Fall update

I bought six Pilgrim geese at a local auction. There are 4 ganders (males) and 2 geese (females). The sex of both goslings and mature Pilgrim geese can be distinguished by color. This is known as auto-sexing. Males are white and females are grey. Bills and legs are orange in both sexes, while the eyes are blue in ganders and dark brown in geese. Only the mating pair came assigned with names; George & Gracie. The remaining geese are their offspring hatched in 2007. They spent the night in the barn aisle and their days in the horse pasture eating grass and drinking from puddles. I filled the wading pool I had some our first set of geese and they like to visit that too.

I continue to work part-time at the local post office. Lately, I’ve put in fulltime hours because the postmaster Helen is out on medical leave. Helen does come in a few hours a week, which is very helpful.

After not working since February, Ian began a consulting job just after Labor Day. He commutes an hour to the Cities and enjoys the work. It’s nice that gas prices are getting lower, as it makes the commute much more affordable.

The horses are all fine. They’re all situated in the pasture closest to the barn munching on two round bales of hay we bought last weekend. The three 2008 fillies are growing nicely. They’re stabled in the barn and learning halter training and being handled.

Renoir enjoys his big box stall and his outdoor paddock. In late September, we took him to the Minnesota Fall Fest at the MN State Fairgrounds for the Minnesota Arabian Horse Breeders Stallion Parade. Ian did an excellent job showing him off to the audience. Ian showed a 2 yr old stud colt for a friend of ours at that show too.

Weekends are spent getting the house ready for the MN winter. Ian’s installing thick insulation panels around the first floor of the house and sealing the window edges with foam. We’re planning to install a new main exterior door, which will help cut down on the draft. The in-floor heating system needs to be hooked up too, which along with the pellet stove, will keep us very warm.

The autumn colors are lovely – lots of oranges and yellows and the occasional red.

E-I-E-I-O