Last of the animal move

While we were moving the horses, donkeys and chickens, all the cats were rounded up and either put into carriers or were allowed to roam free inside vehicles as we were making trips from old house to new.  Only having four carriers and way  more cats, free roaming was an only option. All the cats settled in right away. As you can see Smudge here ( pic above) immediately investigated every part of the house. Here she is at the very tip top of the ceiling on a ledge that runs the entire house.



Jovi and Squirrel finding another high spot in the house. There are a lot of ledges and cabinets they can get up on. Let's just say with having so many high places for the cats to get to, throughout the night you can hear cats jumping from one high place to another.




Ozzy doesn't care for anything having to do with exercising too much energy. He prefers the easiest place to stretch out. Here he is in front of the wood stove doing what he does best.  




The very first hot meal I cooked in the new house. Steak, rice, buttered bread and tomatoes. I am looking forward to garden season. Now that we have plenty of water and good soil, a huge garden will be planted. Most for us, some for the horses, donkeys, goats and chickens and a bit for the deer.




The last of the animals to come over were the goats. Now let me tell you I never in a million years would have thought loading goats would be quite the adventure it was. The goats are not exactly overly friendly and not very trusting. Thank goodness they will come up to me. First goat caught was Oreo ( black and white). A quick grab, held on, picked her up and into the trailer she went. Okay, that's not too bad.
Next was Goldie Goat. She was a bit more wary of coming up to me. But knowing I had treats got the better of her. As soon as she was close enough to grab, in she went.
By this time Gabby and Baby are wise to what is going on. That's when it all turned into a rodeo. There was no place to confine them and they had five acres in which to run away. After some time Baby was getting tired enough she got caught, lifted up and into the trailer she went.
That left Gabby. We are all tired, out of breath and having to dig deep to catch the last one. What seemed like an eternity, Gabby tired enough for me to literally jump on her bringing her to the ground. As bad as I felt having to do that, there was not another option. There were already three goats who were stressed in the trailer and time was running out to get them to the new house before it was dark.
After catching our breath we guided Gabby to the trailer, picked her up, put her in and sighed. The last of the animals were loaded up. Yay! 
The goats unloaded pretty good. They looked around at their new surroundings and started munching on the grass. 
Animal moving adventure over! Thank goodness. Three solid days of moving animals is enough to last me quite awhile. 
I can honestly say I found muscles I never knew I had during this move. From loading furniture to unwilling donkeys wanting to load, to goat wrangling and everything in between. 
Until next time.........................



Moving more critters

Moving chickens turned out to be a bit of a challenge. Here is the chicken house before being put together.



Chicken house just about ready for them.
Want to know how all the chickens came over at once? Not having enough carriers for them all, the only alternative I had was to load them up in the horse trailer! Sorry, no pic of that. But just imagine 15 chickens being caught and loaded up in the trailer. Let's just say that they were all very upset. Roosters crowed all the way to the new house. Talk about some strange looks driving through the small town of Jacksonville. A horse trailer that is crowing!



After a few days of being here all the chickens settled in quite nicely. I opened the curtains one morning to see a hen perched on the wood pile in front of one of the big windows looking in.



In fact they have all settled so nicely that every morning when I let them out of their house, they make a beeline for the front steps. Not sure why they do it, but it's okay since they eat bugs.




Little Inger really seems to enjoy the new house. The other day she scared me. I couldn't find her and began to panic. I hollered and hollered for her. Nothing. Then I walked into the hen house just as she was coming out of one of the cat carriers ( for them to lay their eggs in). She started 'talking' to me asking me what I was so upset about. After all, she had been there the whole time!

Update on the sightings of Bobby the Bobcat. My youngest daughter came up with Bobby. I know, not very original. Anyway, yesterday as I was checking blankets, watering and checking the horses and donkeys I looked up to see Bobby way out in the pasture. He was just sitting there, then casually got up and walked back into the blackberry bushes. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. Note to self: bring camera all the time!

I was asked about if I am going to bring Patti Cake back. It's funny but I have thought about bringing her back home, but have decided for now that she is safe and happy where she is now. I may change my mind later on.

Betsy goat had to go back to the next door neighbor. On our last day at the old house I saw her in her old pen and I told her I was sorry I couldn't bring her. Believe me, if I could have brought her over her I would have. But taking her without permission would have been stealing and so it was not an option.

Tomorrow, another animal adventure moving chapter.

Until next time.........................



Moving horses and donkeys

First I want to thank my very good friend Cindy for letting me borrow her horse trailer. Without her the move would still be ongoing!
The first to be loaded up were Houdini and Pewter. Thankfully they just walked right on in to the trailer, unloaded great and as you can see settled in to their new pasture just fine.



The next two to come over were AJ and Doughnut. Much to my surprise Doughnut ( donkey) jumped right into the trailer. AJ took a few minutes but she got in. Yup, they settled in to the pasture as if nothing happened.




