meow ,meow, time for mouse patrol "understudies"

Of course most farms need to control rodents in some form or another...

You can buy a pkt,bar or "find" a free warm and fluffy.

( I prefer a combination, so bars and fluffy works for me.....perhaps due to the fact our resident mousers are a tad bit spoiled.

Here are the upcoming "stars" and what a delightful "batch" they are...I generally prefer several since in our area something seems to happens to the mousers, we have owls,eagles,coyotes,and a road , while it is a ways off ,it is one that far to many hot rodders think is "hot" (one even has to very careful crossing this old country road ,when getting your mail...)

Now who are these stars? here you see Mr.Mustachio, Precious little treasure(2 pics) Prince Albert, Smokey with Czar and Roo,

LET ME , LET ME, LET ME

Hey Mom I can do it !!!!!

It was a rather frozen day, you know the "kind" two hammers in hand are worth 1 in the barn...

Some of you may wonder why on earth you would need 2 hammers on a frozen January day.....give up ????

Ok ....here is why you NEED 2 hammers, and now it looks like even 3 would be a good idea.....

You need 1 to break the ice in frozen water tanks, 1 to break loose the "droppings" so you can keep the paddocks nice and tidy .... and now it looks like I may need 3 one for trusty side kick (alias ,my dark handsome prince) he really thought he could lend a helping "hand"

now if he would only push the wheelbarrow.....guess the next thing I need is a hard hat for my "fella" :-).............

Making a memory

Toasty warm thoughts

Today I chose some warm and toasty socks, taking a break ,it's time for ........

Ruminating... these very socks remind me of so much.

How did I come by these you may wonder??

In my Christ-mas stocking year 2006 were these very special socks.

My 5 year old critter loving gandson ,only 5 years old, picked these out for me.

Notice the zebra stripes. A zebra is one of his favorite animals...I don't think I've ever told him ,that as a child I too ,wished for a zebra . I wanted to be one in heart and ride across the savannah....Well , I confess, this is the closest his grandma has been to a zebra. Years later, with a good number of miles on me now, I am rather thankful. I've enough lumps and bumps from other critters w/o the additions a wild zebra no doubt would have supplied.

Zebra's are well known for being "good" biters...To me their teeth look much longer than horses teeth . Having been chowed down upon , a couple of times with horses teeth . I've decided I'm quite content to warm my footsies,with a bit of their faux hide, while letting many fond and pleasant memories troop across the stage of my mind...........ahhh, now where is a nice cup of cocoa.......... Why not try stopping whatever you are doing, for just a minute or two and think of something warming to your heart..........one can always find a moment for good thoughts.....if you can't you especially need to....

Dog "daze"

ZZZZZZZ

Neighborhood gossip

dog style..."through the fence.

Hi Bella,whazz up ?

Mama

let's follow Roo

Mama,Papa, Baby

Christina, Angelina Ballerina,
proud papa Sancho

OH MAMA

Mama Mama, where are you, it has been a trying week for little (well actually big girl,not only is she a good size,she's officially a big girl,well as soon as she get's past this new stage in her live....umm no more warm momma milk....oohhh)
big girl Miss Angelina Ballerina.....you will survive...plus you can still rub noses with momma over the fence...I think Mama Christina is grateful, especially since new little ??? is hopefully arriving in July....
Go Angelina...

Roo and Katie's Liz

My goodness I couldn't walk fast enough for Katie the other evening ,when it was her turn to see Liz. As we walked through the doors of the nursing home, Ed was close to the door, he was delighted to get to see"Kate" again. Though I don't think Ed is seeing very well now, Ed seemed to do lots of "seeing" with his hands, oh how he loved to feel Kate...the feeling was mutual ,as Katie loves petting.
I had gone early this particular evening ,so just sat on a couch arm while Ed told Katie some secret codes and things only he and perhaps Kate understood. I added I did when my opinion was asked for. Katie whined,she wanted to see Liz, plus she was in a hurry,thus she was not giving one of her best performance of heeling as she hurried to Liz,with me kind of flying along behind. Not only did she rush in , she was not waiting on ceremonies as she promptly jumped on Liz's bed w/o an invite. Being on Liz's bed is okay if Liz is wanting the little miss bed baby to come up. I have a policy no "sharing" of anything even a nosey nose reaching for an unsolicited pet from anyone unless you are invited. I guess my teenage "gal" was just too impatient this evening. Liz was delighted this time (occasionally she doesn't want Kate on the bed) and just called Katie her miss nosey girl, of course Kate becomes Liz's girl while we are there, but I'm not jealous...(I try not to think I'm going to see Liz when I leave with either Dog so they don't feel left behind (they do get jealous) One"fine" day I was rather energetic,or just plain wacko as I took all three dogs. My Liz was ever so delighted, I didn't tell her I had anyone else with me,just brought them in one at a time,even Casper my son's white boxer so each "trip" she was delighted.,it was fun,but oh my goodness..one dog a day is plenty!!...There are a couple of other patients that are delighted to see the "pups" of course. Last Wed. even got to help Liz's roommate feel better, she was "hauled" back into the room as Kate was snuggling under Liz's consoling pats,and you're my girl aren't you Kate, this young gal had been told she was going home,and then evidently after some test or something,the paper work hadn't gone through,and thus she was not going to go home until the next day (I know she'd been there over a month,recovering ,since Kate had made friends with her before Christ-mas. The gal was crying as she was brought in,understandably I would have too,had i been promised I was going home then had a paper snag keep me a minute longer than necessary. A friend trying to console her noticed Kate, there's a dog on Liz's bed she exclaimed , of course with all the commotion, Kate was trying to figure out what was going on, and so I pulled back the curtain between the beds, Kate took that as a cue and went over to lend her condolences and give a her healing "nose" and loving eyes for comfort. The crying stopped as the gal was delighted to see Kate again, another heart warmed and comforted, and Kate our little Angel of mercy was ready to go home now... Ok Katie, I will will try to let you come more often so you won't drag me through the hall !!1(that or else we need to practice some heeling and such)

OK mush you "huskies" (actually all dogs are dozing (one little Missy keeps sneaking onto the sofa, a big no no if not invited...kids or dogs always testing to see what they can get away with !!!) good girl Kate, your "blankie" is fine...

artificial sweetners

I was doing some research about a sweetener we use here on our farm
WAIT-WAIT don't send out the troops...Queen Abigail,Mary Queen of Scotts,and Princess Buttercup,it's only been a brief time we have been doing this,,,,no need to fear,we love you and your precious honey. Not too far away on our weightloss horizon,we will have your liquid gold back on our "table" again.

As I was "saying" before the little bees started buzzin' wanting some info about how our "fake" sweetener effected one (Chemist husband saying he'd heard it did not effect your hunger, (not sure how to word this whole conversation into a brief format, basically I avoid artificial sweeteners for many reasons,but mentioned to husband how (the one we use) creates a false hunger,or rise in insulin or something, of course ,I had nothing to back me up at the time.

I thought I'd see what I could "pin" down to assist me...I found this article a bit concerning. Due to it's correlation to previous pre approved studies with another artificial sweetener,in my book it merits further investigation....so-o- thought I'd share the link to anyone else who may be interested.

Perhaps like me you will decide to investigate one of the approved natural sweeteners...(of course honey will be soon back on this farm gals list, and all our little buzzers are happy)

Sucralose Toxicity Information Center (click on for more info)

Sucralose Toxicity Information Center