Sunday Social - Chickens

LAST ONES down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (14)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin, and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.


I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Are my chickens.

At this point, I have written about them ad nauseum, but here's a quick review of their history:

I took receipt of my 14 peeps a year ago March. They were day old fluffball chicks back then, and we set them up in Rosie's bathtub for their temporary quarters.

In no time, it seemed, they had graduated from bathtub to Chick Shack, and then from Chick Shack to Hen House.

Just before they made that final move, one of our hens came out and declared himself a rooster. We wanted no roos, but that's how life plays out sometimes, isn't it?

And he turned into a nasty sumbit**, that one.

Anyway, towards the end of that summer they gave us our first egg. Small and brown and perfect.

And soon after that, they started giving us LOTS of eggs. To the tune of six or seven dozen a week. For the most part, we keep up with them, but we have given a few dozen away here and there. And over the winter? They slowed down. Some days we got none, but for the most part we ended up with two or three dozen a week, so not too shabby.

For the most part, they've been pretty healthy, but I did have a problem with one of the hens. Well, it wasn't a REAL problem, but in the mind of this newbie chicken keeper it was. I thought she was egg-bound, when really all she was was broody. I tried to, errr, fix her. My apologies, my dear hen.

Also, with chickens, disgustingly enough, has come rats. And we have had to deal with them. There is no refined way of dealing with rats, let me just tell you that. We've made but a small dent in the population, but I am ever optimistic, I am.

Overall, we've learned quite a bit in our year plus of chicken keeping. I love 'em, HI.

Oh, I forgot to give you their names...

When they were chicks, I lovingly picked out individual names for them, but the harsh reality of it is, I don't know one from t'other.

Well. That's not entirely true.

I have three Buff Orpingtons, which I refer to as the Buffs. Technically, one is Big Mama, one is Goldie, and one is Puddin'. I just can't tell you which is which.

I have three Silver-Laced Wyandottes, which I call, you guessed it, the Wyandottes (WINduts). Originally, they were to be Ting, Mamin, and some other clever and significant name I can no longer recall.

There are two Black Austrolorps. They were to be Elizabeth and someone else. They are the Blacks.

There are three that I don't even know what they are. One of them is cute and a bit smaller, and she's the only hen I know of the whole flock. She is Nugget.

The two whitish ones are the Americaunas. They're the ones that lay greenish blue eggs. I should name them Sam I Am and Dr. Seuss, but the truth of it is, they, too, are nameless.

And then there is Big Daddy, the accidental roo. Nuff already said about that evil creation.




And that's it! I've made it to the end of my Social Sundays, which I started, I think, over a year ago. Whew!



Taking suggestions on what to do from now on on Sundays....






Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon. I'm here every day, rain or shine.
Anne~


*********************


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Sunday Social - Pippin

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (14)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Pippin.

Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

Ok, I know he's not really cute, in the definitive sense.

He's got a Roman nose. His blaze is all crooked and broken and splotchy. He's high in the hindquarters. Where he used to be a glistening black with white socks and blaze, he's now turning grey. And not in a dignified, elegant, salt and pepper way, but in a what's-going-on-with-his-coat way. He looks awful. I'm sure he's headin' for all grey, like his Mama, but for now he is...not very attractive.

But he's still cute. Cute b/c of his personality
his equinality????
He's sweet and funny and much more like most dogs I've known than most horses I've known.

He's a "pocket pony", meaning he'll follow you around the pasture if you're out making fence repairs or what-not.


He came as a package deal when we bought Genevieve back about 2 1/2 years ago. He was about 6 mths old at the time, and just as friendly back then as he is now. Gen is his Mama, and a strikingly handsome Gypsy Cob (aka Gypsy Vanner) is his Papa, so that makes Pip 1/2 Gypsy, 1/4 Percheron and 1/4 Welsh. He's pony-sized, standing, I'm guessing, at about 14 hh, or maybe 13.5 (just eye-ballin').


He's Daniel's pony, and in theory, he's been training him.

In actuality, we haven't gotten out there to work with him a whole heck of a lot, as one thing or another always seems more pressing than pony-training time. Still, he's doing well, and I think he's only a couple lessons away from being able to be ridden whenever the kids feel like jumpin' aboard. As you would probably expect from what I've already said about him, he's been incredibly easy to train. Wonderful ground manners, and took to a saddle and rider like a fly takes to poo.

