Chimpin' Around The Farm: 2017; strength.

2017 did not start the way I would have liked, that's for sure.

a) All firework holidays are the worst. If you have pets at home- you feel me on this. If you have an abnormal work schedule- you feel me on this.

b) Frozen faucets, frozen locks, icy roads and multiple staff call outs/ late starts: two of us laughing about how we "want a do over for the first day of the year!"

c) Spending the first new nights in a new place without your person: not the best sleeps I've ever had.

d) Saying goodbye to a dear old friend- the hardest of all.

It's not all bad by any means, but it's only the 8th day of the year and I already feel behind.

All in all 2017 is shaping up to be a great year for Lars and I and I'm really looking forward to all the trips we've got planned and living on property is already making my life so much easier. Right now it's me, Raleigh and Jasper living in the cabin and we are all still figuring out what fits where and who sleeps where and so on- and even though I don't sleep all that well with my husband gone, I do sleep a little better in some ways knowing that my 1 hour and 20 minute commute has become a 19 second one.

Things are really going well right now for my little family. Lars is going to be venturing into his own career path and I still love all the things I'm doing with all my little black heart and I'm so excited that some things are finally going our way in 2017.

But the thing really weighing on me now is that my friend Harley Goat is no longer here.

I've said goodbye to a number of animals over the years, but Harley is the first one (that I didn't grow up with) that really hit me hard. If you've ever met him you know what I mean. Harley was an old guy with a glorious beard and didn't trust ANYONE until he got to know you. He smelled like a grandpa and loved laying in the sun on nice days. He enjoyed watermelon, blackberry bushes but most of all he loved sunflowers. There were a number of days in the summer I would sit in the sun with him and scratch in between his horns and just relax. He was a favorite for sure.

I can't describe my connection with Harley any other way than "He was the grandpa I never had." I LOVE that he didn't trust people right away because THAT IS EXACTLY ME. We have so many similarities and sitting with him and braiding his beard is something I will treasure until I leave this earth. He was a great goat, and I'm so lucky to have known him.

The act of saying goodbye to an animal is not hard; when someone is in pain and the quality of life is poor its the best thing you can do- to release them from that. The hardest part is realizing you'll never have moments to share with them again- that even though we are animal caregivers and our job is to interact and care for these animals and see them everyday, sometimes it's easy to forget that they don't live forever. Even going to Harley's yard on Sunday for the first time since he passed knocked me on my ass. Out of habit I went to open the door of his stall and give a good morning scratch and let him out. Seeing his empty stall was still almost too hard to deal with. It will get easier I'm sure, but I do miss him fiercely already.

Heavy stuff. Hard stuff. Life stuff.

I'm happy that Harley is somewhere in goat heaven with his pal Buford and a field of sunflowers- and I know his spirit is still around the grounds silently judging everyone- a man after my own heart. <3

Maybe 2017 is going to be a year of creating memories- money is nice sure but no amount of dollars will ever outweigh braiding Harley's beard in the sunshine.

The snow has been beautiful around the property: here are a few of my favorite shots I got over the snowy days we had:

Baby Cow:

Hooper Goat:

Oscar Sheep:

Dot Sheep:

Love of my life Norman Cow:

View from the road that leads to the cow pasture:

I cannot speak for everyone at PSH but most of us are counting the days until winter is over. We are waiting for some warm sunshine and water troughs to NOT be frozen.

I had today off (except for a few hours in the afternoon to move some alpacas to a new yard) so I spent some time out with my favorite cows in the world and cuddled with Baby. <3