Cats, a frog, a pond and my cowboy

A few pics for you on this Sunday evening...

Annuk LOVES her daddy. Annuk is one of our Greek kitties and she's a real sweetie pie. I am thinking of Greece and my friends there. The situation in that country is quite dire right now which makes me sad, as it's a lovely place filled with lovely people. I hope things can be sorted out without too much suffering.

On a brighter note, the pond we had dug last year is going really well!

Here's one of the inhabitants...

A lovely Green frog. The pond is filled with frogs and fish already!

And here's my sweet Missy...

...with bologna tongue!

And my Greek girl Honey...

...just being sweet. 

And that's not a bird in the birdbath...

It's my Greek girl Daisy! 

Speaking of Greeks...

...Archie came to sit with me when I took a break from barn chores the other day! He is excellent company.

And these two Greeks...

...really like each other! Annuk and Honey... even though they are a year apart in age and never met each other in Greece, they act like they have known each other forever. They came from the same dump, where they were discarded as kittens. I wouldn't be surprised if they were related in some way.

And oh look! Feeding time at the zoo!

Outside, clockwise from bottom left: Redford, Buttercup, Honey, Daisy, Annuk, Emerson, Mootie and Pie. In the middle is Archie on top and Missy on the bottom! To think this is only 2/3rds of our cat population. :0

And speaking of cats...

We are having a stone wall built across the back of the garage and a new herb garden put in there. The cats think the newly-dug out area is the bestest litterbox/kitty playland EVER!

Archie loves it!

He's a real cutie.

Speaking of cuties...

...I adore this donkey!

And I like this donkey too...

(The bearded one!) Frozen hot chocolates (which I guess makes them cold chocolates!) at our favourite restaurant here, The Quirky Carrot in Alexandria.

And we had some hay delivered last week...

Pony and donkey food!

Meanwhile...

Pip wasn't too sure what to think of the barn door closing!

And somebody got himself a cowboy hat at the local tack shop...

Have a great week! It was like autumn here today, 15C and rainy. Ugh! Hard to believe it's nearly July!

Bee good!

Under each other's spell...

When Saul the donkey first arrived, he chased the cats quite a bit. I did NOT encourage the cats to go near him. I was having visions of cats flying through the air after a swift boot from a donkey! 

But Emerson in particular was undaunted. I'm pretty sure he's been visiting the donkey behind my back, because today I caught them up to this...

I think they like each other...

When Emerson was done loving up his friend Saul, he went to hang out under the stock tank...

The love that dare not speak its name!

PS: Saul's hooves are overdue for trimming. Now that he's settled in, my farrier has agreed to do his feet, but we have to coordinate with the vet because he'll need sedation. I'm hoping that over time, we can get him used to having his feet handled so that he no longer needs sedation for hoof trims.

I bring you...

I bring you...

MIGHTY GREEK HUNTRESSES!

...and...

.

The RETURN OF CONEHEAD THE BARBARIAN! 

On a brighter note, he's out of his cone now and doing fine.

Greek kitties and their foibles...

So. I have this drawer in the bench in our bedroom, and in it I keep the cats, er, wardrobe of silly crocheted hats and such. Well, Honey likes to stick her paw in and fish things out. This morning she fished out a tie-dyed shirt...

...so...

...I made her put it on! Baaahahaha! She does rock the tie-dye!

And oh look, it's a barn cat...

Well, not really. Annuk really was never meant to be a barn cat. I had planned to adopt her out after brining her home from Greece. But she and Archie are still here and last night Annuk slept in Gordon's armpit. 

And in fact, she's snuggled up next to me on the bed as I type this.

Sigh.

Meanwhile, Daisy has found a place she loves to sleep during the day!

The ATV, aka the Bee-mobile! Apparently I woke her up from a nap.

Aaaand I watch the last grains of my sanity slip through the hourglass! Never mind the Duggars, *I* should have a reality show called "Fifteen Cats and Counting!"

Pigs looooove watermelon!

Treat time at the Rowe-Campbell rescue piggery! My friend Brian asked me to video them when they got a watermelon...

Dahlia (black sow that's not Jersey!) lost some of her hair this winter due to pig mange, but everyone's had their spring Invomec shots now so she'll be looking better soon.

Rudy, it turns out, is looking to be top pig! Yesterday I saw him butt Ophelia away from the food, and she did not protest. Usually it's Ophelia pushing everyone away! Rudy was shoving everyone else, too, and they were accepting this, so I guess they've worked out their new hierarchy!

All of these pigs could stand to lose a few and are on reduced feed rations!

And look at this cat abuse!

Actually, Honey didn't mind being held like that at all and was watching other cats frolic on the driveway. Gordon got that awesome shirt at RC Tees.

And what day is complete...

...without beautiful donkey ears?

Hope your weekend is wonderful!

Ears looking at you, kid!

I love my donkey!

That is all!

Tristan's tough day and other assorted matters...

Why is Tristan wearing a t-shirt?

Because this weekend he decided to start licking the hideous big wart handing from his chest! The vet had been keeping an eye on it for some time, but it all went to hell in a handbasket when Tristan made a mess of it this weekend. I put a t-shirt on him to try to stop the licking.

Last night he ripped the shirt open. This morning he went to the vet!

He got lots of good drugs (and an ultrasound and an xray to make sure his hemangiosarcoma hadn't recurred. And yay, no cancer!)

Then the vet removed the big ugly wart plus two others.

He is currently sleeping it off.

Poor old guy! We were really worried this morning when we left him at the vet's but he is fine!

And onto other pets...

This is dear Redford, the first and original barncat. He spent two weeks in our garage last year before I got him in a humane trap and had him neutered and vaccinated. It took him ages to trust me.

Now he comes looking for me to sit on my lap and get some attention. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for my polydactyl boy!

And here's Daisy from Greece...

...boy, does she love to eat!! Sometimes she looks a bit like the snake in The Little Prince.

Meanwhile, another Greek cat...

... has a real thing for climbing trees. Annuk loves the 90-year-old Black Walnuts and she climbs alarmingly high!!

And remember Rudy the pig we recently adopted? Well, after his neutering and 30-day confinement (to ensure he was shooting blanks) he has finally been set free with rest of the herd. When I let him out the other day, the first thing he did was head for the swimming pool...

...with Button mooning after him! The girls looooove Rudy.

And look! Bees!

Can you spot the queen?

There she is!

Can you see her here? She's near drones in both of these photos, which makes her look small, but she's bigger than the worker bees...

I thought she needed a crown!

I am mentoring my friend and neighbour Linda this year and helping her set up her first hive.

She took these photos of me! She's very enthused and I think she'll make an excellent, natural beekeeper. You can tell who'll make a good beekeeper by how they react when you first hold out a frame of bees for them. If they run away, forget it. But if, like Linda, they draw closer in fascination, they will do just fine. She spent almost three hours with me and was so excited. It was great to see! I remember feeling that way when I started myself in 2009. I'm still happy to see my bees. They are wonderful creatures.

Have a great week and thank you for all the lovely comments you leave me. I really treasure them!