Overgrown

Over grown by weeds, my little flower garden. That will be remedied tomorrow when Steve and I go and purchase the latest of weed whackers. A push weed whacker. Yeah!!!!

Guard Lions

This cracked me up. Steve sitting on the swing and the only black cats we have, one on each side of him lounging in the lounge chairs on our deck. Pywackette to Steve's left and Zeke on the other side.

My Lilacs

It smells so nice this time of year between the lilacs and the plum trees blooming. I wasn't sure if they would bloom because they had started to bud and we had a cold snap and snow and ice after some wrm days, but it wasn't enough to damage them. Thankfully!

George

Finally a pic of poor old George the ferret. George is about nine years old now. He's thin and a bit feeble but still hanging on. He eats and drinks. Pees and poops and if you've ever had a ferret, well you know. I'll say this, I'll never keep ferrets again. Only because they require a lot of time and I feel guilty because I don't think that George gets the time he deserves.

Zeke

Zeke is always elusive. It's taken me dozens of photos to try and get one where he's not moving and here it is.

Ears

Herman's ears have fallen and they can't get up!

Purple Martins?

I bought this purple martin house a couple of years ago for Steve for a Father's Day gift because he so loves his wild birds. Attracting purple martins is quite a different story. It's a very difficult process involving placement of the house in your yard, timing, other birds in the area. Well, we were unsuccessful and in the end, ended up with a house full of sparrows. So here sits the sparrow condo.

A Spring Sunset

Zoe took this pic about a week ago of the sunset from our driveway looking across the farmer's fields.

What a Face

What a face. I have no idea what Spot was doing. Maybe yawning. But I think it's a hilarious picture of a silly dog.

Taking a Trip

Traveling anywhere, even for a few days can be difficult for Steve and I as we are always faced with the babysitter issue for our creatures. Finding some one can be a problem. Most times I'm able to get my farrier, Jeremiah and his son to do it. This is a pic of one of our travels last Spring to Oregon and Northern California. Steve and Zoe in front of a giant redwood. We went to Oregon to check out a University Zoe was interested in in Eugene, OR. As long as we were so close to California we decided to see the redwoods since none of us had seen them before. It was beautiful. We took the coastal drive down along the Pacific. The scenery was awe inspiring and the California fishing villages were great. Loved it.

Walks!

Last Autumn, taking the quadrupeds for a walk at the local conservancy. They love it. We try to go at least once a week during the warm months. The dogs love it.

Why?

Why Zoe took a picture of her tiny little feet, I don't know. I just don't know....................????????????

A Fearless Beast

Once again our mostly blind kitten daring to sleep on one of the beams. I mentioned post and beam construction converted barn. There's about 20 feet between that beam and the wood laminate floor. Crazy cat. And as I'm typing Smudge is attempting to climb onto my lap.

Our Pet Cemetary

We keep a small pet cemetery in the northeast corner of our property. Not all of our creatures are actually buried there and I'm a bit behind on some of the memoriams, but I will catch up soon. I need to clean the area up and weed it well. Just waiting for a few days off that are warm enough to get out there.

The Hobby Farm Home

Here we are. A view from the field south.

The House

This is our house on this little 2 acre hobby farm of ours. It in itself is a converted barn of post and beam construction over a hundred years old. We've added the extension of course and this picture was taken this week in March with dirty melting snow and nothing but mud where grass should be. My red rusted out garbage cart sitting in the left of the pic (I think we need to replace that this year). I can't wait for the green grass to return and my flowers, if I haven't killed them. We love this place. Although I feel that we're constantly repairing it.

The Everyday

This is not an unusual event for our household. Unfortunately..... This afternoon a Starling was stuck in our fireplace chimney flue. Of course these birds cannot fly back up the chimney flue as it is physically impossible for them to do so. So generally what we do is get the big fishing net my husband bought last summer at about 10:30 pm from Walmart to catch a bat that was flying around the house terrorizing me, and open the flue and attempt to catch the bird. Well a house with 3 dogs and 6 cats, we have to act quickly or the creature doesn't stand a chance. So it becomes a huge ordeal lasting approximately 30 minutes but with much success this time and finally at last a freed Starling. Whew!

Herman

Herman is a crazy goat. He's a bit bigger than the Pygmies and just the silliest. He likes to play head-butt games with your hand and attempts to jump on your back and I would bet he weighs about 70 pounds.

