Monthly Archives: August 2009

Aug 30 2009

Long Island isn’t really an island, but it is.

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We spent most of this week in NY with Andy’s family, and we did lots of neat things like visiting the Bronx Zoo and going to the beach. Alas, all the photos from those things are on Andy’s computer. The only photos I have are from our last day there, when we decided instead of going to the Big City we’d do yard work. But I’m not going to show you pictures of us doing yard work because I’d rather show you these other photos.

Here I give you my brother-in-law impersonating Andy. I think he did a pretty good job except he should be a little more stoic.

Anya was a little unsure of Kenny at first, but he’s a great big brother and pretty soon they were having fun.

Our last night in NY, we celebrated Andy’s birthday with Thai food and a yummy chocolate cake from a local bakery. MMmmm… I miss the bakery what with its cinnamon logs turned into french toast.

Oh heck, I guess I’ll give you one “yard work” photo. This is BIL saying, “Hey, I told them they didn’t have to work, but they insisted. Look, they even made the teenager help!”

Aug 17 2009

What We Do For Fun

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For those of you who know us (and I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t reading this), you will be shocked to know what we (Andy and I) did tonight.

We hung some curtains in the living room.

Then we sat on the couch and stared at the curtains.

I know, I know. Pretty crazy. I think the last time we had curtains was in the bathroom of the AA house several years ago (red curtains with pea pods my Mom made me for my dorm window in college). We just aren’t curtain people. Curtains are expensive and get dirty and cats like to hang from them and who needs curtains when you live in the boonies anyhow. So what changed?

We found a really cool curtain rod on clearance at BB&B. Regularly $50 and we go it for $8.

You get a curtain rod, you gotta get curtains. Problem is, we only found the one rod and there are two windows in the living room. I guess we’ll keep our eyes open for another rod. See what we started? Now we’re gonna have to curtainize every window. Where will this stop??

So now that you know what Andy and I do for fun, here’s a look at Anya’s idea of a good time.

Aug 15 2009

The Summer of Death

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This has been a summer of death at Loafkeeper Farm.

The cage a bunch of our chickens lived in fell apart, and so the chickens became free rangers. They flew up into the shrubs and trees at night and ate bugs out of the grass by day. One day we came home from work and they were gone.

Another day we came home from work, and the last two ducks had vanished from their tractor. The door was shut, the lid was on, and there was nary a sign of struggle. We did, however, find a hole in the chicken wire. Either something neatly pulled them out that way, they packed their bags and left on their own (closing the door behind them), or the postal delivery lady stole them.

I found Carla dead in her cage (you guessed it) one day when I got home from work. She had been acting fine that morning. I don’t know what happened to her. Wibble stopped eating, and we force fed him and gave him fluids, but he wouldn’t eat. A few days later he died.

Then the sheep got bad parasites. We gave them wormer meds, and the sheep would seem to get better, but then they would get worse. By the time it clicked that we needed to change wormer, three sheep were too weak to make it. Two died on their own, and the third Andy had to put down.

2 ducks + 6 chickens + 2 bunnies + 3 sheep = Summer of Death

A few days ago, we contacted the folks we bought most of our sheep from and asked them if they knew of a good home for our girls. This morning, the Ingleside folks loaded Pearl, Sadie, Pumpernickel, Pumpernickel’s two babies, and Pearl’s baby into a giant sheep cage in the back of a pickup and took them home. We kept the Sids.

We’re a little sad but mostly we are relieved. We know they have gone to a good home where they will get to play with other sheep and run in fields and be happy. They won’t all stay there forever, but the Ingleside folks know how to sell sheep and are connected and have a great web site, and they will find new-new homes for those they decide not to keep. It’s a good thing.

So, no more chasing the girls hither and yon. No more baby sheep to fret over. No more “rammy” rams going nutso during breeding time. Less hay, less shearing, less time feeding and watering and moving fences. So yah, sad but relieved.

Aug 1 2009

Snake, a snake! It’s a snake!

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We had a visitor in our flower/weed bed in front of the house. Andy wanted a better look, so he grabbed the shepherd’s crook and scooped the snake up and into the yard. I figure the critter was about five feet long. It was definitely unhappy to have been moved and did a little hissing. After a bit, Andy put the snake back in the flower/weed bed, but it wasn’t happy there anymore and wiggled off into the trees. I think it needed to find a nice quiet place to digest all those yummy mice it had bulging in it’s tummy.