Yesterday morning I went out to play….I said Greg gave me the morning off but Greg said that since I’m the boss, I gave myself a play day. Bosses privilege! So, ( reluctantly, NOT !)I had a play day yesterday, a really good friend and I hit the Goodwill 50% off sale…and I was completely out shopped! It has never happened before, I didn’t think it possible but I saw that girl, her shopping cart piled high zinging  around that shop like a Nascar driver on a winning streak !…. I know when I have a cart full of bargains I have a big smile but that girls whole face was smiling ! Thank you, I had a lot of fun.

The afternoon was spent on a Scotch Broom hunt, not that we wanted to find it but we need to eradicate it before it gets into our pastures. I sometimes wonder what the neighbors think when they see us scaling banks breaking through blackberry thickets and hanging off trees to get to those pesky plants. Lucky for us, the bright yellow flowers are a dead give away and when we returned from the afflicted fence line with a truck load of yellow seed loaded bushes, covered in blackberry scratches, up to our knees in mud and wet from plodding through ditches there was a great feeling of satisfaction! I’m easy pleased!

Mica, our little farm helper got to ride Lady the Shire mare yesterday. It was great to see her climb up onto the huge horse and watch her smile grow as she rode Lady down the farm road. Lady the Gentle giant possibly couldn’t even feel the little body steering her but as usual she knew that she had to take care of her young rider and just plodded compliantly down the road.

Charm also got tacked up last night. Mr. Beauty with attitude has had about 4 months out of work  and the rolls of fat are evidence of the lush green grass that he has been taking full advantage of over the past 4 months. Finding a cinch which will fasten around his tubby tummy is a struggle and tightening it is a bigger challenge. Charm was however not the horse from Hell and we had a pleasant trail ride that my surgeon would have been proud of !

Well, times up again, take care, keep safe. M

If there is trouble around, we can be sure it will find us,……no matter how hard we hide ! Two calls yesterday morning wanted to know if any of our horses had taken an unscheduled “away day”. A quick check found all ours were tucked up in their stalls, safe and hungry for breakfast but 2 were munching their way down Lackey Road. Lackey road, particularly around holiday season turns into an Indy 500 racetrack and hardly conducive for a quiet Sunday stroll down the middle of the road. With the help of neighbours the two escapees were rounded up and reluctantly began the walk down to our ranch and safety. Luckily the Calvary arrived in the shape of mum and dad on a quad looking for the horses that had left home ( the grass on the other side always looks greener ) and Greg arrived home without two more horses. Matt Jodi and the grandchildren arrived yesterday and we had a few funfilled  hours watching the boys zinging around the ranch. It is great watching them grow up .I know Greg enjoys those special times with his son and it is always good to visit with Jodi. I went to visit Mum J and had a happy hour with a very special and brave little Texan lady, keep your chin up mum. Yesterday evening we saddled up Lady and Charm for the first time since my 2 back surgeries and we had a short ride around the neighbourhood. I think the doctor said “a quiet ride…..mmmm, maybe I should have stressed that point to Mr beauty with attitude. But it was fun and good to be back in the saddle again even if Charm isn’t so sure about the end of his vacation !

Message to Dean, we love and miss you too, the email address you gave us didn’t work, you know what to do.

