swift star farm blog: the last day of 2010

It's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone and today is the last day of 2010 .

My Brother Michael and his wife Linda had sent two snow saucers to us for Christmas. I was hard pressed to convince Rush that they were not custom made dog beds for her.She would hear nothing of it . Each time I would tell her they were not dog beds she would shoot me "the look" so I finally gave up explaining to her that they were to be used to slide down a snowy hill .

This last morning of the year was nothing less than spectacular in it's beauty . A pleasant break from weeks of below normal temperatures and relentless blowing ice cold wind. Wonderful mild 40 F , calmness to the air.

The year had many ups and downs for us. Starting with last year on this day we lost our old time equine companion Badger. He had been part of my life for over thirty years. Through good times and bad.

He took a bad turn on a patch of ice under snow and went down, never to get up. While it was heartbreaking and traumatic it also showed me the wonderful network of people I am surrounded by and feel lucky to call my neighbors and friends. Many of them spending several hours on New Years Eve hoping to get Badger back on his feet. I know they had better things to do , but came to my aid when I needed them. I would and will do the same for any of them if the call comes . In the end when it was growing dark and the temperatures were dropping they helped us with letting Badger go .

We also said good bye to our oldest sheepdog Deigh. Just 11 and seeming too young , but Cancer has other idea's .

We also said good bye to one of our cats, Splotchity, only nine years old. A sweet loving cat who also lost the battle with Cancer.

It was also filled with good. We had a great crop of lambs. Both hair and wool. We also gained a new addition to the equine herd. A sweet little six year old mare going by the name of Diamond. She fit in as if she has been here her whole life and has taken over the leader role that Badger had over his lifetime. We have done many little improvements to the farm and are hoping to host our first sheepdog trial in the fall.