Computer Problems

Is the reason I have not posted the last week. Actually that is not true, my computer is fine but our Internet service is having some problems. It is running slow and when I say slow I mean molasses in Alaska slow, or how my sister drives slow or maybe just play a game of solitaire, fix a drink, thumb through a magazine and then pull your hair out while waiting on one page to load slow. No, it has been worse than that, it has been running "ready to go back to dial-up" slow!

I am hoping we can get it fixed soon because there are lots of things I would like to tell you about. The new guests at the farm, (no it isn't another opossum) or how some of our expectant mother goats are starting to show, there has been the buck goat drama, spring garden plans, and a few other ideas I have for our farm and this blog and hopefully a giveaway too. I also miss the blogs I follow and can't wait to be able to catch up with them as well. I hope everyone is doing well and 2010 is off to a great start for all! I would have posted a picture but honestly as long as it would take to load right now I just don't have that much patience or hair.

Playing Possum

So for weeks I had been trying to figure out why our two mostly outdoor cats D.C. and Lily were not gaining any weight. They were not overly skinny but they both seemed to have lost weight and the way they were going through cat food you would think I was feeding two Bengal tigers. Every day I would fill up their cat food dish clear to the top with cat food, setting it carefully at the bottom of the front steps where the cats would know where it was and by the next morning it was always empty, completely licked clean.

So I started filling up their food dish twice a day and still they did not gain any weight. "These cats must have a tapeworm to be able to eat so much and never gain a pound" I thought! So I dewormed them, which involved giving them pills and I make it a habit never to give a cat a pill if I can help it because frankly I have enough scars thank you very much.

First I tried to hide the worm pill in some wet cat food, which they both gobbled every speck of food up except for the perfectly licked clean worm pill sitting in the bottom of their empty dish. How do they know? So for the 2nd round I crept up to Lily with worm pill in hand as I mustered up some courage and tried the sneak approach. Pet..pet...nice kitty...oh let me rub your chin...and shove this pill in your mouth. I measured my success by the disappearance of that dang pill down her throat and not the blood then dripping from my hand.

One cat down, I decided a different approach was needed. So I got a large towel out of the closet and laid D.C. down on it, quickly wrapping her up like a very angry burrito. This worked much better and there was less blood involved. Of course I might be speaking too soon because cats don't handle humiliation very well. Judging by the angry flip of her tail and the vengeance in her eyes when I was done I am sure that cat will have it in for me for quite some time. She is probably crouched under a chair right now just waiting for me to walk by in bare feet for some payback.

Even after the whole worming pill fiasco they still did not gain any weight. I found my answer one day when I happened to hear some loud and obnoxious crunching coming from outside my front door. I opened the door to find a rather fat opossum, pointy nose buried in the cat's food just chowing away. He was kind of a cute fellow, in a rat on steroids sort of way but it was time to move the cat food dish!

Opossums can carry diseases I don't want him sharing with my cats. They are also not good animals to have hanging around as I have heard they will kill chickens and besides nobody likes a free loader. So from now on the piggy possum will have to find his own food. Since finding out where all the cat food was going and fixing the problem I am happy to say the cats have gained weight and are looking good again, not to mention we are going through a lot less cat food these days!


*Edited to add - The opossum was not harmed in any way, I merely took away his free buffet of cat food so he would move on and forage for his own food further from our home and in the woods as nature intended. I now feed the cats where opossums can not get to their food.

Snow Buddies - Farm Photo of the Week

This picture was taken a couple winters ago when Bayla, one of our livestock guardian dogs was a puppy. She has always been a good friend to the goats, as they are to her.

The Reason Birds Fly South

Is the same reason I slept in my coat last night. No that isn't true, birds fly south because they are smart. I slept in my coat because I am not smart, or at least not smart enough to keep a closer eye on our propane. It had not been that long since it was checked but I should have known it would not last long at all with the kind of bitterly cold temperatures we have had here the last week or so.

Sitting at 0% propane on a Saturday night when it is 10 degrees outside and snowing is not a good place to be. I sure was wishing we would have bought a wood heater like we had planned on, but never seemed to have the money for this past year. Luckily, we did have a kerosene heater but no kerosene for it. Since none of the gas stations around here carry it, a late run to Wal-mart in the falling snow was the only option left. Luckily they do carry Kerosene in their camping department and they must be quite proud of this too because they charged an arm and a leg for it but I guess that is better than losing them to frostbite.

As long as I kept my coat on the heater actually kept our living room pretty comfortable, so that is where both my husband and I slept last night. Of course since the heater ONLY heated one room, comfortable is NOT what the toilet seat was this morning. Brrr!!

I am very grateful to Beard Propane in Erie for bringing out propane to us on a Sunday! I have also started a weekly to-do list and "check the propane" is on it. It is a good thing too because there is nothing but cold in the forecast with a predicted low of -4 Thursday night with the possibility of even more snow.

I haven't forgotten about the animals, they have shelter and a thick layer of bedding. Frost free water buckets and stock tank de-icers make sure that everyone has water available too. The goats have hardly left their shelters since the snow fell. They do venture out and walk a single file path up to the feed pen to get some grain each day but afterwards it is straight back to their shelters they go. It is important to keep a close eye on them in this kind of weather and make sure they always have water and hay.

Tarps and blankets have been hung on the front of the sheds to block even more wind and cold out. The picture is of Dym the nubian and a group of young does born this past spring making their way up their little path from the shed to get their daily grain. Hay is delivered to their shed for them in this kind of weather. I think they are as ready for some warmer weather as I am.