Golden-Leaved Goat Treats

Beautiful Fall colors brighten the shores of  Puget Sound

I'm listening to the rain pour down outside.  We are in the middle of a huge storm system that has most of Western Washington on flood alerts.  During these storms I am very thankful to live on a large rock in the middle of the Puget Sound, and not next to one of our quickly-rising rivers.  But still, the water is everywhere.  Our goat yard is becoming so mucky, that even the bunny has taken refuge in the barn.

Sweet pea devouring as many leaves as will fit into her ample stomach!

Sadly, this storm seems to have officially ended the time of year when everything is covered in crunchy, colorful fall leaves.  Last week, we were watching the huge golden leaves of our Big-Leaf Maple trees rain down. And no one was happier about that than our goats.  Each leaf that floated delicately down into their goat yard was like a little piece of food heaven for them!  I let the goats out for a field trip into the sweetly scented yard of leaves and they ate and ate.  Little Sweet Pea ate so much that she looked like she had swallowed a giant MnM!  And she waddled back to the barn on her short little legs looking quite satisfied.

One of the many Big Leaf Maple trees towering above our goat yard

It always feels like the beautiful colors and drifting leaves of Fall will go on and on.  Then suddenly I look up at the trees and see that they are almost done.  And then a rain storm like this comes through and washes off the few leaves still left on the trees and renders everything soggy.  It looks like the goats are near the end of their delicious leaf buffet for the year.

Blackberry, Lily and Silver