Jacob's Friends

Claire's First Lambing

2010-04-16T18:08:00.008-05:00

She had twins. First came a small Moorit colored, just like daddy and then a larger black one with white on its face and black rings around its eyes.
Absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! Everyone was awed and amazed.

New Friends!

2009-05-03T07:40:00.007-05:00

Well...

What can I say...

The truth of the matter is we are incubating 6 duck eggs and 4 goose eggs ~ thanks to generous friends (along with numerous chicken, turkey, and guinea eggs from our own existing birds) right now anyway...

So, why not? Right?

This is what happened:

We went to my Dr. apt. on Friday and when we got out we went straight to a farmers market over in the Orschland parking lot in Marshfield. It was a very wet day, as all the days over this past week plus have been, and the older two children and I went over to Orschlands leaving Bob tending to our table at the market. Being pregnant I had to piddle, of course. Great excuse for heading to the store!

Everyone knows that it is "chick days" there. Who can keep away from their cute peeping anyway? I went right for the big bins hoping they would have goslings or turkeys at a reasonable price.... but no, they only had goslings and they were about $12 each. So, I would wait for the eggs we have here to hatch and then maybe ask the lady that gave us them for some more if that worked out well and I wasn't too bored with turning eggs and watching temperatures. The type of goose she has is a cross, as I understand, between a large white goose and a Japanese goose which is large, white, with a long neck and a little flap under the chin. She said they will be a long necked large white goose. They sound just lovely!

Incubator tally: The chicken eggs are halfway there as they only take 21 days. The duck and goose eggs were put in a little later and have about 21 days left out of 28. The majority of the turkey eggs are 14 days from hatch at this point. I look forward to all of the eggs hatching, but especially the poults (baby turkeys) since one of my wee female Royal Palms got eaten this past Wednesday (I cried off and on for hours ~ she was my favorite).

Anyway... Miranda found the little ducklings first and fell head over heals for this little black cutie. It was so quiet and sweet up in her arms. So, I took a look. Now, I have to say.... I only had $5 on me so, I wasn't really in the market to make a purchase, had really attempted to keep my hands off, but there we were now both holding peeping little ducklings and then Robert came over from sitting on the 4-wheelers, which were conveniently parked next to the chicks, and he started to hold one of them. Well, you can't just get one of anything and so there we were... box with bedding in hand and Miranda and I each holding a black one and a brown one. The guy in charge of the wee ones came over to help another customer and then I asked him what varieties he thought that each might be (I had been frantically looking over a "duck" book just before his arrival and could not figure it out for lack of pictures). Well, he says: " The little brown ones are most likely Khaki Campbell and the little black ones are just beautiful when grown with an iridescent green feathering, but I'm not sure which breed they are." After pulling the duck book back out we discovered that the KC would weigh 3-4 pounds and could lay 300-350 eggs per year. Nearly one a day! And being a brown bird I knew that Bob would quickly fall for them for that reason as well as their egg laying ability.

Then the search was on for the black beauties. There are two possibilities: The East Indies and the Cayuga. I believe it is the later because that is what is available at Cackle Hatchery (the other is super rare) and while I don't know for certain where these wee ones came from it only makes sense they came from there since the hatchery is only 30 mins +/- away from the store. When we got home I looked things up on the internet and I'm 99.9% sure that is what we have. They are also descent egg layers that lay about 100-150 blue/green colored eggs and weigh in at around 7.5 pounds and are considered a quiet duck. hmmmm.... we'll see.

Both breeds forage quite well and will not require a whole lot in the way of feed once they are a bit older. Ducks in general are quite fast growing, so, the 10 gallon aquarium we have them in for now will not last long ... maybe this next week and we will have to switch them over to the old guinea brooder which is being cleaned by the rain as I am typing. Heehee.

Ducks are supposed to reign supreme when it comes to eating bugs, slugs, and vegetation. So, we will have to keep them out of the garden, but they should help keep the population of bugs down. They will also be a lot easier to put up at night than the Guinea are. We can't really put them up... they just roost high in the barn and we hope for the best. We lost one of them a couple of weeks ago to what we think is a racoon, that has taken 5 of our feathered friends in the past 2.5 weeks. sad. However, the ducks will have a moving house and run area and then be let out when the weather is nice and have fun with the kiddos. I'm sure there will be pictures of Miranda "swimming" with her ducklings in the turtle pool and eventually in the big tub we have set up for the kids to cool down in. (eye roll) That is if it ever stops raining!

In then end we settled for two black and two brown. I have a feeling we will be in the market for more of the KC. I can't believe the nutritional value of the duck egg! Hope Jacob enjoys them as they will be his new fare once we start seeing them later this year ~ that is if we don't have all drakes!

Here is the link comparing the chicken to the duck egg nutritionally: http://www.duckeggs.com/duck-egg-nutrition-compare.html . Nearly everything is UP from the chicken egg and especially the specific Amino Acids that his Dr. said would help him out.

On that note... take a look at this!

Yes, that is Jacob pulling himself up at the side of Miranda's bed! Guess he had to move to a taller object than other "toddlers" might use since he is so tall himself now. It was so exciting watching him. He was really intrigued by Miranda's multitude of dolls and critters she has up there he wouldn't stop until he got the exact one he was looking for. There is NO stopping him! He was giggling and having so much fun!

Mr. Wiggles

2009-04-29T13:29:00.004-05:00

Mr. Wiggles is such a ham for the camera. Look at that great pose

A guinea has started getting his attention.

Stop drop and roll. I tried to take his pic for several minutes before giving up and doing it from a window. He just rolls about and gets all tangled up in his tie out if I try to take his pic - I just wanted to show how pretty his coat looks on his back. The long haired dappled chocolate is the most sought after variety of Doxie (according to a variety of breeders on the internet).

In Awe

2008-12-04T21:34:00.004-06:00

Well, the fifth baby hatched at about 4am this morning. Here is it's newborn picture at about 7am:

Then, here are some amazing pics of the babies at almost 10pm tonight. Look at how much they have grown. The first one hatched a week ago. And his little fuzzy feathers are starting to get dark and I would say he is 3-4 times larger than the one that hatched today.
This is just amazing!

Here is a little movie of them in the nesting box tonight at about 10pm. It is a bit dark, but I didn't want to disturb them with too much light. And at least you get to hear them. Things are still mainly quiet, but I'm sure if they 'talk' like their parents... it won't be long before it is way noisy here.

Jacob

2008-12-02T14:33:00.005-06:00

Jacob is getting into his trucks now. Moving them back and forth and all over the room.