Cheryl

Cheryl came to me about 7 years ago. She was my friend's barn cat before I was talked into saving her. My friend just was creeped out by her and that's the real reason I ended up with her. She used to stalk my friend Jess. She would be doing dishes at night and look up and out her sink window and low and behold, Cheryl would be staring at her from outside. She also drools and you can do just about anything with her and she doesn't mind. Avery strange being.

Pywacket

Pywacket is also about 14 years old. She was given to by some previous landlords I used to rent from. She too used to be thin a long time ago. She had an emergency hysterectomy at about 6 months old and has gained weight ever since, but we don't tell her that she's fat because she believes otherwise. She referred to as the petite little flower.

Jynnx

This is Jynnx. I adopted her from a local animal shelter. She came with some bad habits, like chewing your toes and something private to her that I just can't mention. Jynnx has to be about 14 years old now. She's very noisy and asks for permition to eat. You have to tell that it's o.k. to eat and then she will.

Zeke

This is Ezekiel. He is my kitty. And only my kitty. He has bedroom privileges. He calls to me with a strange kind of meow and I call his name back to him and he calls back to me. Needless to say we drive my family nuts. He also knows how to open the bedroom door on his own if he wishes to exit while we're sleeping. He's very velvety and purrs loudly. My daughter and husband call him "Beak" rather than Zeke because they think he has a large nose. I think his nose is distinguished and he is handsome. He is handsome isn't he? Well, isn't he?

Smudge

Smudge is one of our 6 cats. She lands about in the middle as far as age. She never used to be this fat. She only gained this past winter. She is very sweet with us and loves to sit on our laps, however she doesn't get along very well with the other animals in the house. She tends to pick fights with the other kitties.

Who Knew?

Who knew goats are that smart. Here is Pumba attempting to open the gait on the goat pen. I think I'll have to get chain to keep them in. What a silly goat.

The One Who Started it All

Fido was the first pet here. He is about 12 years old now and low and behold, I had no idea that he was a herding dog until last autumn when Steve and I were attempting to build a goat shelter which was made difficult because goats have a tendency to jump onto your back as you're bending over to build things. So we thought , "They'll be o.k. in the yard" until they started down the driveway. Well I shouted to Spot, the bred herding dog to get the goats and he was too distracted by the horses. Fido went to get the goats and herded them in as if it was textbook. Steve and I stood in awe. We couldn't believe this dog with no herding experience and gosh knows what kind of a mix he is, actually herded these goats. It was funny. Kind of like Babe the pig who herded sheep.

Wilma, One of Our Three Dogs

Wilma came to me at least nine years ago as a temporary house guest until her owner was able to take her back and here she still is. A little needy but a good loyal dog and well behaved. She loves the water and when we take the dogs for a walk down at the local conservancy, we have to pass the pond first as she is always inclined to take a dip.

Our Border Collie

Spot, our three year old Border Collie. He is the most loving dog I've ever seen. When we got Spot as a puppy, knowing full well that border collies come with a reputation, we decided to take him to puppy kindergarten. What a disaster! He was the worst behaved one there. Most embarrassing. He turned out to be so well behaved and loyal even though we flunked puppy school. He loves to cuddle and spoon with us.

Misty

This is Misty. I've had Misty for about four years now. She will be 12 years old this year. She is a Morgan-Quarter horse cross. She is a trusty good mare that I can put anyone on to ride. She's a sweety.

Back to the Horses, A Proper Introduction: Kola

This is Kola. I purchased Kola in September of '06. She is a 12 year old Spotted Saddle Horse. I'm giving her the winter to acclimate to me and my way of doing things. Then hopefully we'll be hittin' the trails this Summer. She's very vocal and likes to talk. She follows me everywhere, probably looking for treats.

Lillyput

We adopted Lillyput from our local hay barn or should I say she adopted us. She came with extra toes and she's blind. She sweet on her own terms otherwise she can be very mean. We love her anyway.

Misty and Kola

It's Spring! Why is there still so much snow? I took this picture of the girls today. It was in the 50's today, but you couldn't tell by the picture. Can't wait for this snow to melt. Neither can they. They're looking toward the pasture and pining, I'm sure.

This is our Hobby Farm

Just a start of our 18 creatures. This Herman with the "H" on his forehead, Pumba to the left, and IttyBitty on the right. Our little goats who are growing.