Our "watch" dog...

Hey... where's my human!?!

There she is!! Behind curtain number one.
I'd better go see if I can help.

No, I'm not leaving! Hands off... I've got rights... I'm a "watch" dog!
Fergus, don't just stand there... get in here and help me!!

Barnyard Blowout!

Well, we decided to give the critters a little more elbow room, and opened paddock #2. There isn't much new grass on it yet, but they need some space. Stella figured it was an appropriate occasion to demonstrate her wild Auroch heritage with some charges and bucking.

We opened the meat bird run, so they could do some free-ranging. The old red biddies didn't take kindly to the interlopers. The old hens actually have some wicked spurs on their feet, and this hen put them to serious use on an uppity rooster.

Can you feel the love? Fergus wants to lick Stella's head soooo badly. She lets him, once in a while...

News Flash: Creatures were stirring!

You know the poem, The Night Before Christmas, where not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse? Well that's a cruel lie, perpetrated by people who don't have a kitty like Newt around. That little mouse was stirring all right, because Newt brought it in and helpfully loosed it under the bed for we humans to enjoy as a holiday treat. Luckily it didn't take long to catch, and got a reprieve by being tossed back outside. Let's hope Newt doesn't repeat the gift-giving episode...

Winter Solstice 2006

Petting Stew the love-dog as the bonfire gets going. It was chilly and windy, but we did our part to help bring the light back.

Roasting ceremonial (local, preservative-free Hempler's) hotdogs on the solstice bonfire.

The presentation of the rumtopf.

Here's the rumtopf, after months of "aging". It's still a bit boozy, so I'll take some of the juice and make a sugar syrup with it to sweeten it a bit more. But so tasty on pound cake with cream!

Happy Solstice!!

And so it comes to the longest night of the year. Not familiar with the significance? You can read a bit about a conversation we had on Winter Solstice at our Green Branch discussion forum HERE

What was lurking outside the backporch window last night!? Is that... is that a stalker??



Nope.
It's cranky Crichton, and not very happy to have been noticed by all appearances. Looks like a human butt-kicking is in order... all these years and we are still not "trained" to Crichton's standards.



And here's the front yard after this mornings lightening, thunder, hail, sleet, buckets of rain extravaganza. Hail yes, that's all hail!!

Solstice lights, hooves and killer kitties...

Finally got our lights up this past weekend thanks to J. Went out to do some animal wrangling last night, so we took a moment to admire.

Notice the shock and accusation on these little muzzles.Usually we don't go out and hassle these guys too much after dark, but the goats needed their hooves trimmed, so here everyone is lined up when we finished... completely scandalized. Stella did not appreciate us "ma'am"- handling her goats. Not one bit.

And how about this little attitude problem?

Crichton first wanted to play, then quickly lost his temper with the stupid-pink-monkey.

Soon his rage boiled over, and he went for the kill.

Who needs farmhands with help like this?

Such helpful critters!

The wheelbarrow has been fully inspected, and is now ready for occupancy. I think Stella even pondered hopping in, but Lassie had dibs.

The 'Busójárás' is a folk tradition in the town of Mohács in Baranya county in South Hungary. The 'Busójárás' is a winter solstice feast, a celebration of the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The 'busós' are young men clad in fur and white linen trousers, wearing wooden masks with horns. They light a bonfire and march around its flames to celebrate the beginning of the spring season. - http://www.china-fpa.org/hpa2000/2000d/e-index2-t.htm

Not sure if we invited the Buso or not, but we're having a little backyard solstice fire, Thursday the 21st, sometime after 5pm. It's a work day, so we won't be up too late, but feel free to drop by if you're in the area and share a few brews & hot dogs while we do our part to scare off winter and welcome spring.

Breaking NEWS... We survived the storm...

Some of us a might more cozily than others I might add. At least once rounded up and locked inside for the evening. Oh... and the brown thingy is a catnip cigar (of all things). A very well chewed catnip cigar. Catnip eases the pain of kitties when locked indoors...

