Female handler has this thing about clean windows, especially in the summer. I was sitting at my usual spot on the kitchen rug as she was maneuvering a stool around me to access the window above the sink. She wanted to bring in the new year with clean windows. She had one last window to attend to. I wasn't making it any easier for her... She says that looking out clean windows makes her feel like a million bucks (face it, she is a strange one...or "unique" as one family member might say).
This was her 7th clean window. She must feel like 7 million bucks. Ummm, I could use some more cans of sardines...
Now she can clearly see the geese on the front pond levee...through the kitchen window. She can also see them meander to the freshly cut flax field next door...
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Almonds ready...
Say what?
No, really, some of the almonds are ready for harvest.
Checking the date...we are not at the end of January or well into February, but rather this is December 22, 2016, and some of the almonds are ready to be harvested.
Just say it. Go ahead ...say it....
Surreal.
No, really, some of the almonds are ready for harvest.
Checking the date...we are not at the end of January or well into February, but rather this is December 22, 2016, and some of the almonds are ready to be harvested.
Just say it. Go ahead ...say it....
Surreal.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Summer Solstice
14 hours, 24 minutes and 43 seconds of sun today.
My thought is ...best to stay indoors.
The main reason is because I was out prowling last night...and I'm tired.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Mochi, on the runway
Mochi is our semi-feral Billy goat. He's a big boy. Suffice to say, that's a big tire he's on (the pallet beside the tire is a standard size pallet). He seemed particularly keen on getting his picture taken and shifted into this pose...
Hard to say what he's thinking most of the time. Perhaps he fancies himself a model.
Cracks
The cracks in the orchard are wide, and really, who knows how deep.
Help me, something has my hand!!
Help me, something has my hand!!
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Princess Bed
Nostra has a new bed next to the wood pile.
This is her attempt to not look so sheepish about it.
This is her attempt to not look so sheepish about it.
Messing with my 'Goodness'...
I've been struggling to get over an upper respiratory infection for a couple of months. It has taken a toll on my vocal abilities. My meows are not so loud. Most of the time I just open my mouth in an attempt, but no meow comes out. But the Handlers know. Sometimes they like to pull my paw and say..."what's that Ricky?" We do this back and forth a lot.
I've got them trained though... I can sound pretty pathetic when I want to. I am basically in perma-park on the kitchen rug when there is any activity in the kitchen. A year ago, this would have been out of the question and I would have been tossed out of the kitchen. This rug is conveniently at the foot of the sink in what the Handlers call a very small kitchen. I think the kitchen is plenty big enough; I really don't need a bigger rug.
They have gotten used to not being able to use that rug much because I monopolize it. They have also gotten used to stepping over me. Sometimes I watch them from a distance straddling the rug when I'm not even close to it!
My patheticness has given me an added indulgence of a daily dose of "Goodness", along with my regular food. This could be chicken, or my new favorite, sardines. "Goodness" doesn't get any better than that!
Unless....the Handlers sneak in garlic and ginger per Jim Duke's recommendations. I'm pretty sure that when Dr. Duke wrote The Green Pharmacy, he wrote it with humans in mind, not cats. But that hasn't stopped the Handlers; they slip thiscrap stuff in each and every time! I no longer put in the effort to separate that out. I know the Handlers mean well. Maybe one day they'll stop. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the royal kitchen treatment.
I've got them trained though... I can sound pretty pathetic when I want to. I am basically in perma-park on the kitchen rug when there is any activity in the kitchen. A year ago, this would have been out of the question and I would have been tossed out of the kitchen. This rug is conveniently at the foot of the sink in what the Handlers call a very small kitchen. I think the kitchen is plenty big enough; I really don't need a bigger rug.
They have gotten used to not being able to use that rug much because I monopolize it. They have also gotten used to stepping over me. Sometimes I watch them from a distance straddling the rug when I'm not even close to it!
My patheticness has given me an added indulgence of a daily dose of "Goodness", along with my regular food. This could be chicken, or my new favorite, sardines. "Goodness" doesn't get any better than that!
Unless....the Handlers sneak in garlic and ginger per Jim Duke's recommendations. I'm pretty sure that when Dr. Duke wrote The Green Pharmacy, he wrote it with humans in mind, not cats. But that hasn't stopped the Handlers; they slip this
Really??!!
