Good Morning world, happy Friday !!! Tomorrow is the Farm tour and at three oclock this morning my eyes zinged open and with 5 seconds of rapid heart beat and some very heavy breathing I went into a mini panic attack…need a sign for the “hand washing station”….sign for “chicks hatched and hatching”, need the candy for the free candy hunt…OMG…what else did I forget ??? blame the medication, ‘can’t be age, smile! It’s going to rain,..it can’t, how can we have free tractor rides in the rain, all the smiles will be washed away. Lamb Chop will be soggy and little Hol-ley the calf will be hiding from the wet stuff falling from the sky.

Funny how things always look darker in the small hours of the morning. It will all be amazing, it always is, what seems impossible to achieve suddenly appears insignificant and in the daylight most “problems” melt away. I’m going to have another “day off” today, actually I work all day but just occupy my brain in another direction. I have made myself responsible for information signs which, considering I only use 2 fingers to type and am technically challenged is really quite ambitious ! The team have just left to go down to the barn, the Chevy was full of happy smiling faces and eager WWOOFers ready to get to work…Holly has “come home” for the weekend, she was a WWOOFer Intern in the Summer and has come back to help with the Farm Tour, thanks Holly, it was great to see that smile this morning!!

Yesterday Quatre got to work with the pressure washer…I’m not sure who won but I do know that Quatre got an unscheduled soaking. Sadly, no photo’s are available, since I wasn’t around and clearly the paparazzi had the day off, several potential blog moments passed without photographic record….wouldn’t have happened if I had been around!! Ursula went to work with the paintbrush, if it doesn’t move (and sometimes if it does) it is a potential  target but it is nice to see the results of her labours. Thank you ladies, we are looking forward to a GREAT day tomorrow.

Right, I’m off to get some sustenance ready for our hard working volunteers. Hopefully the rich meaty aroma of dinner in the slow cookers will be payback for all the help we have to make sure that the Farm Tour is a great experience for everyone.

Take care, keep safe, M

Good morning, supposedly the last really nice day for the foreseeable future and we are all advised to run out there with our sunglasses and shorts…..ok, sunglasses and shorts …then what ??? Shorts here on the ranch are currently NOT highly recommended, actually shorts are most certainly not even advised until Macho has “done his duty” and he and poor little Alyssia have been “released” from the honeymoon suite. ANY close contact with Macho the amorous buck is almost certain to render the afflicted with a “persona non grata” Odour cloud for at least the next 24 hours ! Macho seems to have a never ending supply of pee which he liberally applies to himself and anyone else who is unfortunate enough to be in the immediate vicinity, actually to anyone who is close enough to be in the vicinity of pee droplets carried in the air. Poor Macho, he SO wants to be hugged and anyone with a working nose is keeping a sensible distance from the disgusting stench. I am ensuring that there are signs around the ranch advising our Farm Tour guests that the source of the aroma is the too cute brown buck alluringly peeing on himself in the corner! In 5 months hopefully Macho will be the proud and very disinterested father of a little Macho created with pee and lust…bless!!!

Yesterday after whisking her way through morning chores and winning the war on spiders/ spider webs, Ursula went to work in the garden. With a wheelbarrow bigger than herself, our little tornado is clearing a weed free swathe through the blueberry patch and single-handedly providing breakfast lunch, ors d’oevres and entrees for our ever anticipating chicken house.

Quatre’s abs’ and pecs’ got quite the work out yesterday when the rototiller and weed whacker came out to play. The boys toys that leave wimpy me wheezing and weak looked like kids toys when Quatre went to work. I guess this is how getting old feels, smile. Thank you Quatre and Ursula for all your enthusiasm and hard work, you really have made a difference and the garden looks great !!

I have heard about premature babies and premature animal babies but I have never heard of a 3 day premature chick !!!. Yesterday as Quatre was gazing into the incubator she said “ chicks hatched” to which I distractedly replied, “ no Quatre, not till Saturday”…..NO MAUREEN..I said chick’s HATCHED!! And there it was, cheeping away in the corner of the incubator surrounded by silent waiting eggs, a little black chick. Welcome to our world.

Just a little mental reminder, this Saturday is the Key Peninsula FARM TOUR, so if you would like a day of free entertainment and find a source of good fresh healthy farm supplies, come out and visit us and the other farms throwing open our gates to the public. We look forward to meeting you!!!

