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Friday, December 3, 2010

Last of the animal move

While we were moving the horses, donkeys and chickens, all the cats were rounded up and either put into carriers or were allowed to roam free inside vehicles as we were making trips from old house to new.  Only having four carriers and way  more cats, free roaming was an only option. All the cats settled in right away. As you can see Smudge here ( pic above) immediately investigated every part of the house. Here she is at the very tip top of the ceiling on a ledge that runs the entire house.


Jovi and Squirrel finding another high spot in the house. There are a lot of ledges and cabinets they can get up on. Let's just say with having so many high places for the cats to get to, throughout the night you can hear cats jumping from one high place to another.


Ozzy doesn't care for anything having to do with exercising too much energy. He prefers the easiest place to stretch out. Here he is in front of the wood stove doing what he does best.  


The very first hot meal I cooked in the new house. Steak, rice, buttered bread and tomatoes. I am looking forward to garden season. Now that we have plenty of water and good soil, a huge garden will be planted. Most for us, some for the horses, donkeys, goats and chickens and a bit for the deer.


The last of the animals to come over were the goats. Now let me tell you I never in a million years would have thought loading goats would be quite the adventure it was. The goats are not exactly overly friendly and not very trusting. Thank goodness they will come up to me. First goat caught was Oreo ( black and white). A quick grab, held on, picked her up and into the trailer she went. Okay, that's not too bad.
Next was Goldie Goat. She was a bit more wary of coming up to me. But knowing I had treats got the better of her. As soon as she was close enough to grab, in she went.
By this time Gabby and Baby are wise to what is going on. That's when it all turned into a rodeo. There was no place to confine them and they had five acres in which to run away. After some time Baby was getting tired enough she got caught, lifted up and into the trailer she went.
That left Gabby. We are all tired, out of breath and having to dig deep to catch the last one. What seemed like an eternity, Gabby tired enough for me to literally jump on her bringing her to the ground. As bad as I felt having to do that, there was not another option. There were already three goats who were stressed in the trailer and time was running out to get them to the new house before it was dark.
After catching our breath we guided Gabby to the trailer, picked her up, put her in and sighed. The last of the animals were loaded up. Yay! 
The goats unloaded pretty good. They looked around at their new surroundings and started munching on the grass. 
Animal moving adventure over! Thank goodness. Three solid days of moving animals is enough to last me quite awhile. 
I can honestly say I found muscles I never knew I had during this move. From loading furniture to unwilling donkeys wanting to load, to goat wrangling and everything in between. 
Until next time.........................


11 comments:

  1. ah, you must feel great! ozzy looks like he's the happiest so far - a good lesson to follow! glad you got all the goats in - whew! i can imagine it was quite the scene. enjoy your weekend coming up with the whole crew there!

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  2. I'm sure you heaved a huge sigh of relief when that last goat hopped off the trailer. That is pretty much the way the sheep would act--if there was going to be drama it would involve them. Love the pictures of the cats exploring all the high places. My kitties would LOVE that. The one of Jovi and Squirrel is especially cute. Glad for you that everyone is safely moved before the weather gets bad.
    Tammy

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  3. Your home looks to be kitty heaven ! with a log burner to die for ! hope you had a large glass of wine with that meal you deserve it !

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  4. You deserve a break now! That was a lot of stressing and sweating, I'm sure! I will say, the cats look happy and content!

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  5. Oh my goodness, those cats must love the new house with those ledges! I'm betting that garden next year will be providing more than "a bit" for the deer, lol!

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  6. I'm so happy for you that all this and all the stresses from this past year are over for you. You always kept your faith about New Beginnings and it is now coming true. That is so wonderful! Please don't worry about reading my blog. You have many people that love yours that you need to catch up with. I'm doing much better and have started to work on building up my strength. -- Inger

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  7. I'm tired just reading this! Now to settle in for the winter!
    That garden you have planned great.....nice to have all that land in which to plant whatever you need or want.
    Good job!
    Jim

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  8. Louise left this comment and just as I was about to publish it, one of the cats jumped onto my lap moving the mouse down a hair and I accidentally deleted the comment. Sorry Louise.

    "Now you can settle in to making this a real home. It looks like it's going to be a great place to live, for you and all of the critters."

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  9. So glad you got everyone moved. I can't imagine trying to move my animals. I'm glad you can settle in and relax now.

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  10. I'm happy to read you are finally getting settled in, it's been a nit like moving Noah's Ark :)
    It truly looks like a lovely and fitting place, the house is lovely, and the animals have more room to spread out. I see the new fencing in the first picture, that should do the trick and keep everyone safe.
    Dinner looks scrumptious !

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  11. Neat blog! Your chickens are beautiful :) Check out our blog at thechickenkeepers.blogspot.com

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