Crazy time of year!

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, pets3 Comments
(neither of those is me 🙂 that’s members of the 501st who came to our grand opening)

Because we own a mail order toy store this is the busiest time of year for us. We don’t really enjoy the holidays, it’s not a month of time off work, gathering with friends and family, decorating the house. It’s a solid month or more of hard work, late nights, and coming home and dropping on the couch exhausted, right before getting back up and running out to the shop to pack more packages. And this year, with the retail part of the store, we have to be manning the physical location as well. 7 Days a week. With no days off. And for some reason Dave decided this would be a good time to do a play?

We close the store at 6pm, but sometimes customers wander in late, and I’m never one to send money away. Seemed like I couldn’t get them all out the other night, and I didn’t get to lock up until 6:30. By the time I got home it was fully dark and Dave was gone to rehearsal, and as Barclay and I walked up to the porch (Barclay goes to work with me sometimes), I noticed the motion sensor light was on. Because there was a llama on the porch. Patrone ran off into the yard and disappeared into the darkness. So Barclay and I went out there and I was annoyed to discover all the llamas in the front yard. Barclay was delighted, he was running around playing with them while Houdini tried to stomp him! All the while the sheep and goats were bleating their disapproval – they wanted to run around the front yard too!

I went and got a flashlight and gloves, because it was COLD, and found the llamas had pushed down the wire fence, and that was why they were in the yard. So I got my tools and fixed the fence by flashlight, then took some grain and put it in the paddock in their bowls, so they just about bowled me over getting to it. About this time I noticed Barclay was gone. But he soon showed up again, he had been out in the field. So we went back inside where it was light…

And he was filthy up to his knees, plus a big smudge on his forehead right between the eyes! Looks like he must have been out digging through fresh molehills! So into the tub he goes for a foot rinse. And I finally got onto making dinner about 8pm. And people wonder why I’m so tired!

Rooster Tales

On By stefrobrtsIn chickens3 Comments

Well, my suspected rooster turned out to be a rooster for sure, and I really don’t need two boys. They get along fine for now, but I don’t want cock-fights down the road. I decided to put him on CL for $15, figuring if anyone was willing to pay $15 for him they probably weren’t planning on eating him. Sure enough, I got emails from someone wanting to know his age and see pictures of him, and tomorrow they’re coming to pick him up.

As you can see, he is turning out to be a very handsome bird (he’s the one on the left, Big Bird is on the right), and starting to get a really nice tail. He’s probably going to turn out nicer than Big Bird, but I’m already attached to Big Bird, so I decided the new boy would be the one to go. I tell you, I just LOVE these Buff Orpington chickens, they are so pretty, and they just look right to me – they look just like a farm chicken should.

Barclay’s herding lesson

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, pets6 Comments


Barclay had his 4th herding lesson today. This is at Brigand’s Hideaway in Brush Prairie. They have lots of sheep to use and a round pen. There are always lots of people there working sheep with their dogs.

He has been doing really well, but he still likes to grab at the sheep. Normally the teacher uses a regular fiberglass staff to guide him, but today she brought a rake. When she said she would ‘bring the rake next time’, I thought it would be some fancy tool, but no, it’s a rake 🙂

Here’s Barclay trying to grab a sheep from behind.

So she uses the rake to put a barrier between him and the sheep, and it’s wider than the staff so he notices it more, but he can still see through it.


Guiding him with the rake she had him doing smooth circles around the sheep. She also was able to reverse him and get him to circle the sheep in the other direction. She can spot every little good thing he does, and point it out. And she’s really gentle with him and gives him breaks, and doesn’t push him too hard or stress him out. I think we all have fun! Except maybe the sheep.

By the time we headed home he was tired and dirty, and slept all afternoon!