On Thanksgiving Jacob was up and down, up and down. At least it was Aunt Cyndi on the receiving end and not me this time. (sorry Cyndi ~ I know how exhausting that is.)

Jacob is watching every move. He is our 'yogi' and had to make sure they were doing it right. (We had brought the TV in to watch "The Sound of Music" and during its brief stay PBS was turned on. It was 'pledge' weekend and a Yoga program was on. Miranda says she loves yoga!) Jacob accidentally turned off the TV with his knee a couple of times and started yelling quite loudly about the interuption in his program. We always felt he was a Yoga Master. Now, we know.

Afterward, he fell asleep on daddy. Just so much work!

Love Bird Hatching Update

2008-12-02T13:11:00.006-06:00

And then their were two... (November 29, 2008)

And then three... (December 1, 2008)

And then four... (December 2, 2008)

They are hatching in the same progression as the laying, with a day ~ more or less, between. I guess that gives mom and dad some time to get geared up and used to feeding/caring for a nest full of babies. They are growing at a tremendous rate. The first one is almost triple the size of this last one!

I tried catching mom or dad feeding one of the wee ones, but that didn't work out, yet. I did see them in action though. At this stage the little ones can't do much but roll around and they are rolled onto their back and then mom or dad regurgitates food into their beak. When done feeding they roll back over and then cuddle up with their siblings. They have such sweet little voices.

First New Babies

2008-11-28T04:48:00.006-06:00

Our first new babies have arrived at the farm!

Yes, winter is just beginning, however, these wee ones are inside!

Our Love Birds, Peaches (daddy) and Posey (mama) have laid 5 eggs and the first of the five hatched yesterday with what appeared to be a naked chick (never did see much of anything of an egg shell left... bet they got rid of it in the bottom of the cage or ate it). Within a few hours it was dry and fluffy. It lays on its belly and hasn't said a thing yet. But what a gift of 'Thanksgiving' on Thanksgiving Day!

This is Mommy and Daddy. Peaches is toward the front. Posey is closer to her nesting box.

Peaches and Posey arrived to the farm as a gift from friends who decided after getting them they did not want 'parrots'. We could not have been more thrilled. They are quite quiet birds and have a tendency to keep to their nesting box... coming out only to poop, eat, drink, talk (very little) and do what Love Birds do best (throat clear - whisper) we have given them a curtain for privacy now. (now that I have written this they will become quite noisy! ~ right!)

Anyway, within a week of their early November arrival they started laying eggs. At the end of two weeks they had successfully laid 5 eggs. They are so very tiny. About the size of a penny! A couple of days before she had laid the first egg. This picture is from November 7th.

They are both very bashful as far as sneaking a peak at them in their nesting box is concerned. Whenever we open the lid they vacate! This is a picture of Posey's tail. Isn't her color just beautiful and vibrant?! Peaches is the same color that I just painted our Kitchen walls... Ivy Green (of course!). He has such a lovely lighter peach face. On November 9th the third egg arrived and then on the tenth the fourth egg! They sometimes skipped a day. A typical clutch for a Love Bird is 4 to 6 eggs.

Posey is a very diligent Mum. Normally she would vacate as soon as the door was opened, but here I was able to get a picture of her on her precious 4 eggs. Just before we got them our friend had removed and disposed of 6 eggs and replaced them with marbles. I'm sure they had to guess that something was amiss. So, I think she is even more diligent this time around.Here she leaves so we can get a peek at the fifth wee miracle that was laid on the 12th. Then we waited to see if she would lay a 6th... but no. Five is a nice number. And if all survive the first three to four weeks with mom and dad we are going to remove them and start hand raising them. It is going to be interesting, but oh so rewarding! Love Birds which have been hand raised can be very nice companions, sit on your finger, talk with you, take a ride in a car, etc. This pair came with a little 'traveling' cage for just such events and we have read about people taking them on vacations with them as well.

And now they have started to hatch. We peeked in to show the relatives the eggs yesterday and there he/she was... still wet from hatching. A bit before we had heard some chirping. Now, I know why. This was a hard picture to get and the focus is not so good. However, the dark spot you see is an eye. And you can see little shell fragments around. It has little yellow fuzz all over. This wee one was laid on November 5th and hatched on November 27th. (22 days! Wish it was like that with us! Right ladies?!)

Cowboy Jacob

2008-09-16T14:09:00.006-05:00

After having the ponies here for a week and a half we decided that they have had enough time and we had had enough time to get acclimated to one another.

Cowboy Jacob

Jacob went for a ride! He is gaining confidence a little at a time. Bob holds Jacob and when Jacob is ready he starts leaning for Sunshine. In a few seconds he is reaching out for Bob to take him off. He does this over and over again as he stays on for longer intervals. He can sit independently after a while as Bob 'spots' him. Sunshine is grazing at this point and not really moving much. When he does move ~ Jacob asks for more assistance with nonverbal cues to us.

When Jacob is all done or Bob is all done (gets pretty tiring putting that big boy on and off his pony) Bob takes him back into the house. With his first ride on Sunday he was so excited afterward that he did his kneeling walk all over the house! Then he started tall kneeling at the front window and watching the sky, grass, and flowers blowing in the breeze. After his second rides on Sunday he did a lot of tall kneeling and was near a toy that is pretty wobbly. He used that as his 'help' to tall kneel... basically he was doing it independently because that toy would have just collapsed if he would have put any weight into it.

"Where's Sunshine?"

Miranda got busy with the camera today and took pics of Jacob in action with his kneel walk... here they are.

The Ugly Duckling

2008-09-16T13:37:00.005-05:00

We all remember the story of the 'Ugly Duckling'...

Well, in this case we have the 'Ugly Peep'

We have the one remaining wee poult (baby turkey) in the brooder with the peeps. It is the only white one of the whole 53 in there. All the others being black with white markings as they are going to be Barred Rocks Chickens.

Thursday's Mission

2008-09-05T18:28:00.008-05:00

We girls went on a mission on Thursday...

To pick up 100 Barred Plymoth Rock Cockerels from Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, MO.

Now, first off I want to let you know as an aside that for some wacky reason I was getting Lebonon and Licking confused with one another or I never would have ordered these chicks for us to actually pick up. As it turned out... I ordered them for pick up... figured out my mistake... called to have them send them on a truck instead and it was just too late. The Last truck had already left. I wasn't looking forward to driving in Gustav's rain... but it turned out that the drive up while a little drizzly wasn't bad and then drive home was just overcast. The temps outside were in the mid to high 60's and so it really made for a very pleasant - 2 hr one way - drive.

