Another Thanksgiving

People always ask me if we celebrate the American Thanksgiving. OF COURSE WE DO! We may be on the Canadian side of the border but we have almost as many American born creatures here as Canadian born. So I asked some of the Americans to let me know what they were thankful for today...

Kit (from Montana) said she was thankful that coyotes don't hunt during the day so she could get a good nap in.Bob (from California) is thankful that old dogs are allowed on the couch and Lad (from Virginia) is thankful that young dogs are allowed on the couch.The molting chicken (from Iowa) is thankful that her feathers are growing back.Skid (from South Dakota) is thankful that he gets to go on every trip to townand since he's lived with us, he doesn't have to ride in the back of the truck anymore.Poe (Canadian) wanted to get in on this game. He said that he was thankful that the fall decorations are coming down because they are boring. He heard that the Christmas decorations are much more fun. He can't wait to see the tree!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICA!!

Survival

I looked out my window this morning and was able to watch Cali teaching her children valuable skills. Today's lesson was tree climbing, and I think this was a task they enjoyed.

While the kittens played, I mean, trained, Cali kept an eye out and when she heard a sound that alarmed her, they came down the trees as fast as they went up.

Then they moved on to the next lesson : get out before they get you.And with a last glance over her shoulder to make sure everyone was coming, they were gone.

Redemption

Poor Scott. He's taken alot of razzing about his stone steps. He actually can build things, you know. Sure, stone is not his medium, but he's pretty good with wood and if you need a fence built he's your man. It so happens I did have a fence that needed building. I wanted an arena for those "in between" dogs that are ready to leave the round pen but aren't quite ready for the field. Finding a way to look competent again, Scott enlisted the help of his daughter, Jessica, last weekend to fulfill my demand.
While I finished painting inside the house, the busy bee continued his labors.Before the weekend was over, the arena was complete and immediately became useful.The best part? It has lights!Umm, but Scott can't have the credit for that. (thanks George!)

Little Red Dots

I'm about to reveal Skid's biggest weakness. Laser pointers. Sure they don't look worrisome but they drive him batty. Originally we bought it to entertain Salem but he moved on to bigger fish or mice, if you will.

So now the defence of the household against little red dots is left up to Skid and he takes it very seriously. He spends hours hoping one will show up and then swiftly dispatches them.Double Team!Wait a minute! Dogs don't see color! So what color is a little red dot if you only see in black and white?

Home Improvement?

Two winters ago, Scott and his brother Ryan and his wife Trina built us a new deck on the side of our house. The old one was going to get us sued since you could only walk on the seams for fear of putting a foot through one of the rotten boards.
We lost Ryan in an accident last spring so the work he did around our farm means even more to us. Scott and I decided we better do some upkeep on the deck so it didn't suffer damage in the weather. We are going to stain and protect it for the winter and Scott thought we could close up underneath it with the stones we grow in our field. The other day he came in and said he was going to make me some stone steps leading up to it. "Great!" I said. "That would look really nice." He labored all day bringing stones to the house and when he was done I went out to look at my new stone steps. I tried to be enthusiastic since he worked so hard but it just wasn't what I was expecting.

" Ah..., ok. That's a nice... um, pile of stones you made there, Baby." "Is it permanent?"

Mean Girls

I'm afraid I had to separate the molting chicken. She's doing well and her feathers will grow back soon but chickens are a little like teenage girls. Anyone who's different gets picked on.
Chickens feel very strongly about looking beautiful and have many spa days (or dust baths, if you will) to achieve the right shine on their feathers. Without her feathers she was clearly different and wasn't being allowed to sit at the lunch table with the other girls. She was getting pretty hungry but they didn't want to hear it and told her to talk to the tail feathers.

So I gave her her own space. Of course, she wants out, and now that the others see she has something they don't have, they want in.
It almost, almost makes her feel popular again.

Guess What? Chicken Butt!

We had our first snow of the season today. The chickens were less than pleased. But they figured it would be safe if they stuck to the edge of the snow.

Nobody could be more unhappy about the weather change than this girl.I know she's thinking, "S***! I picked the worst time to molt!"

It's got to be more than just a little cold on her bare buns