* - next time

I know I said next time, but I forgot. And, now that I look back, many of these were dealt with earlier, so who cares, really?

We had 14 lambs* born, lost 5

We are closing the gap a tiny bit: 10 lambs on the ground, with one more ewe to lamb.

When I left, Liza looked like this (left) and when I returned, like this (right)

The lambs that were lost happened mostly while I was gone, but shortly after my return, we lost a very nice, big ram lamb. With some CSI work and a lot of reading, it looks like the flock had picked up listeria. Coincidence or am I jinxed? Anyway, we went on a 3-day innoculation program as per vet instructions, and so far (touch wood) have not had any others lost or ill.

Had 4 angora kids* born, lost 2

Phoebe and her baby Poppy were shown in February post. This month our aging Mint (the one who traveled in the motor home from Arizona) had triplets. Unfortunately, we were at the market, and when we got home one was dead (membranes over her head) and another was near death. She was very small, and I think was born in the sun and was unable to move into the shade. She made a valiant effort, but did not make it. The middle kid, however, had found a nice shady hole and was hiding there when we found her. She is small, but is very full of life.

Yollie and Mint's child Middy.

It is really cute the way the two angora kids (Poppy and Middy) hang out together, though they are several months and sizes apart. They are never too far from the moms, but if something really scary happens - like the Gator roaring down the drive - they run like crazy and stand by... Yollie!

Solved the mystery of who was eating all of our eggs*

Left is before - if we were lucky! Right is after the Tin Cat.

Ever since we tore down the old, mouse-infested chicken coop and put the hens in with the goats, someone or something has been eating all of the eggs. At first it was Yollie, so I rigged up a pen were the chickens could come and go but Yollie could not. That lasted for a few days, then the marauding began anew. It has been going on for months, and we were just about on the verge of setting up a camera, when I discovered the culprits. I went into the pen to feed a little earlier than usual one evening, and peered hopefully into the egg nest - whereupon at least 6 mice went leaping for their lives in all directions! It's hard to imagine that those little buggers could eat four or five eggs a day, but since I put a Tin Cat under their nest, we have more eggs than we can (and should) eat.

dead things in the bathtub*

While gone, I got an email from hubby with no message, just "Avoid taking a shower at night" in the subject line, and this image (left):

Sheba's Pets

Hubby was convinced that the cat was collecting pets in the tub, because she never ate them. Some of us know that lizards just aren't that tasty. She graduated from lizards to mice to ground squirrels, and finally rabbits. Her record is four rabbits in a 24 hour period, of which she ate pretty much all, including the toenails.

Now we try to wait each other out when it comes to taking a morning shower, because the first person has to clean out the tub, and the second gets in free, so to speak.