The Kids

For someone that doesn't have children, I sure have a lot of kids! We have the 3 indoor cats, the 3 dogs, the 2 outdoor feral cats and the ** number of chickens! (and that number is growing!) The little kids of the household, the 3 chicks that were hatched by a neighbor while we were on vacation, (who then lived in the bathroom, and then the greenhouse) have finally been moved out to the main coop but are protected from the others by being contained in their cage.

It takes at least 1 week of caged/protected introduction before you can let the newcomers out into the general population. Because we are getting ready to leave for 5 days and my mother-in-law is going to be watching the fort, we are going to leave them in a little longer for a total of 9 days. If they are mixed into the flock too early, the bigger girls could cause harm and even kill the newcomers. Yes, pecking order is the rule of the roost!

As you can see, the other members of the flock are quite curious about these newcomers. The newcomers, for the most part, are talking up a storm and are a little nervous. This protected intro will ultimately save their lives.

What are the other kids up to?
Callebaut, our chocolate lab, aka "the Elder Statesman", "Brown", "Grandpa", "Cranky Butt", has received some preferential treatment for the last month. He just turned 10 years old and has been showered with gifts! As you can see above, he takes the original gift, in this case a stuffed faux sheep-skin goose, and transforms it into...um...more fluff!

In this next photo, you can see he is quite pleased to be on his brand new "big boy" bed...and India is SOL.

On the other hand, Tasso, our Hurricane Katrina survivor, has figured out how to make the best of a situation and instead of sulking over Callebaut's new bed, has found the perfect place! On Mom and Dad's bed right in the middle of the laundry and packing area. Nice!

Parents of human children practice the art of unconditional love and we do the same, as much as is possible when they tear up your favorite robe, pee on your leg (Tasso has issues) or steal your butter. After all, they are just animals!

Callebaut doing his chores

Our oldest boy, Callebaut, is quite happy to do his chores on Saturday morning. As a matter of fact, he starts doing his chores before he has even had breakfast. Good Boy!

Life on the farm

After spending another night in emergency with Callebaut (he had another spell of anxiety, lip licking, drooling and general discomfort) I thought a blog on other news would be welcome.

Friday night Farmer Jeff and I found ourselves still pretty exhausted after the marathon chicken coop redux and crawled into bed looking forward to a good, long and deep nights sleep. Can you hear it coming? I was holding Ginger in my arms, praying for good health, when Chloe started chasing something in the bedroom. I didn't think I had seen a moth, but that is what it sounded like she was chasing. Once Ginger sat up to see what was going on, I thought I would join her. I turned on the light just as I saw something pretty damn big fly past me and land on the quilt that hangs behind our bed. Then I saw it. About a foot about Farmer Jeff's head was a very large and very dark lump. Hm...BAT!!!! I thought I had best wake him up but there really wasn't a damn thing we could do.Benny the bat flew back and forth across the bedroom, stopping only to fling itself onto curtain rods, closet doors and then the air show would resume. At one point he smacked against the wall and slid down the closet doors to the floor where Chloe was ready and waiting. I am not exactly sure what happened, but I heard both the bat AND Chloe let out a squeal and Chloe ran to the bathroom. Once Benny stopped again on the closet door, I turned off the light and told everyone to go back to sleep.

We didn't see Benny at all the rest of the night or the next day until...we came home that evening in the middle of the aerial show punctuated by cats racing back and forth in the room. I wish I had had the presence of mind to grab the camera and take movies, but I was actually laughing too hard. Once I composed myself I took action. I closed all of the doors, started turning off lights and herding the cats behind the closed doors. Small problem. My brain said, "get Julian and get him out of the room". Small problem...I tried to put Julian outside on top of the dogs. OOOoooPPPSSS. Farmer Jeff grabbed my arm as Julian was throwing himself into reverse up my arm. So much for Calm, Cool and Collected. (It is all done with mirrors!!!)

Once we got everyone secured behind the correct doors, we opened the front door and tried the "sweep him out" maneuver. We switched tactics when that morphed into bad version of "BatMinton". Farmer Jeff grabbed the tube leftover from the chicken coop linoleum, crammed paper in one end of it and then offered up the open end to Benny. After loud complaints from Benny he finally jumped into the ticket to freedom. Farmer Jeff carried/ran him outside, still in the tube, and then shook the tube until Benny came tumbling out. FREEDOM. Benny took off with nary a backwards glance. Whew...