Well, time to go, take care, keep safe, M

It’s hump day ! Happy Wednesday….wonder why it became called “hump day”…I’ll Google it, Google tells me everything, no matter how diverse or out of the box. I love Google!!

Anyway, sorry I didn’t get to make a entry in the diary yesterday, you know all that stuff about “best made plans of mice and men”, well, neither mice nor mens plans worked out yesterday. I decided that, since I had to have a dentist appointment and I was going to wash my hair and we do have two extra bodies, that I would take my time, leisurely take a shower and splash some shampoo around, wave around the hair dryer, savour a cup or two of tea and then worry about the dentist. NOT HAPPENING!!! At 6.55am I wandered into the kitchen to greet the ladies who were going to allow me to be a Tuesday slug….and no one was in sight, not a sound from the Intern quarters, not a cough  not a sneeze..wait…was that a snore ?????. Quick change of plans, dreams of being idle squashed in an instant, bubble popped and I appeared dressed for the barn, changed faster than Superman in his telephone box ( or was that Batman ?) The ladies had taken a sleep in, welded to the mattress, they deserve it, they work hard, they are amazing…but why yesterday ? !! doh !!

Well, I said it was going to be a wet day on Monday( ‘ cause MJ Fox 13 meteorologist said!)…and it was, it REALLY was!!  It was raining as the curtain of dark lifted over the barn, big heavy raindrops or sheets of rain attacking sideways all of it VERY wet. Ursula had no problem, one quick design job, a smile as big as Germany and a rain hood Ursula style evolved…and stayed all day. Rain just makes me feel like I am making a pretty good impression of an Old English Sheepdog as the rain drips down my fringe ( bangs). My coat was saturated….the rain collected on the hem line and dripped like water torture down into my boots. The critters as predicted were MISERABLE, it was Hol-ley’s first experience of wind and rain. The poor little calf first thought it was something to play with and bucked around, 4 feet in the air but couldn’t catch the invisible playmate and retired to her shelter to watch the wet stuff drip off the drainpipe.The horses just waited by the feed station, heads down, manes and tails saturated. The sheep and goats bleated incessantly from the first moment of release to rescue time…just get us out of here, …NOW, we are DONE!!!

It’s 7.30 (ish) and time to get my brain into barn mode….(helps to get some clothes on) and find my cup of tea. Got to go, Take care, keep safe, M  

Monday morning, through the darkness we can hear the rain beating against the roof and watch the huge Cedar branches swaying in the strong winds that are forecast to become much stronger. Looks like it is going to be an interesting day, Greg will be running around like a headless chicken, digging run- off ditches, re digging run- off ditches and, where they have dug themselves,…frantically filling them in. The goats will moan all day to get back into the pen they moan to get out of in the morning. The sheep will devour the alfalfa put out in the pasture for them…then gather in a pasture maggot huddle by the gate dripping and miserable. The cows after we have emptied Molly’s swollen udder of its warm creamy frothy milk, will lumber to the gate and hesitate, “REALLY, you do of course recognize that it is raining ???”. A tap on the butt and an encouraging low growl from Bran usually persuades the ladies to get their feet wet and Rodney the ram, well, if the ladies are going and there is a persuading carrot or two, I guess I may as well join them…just as long as you know it is reluctantly!

Roman doesn’t care if it’s raining, Roman MUST be fed first and Roman requires to be the first out to the pasture, raining or not, he WILL be first,..for EVERYTHING. So, Roman will be first to get wet and, because he is Roman he will be ready by lunchtime to be back in,..first. Lady and Quest our huge gentle giants are just compliant, rarely passionate about anything ( but we sure know it when they are!!!) they just quietly plod out to the pasture…get wet, very wet and then quietly plod home. Charm makes a big issue about everything….if an issue can be made you can rely on our Charm to make it! The Golden Palamino, beauty with attitude, leaves the secure dry barn, feels ONE raindrop and the feet start to dance, the tail comes up and begins to swish, back and forth…”I AM going to have a tizzy, ready or not…!!!” The beautiful golden head will start to toss and we have synchronized movement, feet tail and head, …just because I can !

Well, there’s no way I’m getting out of it, I can toss all I like, I can look miserable…but it’s 7.30am and time to get down to the barn. I’ll be dripping wet and look miserable but you know what, there is no where else in the world I would rather be and no one I would rather share a soggy barn with. Oh yes and, if we can find something good about all this wet stuff, little tiny green spears of grass are appearing out of the burnt brown soil. The grass is coming back !!!!  
Take care, keep safe, M

Sometimes when Greg drags me, kicking and screaming ( not !) through the car park (parking lot) of Wendy’s or BK to join the slavering queue (line) for my overdose of calories and saturated fat, I remember the animals back at the barn. People “in the know” say not to inflict people emotions on four legged critters, they don’t think the way people do….really ????

