Just call us the Doolittles

That's right, we have yet ANOTHER new member of the family! This is Suzy Puff. She came to us yesterday from a friend who rescued her a week ago. The poor little girl was laying out in the road with her mother who had been hit and killed by a car. So sad! But she is a sweetie and we're glad that we could adopt her. So let's see...that makes our menagerie: 6 goats, 11 chickens, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 rabbit (and don't forget the 5 people, of course).

We also brought home 4 goldfish from the Fall Fest last weekend but "sadly" by Tuesday they were all swimming in the big fishbowl in the sky. Ah, the circle of life as reflected in the circling water of the toilet bowl...what are you gonna do?

Paging Dr. Doolittle.....

Surprise!!

This is 'Surprise'. He was born yesterday. I went out to water the animals and found him in the pasture. We didn't even know his momma was pregnant. Evie and Kallie feel very pleased that they can share their birthday with him.

We had a family meeting last night and voted that his name should be 'Surprise'. That name barely won out over 'Boba Fett'. Ah, such is life...

The 'Mean Bone' - Every Girl Has One

This is our hateful cat, Marble. She is terribly cute and slightly cross-eyed. We brought her to Vaughn Farm a few months ago with the intention of her eventually becoming an "outside" pet (as I believe ALL pets should be). K had visions of teaching her to be a mouser and her living in the barn, on the porch, all around and keeping mice, snakes, etc. away.

Of course, when we got her she was new and fuzzy and small and baby kitten-ish. She was just away from her mother and we loved on her, petted her and generally let her do as she wished IN THE HOUSE. The plan was to let her get a little bigger, get used to our place and then get her fixed and then...out you go.

However, she has YET to be fixed. She terrorizes us (me in particular) and is generally a whiny, meowy pain in the tookus! The other day while I was laying on my exercise mat panting and sweating to near dehydration, trying to make it through my 5am workout Marble decided to stretch and sharpen her claws IN MY HAIR. I'd already almost tripped over her 50,000 times that morning. Exasperated, I picked her up, threw her in my bedroom and closed the door. K was out of town on business so I knew she couldn't bother anyone. 50 minutes later as I drug my exhausted body shakily toward the shower, I opened my door and was hit in the face by a foul, poopish odor. Immediately I screamed out, "CAT!!! Where did you do it?" and began searching for the mess. I found it, hot and steamy right on top of the (thankfully) dirty laundry. I don't know about you, but scrubbing poop is not a few of my favorite things. Scrubbing poop at 6am isn't either and scrubbing cat poop at 6am is enough to send me into a flaming fit!

So, my day started well. Later as I was driving the kids to Mom and Dad's for the day (oh yes, I still had to go to work after that great start) I was ranting about the cat and how she needed to be an outdoor cat except "Your Daddy still hasn't gotten her fixed like he promised he would." I know, great example to my little angels.

Anyway, Kallie says, "What's fixed?" I hesitated because I wasn't really sure how to say that "fixed" means neutered so she can't have any cute, sweet kittens. I mean, how do you say that to a bunch of big-eyed, golden-haired, sweeties staring expectantly at you so that you can almost see their halos gleaming? Thankfully, I didn't have to reply because Holdyn, wise big brother that he is, says to Kallie, "You know, fixed, she has to get her Mean Bone taken out." Kallie says, "Oh yeah, her Mean Bone."

I reply, "Yes, exactly, she has to get her Mean Bone taken out."

Get ready Marble...

As promised

On Saturday night we told the kids that we should try to catch the Easter Bunny when he came that night. They thought this was a great idea so we set out a "trap." This was actually a cage with a string tied to the door with a trail of lettuce and carrots leading to it.

Needless to say, we didn't catch the Easter Bunny. But, we did "catch his little brother." This is Licorice. Isn't he cute? The Easter Bunny left a note saying that his little brother got caught in our trap but then decided that he liked our house and wanted to stay. He asked the kids to take good care of his little bro. Well, he's being cherished. He lives in Holdyn's room and gets frequent out-of-cage time.

Unluckily, I discovered that bunnies make my nose sneezy and my eyes watery! Oops, guess we should have checked on that before "setting the trap." Oh well, its nothing a Zyrtec can't fix until I adjust to his fluffiness.

As for my new niece, her name is Isla (prn. I-la). She was born early on Easter morning and is too cute. I'm still working on getting her pics up. I've got to figure out how to copy them from her parents' blog.

Goat Wranglers

This is Peter. He has been a very bad goat. He's broken fences, chased his sons and daughters away from their food, and even bucked me once (big mistake, Peter).

This is K. He has some past wrangling experience. Cows, not goats. See, he even has his own lasso. He is after Peter who has once again broken the fence. Boo, Peter!
After much chasing - that involved the entire family running through the yard (3 acres), screaming and cursing Peter's existence - Peter was cornered and caught. Of course, our friend from church pulled into the yard just as this began and was treated to the entire show. You're welcome Cecelia, most circuses charge for their clown show!

