Celebrating Spring

 Elijah has been counting down the days until spring. I think he hoped that it would instantly be warm and sunny. It was a very nice day and 99% of the snow has melted the last few days (and we are ignoring the forecast for more next week). 

We decided to take the goats on a spring walk in our future cow field. The boys, dogs and goats were excited and ready.
 

  
Bella and Gus, the cat, took their time a bit more. The one edge of our property is "the old wagon trail". It literally was a wagon trail in the 1800's that connected the farms in the area. We have learned some really cool history about our land - we purchased it from an older man (who is our neighbor). His family several generations ago was given the land at the end of the Civil War when the farm owner freed his slaves. 

So, we cleared up to the wagon trail for pasture but the trail and the land along the other side of it will remain natural. Ben assured me that there was a place to cross the creek. Well, he was correct as long as you don't mind a 10 foot climb down the bank, a wade through or jump over the water, and another 10 foot climb back up the other side.
 

  
We wanted to continue so James jumped the water carrying Gus, the cat, first. It didn't seem to bother Gus at all, he just laid down on the other side and waited for the rest of us. 

After that the boys lugged the goats across - good thing they are dwarf goats and not Nubians.
 

Elijah and Bella were the last to be helped across.

We followed the creek along for a while and stopped to play. Somewhere in here, the dogs just headed home, but Gus and the goats stuck with us the whole time. 
 

  
I thought Hans and Leia were content watching the kids and eating an occasional leaf, but Hans decided to join in the fun and jump the creek to get to James' side.

  
He ended up stuck on a little ledge about a third of the way down. After a bit of coaxing, he climbed back up. Silly goat.

  
The walk home was a lot of balancing on trees; they were spread over the ground to prevent erosion. They sure don't allow for a peaceful walk.

  
Once I came in the house, here's where I found the little boy who didn't want to wear his mud boots. He told me that his feet were all muddy and he was soaking them. He climbs more than the goats!

 I hope you enjoyed your first day of spring!