"My dest diend"

Crazy Kitty

It amazes me how patient this cat is! Gotta love Lyger!

She loves this cat

Miss O sure loves her Fester!!

Funny Fester!

Fester thinks the bird feeder is his personal place to stalk the birds! Too bad he has not figured out that the birds won't come any where close to there when he is perched up top!!

Our eco friendly lawn mowers

Dixie and Nyny have been in charge of keeping the spring grass trimmed down in the yard! Gotta love living in the toolies!!

Miss O's new projects

Miss O got some baby chicks a couple of weeks ago... she is doing a great job taking care of them! I usually don't post any pics when they are so young, since the horrible black lab of a beast is pretty reliable at taking all the fun out of it!!! Miss O has had a great time and loves being the top "hen"!

They fight like cats and kids

Some days, these two (kids) can play really well.. and others... whoa Nellie they drive each other nuts (and me too!).

Today, Fester decided to join them in some Lego fun!!

The luck of the draw... when it comes to roosters!

You would think with all the feathered beast around here, that I would have more baby chicks!! Last summer, we were fortunate enough to hatch out a total of 12 babies!! Chicken Ralla was our hen that got the deed done.. well, she did all the sitting at least! Ralla hatched out her first batch of six.. they were super cute and sadly only lasted 4 days. Ralla is not exactly a "responsible" mama! She decided to take them out of the coop before we could stop her. Phebe - our lover of fine, soft and fluffy chicks made sure they did not get far. One survived another 2 weeks, and then Phebe took care of that one as well.
In July, Ralla went back at it. This time she hatched out another six. Two died shortly after hatching... but four made it to the wean off period (4 weeks). One died of unknown causes (but I have an idea that an un-named black lab was involved) *sigh*
So now, we have our lucky three.. which are almost 6 months old. And of course at this age, you can figure out the boys from the girls! And of course.... one is a rooster!!

We have not official named him yet, but I call him Flighty Whitey... he is probably the lowest chicken on the pecking order - so he tends to get a little leery of anyone or anything near him! He is cute though, and I am excited to start hearing him crow!


This big beauty is Leaf. He was actually called Baby Leaf for about 6 months - until we realized it was a "he"! He is our largest rooster - and super gentle. He is the first chicken that we have actually hatched out here that has survived over a year (knock on wood!!).
Hopefully, this spring, our newer hens will decide to become Mama's! :)

Our Christmas Cat

Little J managed to "capture" one of our cats - Lyger.... who is very smart when he thinks that there is a child in pursuit of holding him... he is one smart cat and hides up on the cupboards in the kitchen! He is such a big sweetie though!

Some one really loves this cow!

Ok, so the technical term should be "steer"... Miss O so very much loves "Bambi" our almost three year old steer. Bambi is so super gentle with her! Poor cow better find some amazing skill to impress us with soon - he is slated (sadly) to become burger next year!

We are lucky!

I am always thankful that we have such kind and loving critters! Miss O, well... she is not quite a "gentle" with them as they would like... mostly the cats, and Phebe, the tank-o-lab! She does understand that PJ is old, and he has some challenges... like not being able to hear very well, and he is sort of set in his ways!

Regardless, Miss O is a animal magnet... they love her! Fester will hang out with her wherever, and PJ will lay with her and watch what she is doing! He will even tolerate her reading a bit to him!

Things they do for fun.....

This totally cracked me up! Big Al really wanted to fly a kite today... the wind was blowing out of the south, instead of the west, so we made him move out to the top field to avoid the power line!

Apparently, the cows find kites VERY entertaining! They just hung out the whole time and watched him! Too funny!

Baby it's cold outside!!

While cleaning the kitchen this morning - this was my view! The Guineas have decided to perch in a new spot! It was funny because I am almost 100% positive that they were watching me and waiting for me to come out and feed them! Considering the temps have been in the single digits, they still sleep outside in the elements! Silly birds!

Wordless Wednesday

I am so thankful that I have a kiddo who loves books as much as I do! Little J just loves to read! It looks like little Fester loves to be read to as well!

Wordless Wednesday

What? Not every barnyard has a nice framed mirror in it?? After years of listening to them pound our sliding glass door, we finally got a freebie mirror in the barnyard to stare at themselves... yep - those guineas love it!

Wordless Wednesday

Our sweet kitten, Fester, has been enjoying the one thing that has grown like crazy in our garden this year! CATNIP!

Wordless Wednesday

This is what happens when you have a little girl who loves her kitten!! Thankfully, Fester is pretty mellow when it comes to be "handled!

Off to the Fair!

We made it! The boys got their piggies up and loaded and off to the Fair this morning! So excited!
We even had great news on the weights of the pigs:
Chimichanga - our biggie at 269
Speckles - 250 pounds
Nacho Libre - 259
Princess - a whooping 209!! We expected her to be on the light side!

The piggies are settled in and the boys have given them their first "trouble free" bath at the fairgrounds! Looking forward to a good day tomorrow!

Getting close to Fair!

It is getting close to that time of year..... FAIR! The boys have been working with their pigs, Speckles, Chimichanga, Princess and Nacho Libre. We know that one pig, Princess will not be close to making the Market Hog weight of 235 pounds.. not sure what we are going to do with her for sure.... she might end up in the freezer!

Next week, the boys get to load them up and take them off to Fair! Yay - no more stinky pig pen!

The deed is done

Brownie and Cuddles departed us this morning... it was super sad! Our cows are so gentle and trusting - they just walked right up to the man who came to slaughter them... big sniffs! Obviously, there is NO WAY I could have watched! ugh! I will miss their sweet "cow-ness"!

Rest in Peace Brownie and Cuddles - a job well done