Animal Farm

Just your average day standing around on the farm.                                                  

Mystery Solved

You may recall that EmmaPatches often disappears for weeks at a time. About the time we decide the predators have finally gotten her she reappears. As near as we can determine, she has another family who takes her in on occasion and keeps her. Apparently they feed her well and train her to some degree too. She usually looks like she hasn’t been struggling to survive when she returns.


Recently I have noticed that the toilet upstairs always seems to have been used and not flushed. This has been a real puzzler to me, as no one is here to use it. I flush it when I notice it which is usually about once a week when I go upstairs to water the plants. That mystery has been solved. EmmaPatches uses the toilet…not the litter boxes. Imagine my surprise when I found her sitting on the potty! I saw Chester using it one day, but I assumed he simply thought he was marking some of his territory. I wonder how hard it would be to train all of them to use it? I know it can be done…but do I have the patience?

Yummmmmm

I just picked some greens from the greenhouse and added them to my otherwise boring store bought lettuce for a salad. It was fantastic.





Now, if they would only grow a little faster.... since Betsy likes them too!

Fortunately, she only eats the grasses we are growing for the chickens so their eggs will be tasty and the yolks will be deep yellow/orange all year round.

It is a hard life

Life is hard when you are a cat at Prairie House.

It isn't easy to sleep by the wood stove all day.

Some thoughts on a fly

It has been way too cold to have a fly around right now, but Darby Conley's cartoon character Bucky Cat has a perspective on the fly worth sharing. "Thoughts while gazing at a fly." by Bucky. Wings like stained glass: Intricate. Beautiful. Eyes like prisms: Complex. Mesmerizing. splat! squish Body: Perhaps a bit too fragile.

Hope you at least got a grin from Bucky's thoughts. Everyone needs some humor...sick or otherwise.

Dead Hen Turkey

This morning I found one of our hen turkeys dead. She looked remarkably like a hunter may have assisted in her demise. All the turkeys were fussing (more than usual) this morning by the fence. When I checked on them, she was lying on her side with a single hole under her wing. It did not look like any predator's attack. The other turkeys just milled around staring at her. They would not leave her to go on their usual morning foraging rounds. I took her away and they continued to fuss where her feathers were left behind. That was a couple of hours ago and they are just now going to the other side of the property.

I'm not at all opposed to hunting and I fully support the second amendment to the constitution. When the meat is used for food it serves a dual purpose: it thins the wild populations keeping disease minimized and it feeds a family. I think a fitting punishment for irresponsible hunters would be to shoot them with their own gun and leave their body where it falls. The annual coyote calling contest is in town this weekend. No one was home at Prairie House most of yesterday as I was delivering mail and Evelyne was working at the church.

It is a good thing Wilma Wildbird decided to join our flock. We only have two hens now out of eight turkeys. We may be having turkey for Easter because of the great preponderance of Toms, but I can guarantee you we won't shoot our birds and just leave them.

Ginger's injury

When we went to feed and water the creatures this afternoon, Ginger appeared with her beard completely covered with blood. She was not upset about it, so it is hard to tell when the injury happened, but it apparently was recent. She has a 1/2 inch section of her lower lip missing. It is a huge gash. She will not let us touch it to treat it with anything. She is still eating well. I gave her an extra dose of the herbal antibiotics we have available here. Hopefully it won't get infected.

Winter

Cold and dreary, but, I have to admit, beautiful.

As much as I hate winter, I can still appreciate the wonder of these naturally flocked trees.