Sights from around Crooked Acres.
Happy Gracie.
George, keeping an eye out for trouble. You know how those chickens can be.
There was a squirrel up in the tree, and Gracie wanted that squirrel to know that she was wise to his shenanigans.
This is the “I see something. Should I be concerned?” watchful look.
Sweet Miss Gracie. (Don’t worry, I gave her a kiss for all of you!)
Three broody hens, sitting on their eggs in the maternity coop.
Very young rooster, hanging out on the edge of the dogs’ watering bowl. It makes me nervous when they do this, but I’ve never seen one fall in.
Chicks, roosting on fallen branches in the pig yard. The little ones just LOVE the pig yard, for some reason, and all fifteen of them are almost always running around in there.
Some of our tomatoes got early blight, so I was spraying fungicide. I’m a fungicidal maniac.
As Fred’s been clearing pieces of the fallen tree from the chicken yard, he’s been putting some of the smaller pieces in the back yard for the cats to play on. Corbie thinks this will do nicely, thank you.
Elwood chasing Kara around the back yard. I think you can imagine how much she cared for this.
Kara highly disapproves of it when we’re out of the back yard. What if something happens and she can’t save us? BAD HUMANS.
I bought some of this fabric last week at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I think it’s utterly adorable.
Baby cucumber.
Baby zucchini.
Baby pattypan squash (I call them spaceships. “Go out to the garden and pick a couple of spaceships, will you?”)
Baby cherry tomatoes.
They’re pretty sure it’s time for the cookies.
“AH SMELL COOKIES!”
“GIVE US THE COOKIES!”
“COOOOOOOOOOKIES!”
Bold Pig gets her cookie.
Spunky Pigster gets her cookie.
And one for Hernia Girl.
Someone asked if the pigs are for sustenance. Yes, they are. They’ll be with us (and spoiled rotten) until around the end of September. Then Fred will load them up and take them off to camp. Then a few days late he’ll come home with boxes to fill up the freezer.
(We refer to it as “sending the pigs off to Freezer Camp.”)
They won’t all be going to camp in our freezer – one will be going to our freezer, and the other two will be going to freezers in other homes. One’s going to a former coworker of Fred’s and the other is going to be split between two of Fred’s current coworkers.
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So somehow I completely failed to mention in yesterday’s entry that the first thing Maggie did when we let her do some exploring around the house on Sunday was to start yowling and rubbing on the boy cats, and then doing the march-in-place “HERE I AMMMMMMM!” dance that cats who are going into heat do. It’s a special experience, really, if by “special” you mean “slightly horrifying”. She wasn’t constant with the yowling and the marching (seriously, I wish you could have seen the look of utter bewilderment on Corbie’s face when she was marching in front of him),just every couple of hours. I decided she wasn’t so much IN heat as headed in that direction, so Monday morning I called and made the appointment to have her spayed on Tuesday. I dropped her off first thing Tuesday morning, but they weren’t able to get to her ’til late in the afternoon, so she spent the night and I picked her up yesterday morning.
She was fine, she’s such a calm, laid-back girl that nothing bothers her much. Her babies were happy enough to see her, but they didn’t crawl all over her and act like they’d been fading away from the sadness of missing her. Actually, judging by the way they ran around this house while she was gone, I don’t think they even realized she wasn’t here.
Sleepy McMaos.
Princess Poutyface, off by herself.
“What you want, lady?”
Checking out Jake.
“What IS it?”
“I don’t know. BUT I DON’T LIKE IT.”
That’s Fergus Simon with the attitude.
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There are no pictures of this, to my dismay, so you’ll just have to imagine, in your head, how incredibly, amazingly wonderful it was to see. On Sunday evening, we let Maggie in to visit with the Spice Girls. We were curious what her reaction would be, would she growl and hiss and smack them? Would she ignore them? Would they be scared of her?
As it turned out, Maggie walked into the room, and Clove ran over to her. Maggie sniffed Clove’s head and then explored the room a little. Eventually, she flopped down on the floor by the door, and Clove – who was sitting in my lap – looked at her. I said “Go say hi!”, and picked Clove up and set her down near Maggie. Clove went over, and Maggie sniffed the top of her head again, then started washing her.
It was absolutely the sweetest thing, I wish I’d had the camera with me. Clove closed her eyes and raised her face to Maggie, and she looked so utterly happy as Maggie cleaned her, that I might have teared up a little bit. Cilantro eventually wandered over and was cleaned, too, but Coriander was uninterested in what Maggie had to offer.
Maggie and Clove snuggled for a few minutes, and then Clove nuzzled around and nursed – or tried to, I honestly don’t know if she actually got any milk – for a few minutes. Maggie finally stood up and walked over to the bowl of kitten food. Clove followed her over, and they ate together. Then Maggie stood by the door until I let her out.
I kind of wish I’d tried putting Maggie in with those little girls a week ago. Clove is such a tiny little thing and hasn’t been gaining weight as quickly as I’d like. She isn’t losing weight, and she’s eating fine and is bright-eyed and playful, but her sisters are several ounces heavier than she is, so of course I worry. Maybe she just misses her mama, and having a little time with Maggie is just what she needs.
I did let a couple of the McMao boys in to see how they’d react to the Spice Girls. They – Finnegan and Fergus Simon – sniffed around the room like they were thinking “This seems familiar”, but when the Spice Girls approached them, they hissed and ran away.
Leapin’ Coriander! (LOVE the smile on her face!)
