Hiemal and Apricity & heaters

[see the little black doggy in the far 

left side of the photo?]

Hiemal:
of or relating to Winter

Apricity:
the warmth of the Winter Sun

These odd words are pretty accurate at describing my latest hiking adventures. While in the woods and out of the wind, I can appreciate Apricity.

When moving into the deep valleys I enjoy Hiemal temperatures in the shaded part. 

However, Olive and I found a rather warm area next to one of the large caves we found. She basked in sun.

We trekked along the bluffs to find the large bluff rock with a 'hole' in it.

The orange arrow points to where I was...

I did NOT venture out on the rock. The top of it was covered in ice... even Charlie didn't venture any further.

We headed up along a hogback ridge and found a spot to sit and have snacks and take a breather. 

My goal this month was to find out if one could get to the top of that bluff. 

I sure felt humbled by finding that spot and observing the river from 80 feet above it.

Now to return when the ice is gone and explore the narrow and very steep valley below it. Will it give me an entrance to that 'hole'? I don't know yet.

Olive said this is what she had needed before her work week. She needed to get the cobwebs out of her head and fresh air into her lungs. 
She likened our little adventure to Lewis and Clark.

I laughed and said that it was better to be Lewis and Clark than Thelma & Louise -- because that relationship ended badly!

Heaters ~~~

When I got home I found out that the motor and fan on our heater was screaming and misbehaving. It screeched and groaned and made the awful-ist noises. It had been getting worse over the all week.

At 8PM, Olive showed up with 3 large space heaters. I turned off the offensive heater and we temporarily solved the problem with one space heater. 

Now to go on and start with phone calls to replace this heater.
Photo from 2016 when the Cabin Heater was installed. Direct Vent LP heater. For our Tiny Home we use about 200 gallons of LP per winter. So it has done a great job so far. Our last heater of the same kind lasted 15 years before we replaced it.

Of course this week promises to be fraught with horrible winter weather all week. So any chance of fixing our heat right away may be an issue.

This morning I made some phone calls. Now I wait for someone to get back to me.

Crazy Crazy Me!

Do you remember this cute little guy? My neighbor's offered him to me. I said yes.
And then I had to figure out how to tell Rich who doesn't care that much for goats that we were going to have a goat.

Sven was born on the 16th.

Here he was 4 days later when he met Charlie.

And here he is on the 28th. It was warm enough to take him outside with a harness on.
Sven will be coming home...down the driveway to our place once he has been weaned and the weather turns. [We have another frigid polar thing going on this week!]

Sven has grown in two weeks!

He is a Lamancha, which is the funny looking tiny eared goat. His one job will be to eat weeds along the fence-line and clean up areas of nettles which goats love along with another weeds.

But I thought what could a whethered goat be good for? I've had goats before but really just raised them to milk them. After the kids no longer liked the milk, I sold the ones I had.
That was many years ago.

I like to hike. So for whatever reason, I looked up 'hiking with goats' and found out that full grown goats can be trained to be hiking pals that carry packs! How fun would that be to go on a hike and have Sven carry my water and lunch along with a tripod?

The training is pretty straight forward. Bottle fed goats just like Sven are the best candidates as they form a bond with their human handlers.

Yep. I go and bottle feed Sven whenever I can.

Yesterday we did some 'training'. I wanted to see if he'd come to me without me trying to ask him too.

After a bit of exploring the snow [see the harness? He knows he is going out with me when I bring that out now!]

So I waited.

And...I sat in the snow bank....

And Sven came to me and ...

snuggled? He closed his eyes while I petted him and loved him up.

Here is some reasoning to have a goat carry a pack for you. While hiking you have company and someone to talk to --- yes, Charlie also! Two, if you are hiking and pass another hiker it will cause a conversation.
Goats are easier to work with than a mule or horse and a lot smaller!

Sven won't be able to fully pack any significant weight until he is 3 yrs old. But the experience of trying to train him would be a very fun thing.
After all, I have tons of trails in my woods and surrounding area that he can hike with me.

He is a perfect candidate for this sort of training. He was rejected by mom, and has been bottle fed by humans. He has no idea that he is a goat.

This will be fun!

I have figured out where we will have to put the Sven Pen, now I just need my Kenosha Gang to help me make it work as soon as the weather gets decent!

Stay tuned for more stupid and crazy ideas from the mule/goat/dog lady.