First in my defence, we have Roman. Roman is a big black Morgan with an oversized appetite and a huge inferiority complex which he overcompensates by trying to be a bully. When the barn door opens, Roman is ready, head high, ears perked and eyes frantic with excitement…FOOD !!!! But Roman doesn’t want to have to join the barnyard queue (line) Roman doesn’t consider that waiting is an option, food and NOW! The food bully winds up his routine, he starts by three swirls of his stall, like the BK customer finding the shortest line and then pushing to the front, he stops swirling and then he starts to stamp. First he will stamp his left leg, then his right, he will even try to stamp both of his feet at the same time. Like the BK customer who isn’t been served fast enough walks back and forth tapping feet and tapping fingers, sighing loudly and becoming increasingly loud. With Roman, I find a slice of hay and try to  get his brain distracted..sadly his brain is in his gut and there is no distraction…grain NOW. He will start to kick his door and whinny loudly,…NOW! Reminds me of the customer at the fast food place not being served fast enough and starting to raise his voice. Unfortunately for Roman, no management exists to allow the big black equine bully to  demand anything and down at the barn, ….I’m in charge ! Mr. Roman is going to find that the louder he shouts, the less I hear. The more he tries to bully….the longer it will take for his grain to arrive, we are not on a service time clock and I am not going to be put under pressure right from the breakfast bell. So, for those of you out in the horse world that say people emotions aren’t transferable, I believe that here in the Pacific NW, a big black Morgan horse lives in a parallel world to the average stroppy fast food customer!

Time to go, I’d better go and feed a barn full of hungry animals and deal with one particularly bossy horse who thinks he is in a BK line. Wish me luck….or him !!

Take care, keep safe, M  

Hot and MUGGY, trying to do farm chores….actually trying to do any chores in that humidity is the pits!!! The barn thermometer edged on 80 degrees and that was in the barn. Out in the yard and in the pastures, the temperature soared and the flies came out to play in force. The biting flies, the eating flies, the flies that start at one end of your arm and munch their way down to your wrists….the nasty flies. The horses wear face masks that make them look like the masked marauder but do a pretty good job of keeping the nasty gnats out of the horses eyes. Not much can keep the Shire’s huge bodies fly free except the God given swishing tails and teamwork. Lady and Quest stand head to tail, looking unimaginably miserable, heads down and shuffling their legs to transfer the weight of their 2,000 lb bodies. Sometimes we see a huge cedar tree rocking as both Lady and Quest rub their hot and sweaty butts trying to find some relief.

Quatre is away this weekend, back to Seattle and civilization, a well earned rest for our very hard working volunteer.We look forward to her return on Sunday! Before Quatre made her escape, a chastened Quest was returned to the roundpen for another exercise in Quatre discipline….a very well behaved Shire obligingly walked trotted and loped around the roundpen , only an occasional little brattish buck or a momentary stubborn refusal to co operate indicating the reason he was in the roundpen in the first place. Greg is being held by a promise he made to me NOT to take Quests compliance for granted and not to risk falling off without a parachute…at least till I am back up and in full working order. Quatre had fun and intends to repeat the lesson as many times as Quest needs to remind him who is in fact in charge!!

Ursula has done a wonderful job of  painting everything that doesn’t move in the barn kitchen a lovely beaming white. A cheerful barn kitchen will be greeting our Farm Tour guests next week and Ursula will be Queen of the kitchen which I am confident will be just the perfect assignment for her.

Last night Greg and Ursula burnt the almost midnight oil crushing pears. With eyes gleaming in anticipation I have been advised that in a little while those pears will be pear wine….mmmm.