Just like his Mama, this one's a keeper.






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Sunday Social - Ozzy

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.


Is Ozzy.
















Ozzy is one of the twin kids born to our nanny goat Elfie, who came to us pregnant.

He's, lemme think, I guess he'd be about five years old now. Wow. Can't believe he's that old!

Anyway, he and his brother Houdini were born without incident or fanfare on a cold night in January. Ozzy and Houdini were opposites in every way possible. One solid black, one all white. Ozzy is as friendly as could be, but Houdini was more reserved. Ozzy was quickly claimed as a pet by Bella, but no one really wanted Houdini (he was THAT unfriendly). Sadly, Houdini, so named b/c he always got out of any enclosure he was supposed to be in, died last summer.

At least they were both grown when it happened, b/c when they were little kids they were inseparable. Ozzy didn't seem all that distressed about Dini's passing, truth be told.

And he's just as sweet and friendly as ever. Bella's little black billy goat.








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Sunday Social - Crope

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...




Is Crope.
















Crope is my boring-est goat.

Seriously, there's really hardly anything to say about him.

He was one of the original goat herd we got from the rescue group.

Which means I don't know how old he is.

He is healthy.

He is normal.

He doesn't know any tricks, nor is he particularly cute.

He is not friendly and wants nothing to do with people.

Like I said. He's boring.

Bleh.







Top Mommy Blogs isn't boring, though! 'Specially now that I'm on the first page! Just one click of this button (below) and you've voted. You can vote every day!



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Sunday Social - Frex

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...



Is Frex.















Frex was one of the original goat herd, as well. Since he was the biggest, and looked to be the oldest of the bunch, he got the name of Frex.

Truth be told, though, I haven't a clue how old any of 'em are. My money's on Frex, though. His crooked ol' face has a story to tell. His face runs a zig-zag course that starts at his hornless crest (the only one of our goats without a rack), and ends in his snarly mouth and nose.

Though he's the largest, by far, he's an outcast and sits morosely at the bottom of the totem pole in the caprine hierarchy of our barn. He runs from trouble (namely, Tibbett) and can usually be found grazing a stone's throw from the others.

What's his story, I wonder....

An ill-fated love triangle between Tibbett, Elfie and Frex, in which Frex lost to Tibbett in a violent knife-fight from which he barely escaped with his life?

Perhaps Frex is the scorned love-child of Elfie and Tibbett? The dirty little secret no one wishes to acknowledge?

Or maybe Frex's father lost everything to Tibbett in a scandalous drunken gambling binge. Like Hindley's Hareton, Frex is now indebted to Tibbett (Heathcliff) and will forevermore be a servant in his own house.

What do YOU think Frex's story is...?







Clue me in to Frex's life-story, and then throw me a vote for TMB by clicking this button...Thanks!

Sunday Social - Elfie

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...




Is Elfie.
















Elfie was one of the four goats we got when we bought our little goat herd from the rescue group. The only doe among the group, she came with a bit of a bonus: she was pregnant. A few months later, she produced gorgeous ebony and ivory twin kids.

We (meaning I) named her Elphaba, because I had just finished reading the book Wicked, and decided to go with a whole name theme. I had Elphaba, Frex, Crope and Tibbett.

Elfie is my sweetest goatie. If I'm in the barn or in the field, she's right there beside me, trying to eat my shirt. If I have some banana peels or pizza crusts to throw out to the goats from the deck, all I have to do is yell her name, and she comes running over as fast as her short little legs can take her, with the rest of the herd in close pursuit.

She had a bad case of mastitis once, and I had to treat her with hot compresses and udder massages.

We're very close, she and I.







We can be very close, too. Just click this button to vote for me.
(No, I will not massage your udder if you vote for me.)

Sunday Social - Tibbett

Good lord, I don't even know what day of the week it is. This post was meant for yesterday.

Please forgive....

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbett and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Tibbett.

















Tibbett is the Head Honcho of our little goat herd.

About five years ago, we took in four Pygmy-cross goats from a rescue group. They came from an old lady who had a few dozen goats, none of whom were fixed or vaccinated or anything. The rescue group was able to talk the woman into giving up a good number of them, and they got 'em all fixed and up to date on shots. Of the ones I took, there were three wethers (castrated males) and a doe.

Tibbett is the smallest of the bunch, but definitely the alpha. He has an impressive rack (of horns) and a handsome beard.

