A stranger in the yard

Torn Ear by the house

Monday morning when I was heading out to do the barn chores, I spotted someone running along the marsh in front of the house. To my surprise he didn't run, and just sat down and started yelling at me. It was a mink. I have never seen a mink since I've been living here or in this area. The last time I saw mink, they were on a mink farm in Southern Ontario. They are really pretty animals, with their long tails and sleek black coats. He was yelling at me to leave. Bossy little things.

It was neat to see him but I am not at all thrilled to see him so close to the house. If he gets in my barn, he'll kill every chicken and rabbit he can. He's also small, so I'm not sure if the dogs would notice him or not. I have to trust that they would. I'm sure he would not be afraid of the dogs. Our old chicken coop is down by the marsh in the front yard and at first I thought he was checking to see if we put any new chickens in it, which we will in the late spring. But I think it's more likely he had found something to eat in the marsh, possibly a muskrat since we have many of those in that pond. That's why he was telling me to get lost.

I gave Flavious his first egg the other night. Max loves when he gets an egg from the coop, it's his favorite treat ever. He quite delicately takes it from my hand, the entire egg, and carries it off to where he wants to eat it. Then he drops it gently to the ground - so it does not break. He then cracks it open and eats the inside. A lot of dogs love the shells. I had a German Shepard mix and a Chow mix that loved the entire egg, but Max doesn't eat shells, ever. Flavious did the same thing, gently took it from me so it wouldn't break and put it down to sniff it, then he broke it open. But Flavious ate the entire egg, and Max's shell too.



We picked up the new hens yesterday from a local guy who sells off his hens when they reach a year and their production slows down. But they will give plenty of eggs for us. I wanted 4 but he gave me a fifth one. He said she was a runt. Everyone is getting along fine this morning, sharing food, and getting used to their new home and new friends.

Two nights ago I gave Sammy the goat kid some more penicillin. The next morning he came out of his kennel and jumped around and had improved so much. I gave him more last night and today he's not 100% but he is still getting better. He didn't get enough the first round obviously. As soon as we stopped the penicillin he went quickly downhill. So I will continue the penicillin. I cannot believe how much better he is right now. Hopefully he will continue to improve with the penicillin and vitamin paste he's getting. He's still coughing but he's not just getting up and then going back in his kennel like he was before. He's out playing, looking for trouble, and trying to eat everything, what a goat should be doing! I plan on having him around for a long time doing the "Sammy shuffle" which is what I call his walk. He slides across the floor because it's easier to walk, since it's slippery. So he does the Sammy shuffle to get around when he's not doing the goatie springs and hops. He is not doing many springs right now, but he did two today which is more than he's done in a week.






I got these great new PJ's. I think they are the best ones I've found yet! It's too big, but it was too adorable to pass up. It says "I'm the queen on the EWE- niverse!" Although, Lila, is true queen of the ewe-niverse.

I was cooking dinner the other night and was working at the stove and I turned around to see Douglas the pug puppy, Norman the Chihuahua, and Sammy the goat kid all sitting on the rug in the kitchen together staring at me waiting for a handout. Last night Sammy started gnawing on Norman's back, he doesn't bite, just sucks on everything in sight, so he mouthed back and forth on Norman's back and Norman just loved that since it was like a massage. So Norman stood there with his head up in the air, eyes closed, back stretched out, getting a massage from Sammy. Sammy even tried sucking Noel the Mini Rex's ears and she just sat there and let him do that too! The interactions between our animal family is just incredible and so much fun to watch. How can you not smile and laugh when you see things like that? Doesn't matter how bad of a day you are having or how awful of a mood you are in. It's priceless.

I caught Flavious sleeping on the job this morning. He looks like a polar bear passed out on the rock. I can see he's really doing a good job of guarding! Looks like he had a busy night, so the boys got to catch some shut eye when he can. Especially while the sun is shining.

Izzie went outside today to get some exercise. She is adorable. She has doubled in size and is growing really well. She loves running, I mean she just runs and jumps, and hops in the snow. It's warm today and the sun is out so I figured it's a good afternoon for her to be out with the sheep for a while playing.





After we got a load of wood in we went for a ride in the mule on our trails that Kevin had plowed. Buddy dog came along for the ride. Saturday we'll go out and set up our sugar camp and start tapping trees. By the weather forecast there should be a pretty good run this week, so hopefully we'll get some of that. As of Friday my goats are due anytime this week. So it's going to be an interesting week!

Kevin & Buddy on the trail

For now, it's bedtime for all of us. I leave you with a couple pictures of Norman and Douglas (who weighs 7 pounds now!)

Douglas says "who is it?"

Norman waiting for bedtime