Cat door addition and random animal moments...

We added a cat door to the garage this week. Here Magnus is getting a lesson in how it works while Newt looks on. Newt is already a cat door expert, so she just watched as the other kitties got their training. It didn't take Stewart and Fergus long to realize this is not a door for dogs to use. Though they do enjoy sticking their snouts in cat doors for a sniff.
This is Stew and his beloved gator. He's chewed most of the mouth off, but the rest is quite serviceable for dragging about or silent adoration.
Magnus has turned into a handsome lad as you can see. He is a total people cat, and spends most of his time wherever we are just hanging out with us.
And Crichton does what he does best... Zzzzzzzzz. He is after all 7 this year, so I suppose he's earned it.
We've been turning Doug and Ryder out together these days. The two boys had the run of an entire barnyard and pasture, but where did I find them when I went out to check? Both snugged up in Ryder's stall, enjoying a friendly cud chew together. Handsome little guys...

Chores, happy helpers, harvest!

Too bad I couldn't include the lovely smell that went with this particular chore. Our septic has a filter in it that must be dug up, extracted and hosed off every 6 months to a year. Next time I do this I plan to build and install a riser, so I don't have to dig it up -- each and every time. The system started draining better as soon as I was done this time, so it was definitely time. It's always something right?

30 bales of hay unloaded up front had to be hauled to the barn in the background here and stacked, but fortunately I had my happy helpers to jump on and off the bales chasing each other, and generally being in the way. It was actually quite entertaining. The kitties were also very helpful in this department though I did not capture either of them on film. For some reason everybody loves when we bring in hay... always incessantly smelling it, and generally all over it in some way or another. All I can figure is it has the exotic smell of grass from a couple miles away, and maybe residual odors of mousy activity from the time it spent in a barn elsewhere. At any rate... it's always a big hit around here.

Here's a happy harvester indeed, with a few fat onions in hand, basket of fresh picked tatties at her feet, and standing next to the tomato "trees" as we like to call them, owing to their height. The garden has been gifting us well this year with bounty and everything seems beyond happy with cow Stella's composted manure and a few applications of nettle tea, which is all the additives we've ever applied.

What to do after a hard day of hay bale bound and chase? Well... you get the picture. Note the toothy grin on this canine! It's a farm dog's life...