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

The Ghost of Halloween Past

Nessie has been gone a little over a year now but I'm sure her ghost won't mind being resurrected for a little Halloween greeting...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM ALTA-PETE FARM!

Painting

While Scott does fall chores outside, I have things to do inside. Anyone who has been to our house knows that every time I declare that I am going to paint a room it takes me more than a year to peel the old wall paper (the cats help out alot but I still have to do most of the work) and actually start to paint. Well I've finally got the walls clear on the off-the-kitchen hallway and the painting started today.

Of course the animals are all a little bit curious about the work and want to know if there is any way they can help. BOBBY AND SALEM! STOP RIGHT THERE!

I'm sure little green paw prints would add alot to the look of the house but I'll pass on that this time.

Fortunately Skid is keeping an eye out for anyone else who might walk into the paint.

Raise the Roof

We're trying to get some important last minute chores done before winter. This building is one of the ones the previous owner pulled the roof off of to make a greenhouse for his pot. We'd like to use it as a storage shed for our dog equipment but we needed to brace it so the winter winds don't blow it down. I actually didn't expect Scott to go up on the roof.

All I know is thank goodness he didn't get hurt or I'd be stuck doing all the work this winter!