K and his trusty assistant little k dragged a now successfully wrangled Peter to the barn where he will be separated from his wives and progeny until I can decide what to do with him.

I decided. After unsuccessful attempts to sell or give him away, Peter now exists on another plane of existence. That plane is called my deep freezer. Gyro, anyone?

First dozen sold!

Now that most of the hens are laying daily we're getting about 5 eggs a day. That's leaving us with a little surplus of farm fresh, naturally grown eggs. On Sunday I was mentioning this to a friend at church. She asked if we'd sell her a dozen and how much would we charge! I said $2 for a mixed dozen (a great price) and she agreed. That's a great price for her and us - way cheaper than the grocery store price for organic eggs and it only costs us about 50-60 cents/dozen to raise the eggs!

Monday I dropped off her eggs and took her empty egg carton home with me. Kind of like the milkman. When she needs more I bring her eggs and take the empty carton (recycling). So, the first dozen has been sold.

Since Holdyn feeds and cares for the lovely ladies and gent daily that the money will go in his savings account (along with his can recycling funds).

Now, we've got three male goats for sale. Two babies and an adult. Anybody need eggs or a goat?

We're farming now,huh? Coming soon to Vaughn Farms - turkeys!

The new twins

It's taken me a few days but I finally got out to the barn with the camera today. We haven't named them yet because their mama is not really ours; she just lives with us. Without further ado here are the new twins, two males, born Friday to Tink.

Notice the one at the bottom of the photo has a floppy ear. So, cute!

As you can see they aren't true white. Their white coats look like they've been tipped with caramel. Kind of butterscotch colored.

The twins with the twins.

Two more new little goaties!

I'll put up pics tomorrow but just wanted to let you know we've got a regular goat nursery in the barn now! Yesterday our other preggers female Tink had twin babies. Of course, they are super cute, too! Stop by tomorrow for a peek...

A new arrival

Vaughn Farms welcomes our newest arrival....

This is Cottonball, called Cotton for short. Isn't she soooo cute? We came home from school today and there she was. I knew her Mommy, Anna was pregnant but I thought it would be a while because she was not very large. Our other female, Tink, is pregnant and so huge she can barely walk around. She must be having twins or triplets. Hopefully they will come soon, too. We'll have goat babies everywhere!
So far Mama and baby are doing well. I'm staying home tomorrow to watch after them. I'll keep you posted. For now here are a couple more photos of our new baby, enjoy!

Freezin'

I know we live in Alabama and enjoy moderate weather year-round. It's fabulous, even when its so hot outside you can barely breathe. I love it! I really am a Southern girl. That being said I absolutely despise cold weather. And buddy, right now it is cold! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the temperature barely eeked above freezing. Today it was warmer but not by much. Hopefully it will warm up some this week. I hate being cold and the kids get crazy being stuck inside for so long. I hope tomorrow is warmer. There's no school for MLK day and there's a lot of animal type chores to get done around here.

Come on sunshine, we're ready for ya!

Pioneer Spirit

There's an old saying most of us have heard before. It goes something like this, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!" It's a great motto to live by always but especially in these more difficult times. As I've said before, we're striving for a simpler life here on Vaughn Farm. That means lots of repurposing - especially where animals are involved. Here's what I mean...

This is our scrap wood bin. K made it last year after we were nearly all killed by a scrap wood avalanche when we opened the barn doors. We've been living here for 4 years and remodeling just as long. Needless to say, we've collected a lot of wood. We try to use it as much as possible. For example...
Casa de la Goaties was built by K for the 3 Billy Goats Vaughn to live in. Although, they don't really sleep in it (they're somewhat intelligence challenged). All this leads up to yesterday. It's cold here in AL (by our standards at least); it was 33 degrees last night. We were worried that the chickens might get too cold over night so we worked for about 3 hours and built this...
Well, it ended up looking like this...

A cozy home for our 8 girls and 1 guy. We added a light and the place was perfect. Except, the ding-a-lings did not use it! Well, I guess they DID use it. They spent all night on the roof! All that work to keep them toasty and they sleep OUTSIDE anyway. The more I deal with chickens the more I understand the term "Bird Brained"!

Scrub a Dub Dog

As you'll remember, after the Great July 4th Massacre of '08 Marshall became a full-fledged outdoor dog. I think he's adjusted just fine. He has several "spots" around the property that he's claimed for his own. One spot on each the front and back porch, under the front porch, etc.

Anyway, all this outdoor time has made him one stinky pooch so on Saturday K decided he needed a bath. Holdyn, Evie, and Kallie were all invited to join the bathing festivities. I was invited to photograph.

Times like this, when we're together, laughing, no schedule or events - these are the times I love. In our world today many families don't have times like this. I think its sad. I want our children to remember the fun we had at home instead of endless car rides from practice to lessons to events. Those things are good but not a substitute for time together as a family.

These simple things are important. Especially in a world that seems to be getting scarier and more unsure everyday. Home should be a haven, a safe place filled with laughter, learning, and love.
So on Saturday Marshall's bath made him shiny and clean. It made the rest of us warm and fuzzy. Now, that's my kind of Saturday fun!