We are in a bit of a drought. Surprisingly the goats like going through "the dust bowl" which was once the front pond to nibble on whatever green growth might be trying to emerge from the clay soil. But just 'meandering through' and getting 'staked in' the area are different things.
The back pond still has a fair bit of water in it, although that too has dropped in level. The native ducks enjoy it. The geese are challenged to get there. It's nearly a 1/2 a kilometer away through the almond orchard, with no water in between. And it has been hot. On those days, the geese don't venture too far from the house which has water buckets strategically placed around it. And plenty of shade.
They particularly like to make themselves at home on the south-facing front porch.
The back pond still has a fair bit of water in it, although that too has dropped in level. The native ducks enjoy it. The geese are challenged to get there. It's nearly a 1/2 a kilometer away through the almond orchard, with no water in between. And it has been hot. On those days, the geese don't venture too far from the house which has water buckets strategically placed around it. And plenty of shade.
They particularly like to make themselves at home on the south-facing front porch.
Really? You must be here? It's a bit of a landmine the moment you step out the front door....
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Come on, play with me!
 |
| Kid goats in deep slumber until .... |
 |
| "Are you awake?" |
 |
| "Want to play?" |
 |
| "Come on, let's play!" |
Sunday, October 23, 2016
The babies didn't make it
Through no fault of her own, Nostra's baby goslings didn't make it. She is dealing with the loss in her own way.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Ever Vigilant
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Weekend drama...
Two female goslings were abandoned by the same Momma shortly after hatching. Nostra has decided that the goat kids no longer need her undivided attention, and has moved on to watching the goslings. She takes her job very seriously!
Monday, October 10, 2016
Mondays are the best! #3
I only say that Mondays are the best because weekends are full of drama. Drama, drama, drama. I'm done with weekends! Monday is the day that the pace slows down. A slower pace is just fine by me.
Three geese gone between Friday night and early Sunday morning from apparent fox attacks. Two of these nests were right up against the house too.
Yesterday it was time to move all the nests into the chicken corral. Not an easy task...when geese are sitting on them. Geese are not very willing to give up their spots, or have their eggs moved, no matter how much you hype up the new location with amenities (corn and water).
Female Handler is known among the geese as the Queen of Corn. She handled the treats, dropping them along the path to the corral, and Male Handler moved eggs and nests. Much to his surprise, one nest was chirping!
One goose rejected the new spot and did not return to her eggs. The other goose couldn't find her nest, or couldn't believe that her nest moved. She spent the evening poking the wire trying to figure out where an opening might be.
The third "chirping" nest was discovered by its Mamma goose who promptly sat on the new gosling. The Handlers were worried about the overcrowding in the corral, but knew the chances of survival were far greater than out in the open right now.
Three geese gone between Friday night and early Sunday morning from apparent fox attacks. Two of these nests were right up against the house too.
Yesterday it was time to move all the nests into the chicken corral. Not an easy task...when geese are sitting on them. Geese are not very willing to give up their spots, or have their eggs moved, no matter how much you hype up the new location with amenities (corn and water).
Female Handler is known among the geese as the Queen of Corn. She handled the treats, dropping them along the path to the corral, and Male Handler moved eggs and nests. Much to his surprise, one nest was chirping!
One goose rejected the new spot and did not return to her eggs. The other goose couldn't find her nest, or couldn't believe that her nest moved. She spent the evening poking the wire trying to figure out where an opening might be.
The third "chirping" nest was discovered by its Mamma goose who promptly sat on the new gosling. The Handlers were worried about the overcrowding in the corral, but knew the chances of survival were far greater than out in the open right now.
Mondays are the best! #2
What is it about weekends?!?
The egg
laying hen, the only egg laying hen at the moment, wasn't
feeling well last weekend. Female Handler opened up the corral in the early
morning to let the chickens out. Muñeca seemed to be nesting, so Female Handler
left her alone to finish up on other chores. A check in the chicken coop an hour later revealed
no egg, and no sign of Muñeca. She was found fairly motionless near a bush. Muñeca
is rarely motionless so this raised an alarm. Female Handler got down to her
level and had a peek at her vent. Seems she was straining to expel something,
and straining a bit too hard.
