Wilmoth Farm's Sunday Reading - *photos of Doug's duck hunting adventure not for the faint of heart**

Today was a really good day for Douglas! He went duck hunting for the first time with Donnie and Neil (neighbors and friends) and got a beautiful Male Mallard!!! Yea Douglas!! Below are some pictures of his first duck. We have him saved back and frozen until I can gather the money to take him to the taxidermist. He was so beautiful....still made me sad to see such a gorgeous dead animal! I loved this next one...TOOOOOOO funny!

Here you can see the beautiful colors of his feathers!

LOVE the next one too!

I havent written much about Georgia who is going to be a mommy soon. In our herds hierarchy she is last...well now poor Bella is with that bunch. We had a mare, a lovely tenn walking mare who foaled about 2 years ago. He baby was the one that kicked Douglas and severed the tip of his middle finger. Momma and baby got sold back in Feb. She wouldnt let Buck who at the time was a stud anywhere near another mare. Right after we sold her, both he and Georgia took a trip to the Amish to be broken. When they came back he was gelded. (The most gentle horse you will find even as a stud...he is only 4 years old.) Well in that month and half that he was able to mate....he got Georgia (who is about 5 or 6 yrs)!! So now we are looking at a baby due the end of this month to middle of Feb. We dont know the exact date since we dont know when she was bred. Anyhoo....now to decide what we are going to do, we have thought the last year about selling her, she is a very hot horse and I hate handling her at all, and she don't seem to like me either unless there is a fence between us. I'll let you know as we go...I wish I could have gotten better pictures to show her large barreled belly, but she wouldnt cooperate with the camera.

This is a pretty cool home made duck blind that some acquaintances have made to hunt over on part of our farm. So I took a picture of it.

My little guys are slowly getting bigger! I turned my camera off too soon, they ALL began jumping and kicking in the hay that Norm spun off the bail....too cute! Of course...I missed the shot. You can see how wet its been by how deep the mud is on their legs....N-A-S-T-Y! Is anyone besides me ready for those hot days of summer? Geez this winter seems so long! And we haven't even gotten into the coldest or snowy days yet! As of today we have 69 days until spring!!!!!! I am praying that these 69 days move along quickly!

We had a good weekend, as always with Leah home. Douglas was very sad tonight to see her go and cried most of the way home...my heart breaks a little more each time too. I wish I had some wise words of wisdom for him, but I'm trying to handle it gracefully myself.

The cattle are getting more hungry as calving time approaches. We will begin feeding silage very soon. They are in need of it, seems that this year pasture kinda disappeared sooner than usual. Its mud everywhere.

Typical Kentucky Winter.

The Bulls are getting along well, there are only 5 in a nice big paddock. They are lazy and fat. Except Amos, who was napping in the bail ring.

He appears a little thin. Of course he is the youngest Bull and as far as his rank in the bunch, he is last in line to the throne! We will need to begin feeding them some feed again along with their hay. The hard part is figuring out how to get it over there without going back and forth from the grain bin here at the house back across the street to them. It'll be somewhat of a hassle carrying 2 or 3 buckets of feed over every day. But guess if thats what we have to do...then we do it.

Leah changed Jacks halter today, he didn't appreciate the pretty new blue halter coming at him, so she cleverly placed the halter open across his feed and he placed his nose right through! She said he gave her no problem at all as she pulled it in place and buckled him up. I'll be working the next few days with taking the halter off and on getting him used to it.

King has a new halter too, a pretty maroon that will look nice with his red roan coat. He knows he is tall and thinks its quite funny to hold his head high these days when he is haltered or bridled. But once its on his nose (and thats a good reach for me! lol) he lowers his head right down....little bugger! He is really feeling good and looking so healthy! Its taken us since spring when I acquired him back to get his weight up to where it should be, and get his coat to begin to shine again. His eyes are no longer depressed and "beaten" looking and he has a beautiful sparkle back in them! He used to not care for attention one way or the other...he was indifferent, but lately he is really taking a turn! He appreciates the daily contact, and is seeking affection!!!! I love my old man and I'm so pleased in his turn around!

Pepper and Carrot are living quite happily in the same pen. I see the two of them often sitting out together. They both need some company so this works for now. The temps are falling into single digits this week, so I'll be moving them both back to the barn until it passes. Luckily neither of them care if they are moved back and forth...as long as fruit and cookies and veggies are given daily! The do miss each others company when they are in the barn, there is no good place to have them together while in there.

Levi is FINALLY (knock on wood) learning to stop chasing my car when I leave! That darned dog has driven me crazy about this. He absolutely hates to be tied out and pouts like none other when he is, so since he hates it so much, he has figured out to stop chasing me! YEA!

Leah and I checked out one of our barns thats not really used at all except for storage of tobacco sticks and a few pieces of equipment to see if we can turn it into a horse/goat barn...I'll post on that later tho. This is already long.

Norm is feeling good but achy. Being off the pain killers has helped him tremendously.

We are both back to feeding the farm by ourselves.

Before you can be old and wise, you must be young and stupid! - Nite, Rachel