Super Farmer wins!
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Special K cereal and 4 cats with 1 hen
Well, it is spring! Why? Because I had my first bowl of cereal on my swing with Chick Chick and FOUR cats! Yep, it was relaxing to fight off a chicken and starving kitties who swiped at the hen, who in turn pecked back at furry faces. The gang then pushed each other away from me along with a few loud meeeeoooowwww’s and a SQUAWK! I ate as fast as I could throwing some Special K flakes in the middle of the squabble so they would leave me alone, which by the way, didn’t work. They turned into sharks circling the milky morsels then pouncing upon it in a pile of fur and feathers! After the attack, they all looked up at me with squinted eyes demanding in their silence for more….not a few flakes, but the whole bowl! I retreated as fast as I could back to the house with my breakfast held high above my head as the herd of cats ran after me. One kitty ran in front trying to get me to stop as the other 3 sprinted to the back door where they stood like soldiers guarding the entrance, nobody in, nobody out! Chick Chick waited by the swing hoping I would come back and reward her for being good. The cats won. I gave up my cereal and placed it on the porch. It was completely gone within 4.5 seconds. I grudgingly went back to my swing and sat with Chick Chick who was not interested in me anymore now that the food was gone. She jumped down and strutted away looking for early bugs. The kitties relished in their victory and cuddled in the warm sun, paws and tails wrapped around each other, glancing at me with a satisfied look of ‘yep, we rule, you drool’.
Snow, snow, snow!
I had to go into town for a spell and on the way home, I noticed that not one snow flake was falling in Laporte. BUT….the closer I got to my house off of Waverly Rd, the snow started to lightly fall. By the time I got home, there was an angry snow storm in full swing. I swear there is an evil plan to dump snow over our farm just to make me miserable along with cranky animals!! And just for your info (as if you all didn’t know this already) guess who is standing at the gate in all this snow staring at the house??!! Yep, the mountain goat who was fed before I went into town 3 hours ago! Sheesh, you would think her feet would be frozen!
Stir crazy animals!
My poor animals are so barn crazy! The back llamas haven’t been out for a month now. Although we keep the front door open a little so the others can go outside to stretch their legs if need be, the only animals or shall I say, animal, that comes out for more than 30 seconds is Sierra the staring goat! And she does what? Stare at the house…waiting, watching, stalking, plotting. As a matter of fact, there is a tiny trail going from the barn to the gate. Those are her tracks. No other hoof prints anywhere else by the other animals in the snow! Sometimes it feels creepy to have a goat watching your house 24 hours a day, everyday….waiting for you!
Flying into the barn!
Such fun! Yesterday I had the adventure of going to the barn by boat! Today with 40 mile an hour sustained winds that are gusting up 50+, I will be strapping an old yellow bed sheet (with delicate blue pansies) to my body, do my baseball catchers crouch (in pink) and let the wind push me over the ice, sail off the melting snow mountain and glide into the barn! Hopefully I won’t land on Dunkay or the goats! The return trip to the house will be tricky since I will be going into the wind. I wonder if the carrot hanging in front of a donkey really works! I could hang one over Dunkays head, grab his tail, point him towards the house and let him pull me! So how do you get him back to barn you ask? Not sure, still working on that one. Where is SUPER FARMER!!!????
Snow Melting means Boat!!
Oh goodie! Today it is 50 degrees with a 24 hour down pour rain on top of 40″ snow drifts melting onto frozen ground! That means instead of struggling to get to the barn with a shovel, I now have to go by canoe! All that water will be seeping into the barn turning it into a puddle of poopy straw as my miserable cold, wet animals plead with me to make it dry and cozy again! They will more and likely demand extra treats because mommy can’t fix the problem without our SUPER FARMER daddy! The only happy animals on the farm today will be the quackers, who for once will not be squawking at me in protest about the other animals ‘touching’ them! They will be outside paddling in all the deep ponds on the property that weren’t there yesterday. They will be happy as a Lark, even though they are ducks…just how happy are Larks anyway???
Miss Piggy
My farrier, Mike is brave guy! He comes out in the bitter cold to spend time with my horses and Dunkay who run as soon as they see his truck pull up. Mike means trimmed hooves, something all farm animals dread, especially the goats. They know Mike, his truck and his tools. Sierra and Dillon hide behind the barn until all is clear of any signs of ‘The Hoof Man‘..
While Mike was pulling and tugging on Sparky’s back leg he told me a funny story about Miss Piggy, a 300 pound pot belly pig that was raised inside an English woman’s home from the time she was 5 lb piglet to an oversized and spoiled Sow.