Miranda and I had a very lovely day.

We sang in the car, ate at Wendy's - had rootbeer! - and picked out new "rare" chicks for our flock of egg layers!

We had so much fun at the hatchery looking at all the new chicks and finding out about the different breeds... we could have stayed there for hours. As it was we spent an hour there looking everything over and wishing we could get another 50 to add to our flock. They had so many neat ones, but I settled for just a few... well, eleven actually.

Here is what we came home with...

A White Crested Blue Polish (should have gotten four). Which will look something like this someday [the adult pics are not ours... just what they will/could look like when they get big. The baby pics are ours]:

He is a bit of a giant in comparison to the other wee chicks in the brooder with him today, but some day (very soon) they will be larger than he/she is. Miranda said he/she reminded her of a road runner... beep beep!! Maybe that is what we will name it. We have no idea what sexes we got... we will have to wait and see. The only thing we know is we got two barred rock pullets for certain and most likely there will be a few in the cockerel group that will turn out to be pullets as well... at least we hope.

Two Black Silkies (wish I would have gotten some white too):

Two Barred Rock Hens [Reds future girlfriends! And we will keep a couple of the roos.]:

Two Silver Seabrights:

A Buff Cochin:

A Blue Cochin:

A Partridge Cochin (our personal favorite right now. If they would have had several of these I would have gotten them all... this was the only one.) :

and a gift... A German Spitzhauben:

The Sebright and the Spitzhauben look so much alike right now that you have to look really hard at the pattern of the wing feathers to tell the difference. So, I took all three of them out at the same time and matched up the pair of sebrights to figure out who was who.

While we were gone... galavantin' across the countryside... the boys were busy back home making new brooder cages for the babies. And this is what they came up with:

It doesn't matter what they look like... what matters is that they work. Each holds about 50 chicks and hopefully this should last for 4 - 6 weeks in these quarters before going on to the larger scene.

For this first week we are keeping them in the front hallway. Next week they will be on the warf, and then a month after that they will be set up in three seperate runs/tractors to grow out the rest of the way. Once the rare breed and barred pullet chicks are fully fledged they will go in with the Sultans and the Nankin Bantams. When the larger breeds get big enough they will find their way into the house with the others, that at this point, are going to have a house in the garden for the winter.

When we got them all set up ready to go in their new home we got their water ready and went on the task of dipping thier little beaks in it for their first drink. The barred were just hatched the day before and had never had food or water at this point so we had to get their motors started. So far, so good... they have been here a whole 24 hrs + and all are doing well.

The Next Day...

2008-09-03T06:27:00.005-05:00

Roosters crowing...

Ponies whinny-ing...

Sheep baaa --- maaa'ing...

Where am I?...

Oh ya... I'm at home! And of course it is raining. And NOT just a little! Gustov has landed in Missouri and it looks like he will be here for a while... sad

Dell sent me some great pics from yesterdays visit/delivery. Here they are:

Jacob was asleep inside, but here are the rest of us with the ponies. (above)

And here is Miranda giving Smokey a hug. (below)

... Thanks Dell! And you tried telling us you weren't much of a photographer... seems to me that is your second job! Thanks for capturing that wonderful expression on Mirandas face... it says it all!

The Ponies Arrive!!!

2008-09-02T21:42:00.009-05:00

"The Ponies are Here! The Ponies are Here!!!", cried Miranda as she ran out to greet them.

Unloading was a breeze as they fairly jumped out of the back of the trailer.

New faces for us. Personal Ponies representatives: Dell (in purple, current AR PPL director, she kept the ponies at her place while we were getting things ready and then delivered them here - THANK YOU!), Paula (in white, past AR PPL director, with Miranda and Sunshine. She drove up with Dell - Thanks for spending the day with us!), and Alice (in blue, new MO PPL director, she brought her mom with her~Thank you both for coming. It is nice to know you are nearby ~West Plains~ to help out whenever we need something) with her mom talking with Bob... you can see his shoes.

Robert and Miranda led them around as if they were old pros.

The (ever curious) Sheep greet the newcomers

Smokey say's "Ahhh I needed a good back scratch after that ride...
I'm home."

Aside from 'Gustov' and the impending rain... it was a rather nice day.

We really lucked out. When Dell and Paula arrived with the ponies there was a break in the rain and we didn't see a drop until they were well on their way back home.

Thank you so much PPL ~ Dell, Paula, and Alice for taking the time this after noon and acquainting us with the ponies and helping us get off to a great start.

Robert spent the rest of the day in the pasture with them brushing them again and again.

Cicada

2008-08-09T13:22:00.012-05:00

"Purple"

A Cicada Story

Robert and Miranda found a cicada just climbing up a tree to molt today. (8-9-08)

Once it had come out of the shell Miranda brought it inside to "dry off".

The pictures and movies that follow are of what happened once she brought it inside.

It took a lot longer than I thought it would.

Of course Miranda named it "Purple" because she says it has purple eyes.

10:48 am
After watching outside patiently, for over a half an hour, Miranda brought Purple inside to complete its metamorphosis. Which turned out to be a much slower process than I would have thought.
Miranda also brought in the "shell".

10:59 am

The wings started to unfold one at a time.

It's body is about 2" long and an inch wide.

11:05 am

The wings are very damp and will take a long time to dry up. They tended to "stick" to the table as the fluid was pumped through them.

11:06 am

11:20 am

See the bulb of fluid building up in the right wing?

11:22 am

Purples body is starting to harden and gain darker coloring.

11:28 am

See the inky fluid on the table? That is what came out of the wings. Seems to have acted as a dye and hardener through the veins of the wings and turned the veins and wings black.

11:48 am

It's wings and body are turning darker with the fluid pumping through them.

1:57 pm

It's wings were stiffening and folding. It started beating its wings at this point and trying to find something to climb on to help the fluid get to where it needed to go.

2:40 pm

It started moving around more so we decided to move it outside. We put it on a plant we have on the porch where we could continue to watch it develop.

6:27pm

Purples body has changed almost completely from that bright green to black and its wings are formed nicely.

6:27 pm

Miranda can make it flap its wings by touching its back - as seen in the movie below.

This was the last we saw of Purple. It flew off during dinner.

Jacob's buddy - Wiggles

2008-08-05T19:33:00.007-05:00

These pictures say it all!

What a wonderful disposition he has.

