Butter and Honey

Ducklings grow fast!

Here are Butter and Honey on April 20th - the day I brought them home from the feed store.

Nine days later on April 29th. 

On May 1st.

And today, May 6th.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but they are about four times the size they were just 2 1/2 weeks ago!

Spring Kittens

Reeces had five kittens the day after we got back from our camping trip.

A calico, a gray, and three orange, tiger striped 

that we CANNOT tell apart - they are identical!

Some friends of ours are going to take two of them when they are a bit older.

We'll probably keep the calico for sure. 

Nugent

My daughter kept seeing a dog at the end of our road that didn't have a collar or tags on.

One day she opened the door of her truck and he jumped in.

She brought him home, because we don't have enough dogs already ;-) 

and he has lived on our front porch since. 

He's sweet.

She named him Nugent. 

He likes us. :-)

Surprise babies...

Three weeks ago, one of our barn cats had two babies on the back porch,

but, after that day, we never saw them again.

Imagine my surprise when I went outside this morning and saw not two, but THREE 

baby kittens on the porch.  Reese's, who is actually the grandmother cat of these kittens, had brought them all back up to the porch.

We'll need to give these away in about five weeks,

but my daughter says she's keeping this red one. :-)

We'll see.

Meet Luna

My daughter's new parakeet. :-)

Daisy had to meet her of course.

It looks like Daisy's thinking, "But, I thought I was the only animal that got to come inside!" :-)

Lone Spring Kitten

Reeces had a spring litter of kittens in early March.

She had two - a gray and a tiny calico that didn't make it.

We didn't see much of the little gray kitten the first month.  Reeces kept it near the back shed mostly.

I would see it just for a little bit usually in the early evenings.

It looks so much like little Leche from last spring.

It's been coming out in the yard a little more and more

and doing a lot of playing with Chiclet and Chupa.

The kids named it "Luttrell" since it was the lone survivor this spring.

And this weekend Reeces let it start coming on the back porch.

Luttrell loves cardbord boxes as all the cats do. :-)

Update on the Ducks

If you remember my daughter got Donald and Daffy, the little mallard duckings, back in October.

She raised them in a pen until they were old enough to fly and then we let them free range with the chickens.  Just a few weeks after their first "Ducks Day Out", Daffy flew off and never returned.

But, Donald, has hung around.

We've decided he thinks he's a chicken. ;-)

 They've all gotten along just fine for months.

He particularly likes to follow Taylor Swift, my Austrolorpe, around.

We hardly ever see one of them without the other.

But then, two things happened this week.

One was so neat and one was so very sad.

Mr. H. came in a few days ago and said, "You don't have a chicken right now that lays white eggs, do you?"  I said, "No, what are those?"

You guessed it!  Duck eggs!  Donald isn't a boy after all. ;-)

Unfortunately, also this week (and I'm sure it's NOT a coincidence)

right after Donald (Daisy? haha) started laying eggs

the chickens started to peck at her.

Mr. H. found her yesterday morning huddled against the back of our house 

seemingly lost and disoriented.

Her eyes had been pecked out so badly that we couldn't even really see them. :-(

Mr. H. applied some ointment to them and we put her in her little wading pool.

  

She seemed to be doing okay.

And the chickens were minding there own business.

But then, this morning, Mr. H. caught Carrie Underwood, the Americauna,

pecking at the poor duck's eyes again so he moved her, the old little pet porter that she has been laying her eggs in and her wading pool into our front yard fenced in area so the chickens can't get to her.

We are hoping she will recover.

We're just going to keep a close watch on her and give her the best care we can.

Of course Miss Daisy is very concerned and I have to almost drag her back inside after she goes out in the front to potty. :-)

It's always something around here! ;-)

Merle Wins Big

Spring time means stock show time around here and this year my daughter showed her Duroc Merle.

He started out back in November not much bigger than his feeding trough.

But he grew and grew.

At weigh in he was 238 pounds and looking really good.

We had high hopes for him,

but you never know what the competition will be like

or what the judge will think.

Resting up before the show.

And there they go!

Look at that show girl!  Keepin' one eye on the judge. :-)

Merle did really well in the ring, too. 

And that right there is the smile of getting penned!  She's in the top three!

Merle placed second and we were all so happy!

Even little bro was proud.

Momma and Daddy were pretty excited, too!

Two days later was the premium auction and time to get all cleaned up and ready again.

And Merle did great!  He earned the big bucks for my daughter.

A lot of hard work paid off.

A big hug to say good bye.

And always a few tears.

Merle was a good pig.

Show Time! - Stock Show 2013

A Girl and Her Pigs - Stock Show 2012