And Now For Something Completely Different

Actually, a bunch of things. More randomness for a Monday.

First thing. I received a goat hoof in the eye this evening. I was out in the barn as usual, frolicking with the goats and lambs. I was patting the lambs and generally making a fuss of them, and Luna was sitting on my lap. Stuffin, who can be a little stand-offish at times, suddenly decided her time had arrived. She came over for a fuss, which I began to give her, but she has this habit of pawing at me, which is fine, except this time, she put one foot up on my shoulder, and the other one straight into my right eye, which I was not expecting. I had to take some moments to recover, during which the lambs and goats did not appear to be concerned, since in my bent-over, groaning condition, my back became instant playground. After a brief moment of possibly holding my eyeball in place, I got up and found that I had a blurry spot. However, the blurry spot has dissipated over the course of the evening, so I think it will be OK. We'll see if I get a black eye or not!

Lesson learned: Do not let your goat put its hoof in your eye. It will hurt.

Second thing: The lambs have officially been named. The one with the two dark eye spots is Panda. The one with the puffy wool on her head and the single eye spot is Pennyroyal. Perhaps those of you with Jacob experience would be kind enough to comment on them (I can take the criticism, I'm just a beginner). The more time I spend with them, the more I realize how very different they are.

Pennyroyal has dense, tight fleece with tiny little coils near her neck.
Panda has a looser, open fleece but it's wavy.
Which is preferable? Which lamb has the better conformation? Any ideas?
Lesson to be learned: How to choose lambs.

Third Thing: Some of the chicks that hatched from our own eggs initially came out looking a bit ordinary. That is to say, no special markings, just cute little chicks. As they have grown, I have begun to realize that some of them are clearly the offspring of either our Creme Brabanter rooster, or our Appenzeller Spitzhaben rooster, both of whom have funny top-hat feathers.
Here are some of their chicks presently in the brooder. They didn't start out with the head bump like Polish chickens or silkies, but they have come to develop it later. So cute! I mean, they're at that awkward chick stage, but still cute.
Lesson learned: Watching "barnyard mix" chicks maturing is great fun!

Fourth Thing: Donkey experts? Can anyone tell me, does this donkey look pregnant to you?
We obtained Willow and her gelded son Springfield from the Animal Rescue League some months ago. They are a sweet pair of Sicilian miniature donkeys. Sometimes, she looks really wide to us.
Is that because she was a mama donkey before and so she will always look rounder, or is it because she could be "with donkey?"
Lesson to be learned: How to identify if your donkey is pregnant or not.

Fifth Thing: I made a little basket! Well, some of you who have been following for a while know that I'm still learning how to crochet and knit. When we drove to Nebraska to get the lambs, I took some bouclé yarn with me to try to learn how to crochet in the round. I started out attempting to make a hat. It didn't quite work out that way, so now it's a cute little basket. I think it's not bad for my first item beyond 2 very ordinary scarves.
Lesson learned: I can crochet useful things!

Sixth thing: Finally, remember those pictures of my chicks in the brooder, and how they were all little and cute and fluffy. Now, they are big!
They're all about 8 weeks old, some a bit younger. I know some of them are Rhode Island Reds, and some are Buff Orpingtons, and then there is this group of reddish coloured ones - not as dark as the RIR, and not as light as the orps. There are also barred rocks and silkies.
Does anyone know what the red ones are? (central bird above) This is embarassing, but I can't remember all the kinds of eggs that I hatched. There is a red one at about 2 o'clock from the central silkie.
This picutre has 2 buff orps and 2 RIR, but what is the reddish one to the lower right?
Frizzles are one of my favourites!
Lesson learned: Leg band chicks. Early. Keep better records.