In other news:
The 30 varieties of tomato babies, about 800, are poking their heads up. Needless to say, that is the first thing Farmer Jeff wants to look at in the morning and the last thing at night...and maybe 2 or 4 times during the day! Yesterday we did a thorough cleaning out of this room, aka the Mad Scientist's Lab. It is a much nicer and cleaner place to spend time.

This room is, not surprisingly, misunderstood and so is the crop! Last year we had a gas leak in front of our house which required a visit through the lab. Farmer Jeff wanted to make sure that the utilities guy understood that we were growing TOMATOES...not that other famous cash crop. The guy just laughed and said, "it's okay, dude, I live in Mendocino. Don't worry about it. I won't say anything". Farmer Jeff TRIED to tell him that THESE ARE TOMATOES...but the guy just waved him off, "don't worry, dude". Oh well...

The composters are in full tilt boogie. We are monitoring the temp and moisture content daily and now Farmer Jeff is intent on building our own tumblers out of 55 gallon oil drums. There is something to be said for his upbringing. Farmer Jeff is a third generation farmer and carries with him the can do/can figure it out spirit that is so essential to survival. I stand is awe of him, his ingenuity and his tenacity.


Yesterday was the first time I had ever seen Chloe and Ginger sleeping together, so I had to get a picture. I have always worried about having 2 females of the same specie together and there have been some turf wars since Chloe moved inside. It seems as though we may have had a serious breakthrough. I really hope so. Ginger needs all the love and support she can get.




Last night, when I took Callebaut to emergency, our dear, little den-mother, India, flipped out. Callebaut is her alpha and omega/all and everything, and she is NOT happy when he leaves without her. Farmer Jeff stayed behind last night to get some very necessary sleep (he had to be at work very early today) so it was up to him to calm her down. Ultimately the only thing that worked was allowing her to get up on the bed and then curl up on MY pillow right next to Daddy. She settled down after about 10 minutes, but was up and at Callebaut's side right after we arrived home. Once she saw that he was okay, she settled down on her couch and went to sleep.


We can't do a blog on the kids without talking about the darling Tasso. He is such a love. He just wants to cuddle, smile, play, sleep on the bed, be adored and be king. Well, he can't be king 'cause that is Callebaut's position, but he is certainly our fine, young prince. I couldn't decide which picture was cutest, so here are two!
PS: I can't sign off today without a picture of Julian, aka J-Boy, Sputnik, Gray boy, who was kind enough to keep me company in my office/crafts room between bags of fabric!

Update on the Boy Callebaut

Our big and happy boy is doing just fine! He is now enjoying fine health and pre-moistened food! No more big bowls of just dry food that can puff up in his tummy like jiffy pop popcorn! We have learned our lesson!

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts for Callebaut and us. Go hug a dog today!

The Kitty Trio

Our kitties are remarkably good friends. I know we are lucky. A friend of mine has constant wars between her kitties and it is NOT PRETTY. The photo above was taken just before Christmas.


Seeing the kitties in the grouping of 3, I was reminded of the painting, Resurrection by Piero della Francesca. He created the compositional device of the figure triangle. While Chloe doesn't quite create a central column, it is nonetheless a triangle of kitty figures.























While the kitties are peacefully lounging, our sweet puppy, Callebaut, is in tummy distress.

I brought him into the house today and within 15 minutes he was pacing, licking his lips, pawing at his mouth and whining. After 10 minutes of this I called Farmer Chef Jeff at work and asked him to come home so we could get the pup to the vet. He is so big I can't get him there by myself. Luckily I was able to get him to the vet right away.

After blood tests, a tube into the tummy and x-rays, it was revealed that he was bloated. How did this happen? The theory is that because he inhales/doesn't chew his dry food, it then swells when he drinks water. This time it swelled so much that he was in gastric distress. The vet ordered no food for him tonight and a recheck in morning. How do we prevent this from happening again? We first need to cut down on how much we feed him (he weighs 103 !!!) and we also need to moisten it with warm water and let it swell in the bowl first, then let him eat it. I pray that does the trick.

Callebaut is the dog that taught me about unconditional puppy love. I know he will be fine. Any additional prayers are greatly appreciated.