Farm Friend Friday - Fur And Feathers Around The Farm

Bubba showing Shep who's boss last spring

It's time to join Amy over at

Verde Farm

for

http://www.verdefarm.com/>Farm Friends Friday

I really enjoyed visiting the other

blogs that took part last week.

It's such fun seeing all the 

sweet critters and lovely farms

and meeting others who love 

living or dreaming about the 

country life.

This week I thought I'd show you

a few of our furry and feathered 

friends here on the farm.

Some are still with us

others are not.

But we 

love/loved

them all.  

Percy and Priscilla spring of 2010

Percy and Priscilla

Talk about two geese with

totally different personalities.

Percy is very shy and sweet

while Priscilla is the curious

bold one who was always the first

out of the barn.

Heaven help the cats if Priscilla

spotted them in the barnyard!

Buttercup

Buttercup was given to us along

with her sister Marigold.

We raised them as chicks in a plastic 

storage bin on our kitchen counter

until they had enough feathers that

they could be moved to the coop.

She was the sweetest chicken.

As a chick she would fly up onto my hand

and then walk up my arm onto my shoulder..

then she'd softly peck at my chin or ear.

One time she flew up onto my head and

then promptly pooped.

Who'd have though a little bird like that

could make such a huge smelly mess!

As she grew up that bond remained.

Unfortunately one morning I went out to the

coop and found her laying on the floor.

She had died during the night although

there were no signs of any health 

problems. Sometimes this happens

but I just didn't expect it to hurt so much.

I still miss her and it's been nearly a year.

Shep guarding the spring chicks

The picture above is of Shep our Akbash.

He's like no other dog either of us have 

ever had. He's very loving and kind 

and very protective.

He's our big 'love bug'.

He's grown since this picture was taken!

Our wild feathered friends visiting us yesterday

I love watching the birds at the feeder.

Actually they were pretty lucky

when I took this picture...usually there are 

about 5 squirrels lined up waiting to take their turn at the feeder. They must

have been full as the birds had the

feeder all to themselves

this time.

Our neighbors cows that surround us on 3 sides

We have about 75 head of Black Angus

surrounding us. 

When they arrived it was just a bunch 

of cows. Now we have young

calves joining the herd as mothers

give birth out in the field.

They are curious creatures and sometimes

come to investigate when they 

hear us working outside.

Our lilac lane and a young Shep

Hard to believe that in 

two months those 

lilac bushes 

will be in full bloom.

Can't wait!

  

.

Our handsome and gentle Romeo

Above is our wonderful

Australorp rooster we call

Romeo.

He lives up to his name as all the 'girls'  love him. None of them 

complain when he wants to

'woo' them ;)

He coo's and dances.

He's very charming.

Chelsea the 'stalker' trying to get Olly to run

Chelsea is our little Shih Tzu 'farm dog'.

She looks cute and sort of innocent 

in this picture but believe me...

she's NOT. 

Out for an evening stroll around the farm last summer

All the animals get along pretty well. 

Shep is a bit of a pest especially to poor

Bubba our other Shih Tzu.

Hopefully he'll grow out of it for Bubba's sake.

In the very first picture you see Bubba tearing

a strip off Shep. It was a hoot  because shep

was just playing but Bubba was serious

and was pulling out mouthfuls of Shep's hair!

I guess it was finally 'payback' time.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit

to our farm and I hope

you will come back

and visit us

again.

Have fun visiting all the others

who have joined Amy

over at 

http://www.verdefarm.com/>Verde Farm

PS

I hope you'll join me

for my 1st Year Blogiversary

coming up this weekend...

I'm having a give-away!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Hibernation Isn't Just For Bears

(Summer At The Cottage)

HIBERNATION

The internet described hibernation this way...

"To hibernate is to go into seclusion and sleep/rest

for an indeterminate amount of time,

sometimes days, weeks or even longer."

This is exactly what I feel like doing right about now.

The weatherman is predicting freezing rain tonight

and a 100% chance of blowing snow tomorrow

and a high of 18F

with a chance of more snow on Wednesday.

I'm beginning to feel like the fellow below!

(Internet)

I feel like I just want to crawl into my nice cozy bed

and cover up with one of these....

(Country Living)

(Country Living)

I don't know if it's just me or maybe a lot of

you are feeling the same way.

It seems like this has been a very cold

and misserable winter for most of us...

especially those of you in the upper

mid-west and north east.

This cold weather makes me want to go

back to bed after doing chores

and stay there while supper

simmers in the slow cooker.

I know spring isn't far off but in the meantime

I thought I'd share some cozy places

that would be wonderful to

'hibernate' in.

(Better Homes And Gardens)

(Layla Grayce)

(Layla Grace)

(Country Living)

(Country Living)

(Country Living)

(Country Living)

(Country Living)

(Shabby Chic)

Even this little fellows bed looks like a cozy place

to curl up for the night/day...

for days...weeks...or even longer

until SPRING finally

returns.

Until then...stay warm and safe.

Are you feeling the same way?

Maura :)

Chickens In The Barnyard

Friday is a special day.

It is 

Farm Friend Friday

over at Amy's at

Verde Farm.

This is Amy's first Linky Party for all of us

FARM Bloggers!

So I hope you will pop on over to visit

Amy and her hubby Richie in

West Virginia.

If you haven't been to visit her before I hope

you'll check out all her adorable

critters and take a look around

their beautiful farm.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy

a few pictures taken around our farm.

Some of these you have seen before

...sorry...

A lot has changed since these pictures

were taken. Fences have gone up,

buildings have been sold and taken down,

picket fences are going up, and

unfortunately our old

barn we were looking

forward to restoring burned down

last July. 

These photo's bring back happy memories.

I hope one day we will have another barn.

In the meantime when we get the time

(once the bee colony is re-located)

we will start renovations

to our old corn crib.

You never get bored on a farm.

Do you have a project you'd like to finish this year?

Enjoy your weekend!

Maura :)

I'd Rather Be....

...in my garden.

I'm sure every one of us would rather be in 

their garden right now.

Some of you lucky ones are probably

already out there having fun in the dirt

like my blogging buddy Cynthia from

Beatnheart

But...this is what it looked like

Tuesday here in our part

of Kansas.

We were lucky

as we got more wind than snow 

with this last winter storm.

I know some of you out there got hit

pretty bad. This has been 

a terrible winter for many of you

in the east and northeast and

some in the mid-west.

I'm afraid spring will be a long way 

off for many of us this year so

if you are like me...you will be spending 

some of that indoor time thumbing through

seed catalogs and dreaming of getting 

your hands dirty.

This is what I dream of when I think of spring.

These photo's are of the 

first year of our front garden when

we lived in the city.

It was a LOT of work putting this garden in

as we started from scratch with

hard clay soil.

After LOTS of compost, manure,

and lots of other good stuff

we were ready to start

planting.

By the time we left the city for the country

the garden was 5 years old

and was a well established

cottage garden full

of David Austin

climbing and

shrub roses

and many other perennials.

Looking back at these photo's makes me

realize how much work we have in store

for us here in the country.

The picket fences have to be finished before 

we can start on the garden but

I've already got drawings

made and my plant list

started.

COME ON SPRING!

I'm linking with Tracie from

Fishtail Cottage

for

Cottage Flora Thursday

I hope you'll pop on over to visit Tracie's

wonderful blog and check out

all the other garden bloggers

who are taking part

this week!

Are you already making plans for your garden?

Maura :)