2004
New Year's Eve found Stephen and his cousin Kip stacking the
Jenga blocks to an all time high of 36 layers.
August and September
We have launched into the outside clean up program with great
vigor. In June, Corey tore down the old chicken coop, and a structure we
called the aviary. They, along with other piles of wire, old wood and
yard debris filled a thirty yard dumpster. Even four years ago, if I had
been asked if we would ever take down the chicken coop I would have said, "No
Way!" But, in the mean time we have decided it is time to put in a small
fish pond/water garden. The chickens were moved to a spare corner of the
barn, and we have already started the next dumpster pile. We have finished
cleaning up the general area, and are in the planning stage of what the pond
will look like.
Chicken coop here. In front of it was Phantom's box. There was
a tarp covering a lounging area. On sunny days it provided shade, on rainy
days it provided a chuckle when all 3 of the old ducks and Phantom were sitting,
side by side, in OUT of the rain.
Chicken coop gone. The light square area was the
chicken yard. The blue covered car garage was originally put up to house
Susan's Mouse Ranch. For about 10 years Susan raised mice which she sold
to local pet stores. This all started WAY back when Corey and Christopher
came into the house with a baby gopher snake. To "save" it from the yard
cats it was decided to keep it inside. At that time, on any given day
Susan could go to the barn and find baby mice in the oat hay. After about
two weeks, none were to be found.
The efforts she went through finding baby mice at the local pet stores were more
then she could take, and she decided "Hey! I have a B.S. in zoology. I can raise
my own mice." The first trio
purchased were pets. Beauty was black with a tan belly. Spot
was a black and white mouse, and Blondie was creamy tan. They spent
time in the kids' pockets and hands. After several months it was
determined that they were all females, and no babies were on the way. Mr.
Mouse, who was a red brown with a white blaze on his face was acquired and the
first of the baby mice arrived about a month later.
Well...... some of them were just way too cute to be snake food. So one
cage led to two, which led to three, which led to more mice then one snake would
possibly eat. Over time Susan provided a reliable source of mice for two pet
stores. At the height of her mouse ranching career she was running about
30 cages of mice. They were all colored, and several lines were
wonderfully spotted.
15 of her favorites
When Susan started making polymer items to sell at the Art and Wine Festivals,
taking time to clean mouse cages became a scheduling issue. At the same
time other people had starting offering mice to the pet stores at a price she
wasn't willing to beat. It was with some regret that she finished selling off her mice to
devote more time to polymer production.
Chicken wire walls had added to the car garage frame to keep cats and various other wild
animals (skunks, possums etc) from bothering the mice. It served as an aviary
for Chipper the cockatiel, several parakeets, and Neutron the rabbit after the
mice discontinued.
Mouse Barn gone. Site of the future pond. It will feature some sort of water
fall, and a shallow area for the grandchildren to play in. Of course there
will be a deeper part for the fish to be in, and the landscaping will evolve.
Chipper and the parakeets are in the house.
Neutron is in a new cage, with Nickel the former house rabbit and Pipsqueak 1,
Pipsqueak 2, Pipsqueak 3, three male guinea pigs. (This is the year of "P".
Scroll down to "The Naming Game" below for an explanation.)
ODE TO PHANTOM
In July, Phantom the Great Great Dane lived up to her name.
She passed easily from this earthly plane.
Son Number 1's New Bike
Inspired by his younger brother, Chris finally gave in to a
life long wish for a motorized bike.
His mom of course is more interested in the design aspects of things like gloves
and helmets.
PUDDLE HOPPERS
We are hosting a female fox up behind the barn. First the
fox hole appeared. Then chicken wings accumulated around the opening.
Then the two yard ducks made the grand sacrifice to feed the young one. We
started penning up the geese at night, so we all sleep easier, as so far the fox
has not eaten any of our chickens, as their fencing must be good enough to keep
a fox out. Yard ducks are an important ingredient in Coastal California,
as the climate is perfect for the snails, which were introduced for escargot
production, and ducks LOVE escargot! Replacements were ordered, four
female muscovy ducks. We like female muscovy as they are very quiet.
In addition three buff goose goslings, and one Chinese white which hatched here
are in the picture. Since this is the "year of P", we have Puddle Hopper
1, Puddle Hopper 2, Puddle Hopper 3, and so on.
May: Great Grand Parents Visit
My parents live in Colorado, and love to come visit the farm.
Their favorite place to go to is the Rocky Point at Asilomar Beach. We get
to sit above the water and watch the waves break on the rocky point. For
those not so interested in wave watching there are tide pools available for
exploring, and a coarse sand beach full of small shells to find and delight
over.
March - and the baby goat arrives!
Well it was time for a new baby goat. This is Pepper, 1/4 Toggenberg & 3/4
Boer. He was born on St. Patrick's day, so there is a little bit of the
luck of the Irish in him too. He was acquired to fill the need for a
bouncing baby, and to be a friendly goat, who likes to be petted. He is a
bottle baby, so we are currently on the every four hour feeding schedule.
Baby goats love to jump up on things, and are very curious and helpful (not).
As you can see he thinks Phantom is the next best thing to his mom and the
bottle.
February
What childhood memories are made from: visits to Grandma's farm.
Anna loves to play with polymer clay, and even more loves to ride the neighbor's
horse - Two Socks.
Anna still likes to She is
quite the
Corey leading
Around & Around
play with polymer picture poser
Two Socks
January
This month saw Anna's fourth birthday. Of course I forgot the camera when
we went to her house for the birthday party. Here we see Anna with 3 of
the 5 cats we were watching while a friend moved to Weed. We spiffed up
one of the chicken coop runs to make it escape proof and called it the "Cat
Hotel". These were the most marvelous cats, bottle raised from kitten
hood,
they were very friendly, even allowing a four year old to hold them.
And here we see Corey and his new pride and joy, second only to Anna.
WOVEN TIME