It wasn't easy earning his trust, and took a long while before he would let me pet him. But once he did? I learned he knew a cool little trick. If I scratch him in just the right place on his shoulder, he tilts his head back and gets this faraway look in his eyes. When I stop? He looks square at me and lifts his front leg like a dog playing shake.

But don't tell him I told you.

Like I said. Head Honcho.






No need to scratch or shake. Just click (this button).

Sunday Social - Alice and Minnie

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (17)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...

Is Minnie and Alice.






















Minnie is the daughter of two bunnies we bought many years ago that have since passed on. I don't have a picture of her, but she's white with black spots, and has a notch out of one ear. She's kind of skittish.

Alice is a Flemish Giant that the kids got as an Easter gift about two or three years ago.

She is roughly the size of a Bulldog.

She's awesome. She's friendly. She's soft. She's awesome.

Our bunnies don't live in hutches, but in a big walk-in enclosure in the barn. So it's kind of cool because we can just walk in to pet and cuddle.

And feed and water and clean up after.

So, yeah, that kind of stinks.

But have I mentioned they're soft and cuddly?

And awesome?





Also awesome? How much you all have moved me up in the ranks on TMB already. Amazing. Keep it up! Just a click of this button every day. Thank you!



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Sunday Social - Charlie and Dizzy

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (17)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...



Once again, please allow me to do a repost as a way of introducing our hamsters Charlie and Dizzy....


It began innocently enough on Friday afternoon. I took the girls and James out on a few shopping errands. We had a nice dinner out at Boston Market and then went by the pet store for our last errand: buying some small goldfish for our ponds.

As luck would have it, they were out of goldfish.

As luck would also have it, we had to walk past the warm furry pets to get to the cold scaly pets.

And of course, we walked right past a cage with little black and white hamsters sitting up on their hind legs looking for all the world like prairie dogs scoping their surroundings.

Adorable?

We asked the nice man to take one out.

We asked the nice man to put her back so we ould talk things over.

Three of the four kids wanted one. As in each. To be kept in their rooms.

I did my best to talk them down.

I told them to forget the 3 - 5 years life expectancy the nice man mentioned. More like 2 for a hamster. They were setting themselves up for more heartbreak.

I told them they would need to clean the cages themselves. They would need to fill the food and water dishes. They would need to handle them with care. The cute little hamsters could possibly bite if they were handled too roughly or not with enough frequency or if the mood struck them.

They would have to pay for them themselves. This little prerequisite knocked one of the kids out of the running as she had just blown through about half her allowance on junk at Five Below.

But the other two, James and Julie, still had cash burning a hole in their pockets from the nice people who gave them gifts for completing their church sacraments.

So much so that Julie even decided to spring for a new cage, though our attic probably has enough critter cages to start a small zoo.

So we grabbed a cart and started loading it up. How much stuff could two pocket rodents possibly need? The cage, 2 bags of bedding (b/c James wanted blue and Julie wanted confetti), food, water bottles, wood chews, little houses, treats,hay, and an exercise ball.

There was no room left in the cart for the actual hamsters.

But somehow we managed, and we got our new pets home and settled into their new digs.

The kids were disappointed when I told them they had to wait till the next day before they could handle their new pets so they could have some time to acclimate, but they made it. And last night they took them downstairs to hold and love and cuddle. And in the process of so doing, they lost one.

Yeah. Someone was holding one of them and she got freaked out when she started climbing up her arm and then she dropped her and then she was on the sofa and then behind the sofa and then under the sofa and the kids were frantically running around searching for their new lost pet and plugging up the air conditioning vents and in general just freaking out.

Oh the joy of being a small critter in our household.

And of course I was blissfully unaware of any of this b/c I was on the road picking up one of the other kids from a party.

But they found her and returned her to her cage before I got home and all was well with the world.

I don't hold out much hope for them. Better start saving the shoeboxes now.


Meet Charlie. Julie's hamster. Got cute?







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Sunday Social - Frog 1

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Frog 1.















Rosie is our resident frog/toad lover. When she was three years old, she found her first little toad, and she made him her pet and named him Hoppy. Hoppy lived in a small aquarium and we fed him all the bugs we could find. Hoppy didn't spend a whole lot of time in that tank. More often you'd find him wherever Rosie was. Sometimes peeking out from her pocket, sometimes sitting on her arm while she watched TV.

