Meet Clarence!

Say Hi! to Clarence.

Clarence just came to us via Red Dog Farm. He is a 8-9 year old parakeet that was surrendered due to his previous caretaker's health issues.  He's a senior but he's got quite a lot of energy and pep!

We were told that he was very shy and quiet but thus far he's been quite a chirper.  He came to us in, what I think, was a very small cage and you could tell he'd been a bit neglected.  His cage was a bit of a mess and his nails are very long to the point of curling. He didn't even have a way to wear down his beak!

Well, we've changed all that!

I'm working on trimming his nails so I don't scare or hurt him but the first thing we did was get him a much roomier home with new clean toys and perches perfect for exercising his feet and mind. I love his new home.  The front has a plexi door so he gets unobstructed views out.

He likes to get close to the door and peek out at us.

We're working on the best toys and treats for him but this environment has lots of "enrichment pods" we can add on to keep him engaged and happy. I'm also working on getting him used to being touched and petted.  He's not too sure about it right now but he's getting there!

Clarence is in the sunroom for now, up on top of our built-ins.  It gives him a sunny place, free from drafts.  The room is warm and he can see out.  The radio stays on and we check on him throughout the day too. The cats were curious at first but haven't tried to get at him (not that they could!).

So now we have an even dozen (OMG!)

Silent and Still

We only expected flurries, but around mid-morning we started to get a pretty steady snow fall.  It's so beautiful in our yard and the songbirds appreciated the seed and water we put out for them every day.

Badger had the right idea and curled up near the radiator.

We didn't have a lot to do other than a friend's party so the next day we watched movies and put up our Christmas decorations.  We don't go too crazy. A wreath, a tree, our stockings and a few other pieces here and there.   But combined with the warm wood of the library, our shiny black living room mantle and some pumpkin spice candles, the rooms seemed warm and cozy.

Then we settled in for a holiday snuggle.

I love the early darkness, the light snowfalls that are still new to this Miami-bred girl, and the snuggly pups and kitties.

What's your favorite part of winter?

Birthday Bean

Today is Badger Bean's 12th birthday.

(observed - we brought him home from the Humane Society 11 years ago)

 The sweetest happiest puppy I know!

We love you, little man!

Grimmy Grimm Grimm

Sorry it's been kind of quiet. Work has me swamped.

In other news, we just found out our Grimmy cat has diabetes. We're trying to learn everything we can and today are going to the vet to be taught how to take her glucose levels and give her insulin shots. This will require lots of changes in the house and even for the other pets as it relates to food and feeding time so we'll see how it goes.

In some cases, cats can balance how and go into remission. We hope this will be the case for Grimmy and that a few months down the road she better.

We love our Grimmy Girl!

Wish us luck!

The Morning Routine

When you have a house full of animals and two people who work, the morning routine can be a bit of a juggling act. We try to balance the needs of the animals with getting ready for the day ourselves.

It goes a bit like this:

6:35 - Wake up 10 minutes before the alarm. Spend the next 10 minutes looking at iPhone while not waking the dogs up.

6:45 - Walk pup #2

7:00 - Wake up hubby and dog #1. Walk both dogs while hubby puts food in their bowls, Kitty #3 gets in front of the cat bowl for a scoop of fresh food.

7:10 - While dogs are eating, I jump in the shower and hubby preps the carrots for the goats and the fresh food for the chickens and Jake (lettuce, tomatoes, corn on the cob, etc.)

7:15 - Since pup #2 has inhaled her food, take her for a walk or hold her off until pup #1 is finished so they can both go at the same time.

7:20 - Give pups two pieces of carrot each. They're spoiled now.

7:30 - I'm done in the bathroom and, on alternating days, go out to get fresh water for the coop and the goats (two horse buckets full), rake out the coop, put out their food, get hay for the goats, refresh the waters, pick up after the goats (poop!) and spend a few minutes with everyone. If it's nice out, I let the hens and Jake the turkey run around the yard while I take care of the goats. Then I have to herd them all back into the coop yard. They are not thrilled by this as they would rather play in the yard all day.

8:00 - Come back in, make lunch for work, maybe grab some breakfast.

8:15 - Make up the bed, pick-up and start getting ready for work.

8:55 - Try to get on the road to drive to work. Hubby gets the pups settled down in the office so he can get to work too.

Whew!

What's your morning like?

Resting

Another sad post today. My sweet pup has passed.

