When it rain, it pours...

Both literally & figuratively...

It poured buckets all weekend. It was 43 degrees. The freshly sheared alpacas were cold even in the barn. I froze my a** off all weekend. It started on Saturday when we had to process 80 chickens, we had a canopy, but we were wet & cold. The process took over 3 hrs. Then of course we had the puppies that had to go out all day & night. Sunday, I had to walk out & check the sheep, again I got wet & cold.... At times like these Mark will look at me and say " We're livin the dream, babe" This is why we have been together for 20 years....

Since my last blog we had to put our horse Dora down, she was 29 years old. This happened 3 days after we put our sheep Phoebe down.Then the pup Shirley got sick & we had to take her to the vet. Doesn't the saying go bad things happen in threes?

Monday was sunny & warm, singling a good week ahead.

 My brother and sister-in law found us a chinchilla. We haven't named her yet. 

 Figuring out how to put the cage together was a challenge.

 K3 lovin the dogs!

Everyone was happy on Monday to have sun & be outside! 

Getting a drink all together after playing & running!

Oh, my crazy life!

Every day is insanity around here. We have have TWO HUNDRED animals, 3 teenagers, 2 businesses  and remodeling the barn....Here's what's been happenin"

Meat birds are growing like crazy, this was last week. They seem to enjoy the fresh air & being outside, but don't forge like the layers.

 Here is problem sheep Anna. She is our only one with horns & she kept getting her horns stuck in the fence & we would hear her blatin' and have to go help her out, SEVERAL times a day!

 Finally, we moved them over to the new barn with lots of green grass. YAH!

Here are the baby turkeys- they are doing great!

My favorite signs of spring. Asparagus from my garden & lilacs from my bushes. Lilacs remind me of my Mom. We used to pick them & have them in every room in the house! She loved them.

Here is one of the guinea pigs- Checkers, they were moved over to the new barn last weekend.

Carter is reluctantly accepting the puppies!

Betta & Shirley are so cute & sweet I can't stop taking pictures of them. Poor Shirley wasn't feeling good last night. The good news is she whines instead of pooping in her crate, the bad news is I took her out at 11, 12, 2:30, 3:30, 6. It was like having an infant! I do have to say I am so proud of K3, she wanted these pups & she takes care of them all day when she is home. I take the night so she can sleep, but she has been so responsible. She loves them!

Daisy & Gigi are also at the barn. They are out to pasture with the ponies. Here they are in the barn waiting for their hair cut!

Gigi the rock star!

Daisy Duke!

Mark is a happy farmer this weekend. He doubled his herd! We have a bred Angus & her yearling.

They are happy with all the green grass!

Nancy & Abby!

Last weekend I drove to Burlington to get the puppies with K3, than I met Mark in New Haven & we switched cars & kids. I turned around & went back to Burlington with K 1 & 2. They both qualified in the drive for excellence contest...but didn't win the new car :(

K3 & her boyfriend had their senior ball last night. Boy, I sure do have pretty girls!

PUPPIES....Adopt us!

K3 my devoted dog lover, faithfully watches Potters Angel Rescue (PAR) website & facebook page. She saw that they had posted over 70 dogs that were on a kill list in SC. They had 48 hrs to save them. K3 was so upset she couldn't eat dinner. We had planned on fostering puppies in June when I was done work & the petting barn was open. But, of course this was an emergency, so I told K3 to find the youngest puppies & we would foster 4. She argued 6, but I was firm (for once!). We picked four, put in the call, and filled out the foster forms.

We were told the dogs would arrive between 2 am and 6 pm on Saturday.Friday night around 9 I found out they would be here at 5:30 am, which means we would leave at 4:30 am. Off to bed we went...but at 10:30 we received word they were 2 hrs later.Phew!

We picked up our 2 puppies, because the other 2 were taken. Two minutes into the ride home, one pooped. I am a farm girl, but dog poop makes me gag! So here I am with all the windows down (freezing) and I am gagging, and K3 is laughing. We pull over & clean up the mess and head home. It's been Crazy Fun ever since.

Meet our girls, Shirley & Betta. They are up for adoption, so let me or PAR know if you are interested.

 Shirley: She is a sweet girl that LOVES her toys. She follows us everywhere, she is a people girl. Super social girl. She has very soft fur and expressive eyes.She gets this devilish look when she runs off with a stray sock.She will be a very loyal dog.

Betta:  She is a love bug! She loves to find a cozy place to curl up & sleep. She LOVES her dog bed & tries to sneak unto the couch. She has the cutest ears that perk up when she is interested in something. Betta is a very mellow pup. She'd make a great addition to any family.

We are having a blast getting to know these pups with their very different personalities. Everyone that meets them has a different favorite. 

We are anxiously waiting for our new family!

RIP Pheobe

Phoebe was our first sheep. K3 wanted natural colored Romneys. I couldn't find any so we went all the way to Maine (4hr drive each way) and picked up Phoebe & Raquel, fall of 09. They were suppose to be bred but we were  greatly disappointed not to have any lambs that spring. Phoebe was  the sweet mellow one. She had this very deep unmistakable Bah!

She ended up lambing in 2011 & gave K3 a ram & ewe , she named Destiny whom K3 showed.
In 2012 she had a Ewe named Harley.
This year she had two rams.

 All her babies look just like her. They have very wooly faces & we end up having to trim around their eyes because they can't see! Phoebe was a very friendly girl who would come right up to you in the pasture. One funny thing about her was when she had lambs she was afraid of little kids. She would stamp her feet at them & not want them near her babies, but she had no problem with us holding her lambs.

Sadly, last night we had to put our Phoebe girl down...we will miss her.....

Leaps & Bounds

We are GROWING in LEAPS & BOUNDS! Which is why weekly blogs are all I can manage.

This is what my weekend looked like: First thing Sat am, after chores of course, we went to Foxcroft Farm & bought six piglets. I love supporting local farms (and businesses)! We actually traded a ram last fall toward spring piglets. I was happy to see he did his job, and they had lots of little lambs running in the pasture.The piglets had a rough day adjusting to the electric fence, but now they have it figured out. This beautiful sunny weather has been hard on them, poor babies are sunburned. For some reason they are not going in their hut to get out of the sun. Yesterday, I ran the hose & made mud for them to play in. Mark came home & caught me in the pasture with the pigs. I told him I was playing in the mud with them, but actually I was just squatted down taking pictures & enjoying watching them...they are really cute.

Then it was time to take K2 to get her hair done for prom, Then prom pictures. She looked BEAUTIFUL! A little girl saw her walking on the street on her way to prom and said, "Look Daddy...a Princess". She went with her boyfriend, and they look so happy together.

Then we went to my Nieces graduation party. She graduated from nursing school. Way to go LAURA!

We got up with the sun on Sunday, did chores & hit the road to buy our mini horses. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip each way. But they were worth it, they are so friendly & super cute. They are full sisters, Nancy & Abby. I only have one pic right now & just looking at the face I am not sure which one it is.

We got home, set up our new coral (which we also bought from the lady selling the horses), went & got the last of our hay (YIKES!), then Mark went & worked excavating the drive way at the barn. The last thing we did before bed was take out Miley's stitches. Thanks for the assistance Dj!

P.S. We have 20 turkey pullets, coming tomorrow!