Hoppy was first in a long line; I cannot remember a time since Hoppy that we have not had a frog or toad. We even tried store-bought frogs once. Little tree frogs. Pretty to look at, but bor-ing. Mostly we keep ones that she's found in the garden or the garage or rescued from the pool.

We've had so many frogs at this point that inventive names have become a thing of the past. These last two were simply Frog 1 and Horny Toad, but Horny Toad passed on a couple weeks ago, so Frog 1 sits morosely in her tank.

Shouldn't be very long, though. Spring is on the horizon, and I'm sure Rosie will find a companion for her pretty soon.

Sunday Social - Fiona

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Fiona.



















She's the newest canine in the group.

She's sweet.

She's awful.

She's a terrible, awful dog.

She's a lovey-dove lap-dog.

She's a terror.

She's a cute l'il l'il baby puppy.

She is exceedingly smart. She shamed all the other dogs in the obedience class.

She was a rescue dog, slated for euthenasia the next day. Probably a Border Collie/Lab cross.

She is a terribly mannered dog that has taken things from counter-tops, gotten on top of the table, chased the cats, gotten things out of the trash, chewed up stuffed animals and Christmas ornaments, ruined her Invisible Fence collar, gotten into the pasture and chased the goats.

We love her.

Sunday Social - Sunny

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (13)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Annabelle, Fiona, Sophie and Cindy-Lou; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...



Is Sunny.
















Sunny is our infamous yellow Lab. She is Patrick's "Baby Dog".

We picked her out on a farm about five years ago. Well. More like she picked us out. I had a black Lab in mind. Never did care for the yellows. But all these pups were squirming and rolling all around us, and after a bit they lost interest and ran off in pursuit of something more interesting like a bug. All except this one. She stayed right by us, following us everywhere. And after a few minutes, we got the hint and scooped her up, paid the man and brought her home.

She was tail-waggin' hell the first year or so of her life. She ate everything. She chewed up hundreds of dollars worth of pool pumps and hoses. She ate the siding on our house.

She was lethal when she first learned to swim in the pool with the kids. In her enthusiasm to swim over near them, she'd generally end up scratching the bejesus out of their backs and shoulders. Kids learned to put their hands out when they saw her coming and yell, "Space, Sunny, SPACE!" and she'd veer off to the side at the last minute.

When she was about four, she developed an enormous hematoma in one of her ears and ended up needing surgery. That was fun. Nearly two years later the thing is still draining and smelling like death warmed over. We take her back to the vet now and again, each time more hopeful than the last that they will be able to give us a cure-all, each time just as disappointed as the time before. You can smell her across the room. We clean it, we ply her with ointments and drops and pills, but she will forevermore be stinky.

Every night she faithfully follows Patrick up the stairs and sleeps on the foot of his bed. She is completely devoted to him. They play this hide and seek game where we have her sit in another room while he hides, and then we ask her, "Sunny, where's Patrick? Find Patrick!" Then she goes absolutely berserk looking for him everywhere. She whines, she runs, she pants, she sticks her head out the dog door and looks left and right, then back in to run around looking in every nook and cranny till she finds him. When she does, and she always does, she dissloves into a puddle of wiggly happiness.

Fat, happy, wiggly, stinky.....

Sunny.

Sunday Social - Patrick

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Bella (13)
Rosie (13)
Julie (13)
Daniel (11)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Felice in Hong Kong
Eun Hae in South Korea
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Annabelle, Fiona, Sunny, Sophie, Cindy-Lou and Blue; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Patrick.











He's my first born. The one who brought us kicking and screaming into the world of parenting.

And I kicked and screamed for a good long while. When he was a baby I got to experience the neonatal jaundice and three day hospitalization of my firstborn. I got to experience a colicky baby and a horrific entry into the world of lactation that ended three months after it began.

When he was a toddler/preschooler I got the joys of learning to cope with the tantrums and opposition and "high energy" and "difficulties with transitions" of a boy who would later be diagnosed with ADHD, but meanwhile I had to run around thinking I was doing everything wrong and feeling exhausted every minute of every day. Good times.

Sigh.

But now? He's 16. Starting his junior year in high school. At about 6' 1", he's taller than his Dad. I've had to crane my head back to look sternly into his eyes for nagging purposes for some time now.

And he's still oppositional and distractible. But no longer so much with the high energy thing. Or the tantrums. We have learned to deal.