Some thought had to go into figuring out the Google search
parameters, and after some quick reading, Female Handler decided Muñeca might
have an egg stuck. Egg binding can kill chickens within 48 hours if left
unattended.
What she needed was a bit of spa treatment! And if egg binding turned
out NOT to be the issue, the spa treatment certainly wouldn’t hurt her.
So what constitutes a chicken spa? Start with a warm bath (to
clean the vent), and a little bit of oil lubrication at the vent. Canola oil
was selected because it was handy. Then Muñeca was put in a cat carrier (that
was out and ready for the new arrival of goat kids) with a warm water bottle
under a layer of straw. A towel draped over the carrier such that it was dark
inside, and there Muñeca rested until early the next morning.
The next morning Muñeca was alert, and happy to leave the confines
of a dark cat carrier. And there in the straw was the residue of an egg.
Whew!
It took her a day, but she's back to laying (on Monday!).
Mondays are the best! #1
Weekends always tend to bring out the unpredictable.
I have a friend. He's a black cat with a touch of white on him. He and I would hang in the driveway and hunt mice and tuco tucos together. We tend not to talk much, just enjoying the silent comradery of going after the kill.
My friend decided to enter into the inner garden and go after an hornero's mud nest near the chimney cap. This is a thick cement chimney cap that does wonders for keeping out the rain. It does not do much for keeping out cats, or allowing easy access to rescue cats.
My friend fell down the chimney. Quite a fall, I must say. Contrary to what Santa does, he did not come out into the living room. He remained on a shelf, within the chimney, unable to go back up, and certainly unable to slip through a small air vent that extends the width of the chimney. Unless, of course, he lost a LOT of weight, and even then pretty impossible.
So...the Handlers did what any person would do, faced with this predicament. They gave the cat something to eat by sliding a styrofoam tray through the narrow opening (water too), and then they searched on Google: "What to do if a cat falls down the chimney."
Search showed in April of this year, a fire department in the UK busted a hole in the chimney to remove a cat.
Ok...this is the UK, and they just voted themselves out of BREXIT so should we be surprised that this was the option they selected to remove a cat from a chimney?
Strangely enough, this was the option that mini Female Handler selected as well. This was NOT one of the options the Handlers selected. The first option was ....lower a 10-Liter wine basket down the chimney and have the cat climb in for the elevator up.
On second thought, that's a totally ridiculous idea. It was REJECTED! The rejection was accompanied by much hissing and swatting of the basket.
I decided it was nap time.
The Handlers have been meaning to trim back this juniper near the front porch. (Has anyone read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?)
Long story short, my friend managed to use the juniper branches as a ladder to escape.
I have a friend. He's a black cat with a touch of white on him. He and I would hang in the driveway and hunt mice and tuco tucos together. We tend not to talk much, just enjoying the silent comradery of going after the kill.
My friend decided to enter into the inner garden and go after an hornero's mud nest near the chimney cap. This is a thick cement chimney cap that does wonders for keeping out the rain. It does not do much for keeping out cats, or allowing easy access to rescue cats.
So...the Handlers did what any person would do, faced with this predicament. They gave the cat something to eat by sliding a styrofoam tray through the narrow opening (water too), and then they searched on Google: "What to do if a cat falls down the chimney."
Search showed in April of this year, a fire department in the UK busted a hole in the chimney to remove a cat.
Ok...this is the UK, and they just voted themselves out of BREXIT so should we be surprised that this was the option they selected to remove a cat from a chimney?
Strangely enough, this was the option that mini Female Handler selected as well. This was NOT one of the options the Handlers selected. The first option was ....lower a 10-Liter wine basket down the chimney and have the cat climb in for the elevator up.
On second thought, that's a totally ridiculous idea. It was REJECTED! The rejection was accompanied by much hissing and swatting of the basket.
I decided it was nap time.
The Handlers have been meaning to trim back this juniper near the front porch. (Has anyone read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?)
 |
| (Makes you wonder what exactly is that patch job on the chimney where it widens...) |
Long story short, my friend managed to use the juniper branches as a ladder to escape.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Friday, October 7, 2016
Babies!
And the second...took his sweet time thinking about whether he really wanted to come out just yet.
but finally he graced us with his presence....Mr. White Dude.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Soon....
Monday, September 26, 2016
Splish Splash...
I was taking a bath
Long about a Saturday night...yeah!
