Hello Livonia Michigan!

Sometimes you don't know what you are looking for until you find it. A friend of mine who I used to work with called me today from Livonia, Michigan. We chatted about old times and she caught me up on the all the happenings at my old place of work. I was surprised when she mentioned my recent adventure with the Fox. I had no idea that folks from work were reading my blog.

Hello Everyone!

My friend, who only knew me as a city girl, asked if the Commander had a farming background....I told her he didn't. When I related the story to the Commander later he said that my answer was not true, he stated that he spent a lot of time working with a Fischer Price Farm set. We both laughed and laughed!

He later added that the See n Say was one of his all time favorites...."The cow goes - Moooo! Here is a Duck - Quack Quack Quack!" That was the extent of his farm experience, yet here we are.

My friend told me that everyone loved to hear about my adventures and that they often had a difficult time imagining me actually living this kind of life. No one there would have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that one day I would be; birthing goats, herding lambs, eating my own chicken eggs, or firing a shotgun at a rabid fox.

My mother told the Commander during her last visit that I was her city girl and she was shocked at how happy I was living in the middle of nowhere surrounded by all these animals. This was never a dream of mine and yet here I am living it, and I can't put into words how happy I am.

So once again, "Hello Livonia! I have a little advice for everyone. Don't be afraid to change course when the moment arrives. It may be safe to stay on the traveled path but what adventures are you missing just beyond the horizon? The life I am living is not one I could have ever imagined so no amount of pre-planning could have gotten me to this destination. If you aren't truly happy then you need to change course and find your way...wherever it takes you."

Anyone else out there wake up one day and ask themselves; "How in the world did I end up here and find myself exactly where I belong?"

What kind of a flock IS this?

Leopold is the rooster in charge of the coop area and he has his hands full trying to keep order. Look at the picture above. In it you will see; a Rhode Island Red, Lavender male and female guineas, a Dark and Light Royal guinea, a few Golden Laced Red Wyandottes, and Leopold. A few of the guineas think they are chickens, one of the chickens thinks it is a guinea.....chaos, its pure chaos.

Little chicken squabbles break out on occasion and Leopold rushes in to break things up, but what is he supposed to do when several guineas are chasing chickens...except for the chicken that thinks its a guinea? Or how does he handle the chicken that the guineas think is their mama? Did I mention that all the guinea males follow Leopold around like he is their king?

Last year Leopold suffered a bit of frost bite, by looking at him you can see why. As it gets colder Leopold spends more and more time inside the coop and at times you can hear the sounds of wrestling going on in there. I can only assume he is trying to keep or establish some kind of order, I'm not holding my breath.

Hay

In the month of November we had three deliveries of hay; they included 72 grass bales and 50 and 65 bales of Timothy mix. So divided up in the three lofts are 187 bales.

I have 6 ewes and one ram munching hay in the main sheep area.

Since there are too many sheep to fit around the hay bowl I sneak a few piles of hay into the inside bowl for the little girls.

Five goats spend their time wasting more hay than they eat in the goat shed.

The two bachelor rams are the most efficient and they eat everything I put in their bowl, except for the hay that they decide to wear. I wonder if I have enough hay to make it to Spring?

Hamm and L'eggs

Some animals act just like people. Chip is such a hamm, he always wants to be the center of attention and to have his picture taken.

See how he provides a profile view. Apparently he wanted me to get his good side.

Like any good actor or actress Chip knows how take center stage. Notice in the first three pictures how he drew the attention or completely blocked out Addison, Gidget, and finally Becca Boo.

He's so shameless, he even knows when to show a little leg.........what a hamm!

A Girl and Her Gun

When the Commander took Sara out this morning I was surprised when he came back inside and told me about a black fox that was hanging out in the yard. He claimed that the fox was not afraid of him and just would not be chased away. You can see the foxes glowing evil eyes in the picture above.

I know why the fox was here, he wanted to eat my poor chickens or guineas. I wondered if this was the fox that killed my guinea chicks earlier this Summer. When I took my daughter to school the fox was actually blocking the driveway and wouldn't move when I honked the horn....if my daughter wouldn't have been in the car I may have just run it down then and there.

When I got home the fox was still there so I couldn't let the animals out, something had to give. I called the local Department of Natural Resources office and explained to them that a fox was in my yard and it wasn't showing any fear of humans, I was afraid it may have rabies. The DNR officer told me that if the animal was bothering me that I should shoot it. Does the DNR do anything to help folks out?

