Farm "Pets"

Sometimes I just need to give you all an update of the animal kingdom that resides on our 1.3 acres, right? Well, at least I need to document it for myself so I can remember how crazy I was when I lived here... :)

So, above is our great little kitten Legotron, or just Lego for short. She's about 4 months old and she has doubled in size since we got her in July! AND she caught her first mouse and brought it to our doorstep yesterday, so Jonah finally acknowledges her. That was their little deal. He'd like her when she did her job. Mission accomplished. I think she's caught the fever and has been hunting nonstop since yesterday's success.

She's an outdoor only cat, too.. which is great. I've never had a kitten, and I think the outdoor only thing has made is extra-enjoyable. She is still extra playful and cuddly, too. My worst fear is that an eagle will come carry her away.

This is Goldie the goldfish, who lived a delightful 11 days before passing on a few hours after I took this photo. Aren't you always a little relieved when the goldfish finally passes on to fish heaven?

This is Luau. She was too lazy that day to get up for a photo. She is HUGE!! She's also very destructive if left out to roam the property as she has been the last two days while Jonah does tractor work in her former pen. We are REALLY hoping she's pregnant and not just getting EXTRA fat.

These are the three 8-month-old sheep that will soon be leaving the farm. The girl, B.O. (for Big One, or Body Odor) will be going back to her sheep ranch (she was just on loan... we wanted three sheep to make a herd, but only wanted to pay for two) and the boys, Dandy and Tiny, will be joining Hogzilla in the Kenmore freezer. They are very big and naughty now (see bucket story in previous blog post), so we will be happy to see them go.

Mr. Mouth, the rooster we got in Boise in July. His hairdo is filling out quite nicely, don't you think. He also LOVES having his photo taken.

Our two bantam cochin hens, Diaria and Squirt, successfully hatched three eggs last week... offspring of the hens and Mr. Mouth. I quickly called up a hatchery in Fresno and had them send me 26 day-old chicks to try and get the hens to adopt... which they did!! They took five more chicks into their brood and have been mothering eight chicks between the two of them. Nothing is cuter than hens and their chicks. They are very good little mamas.

The other 21 chicks have been put in my industrial chick brooder, which makes the whole ordeal about 350% easier than trying to raise them in homemade enclosures.

The chicks are white-crested black polish chickens like Ponyo and Mr. Mouth.

Total chicken count: 33!

I ordered the chicks while Jonah was out of town, so I thought I should do something else crazy, like trading $5 (donated by Ana and Cam) and some pig food for two baby bunnies (gotta love Craigslist!)! They are also incredibly cute and a big hit with all the kids that come over. They are each about as big as my palm and they are very calm and fun to play with. Again, the cuteness is killing me.

Meeting the new farm additions.

There's Ponyo back there... she HATES having her photo taken as much as a chicken can hate something.

So far the cat has been good about not eating the bunnies, but I'm feeling like we may eventually have a Farmer in the Dell song going on here that goes like, "The cat took a bunny, the sheep took the cat, the pig took the sheep, the farmer took the pig... hi ho the derry-o, the farmer took the pig." (and by "took", I mean ate.) It's a situation I'm trying to avoid, trust me. We are all just going to be a happy farm family of black and white animals, plus a pink pig.