The next to come over were Arnold and Cookie. Now Arnold ( red blanket) has always been difficult to load. Before walking to the trailer I asked him to please load up easily as it would make it less stressful for both of us. After a few minutes of coaxing, in he went.

Now Cookie, who I thought would load up quickly, turned out to be a struggle. Finally after 20 or so minutes we got her loaded. They also settled in within minutes.




The distance between the old house and the new house is almost an hour so we were only able to make three trips in one day. The following day it was back to the old house to load up the remaining three. Mike ( pic above) was not having anything to do with loading. It was a flat refusal. Nothing would entice him to walk into the trailer. I tried every trick in the book but alas, nothing was working. My main objective was to make it as less stressful for the animals as possible, but between the driving time from one house to the other, the daylight shorter, well, it came down to pretty much brute force getting him loaded. It actually took four people to basically pick his big donkey butt up and get him in. Talk about exhausted after that.
By the time we arrived here at the new house, poor Mike was sweating and shaking. He was one upset guy! After a few days he finally settled in and was 'talking' to me again.




Cookie ( spotted donkey) happy to be out of the trailer and with her friend Doughnut.




Pearl here was a bit of a challenge, but loaded up fairly nicely.




The last trip of the second day was for Mr. M. Mallow.  Not really knowing how he was at loading, I geared myself up for a good struggle. He was going to have to travel by himself. After putting his halter on, clipping on the lead rope, walking to the trailer and talking with him, there we stood in back of the trailer looking in. I gave him a hug, whispered in his ear, and I walked into the trailer. Him on the outside, me in the inside. Then, he took a step in! Before I knew it both front feet were in! But he backed out quickly. Okay, that's fine. We did it again and again and again. Not wanting to use force, I stepped behind him, cracked the lunge whip behind on the ground towards his back feet and he jumped in! 
Yay, the last of the big animals was loaded! Two days of loading, diving and unloading but it was done. 

Thankfully not one of them got sick or colicked (tummy trouble). Each and every one settled in beautifully.

Tomorrow I will post another chapter of moving animals.

Until next time..................
  



Checking in with you all

Just a real quick update. We have made the move to the new house. It's been an exhausting two weeks. Really could have used a magic wand, but lost it somewhere along the way. I am still trying to find  Internet service, but is proving to be very difficult. Hopefully within the next week or so I will be back up and running. Then I will let you all know the excitement that happened along with pics.

Everyone has settled in quite nicely.

Snow fore casted tonight and tomorrow.

Wood stove is sort of doing its job keeping the house kind of warm.

Hope you are all doing great. I will try to check in when I can until I get Internet service.

Hugs to you all.

Who all is moving

 Tomorrow we start the big push to move. The animals will be going with us in stages. Here are pics of who is going with us. AJ.

 Pewter.

 Houdini

 Doughnut ( left), Arnold ( middle) and Cookie ( right)

 Marshmallow and Pearl

 Mike

 All the chickens.

Four goats. Yes, you can only see three in this pic.



Also going are two dogs and 16 cats!


I am still working on who will be our Internet provider. Since we will be living further out, well, the providers are slim pickings. Actually there are only two choices. One is dial up ( ugh) and the other is a wireless provider that I no nothing about. 

Oh, thanks for the Quince info. It will come in handy. 

Wishing you all a wonderful day! 

Until next time.............................

A few more days

 A few more days and the big move is happening. We have been going to the new house getting it prepared. You know, the hanging of the curtain rods and curtains, shower curtains, scrubbing all surfaces, weatherizing windows, etc..  There is a Quince tree next to the garage. I don't even know if I spelled it right or exactly what type of fruit it bears. If you look in the center of the pic you can see a yellow looking ballish shape. That's the fruit.

 Before moving in, a wood stove has to be placed in the fireplace. There is an oil furnace, but at three dollars a gallon, well, using that is not an option. So..... our heat source will come from a good old fashioned wood stove! That alone should be interesting since I have become accustomed to pushing a button for heat or air.

 Behind the house there is this huge tree that produces the most beautiful little red berries. Haven't a clue what the tree is but in time I will figure it out.

On the way home form the new house yesterday I saw a huge rainbow going over one other Table Rocks. Since the new house is on the other side of the valley I won't get to see the Table Rocks unless I drive to this side of the valley.

Now, I am going to try to play catch up with what is going on with all of you!!!

Until next time............................

Progress with the move

 Leaving the chicken coop was not an option. So......we took it with us! Here it is loaded up and ready to make the move to the new house. Yup, looks very redneck, but, it will help keep the chickens a bit safer at night.

 Stew Pot wondering why his coop is up on the trailer.

 After several stops due to tie downs coming loose or just flying off, we made it to the new house. Poor coop is a bit worse for wear! But it made it in one piece.

