Super Farmer VS Mr Possum or 4!

Bunnies & rabbits, cats, Chickens & Rooster, Dunkay the Donkey, Farm Life, Goats, Horses, Uncategorized, , , , ,
yep, Super Farmer and his possums! He sets out traps and catches hens, eggs, various small animals and lots of air! He plotted and schemed! Setting up the sneaky trap under hay bales, behind piles of lumber, on top of the kitty condo, next to a rubber tire (where we found 3 dead bunnies that the possums killed), on top of the straw, behind boxes….you name it he hid the cage there! He caught c…hickens, bunnies, an egg and lots of teasing from his loving wife! He stalked those possums all winter! He tells the tale of when he walked in the barn one night and caught daddy Poss munching away on their favorite meal…’Meow Mix’ on top of the feline gym! ‘Mr P’ looked up at Super Farmer, blinked a couple of times and purposely fell backwards like he had a heart attack and just died. Chad cashed him yelling out the ‘war cry’ all the way to the wood pile but he got away! That’s when the serious battle began…Super Farmer VS the possum family!! The animals won all winter as the humans grew more frustrated and set up wire traps all over the barn, garage and yard! Then he brought out the big guns….CANNED CAT FOOD! Chad drew a map of the barn trying to figure out where a family of dangerous and out witting possums could hide and what their next move would be! He had canned cat food everywhere, we were buying it by the case! Unfortunately, chickens LOVE turkey giblets as much as possums do! Super Farmer would set a cage with greasy delicious food, put it next to the wood pile only to trap a hen or rooster! The possums ate the chicken food, cat kibbles, goat grain, an occasional bunny, hay and lots of farm fresh eggs! They had access to clean water and got to play a good game of hide and seek with the humans! They loved their cozy home and refused to leave….heck, I think they invited granny, gramps and every cousin within a 10 mile radius to share their warm nesting place complete with flowing non
stop cat food! Chad kept up the brave battle and is now winning! So far in the last month, we have caught 3 possums and 1 sort of died. That’s 4 that out lasted us this winter! We will win!
Super Farmer intelligent human! Possum…he dumb animal!

Special K cereal and 4 cats with 1 hen

cats, Chickens & Rooster, Farm Life, Uncategorized, , , , , ,
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!

Dunkay the Donkey, Farm Life, Goats, Horses, llamas, Uncategorized, , , , ,

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!

Chickens & Rooster, Dunkay the Donkey, Farm Life, Goats, Horses, llamas, Uncategorized

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!

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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!!

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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

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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

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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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