I can't believe it has been over 4 months since my last post!  It honestly feels like it has been years since my last entry as our lives have ben caught up in so much turmoil these last few months.  So many changes have occurred in our lives - both good and bad and I will do my best to update everyone!

I guess I will start with the addition of Rosie to our herd.  We took Rosie in as a foster from the OSPCA and after a short time decided to add her permanently to our herd.  Rosie has a very ugly history which I will not share here but we are happy to report she is now very happy in her new home.  She is showing improvements every day and is finally able to be without her winter jacket full time now that the weather is warmer and her hair is growing back in.    Rosie loves food and treats and seems to be very fascinated with watching birds!  She loves all the new babies that keep arriving and is often playing with them!  We have grown to love Rosie in a very short time and are happy that she can live out her days with us here.

The worst part of the last few months has been dealing with the loss of a friend.  Lindsay was tragically taken from all of us on April 5, 2013.  She was the victim of a horrible and senseless murder at the hands of her ex boyfriend.  Lindsay and I were in the same degree program at Nipissing U and she was supposed to be graduating with our class this June.  She was a special woman who was always able to find the positive in every situation and took on life with such a zest that those who knew her couldn't help but be inspired by her!  She will be forever missed but never forgotten.  RIP sweet angel. ♥

Babies are arriving!  So far we have 8 babies born and all are healthy and vigorous!  CC blessed us with two beautiful boys - Apollo and Merak.  Bonnie also had two boys - Titan and Moon Pi.  Maisie gave birth to two beautiful babies - Asia and Hercules.  We are retaining both of them.  Lucy also blessed us with a girl and a boy - Aurora and Argus.  The next four girls to kid are Donna, Dixie, Carmela and Mimi.  They are due starting the 5th of May!

Any guesses on how many babies our Carmela is carrying?  She is seriously as big as a house!  She was big last year - but not this BIG!  Last year she had twin boys.

The weather so far this year has been very frustrating.  Extreme changes in temperature followed by snow, then rain, then more snow is making life very difficult.  The end of April saw us dealing with the worst flood we have ever faced here!  We had to evacuate the goats to different farms just to keep them all safe and dry.  It made life even more stressful as so many roads in the area were closed due to wash outs.  It was a challenge just to get to around everywhere.  We are happy to report though that we all made it through and our house was not damaged in the flood.  We were very fortunate considering how many others in the area lost everything.  Now that the water has gone back down we are dealing with repairs to our fences and the cleanup of everything that washed in our yard.  it could have been so much worse!

I guess the best news of all is that I have finally finished school!  Through everything that's gone on in the last month I am not exactly sure how I managed, but I did!  No more exams, papers or terrible reading assignments for this girl!  At least for awhile anyways!  I would still like to go on to grad school at some point but for the next year at least I will be taking the time to refocus and get centered again.  There is plenty of time to go back to school again later!  For now it is just so hard to believe that after 4 years I have finally earned my degree!  I definitely need to celebrate but will do so when things aren't so busy around here!

Just a few more days and I will be done with school work for the rest of the summer! I can't even begin to explain how exciting that it for me! August is shaping up to be a crazy busy month, with
multiple trips to Toronto and driving the kids around for work, so I guess for that reason alone it will be nice to not have school assignments to worry about as well.
Daniel finally secured himself a job! He had suffered from some serious let downs earlier this month when he was hired at a local camp, then laid off the same day, then rehired a few days later, then told he wasn't needed again after all. Seriously, some people have no hearts at all! The good news is, with perseverance and a good show of initiative he was hired at East Side Mario's last night! He went in for a trial shift and was hired almost immediately. It is nice to see him smile with accomplishment again.
We have finally decided that Trixie, who we were told was bred when we got her - was in fact either not bred or had a false pregnancy. Strangely enough though, we think she is still pregnant but it would be by our Shaemus instead of an unknown buck. As we were told she was bred we didn't worry too much about mingling the herd while we finished some fencing earlier this year. She is still happy and active and growing everyday! I'm going to have to have a conversation with our vet about all this though to see if we can determine when she would be due now. We are also having a sneaking suspicion that Dixie has also been bred by Shaemus. What a busy little man he has been! It seems too
  much to hope for babies after all this time has been passed with waiting
  already, but I just can't help myself! We want baby goats!!!

What a week! School really jumped on me all of a sudden this last week with so many assignments all due in one week - 6 in all, including a major research paper for my history class. I think my butt is permanently flat on the bottom now from sitting so much this week! So, today is the first day in weeks that I don't have looming assignments to work on. With only 3 weeks left in school for me this summer, I can feel a holiday coming on.
Today I have zero motivation and I don't really care either! Geordon is outside working on new outhouses for the Stisted Fair, Daniel is away with his girlfriend on a 36km paddle down the Magnettewan River today for a fundraiser, Alyssa is at work, and I just came back in from enjoying some sunshine with the goats and dogs.
The otter family that lives in our back yard came out to tell us all off for disturbing their peace and I managed to snap this picture of one of them. The dogs get quite upset for being told off by otters.
We put Dixie back in with the girls today. Her head isn't completely healed yet, but if she can remember not to butt anyone with it she'll be fine. She is getting fat from being cooped up for two weeks now in the stall. It is high time she get out and exercising again!
Still no babies out of Mama yet..... :o/