Day to day goings on here at the farm. Everything from weather to horses and donkeys to chickens to cats and dogs and everything in between. Some blogs will be informative. While others will be I hope, just entertaining and keep you coming back. And of course there will be pictures.
Congratulations Kathy at Cattle Call Farm Blog!!!
You are the winner of the name contest.
Please send me your address to cndezdog@msn.com so I can send your gift box out asap.
And thank you to everyone who suggested a name. With so many critters that show up quite often, the chances of another naming contest is likely to happen.
Until nex time..............................
Send in your name suggestions and I will write them down and put them into the can. The name that is chosen will be sent a gift box!! 
Even if you have already sent in a suggestion, send in more if you thought of any new ones. 
Before I get into what the main subject is, it is official, Jeff Lewis ( the one in the center of the pic) is a..........Rooster!! Darn it! :( So, I will wait to see who else is a rooster and then place an ad to move them to other homes. I know, I know, the chances of someone actually wanting a rooster to just be a rooster is slim. Most likely they will end up as dinner for someone. Although I will not want to know that, I will kindly ask the person(s) getting the roosters to lie to me and tell me that they are going to a good home. Some things I have a very difficult time dealing with and sending an animal to its death is one of them. Even though I know the truth. I would keep them if I could, but having two roosters now, it just isn't an option.
Some time ago I posted about what at first I thought were ducks to find out were a pair of Egyptian Geese. Yesterday, late morning, I glanced out the kitchen window to see the female up by the barn. But the male was no where to be seen. 
I get up pretty early in the morning, but at 4:30 this morning I woke to the sounds of chewing.......on the house! What the hell! The sound was right next to one of the bedroom windows. So, I lifted the blinds to see Cookie the donkey staring back at me! After doing morning chores, a walk to the back of the house revealed she, and I am certain her cohorts, have decided to start chewing the wood around the windows! 
Obviously it has been going on for a bit and just didn't pay attention to it. As I was standing there thinking why would they start chewing on wood, they have plenty to eat, plenty to do to keep them occupied the light went on in my head! Duh, there is no salt block in the yard! And the donkeys have been in the yard now for four days. Oh man, I should have put one of the salt blocks in for them. I make sure there are three kinds of salt blocks available in both pastures year round for everyone. A regular plain salt, mineralized salt and a selenium block. Well, it is suppose to rain later today so the donkeys are going back into the pastures for awhile. 
Have you ever noticed a smell and just can't find it? You look for it but just can't seem to pinpoint where it is originating from. 
I have mentioned before of a ground squirrel who lives in the wood pile. Apparently the ground squirrel is unaffected by having cats hanging around and staring at it. Well,it does help that he can duck inside the pile at a moments notice and be safe. As you can see in the above pic, three of our outside cats are, we'll call it 'hiding' in the greenery watching the ground squirrel. 
Pewter was just given a sedative and is starting to get sleepy.
This contraption looks very medieval, but it keeps the mouth open so the vet can start filing. And no, it doesn't hurt the horse. 
An electric filer is used first. 
After the electric file is done, the medieval contraption comes off and it is time to use a hand filer. 
One last check to make sure all the teeth have been filed.
Until next time......................
On Friday it was time to go to town and get cat food, dog food, cat litter, horse grain, salt blocks, and chicken food. Getting it is the easiest part. Unloading it all and putting it where it belongs takes some time. 
On Saturday it was time to clean the inside of the chicken house. Old shavings out. New shavings in. As I was carrying a bucket of the old shavings out I heard Canadian Geese. For once I was able to get a picture of them flying over our property. They are the dark dots in between the 'v' branch. There are times that a few of them fly so low you can hear the sounds of their wings. 
After taking care of a lot of other chores over the weekend I paused and saw all the horses and donkeys in one area of the back pasture. As I stood there watching them, the thought 'picture perfect' came to mind. It was just so peaceful and serene watching them. 
you guessed it! Four of the donkeys got to come out of the pastures and start their job of mowing. Since it is so nice I have the front door open. I walked around the corner and saw this scene. Cookie and Doughnut staring in, while Doug, Jovi and Ozzy staring out. 
Doug and Ozzy are fascinated with Doughnut. And it appears Doughnut feels the same about the cats.
Pearl had to come up and see what all the interest was. 
Doug and Ozzy not moving a muscle. Too much interesting things going on outside.
Pearl is a very intelligent girl. She observes everything. Which is why I have to put a latch on all the gates because she learned how to open them! Thought I would share some of the morning feeding with you. But first I want to share a proud parent moment. My youngest daughter is a Freshman in college and yesterday she received a letter from the President of the University letting her know that she is on the President of the University Honor's list for earning a 4.0 GPA! Well, my daughter has always maintained a 4.0 GPA all the way through school. Can you tell I am a proud mama!! :)
On to the videos. First video is of Arnold. Second is of Doughnut and Cookie. Third is self explanatory. Normally it is way more noisy, but of course when you start video taping or taking pics they don't do their 'normal routine'.
Hope everyone has a great day/evening. Share your smile! :)
Until next time.................
Since it was almost time to get ready to start evening feeding I figured to just go ahead and start right then and there. My oldest daughter had called earlier so I returned her call as I was getting ready to feed. As I was telling her about what had happened to one of the babies I heard a chirping sound. Then it got louder!
I had to buy a new camera. The old one finally gave out. So of course I had to play with it. This is Bob-a-loo the White Silky Rooster. 
Little Inger's close up while I was holding her. 
And while I was standing there taking random pics I noticed movement to my right. This was taken about two feet away. That Ground Squirrel didn't seem to mind me being that close. 
One of the cats came along and noticed the Ground Squirrel so it ducked back inside the wood pile. Um, I see you hiding in there! 
The end of the x-pen is pushed up against the coop.
The outside door of the coop has two latches on. The kind of latches where you have to pull them back to unhook them.
Okay, on to the donkeys. Since they did such a great job 'mowing' the grass behind and on the side of the house, well, why not let them into the front of the house and start mowing there too! As you can see Doughnut ( black one) and Arnold ( grey) are enjoying munching on the grass. Shortbus ( cat in the background) is oblivious to the donkeys. 
Kirby ( black cat) wasn't too sure of Doughnut being so close so he scooted on by to the front door.
Cookie checking out the exit driveway area to see if there is anything good over there to eat. Not to worry, we have gates on both the entry and exit driveways. Arnold in the background checking out the neighbors dog. Yes, the same dog that killed one of my chickens! 
Now who would have thought that donkeys liked cat food! Before I knew it Cookie and Doughnut had walked to the front door and helped themselves to the cats' food. Yes, I picked it up! Not too sure how cat food would settle with a donkeys stomach. Better safe than sorry. 
