Wednesday, July 20, 2011

And...begin...

6:00pm: Hay to the Mini horses. Both are angry because they’re wearing fly masks and feel that they are also being shorted some hay. Assel spiritedly nudges all of the hay out of his bucket and picks at it off the barn floor.
No need to call ASPCA, foks, this one's getting his full portion

Clearly Assel is being fed, despite what he lets on-notice the hay he bullied
out of his bucket.
6:05pm: Hay and a bit of grain to the goats. The goats don’t understand that they shouldn’t put their “berries” into the grain troughs, but they’re not catching on. Chewy picks on Bea and it’s a miracle she can get any food! Mr. H and I have both talked to Chewcifer extensively, and stated that if he upsets our precious, most favorite princess, that we will barbecue him and make goat tacos. He does not pick up on subtle hints.




Hi people!

In case you were wondering, Bea is still completely adorable

6:15pm: The Minis have pooped again; I have to fork those apples over the fence into the compost which is causing the garden to grow—like a real garden!

6:20pm: Up the hill with a bucket of healthy food and supplements for our friend, Stormy. Apparently we are a horse sanctuary now and Stormy needs a few months on a grassy pasture to fatten up, so we said he could bring his weary bones on over…and he does look weary. When filled out, I bet he’s beautiful. Big horses scare me so this was a good opportunity to get some close hands-on experience with these large creatures.

6:25pm: After having a chat with Stormy—he has a lot to say but doesn’t know how to say it—I head back down the hill to walk Gunnar. We decide to go into the woods, as surely there cannot be any more bugs there than what we encounter on the road. The deer flies are aggressive and make all outdoor activities miserable. These pointy brown devils are like house flies on crack.

6:35pm: Only a few minutes in, the white Husky and I are under full scale attack by all bugs inhabiting the woods.

6:45pm: I tell Gunnar to abort the mission and we head back to the barn for kibble and organic pumpkin puree. Gunnar is having some issues and I thought the pumpkin would help (thanks to Seneca for suggesting it). If you must know I suspect Gunnar’s issue is that he has a bird stuck in his colon, and we need to jar it loose.

While Gunnar waits for a bird at one end, I wait for one to fall out the other.
Such is life.

7:00pm: I find a crippled butterfly; well, not so much crippled as dead.



7:05pm: While watering the garden, I discover that there are actually things continuing to grow in there! Wow. How does that work?

Tomatoes, Eggplants and Marigolds

So proud of the eggplant! Hey, did anyone know eggplant possess razor sharp
thorns on their stems? I didn't...I do now.
7:10pm Mr. H is having a chat with Moonshadow the wonder turkey, while cleaning her cage. He has determined that according to his time scale, she should be okay to sleep outside in her cage, instead of stinking up our garage. It’s hard to believe that cute little fuzzy chick is now a buzzard looking creature. I bet if you turn your back on her, Mooner would stab you through the heart with a toe! (I am somewhat afraid of animals with feathers, which explains my unease around Loki).

Feisty little feathered wonder, anxious as can be! Calm down, Loki.
7:20pm: Mr. H does not feel that I am watering his melon patch adequately and therefore he asks if he can take over the irrigation duties; duh, please. I can’t stand still long enough to water the garden adequately. Bless his heart; all I had to do is give him his own little section of the garden so that he’d take an interest. FYI- he’s still waiting for Hot Pockets to grow from a small little bush at the end of one of the rows. Mr. H doesn’t eat much in the way of vegetables so if I have to keep him believing that a plant will sprout fake pepperoni calzones, I will! Who are you to judge me?
I do not care that this lettuce is four months behind: it's lettuce!

My very own gardener
7:30pm: I am filthy and sweaty: it’s 95 degrees out with 200% humidity. It has been a bad stretch of extreme weather. As I’m heading from the barn to the garage door to go in and take a shower, I actually watch Mooner’s great escape. She had been in a big pen made of small-squared metal fencing; there is no way she should have been able to get her huge body through a square the size of, well, ½ of a Hot Pocket. I screamed for Bill who was talking to the tomato plants, because armed with only a camera and no gloves, I couldn’t even muster the gumption to grab that nasty little thing. I definitely would have tried with gloves, but the squeamishness with birds runs deep in my family…only on one side (in case you were wondering, it’s not the side that made me butcher chickens last fall). Poor Bill comes running and I point to where Mooner is headed, and she really took off for the horse pastures. However, once she got tangled in the tall grass, she settled down and her “daddy” picked her right up. Mooner was promptly placed back into her turkey tractor to sit and think about what she had done.

Cute baby Mooner
Big, scary 6-week old Mooner!

 


The Turkey Whisperer



Mr. H, my hero!
Mooner--you just sit there and think about what you've done. You're in a timeout!

And that is an evening—mostly typical— on this wild little farmette in Bluebird Hollow. I’m beat; and to think, this all happened after work and after dinner!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

G-Love

Nothing to say: I love this boy.









Friday, July 8, 2011

Hunting For Breakfast

There's nothing like taking the G-man for a walk. Gunnar, the white Husky, and I took an early morning walk today as we always do...and sometimes we catch a pre-breakfast snack. This morning Mr. Pleased With Himself caught a small, black mouse and carried it in his big mouth all the way back home. I told him we weren't going to be taking that mouse into the barn so he had to eat his nosh in the yard--which he did. Despite this grossness, our walk was great and we headed to the barn, for another breakfast.





Action Shot!


Unfortunately--or not--the real action shots aren't added; not so much excluded as not taken. Once he starts "crunching pretzels" I lose focus.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Doggy Downers Need Uppers

With our best gal pal safely back home, two of the boys are seriously showing side effects: Loki has been hiding in Mr. H's office all afternoon and the little red Wulf is not his usual enthusiastic, happy self.
Wulfie can't even bring himself to frolic outside

Loki overcome with grief, missing his Aunt Seneca

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Midwest Invasion....Again

Look who strolled back to Wisconsin for another humid vacation: our Arizona cowgirl-escorted by her fearless sidekick, Snowflake!


Stealing the neighbor's lettuce...thanks Mary!

Taming Farmer Ron's wild kittens...while roasting marshmallows



Me, Grandma Debbie and Seneca (Mr. H behind the camera) at the outdoor theater
 where we saw "The Critic." It was funny, but due to the 2 hours of zip lining we
 did in Wisconsin Dells we were exhausted and sun soaked: so we took turns napping!



Then we threw Mr. H out of the boat!