Hay Convoy

Andy and Heather followed us over to Garrard County to pick up some rolls of hay. We got a good deal on them if we bought ten rolls. We got six on the first trip then Andy and I went down and got another four. It was the only hay around that was dry since it has been so rainy this year.

Mr. Lear loaded them with his old Ford loader.

The hay convoy ready for the trip back to Clark County.

Mr. Lear had one of these.

This is where we went on Copper Creek.

The garage acting as a hay barn again.

Nelson let us use his loader to move the rolls around.

Speedy didn’t care for all the company.

This one is going on the sheep rack. The other one goes up on the hill for the cattle.

Lisa has the llama stick and Heather was ready too.

  Lisa directed me into position.

It was tricky keeping the rack from sliding around. Nelson makes it look easy.

All ready for the animals to feast on. Nice clean dry hay.

Indifferently Appreciative Lenny

He’s a cat and he’s old. We don’t expect much from Lenny and he is eager to fulfill those expectations. Bill and Kathy were kind enough to send the dear kitty a gift of treats for Christmas. We thought it was very nice. Lenny seems to be warming up to the idea of eating a treat. He sort of noticed one today.

  Savory Salmon seems like just the thing to excite a cat. It even says right there …TREATS Cats Love!

That’s the treat in front of him. He touched it with a whisker and sneezed at it.

He had just sniffed it a second time here and his right eye is slightly opened. This is what makes me think he may actually eat one. Eventually. Maybe not this one.

He jumped on the other shelf (well, “jumped” might be stretching it) so I thought he might not be able to see it from way up there.

As you can see, look close, he turned his head toward it. That’s practically giddy for Lenny. He’s ready to pounce. A coiled spring of cold steel poised to strike.

He snuffled at it and went to bed. I left it on his other shelf in case he wants a midnight snack.

Merry Day After Christmas

We had a nice holiday yesterday. Cathryn and Brian were here for dinner. We had roast mutton, mashed potatoes and green beans. Hazelnut pie for dessert. Andy, Heather and Allen came over for a nice visit in the afternoon. Andy. Allen and I watched the Mythbuster marathon, Lisa and Heather did some animal stuff outside. Cathryn and Brian went out to find geocaches. On Saturday we went over to Andy’s to see Lynne and Jessica. Cathryn went for a pony ride on Bahloo.

It’s okay to love your horse.

Brian and Cathryn went in to see the bunnies.

We were watching them get the horses tacked up. I went over to see the new calves. It was dark in the barn so I didn’t take any new pictures.

It was a nice December day. Sunny and cool. about 40 degrees and light breeze. It was windy at our house, of course.

Allen works in New York, he came for the holidays.

Cathryn mounting her beast.

They tried to get Brian up on Phoenix.

Bahloo isn’t used to being ridden and there have been a lot of falls lately so they just ponied the horses around the field.

Allen rode on Phoenix. They didn’t sell the riding experience successfully to Brian.

Cathryn fell from Bahloo last time she was here, Andy fell off Phoenix and Lisa fell off Heidi three weeks ago and is still hurting. Yeah, I didn’t get on a horse either.

Lynne was keeping the horses out of her rose bushes.

Harvey

Andy and Heather brought Harvey over.

 

  Harvey is a Holstein bull.

Heather and Andy had him over at their place with the other two bull calves they picked up last week. They were hanging on to them while Lisa recovers from her horse fall. Harvey is closer to Morty’s size so he is better off here. Hopefully he will survive.

The llamas were annoyed by the commotion.

Llama Corner

We started feeding for winter. It’s a lot later than last year because of all the rain. There was more grass for longer time and we had an extra five acres. The hay has been out and we’re feeding grain now too.

We set up the sheep corral in the corner. It’s too small now to feed all the sheep in.

We’re hanging the llama feeders from it for now. I need to build something in the horse port but for now this works. They eat slow and are not very food aggressive like the sheep. If you put their food on the ground the sheep steal it. If you don’t guard them Daffy will climb up and knock the pail down and eat the food off the ground. Bad sheep.

The sheep trough is under the horse port. They still have access to the barn and they spend the nights up there.

Paige still thinks she’s a farm dog.

The Climbing Sheep

I had the day off again today. I had a dentist appointment in Lexington so we stopped at Meijer on the way home. They still have the bulk coffee I like, the Walmart stopped carrying it here. Lisa is still not fully functioning after falling off Heidi (she doesn’t bounce, apparently) so I’ve been pitching in with the animals. She usually does all the animal care, I just do the heavy lifting and picture taking. Sometimes I’m called upon to stand around and look pretty.

Morty is looking good. He might be getting released into the cattle pasture soon.

The stall doors are kept closed all day. Lisa puts Morty up and opens the other stall to give the sheep more room at night. It’s funny watching all sixteen of them pile into the little stall. You take your entertainment on the farm where you get it.

It rained some more yesterday and today. It is supposed to turn to snow by tomorrow afternoon. The pond filled up even more.

You can see here where it breached its dam.

The hay we got the other day isn’t the best. Nowhere near the quality we’re used to from Nelson. I’ve been pulling off the bad parts and flaking the good stuff down so they can get to it better.

Shemp must think he’s a climbing sheep.

What Shemp felt like.

Flooded Pond

The pond behind us is getting quite full. We are in the 2nd most rainy year in recorded history. We’ve been lucky beating weather records since we moved up here. Worst ice storm, snowiest winter, most days in a row below freezing…

The dam washed out last year but they came and fixed it.

Either they forgot to put the drain pipe back in or it got clogged.

Lisa got to ride Heidi on Saturday. You’ll have to ask her how that ended.

We Had a Hay Day

I was off yesterday so we went to Bath county and picked up two round bales of hay. Nelson let me borrow the loader to put them on the racks.

Lisa was leading the sheep down the hill to show them where the hay is.

Two bales on the truck.

It wasn’t hard getting them to follow her.

We got the lights on the house.

Happy Thanksgiving

I’ve had thousands of emails and tweets about not posting on the blog, I’m sorry. The weather has been bad with cold rain on almost every day off. I’ll try to do better.

We didn’t have a big crowd this year for Thanksgiving, but it was still a lovely day. Andy, Lynne and Heather came over so we still got to spend time with family.

The turkey was out and Lisa was making mashed potatoes.

Plating the turkey. (Heather took this picture)

I had been out earlier working on a gate and hanging a rack for a salt lick in the bottom pasture. I never did get dressed up for dinner. (photo credit, Heather)

Deviled eggs! Lisa used the recipe for bite sized deviled eggs.

Prep work on mashed potatoes.

Lynne made sticky buns, garlic bread sticks, pretzels and a pumpkin pie. Stuffing and green beans too.

Andy shaved off his scruffy hunters beard.

Lenny kept climbing on me while I was watching the game.

We got the metal on the roof of the bunny port. It should keep them out of the weather.

I didn’t give a clear perspective of where the new run-in shed is, this should make it clearer.

Paris in the afternoon sun.  Heather took some awesome pictures of the dogs.

Paige, by Heather.

Darryl and his hens.  By Heather.

Samantha peeing. Uh, Heather…

Kate’s latest litter having Thanksgiving dinner. All the feeders are in the freezer so we’ll have room when these guys get bigger.