Jacob is trying to catch up to Wiggles ~ That is why the "look" is on his face.

Wiggles left Jacob for a second to see where Bob was outside then came back to him and flopped down on his side in front of him so Jacob could pat his belly or... pull at his fur on his side (which is what Jacob did). This is a good match for Jacob. Wiggles is only slightly interested in Jacob's toys and he is not a puppy to go around giving a bunch of kisses or nibble on an ear. Wiggles seems to "know" and understand Jacob.

Dappled Chocolate what?

2008-08-05T14:38:00.007-05:00

Well, I guess since our inside kitty, Princess, decided she would prefer to join the others and be an outside kitty that made room for an inside puppy. And Bob filled that void when he came home with a doxie pup last night after the Bakers Creek Fall Festival yesterday.

So, here he is:

Mr. Wiggles is a 5 to 6 month old red ~ dappled with chocolate long haired dachshund! Did you know that the doxie has the MOST colors and color combinations of any breed of dog! (I checked it out at the AKC website this morning!)
Just look at those eyes! He is soooo sweet!

The fluff on his ears and the length of his coat on his body tells us he is the long haired variety. OH SO SOFT!

Bob is going to have to keep the grass shorter so we don't loose him in it!Everyone had to come out and check out the new member. Soon after this Molly went into full herding mode and brought him up to the door for us. He has a quick sprinting action, but doesn't go very far before he stops again and looks for Bob. You can tell who he feels he belongs to. On the hour and a half long drive home he spent more than half of it in Bob's lap, the other half in Robert's.He is so cute when he stops for a drink or even to eat. He just plops his little bottom to the side onto the floor. What a little personality!

Flopsie, Mopsie, and Cotton Tail & "A dogs life"

2008-08-05T13:47:00.007-05:00

Introducing:

Our new trio of English Angora Rabbits

Flopsy is our blue buck.

He and Cotton Tail are in need of a plucking and a brushing. I don't know how yet, but thier legs look a bit matted and I will somehow have to get them taken care of.

He was born 4-15-08

His dad is a Broken Blue and his mom is a Chesnut. There is some of the chestnut tone coming out at the nape of his neck and his one ear won't stay up unless he is really checking something out. He is an inquisitive little fella. I wonder what would happen if I paired him with our holland lop Jasmine? hmmmm? Angora lops? Now that would be adorable!

His pedigree paper have his name as Tinker.

Here is Mopsy.

She is a Chocolate Torte.

She was born on 1-28-08.

Her dad is a Lilac Tort

Her mom is a Sable

She has dark eyes... don't let that red-eye thing fool you. All three of them have a dark or brown eye.

Her pedigree papers have her name as Kisses. She is very sweet.

Last but not least is Cotton Tail

She was born on April 15, 2008 as well.

Her parents are Shawn a Lilac Tort buck

and Marlana

Just love her little face!

It's a dogs life!

Molly is getting big. Just look at those long legs!

It is HOT out there so, she and Nemo are spending a lot of time on the concrete in the garage/SAC area trying to stay cool.

Molly is a good pup, always trying to do what she thinks we want her to do.

This morning she herded our newest doggie member back into the house for us!

Wiggles just has it made!

Here he is taking a quick nap after a potty break outside.

Baker Creek Fall Garden Festival

2008-08-05T12:39:00.007-05:00

This Sunday was a HOT one and we were all there. Miranda was lucky and found a vendor with a watering can that helped cool her down. First poring water on her feet then her head. She loved it. The little girl sitting with her played with her all day long. They are great friends. The two of them plan to write to each other and can't wait for the spring show when she will be back again.

We did something new this time around.

After many requests we decided to go ahead and cook.

We made a choice of a portabella wrap or plate. They have three grilled portabella topped with our organic sautee'd onions and sweet peppers, white Cabot ex-sharp cheddar cheesse, our lemon cucumbers, mayo, and our organic-heirloom tomatoes either wrapped up in a fajita size flour tortilla or stacked tall on a plate with a side of chips, bag of cookies, and a 12 oz water all for $5.

Bob grilled up a storm and sold off the table while I dressed up the plates and kept Jacob cool and happy with the help of a battery opperated fan and some cool breaks inside.

We were located just across from the grist mill where they were also serving a wrap made of a vegetarian alternative to chicken. We had a lot of people that got done eating that and saw ours as others were eating and orderd one of them as well! They Loved all the extra goodies they got on thier plate.

Here is one of our happy customers enjoying a little rest in our "restaurant".

As usual we all had a lot of fun despite the heat.

I didn't get a picture of it, but Robert is learning how to Yodel with one of the stars of Bakers Creek - Betty Dill, and was on stage with her!
He and Bob went back again on Monday and he got to do it again. Maybe he will be onstage on his own some day?!

At any rate ~ I won't miss the great picture next month!!!
A quick aside:
The day before we went to the Bakers Creek show Miranda was trying to get her tooth out. She tried tieing it to the door as she had done the other front tooth and chickend out, but the day after the show she was quite brave and we tied it to the glider/rocker and she pushed it forward with me and her tooth popped right out! This morning the Tooth Fairy left her some great things for being so brave: $1, a pink pair of tights, and a mini tootsie roll! What a LUCKY girl!
I wonder if she will be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..."?

Look at that space! Isn't it amazing! Oh! And she is wearing the new clip on earings her friend got her at the festival on Sunday!

Creepie crawlies

2008-08-05T12:17:00.003-05:00

On July 30th at just before 10 pm I noticed something a little different climbing up our sliding door.

Yes, we have Tarantulas in the Ozarks. Thou this is not the typical time of the year to see them migrating to find mates.

That is usually in the spring time and early summer. But, Bob has had females laying eggs in his compost pile before or in the fall trying to keep warm at night. He thinks they are neat.... Personally ~ I never would have been able to take these pictures had that sheet of glass not been between us!

Here Baguierra is watching it crawl around. At least 4 of our black kitties were interested in this happening and watching very closely. We have witnessed them playing with and then eating these spiders in the past, but for some reason they just watched this one. Which made us wonder what was up?

We think that mystery was solved the next morning when we found it on our door mat like this. We believe it was a male that had mated recently with a female and she had mortally wounded him. So, somehow the cats knew that and really didn't want anything to do with a spider that was dieing. Smart Cats.

At the same time we saw the spider we had this little tree frog sound off really loud to let us know of his existence... Guess he didn't want to be one up-ed by the Tarantula?

