Alta-Pete's "Wild Kingdom"

Welcome to another edition of Alta-Pete's "Wild Kingdom"!
This week we are going to follow the very rare and hard to photograph black panther of the hot African plains.Er, I mean, the elusive snow leopard of the frozen Arctic.Snow leopards do not do well in captivity and frequently escape and return to the wild.They are a clever animal and use the sparse trees to sneak up on their dangerous prey. A prey that no other animal is brave enough to stalk.
The vicious Arctic chicken! (cue dramatic music)
The snow leopard uses his natural camouflage to spy on the dangerous chickens from behind a watering hole.Then he begins the elaborate circling of his nemesisUntil, a standoff!
Perhaps it would be wise to not attack and live to hunt another day.And so, our snow leopard moves off in search of another unlucky creature that he can subdue and eat.

The Replacements

We warned them. Remember?
If the strike didn't end we were going to bring some new workers in.
We weren't bluffing.
The replacements are here but a little shy right now The regular workers are calling them scabs.
Every time the new gals show their faces, those on strike threaten to kick some chicken butt.However, everyone gets along at break time.Production is up.
Way up.
Too up.
I can't eat this much every day.Anybody need some eggs?

Minimal Monday - The Barn

I am always taking pictures of our barn.
It is the focal point of our farm and it's rumored to be around 100yrs old.

Alta-Pete Farm from the gravel road leading up to it

I often use it as a weather gage.
Sometimes it looks beautiful in the soft light of a warm evening

Thursday evening

and sometimes I can barely see it through the snow!

The next morning

Minimal Monday - Tom Cat

This is not PJ but I think I wouldn't be going out on too far of a limb to say he's his father.He was quite annoyed by my existence when I took this photo.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Puppies' Day Out

Yesterday, for once, the forecasters decided not to taunt us and we had a beautiful sunny day. I wanted to give myself a break from puppy poop patrol in the house, so I took the babies outside.
They were tentative at first,but shortly, they got the hang of it and then took over the yard.Eventually, I had to go get some other things done and decided to leave them in the outside puppy pen.This wasn't met with full approvalBut eventually, a sleep attack took over and everyone piled into a little crate and crashed.Ahh, peace.

Big Shoes

The little kitten that I saved from being killed by our last guardian dog is not all that little anymore. He was quite feral but has now decided that the world needs to know how special he is. No matter what he's doing, if he sees you in the barn yard, he leaves to come and tell you what a great cat he is and how lucky you are to get to pet him.It is time to give him a name.
I have dubbed him P.J. - Pete Jr.
In case you don't remember, Pete Sr. was a very honored cat around our farm.
He had also been born a feral cat but had become the ambassador of good will in our barnyard. He was killed by the last guardian dog a few years ago and is very much missed.
He greeted everyone, kept the mice down and had a great sense of humor.I have explained to PJ what big shoes he has to fill by receiving that name.
Did he think he was up to it?
He said he'd give it his best shot.

Minimal Monday - Barbed Wire and Chains

One of the most beautiful phenomenons I have seen on the prairies is a hoar frost. Whenever we get an evening fog we wake up to a transformed farm the next morning. Even boring things like tire chains get a soft dusting of lace that spiffs them up. The only problem with the hoar frost is that it means we are having a damp cold. Seriously, it makes a difference. The thermometer says we aren't as cold as it feels. The weather men keep taunting us with promises of above freezing weather in a few days but just like the proverbial carrot, when we get near, they yank it away to just out of our reach.

Nothin' Much

There's not a whole lot going on around here.It's pretty boring.Oh, wait! I forgot,
these are pretty interesting!

Minimal Monday - Two Good Dogs

Jed is my semi-retired dog. He may not be very good at herding but he has a huge heart and a gentle nature (unless you are a sheep or a toy).
He is definitely a good dog.
Young June is one of the pups we whelped last year. She would rather people didn't find her so cute. If she was ugly they would quit trying to pet her all the time. She would prefer they mind their own business.
However, for this blog, she is a good dog because she stood still to have her picture taken when none of the other pups would.