Round Two

Many of you might remember the 'Abigail fiasco' in September. Well, yesterday afternoon we finally brought home our little sugar glider. (for those wondering what the heck is a sugar glider, here's a site with some basic info). Jingle Bell is an early Christmas present for the girls...okay, for myself. We're really excited to have her in our lives.

So far, the poor little thing is a bit upset. And, understandably so. She's only eight weeks OOP (out of pouch) and was taken away from mom and dad last Friday. Today she was taken away from the only family she's known and came to our house. If I were her I'd be a extremely irritated too.

All things considered, I think she's doing remarkably well. She only crabs (a sound that remarkably resembles an electric pencil sharpener) at us when we actually touch the pouch that she's sitting inside. We can talk to her, look at her, even stick our hands in the cage without her lunging at us. I'm really hoping that by the end of the long weekend we'll be able to touch the pouch, or even her without fear of being bitten.

So far I haven't been able to get any current pictures of her in her new home, this picture was sent to us by her first mommy a couple weeks ago. Isn't she cute?

So, did you get any early Christmas presents?

Instigator

Abigail

Most everyone who visits the Playground knows that Zilla (my husband) is on animal restriction. This restriction has been going on for several years and is mostly ignored. Several birds, a bunny and the guinea pigs that continuously procreate have all been brought into the fold during this restriction. Unfortunately, I can't blame Zilla for our latest pet saga. It was all my idea.

Friday afternoon I saw a segment on our local news advertising some pets that were available at our county animal shelter. At the every end they mentioned they had a sugar glider. Thanks to a book that Smarty Pants wrote with a sugar glider in it I knew a little about these furry guys. I had always been interested in having one but because they're exotic they aren't exactly readily available here. Zilla and I have both worked for a zoo and a vet and we like interesting pets so I thought it might be a good fit. We could rescue an animal and give it the good home it needed.

Saturday morning we stopped at the shelter. The volunteer who took us back acted like the small handful of fur was a Tasmanian devil instead of a glider. But we just assumed he didn't know what to do with her. They told us that the glider had been through a very traumatic few days. A woman found her on their front step, brought there by the family cat. The local vet they'd taken her to told them she was a glider and they sent her over to the shelter to find a home. After much discussion, we decided to take her.

The girls named her Abigail and we put her into her cage and left her alone to snuggle under her blanket and get used to her new home. She did eat but it was dark and we didn't get a good look at her until the next night when she came out to explore and snatch an apple. I knew within thirty seconds that this was no sugar glider. I'd been doing a lot of research online and she didn't have the right markings, the right tail, the right demeanor. What she did have were the flaps of skin connecting her legs. One quick google search and I realized what we had in a cage in our bedroom was a baby flying squirrel. As my mom later pointed out, we've spent a lot of money to keep squirrels out of our house and here was one in a warm, snugly bed eating apple pieces because I'd put her there.


The first picture is a sugar glider. The second is Abigail. Do you see a stripe down her head? Do you see a little pink nose or toes? How about white markings? Yeah, neither did I.








The next morning I called the shelter to tell them they'd adopted us a squirrel. Their reaction was, "Really?" Yes, really. We had a good laugh over the situation...I mean, what else can you do? They told us they'd be happy to refund our money and that we needed to bring Abigail back because they couldn't let us keep a wild animal...they intimated it was illegal. The really funny part is that the shelter contacted the vet's office to tell them what had happened and they are still insisting that what we had was a sugar glider. I can tell you, I won't be going to that vet every again.

Needless to say, the girls were upset at losing their new pet in such an unexpected way. So, we've found a wonderful woman who will have a baby gilder available for adoption right around Christmas. She's sent us pictures of both daddy and momma. We're looking forward to watching the little one grow. As soon as we get him/her home I'll be sure and let y'all know. I'm absolutely certain having a sugar glider will provide new and funny animal stories for me to share.

It's been awhile since we've had a farm story so we haven't talked about pets lately. Have you ever wanted an exotic pet? Ever had one? Anyone else have a sugar glider?

Instigator

Trained

Something happened last night that has me questioning my preconceived notions about our pets. Emma (our little Yorkie) woke me up at about 1:30. She was taking her paw and hitting it repeatedly against her water bowl so that it would knock into the wall and make a racket. She wanted a drink and she's discovered that if she does that I'll get my butt up and get her one. As I'm stumbling around in the dark trying to find the water faucet it hit me - she has me trained.

We think that we're the ones who've conditioned them to sit or stay or potty outside. But in reality we're the ones conditioned to pet them when they nudge our hand with their cold little nose or let them outside when they bark at the door.

Maybe we're both a little trained, and that's probably okay. I mean they have to communicate with us somehow since we can't have a conversation. So, do your pets have you trained?

