to make life more comfortable for us and the critters.

 Rain gutters, ditches and water breaks are cleaned and redug to channel water around the barns rather than through them.  Donkeys and goats both hate to get their trotters wet.  All animals get any needed booster shots and deloused.  Regular worming takes place every 60 days year round.  Winter is hard enough on the critters and even harder on ones with a heavy parasite load. Plus, I want all that expensive feed I buy to benefit the critters not a bunch of worms.

 All donkeys get their feet trimmed in late November so only the ones with problem feet need a professional trim mid-winter, and I can take care of any minor trimming myself.

 All the critters will be spending more time inside as the bad weather closes in so the sheds and barns are inspected for protruding nails, loose boards or anything else someone could get hurt on. Most of the paddocks here have three sided sheds. I always thought this was sufficient until that brutal winter we had a few years ago. Now we frame up the fronts of the sheds with 1 x 4s and stretch tarps ¾ of the way across the fronts.  I never thought the donkeys and especially the goats would leave these temporary and rather flimsy walls alone but to my amazement they do.  We put a 6 to 8 inch layer of gravel down in the sheds for drainage and clean them out good right before the really bad weather sets in, then a manure and bedding pack is allowed to build up until spring.

 If you have an old donkey you might think of investing in a good pony blanket.  Our Hollyberry (according to the vet) is pushing thirty.  She is in good shape and pregnant again but last winter she seemed to feel the cold more than the other girls.  She will get a blanket this year; she will feel so special there will be no living with her!

 This year we are expecting a December and January donkey foal and late December goat kids.  We have little foal blankets for the donkey babies and have put by extra bulbs for the heat lamps.  Light bulbs in heat lamps are notorious for burning out at 1:00 a.m. in the middle of a blizzard.  Heat lamps are a fire hazard if used carelessly.  You must keep the hoods and bulbs free of dust and inspect cords often.

 Along with winter comes snow, wind, mud, ice, frozen water buckets, fingers, toes, and nasty little things like wind chill factors and frostbite.  A little planning in the fall can save a lot of cold hours outside playing catch-up in the winter.  So, if you have done your fall housekeeping you can stay inside and have another cup of Ovaltine now.  Stay snug!

                     From The Other Side Of The Mountain, 
                                                                                  Leslie

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