The leaves you see are of my spider plant I have on a plant stand just outside the sliding door. That shows you just how tiny this little thing was. It is amazing how loud they are! The kids also have a tadpole pool set up. They are quiet right now and growing well... can't wait for them to mature and make all kinds of noise. Bet the kids won't like them so much when they are climbing on their windows at night singing up a storm!

Sheep Arrive

2008-07-26T08:28:00.005-05:00

Thursday morning began as every other day...

Take care of the dogs, cats, chickens, and guineas

Rush back into the house to get out of the humidity and heat

But with one acception...

We also had to get everyone ready for a 3 hour one way trip up to Humansville to pick up our wee sheep

Well, things didn't quite go as planned and we left an hour after I had wanted to leave and then we had to make 3 stops: one to deliver shrooms, another to fill up the tank, and another for lunch about an hour into the trip. Basically we left the farm at 10:15 am (had planned on leaving at 9 am), arrived in Humansville at 2:30 (I had wanted to be there by noon), then departed at about 4:30 pm. Not exactly on schedule.

We arrived at the farm in Humansville to pick up the sheep and get a few lessons on sheep catching and loading as well as hoof trimming and giving shots. I think I'm ready... it really isn't all that different from grooming a BIG dog and giving them shots... right?

I think the saddest moment for me was when we took Lucy out of the fenced area and Stinky, this years lamb, had to stay behind as I had chosen instead to go with an unrelated ram whom we named Thomas. Stinky started calling for his mom and Lucy called back to him. It is sad that we couldn't let them know somehow what was going to happen so we could prepare them.

Getting them each onto the "Yankee Cattle Trailer", as Bob lovingly called the borrowed trailer with a cattle panel covered with scrap fence and a tarp using zip ties and orange bale twine... interesting... we had a lot of gauckers on the drive home. Not sure if they thought our trailer was interesting or our passangers.

When we finally arrived at their new home we had to take the dog kenned apart from where we had been using it as part of the fence and doorway to the front garden and move it to the backyard where the first paddock is yet unfinished... that is another story.
The boys quickly reassembled it as I tried to unroll a piece of woven wire fence to put up in its place at the garden so Bambie wouldn't get in there and eat up what is left of it after the locusts and grasshoppers have had their fill.
The sheep were getting a little antsie and wanted to be off and on the grass.
So, we abliged them.
Here is Clare to the front and Thomas to the right - Lucy is behind Clare... she still isn't sure about all the goings on at this point.
And frankly...
This is what Thomas thought of us and his new digs at first.
Though on Friday when we fed them some corn chips they all warmed up to us happily.
Clare is a sweetie and just loves all the petting and scratching we can give her.
Thomas will stay back and watch until invited to take grain or a chip.
Lucy is coming around quickly and likes to be scratched as well.

Here they are just before nightfall that first night. A very hungry and thirsty trio that during the night ate all the grass to the ground and drank 3 to 4 gallons of water.

In the morning we let them out into the extended run area and later in the day moved the entire thing so they could get more fresh grass. In all the run and kennel were moved three times yesterday and we gave them the grass that I had pulled out of one of the front flower beds that had been terribly neglected due to my broken arm. There is plenty more to pull from several other beds and though it is humid it is slightly overcast today... guess we will be doing more of the same.

2008-07-19T18:09:00.006-05:00

The Massacre

This is a beautiful sight!

We are inendated with grasshoppers (along with the squeeters). They are eating everything! Including our butterfly bushes. They have to go. And the children love to catch them.

So, they went on assingment today.

Caution: Continue at your own risk.

For those who are a little squeemish you may not want to view the following video.

... just take a look at the pictures that follow.

This video is for:

A) Those who have had Guineas in the past ~ as it may bring back some nastalgic memories.

B) Those who have never had the pleasure of watching Guinea Keets tear apart grasshoppers and Locusts, but wish they had.

The Capture

"Is that for us?"

"What do you have for us?"

"Yum!!!" ~ Keets Gone Mad!

They scurry everywhere to catch the critters and then try to keep someone else from getting them as everyone is trying to steal goodies from each other.

Trying to escape certain death

New Members of Jacob's Friends

2008-07-14T23:00:00.005-05:00

Growing

Jacob's Friends has some new family members!

We welcome 10 Keets to the farm. Hopefully they will all grow fast and become prime tick eaters. We are so looking forward to them taking care of that for us.

Looks like we have several varieties of guineas to look forward to watching scurrying around the farm looking for scrumptious bugs!
Thank you Heather and Andrew for picking out such beautiful keets for us!

The Nature of Nature, a roo that 'comes', and Miles of Smiles

2008-07-12T08:46:00.014-05:00

The Nature of Nature

Let me at it! This little black and white bantam
is just full of it! Can anyone tell me what kind
of chickens these are? They came in a mixed box.

OK, I know about mosquitoes, but this is CRAZY!!!

They just about carried me away!

I can't step a foot outside without being attacked. I love taking care of our wee critters and after feeding the chicks I enjoy sitting and watching them peep as they scurry around catching bugs and eating grass & weeds. Today, however, I just can't spend any time out there. Granted I am wearing my 3-tier skirt, a sleeveless top, and sandals. So, I am going to invest in some light colored long sleeved blouses that I can throw on to garden and take care of Jacob's friends. I am also seriously considering getting a bee keeper hat with netting to keep them off my head, neck and face.

It has got to be all the rain we have had here this year. The lake, just below us, has gone down quite a bit now. We can see about half the outhouse at the Tecumseh Bridge / Park area. The fishermen are still launching their boats from the road that leads down to the park - a good block uphill from the normal launch site. It'll be a while yet before it can recede to normal levels, but it is about half way there.

"Just dare me" ~ This Buff Orpington (pullet?)
and silver duckwing unknown are just ready
to go at it again. The Black Sumatra is coming
up to be 'referee'

We have had other signs of too much rain here. Our tomatoes are turning brown from the ground up sooner than we have seen before and the squash has been a problem for many growers. A lot of people have given up and just taken the plants out completely. Bob got into our 'jungle' and pruned back a lot of leaves and then put a fan on them in an effort to dry them up faster. Between that and the fact that the front garden is on a slant, so that the water drains away faster, we have a great crop of zucchini, crookneck, and yellow scalloped squash as well as cucumbers with very few losses due to molding, etc.

Turk ~ our Turken Roo to be. He is so sweet.

Since I took this picture (just a couple days ago)

his comb and wattles have grown and started

turning red along with some red growing just

below his eyes. He is going to look like a vulture

before long.

I pray we get a good solid freeze here this winter to put an end to this cycle of biting.