All Creatures Great and Small...Are Stupid!

What is up with animals? Well, at least with the ones we own?
1. Chickens
So, we worked on Tuesday to make the chicken coop inescapable and comfy for the 9 chicks. Which technically, I guess, are pullets now not chicks. Anyway, we covered the thing in chicken wire, moved in an old bookcase and milk crates that will serve as nesting boxes, and outfitted the whole thing with fluffy, sweet smelling hay. Then we turned the little idiots loose and let them go to town in their new home, running around, scratching the ground, eating bugs -- Chicken Paradise! We even put Marshall on the chain, just in case, any of them found an invisible way out. This was a good idea on our part because later after we went out to eat for K's birthday and came home in the POURING RAIN, we found the chicken coop to be EMPTY and those stupid yardbirds huddled in a clump in the middle of the yard. Bird brained is a pretty accurate description for these 9 birds who, in a driving rainstorm, forsake the warmth of their new roost to break out of said roost and sit in the cold, wet grass just outside their coop. Thankfully, we are only slightly less stupid than them and find them and put them back in their "baby cage" Obviously, they are not yet ready for more mature housing arrangments.
2. Goats
On Saturday K and I slaved in the furnaces of hell that are outdoor Alabama in late July to repair the fallen goat shelter. I felt badly that they were sleeping in the dirt and getting wet in the rain, especially since I read online the goats HATE getting wet. So, we not only repair the goat house we actually build a new one and it takes ALL DAY. Fast forward to Tuesday the aforementioned night of pouring rain and chicken idiocy...as I'm going inside, dripping wet mind you, after getting the chickens settled I glance over at the goats. I'm thinking, "I bet they're glad to have their new house in rain like this!" But are they? NOOOOO! Those stupid things are laying in their dirt-spot, getting soaked, SLEEPING. Hey, National Pygmy Goat Association, I got three prime specimens for you that apparently enjoy water! So you may want to check your expert advice!
3. Dog
In all of this chaos (that, by the way, is totally normal for us), the King of the idiot animals we own, Marshall, is barking and howling and just generally carrying on like St. Peter's calling him to glory. Remember, he's on the chain to prevent any more horrific dog on chicken action? Anyway, yes, he is on the chain but it is next to his DOG HOUSE. Why, in the name of all that is holy, is he out in the pouring rain, too? I mean, my opinion of Marshall's intelligence was very high. He can stand on his hind legs and open fences with his nose, I've seen him! Why-oh-why is he too out in the rain?

You've heard, "They ain't got the sense to get out of the rain," apparently the person who first said that was familiar with animals. I'm surprised they didn't all look up to see where the water was coming from and drown -- IDIOTS!

Sometimes you've got to laugh or you'll cry! And on the bright side, at least the kids have the brains to get out of the rain.....oh, never mind.

Chicks, Chicks, Chicks!!!!

Here are pictures of the two types of chickens we are raising. The top photo shows a Rhode Island Red, these hens lay brown eggs. The bottom photo is of a Brown Leg Horn, these hens lay white eggs (lots of grocery store eggs come from Leg Horns). In about four more months these hens will be old enough to lay eggs. Between the nine we have we should get about 7-8 eggs a day!

The Great 4th of July Massacre of '08

As usual (and expecially where animals or children are involved) things rarely go according to plan. There's always some unforseen factor that inserts itself into your perfect equation and promptly screws everything up! In our perfect animal husbandry equation the unforseen factor is a Marshall, our huge, sweet black lab whose only want in life is to play with every other living creature big and small. Can you see where this story is going? That's right, Marshall wanted to play with the little chicks. I'm sure he dreamed about it night and day for weeks. Fast forward two weeks after we'd gotten the first chicks...July 4th. The family had been gone most of the morning to the grandparents' and we returned home for a post swimming nap. The chicks are in a small (3'x3') cage inside a large (8'x8') pen. After a blissful nap we awake and get ready to go back for more swimming. I look out the back windows of the house to check on the chicks and see the door to thier large pen is open and I can't see any chicks in the small pen. Immediately I get Krager and send him out to investigate while trying to keep the kids inside away from the carnage. To spare you gory details -- only two of the 8 chicks survived their playdate with Marshall. So, the kids learned about the "Circle of Life" after all. Luckily, chicks are cheap and Daddy bought more the next day. PS Marshall is still literally in the dog house for his actions. The kids decided that he is never allowed in the house again. We'll see how long that lasts, he is terribly sweet and cute and was only trying to play. He didn't eat a single one.

The Circle of Life

One of the reasons that we decided to try our hand at raising animals was to teach the kids about "the circle of life." We assumed we'd have these goats and chickens or whatever and we'd raise them and, in the case of the chickens, eat their eggs and eventually eat them. Thus, we'd teach the children about the importance of feeding the chickens good food and water and giving them good care so that we'd get good eggs and meat for our bodies in return. Riiight...

Marshall loves the kids. He even lets Kallie ride him like a horse!