Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

The new lambs are fitting in well here. They are still skittish around people, but a couple of the goats are okay with them.
Initially, the goats stared at them, wide-eyed, like they were viewing some exotic creature in a zoo.I kept the lambs in the pen for the first few days and the goats would literally line up to stare at them!
Now I have turned the lambs loose with the goats. Nola and Lilac try to play with them and Champagne seems to like them. Lily is okay with them. They scare Gabby a little! Nina just wants to head butt them. Then again, Nina tried to head butt ME!
A few not so good pictures, but it gives you an idea of their size.

Hard to see them in the pictures, but I hope you get an idea. They are cute. Cori, especially, has the sweetest face!
Betty and her chicks are doing well. Someone gave us four chicks they did not want and I tried to get Betty to accept them, but, nope, she didn't want any part of them. So, I am raising the wee orphans. One escaped out of the box they were delivered to me in and has been surviving in our yard. Between neighbors cats, neighborhood feral cats, snakes and everything else, it is surprising that he (she?) is still alive and kicking---three days after escaping!
I have named the little cuss "Lynard" as in Skynard...*Freebird* reference, lol!

Speaking of cats, we discovered my neighbors gray Persian cat has given birth...under our house. From the looks of the kittens, she had them about 4 to 5 weeks ago. We haven't caught them yet. There are 4 of them and we want them OUT before they get hurt, start crapping all over the place, go after our chickens, etc.
So, besides stalking and capturing Lynard the chick, we also have to catch 4 semi-feral kittens!
Hope your weekend is going well!

Baa Baa Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool?

Still in a musical mood here!
Last night, the Darlin' Man got a phone call from Roy. Roy works at the feed store. He has bought some of our excess animals and we have bought some from him.
Roy had mentioned to the Darlin' Man about 3 days ago that he knew of a guy in New Mexico that had an excess camel.
Wait...what?

Yes...the Darlin' Man was actually thinking of getting a camel.
Fortunately, the call from Roy was to tell the Darlin' Man the price of the camel and...WHOPPEE!!!...it was way too expensive for us to even consider.
HOWEVER (and you KNEW this was coming, didn't you?), Roy was calling from a small ranch that had sheep and the owner asked him if he knew anyone that might want to get a few of this years lambs.


(Do I really need to finish this post? If there is ANYONE out there that doesn't know what happened next, then this must be your very first time reading my blog! Back read a little and I am sure you will catch on very fast! )

Ahem...yes...anyway....late last night we took delivery of two ewe lambs (ewelings?)
Both are solid black, although one has a white patch on her forehead. They are three months old and so darn cute it is ridiculous.
The Darlin' Man named them Celine (the one with the white patch) and Corizone (he says that means *heart* in Spanish), so Celine and Cori.
They are still a bit skittish, but we hope to get them tamed down.
Best thing is...the fella has agreed to NO MORE LIVESTOCK until we move.
We have plans to get a puppy, but no livestock. Also, no exotics......no camels, no ostriches,  no wallabies, no giraffes, no zebras...you get the idea. I basically went through ALL the species I could think of to extract the promise.
I even threw in reptiles and amphibians while I was at it. (C'mon, do you blame me?) I also included feathered livestock in the list. Except those birds that are hatched here. The geese are starting over, as all the eggs failed to hatch, btw, and I had to clean out Heloise's nest...such a smelly job!
So...the new lambs are comfortably snuggled down in the milking does pen, our does are in the big pen and Nola and Lilac are in the kid pen this morning.
I'll get some pictures later. My camera went completely kaput, so I am using the Girls cell phone to get pictures and I have to wait until she gets home from school. (Two more days until her graduation!)

Ob-la-di-ob-la-do-ob-la-di-OH, Life Goes On

Now that I have butchered a Beatles song in my post title...
Yes, life goes on here at Frippery Farm.
Ugly Betty and her chicks have completely taken over the screened in front porch

They are out of the box and Betty pecks at the door when she wants food or water. I guess it is time to build them a small coop in the back yard (ANOTHER project for this week!)

The goats are doing fine and the two little ones are so big now!

Nola's favorite place to hang out

Lilac relaxing with her mom, Lily

Nina trying to get Nola out of the wagon--with no success!

Pender and his girls are happily scratching in the yard...

Pender checks out the loose hay box

Goldie, one of our new Buff Orphingtons

Large Marge stays under the back steps to escape the sun

Calypso (an Americuana) hard at work!

Our landlord stopped talking about selling the place. But we are still going ahead with our plans to move. The Girl and I are heading to the Northeast to scout properties in August.
We have to decide how we are going to travel there....fly, bus or train.
The Darlin' Man wants us to take the train, The Girl wants to fly, and I think we should take the bus.
Flight time :under 8 hours (with plane switching and layovers, etc)
Train, almost 5 days with LONG stops (7 to 10 hours) in Chicago and D.C. (ugh!)
Bus: 2 days and 18 hours. A couple of long stops (2 to 4 hours)

Expense-wise, flying is the most expensive. Train is next and bus is cheapest.
Comfort...well, I guess flying would be the most comfortable, train next and last, bus.
Then there is the TSA thing.
If the TSA decides to grope me, it WILL make the papers...and not in a good way!
TSA has been paying more attention to rail lines recently, so they may show up there.
Not so much with the bus, although it is still a possibility.

So...decisions, decisions...
We have a while to make the decision, but if we buy tickets 30 days in advance, it will cut the cost of ANY transportation a lot.
In the meantime...Betty is pecking the door again, so I guess she needs the water bowl refilled!