Mikes story (with my help)….
Years ago, Mike was called to a small farm just south of Addie Acres to trim the feet of a pot belly pig named Miss Piggy. Mrs. Brackston came from England and spoke in a heavy English accent. Her husband of 40+ years was a drunk so she adopted a tiny pink piglet for companionship, naming her Miss Piggy . Mrs. Brackston raised her little girl inside the house giving her the princess treatment and full run of their humble home nestled in the middle of dense woods . Miss Piggy was potty trained like a dog and would oink at the back door to be let out. Well the farmer who trimmed Miss Piggy’s hooves retired and gave her Mikes phone number. Later that week, Mike and his father ventured out to do what they believed would be an easy foot job! Not to be! Mrs Brackston answered the door in an outdated flowered night jacket, hair in curlers, a cigarette dangling from her bright red lipstick mouth. She greeted them in her heavy accent, forcing both men to turn their heads in her direction trying to understand her words. She escorted them into a dimly lit living room where they found Miss Piggy laying on a brand new tan with blue stripes couch watching TV. As Mike and his dad approached Miss Piggy, she jumped off the couch and ran to the back of the smoke filled house, squealing all the way. All three chased the scared animal into the master bedroom, doing circles around the un-kept bed until they cornered her in the closet. Miss Piggy does not like to have her feet touched and wasn’t about to let two strange men anywhere near her! She barreled through the middle of the human blockage, pushing her frantic mother down onto the wood floor. She ran into the kitchen knocking over a table or two along the way sending magazines and ashtrays flying through the air, pooping and screaming as she went. Mrs Brackston was very upset and tried to coax the now shivering pig that was still relieving herself on the floor to come snuggle into her outstretched arms. Miss Piggy wanted nothing to do with her or anyone else and waddled back to the couch, slipping out of Mikes attempted grasp as she quickly shoved past him. The pig now has her 300lb body on the very top of the couch, still relieving herself in fear! Both men lunged at her and was able to grab onto Miss Piggy as her mother yelled out encouraging words through tears trying to calm the pig. Mike held her down as his dad hurriedly trimmed each foot without making them bleed. The frightened pig yelled so loud that they wrapped a fuzzy wool blanket around her head to help muffle the unbearable squealing! After what seemed like an hour, her feet were finally manicured. The exhausted men collapsed on the couch, staying away from the fresh brown and yellow stains. Miss Piggy ran into the spare bedroom where her bed was kept and buried herself under her teddy bear blanket. Mrs Brackston was pleased at the outcome, praising them for a job well done as she causally mopped up after her baby. She promised that next time, she will give Miss Piggy a full bottle of beer to help her sleep through the next trimming. Mike said it didn’t work. When they came back 6 months later, the drunk pig jumped off the couch weaving it’s way into the master bedroom closet relieving herself along the way. His dad refused to go back with him after that and Mike was forced to struggle with Miss Piggy alone as Mrs Brackston cried out her anguished words of encouragement to a panicking pig for the next 3 or 4 years
GOLDEN, RETRIEVER
My mother and father came over to Addie Acres the other day for a visit. Dad usually sits on the far end of the couch watching us ‘strangers’ with a blank smile. He will be 81 this March and has lost 98% of his memories. Our faithful retriever, Cody, is golden in many ways as he is approaching 17 in human years with cloudy eyes and a painstaking gate. As I watched, Cody gently rested his head on dad’s lap. My father, not knowing Cody anymore, looked down at him with confusion, not sure what to do with this dog. Cody stood there on his shaky legs, tail wagging, and waited for my dad to acknowledge him. After about 2 minutes, dad finally put his aged wrinkled hand on top of Cody’s now gray-speckled head. The elderly dog looked up at him through once-brown milky white cataract eyes, trying to pierce through my father’s fog. It seemed as if he was inviting him to remember. My dad sparked momentarily and appeared to connect beyond his mind’s capacity, perhaps from a place deep within his heart. I could see the confusion soften a little as he started to rub the soft fur around his ears like he always had before the disease ate away at his personality. I’m sure it was painful for Cody to stand there on his arthritic legs as fur was both petted and pulled, yet he faithfully stayed his ground with dad. Before long, it became clear that the two of them were communicating with each other. Their eyes were locked, no words or sounds being exchanged. For a moment, both were once young again, pain free, reminiscing about a life lived richly and full of new discoveries. I wondered if the golden retriever’s memories of chasing rabbits and prancing around his humans melded with my father’s own of plowing the field behind a mule, muscular and strong. The old man and the aging canine connected for a moment, for a lifetime. Years of memories for each mixed with indifference and yet arriving at similar ends. Cody, the faithful, sensing the increasing fog slid away from my father and eased his aching bones down next to me. My daddy straightened his back and wiped away a tear before the cold mist of memory lost had fully rolled in, but not before mutual understanding broke through and our golden Cody had retrieved, even for a moment, hope from years gone by.
