Animal Mayhem...

When the animals go loony, WOW. They all go crazy. This weekend we've had to capture 6 ducks, 5 chickens, 2 goats, and 5 guineas and put them back into our yards. One rooster got his head caught 2 separate times (yes, the same stupid rooster) in the fence. (IN as in we had to cut a part of the fence he was so stuck). The goat, Jack, knocked down part of the fence being a giant PITA and let 2/3 of the farthest yard out and they were all taking a nice stroll down our easement road.  I found a frog in what I thought was an empty fish tank. It had been there for who knows how long.

Jack has gotten very aggressive with everyone lately. Thankfully, I have a friend who has a lot of goat knowledge and she has taken him to the equivalent of goat detention and is going to work with him and let him be with the big goats for a while to see if that straightens him out. I'm hoping this works because we'd tried everything we could think of and just couldn't figure out how to keep him contained and not hurting the kids and everything anymore. :(


The little puppies aren't so little anymore either!

But even these two have gotten crazy! They are somehow sneaking from yard to yard but we can't figure out how! We've blocked every possible way we can find, but they keep sneaking over every time we aren't looking. This, in itself, isn't a problem. We worry they'll do this with an outside edge and get OUT out. THAT would be a HUGE problem.

The Farm at 6 Months!

We've lived at our new house for almost exactly 6 months now. Overall, it works really well. It has some HUGE pluses.

• The scenery is gorgeous.
• The house layout and space suits our needs soo much better than the old house did. I mean - the closets, pantry, porch... What's not to love about those??
• We have the freedom to choose what animals (ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, goats, guineas...) without worry about the city freaking out since we live just outside the limits. But juuuuussst barely outside. 
• I love the kitchen layout. There is plenty of cupboard space. The pantry is HUGE for grocery storage. I've been able to can stuff and store it (not freakish like, but a few things of jam and sauces). I love the stove top griddle. 

• I can safely send the kids out to play in a BIG space and the biggest worry is them getting lost in the woods - not cars (because I send them out back, not to the highway), child thieves, or boredom.

There are a few things that I really don't like. They're goofy, out of my mind, stupid to mention things. But every time I have to deal with them, I get irritated.

• The bicyclists.  The HUNDREDS of bicyclists. That alternate between pedestrian rules and automobile rules. They want to be special and have both. I want to run them ALL over. Mostly, just the ones that ride 4 to 7 abreast and take up the ENTIRE road going 23 miles per hour. The entire time but won't let you pass, go around, or find an safe way to bypass them. EVER. It makes a 6 minute trip take 20. Literally. I timed it more than once. 
• Bugs, spiders, flies, scorpions, moles, snakes and other creepy crawlies. There are a bazillion of them. EVERYWHERE. All The Time. 
• The air conditioner doesn't work nearly as well as I would prefer. It's the middle of summer so I'm pretty sure no ones is, but *I* want the AC to work so it cools to like 65 at the drop of a hat. It doesn't. It functions adequately and sufficiently for the time being given that it is the original of the build. We did have to add a super air filter but it can go to a new unit whenever we are forced to upgrade.
• My allergies have been literally a daily battle since we moved. Stupid outside world. 

So the baby Netherland Dwarf are getting HUGE for being 14 days old!

 These were actually taken a few days ago, they are even a little bit bigger even! They look so much like little bitty bunnies now for just a few days ago!

Look at the differences!

BABY BUNNIES!!!

We are so excited, our first baby bunnies were born last night! The little grey Netherland Dwarf doe had 3 little babies that are all healthy and fairly big considering her size. We pulled them out of this giant nest she built the day before and looked at them and took pictures. They are healthy, fat, wiggly looking little fur-less blind babies. Not to mention we are all super excited because we doubted the level of success we would have. Not only had we heard and read that Netherland Dwarfs were the hardest to breed, but who doesn’t doubt their first attempt at anything?  These babies are to be sold as pet bunnies – they should be less than 2 pounds – the White Rabbit is our meat doe and we will probably breed her in the next month or so since she’s getting close to 7 pounds. Those babies will be raised to be fat and then for food (for people or snakes or whatever). 

Aren't they so cute, but grotesque at the same time??


We've also been getting visits from some deer who have taken an interest in the goat food. They've figured out how to work their tongues through the fence into the goat food buckets we've got hanging and just snack away! (Excuse the really, really bad pictures - it was the best I could do without spooking them.)

Look really close and you can see the glowing eyes. The deer had been snacking out of the goat food. It's hilarious. It drives the ducks and big house dogs insane. Absolutely, wildly insane.


And for the random joy of it:

 Just look at that giant Rupert!