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.

What do farm girls do

....when they're all done outside?

Why, they bake of course.

Among the many things my blogging friend and visitor-for-the-week, Marcee-frugalmom, and I have accomplished over the last six days, we have also managed to get in some cooking and kitchen time, too.

Here's a sampling of a few of our joint kitchen events:

Using a recipe Marcee found on Farmgirl Fare, we adapted it to make fresh raspberry bars (with an oat crust and streusel topping).

Of course, first, we had to go out and pick a heap of berries off the vines:

And then we mixed a bunch of stuff together:

And, voila, raspberry bars! Simply excellent with french vanilla ice cream:

We harvested basil from the garden and made 6 batches of fresh pesto:

and pesto pasta (especially for Jim)...Mmmmm, it's best when it's still warm....

Using the pickling cucumbers obtained at a local farm the day before, we tried out Sugarcreekstuff's recipe for fresh pickles:


Here's Marcee-frugalmom going crazy because some of my spices were not alphabetized appropriately:

The end product turned out really well, despite my inability to know whether to put sweet basil under "S" or "B":

And those eight cups of blackberries we picked on Wednesday? Blackberry pie, of course! Using Angie's (Children of the Corn) "perfect pie crust" recipe, we made two amazing pies. One was needed for a big family dinner happening this evening and I stuck the other one in the freezer.

I had sworn never to make pie crust from scratch again because of some nasty experiences, but with Angie's recipe (and the food processor):

...it was a breeze. It was simple, went fast...:

...and turned out beautifully!:

I wish I had more pictures to show you of the pie preparation, but I think those middle steps wound up on Marcee's camera. :-)

We've kept busy and eaten well, she and I. It will be sad when my farm buddy and kitchen pal heads back home.

A break? You need a break?!

Well, in my opinion, my blog friend, Marcee-frugalmom, and I have settled in quite nicely here on the farm. It's pretty cool having a buddy around to help with things, make me laugh, and provide that ever-needed extra set of hands.

My garden loves her. It is giving us great amounts of basil, cucumbers, beans... (helpful hands courtesy of Marcee):

And, among all those tomatoes that have been refusing to ripen, two decided to ripen in celebration of Marcee's arrival. They were absolutely YUMMY:

We are finding, however, a number of green tomatoes lying on the ground with interesting bite marks in them. Any thoughts as to what kind of animal mouth would do this?:

We were able to pick over 8 cups of blackberries down in the chicken pasture/blackberry jungle. Marcee seemed impressed that there were weeds down there as tall as she was:

And then there's my dog. It's official: Roxy loves Marcee (oh and please note Ms. frugalmom sitting on the couch, quite relaxed and doing NO SORT OF WORK):

Of course, Marcee lets her get away with *everything*, so Rox is milking it for all it's worth:

Hey, know what Marcee's doing here?:

She's in my barn attic looking for bats:

This is incredibly significant news because Marcee is terrified of bats. She's fine with spiders and snakes and mice (really!), but she has told me for months: "No bats, Danni". To see her climb up those stairs with a flashlight in hand, and have them flying around over her head with no shrieking, screaming or frantic behavior on her part...let me just say, I am impressed.

Egg gathering is, of course, a mandatory morning event:

I'm thinking time is very short until she has a flock of her own:

For those who don't yet know, donkey brushing soothes the soul:

Look how relaxed Marcee and Brownie both look:

But since we've been so busy, we decided we deserved a break. We took the day off yesterday and headed to the beach. It's not far away. So, we packed up the car:

And went in search of the ocean:

Who *doesn't* take pictures like this?:

Roxy did a lot of bird watching:

And bird chasing:

When she tired of that, she and Marcee hung out and shared secrets:

Told each other jokes:

And posed for my camera:

There is great joy in dark chocolate peanut m&ms:

Self-timer portrait in front of Haystack Rock:

Later on, we drove into the tourist town of Seaside. I stated that I thought this froggy statue was obscene, but Marcee giggled hysterically:

I couldn't keep her off this guy's lap:

Apparently, he was quite a wit. I don't know *what* he said to her here:

On our way home, we stopped at a local farm to pick up some fresh corn:

She's kind of a trouble-maker. The sign says DON'T STRIP THE CORN, Marcee:

I'm going to grow zinnias next year. They're gorgeous:

We came home with tired-but-happy bodies, fresh corn, some pickling cucumbers, and a small bouquet (Marcee also brought home a sunburned face):

Now, it's back to work!

(...You can read frugalmom's diary of her time at Critter Farm here.)