Lisboa, Portugal.

  We arrived in Lisbon about 11:30am and were met by Don and Dana.  Back at our lovely Air B&B we needed a nap.  Awoke about 3 and went for a long walk and eventually had a huge and delicious seafood dinner.  On Thursday we took a tuktuk around the city for about 2-1/2 hours.  It gave us views of the city from so many different angles and heights.  After that at recommendation of the driver, we took the ferry to Almada, across the river.  He also recommended a restaurant Ponto Final and walked along an abandoned waterfront for maybe a mile, and waited about 30 minutes for a table outside.  The view of Lisbon was spectacular and food and wine excellent, after which we needed some walking to take off those pounds.  From there was an elevator which took us to the small village on top of the hill.  More walking downhill back to the ferry.  Then back to Lisbon.  It was a great day.  Following photos are some highlights.

 Mushrooms

It has been a spectacular year for wild mushrooms, even here inland.  Today I went to a friend's property near the coast and was able to get some great ones: Yellow foot, chanterelles, and hedge hogs.  Yum.  Now on to the cleaning.

 

 

 Foxes and Bears and Apples, Oh My!

My son-in-law picked up the many windfall apples and carted them away down at the edge of our property a few weeks ago.  Several days later, on my walk, I came across a huge pile of bear poop.  It was near the apples and of course, consisted of apples.  So I set up the trail cam and caught the culprit.  Luckily, the apples are far away from the house and now, after rain and weather, not much is left.  But I caught the bear and a fox and quite a few deer on the camera.  Cool to know these animals are out there, but not harming anything.

A Week Old

It's hard to believe it's already been a week, but it has.  Both sets of twin are doing well and growing quickly, so clearly both Moms are doing their job.  I got the other goats moved to another pasture so I could put the little families outside - or at least leave the barn door open during the day.  I will close them up at night.

I love the coloring on the speckled ones, but unfortunately, they are both boys.

Here's Licorice and Nutmeg.

 

 And here are Rosemary and Thyme snuggled together.

And another set of twins

Mocha, daughter of Yazmeen from last year, kidded on her own about 12:30.  The goats were making a ruckus around 10 and I went out and everything seemed OK.  I checked Mocha to see if she was filling with milk, but didn't seem to.  When Lily came home at 12:00 she said Mocha was not with the guys.  We went out and looked for her and there she was with her two little kids - one girl, one boy.  Girl is Rosemary, boy is Thyme.  They are so cute.

New Kids on the Block

Yazmeen came through with twin boys yesterday afternoon.  Lily and I helped a little, but I think she would have done just fine on her own.

This is Licorice, weighing in at 4# 15 oz.:

And this is Nutmeg, 5# 5oz.:

Nutmeg had the most interesting coloring.  Here's a photo of the current herd.  I bought a little buck in December, but wasn't sure he was up for the job, but he at least got Yazmeen pregnant, but she's the little one.  I just don't know about the others.  I haven't observed any signs of heat, so they may be.  We'll just wait and see.  I am hopeful that Yaz

meen's Mocha will kid this year.  She's bigger than her Mom and hopefully would be easier to milk.

No April Fool

My Kinder goat delivered twins last night.  They are actually 1/2 Kinder and 1/2 mini-Nubian from a buck out of my Nubian doe.  I sure wish there'd been a Kinder buck in the area, but Ike was available and did the job.  They are so tiny, compared to Nubian kids.  I might try to weigh them later today.  Right now, I want Mom and babies to figure out where the milk comes from.  When I was out this morning, they were still trying to figure it out.  The dark one is a boy and I'm naming him Cappy (for cappuccino) and the other is a girl, Mocha.