Happy 4th of July to all who are reading this, be they domestic or abroad. As the pictures show, there has been some domesticity around here - and a couple of kittycats just want to help. All of the cats have been getting kept inside a lot, less due to weather and more due to the visit the other day by a massive bald eagle which landed on our lawn, not twenty feet from our front door. The geese were made nervous by this - and so the barn cats are indoors, continuing their socialization training with occasional outdoor privileges only no matter how wistful they sound.
We lost one lamb who'd escaped and instead of allowing us to round him up, forced his way into the neighbours' dog kennel. Two labradors + one lamb = one very dead lamb. The neighbour came over to apologize after finding what was left - the dogs were playing with the head. Poor neighbour. But that lamb effectively culled itself from the flock as 'too stupid to live'. Better finding out now than later, we suppose.
We've lately put in duckweed and water hyacinth, along with some friendly bacteria to help settle our pond ecology down. Imagine our surprise when a couple of days after, not only is the water much clearer, it's become apparent that we have at least one fully mature carp of some sort swimming around in there! Impressive hibernation skills; that pond freezes clear to the bottom in winter! We're considering adding some lily pads and a couple more carp to present a balanced ecology.
The sheep have been getting moved from one pasture to another, particularly today - some of our other neighbours like fireworks at the 4th. They like fireworks enough to begin two whole nights in advance, resulting in very panicky, nervous sheep. Thus today once they're done grazing, we'll be moving them to the furthest corner of the property and hope that it helps them be a little more settled. There's just a limit to what we can do for them, and if last year was any indication, the fireworks are likely to last three or four hours. The weather is unfortunately altogether too perfect for fireworks - no hope of a last minute cancellation. Poor sheep!
We have been installing fencing along our northern border, intended to keep the sheep out of the other other neighbours' vegetable gardens. Once that is installed and we have done the southern border as well, all we'll need is a gate - or something to block the driveway, in any case - and we'll be able to let them graze with only modest supervision. It is a day we look forward to with much joy. It will also enable us to observe them to begin preparing the cull list; this winter we plan on separating them along strictly sexist lines, to give our ewes a break and help them regain condition. Our many sheepy minions shall have a pause in their increase...
Happy 4th of July to all who are reading this, be they domestic or abroad. As the pictures show, there has been some domesticity around here - and a couple of kittycats just want to help. All of the cats have been getting kept inside a lot, less due to weather and more due to the visit the other day by a massive bald eagle which landed on our lawn, not twenty feet from our front door. The geese were made nervous by this - and so the barn cats are indoors, continuing their socialization training with occasional outdoor privileges only no matter how wistful they sound.
We lost one lamb who'd escaped and instead of allowing us to round him up, forced his way into the neighbours' dog kennel. Two labradors + one lamb = one very dead lamb. The neighbour came over to apologize after finding what was left - the dogs were playing with the head. Poor neighbour. But that lamb effectively culled itself from the flock as 'too stupid to live'. Better finding out now than later, we suppose.
We've lately put in duckweed and water hyacinth, along with some friendly bacteria to help settle our pond ecology down. Imagine our surprise when a couple of days after, not only is the water much clearer, it's become apparent that we have at least one fully mature carp of some sort swimming around in there! Impressive hibernation skills; that pond freezes clear to the bottom in winter! We're considering adding some lily pads and a couple more carp to present a balanced ecology.
The sheep have been getting moved from one pasture to another, particularly today - some of our other neighbours like fireworks at the 4th. They like fireworks enough to begin two whole nights in advance, resulting in very panicky, nervous sheep. Thus today once they're done grazing, we'll be moving them to the furthest corner of the property and hope that it helps them be a little more settled. There's just a limit to what we can do for them, and if last year was any indication, the fireworks are likely to last three or four hours. The weather is unfortunately altogether too perfect for fireworks - no hope of a last minute cancellation. Poor sheep!
We have been installing fencing along our northern border, intended to keep the sheep out of the other other neighbours' vegetable gardens. Once that is installed and we have done the southern border as well, all we'll need is a gate - or something to block the driveway, in any case - and we'll be able to let them graze with only modest supervision. It is a day we look forward to with much joy. It will also enable us to observe them to begin preparing the cull list; this winter we plan on separating them along strictly sexist lines, to give our ewes a break and help them regain condition. Our many sheepy minions shall have a pause in their increase...
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