Time to go, take care, keep safe M

From the chicken brooder box came the cheerful cheeping of happy healthy chicks, from the brooder box hastily set up on Friday night, under the heat light the ducklings didn’t make a quack, not even a squeak. Peeping under the lid showed the ducklings weren’t in good shape and we weren’t holding out much hope for their survival…..but we weren’t giving up on them yet ! A careful eye was being kept on the pond, we were hoping that momma mallard had taken her one duckling back to the relative safety of the big pond. Around noon came the call and the weakened ducklings were very unceremoniously dumped in a bucket and raced to the bank. There was mom swimming around without a care in the world, one little duckling paddling along in her wake. We took the little ones who had so ungraciously refused to co operate with us and try to survive and we placed the ducklings in the pond where they gravitated towards mom like a magnet. Then mom disappeared…..Oh no !! the ducklings were swimming aimlessly with no purpose. Plan B…. we went into Lady and Quests field to try to have her swim into view. BIG mistake our duck rescue team crashing around in the bushes alerted Quest that something was going on. At the least people means a carrot or apple treat even if pockets are empty, people are always interesting. Quest came galloping over the crest of the hill in his field, the earth moved as his hooves thundered across the pasture, was he going to be able to apply his brakes in time….or was he going to take an unplanned swim with the goose family and momma duck. My bets were on the swim but I gathered the duck rescue team into a safe place, …just in case. I could just see the headlines, Mallard duck reunites with her ducklings... rescuers flattened. Quest was excited, Quest wanted to play, this was all too exciting and so many opportunities for a delightfully fun filled afternoon. I wasn’t so happy, Mom, Chief duck rescuer was trying to get out of the gate, but the gate was being opened the wrong way and it was jammed with her tightly wedged in the gateway. The rest of the rescue team all resembled a domino stack, rushing for the gate then piling into mom, still trying to extricate herself from the unforgiving gate. Quest, huffing and puffing at the sudden end to the afternoons activity joined the melee…it was one of those moments that you ask yourself…”how did we get here ?…and for that matter WHY did we get here ?!!!!  eventually, all on the safe side of the gate with the exception of a disappointed Quest, we scanned the pond for the mallard family thankfully all were hiding in the bulrush and seemingly all together. Good luck momma duck it’s a dangerous world out there and Tiger apparently has developed a taste for duckling. Sorry mom, your duck soup just came off the menu ! 

It’s nearly 7.30 am another busy day ahead. Sheep feet today ( we hope ) Take care, keep safe, M 

Cheep cheep Chheepp….Quack Quack…….what’s that ? Quacks don’t belong in the farmyard. So what is going on ? Yesterday we bought some Cornish Cross chickens (traditionally meat birds) and a few more egg laying chicks. Our intention is to work with our woofer interns and allow them to watch and chart the progress and growth of both sets of chicks. We duly collected the box of happy healthy cheeping chicks from cheerful Jeff at Cenex (probably very happy to see the back of his noisy squatters). The chicks were comfortably re homed in our warm dry brooder box and we thought we were done with babies for the day. NOT SO !!! Up to my knees in horse poop in Charms stall and a faint Quack Quack was heard. A quick check round the side of the barn and there was the source of the quacks…a new set of ducklings led by a very proud momma Mallard was leading her offspring single file and best webbed foot forward right through the farmyard. Oh no !! There they were, three farm cats, Tiger, Shy and Lucky all watching the progress of lunch and it had actually delivered itself ! I swear those cats were grinning from ear to ear. Somehow the feathered family made its way to the little pond and our feline friends suspended mouse watch for the day in anticipation of  tasty duckling. All spaced out around the bank, the three cats watched their dinners zip around the pond…swim almost into reach…just not quite…next time. I couldn’t watch, Mother Nature was so cruel and life so short. I had no control over their future…..or so I thought !!! About 9pm a call from the barn. Our boarder calling to say that Tiger had tried 2 ducklings as hors de oeuvres and was checking out his entrée but they had saved the brood. Momma mallard had waddled away taking one duckling with her….they had rescued the others from almost certainly becoming Tigers next meal….and we are now the “happy” mom and pop of a brood of ducklings. I know that Mom in Albuquerque will be checking out her soup recipe!!! Greg was less than pleased, rearing ducks wasn’t on the agenda for this year…or in fact, any year.

Yesterday also saw the return of Gregs favoured child. The John Deere tractor was released from tractor hospital and we arrived in Sumner in warm sunshine to pick it up. Clearly, since it was us, it couldn’t be THAT easy…it wasn’t!  As we got out of the truck..hailstones, big hailstones and just to make us really wet, it rained, torrential rain and we got soaked, saturated and miserable……but the tractor is fixed !