Time to go, the cuckoo has cuckood, Greg is stirring and Bran has his ear cocked, must be 7.30. Take care, keep safe, M

Friday morning and the weekend is in sight, only one more week ‘till the Farm Tour and we are watching the long range weather forecast anxiously ! There is a big “front” moving in…and so far there doesn’t seem to be any clue as to when the “front” is moving out; hopefully we will be looked on kindly from “above” and by some miracle the wind and rain will either go around us…or stay away altogether. We live in hope. The Farm Tour is a wonderful way of making our children ( and sometimes mom and pop !!!) aware of where our food actually comes from. The look of amazement on the faces of the little ones when they see eggs in the nest boxes and tiny fluffy chicks peeping their way out of shiny brown eggs is something that will remain in our favourite memory file forever. We have the incubator stuffed and eagerly anticipate the breathless excitement and wide eyed wonder on the little faces as the first tiny chickens start chipping away at their eggs. Macho the buck has no concerns about his image for the Farm Tour, right now Macho’s interests are very limited and focus on food and reproduction…or reproduction and food, either way, the goat pen is currently particularly whiffy ! I have considered posting a sign preparing our farm guests for the air pollution that hangs like a smelly cloud over Macho’s chunky frame. Macho himself couldn’t be happier, clearly the smelly boy is very proud of his overwhelming odour and he is constantly re- spritzing his alluring  (NOT) aftershave. Little Alyssia the object of his passion still appears to be struggling with her role as a subservient wife and the sound of Macho loudly Wuf Wuffing to chide her for insubordination echoes around the barn. Poor Alissia !!! Lamb Chop would, I’m sure, be eagerly anticipating the Farm Tour if he was able to understand anything more than food treats and more treats. Last year lamb Chop was new on the public stage but thoroughly enjoyed his new image and a Prima Donna evolved.

Well, I got carried away..it’s  7.30am, Greg is going to be scurrying me out of here so I had better clear the network and get down to some real work. Take care, keep safe. M

It’s a beautiful sunrise out there, it’s a long time since we saw the sky as red and gold. We are so lucky to be able to look out over the pastures and pond, it’s all so peaceful and quiet.

I’m feeling better today, I’m still far from right but I know that I am through the worst and am focussed on healing now. The tests yesterday indicate that both wrists need surgery and tomorrow I have further tests. Please keep us in your thoughts.

So, what’s been going on whilst I was in “la la land” …..Greg, Quatre and Ursula have been really busy and much has been achieved in the Greg’s “must do” book. But not all has gone to plan…with great anticipation my rugged cowboy set out to continue training Quest, our 19 hand Shire gelding. Hot on the heels of a very successful  training session with much missed Wesley, one of our WOOFer Interns, Greg determined to ride Quest. Sadly, Greg had not consulted the horse and Quest had VERY different ideas on how to spend a hot muggy evening. Typically Greg confidently set about saddling up our underemployed equine, just as typically I set about making sure that, short of a parachute, Greg was equipped with every safeguard known to man to prevent the intrepid cowboy from being injured. Call me selfish but I have become very attached to my stubborn husband, oh and just as a side thought,… him getting broken right now was not such an attractive option, two “brokens” does not add up to one “fixed”! So, I hate to say it but he should have observed my pessimistic observations though, in his defence he did make an admirable eight seconds and though his exit was less than elegant, it was honourable !! I do wish he would consider heeding my pessimism occasionally although I was very happy to see him armoured up with his back protector and helmet before he left the stall. I think it possibly saved him from a serious spine adjustment!!!!

Quatre and Ursula got trained up on the fine art of sharpening a chainsaw blade…and the even finer art of using one. I wasn’t around for the occasion but by all accounts both did a great job and it was high fives all round. I would love to have seen tiny little Ursula get to work with the chainsaw, (shades of chainsaw massacre comes to mind !) she happily reported that she had always wanted to use a chainsaw and her huge smile reinforced her statement.

Greg and Quatre have almost completed the culvert across Cow Lane, and it only remains to add a ton of quarry stones to save our feet from getting wet in the Winter. It has been a project that the Conservation District have been enthusiastic about but not quite as enthusiastic as Greg ! Thanks for all your hard labour Quatre,

Ursula has been hard at work in the farm garden and the chickens are happy to savour the fruits of her labour. Everything Ursula does is done at the speed of light, she is winning the war of the weeds and daily thanks US for allowing her to work so hard. Thanks Ursula, what are we going to do when you leave?

The survivor of the two lambs that had apparently been on some dogs dinner menu appears to be very slowly making signs of recovery. The poor animal has a very ripped ear ( that’s English for an ear that has been chewed on) and clearly has many scars that indicate Fido and his friends have for a while entertained themselves by mutilating resident lambs. The little ewe may have had a very sad history…but it has very quickly come to recognize the grain bucket and learnt that carrots means treat time.

