Day One

This morning I woke and immediately jumped into my usual routine. As I reached for the TV remote to get my usual morning news fix, I remembered - no news until Easter. I started to panic as I'm a creature of habit and didn't know what to do at first. Once the initial shock wore off, I pulled out a book and read for a few minutes, then decided to do my *chicken stuff* a little earlier than usual.

Part of my *chicken stuff* this time of year is giving hay to the goats, cows, and horse. The social life of goats is pretty complex and I have to be careful when I put out hay for them. They form little cliques and I have to be sure that no one gets left out at meal time. So, I have to break up the square bale of hay into *flakes* and distribute them around the pasture. Nelly and her posse get to the hay first, then her sidekick Maggie seems to get second dibs. It's the goats lowest on the socioeconomic ladder that I worry about the most so I have to be tricky to make sure they get their fair share of the hay. Being a goat herder can be complicated at times.