Rub-a-dub
Just relaxin' in the tub
Thinkin' everything was all right.
NEEEXT?
27 to go.
Note to self: add water.
Long about a Saturday night...yeah!
Rub-a-dub
Just relaxin' in the tub
Thinkin' everything was all right.
NEEEXT?
27 to go.
Note to self: add water.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Happy Vernal Equinox!
Yeah, that kind of rolls off the tongue....not!
So, Happy Spring!
With this particular change of season where we come out of the deep freeze and start shedding layers, fur, and examine our claws for the first time since April...and think about clipping them... we seem to have a shortage of common sense. It's like the season for, not your normal everyday stupidity, but an exponential rise in stupidity.
Case in point...the geese. The new goslings are usually flanked by 5 adults, two mamas and three ganders. They choose to go out in the open field beside the farm for reasons unknown. Alfalfa is sprouting. Geese aren't supposed to like alfalfa, but they are there anyway. Very white (and gray) against a short carpet of green. Very noticeable to passersby....those especially who might actually own that newly sprouted carpet of alfalfa.
Whoopsie.
But that's not the point. The point is that these geese are very out in the open, and easy pickings for the falcon that often perch on the fence posts along the property line (obviously the "stupidity" season has not affected them. They know the importance of "location, location, location."). And the goslings are still tiny, still trying to get a handle on how to maneuver their webbed feet on land.
You already know where this is going, don't you?
It's not that we can exclaim...GOSLING DOWN! It's more like GOSLING GONE! So far, just one has been picked off from the nine, and it was a male which I can't help but notice the relief on the handlers faces when they came to that realization. What is it about my gender....we are just not appreciated!
We have more geese laying, brooding, or still deciding where to nest...as they roam a large area. All this is to say that more goslings will be hatching over the next two months. But what really pleases the handlers is that the grass has not required cutting with their push reel lawn mower since early April when the geese arrived. Every night, when the geese come in closer to the house for protection against fox and owls, they are busy working...cutting one blade at a time.
So, Happy Spring!
With this particular change of season where we come out of the deep freeze and start shedding layers, fur, and examine our claws for the first time since April...and think about clipping them... we seem to have a shortage of common sense. It's like the season for, not your normal everyday stupidity, but an exponential rise in stupidity.
Case in point...the geese. The new goslings are usually flanked by 5 adults, two mamas and three ganders. They choose to go out in the open field beside the farm for reasons unknown. Alfalfa is sprouting. Geese aren't supposed to like alfalfa, but they are there anyway. Very white (and gray) against a short carpet of green. Very noticeable to passersby....those especially who might actually own that newly sprouted carpet of alfalfa.
Whoopsie.
But that's not the point. The point is that these geese are very out in the open, and easy pickings for the falcon that often perch on the fence posts along the property line (obviously the "stupidity" season has not affected them. They know the importance of "location, location, location."). And the goslings are still tiny, still trying to get a handle on how to maneuver their webbed feet on land.
You already know where this is going, don't you?
It's not that we can exclaim...GOSLING DOWN! It's more like GOSLING GONE! So far, just one has been picked off from the nine, and it was a male which I can't help but notice the relief on the handlers faces when they came to that realization. What is it about my gender....we are just not appreciated!
We have more geese laying, brooding, or still deciding where to nest...as they roam a large area. All this is to say that more goslings will be hatching over the next two months. But what really pleases the handlers is that the grass has not required cutting with their push reel lawn mower since early April when the geese arrived. Every night, when the geese come in closer to the house for protection against fox and owls, they are busy working...cutting one blade at a time.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Excessive
ex . ces . sive
adjective
more than is
necessary, normal, or desirable; immoderate.
Or maybe we should say...egg-cessive.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Just a little quiet time...
Muñeca is enjoying just a
little quiet time in the dust bath. Just a little alone time….She is no doubt still contemplating how to get rid of those rugrats in her coop…. The cheeky
invaders! But she is content for the moment. She has consumed some 30 worms, numerous grubs,
and three mice. She may look harmless, but she is a MONSTER!
I ate the other two mice.
Female handler did some cleanup in the coop and found a mouse nest.
"Hello, this dust bath is occupied. You may leave."
"Alright, I'll leave!"
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Front Porch Tiles
I'm fairly certain it will become all the rage...
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