Charlie & Hank

No, this isn't Charlie or Hank. This is MooMoo. I know, strange name for a cat. She reminded me of a Holstein cow with her black & white coat. When she was just a kitten I started calling her our "MooMoo kitty."

MooMoo has been the sole cat figure on our little farm for a number of years. She spends most of her days in the barn or in the woodshed doing what cats do best; sleeping and eating. I wish she would step up a bit in the rodent control department. But I think she's a bit on the lazy side.

Our barn was being overrun with mice! Some of the dogs sleep out there in their crates and oftentimes they wouldn't finish their food. Prime mouse snacks. And they were helping themselves! Many times I would walk into the barn and come face to face with another little furry creature! And my hay! We rearranged some bales one day and I thought deer had eaten big chunks off the edges, but no! It was the mice! This had to stop!

So I went looking for backup for MooMoo. A little reinforcement.

I checked with several shelters and found one in our local town. They have a feral cat program; catch, neuter and release. Some of the cats are able to be tamed a bit and these are adopted out to homes. But some cats are just too wild. That would be Charlie. And unfortunately, the shelter workers were having a hard time working to tame the other cats because of him. He wasn't about to let anyone near him or the others. Charlie needed a barn home. And I needed a barn cat.

Hank was another feral boy. Not near a distrusting as Charlie, but still wild. So both boys came home with me.

For now, they are still in confinement. They need to realize this is home base and make the adjustment. Thankfully, we have a covered dog kennel in the barn that works perfect for this situation. They have boxes to hide in, a litter box, and food and water. After they've been here about a month we'll let them have some freedom and hope they stick around.

"Oh, little mice, there's some nice cat food in that bowl. Just help yourself." ;)

"Hank"

Isn't he pretty? I wish I could pet him:)

And there's Charlie glaring at me from the back of the box.

Charlie doesn't like when you put your hand to close to him. I know this from personal experience.

Happy hunting boys! MooMoo sure needs you. And so do I!

Duane's "sheep"

A while back Duane came home from work one day and asked, "Do you want a sheep?" I replied with a confused, "What?"

You have to understand Duane is not an animal person. Yes, he tolerates my menagerie. But if it was up to him, we'd probably only have one horse, one dog and a few chickens. (And that's not because HE wanted them.) So you can see my confusion by his question. Duane does not initiate bringing more animals home. That's my job. And if I had come home and asked if we could get some sheep, goats,...... (fill in the blank) he would have vetoed that idea immediately. But since it was "his" idea, we're going to run with it!;)

So I queried him more about his strange question. It seems a friend at work raises sheep; Barbados sheep. This is a breed which have hair instead of wool, hence no need for shearing.  And apparently, they eat noxious weeds and brush. We have both and would like to be rid of them. And this guy was willing to give us a couple babies.  Duane thought it would be a good idea to help get rid of the brush on our property.
 
We talked further about it that day and the next and then the subject was shelved for a while. At least between us.

Of course, I am always ready and willing to add another animal to the farm. But I had always thought it would be fun to have a couple goats, not sheep. So I started doing a bit of research on both. And came to the conclusion that goats would probably eat more of a variety of things and be a whole lot more personable. (There are actually businesses  where a person can rent a herd of goats to clear their land!)

We talked more about the subject later and I shared my interest and information about goats.

Then one day, I was browsing craigslist (that site is going to cause my demise;) and came across an ad that read:

"THREE GOATS ONE BRED DOE, BRED BY AGS NIGERIAN BUCK THAT IS A TRIPLET . THE DOE IS NOT REGISTERED. TWO WEATHERS FOR PETS OR 4H. NOT TO BE EATEN."

Nigerian Dwarf goats is the breed I was most interested in and these guys were close by and cheap!
I called the ad, made an appointment and went by later that day. I assured the people they "wouldn't be eaten" as we were vegetarians:) Then called Duane and left him a message to call me when he got off work. If it was up to me, I would snagged them when I first went to see them, but I was trying to be good;)

I got the "o.k." and went back to get the boys.

It's been a couple weeks since we got them. For now they are housed with the chickens. (Poor girls were a bit traumatized when I put the goats in with them. I didn't think we'd get any eggs for a week!) But they've all settled in together nicely and my chicken pen is being cleared of brush!

