Sunday, May 29, 2011

Statistical Update

Sadly, our tally is ever growing, and as of last week:

Baby birds: 3

The white Husky was diving into ditches and pulling out occupied nests. This was not pleasant to witness but again, Gunnar can't live under the impression that all animals are "electrified." I don't hit him with his shock collar for mice, children, or baby birds who don't look like they had a chance to begin with.

Mice: 6
Moles: 1
Snakes: 1
Wooly Caterpillars: 2

An action shot of Gunnar harboring a captive...in his mouth

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Love is in the Air

The Mini horses are allowed to graze in the upper pasture for a few hours everyday; they can't be up there any longer or they will overeat. As you can see, they don't have much self control; but, this isn't all their fault as Mini horses are too tiny for their appetite and digestive system so we have to regulate for them. Don't ask me how these hobbits survive in the wild--is there such a thing as a wild Mini?

Mr. H thought he was pretty smart yesterday as he looked up from some gimmicky news on his computer and said, "Honey, I guess you have to give up the Minis; this article says 'No Minis After 35.'" My mom looked up confused and I knew what he meant: no miniskirts for women over the age of 35. Yes, he fancies himself a pretty funny guy. I took note and put this on the tally sheet with "the others." (You know, that "husband tally sheet" which perpetually keeps him in the doghouse for the words that come flying out of their mouths).

Thirty-five or not, the Minis are mine for the time being and we get a huge kick out of playing with them and Beatrice the goat. Bea is highly entertaining and we've been watching her and Assel (the blue-eyed horse). Over the last few weeks we've come to the conclusion that they are in love. Bea is always flirting with him and they tend to sit or stand near each other a lot.


Assel and Beatrice




And when Assel is tired of Bea hanging around, she goes over to bother Shaq

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Gardening: It Has Begun

I get a kick out of the chapter that fell open in the book: "Nature's Troublemakers
and Farm Safety." It's as if Mother Nature knows that Mr. H and I are gonna
try something!
Yes, we needed books to figure out what not to plant next to each other.
Who knows if our garden will survive long enough to bear fruit? It is much easier to grow anything in Wisconsin (except citrus and cactus) than in Arizona. Down in Tucson I had proliferating basil which took a nose dive when it lost a battle with some lizards and a desert hare--probably a jackalope. My tomatoes couldn't even get past the tiny green fruit stage because I was either over or under watering constantly; and, if you don't water plants early enough or late in the evening down there, the sun will singe leaves and essentially scorch the plant into extinction.

Mr. H and I really want a garden so that we (me) can eat our fresh produce--he is scared of vegetables--and do all of that fun self-sustaining type stuff such as canning, that one does when living on a mini farm. Our basement alone is 2000 square feet with huge storage shelves just waiting for some pickle jars and canned tomatoes; I wonder how we will find time, but it's worth the adventure. It is certainly way more fun than trekking into the large discount chain in the city where you have to buy 50 pounds of bananas and 100 pounds of potatoes to get good prices.


Bea was watching Mr. H and I put the first part of our garden in
from her back porch. She's already eaten a couple of my tulips and I figure
she'll try the same with the garden so we need to get fencing up pronto.
If it doesn't pan out, there is a farmers market eight miles from our house every Saturday from now until October that I can purchase everything you can imagine at. It's the Spring Green farmers market and is a very fun place to hang out on a Saturday morning.

So, here we go with our greenish thumbs and all.



This is some sort of action shot--reaching for my dirty gloves.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Just Another Day at the Office

"Telecommute" (i.e. when I work from home) for Loki means that he can be coddled all day long: does he look anxious to you?


I had about as much luck explaining to Loki that two hands are required for typing as I did explaining to Gunnar why he should not eat grass and hay, though the horses could.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Living Off The Land

I'm not only a rancher now.....



I'm a gardener as well...well....

Do these have to go somewhere in the ground or will they just turn into a salad from these little dirt cubes? I'd better do some research....

Saturday, May 14, 2011

No Room For Another Ruminant

I don't feel that it will be necessary for any photograph submissions for this little journal entry, as again we are discussing some of the less than glamorous issues that come with being the guardians of animals.

I spent 15 years as a respiratory therapist working on creatures from the waist up--you know, lungs, hearts, that kind of stuff-- and now I find myself entrenched and preoccupied with what comes about from the waste down..er...I meant "waist down," but now I guess you really know what I'm talking about. In case you haven't picked up on the subtleties in these words so far, I am yet again on poop duty.

More specifically, I went out to do my barn chores this morning, and found the white Husky walking funny. He came into the barn from his outside kennel with back legs lower than fronts, kind of squatting and looking very frustrated with himself. Honestly, my first thought--which I did express to him-- was, "You got one of those mice that you ate last week stuck in there?" He did not answer, poor Gunnar.

I opened the kennel and he stepped into the barn which is too dark to really perform an adequate examination, so I harnessed him up and we went outside. That's when I discovered that Gunnar is still pretending to be a goat, and apparently ingesting small amounts of hay or grass. He had a bit of hay hanging out of his hinder: "hinder," a medical term for "bumper," more commonly known as the buttock region. (Incidentally, "hinder" is pronounced "high-n-der).

Grabbing a plastic bag to put over my glove, I discovered that big dogs aren't as cooperative as small, co-dependent, dysfunctional ones that are only too quick to be naughty, but in the same bark ask you for help. Here's an example: if one of the Littles in the house has say, an "issue" clinging to their bumper--or the fur surrounding such areas--they run into the house, point their tail at the nearest parent, and show us what needs to be removed. Seriously, Loki does this all the time, and Talon is another one who runs in to get his rear situation rectified..er..that didn't come out right. ?

I finally grabbed Gunnar's tail and quickly pulled a little hay/grass out of you-know-where and then we were off on our walk, which included an explanation of why dogs don't eat forage. When this didn't seem to sink into Gunnar's head I tried tactics such as, "Because God made you differently than the goats and even the horses." When that didn't seem to strike a chord I just tried, "I'm telling you not to eat forage because I am your guardian and you listen to me." That's when Gunnar turned to look at me: I could tell he wasn't listening....

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Pssst, Grandma...


Wulf: "What do you think she's eating?"
Loki: "I think it's oatmeal."
Wulf: "Do you think she'll give us some?"
Loki: "If you sit here and look cute enough she will. She gives me all kinds of snacks when mommy and daddy aren't looking."
Wulf: "I'm getting tired of sitting here....ooh there's a bird at the feeder!"



"Psst...Grandma--he's gone...you can let me in now."





.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day Card

Happy Mother's Day ladies! Check out the card Grandma Debbie (my mom) "made" for me:

Each of the stickers my mom added to the card actually looks
like the chihuahua mix they represent! Details....

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Don't Get Between A Boy And His Bowl







Hand that bowl over, lady.

Please note: in no way is this dog actually agressive while he is playing with his bowl. The white Husky loves to play tug of war as any real dog should.  We thank him for allowing this close up footage for documentary purposes. When the cameras stopped rolling, he tried to sit down in my lap; as he is bigger than I am, it was slightly embarrassing as my husband found me flattened underneath this large white beast.



Sunday, May 1, 2011

May Day Grazing

Nothing witty to say today, just some great pictures of the little barnyard animals: