The strange things

That you will find on a farm.  Last week Nathan came in from “observing” which is part of his Science curriculum.  He has to go out and observe nature and then draw a picture, etc. anyway he was very excited.  He had found something big and black that Spot was chewing on!   I went outside with him and Spot had drug home the head of a wild hog.  The hog must have been large as the head was big and very black and bristly.  One ugly head.  Evidently someone had killed a wild hog: they run wild here and destroy pasture trying to up root grass to find something to eat and had cut off the head and Spot and Blackie had found it. YUCK.  We took it over and put it in the firepit and burned it.

 

We have also added two more cats to our menagerie, not by choice but they are here.  Beth brought over two grown cats and said their owner couldn’t take them to the apartment he was moving to.  One is a long haired white female and very friendly and the other is a black and white cat that isn’t friendly and doesn’t like people.  We were told to leave them in the house for several days to get them acclimated to our family and house before we introduced them to the workshop.  Well, Nathan went in to the half bath, where we were keeping them, to pet Blanca (white cat) and the male took a swipe at Nathan and cut him above the eye.  He came to me crying with blood running down his face.  The cats are now in the workshop.  That is it for animals for us.  We are becoming a zoo instead of a farm!

 

I am planning on buying several baby turkeys this Spring and some small ducks and raise them.  We will see how hard it is to raise a turkey and then slaughter them.  We can raise them in the chicken coop as they grow very quickly.  The ducks are so that Ducky Wucky won’t be lonely.  I don’t know if a male duck will help raise baby ducks on not.  We will see.

 

Spring is beginning here.  We have flocks of birds wintering here and they are very pretty.  We have visiting cardinals and blue buntings and a small pretty bird that I don’t have a name for yet.  Nathan and I started a bird feeding station and he is keeping track of how much bird feed we are using.  We also have cranes and egrets and crows and woodpeckers and chicken hawks (not crazy about them). Oh, we also have a dead tree in the very back and a flock of buzzards perch there.  The wild flowers have started coming up and the daffodils that Loyce planted are up and blooming.  We had many yellow wild flowers last year and I put out 2 lbs. of different wild flower seeds so hopefully they will come up also.

 

We are starting to prepare for our reunion which is in July in Nauvoo.  I think it will be wonderful to be there with our whole family.