Well, it’s time I got moving, it’s 7.10 and time to get ready for the first shift. Today may be a quiet day….may be ! take care, M

The more the rain falls, the higher and faster the grass grows !  The faster the grass grows, the faster the horses cows and sheep eat. The faster the animals eat….the faster they resemble Sumo Wrestlers in training. Lady, our Shire mare has, over the past few months started to develop a distinctly more maternal form, lumps and bumps have appeared where a sleek and shiny body used to be. Jowls have taken the place of her previously healthy jaw line and when Lady works herself into an enthusiastic gallop, the world pays attention and the earth moves. The ewes and lambs have, over the recent weeks grazed in pastures which, thanks to the Lime and manure we added to balance the PH level, (Gosh,  sounds  like I know what I’m talking about ! ) looks more like something out of Junglebook than James Herriotts “All Creatures Great and Small”. The grass is, to the ewes tummy high… the lambs trails through the grass look like a corn maze, Crisscrossing around and across the pasture. The moms, who are THE formation eating team, spend their days head down inching through the grass. Occasionally a dewy wet head lifts and a half hearted baa plots the location of the milky bar for the brat pack busily hunting for some trouble to get into…or cause. Occasionally one of the lambs has a snack attack and mom doesn’t have to interrupt her munching as junior aggressively head butts her swollen udder…..but woe betide a lamb that tries to snatch a quick  sneak attack on another moms milky bar.

 We have a new little helper on the yard, smiling with enthusiasm each evening, little Mika arrives, sunshine or torrential rain. It is always great to see the children interacting with the animals and to watch their confidence grow around the big horses. Mika has an ambition, she wants to be a vet and watching that little lady engaging with the animals I have no doubts that she will achieve her ambitions.

I am trying to complete my entry but confess that I am working under extreme stress as a box of chicks have just arrived and they are all peeping so loudly I swear the box is jumping on the table. It’s almost time to go down to the barn, the chicks need to go home and everyone at the ranch is ready to eat ! Have a great day, take care, keep safe, M

I’m sorry !  Yesterday was just one of those days when I had to try to organize my activities… or planned activities ( because I didn’t get round to most of them !!). On a scale of one to ten based on importance, my “almost daily diary” is pretty low on the totem pole although, since my diary is a virtual brain drain I had to consider the consequences of brain overload. Greg was a little TOO happy to reassure me that the possibility of overloading my brain is almost certainly not a possibility. I feel that somewhere in that comment there is a very thinly veiled affront to my intelligence but I don’t have time to work on being offended right now.

Most people aren’t aware that there is undisguised snobbery in the barn yard. Just as the Porsche is an indication of social status in the car world, some consider the John Deere tractor to be THE tractor of choice for the discerning farmer. Some tractors are painted green and yellow in a shameful attempt to impersonate the John Deere but no deception will fool a real or even wanna be JD owner ! When our “other” tractor, an unassuming green and yellow Korean Yanmar (which doesn’t even attempt to deceive the market that it is more than it is) was sick, out came the instruments for surgery and up to his eyes in mud, muck and oil Doctor Greg is quite happy to operate. When the John Deere model has a cough splutter or total breakdown Greg defers to a Specialist. No thought of self medication, no consideration of any amputations or other surgery on the favoured child, …..off to the tractor hospital, please, just make my tractor better ! So, off we went, not a horse stall cleaned, not a water bucket filled, the JD was off to Sumner, the “special” hospital for the elite. We start printing dollar bills today, smile !!

We think we have fixed little Lamb Chop, I think that I will refrain from too many, too graphic descriptions of  Lamb chops “issue”, just that it probably originated in his little gut and came out the end we would rather not visit too often ! it was particularly gross because it fixed like glue, super glue and it was not about to clean off without a fight. So we had a fight and we won. Poor Lamb Chop, accepting of almost anything as long as I am there and I have a peanut …or a box of peanuts, tolerated the cold water around his nether regions, suffered the picking scraping and scratching, blew bubbles with the shampoo and probably wished us dead but he stood patiently whilst we cleaned him up. Bless. So Lamb chop is a little white (ish) sheep again.

