The Morning Weather Report

"Hey Faith, what's today's weather going to be?"

"One hundred percent chance of rain," she mutters in her best Eeyore impersonation.

She's staying inside this morning...

not taking any chances on shrinking her woolens.

As for her sister...

Hope was sheltering beneath the hay feeder until I walked up to snap her photo.

She's always afraid that "this one" might be her last meal,

and so she never strays too far from the grub.

Of the two, Hope is the lazier...

and prefers to lie beneath the hay so that she can grab a bite or two whenever she wishes.

Eating in bed - effortless eating... that's her m.o.

As you can see by the amount of light in the upper photos, it is a little later in the morning.

Our first stop to take care of these girls happens before the sun comes up.

(which, by the way, I swear it never did, yesterday!)

Jack stops the gator here and he tends to the sheeples,

while I walk to the barn by the light of a headlamp.

I am always met on the driveway by my favorite black cats.

And I can honestly say that having a black cat cross your path is in no way bad luck.

You see.... with as often as it happens to me... I should have the worst luck in the world.

And I consider myself quite a lucky gal!

Yes, four rather enthusiastic kitties always meet me on my morning

trek to the barn.

One of the first chores at the barn is to give these four starving felines

their yummy canned food.

Each has their own favorite dining area.

(The rest of the day they have dry food available to them.)

I swear this regimen keeps them from ever straying too far from the barn...

this and the toasty warm heat lamps that hang above their beds.

The black kitties, especially....

for once being feral, it's amazing that they are never out of sight of the barn.

The dogs eagerly accompany us to the barn each morning...

knowing that they have the job of licking the cat cans clean.

We take our cans to the local recycling center,

and the center appreciates the fact that the cans are clean.

The dogs love the little treat.

We waste no water washing out the cans...

so it's a win-win!

Everybody's happy.

After tending to the cats, the horses, the pigs and sheep,

we open the door to the ducks' house and they come running out to the far end of their pen

where they plop down facing the eastern horizon

seemingly waiting for the sun to come up.

Once up, their yard is opened and they are allowed access to the rest of the farm.

They have very busy days patrolling the nearby acreage in search of tasty insects.

They can often be seen basking in the sun in one of the pastures...

always with one eye sky-ward.

They are very good at spotting predatory hawks and running for cover.

Luckily, they seem to stay close enough to the larger animals

who afford more protection from predators.

And just in case any local friends missed my post last week...

a farm friend has six three-week-old runner ducklings (younger siblings to my own)

who need a good home.

(I don't have room for ducklings right now.)

Message me if you are interested.

One of the challenges in having a farm filled with animals,

is knowing when enough is enough.

It is so tempting to take in every animal that needs a home.

But, there is a fine line between rescuing the needy and becoming a hoarder...

which we would never want to do.

It is important to us to give the animals that we have the best living situations that we can,

while avoiding over-crowding.

We also have thought long and hard about the future and realize that at some point

we will no longer be able to do this amount of work on a daily basis.

Allowing for a natural downsizing of the farm is the most prudent plan of action

for the future.

Although ducks certainly don't have the lifespan of donkeys or other larger mammals,

I hope to never have a situation where I have to re-home any of my own precious

farm friends... so, we have learned to say "no" when necessary.

As for the ducks, I have no available houses for them right now,

and putting them in with the larger ducks after they are full grown,

would make their house a little crowded (think: lots and lots of duck poop!)