Not even a lot of tree debris around our house, except that which came down on earlier blows, and that I'd already raked into piles.

We still have power even!!

The wind was ferocious and turned from a cold northerly blow to a warmer south blowing gale, right around 9 last night. Many a louder gust kept us up off and on all night.

This morning it was still blowing off and on until this post, about 0900.

Now we can expect snow. Hurray!

Another "hurricane" coming tonight!

From - http://headlines.accuweather.com/news-top-headline.asp?partner=accuweather

We'll keep you posted and add pictures if it's safe to do so. Looks like we're in for a ride. Hurricane speeds start at 74mph, and we're forecast for 100mph (says the Weather Channel) or so gusts. And we've found usually when they forecast a certain windspeed in town, it's much higher out here. Oh boy.

From http://www.nws.noaa.gov/alerts/wa.html#WAZ503.SEWNPWSEW.11:30:00 NOAA

High Wind Warning
Western Whatcom County (Washington)URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
330 AM PST THU DEC 14 2006
WAZ001-503-506-510-514>517-141930-
/O.UPG.KSEW.HW.A.0009.061214T2100Z-061215T1600Z/
/O.NEW.KSEW.HW.W.0019.061214T2200Z-061215T1800Z/
SAN JUAN COUNTY-WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY-WESTERN SKAGIT COUNTY-
ADMIRALTY INLET AREA-EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-
WESTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-NORTH COAST-CENTRAL COAST-
330 AM PST THU DEC 14 2006

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 AM PST FRIDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A HIGH WIND
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 AM
PST FRIDAY. THE HIGH WIND WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
A DEEP LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND ITS FRONT WILL PRODUCING DAMAGING
WINDS AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY
MORNING.
SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM TODAY...LOCALLY
RISING TO 40 MPH LATE THIS AFTERNOON WITH GUSTS TO 65 MPH. WINDS
WILL RISE FURTHER TONIGHT AS THE SYSTEM MOVES INLAND. WIDESPREAD
WINDS OF 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 65 MPH ARE EXPECTED. LOCALLY THE WIND
WILL REACH 50 TO 60 MPH TONIGHT WITH GUSTS OF 80 TO 90 MPH
LIKELY...MAINLY ALONG THE COAST...IN THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA
AREA...AND ACROSS WHIDBEY ISLAND. LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS WILL
CONTINUE EARLY FRIDAY THEN EASE DURING THE DAY.
THE HIGH WINDS WILL CAUSE FALLING TREES...BRING DOWN POWER LINES
AND PRODUCE POWER OUTAGES...AND DAMAGE SOME STRUCTURES. FLYING
DEBRIS WILL ALSO BE A HAZARD.
$$
Issuing Weather Forecast Office Homepage

Birdy bath night!

Most parrots are content to bathe via a mister or spray bottle. But not our Mark. She needs the whole kitchen counter and some bakeware.

Is that a piranha I see?

Never mind the piranhas, parrot dive!

Mark likes to snort water and sneeze while she bathes.

Look at the baby! All nice and clean and wrapped in a "towel". Mark actually loves cuddling up this way.

Can your cow, bend it like Beckham?

Here Stella approaches the ball. Notice the concentration that

only a bovine player can bring to the game of soccer.

This is the backend body block.

(Many 4-legs out there may be familiar with this move!)

A good player always knows when to head for the bench... erm...

barn, to cool off!

Bend it Like Beckham - If you haven't seen the movie... then you should!

Newt... the enigma

Owls at Seven Trees

We hear two types of owls in our 7 big trees here, or in the neighboring vacinity. One is the Spotted Owl, the other the Great Horned Owl.

I'd never heard a Spotted Owl before living here and the call is really quite different.

CLICK HERE to hear a spotted owl call from www.owling.com

Spotted Owl with baby.