I'm still itching!

Guess I need to call my sister-in-law, Shirley, and get some 'Skin-so-Soft'. ___________________________________________

A Roo that 'Comes'

What a comical site Red makes as I go to feed the cats he comes running with them. Then I got him some scratch this morning, he doesn't always get it in the morning, I started clicking and calling to him and he came running down to the hill toward me. You could tell by the way he was running, almost dancing, that he was a very happy bird.

Robert and Miranda put a lacy apron on Red.

Red is normally a calm protective roo. By calm I mean ~ the children can catch him pretty easily as he puts up a token resistance ~ and fairly enjoys being held, carried around, petted on the head, and scratched under the wings. By protective, I mean of us. He guards the sliding door from the cats and pecks them out of the way so that he gets his spot of choice - the rug. He is generally the 'top dog' around here.

So, now we have Molly... hmmmm. It seems she likes rooster tails. Now, this could be a problem since she is supposed to be learning to protect them not mouth them. Well, Red was not thrilled by her attempts, to say the least and he went to raising his feathers, pulling his wings up and out, and dancing on his toes... reared back and up and then down onto Molly... beak and claws ~ just as if he were fighting another cock. But Molls doesn't give up and frankly, I wasn't so sure I wanted to get in the middle of it. Red has some pretty impressive spurs on those legs of his and I like to stay on his good side. After several attempts of trying to get Molly to stop with verbal commands and taking her a few feet away she finally gave in and left poor ol' Red alone. I hope she learned her lesson as he got her good a few times and he didn't loose a feather.

_________________________________________________

Miles of Smiles

OK.... so, she is outside most of the time. Willow really just feels at home here. When you open the door she RUNS right in and raids Princess' food bowl. She is ravenous. It doesn't matter how much food she gets in her bowl. She still wants more. Guess that proves that she was left behind and couldn't fend for herself out in the wilds of the Mark Twain National Forest.

Bethany, Jacob's PT, is working with him in his Up 'n Go.

We were quite excited about this... see him holding and playing with his favorite stuffed critters, blue bear and brown bunny. Well, if you look really close you can also see that he is standing on his own!

The harness is loose around him and he has all his own weight on his legs and feet while holding onto only one of his bars!!!

Here's more weight bearing! This was Wednesday morning. He really wasn't in the mood for therapy, and pretty much let everyone know he didn't want to practice sit to stand (he whined and made general complaints as well as just wouldn't work) or the Creepster Crawler (just let his head drag and went limp), or the Walkable where he grudgingly accepted defeat as he has no other option but to walk as we are moving his legs for him.

He complained briefly about being put into yet another harness system when Bethany was setting him up with the Up 'n Go harness, but once he got into the walker he was all happy with it ~ giving us little smirks. You could tell he was quite proud of himself. As he should be.

Future Mushroom Grower

The other day she and Bob went walking through the growing rooms. While in there she said, "Dad, you are the mushrooms guy! And I want to be the mushroom girl!"

Well, at least she is on her way to being HACCP approved with that hair net on.

Miranda is showing off her VERY loose tooth. It still hasn't come out yet. Both front teeth are loose. We have a feeling she will be singing: "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...." before long.

Tootsies at rest ~ not for long...

Miranda, Jacob, and Mommy

Last nights Giggle - a - Thon...

Giggling Tootsies

Tootsies at rest

Update on Willow and Sunshine

2008-07-12T06:25:00.017-05:00

Willow is ... well ... a bit, shall I say ... shy with the other cats at this point yet. They all don't seem to mind her, but she gets a little miffed if they get closer than a foot away.

She comes to visit us at the sliding door in the morning and at night. Just like the others do. When we call out: "Here kitty kitty food food" she is right there with everyone else - all the way up to the oak trees where everyone gets fed. However, we are still reserving a bit to take to the barn for Willow and she follows us there for her portion. We don't think she is quite ready to integrate at the regular feeding station at this point.

___________________________

We had some exciting news from Dell, our Personal Ponies representative, yesterday.

Sunshine is lead line ride-able!

That was great news! As no one was sure about that. He hasn't been ridden for the past few years at the equine therapy and riding center in Kansas City (interesting note here... it's name is Jakes ~ hmmmm).

Sunshine is a palomino UK Shetland Pony.

She thinks he might be 42". Isn't he a cutie!

This is Sunshine sporting his winter coat a few years ago.

This is Smokey.

He is a bit shorter than Sunshine.

Oh so Handsome!

Isn't his coloring just beautiful! And Sunshine!

Aren't they both just so hug-ably sweet!

________________________________________

I think we have made a decision about the barn now.

It gets pretty mucky in there when it rains due to the fact that it is down hill from a pretty good slope and runoff generally runs right down the center of it. We would have to put in a drainage system in order to get it to work so-so at best. Instead, we have decided to put up a small 3 or 4 stall shed on the east side of the oak trees. That way it will stay cooler in the heat of the summer, it won't take up any paddock space and we can put a man door on the west side of it to enter. I am going to try to work up a plan that would incorporate a space for Red and his lady friend to be. As well as the bunnies with a small run area for them off the barn so the children can play with them outside as well as in the sheep's stall area.

I have a feeling that when we can't see Miranda anywhere ... she will be in there.

______________________________________

On another very happy note:

Congratulations! to our friends, Kristi & Dave and their children: Josiah, Benjamin, Isaiah, Clare, Regina,
Dominic, Jeremiah, and Maggie Rose of MN.

They have a new baby boy in their house.

William Peter was born July 8th.

What a handsome wee one... just feast your eyes on those soft Rosy cheeks.

Oh how precious!

Congratulations!

Willow

2008-07-03T18:54:00.004-05:00

Willow

Isn't there a rule or something that if you have a farm named "Willow..." something or another that you should have a pet with that name?

Introducing Willow ~ the newest addition to Jacob's Friends:

I had a Dr. appointment today in Houston. (The one in Texas County, MO.)

On our way home we decided to check out a place on the map in the Mark Twain National Forest named Nobkin Lake. It has probably the smallest concrete dam I have ever seen and is just beautiful. The problem is that it doesn't look like the rangers have taken any action in it for quite some time and there are no trash cans and beer bottles and refuse are on the tables. All in all it still looks like a great place to catch some blue gill!

Anyway, on our way back into the car I spotted something on a picnic table in the distance. And we all started wondering aloud what it was. Robert got there first ~ of course. And found a grey cat. She was so friendly and rubbed right up against his hand.

