November Harvest

Cleared out the last of the veggies from the garden before the first snow of the year falls later tonight.  Quite the haul of carrots we got this year!

Rainbow

Hatching monarchs

Off to Mexico for margaritas!!

Monarch Madness

Walking past the new wildflower garden by the house, Teresa noticed that one of the butterfly weed plants was completely munched down.  Upon further inspection, a monarch caterpillar was found. Following a tour of all the new wildflower beds, a total of 7 caterpillars were found!!!

One little guy is ready to make his chrysalis.

We're guessing that this is the 3rd generation of monarchs for the summer.  Likely the next batch of eggs laid will eventually become the butterflies that migrate to California and Mexico.  

It's so exciting to see this threatened species thriving here in our own back yard!!

Tillly's day out

Tilly was brought outside for a frolic today.

Wow, those hedgehogs can RUN!

20,310’

It’s done.

On May 29, I stood on the highest point in North America.  

My second expedition to Denali was different than the first in several ways but one of the most striking things about this last trip was how familiar that place now feels. I have now cumulatively spent a month and a half of my life on the glaciers and flanks of one amazing and massive mountain. That fact... that I have even had that opportunity...is humbling.  The route that lead me to Denali’s summit was certainly challenging at times and I hope that I am better for having met that challenge.  The entire process of preparing for and taking two expeditions to Alaska is a lot to ponder and digest.  I think that I might have said it best via satellite phone from the summit.  I am grateful.  What a great adventure Denali has been for me. 

It is absolutely worth mentioning that I never would have even pursued this whole crazy thing if it were not for strong support back home.  I owe a lot of thanks and praise to Teresa for doing some very heavy lifting while I have been away.  She has really kept things on track.  Thanks, love. 

Denali 2.0

Approximately one year after my last attempt to summit Denali, I am writing this from a hotel room in Anchorage.  That’s right, we’re going for it again.  Follow along at home at:

https://mountaintrip.com/trip-reports/

Our team is “Denali 2019 - Cook Private WB.”

Pray for good weather and hopefully I’ll be posting pictures of the top of North America some time in early June. 

Teresa’s little friends.

While cleaning out the chicken coop on Wednesday the came a loud squeaking noise when Eric dug into the winter bedding.  We dug a little and found a nest of baby rats, likely 2 days old based on their appearance. So Teresa did what any crazy person would do and brought them into the house and started feeding them.  

We’re now 5 days in and all 7 babies are still alive and growing. If they make it the full 6 weeks we’ll release them back into the wild (far away from any barns).

We've been busy...

One could say that the last two months have been quite the blur here on the farm.  Shortly after acquiring Elton and Prince (the cow formerly known as Freddie), we welcomed our 6 goat kids, then unexpectedly we added a 7th kid to the mix.  Five month old L came to live with us for a little over two weeks until we could reunite him with his family.  We jumped in head first with diapers and sleepless nights.

Never say never to God because on the way out of L's closing meeting, we somehow acquired two more children whom we brought home that very day.  Little 3yo T and 6yo A have been settling in well the past month.  We've managed to regain a good night's sleep, but now our days are packed full of learning to count, singing ABC's, reading, riding bikes, eating more chicken nuggets than one would think was humanly possible and taking playground trips.  

We're convinced that next we're going to somehow end up with a teenager!

By the time we get little C home from Haiti, we'll be well prepared for any shenanigans he may try to pull on us:)

Glamour shots.

Ricky and his daddy, Ned.

Miss Lucy.

Twins!

Lola did it again.  

Teresa went out to the barn mid-afternoon to find Lola with two babies, all cleaned up and ready to go!  They have a little swelling in their ears, likely a mild frostbite from being born with this cold weather, but they're both doing well.  

We haven't named them yet.  We may have a home for the pair and are really hoping to keep them together.

Goat Coats

The cold weather continues to plague us, so Teresa made the goats little coats to wear.  February is definitely NOT a good time to have kids.  

Abby's producing more than enough milk for her babies.

We named them as follows in the order in which they were born:

Goat #1 - Bernie Sanders

Goat #2 - Andre the Giant (this is the goat Teresa had to manually extract from Abby's uterus)

Goat #3 - Ricky Ricardo

Goat#4 - Lucille Ball

 Andre

Lucy and Ricky

 Ricky

 Lucy, Bernie and Ricky

They are doubling.

This morning’s barn chores were very exciting.  Following our normal routine, we made bottles for the calves and filled a bucket with water.  I had to give the barn door a good hit with my hip to get it open as it had frozen shut over night.  It’s been doing that lately.  As I set the buckets down and peaked into the female goat pen, I knew that we would have an interesting morning.  I called out to Teresa that Abby was in active labor.  There was a puddle of fluid on the floor and she was pushing.  The head and front legs of the first kid were already showing by the time we opened the pen and, before you knew it, the first kid of 2019 was on the ground. 

Abby went about cleaning the little buckling off and we settled in to wait for the next kid.  We waited.  We waited some more.  We started to get twitchy after 45 minutes or so and no sign of kid #2.  Teresa stayed in the barn while I consulted some of our resource books and, ultimately, called our large animal vet for some input.  The recommendation was to assist Abby with delivery.  Teresa stepped up and earned her stripes as a goat midwife.  After a quick iodine scrub, she proceeded to reach her hand into Abby's uterus and blindly felt around until she found two legs.  She gently pulled and out came a large buckling.  We were helping Abby clean him off, when a few minutes later, a third large buckling followed.  Feeling as if things were under control, I called the vet back to let her know that things were looking good.  As soon as she answered, kid number four surprised us.  A little female.  That makes three males and one female from Abby.  In one morning, we have doubled the number of goats in the barn!  Lola hasn’t even kidded yet.

An early surprise

We both had to chuckle as we drove home with the boys this year that neither of us was phased by bringing home two cows at a days notice.  Freddie and Elton are settling in well. Just in time for the baby goats to arrive! 

Tilly our quilly

What happens when you page your husband at work and say: “I want a hedgehog!” Well he immediately goes out and buys one of course. 

Welcome little Tilly to Silver Hill Farm.