I've had my boy Bailey for over 15 years. He was a wonderful pup and I can't imagine my life without him.

He was super smart and always with me. When I first brought him home I used to carry him around in my purse he was so small. And he was always good in the car too. We went on many many road trips. He used to like sitting behind my head so he could see out the window.

Baily came from a family that had two pups. They were both totally adorable 2lb fluff balls. I had a hard time choosing between them at first. When I couldn't pic we did a little test. We took both pups to one end of the room. Then I went to a corner and we took the mom to the other corner. Then they let the pups go. The other pup ran to his mom but Bailey ran to me. I've always felt like his mom.

There are a million memories I have of him.

Sucking up to Chickens

I am the type of pet lover that totally obsess about their pets all the time. Not in a dress them up and carry them around all the time kind of way, but in the no one can take care of them better than me kind of way.

Faced with the choice between a family member or a pet of who I would try to save when they are hanging off the side of the cliff it would be a pet. My rationale is that, as a human being, you can do a pretty good job saving yourself, but my pup can't even make it on to the bed by himself, much less scrabble back over the cliff edge. So get climbin'.

Anyhow, we went away for the third trip in less than a month and had to again board the dogs and get a sitter for the cats and, more difficult, the chickens. Now the chickens are fairly easy to care for, but because it is a bit out of the ordinary it's kind of hard to get someone to come and take care of them. The folks we know who are used to chickens are dealing with more animals than we are (surprisingly) and can't help us. We typically ask the high school girl next store but they were out of town too. So we kind of had to scramble to find a pet sitter. I was actually to the point where I was possibly going to bail on the trip if we didn't like this person because I think it is more important to find someone we trust than go out of town.

I don't think we are that difficult in general to work for but maybe we just have too high of expectations. Maybe we're the problem, but as of yet, we have not found a professional pet sitter that we are 100% satisfied with. The girl next store is #1 in our book at this point.

We did meet and use a new sitter for this trip and actually felt pretty good about them during the first meet and greet. We took them through what they had to do for the cats (not much) and then took them through the chickens.

Granted, Napoleon is a pain in the butt. He's defensive and territorial and stupid (I love him, but he isn't bright). And he really needs to have his spurs cut. But he's like 12 inches tall and about 3lbs, so, if you're wearing jeans, boots and gloves you should be fine.

Anyhow, we take them through the process: arrive as early as possible, put out the food, open the coop door and let the chickens run out, go inside and shake out the buckets, pour in fresh water every other day and then leave. Ignore Napoleon until he leaves you alone. Not that hard really.

I think the biggest problem is that I didn't have her do a trial run while I was around, because after day one we got a call from the sitter that she was freaking out and scared of Napoleon. We immediately identified that she was going over way later than she should have. At that point they had been awake and locked in the coop for more than an hour and a half and were pissed off. She also was wearing my boots rather than the husbands so Napoleon was pulling on her pants and kicking her. Annoying, yes, but while you may get a bruise he can't really hurt you.

We gave her some advice for dealing with them and advised her to go over as early as possible so they are more sleepy and to just avoid Napoleon because he will eventually walk off to the two hens.

The next day we got another call saying she was scared of him still and that she was worried he was going to jump up at her. At this point I'm one of those horrible mothers who never thinks bad about their bratty kids and blames everyone else.

In instances like these I don't have much sympathy because, hello!, you're the person who opted to do this for a living. And I had never worked with chickens before a few months ago, so just get over it! We ended up telling her all she needed to do is put out the food and open the coop door - not change out the water or shake the buckets. But the whole rest of the trip, all I'm thinking is, sweetie, you just lost a job because we probably won't use the service again. It's too bad too because she managed the house and the cats pretty well.

So, luckily we had booked our trip back for Saturday. That way I was able to get the coop and pen cleaned up and I was able to let the chickens free range for a while on Sunday. It was kind of cold and overcast but they didn't mind. The played in the leaves and compost pile and watched me carry fallen branches to the burn pile. We also put a heat lamp on a timer inside the coop because nights are getting pretty cold around here. We still need to get them some more hay for snuggling into.

When I had cleaned everything up I sat down on the ground and Napoleon ran over to me and jumped onto my lap to be held and petted and cuddle. I even tucked him into my jacket and carried him around for a while. Who could be scared or such a sweetheart, right?

My new goal is to teach him to walk on a leash. Maybe. We'll see.