And you know what? He's amazing. So sweet with his little sisters. So dang smart. Remember how I said Fred is like the smartest person I know? Well, Patrick can usually beat him in Jeopardy now. And he's my go-to person if one of the youngers has a math question that's out of my league (read, from fractions onward) or a question about a word spelling. Or pretty much any academic question. Period. Don't even try to play him in chess.

He can debate the hind-end off a mule, though I'm not sure when that particular skill would ever be needed. Still, good to know it's there.

He's awesome with the dogs. Did some agility training with Blue, and Sunny is pretty much velcroed to his leg. She follows him everywhere, she sleeps with him every night. She goes absolutely insane when he plays hide and seek with her until she can find him. Then she finds him and goes more insane.

Generous as a little boy, still generous as a young man. And kind. And compassionate.

His future? He has no clue. Nor do I. Though he aces every test without cracking a book, he has this little problem with the whole homework thing. As in he usually does it, but the turning-it-in step gets missed more often than not. As a result, his grades tend to hover somewhere between the sewer and the toilet. But alas, we are finally realizing it is his battle, not ours. With any luck, some college somewhere will accept him after he graduates and he can move on to higher education, but who knows? He'll do alright in life.

Like I said, he's a good kid.

Sunday Social - Annabelle

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...



is Annabelle.


















Annabelle is our farm dog.

That means she is on patrol to watch over the critters on our farm. Namely, the goats.

See, at our old place, before we ever had a livestock guardian dog, we had sheep. And one day some neighborhood dogs got into our pasture and tore the place up. They killed one ewe, leaving her week old lamb without its mother. It was around that time I started to learn about LGDs.

Turns out they've been around for thousands of years. They are used to keep livestock safe from predators such as dogs, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions and anything that would think of taking a goat, sheep, chicken, calf, etc. LGDs consist of several different breeds, but most times when you see a large, white, hairy dog? It's a livestock guardian. Great Pyrenese, Akbash, Anatolian, Kuvasz, Komondor, Maremma. There are others, too, but that's all that comes to mind at the moment.

Guardians are NOT to be confused with herders like Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, Shelties, Collies, German Shepherds. Those dogs are bred to move the livestock from one spot to the next at the direction of the farmer/shepherd. LGDs patrol and protect. If you have more than one LGD in charge of a flock/herd, and there's trouble afoot, usually 1/2 of the dogs will run out in pursuit of the threat, and half will stay glued to the flock. There is no training required for them to learn this, it's all instinct. If you've only got one LGD, and that's all we've usually had at a time, it will run about 1/2 the distance between the flock and the threat. See, sometimes critters that work in packs, like wolves or coyotes, will create a distraction to draw the guardian away, and the others will circle in to the flock. Easy pickins. That's why the LGDs have learned to never completely leave them. So cool.

When our old LGD, Bear, was getting up in years, we decided we would need a new one. Couldn't find any in our neck of the woods, but we learned of some puppies in North Carolina. So I loaded the kids up in the car and we drove the 7 hours down to NC to a large goat farm. How do you choose which of these adorable balls of fluff to take home? Near impossible. But we chose our little cutie with the badger-colored ears and the heart-shaped nose.

Before too long she figured out what she needed to do. Bear taught her everything he knew before he passed. I never got too confident of how well she would be able to handle things if they got dicey, b/c she just seemed like such an ol' softie. But then one night we heard a huge ruckus, and ran outside to find Annabelle in a vicious fence-fight with a neighborhood dog. The goats had all run to the barn when the trouble began while Anna kept this very large dog at bay. We closed the goats up and put Annabelle in with them until we were finally able to get the owner to come collect their beast. Annabelle saved the day that night.

Now she has chickens to add to her collection of critters to keep safe, and she's as gentle as can be with her new charges.

With her human flock, too, I know I would never have to worry. If the kids are out in the fields, she follows them around, quite literally, like a puppy dog. She is gentle and sweet and affectionate and always smiling.

Since her tail is always wagging, I sometimes call her Swisher. Sometimes Belly Button (from Anna BELLE).

Whatever we call her, she's our good dog.

Sunday Social - Cindy

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Sunny, Cindy-Lou, Annabelle, Fiona, and Sophie; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Cindy.
















Cindy is pretty new to our family. In fact, we've had her almost exactly one year, as she was a Christmas gift to Bellalast year.

