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!

An Eastside Farm Chronicle Update

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately. I realized that I haven't done a follow up to several stories, namely the problem with Callebaut's bloat, the chicken that was attacked by the dogs, and Ginger, my sweet little zipper necked girl.

Callebaut is first. His bloat seems to be under control. Good news. He is on a better quality dog food, following the advice of our vet to only feed our dogs food that lists the meat, not meat by-products, first. Done. We also have cut back on his food 'cause he was a bit on the chunky side. He also has been taking pills, happily because they are embedded in a spoon of peanut butter, that helps with his "motility". He is also not supposed to tank up on water, which he used to do every night, and can only take a good drink two hours after he has eaten. With everything we have done for him, he is now showing off a very shiny coat and a more defined waistline. Actually, he is looking very fine, indeed!

Now Ginger's news...sigh...
Ginger's tumor is malignant. It is squamous cell cancer and it has gone into the blood vessels in the vicinity of the tumor along with her lymph glands. This is not good. I will be taking her back in to our vet in 3 weeks. In 2 weeks I am to begin checking the same location to see if the tumor has grown back. The vet believes a tumor will pop up on or in her somewhere in the near future.
I am incredibly saddened with all of this and I can't help but feel deflated. I just want to spend quality time with her because I don't know how much time we will have together.

The Chicken: Honey West survived the dog attack with fierceness and strength. There is actually a story but I will save it for the next posting.

The Remodeled Hen House: Farmer Jeff and I are still exhausted from the day/night of the remodel. The girls are still adjusting to it and are gifting more eggs! That is very good news! Farmer Jeff has gone back in and added more perches, which will help the girls to get a better night's sleep. They are still wandering aimlessly in the coop when heading off to bed because they have not figured out the sleeping assignments. Once they determine who will sleep where and with whom, life will drift back to normalcy and tranquility.

The Composters: Is this a new subject for the blog? Hm...I think so! Farmer Jeff found 2 big composters on Craigslist and we are now composting all of our green matter from the restaurant! We are most excited by this new achievement. We have discovered the key ingredient for acceleratingly the compost...Chicken Poop! Um...we just happen to have a LOT of chicken poop! We are going to be cranking out compost and then using it in the garden once we have aged it.

Life, on the whole, is good. Living on the farm has really driven home the cycle of life. We see it on a daily basis. I love the new growth, little chicks, flowers, leaves budding. That is the fun part. The slow decline of the garden teaches me that there is nothing I can do to stop it. What I don't want to face is death. It is as much a part of life as...living. Doesn't make it easier.

Think good thoughts about a pussy cat.