"Ain't no sunshine..."

That Bill Withers song has been stuck in my head since I went out to do the morning barn chores. There's certainly not been much in the way of sunshine around here lately. The above picture was taken around 10 am and that's all the sun we've had for the day. There's plenty of brightness from the snow(s) we've had since last Thursday morning. (I keep waking up in the middle of the night and thinking it's time to get up!) All the animals here don't seem to mind the cold. They all come equipped with warm, woolen coats. Even Jenny and Fannie are fuzzed up for the season.

We're playing that waiting game again. I finally found a calendar where I had written down what I think was the last time I saw Strawberry being bred, and if it's correct, her due date is this coming Thursday. I checked her this morning and she does have milk already, so I know we're getting close. My dilemma is that I'm afraid to be gone from the farm during the day because it is so darn cold right now. Llamas nearly always have their crias in the afternoon, which makes it easier to check on her periodically, but it definitely limits my time off the farm. (Of course, at the moment, our farm lane is icy enough that I don't want to even try driving on it.) I need to be able to put Strawberry and the cria inside in a clean, dry, freshly bedded pen, dry the cria off and get a coat on it ASAP. The good part about being farm-bound is that I'm taking advantage of it and knitting a lot. Show and tell coming soon!