Raudi here, weighing in. This year, I’m giving the State of the Farm Address. There was some confusion as to who would do this – we decided that I will talk about what’s going on here, Hrimmi will give the State of the Neighborhood address, and Tyra will give the State of the World address. Tinni has decided that he will give a State of Well-Being address. I do not know what he means by this, but I suspect that this will be good because he’s been deliberating about this now for some time.

It was a good year here for the Squalor Holler Farm animals. Chickens – in the fall we acquired three red hens. Alys has trained them to jump on her arm, and then escorts them to the upper roost. She started clicker training them but gave up because it’s so cold out. She says she’ll

Raudi turning the bike wheel

resume the training when it gets warm.

Goats – Buckwheat, a buck, was a visible presence here from June until October. I say visible presence, but he was also an invisible presence. He stank really bad. And all he could think about was sex. Stormy said uh uh, so we think she’s still barren. Ranger was glad to see him go – he was rather pushy at feeding time. Alys learned something really important in taking Buckwheat on, and this is that he was livestock, and generally, livestock aren’t good pet material.

Dogs – in August, life, with the addition of Shadow, got much more exciting around here. Alys taught her to ride on Tinni and Hrimmi’s back. Why these two put up with this I do not know. I am actually glad that she accompanies us all on the trails because this keeps the moose at the distance. Ryder is now working with this high energy adolescent dog, to which I say Thank Dog.

Horses – that’s us. A good year here. We didn’t get to go on a long trip, and in fact we didn’t venture far from home. But Alys and Pete did spend a great deal of time with us. Alys continued to work with us in the Playground of Higher Learning. I am glad she’s taken to using targeting since this is synonymous (thanks Tyra, for supplying me with the right word) with getting treats. The December course is generally my favorite because it’s so festive. This year, I didn’t do as well with the free choice obstacle because when I spun the tire, I discovered that it had studs in it. Ouch.

Alys and Pete made sure to fill the barns with hay and continued to give us all supplements. We all get exercised once a day, even Tinni. Yesterday he showed Alys that he is still his feisty self. She took him for a walk on Siggi’s trail with Hrimmi. He veered off-trail and took the quickest route home. That’s our boy.

Alys has been training us to stand at designated targets while she doles out the hay. A good decision on her part because there is now less confusion when preparing to chow down at the hay buffet.

Veterinary and farrier visits were uneventful.

So, all ‘n all, a good year. Tomorrow I will make some projections about the year ahead.

Next: 2. 1/2/21: Let there be (Bright) Light