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Sierra & Dillon!!
The staring goats
Goats Sierra & Dillon #3 & 4
Goats #3 ands 4…Sierra and Dillon!
My daughter LeAnna, my niece Linda and I took Isaac who was 18 months old at the time to the Michigan City petting zoo. It was a beautiful summer day and Isaac was naturally drawn to the goats as was I. Goat fever was still coursing through my veins. I stood there admiring how cute these ‘mini’ goats were, wishing I could have one! The goats at this family friendly zoo are very fat from all the extra treats they get from sticky little hands begging mama and daddy for more quarters to feed the funny, plump goats. We fed the animals until we had invested at least $10.00 to the Zoos grain fund. As I was admiring the goats an attendant walked into their pen and started to clean up after the cutie pies. Bright idea #1 popped over my head just like in the cartoons! I heard myself ask, “so what do you guys do with all the baby goats after their born? I can see you have a few on the way”!. She laughed at me and said, “their not pregnant, just fat”. I turned red and laughed with her as LeAnna and Linda made fun of me. The young woman then asked me, “do you want a goat? We were told this week that our budget was cut and we need to get rid of some animals’. Bright idea #2 is now flashing along with #1!! I thought to myself, ‘heck yeah, a free goat!’ Wait a minute, didn’t we just try this free goat stuff…twice now?? I didn’t care, all I heard was the word FREE. She let me in the large goat area with around 20 ‘think-their-still-starving’ animals, circling us like ravenous wolves. The nice girl told me they come in pairs so I need to pick out TWO. Woo Hoo…two goats for the price of one! I attached myself to Dillon who leaned against me, giving me a hug (which he still does to this day) and Sierra kind of hung with him like they were a loving couple. She wasn’t as cuddly but she had a fun personality and if I wanted Dillon, she came along with him. I almost yelled out the words, ‘YES! I WANT THEM….I WANT THEM ALL‘! But two is all I was allowed to have! LeAnna and Linda shook their heads as Isaac excitedly clapped his hands. That’s my boy! We’ll make a farmer out of him yet! I quickly went home to tell Chad the good news, making sure I used the word ‘FREE‘ over and over! If I was in my right mind, I would have felt sorry for him. He put his head in his hands and deeply sighed knowing that it was a losing battle once I get my ‘FREE ANIMAL’ mindset in full swing. Chad and I drove over to the zoo that weekend so he could meet our new family members. We found our goats, shook hands with the zoo keeper and loaded them both in the back of my Ford Windstar van….yes you read right, a mini van. We didn’t have a trailer. Chad and I drove home in silence, me with a huge smile and Chad with a worried look. Dillon and Sierra didn’t care much for the back end of a cramped vehicle. She baaaa’d over and over and Dillon made his way to the back seat sticking his head between us. So we drove home, fast, with a loud cry in the back end and a goat head almost up the windshield watching the road with us. I’m sure we turned a few heads in cars that day and boy am I glad a cop didn’t pass us! I wonder if they give out tickets for goats not being buckled in?? We introduced the new farm members to the horses that gave them the evil eye look along with a few grunts letting them know that they have been through this goat nonsense twice before, so no funny business! The Llamas took one look at them and ran to the back pasture afraid that butting would once again be the new barn game. Dillon and Sierra quickly took to their new home, exploring every nook and cranny, running around in the large fenced in area just for them. I stayed with my new sweeties petting and hugging as Chad drug himself to the main barn gathering all the used goat toys, buckets and sweet grain. Dillon and Sierra fit in with us and the other animals perfectly. They kept to themselves, never butted and was not interested in escaping as long as they had plenty of food. They did however, develop the habit of staring at the house for hours until we came out to feed them, especially the girl. It would be raining in sideway sheets and Sierra would be out at the gate watching for signs of humans. Thunder and lighting strikes a few feet away? She’s staring! Snow storm? She’s staring! Tornado sirens blasting ‘danger’ with wind gust up to 50 miles an hour? She’s staring! 100 degree weather? She’s staring! Ate 2 minutes ago? She’s staring! We still have them! Sierra stares and Dillon gives us a hug every time we go out to the barn. I believe that with free goats, the old saying, ‘3rd time’s a charm’ is true!
ONLY AT ADDIE ACRES 