Well, it’s time to go, got an early early start in the morning, take care, keep safe, M

Good morning,…well, I surely hope that it is and that I don’t have another day like yesterday or the day before. This diary has, for a long time now light-heartedly reflected the daily goings on down on the ranch. There has been nothing light-hearted for me over the recent days and maybe something that I share today may help someone else from going through the hell I have been experiencing and am still.

I have never smoked, never taken drugs and never suffered any psychological issues and MAYBE it is purely coincidental but I can’t help but feel that dreadful symptoms that I have been fighting for nearly 3 days now are the most awful debilitating withdrawal symptoms. I have been unable to eat or drink for 3 days , now believe I have a dehydration headache,I have been unable to function on even a nearly normal level, and have felt an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. I am due to have some electrical stimulus tests today on chronic carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands and decided that it was possibly not the smartest thing to do to be on a nerve block medication when having these tests. Amazingly,( MAYBE) withdrawing from the medication almost immediately stopped the almost total lack of function in my fingers and my fingers stopped turning blue……coincidence? And IF my symptoms were brought on by a swelling induced by the drug, what other damage is being caused ?. The hands feeling a whole lot better were the ONLY good thing to come out of this sorry mess, what happened in the ensuing 72 hours has made being unable to use my hands for even the most basic function impossible seem a paltry issue. Poor Greg has had to helplessly witness me shrinking into a hysterical wreck ( maybe ???) purely because I withdrew from Lyrica. I am feeling as though I have been to the darkside and back and whilst I am unable to put the blame squarely on the medication, you can maybe make your own assumptions. Maybe my story might make us a little more cautious about what we put into our body and maybe it might help someone from following the same hellish path, I do hope so. Oh, and my sciatic nerve that was the reason I took the drug, …hurts like hell again!!

Sorry to have used my diary as a soapbox and I repeat that MAYBE it was all a coincidence but I WILL NEVER touch it again. I will be mentioning my fears to my doctor. IF (?) Lyrica caused this to happen to me, he can maybe caution another prospective patient.

Take care, keep safe and Thank you Greg for being there and for loving me through this and Quatre and Ursula for your help and concern. I am so lucky to have you all. M

PS. Hopefully I will be feeling more like me tomorrow and the diary as intended will be back. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers

Happy soggy Sunday ! I am assured by Greg, who apparently was aware of every drop that hit or threatened to hit the deck, that it rained solidly all night. Personally, I went to bed early in an attempt to find some respite for aches and pains and didn’t hear a thing. I slept through the potential “flood” and since it is still dark outside, I’m still not sure if we missed the Ark. There is a lot of yucky green on the forecast but we have been assured that it will be better tomorrow. Guess that means we don’t have to irrigate…..always the optimist, NOT !!!!

Not much to report from the ranch yesterday, where just a little rain was the opening shot for the pineapple express that did come in last night (apparently!). Greg looked like Mr. Noah, running around the barn with his rake digging ditches, re digging ditches and filling ditches in preparation for the oncoming flood which he advised me ( ‘cause he knows these things ) is coming. Me, I set to work with the important things like making sure I have a plastic bag handy so I don’t look like a poor imitation of  Bob Marley on a bad day. Yesterday was Quatre’s  day off but she stayed with us in the morning to make sure that all the chores got done, since I am currently not running on all throttles. I blame the medication..again!

Lamb Chop and Hol-ley appear to have established some kind of rapport. As long as Hol-ley recognizes that ALL visitors come to see Lamb Chop and ALL treats are intended for the treat-a-holic lamb,…. it’s all good. I did happen to notice Hol-ley and Lamb Chop engaging in some playful ( I think) toustling, even if they were battling it shows that Lamb Chop is no longer having everything the “Lamb Chop way”.

Lady and Quest, the Shire horses were relegated to the back field. Greg, the eternal conservationist had a sleepless night worrying about Quest tromping regardless of the three toed newt and the purple skinned Dodo that may  or may have, ( thousands of years ago) resided 200 feet down under the creek that is no longer there. When we have the chance, flood permitting, we will try to establish a fence to keep the offending equine on his side of the fence and leave the creek bottom to the imaginary ( but protected) creatures.

Greg and Ursula got to work cleaning up the barn.  Ursula the Intrepid set to work with the industrial vacuum sucking up the spider colonies that have  established a thriving colony (possibly over the past 50 years) around the windows. I stayed well clear but am happy to report that we will now be able to see the rain, cobweb free.

Time to go and yes, it is raining!! Take care, keep safe and dry. M