Coriander watching the feather teaser, while Cilantro smacks at her tail.
“I like frogs.”
Cori’s feelin’ sassy. (When she gives me this look, I call her “Sassafrass.”
Wee bunny Clove. (I call her “Little Bit.”)
Cori loves a good ear rub.
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Smilin’ Jake. Looks very smug, no?
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: “Where’d my tail go?”
2008: Truly, how can you resist that goofy little face?
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Apparently Mia’s not allowed to use the litter box without his snoopervision.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Corbie at this angle – he’s got an amazing flame pattern on his head and neck!
I wonder if some of the McMaos will look like him when older, some of them have very pretty stripy pajamas…
I keep telling you guys that he’s amazingly, breathtakingly gorgeous. 🙂
Love all your animals. I think I would get too attached to the piggies to ever send them to camp. Do you end up with a favorite? Do you ever feel bad sending them off knowing their fate? I don’t think I could eat my own piggies. I know…I know…”farm life”…but still.
Thank you for kissing Gracie for me.
Bless Maggie! Good mama!
I don’t really end up with a favorite pig. This is, I think, our 5th or 6th set of pigs (though the first time we’ve had three at once), and I’ve learned to emotionally distance myself from them. It’s our goal to make them the happiest pigs possible while they’re here, and I think we do a pretty good job. You know, short of inviting them into the house and letting them sleep in the guest bed. 🙂
Oh, I must add: I got a new kitten (female) to be a playmate for my 2 yr old male (who desperately wants to play with my 9 yr old female…but she wants no part of it). In just 4 days they became thick as thieves and just this morning I saw him cleaning her! He is very watchful, gentle and attentive to her. An excellent big brother and they play so sweetly together. Just had to say. 🙂
Awww, so sweet!
This post has everything — happy dogs, chickens, and piggies, beautiful veggies, expressive kittens, the ever-more-marvelous Maggie, two sides of Corbie, and a fungicidal maniac. Thanks for making this scorching day a better one!
I was thinking it would be a good idea to combine the litters, as long as the younger kittens were strong enough and well enough (tests back etc). Two groups of kittens will bond really quickly (I’m sure you know that) usually about 2 to 3 hours and the little ones still emotionally need a Moma Cat. They will be more emotionally stable if they have a cat Momma (or neutered Uncle) who washes them, bats at them and snuggles them. Even if they get no milk, they will get the emotional satisfaction of nursing.
It would probably be even worth delaying taking Maggie to Pet Smart for a couple of weeks if she bonds with the little ones. As you’ve seen, kittens start to untangle themselves from Mommy on their own, at about eight or nine weeks. So, it would not be all that long that the little ones would need a Mommy Cat.
Not all kittens will voluntarily go their own way, we had two giant cats that used to nurse their Aunt (she and her sister combined litters they had at the same time) long into adulthood when they were much bigger than she was. But most Mother Cats (Maggie I’m sure) won’t put up with that and bat them away, long before that point.
Wonderful photos, the pigs reminded me of “Nuff, Nuff-Nuff and Snuff” the three we raised years ago, pretty much the same way and for the same reasons. “Nuff is Swedish for: Pig.
Oh my stars!! You have the best animals and plants and vegetables!! I think your farm animals running free and healthy and happy is such a bonus! Yay for your piggies and chickens!! Awwww George and Gracie are just adorable!
Awww it’s so sad about little Clover with mama Maggie! Awww that’s so sweet that lovely Maggie’s bonded with her. Would Maggie be a surrogate mummy to these little ones now? Awww that would be really nice!!! And I do hope all the kitties will get together too! That would be just mad!!
Jake is the best kitty!! Awwww!! So is Elwood and Kara and Corbie!! Oh ok – all your kitties are the best!! LOL!! Take care
x
In the picture of Clove where you call her Little Bit (Which, incidentally, is the name of one of my mother’s cats), she looks like you’re telling her a story and she’s all, “AND THEN WHAT, LADY?” Love it.
that fabric is adorable, and the veggies look delicious.
As for mixing Maggie with the spice girls earlier, (heck at all, but that is just me) you really need to be careful. Felv/fiv can take six weeks to incubate, so kittens with out mothers can test negative and not be.
I thought it was a great post today. It made me smile that you aren’t afraid of admitting where pork chops or baby kittens come from. (Although I’m halfway convinced that kittens DO come from a marshmallow and fairy dust factory!) Oh and I love Corbie showing off his cat-o-flague coat. My tabby boy has white socks, undercarriage and mask, but he’s doing his best to hide these under a layer of dust. Or maybe he’s a superhero with tabby cloak?
“It’s a special experience, really, if by “special” you mean “slightly horrifying”” — I woke up the baby because I laughed at this so loudly.
Love coming here, thanks for all the photos and stories, it makes me feel like I’m there.
Can Clove get some more Maggie time?
Little Clove is so adorable. I’m glad Maggie was sweet to her.
And Maggie’s behavior with Corbie reminds me of when Harley first came to live with me. She went into heat before I got her to the vet and was extremely interested in Simon. Of course, Simon had been neutered forever and he acted like he sort of knew that he was supposed to be interested, but he didn’t know why. Even after Harley was fixed, they stayed the best of friends. I think eventually, neither one of them could remember why they were so smitten with each other!
If all the teeny-weeny spice girls all still have blue eyes, geez, how young were they when you first got them? and they’re what, about 4-5 weeks old now? aawww!!!! I love the mcmao boys ran away when the big scary girls went towards them – boys!