Well, we brought her home and with much debate on her name decided on Willow.

She was a trooper in the car. Very curious of what was going on outside. And investigated everything in the car. But, when offered some people food she did not take it. I'm sure she was a bit nervous. We are sure that the last time she took a car ride she was left at the park. She sat alternately in Miranda and Robert's laps on the way home. As Miranda was petting her she was kneading.

Her first meal is being served in the front hallway with de-wormer on it right now. She started purring within minutes!

She is enjoying the attention and would probably be outside already... but you wouldn't believe the downpour we are getting here right now! What a storm! Well, at least she is getting a comfortable welcome with Miranda and hopefully the outside kitties will welcome her when she gets out there.

She is quite skinny and jumped on her bowl of food when I gave it to her. When I came back to take pictures she came over to me and walked around me rubbing up against me as if to say "Thank You". She looks to be a young thing and was definitely a pet until recently. I bet her former "kid owner" really misses her.

OK so this brings our cat total to ..... ten .... yes, that is what I wrote... can't believe it myself. There are 9 outside though so that makes things a LOT different. And the eight black ones are great mousers! The only thing is that we now have two to get spayed (don't forget Molly the puppy). At least we have a little time with Molly, but I think we have to get Willow done within a few months. I would like to see her put on some weight before we take her in. She is all skin and bone. We don't think she would have made it much longer

Addendum: When we took Willow outside a couple of our cats came to see what was up. Beguerra and Ivy were greeted with a cougar like loud hissing noise out of wee Willow. Amazing that a sound that loud could come out of such a tiny cat! Well, they jumped back and off the sidewalk quite a distance and stayed that way. She was then taken back inside, but we had to make a decision as to what to do with her. In the end we took her out to the barn with her food and water and gave her a spot in the trays so she could "hide" from the others and hopefully settle in.

Getting Ready for Jacob's Friends

2008-07-02T18:41:00.005-05:00

Meet the Semyck's

On the bench is "mom" Wendy holding then almost three year old Jacob whose first haircut was forthcoming, next to them is Miranda, while standing behind is Robert and kneeling is "dad" Bob. Photo is from fall 2006

We live on a farmette situated on top of a mountain in the Ozarks. Here we grow mushrooms (portabella, white button, oyster, and shitake) as well as garden produce with various heirloom varieties. We grow everything without the use of chemicals. We sell our goods at local farmers markets and shows in the area. Our farm is known as "Willow Mountain Mushrooms".

Bob worked for large commercial mushroom farms for 23 years before we finally took the steps to go out on our own. It has not been the easiest, but we feel it was the best decision for our family. This way we can live cleanly and offer the community products that are clean and taste just wonderful... our tomatoes do not taste like cardboard and the shrooms have lots of flavor.

Here are Miranda, Jacob, and Robert this spring.

Here is one of our eight outside kitties ~ I should say this is Miranda's cat ~ Clover

Jacob's cat is a short hair named George and Robert's is a long haired named Beguerra.

The five others are all short haired black with varied degrees of white on paws and chest named: Curley, Ivy, Charlie, Sarah, and Iris.

This is Clover Princess a black long haired cat with a small white spot on her chest and little bits sticking out of her ears playing "Puss in Boot".

We have one inside cat named Princess. She is mainly white with Siamese markings and a "Lemar" like striped tail.
All the cats are spayed and neutered.
Whew!

Here Bob is holding Jacob on Easter this year. Just look at Jacob's big smile!

We make a big deal out of his smiles because they are so rare.

Here are a couple of pictures of our current "babies".
We have 11 rare breed bantams.
Four white Sultans,
four black Sumatras (one is a frizzle!),
three Turkens, and
four very large unknowns as well as
six Buff Orpingtons.

Who is watching who?

This is "Red II". We purchased eleven roos a couple of years ago with the intent to butcher them.... instead we named them all. Red is the sole survivor. And what a survivor!

The last weekend of May he was attacked by an opossum at 3 am - he lost an eye in the deal, but our efforts to get the opossum away from him were effective and Red ran as fast as a race horse! Never knew a chicken could run so fast! We thought he was being carried away he was going so fast. I figure I should make more efforts to get him a girl friend and so I think I will be trading one of our rare breed chicks for a Delaware Hen just for him.

What can I say? We have talked about building a Straw Bale house so much that our Robert and Miranda insist on building one every time we get a load of straw. This is probably the largest and sturdiest Robert has done yet! He even had little seats inside and had it all set up for the cats and Red to play and "live" in for a couple of days. (That straw is now growing mushrooms: )

He is going to do great things in architecture some day.

Miranda enjoys playing therapist with Jacob.

This day she kept on insisting that he should learn to stand at the push toy. Before an hour had gone by she had taught him to do so!

It was only a couple of days after he had learned to stand on his own using furniture.

When he starts doing stuff he really gets a move on it!

Here is Miranda with our new dog, Molly. Molly is half Australian Shepherd and half Border Collie. She looks like she is going to have the - thicker coat of the Border Collie.

The children and I picked her to help out with the sheep that are coming this month. When they arrive she will be heading to the barn and pasture with them. For right now she is hanging out with the children, learning basic commands, and trying to make friends with our black and white Shih Tzu ~ Nemo. Seems like we have a lot of black and white critters around here.

This picture was taken June 25th '08. Jacob learned something new that day ~ he is crawling!!!

He kept on going a few small "steps" forward, picking up this little white bear that Mrs. Jerri gave him for Christmas this year, looking at it, then throwing it forward and chasing after it. He enjoyed this game for quite some time. And we certainly had fun watching. I tried to take video of it, but when ever I got the camera going he would stop crawling and go to his belly again ~ what a stinker.

Preparing for "Jacob's Friends"

What / who would we be preparing for?

Why, three sheep for one thing (of course... those who know me, know that I have been talking about sheep for years now) ~

A two and a half year old white ewe named Lucy who is 1/2 Shetland and 1/2 Merino/Dorset (she carries the black spotting gene and 2 of her 3 lambs have been white with black spots.), her daughter (also white) who is one and a half - Clare - she is 3/4 Shetland, with the other 1/4 being Merino and Dorset, and a Shetland ram lamb who is brown in color. I have named him Thomas. Sticking with Saints names for the sheep and thinking the same for the UK Shetland Ponies from Personal Ponies. We are getting the sheep for milking (really good for Jacob) and fleece. However, I think Bob will like to use the bedding from the barn for his mushroom compost as well.

And~

We are so excited to be preparing for the arrival of a pair of ponies for Jacob.