Oops,…Time to go, it’s almost 7.30am and I have to find something to wear for another day of whatever weather is handed to us ! Take care, keep safe, M  

Happy Monday !!! Whoever “borrowed” our egg sign and re homed the multitude of species of insect life that was (I hope !) residing and multiplying therein is welcome to it ! Our egg sign …(or loss of ) inspired a family in our wonderful community into a family project and we are the proud owners of a sign, the like of which has never before been seen. Our sign doesn’t just point the way to our eggs…it is a work of art. Thank you Marci, Brian, cute little boys and friend, we love it.

Yesterday afternoon we attended a social, launching the Fresh Food Revolution here on the Peninsula. It was great to catch up and reconnect with farming and market friends that we haven’t seen much of over the long Winter months but it was the ice cream feast was even greater. I LOVE  ice cream and this ice cream was even better than most. I knew that the Vikings were renowned for pillage rape and plunder…we can add Viking Ice Cream to that list ! Thank you Holly and Denise for all your hard work… and for piling about 10 lbs on my hips !

They say ( I believe) that everything is BIGGER in Texas….well, that may very well be true but I know one feisty little Texan that belies that statement. Don’t worry Mum J,….what you don’t have in stature, you make up for in personality. I spent a happy hour with Mum J yesterday afternoon, hopefully you get the news we are waiting for today Mum, fingers toes and everything else crossed !

The jungle that is / was my garden (s)  has been getting some special attention over the past week and we are grateful (NOT !)  to the deer who have done an extraordinary job of pruning my roses. Actually, possibly, pruning doesn’t quite describe the extent of the carnage….my roses have been denuded ! Please God, Why didn’t you invent deer that eat weeds, not my flowers ?

So, it’s the start of another week. We are hearing more from our WOOFER interns and looking forward very much to meeting the personalities behind the e mails and telephone calls and to introducing them to our community. It’s going to be a wonderful Summer ! Time to get back to the present and since there is only Greg, Bran and me, we’d better get down to the barn and save the critters from potential starvation. Have a great day, keep safe, M

Happy Sunday ! So good to know that Mr. Californias’ predictions were wrong it’s sunshine outside, the steaks last night were yummee and looking down on the ranch we feel blessed and SO happy to be right here !

Well, sorry to say someone has stolen our road side egg sign. There it was, an arrow pointing the way to farm fresh eggs, an eye catching luminous yellow arrow which had caused Greg and I some discussion on its creation. During one of our “business meetings” (10 minutes while Greg gets his back scratched ) the concept was born and Greg, being “little boss,” ( I’m big boss) vet, maintenance man, tractor man, mechanic etc etc….was assigned the project. My input  ( apart from size, design, location..) was colour ( Brit spell) and Greg challenged the suggestion for luminous yellow, "it will never work". At the risk of his back scratch coming to an abrupt end, his rebellion was squashed and the luminous yellow  egg arrow was duly painted and hung for several months pointing my egg customers to the barn. Now it has gone, ripped off its chains and the support broken, I know it is only an egg sign, but did someone really have to re home it ? ( hope it had wood worm, termites carpenter ants and bark beetles !!!!)

We are a little concerned, Gertie the goose has become particularly clingy to Quest our Shire gelding, her call in the morning has been louder and longer of late. She is almost moulding her Canadian goose body around his legs and, as the fly population has apparently reached epidemic proportions, our big guy is swishing his mane and tail and kicking his tummy to evict the pesky squatters. We have a terrible feeling that Gertie the goose may well be joining the International Space Station in orbit before long. Our other concern is more for Quest…little black capped birds are hitching rides on his back, we have seen Gertie, head cocked, considering the chances of getting a little horse power under her webbed feet …..hopefully she is a smarter dumb goose than we give her credit for.  

Once again the cuckoo clock tells me that my time for downloading my erratic train of thought has expired, one day when I am old (er) I will read the “Almost Daily Diary”  (maybe !!) and it will remind me of all the fun we had. Take care, keep safe. M

We have very few rules here at the ranch but one we REALLY try to enforce is, NO politics and NO religion, everyone is entitled to their own particular point of view and their own particular belief……BUT, something ticking away in my head just wont let me ignore it, it’s this “end of the world stuff “.  I keep imagining people all over the world not paying their mortgage, credit card and utility bills, ( well, no need to if the world isn’t going to be as we know it tomorrow). I imagine people all over the world watching the ground for THE earthquake and the sky for THE storm….Well, Greg and I are preparing for our day at the barn, I have washed and dried my hair but not for any particular special event and two steaks are marinating in the cooler….hopefully not for our last meal and we have paid our monthly bills sincerely trusting that 6pm will not be the beginning of the end