Does this easygoing training method work? Well this morning I was letting the sheep hang out in the front yard while I cleaned their stall, and I forgot to close the gate to the main pasture. I spotted it about the same time mom-sheep did, and we raced for the gate, but the herd beat me to it and blasted out into the main pasture! Oh no, how was I going to get the sheep and goats out of there by myself, with 2 acres for them to run around, and Dave already gone to work? Barclay raced out after them and they went around the corner of the paddock where I couldn’t see them. I was still wondering what I was going to do when suddenly here come the sheep – with Barclay behind them!! Zoom, back through the gate they go into the yard! I was so happy I hugged him and showered him with treats!! Normally he would have chased them all over the pasture with no rhyme or reason, but for some reason he turned them around and brought them back to me – maybe just dumb luck, but it was just what I needed!

Family Secrets

On By stefrobrtsIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Thanksgiving is a great time to get together with family and chit chat and talk about old times. For us it’s a bit more limited now days, as my husband was an only child and his mom passed away a few years ago. So we had his dad over for an early dinner. Then we went over to visit with what’s left of my family, which is just my aunt and uncle and cousin. Everyone else has passed away, including my Grandma who moved on this summer.

As we were leaving, my aunt gave me a bag of mementos my mom had saved up (she passed away in ’01, and my dad had passed a few years before that). Included were many photos I had never seen, baptism records, wedding records, and old love letters.

That’s mom and dad at their wedding reception, in my grandma’s house. 1962 I think.

The family secret? Well that came when I examined the wedding date and my brother’s birth date. Lets just say he appears to have been born a little premature, if you get my drift (wink wink). My but he was big and healthy for a baby born 2 months early!

I keep thinking my math must be wrong. How could this have never come up? Well, I guess everyone involved is already gone, so now I’ll never be able to find out.

The compost pile

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, garden3 Comments

It’s not glamorous, but it has to be done. Animals create poop, and it needs to go somewhere. Plus it’s actually a sort of ‘produce’ on our farm. After all, the animals produce it, and once composted it will be great for the garden. My first pile is made up of pallets wired together. I need to make a front wall for it that I can add boards to as the pile grows. The pipe down the center is to get air down into the pile so it will ‘cook’ faster.

The poor animals are stuck in their winter areas while the pasture recovers from a summer of grazing. Unfortunately the paddock has gotten very muddy, and with the poop and mud I worry about their feet. So I need to clean up the manure at least every couple days. That’s why I put the compost pile conveniently close to the paddock, right next to it in fact. There’s room for three piles if necessary, which I understand a lot of folks end up with. That way one pile cooks while you’re filing up the next one. Also I want to put down bark chips to give them something to stand on that won’t be so muddy.
If we can find the money to get started on the project the pasture could look very different soon. I want to fence off the swale and plant it with native plants and trees, and divide the rest of the pasture into small paddocks for rotational grazing. This should help us get more use of the pasture without wearing it out, and reduce weeds. All it takes is money, money, money, right?! I got my ideas from a 12 week class I just finished through the county extension. Today I had a lady come out from the conservation district and walk around the property and give me some tips about mud and pasture maintenance. Their main interest is water and keeping the water table clean. I think I’m doing a pretty good job of managing our land so far (dumb luck), and I’m eager to make more good changes.

Love what you do, Do what you love

On By stefrobrtsIn Uncategorized7 Comments

One of my favorite blogs about homesteading had a post today about the hit professional sports will take if businesses can no longer afford to support them and their gigantic arenas and merchandising machines in these days of belt tightening.

the deliberate agrarian

Oh, what would we do without those overpaid professional atheletes to watch on TV?

And it made me think about a topic dear to my heart, which is this notion we seem to have in America that something is not worth doing if you can’t make money at it. People paint, and give it up and say ‘well, I’ll never be good enough to be a professional’. If you make wood art (as I used to do) people will say ‘you should get a table at the bazzar and sell them’. When talking to a friend about her homespun knitting she said ‘I could never afford to sell these for the hours of work I have in them. People ask me what I would sell them for’. Even when I’m planning my garden, I wonder if I could produce enough to sell the extra. But in my experience, as soon as you start making money with your hobby, it looses that joyful hobby aspect, and becomes just a business.