Casting aside the many disparaging remarks about this species by those in favor of logging old growth, old growth is where the Spotted Owl makes it's home. It is a sedentary bird, living in a narrow habitat field, and thus is very vulnerable to humans and the massive/rapid havoc we can wreak on the owls habitat. When there is so little old growth left that there is barely enough left to sustain animals such as these, let alone for humans to experience, then I think we need to take a long hard look at our misplaced values before it is too late to save either trees or owl. Or ourselves for that matter.

The Great Horned Owl is a powerful, nocturnal bird that we often catch glimpses of in our yard light or headlights as the birds travels from one tree to another around Seven Trees.

CLICK HERE to hear a Great Horned Owl call from www.owling.com

This owl does fine in greenbelts to canyons, generally speaking, so is less vulnerable to human encroachment. Great Horned Owls are impressive birds with up to a 4 foot wingspan and can stand 2 feet high. They have been known to predate on the spotted owl, so it's quite interesting that we can hear both in our trees at Seven Trees.

Barnyard mods

I built a half-wall in one of the barn bays yesterday on my day off, to help block out the wind and rain a bit more. Next we'll build a stall door to match, so we'll also have place to shut animals in as needed. OR isolate the greedy goats who like to help themselves to Stella's protein ration of alfalfa or all-purpose farm blend. Baby Berry is so greedy he actually jumps in the low hay manger and eats while standing on the food. If you're considering goats, remember that they are greedy monsters! Anyway as you can see Stella took an immediate liking to the more enclosed space and settled right in for a cud chew.

Now that we irritating humans came out to harass her, Stella decided to get up and say hello. She's starting to settle in here at Seven Trees and seems a lot more relaxed.


Here are the "trouble brothers" taking a nap together. Fergus actually had his chin resting on Stewart, but both dogs know the camera powering ON sound, so if they are doing something funny or cute they can cease and desist, before we can capture it on camera. Of course Fergus sat up and Stewart woke up, but they're still kind of cute miscreants.

And here's Mr. Sophistication himself, Stewart, displaying his hotdog toy, with classic teepee ears happening. Stewart's a serious clodhopper and gets bigger by the moment. I believe he tipped out the scales at 67 pounds last night. Soon I won't be able to pick him up to weigh him anymore!

Nor'easter Lessons

Don't take corners too fast.

Be prepared, Whatcom County syle.

Stay close to the wood stove.

Get plenty of rest (preferably also by the woodstove).

Breakfast in the barnyard - winter mode

First we grab a buckets of hot water for the laying birds (and unplug the electric fence). Even with heat lamps, the water will still freeze, and warm water warms the birdies too. A 2nd bucket of warm water is on standby for the trip out to the meat birds coop, accessed through the barnyard.

First stop - laying flock coop, all closed up for the night. They get fresh water and their feed topped up.

These gals (and 2 roosters) haven't been outside for days. I guess Club Hen (heat lamp and indoor feed & water) is keeping them distracted from the chilly weather.

Hmmm....miniature skating rink for hens? Here's what happens when you don't have a trough heater. The big red bucket in the background is heated though, and is working fine for Stella, Lassie, Berry & the old hens. Out to the meat bird coop with a bucket of hot water and a bucket of feed. They stay indoors during the chilly temps too.

Past the remnants of the loose hay we cut this summer. Boy did we learn a lot about storing loose hay. Can't wait to build the 2nd half of the barn with a big loose hay bin. But then again, Stella may just eat all the grass so we don't have to cut any.

After the meat birds are fed, it's out to the run-in to fill the manger with hay, scatter some scratch and COB (corn/oats/barley with molasses) for the old red hens. Meanwhile, the dogs are running around in the snow, looking for poopsicles on the compost pile and generally being idiots.

Then open the coops (not that anyone will venture out into the cold), plug in the electric fence, refill the wood box, holler for the dogs, and hope the frostbitten fingers are only temporary.

Such are the joys of country life in winter!