OK, I have got that off my chest and currently our biggest issue is the arrival of our calves.  I will be going to England for two weeks in July to visit my boys, their respective little families and my sisters and brothers. Amazingly, out of the 365 days in the year that we could have selected for my trip, we have, we think, chosen the due date. Greg is currently checking his records…no, we are good, Molly and Dolly are due on the 21st of July so I’ll be here for the event…but leave Greg to the increased workload.

Last evening we had two little visitors to the barn. It is always a lot of fun to watch the reaction of the children to the huge Shires as they gently check out their pint sized guests, their excitement at the chickens pecking and scratching and just how gently the little ones petted Chance the bottle fed lamb. Thank you Marcie and Brian for bringing your two little boys to entertain us…we love it when the children come !

Well, yesterdays sun has gone, I am a little pink and almost certain that I would be a little sore… but I got away with it and no regrets because today we have rain, again !!!  It is time to get ready for another day at the barn. Take care, keep safe, M 

Sunshine !!! Now I’ve got a problem…somewhere in this house I stashed my Summer clothes last Winter and I can’t find them. I’ve searched cupboards and drawers, I’ve checked boxes and bags and they are nowhere to be found. I’m not confessing to dementia….I’m blaming such a long wet Winter and spring that I forgot where I put them in the depths of despair !! ( maybe I can talk myself into a spell of retail therapy…smile)

Time for a quick update. The visiting Canadian geese family have taken up residence on the bank of our pond. Five of the six goslings have amazingly survived to date and almost seem to grow before our eyes. Mom and pop routinely take their fluffy yellow offspring for walks up and down the farm road, waddles around the pond, we hold our breath with trepidation as the little family in single file, treks through the Shires pasture and jump into the cold glassy pond for synchronized swimming lessons. Last night as the sun went down, we checked in on our guests,  actually, to be more precise….our squatters ! The two adult geese were settled on the edge of the pond, momma goose was laying with both her wings outstretched and peeping out from between her feathers, safe and warm in her care, the 5 goslings.

Gertie continues to spend her day waddling aimlessly around the pasture in the shadow of the massive shire horses. As Quest moves along we have noted that Quest actually watches where he puts his huge feet for fear of treading on his feathered admirer. Lady is not the object of Gerties affection and the whilst Quest has been seen to gently nudge Gertie the confused goose, the mare treats her with total disdain. Gustav still waits..one day his girl will come to her senses and when she does, he will be waiting. Geese mate for life so he still has plenty of time.

We think we have managed to control poor little Lamb Chops poo problem and although he is less than happy with his new feeding regime…confined to grass hay and fresh green grass, we are hoping that (1) projectile poo is a distant smelly problem and (2) Lamb Chop may stop looking like a Biaffran refugee.

Chance, our cute little bottle fed lamb is no longer “little”, she is however cuter and more personable than ever. When the ewes are turned out, Chance either “walks to heel” with Greg down Cow lane or joins Bran in keeping the flock under control and heading in the right direction. Chance and lamb number 20 are very vocal and feeding time has both bleating loudly and consistently in not so glorious stereo.

We are looking forward to the Summer and the arrival of our WOOFER interns. Yesterday a potential volunteer came to check us out and happily it reinforced our firm belief that “ a stranger is just a friend you have not yet met”. Within moments I felt confident that she would fit in well and hopefully she felt the same way. We have many plans for the next few months and having some young enthusiastic help will hopefully help us to achieve our goals..

It’s time, 7.20am, the sun is shining, the chickens in the Roost with a View look like frantic little ants busily scratching and the brat pack that is our flock of lambs are hurtling around the pen or enthusiastically practicing the less than challenging art of  piggy backs (…or “ramming”), two or three lambs high.

Take care, keep safe and enjoy the sunshine, it’s been a very long time coming !.  M