(Robert and Miranda too!)

We feel so fortunate to have found Personal Ponies.org

You really should check out their site at http://www.personalponies.org/

It is amazing!

Barn and Pasture

The following pictures are of the barn and pasture that "Jacob's Friends" will be living in/on. We are planning to build up to 4 separate paddocks on our small property. I figure we will need them in the future as we will be having to separate out breeding stock from others for the sheep and rotate the chickens through as well.

The Barn

This is the northeast portion of the barn that we are going finish closing in. It is about a 20 x 24 section that we are going to put a loft above for storing feed for the critters that are to come. We figure the cats will enjoy that space as well. The barn will have two stalls for the UK Shetland Ponies from Personal Ponies, a grooming/shearing area, two enclosures for the sheep, and a milking area. The stalls will have an elevated wooden floor on top of gravel and the center of the barn is going to stay as gravel for now - maybe put wood chips from Luna sawmill down the isle over the gravel?

The barn is about 70 x 35 and has a closed in concrete floor shed space in the northwest corner. The Rabbit "house" is going to be next to the shed area of the barn. We have two Holland lops and a Netherland Dwarf right now and are looking at getting a pair of angora and then a breeding set of meat rabbits. Rabbit droppings are also good for mushroom compost.
As you can see in this picture - the north opening of the barn - there is a little hillside that goes down to the barn. Because of this we get water flowing through the barn during rain storms. To keep this away from the sheep and ponies we are going to put in a wood floor in the stalls with gravel down the center ailse-way for the water to go down the center as usual. Why fight nature?

Obviously the manure spreader and the growing trays for the mushrooms are going to have to move to the south side of the barn. The barn is set up with electricity and water isn't too far away to get a line run underground. We already have the pipe - it is leaning on the barn in the picture above.

This is from the north opening in the barn out to the main paddock. A 4' woven wire fence will run along the grassed over roadway all the way to the forest in the background. Then another fence will run close to the older oak trees about 15 - 20 feet away. This space will afford the ponies and sheep a shady spot to get out of the sun and will be the main feed and water area for them. The fence will then run along the back of the larger oak trees you see here.

This is a shot of the north-east pasture from the farthest northeast corner toward the back of the farm/house. Note the swimming pool? It has to go. The cats are having too much fun in it and have torn up the liner til it is no longer going to hold water. To the right side of the picture you can see our older garden all overgrown - we will get rid of the weeds there and plant something that the ponies and sheep will like. The shorter things you see with the white tarp laying on the ground in the near distance is our melon patch. The paddock is going to go up to that garden and circle around the north edge of it to allow entrance to the next paddock This paddock should be about 80 x 70. Maybe more... I just used my small feet to measure it.

This shows the pasture from the woods toward the barn. The area on the left side of the picture under the trees will be available for the ponies for shade.

This picture shows the farm as you round the bend in the road from the southwest corner. The concrete block and metal building behind it are our mushroom growing rooms. The tall section in the center is where Bob does a lot of his "dirty" inside work after the compost has been pasteurized. The taller section you see next to the willow trees (had to have them to be called "Willow Mountain Mushrooms") is where the composting is done. Our "house" is located between the two taller sections of the large building shown. The barn is hiding to the east of the building you see here.

To the west of the main building is a pasture area. There are some tall grasses to the back here that we are going to bush hog or hay before placing any critters in that area.
It is going to be broken into two separate paddocks with a small lean too in the middle for the sheep and ponies to get out of the weather in during the day. This will also be the way to get from one paddock to the other with cattle panels stopping immediate access from one to the other. There is a space in there that has the potential to be a pond as well. The last paddock would be directly behind the mushroom growing rooms and up to the edge of the melon garden area. That pasture will be connected to the main area by a 15 - 20 foot wide fenced "walkway" between the north side of the garden and the woods. We have some trees that we haven't decided where to plant them as yet, to place in the pasture area for future shade. They will have to be protected by fencing so "Jacob's Friends" don't eat them or the bark in the winter.

The Chickens are not going to be free range. They are going to be pastured/tractored in breeding flocks so we can hatch out eggs every now and then. We found a plan for a tractor at the following site that we really like. http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/PPGraphics/PortableCoop.html This way they will rotate following the sheep through the different paddocks and around the gardens.

To see pictures of Lucy and Clare during Clare's birth you can visit this site: http://thethreeringranch.com/allena/?p=265 I pray she does as good here as she has done at Allena and Beau's farm "The Three Ring Ranch" (like the Three Ring Circus)

Future Plans for Jacob's Friends

In the future I hope to set up Jacob's Friends as a non-profit and open it up to other differently~abled children in our community for equine and general "pet" therapy. I see this as a perfect opportunity to help other little ones like Jacob and their parents realize a dream come true as they see their child blossom with their arms around a little pony or lambkin/sheep or even playing with a Holland Lop bunnie.

Our Furry Friends

The rabbits

Our Beatrix Potter Bunnie ~ "Annie" is a Netherland Dwarf

Jasmine or Jazz, as we call her, is our Holland Lop "Princess" in squirrel colored coat.

Here is Andy ~ our Chestnut colored Holland Lop that never quite "lopped". That doesn't matter to us though as he has such a great personality. All of our Rabbits are friendly, but Andy is especially so. Jazz is a hospitable character as well, and Annie, well ~ lets just say we leave her in her cage more than the others as the rabbitry we got them all from said that she had been known to bite, but we haven't had any problem with her.

Robert and Miranda holding their "babies". They seemed to enjoy being held this way which is a surprise to a lot of people. Guess they are just very trusting bunnies.

The Sheep

"Baaaaaah"

Just got these pictures tonight of the trio from Beau. Introducing ~ Thomas, Clare, and Lucy.

Thomas

Thomas, Shetland, is in the center of this picture. He is all brown (moorit). He was born this spring. What a handsome strong looking fellow!

Clare

This is Clare (3/4 Shetland 1/4 Morino/Dorset). She was born last spring to Lucy. She is still in "full fleece" and will be clipped soon to help her with the heat. Her shepherd has been pregnant and just didn't quite get to her yet.

(Congratulations to Beau and Allena on their new little girl! )

Lucy

This is Lucy (1/2 Shetland - 1/2 Morino/Dorset) I don't think this picture does her justice. You really need to go to the link above and check out the beautiful pictures of Lucy with her "new" lambkin Francis. The most adorable picture!

Well, here ~ I went and copied it ~ But go to "The Three Ring Ranch" site anyway. It is amazing!