Barclay gets into stuff

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, cats, mighty, petsLeave a comment

The cats have been encouraging Barclay to play rough with them, despite our trying to discourage it. Now he has taken to grabbing them by the scruff and dragging them around the house! They yowl and hiss, but once he has them by the scruff they just give up. I’d get more involved, but they keep coming back for more, and if they really didn’t like it, they could clean his clock!

Mighty squeezes herself into a shoebox Barclay drug out of the closet.

Barclay is 17lbs now, almost as big as Alki, just not as fluffy.

Around the little farm

On By stefrobrtsIn farmLeave a comment

Scoops is caught in the act of sniffing a sheep!

Houdini has a nice roll out in the pasture.

I have been getting the farm ready for my new addition, a llama of my very own! Houdini is a rescue, and Scoops is ‘borrowed’ from a friend, but I’ll soon be getting a nice young llama of my own choosing. I plan to train him to go packing, and maybe carting. It should be fun.

So I have been working on fences and doing this and that, figuring out how to feed the llamas without the sheep and goats stealing all their food. I have laid out plans to build a nice shelter and a little paddock for them, I just need to start digging post holes and get busy building it. I guess that’s where my kickback check from Uncle Sam will be going.

Garden update!

On By stefrobrtsIn gardenLeave a comment

In March I planted my first seeds in the garden, and they have popped up. The peas were last to sprout, but they are making up for lost time! Spinach, lettuce, and cabbage are all coming along nicely.

About a week ago I started tomatoes and peppers indoors, and they are coming up. I just have to keep them safe from the cats! Tomatoes came up first, peppers are still just pushing up, so they are covered with the plastic box.

Today I put out seeds for the plants that said on the packet to wait until 6 weeks ’til last frost. Last frost is estimated to be mid-May, about 4 weeks from now. So that is carrots, radishes, chard, beets, and broccoli.

I completed the rabbit-proof fence around the garden. I hope the rabbits don’t really test it! The front panels are removable so I can reach in there and work.

I have a big whiteboard where I write down what I planted, where, and when. Then I can plan where I want things to go and take it outside with me when I plant. Because it is a ‘square-foot garden’, I also note how many plants are in each square. Anything growing where I didn’t plant it is a weed and gets pulled. Some people say I’m a control freak, so this is a good way for me to keep track of what I’m doing. Frankly, if I don’t document everything to this level it will all fall apart before I harvest anything. So far this is the most successful garden I’ve done in years!