My Animals' Voice Pawdcast is up!

Last week, I was interviewed by the OSPCA's Kevin MacKenzie for their Animals' Pawdcast and today it's up! ENjoy the insanity!

https://soundcloud.com/ospca/112-animals-counting-a-rescue-farm-story-ontario-spca-animals-voice-pawdcast-season-5episode-10

My little polydactyl man!

Unseasonably hot here today... 31C/87F in the shade, ugh! Too much for me, too soon! I had to work with my bees this morning and it was really hot and sticky.

But Redford doesn't mind the heat!

Well, hello!

Redford was our first barn cat. He showed up in 2014. I worry about him like I worry about all our outdoor cats. We always had indoor cats until he came along, but a rat explosion in our barn has been pretty much cured by our magnificent barn cats. A bad rat problem in 2014 is what finally made us break down.

I try to treat the barn cat crew as if they were house cats (same food, love, affection, vet care, warm places to sleep), with the exception that the barn kitties bunk in the barn at night. But the odd time, Redford or Emerson (the other barn cats don't do this!) stays out for a night and worries me sick. There's no easy way around it; outdoor life is risky for them. I do my best to make sure they are locked in at night and then I just cross my fingers. I wish I had some tiny GPS trackers for these guys!

I still cats they are the best thing for keeping a barn vermin free. Poison is so dangerous, and traps are ineffective when you've got 100 rats running around. The cats do an excellent job of keeping the rats away. I am all for barn cat programs that adopt out otherwise unadoptable cats to farmers for vermin control. 

But I  think any of our barn cats could  easily be indoor cats! 

Talk to the paw!

He knows how to relax!

Ticks are going to be bad this year. I pulled two off him yesterday. I seem to be removing ticks from cats on a daily basis now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Go cuddle a cat (unless you're allergic, in which case, cuddle something hypo-allergenic!)

The goats of GOAT MOUNTAIN!

The goats are having an absolute blast on Goat Mountain. Look at my beautiful Daphne!

Luc, creator of Goat Mountain, put several flat rocks on it. The goats love these perches and often take a nap on them. Or like Daphne, just flaunt their gorgeousness!

Genny

Geoff

My sweet Roise

This is why I frequently smell like goat these days!!

Little Debbie

I admit it. Goats have stolen my heart!

Hawkeye, Genny and Debbie. Mama and twins. The little family units tend to group together. All the kids, even the triplets born January 9, are still nursing! I think the mamas naturally wean them somewhere around five months.

Genny and Daphne

And Geoff thinks he owns this thing!

Annabelle begs to differ.

Must share the cuteness!

So, the goats now have a couple of concrete pipes to play on/in. Geoff curled up in one this afternoon, then this happened..

Keaton just plonked himself down and snuggled up to Geoff, who didn't mind at all. It was so sweet, I need a shot of insulin! ;)

Victoria Day weekend here and we are having glorious weather. Hope you are all having a great Sunday!

Yee ha!

This photo cracks me up...

...it's a shot of me and my favourite steed at the horse show we participated in earlier this spring. The photo was taken by the very talented Deborah Wilson. I adore her photography!!!

Also I am impressed Gordon didn't buck me off. :)

Meanwhile, this morning Alex was doing a little light reading...

...while Mootie...

...was blatantly disobeying the "NO CATS ON THE TABLE!" rule, while the better-behaved Naomi smugly looked on.

Louise ignores that rule too...

...and makes it damn difficult to read a newspaper!

And here's a chicken!

Emma is 5 this year. She's the same hen who hid a nest in the barn in 2013 and showed up one day with 11 chicks!

And here is Emerson...

LORD OF THE GOATS!

And dear old Tristan...

...Lord of whatever he wants to be lord of! :)

Hope you're having a SMASHING week!

Spring, cute animals, what more could you ask for?

These two!

We adopted Alex in 2007 from the OSPCA in Cornwall. He had been found caught in a leghold trap and some kind soul took him to the shelter. They amputated his legs, and six weeks later, we adopted him. Then in the fall of 2008, I was reading in bed late one night when I heard a kitten crying outside. Ran out out to find Naomi, six weeks old and very hungry (and no doubt dumped!!) Alex took her under his wing and they have been best buddies ever since.

And look at this adorable fellow!

This is Hawkeye, chewing his cud but looking more like he has a sly grin!  And here's his sister...

...Debbie, who is a beautiful little goat. These twins were born March 16 and named after our friends Shawn (whose nickname is Hawkeye) and Debbie!

And here's Hawkeye and Pierre having a little tête-à-tête!

Pierre was the only goat kid who didn't get disbudded, because in all the chaos surrounding Daphne's C-section and subsequent brush with death, it got put off too long. So Pierre gets to keep his horns, leaving us with three goats with horns and ten without. We removed horns because they are dangerous to humans and other goats. Kevin and Geoff, our two adult males with horns, are very gentle but I am currently sporting two significant bruises on my leg just from  being brushed by their horns. It's a lot easier keeping them without horns. Geoff also used his horn to put a huge gash in Kevin's scrotal area this winter, which necessitated two vet visits and a lot of after care.

But little Pierre does look cute with his horns...

...and he loves to be scratched between them!

And here's my sweet Luc, who will finally be neutered in June.

He's so cute. And his voice is changing! Much deeper now. He and his sisters Rosie and Annabelle were born January 9.

And this is Neil the Orpington Splash rooster...

...we adopted him and some hens from the OSPCA last year. He is named after our friend Neil, who is a devoted reader of the blog. Neil, at least I picked a handsome one to be your namesake!! ;)

Spring is trying its best to make an appearance. The boys are going back out on pasture for short periods every day...

Finney's hair is more luxurious than mine, damn it.

Saul is happy, as per usual.

And it was our 23rd wedding anniversary this past weekend!

We went out for supper at Sheep's Head Bistro in Cornwall, one of my very favourite local restaurants.

Gordon and I have been a couple for 27 years now, married for 23. I am so impressed we haven't killed each other yet! ;)

Happy Mama's Day!

Hope all you mothers are having a lovely day! I always liked this family portrait...

...grainy though it may be! Today is also our 23rd wedding anniversary. Time flies so fast!

And the week has flown by so fast... I checked on my bees on Friday and they were all very busy...

Oodles of pollen coming in!

Pollen baskets stuffed full!

They are so gentle. I was in the thick of all this with no gloves and no one bothered me at all. A few curious girls crawled around on my hands for a bit, and that was all.

Meanwhile we had our riding lesson on Friday and afterwards got to watch this sweet three-week-old foal frolic with her mama...

Excuse my helmet-hair. Isn't she cute?

All legs and a bundle of energy!

Yesterday, Emerson decided to take a stab at driving the tractor...

He wanted to plant fields of catnip. Good thing his paws don't reach the pedals!

And Gordon I both got to try out this fun machine...

Our friend Luc is doing lots of work around our farm and was kind enough to let us try digging a hole with this yesterday. I must say, I had a blast.

Gordon did more digging than me!

And oh look...

...I had many volunteers helping me move hay the other day!

I use the term "helping" very lightly.

And I wonder what Buttercup was looking at through the window while Emerson slapped Daisy?

Emerson was king of the castle, Honey was queen, Buttercup was underling, and Archie wanted to get in on the fun.

Useless creatures! :)

Penny fell asleep in the sun like this yesterday. She's dozing in this picture. I see it's time to trim her hooves again.

Here's Gordon with his girlfriend Sandy. He bought her a cute new halter. But I'm pretty sure I'm still his #1 love. Happy anniversary, Sweetie!

Hope you are all having a great weekend.