I tried to call the Commander by got his voice mail, drat. I called my dad and got his answering machine so I left him this message; "Oh Hell, I was hoping there was someone there who could walk me through how to shoot a gun." I could only imagine what thoughts went through his mind when he got that message.

Fortunately the Commander called back and he almost went into shock when I told him I wanted him to talk me through loading the shotgun. I located the gun and he described the various kinds of ammunition that I had to choose from. He suggested some target ammo to scare the fox off but I told him the fox had to go so I grabbed some slugs.

He described the safety, the sliding mechanism, and I figured out how to load....after a bit of trial and error and a few shells laying on the ground.  I was ready to go.  No way I was going to let a rabid fox kill any of my precious animals.

I went out to the woods and there he was, glowing evil eyes and all. I raised the gun to my shoulder, took aim, and wondered how much of a kick this gun had. A few breaths later I fired.......miss! I figured that the fox would run off after my near miss and the loud noise but he didn't, this fox was not acting normal at all.

Mister fox moved off to the left a bit so after I reloaded he was going to be toast. I now had the feel of the weapon, I took steady aim, took a deep breath and fired.....miss! The fox just looked at me, at this point I was sure he had rabies. Nothing scared him.

At this point I figured I needed to get a bit closer, but not too close. I carefully moved through the woods, cleared the field of fire (I didn't want to shoot a passing car, the house, or one of the barns), and reloaded. I had only brought two slugs and they were gone, I now had only two target shells. I figured that a hit from the pellets would drive him off so I took careful aim and fired once more....miss! Was he wearing a bullet proof vest? I reloaded and fired my last shell.....argh.....missssssss!

I hiked back to the house and called the Commander and asked if he had any suggestions. He directed me to the buckshot ammunition, he said that if I used this there was no way I could miss. So once again I hiked out through the woods, was again amazed that the fox hadn't run off, cleared the field of fire, and reloaded.

The fox was now in a tightly treed area, it would be a tough shot but I was confident. I took aim and fired.....miss! How did I miss using buckshot? The sights on this gun must be off. I had one shot left and now began to worry about possibly wounding the poor creature, I didn't have a hatchet like OFG so I worried that I may have to find a different way to finish him off.

I wiped my brow, reloaded, took a deep breath and fired....Mister fox was down! It took only six shots but I had succeeded. I didn't want to kill the fox but he couldn't just hang around here an kill my animals. The fact that he didn't run off when chased by the Commander, was chased by cars, and was shot at multiple times made it obvious that something was wrong with the poor thing, I think it was rabies.

I called the DNR and asked the officer if he wanted to come collect the animal for rabies testing, in case the county may be in the middle of an outbreak. He told me he wasn't interested but that I should bury the body deep, just in case. The fact that the ground is frozen was lost upon him.....

Below is a graphic picture of the foxes' post mortem. He was a beautiful black fox but it was just too dangerous to let him roam around here.

I'm not happy that I had to shoot the poor animal but I'm proud that I was able to get the job done. This was the first time I even fired a shotgun, so I figure that six shots wasn't too bad.

Jealous Ram

Ironwood was selected to breed the girls this year and since he was put in with them he has developed some strange behaviors. We have discovered that he will chase the girls into the barn and then lay on the ramp to prevent them from escaping.

If/When the girls try to escape he stands up and begins snorting and posturing to try and intimidate them.

I don't think the girls are impressed, I know I wouldn't be. Ava has fully recovered from whatever was bothering her and is now healthy enough to run from Ironwood - the big bully!

Note little Alma's left horn, I think it was broken off in a butting match with Ironwood. She has been limping around some and I think she is sore from Ironwoods advances.

Whenever Sara approaches the sheep area Ironwood comes to the gate or fence line in attempts to frighten her away. Ironwood has tried to ram the Commander a few times as he was feeding them or bringing in water. It has gotten to the point where we have to bring a shepherds crook with us whenever we enter the gated area or barn.

It was getting so bad that I finally decided to open the back door to the barn so the girls could escape his bullying.

Now when the girls run out the back Ironwood gets so frustrated that he snorts and paws the ground before he goes to try and round them up again. I don't feel sorry for him at all. Killarney and Alder didn't act anything like this last year, is this normal?

Are You Ready?

It was days before Winter
and all through the wood house
not a creature was stirring
not even a mouse

The wood was all stacked
in rows with great care
in hopes that the wood stove
would warm up Winters cold air....

The wood shed is full and I think we are ready to go, are you?