See, the farm down the street from us where I used to get my eggs before I got chickens had these cute little dogs that would run out to greet me everytime I pulled up. And the times Bella came with me, she was just nuts over these dogs. And then I got to thinkin. Bella would just love one of these. So one day I asked Sarah about them, and she told me they still had a couple puppies left over from their summer litter. So I took a look at them and decided on a little female, and arranged to get her on Christmas morning. And after the kids were all done opening their gifts and things were settling down, I told Bella to have a seat and close her eyes, and then I brought little Cindy up and placed her in her arms. When Bella saw her, she just cried and cried with happiness, and they've been inseparable ever since.

I was told they were fox terriers, but all the pictures I've seen online are telling me she's a rat terrier.

All I truly know is she is a fiesty little so-n-so. She loves everyone in her family but hates anyone who is not. She barks, she nips, she lets you know in no uncertain terms you are not welcome. She knows no tricks, she is not obedient.

Her chief occupation is chew toy to our puppy Fiona. When Fiona first arrived on the scene, she was only Cindy's size, and they played together non-stop. Now Fiona towers over Cindy and is about quadruple her weight, but they still race and wrestle constantly. And I'm here to tell ya', Cindy can hold her own. Ain't nothin can take her down.

Nevertheless, she is still a cuddlebug. She wakes Bella up every morning with kisses and wiggles, and she jumps up and paws at the legs of all her human family to say hello to each and everyone of them throughout the day.

Pain in the tush, that one. But she's our little Cindy Lou Who. We'll keep her.

Sunday Social - Blue

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Blue, Annabelle, Fiona, Sunny, Sophie and Cindy-Lou; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...

Is Blue.


Blue is an Australian Shepherd, and our oldest dog. He'll turn 12 in a couple months, but our vet thinks he looks he looks no more than half his age.

Our kids are teens now, but were babies and preschoolers when we got him, so they've grown up with him. When the kids were all little, he used to play with them. I'm not talking about fetch, I'm talking about duck-duck-goose and red-light-green-light. I'm not kidding you, he knew how to play those games and would join in whenever we started one of them.

Through the years, he's dabbled in sheep herding, agility and obedience training, and has done well at everything he's put his paw to. Though it's been years since he's gone to herding classes or competitions, he saved the day about a year ago when the goats got out of the barn and niether the vet nor I could convince them to get back in. Had it not been for Blue's herding prowess, we would have had to reschedule the appointment, wasting both the vet's time and mine.

He is the. Smartest. Dog. Ever.

If he's staring at you when you're eating, all you have to say is "Don't be rude, Blue" and he slinks off looking ashamed of himself. Though I don't get around to walking them much, when I do he is a perfect gentleman on the leash. I could probably take him tomorrow to a vet's office or a playground or a circus and he would give me a wonderful off-leash heel with a sit at my stops. He's that good.

Though he's really too big, he still tries to be a lapdog now and then. I'll never say no.

He's my Handsome Man.

Sunday Social - Obrin

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Annabelle, Fiona, Sunny, Sophie, Cindy-Lou and Blue; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Obrin.


















We are Obrin's host family with the Fresh Air Fund, and he stays with us for a time each summer. He's only been with us two years now, but he is definitely part of the family. First year he stayed a week, this past summer he stayed about two, and next year we'd like him to stay longer.

He's from New York City and he's nine years old. He loves to swim, play video games with his summer brothers, pick tomatoes from our garden, and pet the ponies. This past summer he climbed a tree for the first time. I had tried to get him to take on that challenge the first summer but he wasn't quite up for it. This year? He was ready. And he went almost high enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Once he did that, there was no stopping the climbing and he moved on to tackling our fences.

His Mom tells me that as soon as school is out, he starts pestering her with,
"How many more days till I can see my summer family?"

Obrin. He's our summer Son.

Sunday Social - Nadja

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Annabelle, Fiona, Sunny, Sophie, Cindy-Lou and Blue; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Nadja.
















Yes, Nadja (or Nadya), my sweet German daughter.

She was our most recent exchange student, staying with us for the 2007/2008 school year. She and my girls bonded immediately. They looked to her for her sense of fashion and they loved doing the whole bathing beauties thing together at the pool or the beach. I can't say my sons were complaining about that much, either.