 Coop unloaded next to the Rubbermaid shed that is going to be used as the hen house. Nope, it isn't fancy, but it will work.

 Yesterday with the help of some friends, we leveled the shed, put the coop in front of it and thankfully looks much better now!  I decided to put the coop next to my bedroom window so when a wild critter thinks they are going to have a chicken snack in the middle of the night, all I have to do is open the window and holler. I am also going to hang some bells around the coop so when  a critter gets too close, the bells will sound. I want to make sure the chickens will be as safe as possible.

 Poles are in and set. Cross fence ( in the background) strung, pulled and fastened. Pasture is ready for the horses, donks and goats. This weekend the gates will be put up.

 Before heading out to the new house I stopped off and bought some frozen burritos for lunch.  When we were all hungry I went in to the house, turned on the oven, and after a few minutes realized the oven wasn't working! The stove top does, but the oven does not. Great! Okay, on to plan B. Turn on two stove top burners, place frozen burritos on cookie sheet and start cooking!

My oldest daughter had brought over her sandwich maker so grabbed that and started cooking burritos on that. Took awhile, but lunch was hot and ready to eat. This is the very first cooked meal in the new house!!!!

Calling the landlady today to let her know about the oven not working. Going to be really hard to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving with no oven.

I promise I will catch up with everyone's going on's as soon as I catch a few minutes.

Wishing everyone a fantastic day. Headed out to the new house with another load.

Until next time.........................

Getting closer

 What can I say except where the heck do the days go? Geez. This weekend all the posts were drilled and set for the cross fence in the pasture at the new house.  My oldest daughter and I unloaded 584 bricks to be used to fix the brick pillars along the fence in front of the house. Thankfully the bricks were free thanks to a guy she knows who had no use for them. Most of the inside of the house has been scrubbed so it is ready for the big moving day. And moving day is the weekend of November 13 & 14th.  Trying to get everything arranged this week so there is no surprises when the big day arrives. You know, the list that keeps getting longer! This week the weather is saying no rain. Just the dreaded............

fog!!!!!! Out of all weather there is on this wonderful planet, fog is the one I really, really do not care for. It's cold, damp, and you just plain can't see very far in front of you.


Now I have to catch up with what is going on with all of you. 


Until next time..........................

Great News!!!

Just a real quick post today. I wanted to share with all of you the great news I received a little while ago. I applied for yet another place to rent a week ago and guess what? Yes, it was approved!! Meeting the landlady tomorrow at one o'clock to get the keys. And it is a real house on 43 acres!!!!! Will you all please join me in the Happy Happy Joy Joy Dance?

Thank you all for sending your prayers and positive thoughts. It truly helped.

More details to follow tomorrow. With pictures!!!!!!

Whooooooo! Hoooooooo!

Until next time..........................

3 solid days and an evening

 

 For the past three days and one evening I have been moving my youngest into her dorm room. What I thought would be a one day event, turned into a lot more than I expected. For one, she lives on the top floor. So carrying up bags and boxes up four flights of stairs was a work out in itself. Thank goodness I am active enough to where it didn't do me in!  After finally getting everything to her room, it was time to unpack and put things away.

 When everything was in its place, it was time to set up the Internet connection to her computer. That is when the real headaches started. After spending what seemed like an eternity trying to get a connection we both agreed it had been a long day and we drove back home. The next day she drove to the school, contacted the campus housing department, took her computer to them and whoever touched her computer to get it connected really messed it up. Not only did they uninstall the anti virus software, they managed to disable other things. And with classes starting Monday, I was the lucky one to have her computer fixed.

Yesterday after almost three hours at Office Depot having them help get her computer back to normal ( which even they couldn't believe what the idiot at the school did), drove to the school, walk to her room ( an uphill ten minute walk), hook her computer up, followed the instructions to get Internet only to not being able to access it, well, both our tempers were pretty high. Finally I told her I didn't know what to do, that I had animals to take care of and I had to go. So I left.


She called while I was on the freeway driving home to let me know she finally was able to access the Internet and that all was fine now. Thank God!


It is very different not having her here. There are many things I am going to miss on a daily basis with her not here.  In time her and I will get into new routines. All I can say is I am so thankful for the animals here because there is no better therapy than being with them.


And I have already warned my sister that I will be calling her a lot more than I do!  She calls me way more than I call her. Good thing she loves me and puts up with me. And anyone who knows me, knows I am not a phone person.


Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I have to admit I am tired! And the high temps we are having ( 90's) is not helping! Come on cooler weather. 

The pics are taken from her room. Nice view. And come winter, those mountains will be covered with snow.

Oh, I still have not caught the egg thief yet. And if anyone is wanting a monitor unit to watch your critters, I got mine on ebay and only paid about thirty dollars for it. 

Until next time.......................