A few updates

It was a pretty busy weekend here at Critter Farm and whenever that happens, I usually have a number of things I want to share. For example:

DONKEY UPDATE:
On Friday afternoon, we met a new farrier and had him come trim the donkeys' feet. I was SO proud of my boys. The farrier said afterwards that they behaved better than a lot of horses he had worked on. This made me very happy.

Of course, nobody likes having their feet messed with, but....(photos courtesy of Marcee-frugalmom)...

Pistol was awesome:

Brownie, after a bit of three-legged barn hopping, settled in nicely:

and Ian, sweet boy, just needed the comfort of my armpit to feel more at ease:


MARCEE-FRUGALMOM UPDATE:
By the time she left, Marcee seemed to feel right at home here. She seemed confident at haltering donkeys:


And was very adept at maneuvering flakes of hay through fence rails:


She was able to tote a bag of scale-infested climbing vine better than anybody I know:

and the wheelbarrow...well, you all know from an earlier post how good she was with this baby:

Toward the end, I think Pistol had developed a pretty serious crush on Marcee-frugalmom:



and my chickens were all doing tricks for her:


But Saturday did arrive and it was time for Marcee to head back home. This is Marcee telling me to be sure to "thank Mr. Jim for her". (She bossed me around like this the *whole* time she was here):

I didn't feel particularly good putting her on a plane to Dallas/Ft. Worth, what with Ike bearing down on Texas, but everything worked out fine.

And nobody stole or hid my parking ticket to get out of the garage this time:

Roxy was disturbed when I got into the car without Marcee:

And put on her very best "sad doggy" face for me all the way back home:

Bye Marceeeeeeee! (Not her plane, but I sure thought it was at the time):


CHICKEN RUN UPDATE:
It's done, except for the finishing touches, like wood trim pieces over the intersection of the two different types of wire. Oh, and an exterior door latch.
I was so excited to get the door in place:

And the sun shield up:

The chickens seem to feel right at home in there:

Heck, *I* feel right at home in there:


MY BARN ATTIC (A.K.A. REALLY COOL BATS!!):
Now, when I convinced Marcee-frugalmom to climb those barn attic stairs with me last week in search of really cool bats, I didn't have my camera with me. This turns out to have been a good thing because she was introduced slowly to bats via their shadows (and very small flashlights). I went up again on Saturday afternoon, this time with my camera, and this is what I came back with. Don't tell her about these, ok?:

As if one bat wasn't cool enough, I start hearing squeaking and chirping:

and, all of a sudden, there were two bats flitting around my head:

This one's my favorite shot. They are such incredible looking creatures!:


And now for the weather....
WEATHER UPDATE:
While much of the country has had Ike and torrential rain to contend with, we've been having a bit of a heatwave. Here's today's forecast:

Who doesn't love scorching sunshine...??

That's it for today - this was a long one. Sorry.