My husband quit acting years ago because he knew he couldn’t make a living at it. Focus on college, get a job with a pension, don’t waste your time acting. Luckily he continued his hobby of collecting toys, which was also a money-waster, until he turned it into a business that supports our family. Then a few years ago, seeing he had no hobbies that brought him joy (because his toy hobby was now his business, and he needed an actual hobby to do for relaxation), I gave him an audition notice I saw in the paper and he decided to give it a shot. Now I can’t hardly get him off the stage! Still, occasionally people ask, can’t you get commercial work or something?

It’s like nothing is worth doing if you don’t get paid for it. That results in kids playing baseball in little league, in school until they get up to the high school level, and at that point kids are weeded out so just the best get to play, hoping to move up to college or the majors. It’s that way in all sports. What happens to the kids who don’t make the cut? How many of them continue to play just for the joy of it? How many adult baseball games have you seen at the park, where people get together just to play?

Maybe we have too many ‘professionals’ in this world. We sit back and let them do the work. It might be a better place if we painted, even if we weren’t very good, just because we liked to. Or sang, even if our voices were nothing to write home about. Or acted, even if we didn’t light up the stage. Or made wood art just to give away to friends. Or went outside with our friends on a summer evening and played a game of baseball, instead of watching it on TV. What a wonderful world that would be.

Peaceful Sunday

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, chickens, farm2 Comments
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day.

The sheep and goats ate their fill of hay then spent the rest of the day sunning themselves.

The llamas did the same, happy knowing there was more hay in the manger if they needed it.

The chickens were in their pen, safe from Barclay

And all the chickens were happily scratching away, including the hen who got her tail feathers pulled (she still has a tail, it’s just not as full as the other girls).

I hope your Sunday was just as nice!

The further adventures of our chickens

On By stefrobrtsIn chickens3 Comments

I enjoy my chickens a lot. They seem to always be up to things. I never know what they are going to be up to next. For example the other day I walked through the living room, glanced out at the back deck and saw this:


But as you can see they have run of the yard, and won’t be confined to the orchard – they always manage to sneak out and go exploring. Unfortunately that meant Tuesday morning I was getting hay, and the chickens were around front (or so I thought), and Barclay and Alki were in the orchard where the coop is. I went to get hay for the llamas, and was only a short distance away, when I ran back hearing squawking, and saw Barclay had one of the new hens by the tail! He got a mouthful of feathers, and she went running flapping away! Well, of course who could resist, now he started chasing, the other chickens came to see what was happening, they got chased, it was chaos – until I finally told him to sit and for some reason he did, long enough for me to grab his leash.

When it was all over the new hen had vacated the area. She was GONE!

Friends said ‘don’t worry, she’ll come home when she’s hungry’, but Wednesday and Thursday went by, still no chicken. I figured she was gone for good.

This morning I was feeding the chickens some bread, and counted and everyone I expected was there. They all had a great time, Big Bird was eating out of my hand, and when I was done I went out to work in the shop. I glanced out the window and saw a buff hen under the neighbor’s tree. Hmm? How did a hen get over there so fast, we were just all around back! So I ran back to the coop and counted, and everyone was still there, so the hen under the tree was my wayward hen!

Dave came with me and we walked over to the neighbor’s place and kind of cornered her under the tree. She climbed up in it, and put in a little effort to get away, but not much. I snagged a foot and pulled her flapping out of the tree, quickly got her safely tucked under my arm, and talked nice to her all the way home. She didn’t mind being carried at all, once she was caught she settled right down. I took her back and put her in the coop with her sister.

So tonight I’m back to my full house of ten chickens – Big Bird the rooster, New Rooster, the 2 buff sisters, Penny the Cochin, the two new hens, and the 3 wild chickens. I told Dave we need to expand the chicken coop now! At least I know they’re warm – look at them packed in there! I have been leaving the top open to make room for extra seating 🙂

Update on Alki

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, pets3 Comments

Well, the oncologist examined the sample and didn’t find anything too abnormal in it. She was more concerned about Alki tinkling more frequently. So she’s putting her on a round of antibiotics in case it’s a mild bladder infection. She says if it continues after that we might need an ultrasound to see what’s going on in there.