And you just can't beat those adorable faces and the little goat sounds that greet your ear whenever you walk outside!

"Heartly & Thumper"

Oh, and Duane calls them "his" goats;)

Taco Bell?

One of the young chickens tried to make a run for the border. So I finally named them.

"Enchirito"~think "red" sauce

"Quesidilla"

 

"Taco"

 

"Crunchwrap"~that got a bit burned;)

So if we ever run out of food we'll always have a chicken enchirito, a chicken quesidilla, a chicken taco, and a blackened chicken crunchwrap;) Don't worry people, I won't REALLY eat them!

Happy Daffies!

It must be nap time.

Today Leggs and I made a trip to the Spokane area to pick something up that I found on craigslist. (But that's another story!)
Since I'm pondering the idea of getting a new camera for myself, I had asked my son the other day if I could try his Canon out. Thankfully, he agreed. So with his camera in hand, we headed out. And I just thought I'd share some of the pictures I captured along the way.

The morning was certainly frosty!

Waiting for the ferry.

Here she comes!

God's handiwork

I told the driver to smile. He said, "I am."

Fort Spokane

 

I can't believe I live in this beautiful part of the country!

My "ride" home.

The Columbia River aka Lake  Roosevelt.
Hope you enjoyed coming along on our ride!

It's that time of year!

I have some chickens. And I love my chickens. I enjoy watching them scratching around looking for snacks to eat, happily roosting in their house and popping out those farm fresh eggs. Plus they're great for helping to till up the garden in the spring, scratch through all the dead plants in the fall, and the added fertilizer for the garden if helpful.

But I don't have a rooster anymore. So obviously we don't have babies each year. One year we had a rooster and our hens hatched out some babies. I think we had thirteen chicks hatched out that year and eleven of them were roosters! Yikes! Do you know when you have that many roosters, they will have a crowing competition pretty much all night long. So, we got rid of the roosters.

A couple years ago, I bought six pullets. For those that aren't familiar with chickens, pullets are baby female chickens. They've been sexed so you're almost guaranteed you're buying females. (It's not a 100% guaranteed thing though). So I ended up with five pullets and one nasty, stinkin' mean rooster. He's gone now, but that's another story....

I do like to have new chicks around each year. Because when winter comes and the older girls are slowing down their egg production, the new girls are just maturing and starting to lay. Plus, you can't beat the cuteness factor!

So I've been debating the issue with my self. Do I get another rooster, therefore have new chicks each year and not have to buy any (but possibly get stuck with a bunch of roosters I don't need) or buy some pullets and have a better chance of getting what I want?

I finally decided on buying some. So last week I week to our local feed store and picked out some babies. It's a fun place to visit in the spring even if you're not planning on buying any. They have the cutest little assortment of fuzzy chicks, ducklings, goslings and guinea keats to look at.

I decided on my favorite breed; the Ameraucana. This chickens come in a variety of colors and lay bluish-green or pinkish colored eggs. Some people call the "Easter egg chickens."

I picked out four different colored ones and they're nicely settling in at the "Pinewood Chicken Nursery".

And, yes, that is a dog crate.

I've been totally slacking! I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd blogged anything here. (Except for my last eggceptional blog;) hehe

Oh, for those of you who don't know, I have another blog too. It's all about dogs! Come join the fun and check it out! (pwdogblog.blogspot.com) Ok, done with that advertisement.

The house is quiet tonight, two guys on the other side of the world and two guys on the other side of the gulley. So it's just me and the critters and it's so quiet.

 I decided to go read some friends blogs that I'd missed reading when they were first posted. Then I decided to go to my own blog page, hence finding out how long it had been since I wrote anything. And while there, I decided to play around with my page and customize it a bit more. I hope you like it. I do.

Shhh...don't want to wake them up. You know how the saying goes, "Let sleeping dogs lie."

Seriously?

What? Is there a robin in my hen house?

Seriously, which one of you girls popped this little thing out? I mean, I do have three banty hens, but it's been a long time since I've seen anything this small.  I almost didn't see it nestled in the straw! (And the regular sized one next to it, isn't the biggest either.)

Any one for a teeny tiny omelet?