She was the first of our students to attend the district school instead of the charter school where my kids attend, but I definitely think it was the better option for her. I don't know if her education was all that it could have been, but she made a ton of friends and got involved in some sports through the school.

She is fluent in German, English, French, and I believe some Spanish, as well.

Nadja was a good student, and possessed a strong moral compass. Along with being a great friend and sister to my girls, she was also an excellent role model. They remain friends to this day, texting and chatting and skyping and all that stuff kids do these days to keep in touch with each other.

She's currently doing very well in college and having a wonderful time living independently in her own apartment.

She came back to visit with us last year, and attended my nephew's christening with my family. Because she is part of our family. I hope, hope, hope she is able to make her way back here again to visit us one day.

She's my German Girl.

Love you, Nadya!

Sunday Social - Felice

Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (14)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Eun Hae in South Korea
Felice in Hong Kong
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Annabelle, Fiona, Sunny, Sophie, Cindy-Lou and Blue; Mamfy, Mali, Milky and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


Is Felice.



















(Sorry about the sizing of the picture)

Felice, pronounced Phyllis, was our third international exchange student, and hailed from Hong Kong. She started out the academic year with a family in a different school district. When the host family experienced some family problems and were unable to continue hosting, Felice moved in with a temporary family in our school district. At that point, she and our student at the time Eun Hae became good friends in school.

Halloween night, as my kids were trading their loot, I got a call asking if I would be able to temporarily host Felice. I picked her up around 10 that night, and she never left.

She and Eun Hae were so close, and the agency was having so many problems finding another host family, that we decided to just go ahead and host her ourselves. What's one more, we thought. When we gave the girls the news, they were beyond thrilled.

We were happy for the girls, we were. Unfortunately, Felice didn't turn out to be the greatest exchange student we'd ever had. She tended to the moody side, and never really did form any close bonds with us or with any of our kids. She also, I thought, seemed to dominate our sweet and shy Eun Hae. Their relationship seemed to work for them, though, so I tried to keep a close eye on things, but give them some space to handle their friendship in their own way.

When she left, unlike all our other girls, we never heard from her again. At this point, five years later, I don't really know where she is or what she's up to. I hope she's well.

Felice, if you're out there, give us a shout! I'd love to hear what you're up to.

Sunday Social - Milly

Oops! Never posted this one from last Sunday:


Next one down on my siggy line...

Anne,
Wife of Fred for 23 years
Mom of:
Patrick (16)
James (16)
Rosie (1)
Bella(14)
Julie (13)
Daniel (12)
My children around the world:
Milly in Taiwan
Felice in Hong Kong
Eun Hae in South Korea
Nadya in Germany
Obrin in New York
And our critters Annabelle, Fiona, Sunny, Sophie, Cindy-Lou and Blue; Mamfy, Mali and Punkin; Nick; Frog 1 and Horny Toad; Charlie and Dizzy; Minnie and Alice; Elfie, Frex, Crope, Tibbit and Ozzy; Genevieve, Pippin and Finnegan; and a dozen or so chooks.

I'd like to ask God why He allows
hunger, poverty, and injustice
in the world,but I'd be afraid
He'd ask me the same thing ...


...is Milly.





















Milly was our very first exchange student. She came to us back in August of 2004 all the way from Taiwan. She was a lonnnnng way from home but she quickly fell into the groove of our family. I was immediately impressed with her level of maturity, and with the degree of respect/obedience to her parents. I can remember her getting all dressed up to go to a school dance. She was wearing heels when she left, and she was wearing them when I picked her up, though all the other girls I saw coming out of the school were barefoot, holding their heels in their hands. I asked her, didn't she take her shoes off during the dance, to get more comfortable? She told me her Mom had said she should keep them on all night so that she could get used to wearing them. And so she did, even though her Mom was literally as far away across the world as she could be. Wow.

Milly was a wonderful big sister, a good friend to the girls and boys she met while she attended our school, and a terrific daughter. She was an excellent cook, too. She invited friends over for her birthday party, and single-handedly cooked several amazing dishes, icluding two of my favorites that she made, sesame cold noodles and pineapple shrimp. I believe she was turning 17 that year.

She came back to visit a year or two after she left. She is now a grad student, and doing quite well. Straight As all the time, of course, then and now. We keep in touch through Christmas cards and Facebook.

Her picture is still up on the mirror in my kitchen, along with pictures of our other students and our kids. I sure hope our paths cross again someday.

She's my Milly.....