Instigator

You'd Think I'd Learn

Well, we've got a new member of the family. A few weeks ago we got a new dog. Well, Emma really isn't new to the family as she's been my parent's dog for several years now. But it got to a point where they couldn't keep her and we offered to take her in. The girls have always loved Emma.

Emma is a Yorkie. Tiny, small, furry bundle of yapping cuteness that you'd think wouldn't fit in at the farm. Honestly, the goose is bigger than she is. But we really had no worries about her fitting in. She'd visited with us before, spending a week with us when my parents were out of town, and she did rather well. She loves the freedom of being able to roam...a little too much.

Actually, we brought Emma home the same week that my parents went out of the country to a conference in Calgary. It was the perfect time to make the transition. Despite the fact that she and Jack were a little wary at first, she did rather well. Her favorite thing is to run around the front yard barking at Eeyore from the safety of the other side of the fence. It's kind of funny.

But three days into her stay with us she disappeared. We couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't inside and she wasn't in the yard or the pastures. We looked for an hour, walking up and down our road calling her. Nothing. I don't know about Zilla, but I was very worried about having to tell my mom that I lost her dog just days after taking her in. It was getting dark at this point and we were about to go inside, upset over the fact that we couldn't find her, hoping that she was just enjoying an explore of the neighborhood and would be home soon. Zilla made one more run down the street on the four wheeler to see if he could find her. I was ecstatic when I saw him driving up with her in his arms. Until I saw the blood streaming down her front leg.

In the chaos of trying to inspect the wound, figure out what happened and find out where he'd found her, I discovered that she had wandered several streets over...and I'm talking country streets not city blocks. In order to get there she would have had to cross several pastures and a very busy street. However, it's interesting to note that she was in fact heading in the right direction to go home to my parent's house. Turns out a very nice couple found her, called the number on her tag which we hadn't changed yet and spoke to my mom in Calgary. They were on their way to bring her back to us when Zilla saw them on the street. The best we can figure is that she cut her leg on a piece of fencing or metal in her travels. We were worried about an animal bite but there were no puncture wounds and she's so small that if another dog had gotten her she would have been torn to pieces.

What's funny is that she's this teeny, tiny thing that thinks she's invincible. She barely reaches Jack's knee but she's right there beside him, barking her fool head off and protecting us all from any perceived threat. She barks so hard that her little feet come off the ground. It really is funny to watch.

So we have a new dog. Oh, and did I mention that we said we'd take my brother and sister-in-law's cat? They've temporarily moved and couldn't take the cat with them. It just isn't fair for Strider to stay in that big empty house with only periodic visits to refill the food and water dispensers. So the brood is growing. Again.

Instigator

P.S. This blog is late because apparently Emma is photophobic (I realize that's probably not the right word but...) I wanted to put a picture of her up with the blog but every time I pulled out my camera she ran and hid. You probably can't tell but the only way I got this one was to corner her in the office and surround her with the girls so she had no where to run to. Maybe it's just me but I can see the fear in her face. Maybe she thinks it's going to steal her soul...

P.P.S. From Playground Monitor: My winner from yesterday is Beth Curtis. Looks like she has mad Google skillz like me. Please send your snail mail info to me and we'll discuss skillz which book you'd like.

Farm Life, Episode...28?

I've been strangely silent on the topic of farm fun and animals lately. There have been things going on but...nothing interesting enough to take up an entire post - at least until this weekend.

Let me start by saying despite the fact I haven't posted about it, we've gained several animals this summer including 4 birds, some turtles, frogs and the latest addition, guinea pigs.

The birds are small, cute, yellow, blue and white. I'm not entirely sure what kind they are but possibly canaries? They reside in the little house which for those not familiar is a smaller replica of our house detached from the main house that has been turned into the man cave. When we purchased our home the intention was to turn it into a play house for the children...Zilla got to it first. Anyway, because the noisy, smelly things are not in my house they have not bothered me. The girls enjoy holding them and therefore I didn't complain when they simply showed up. We had a bird a long time ago and therefore had the cage. I just assumed Zilla cleaned it up one day and decided to make use of it.

We also gained some frogs (I might have mentioned Freddie at some point...the toad who showed up on Sweet Pea's floor one night). Freddie lasted longer than expected, long enough for us to acquire a frog habitat and therefore when Freddie went to the big pond in the sky we had the equipment and the means to fill the habitat again. Frogs are thick on the ground where we live so we've had several occupants since then.

Joining the frogs has been a succession of turtles - including several snapping turtles. I have expressed my concern to both Zilla and Sweet Pea (who seems to have no fear) that they are going to SNAP her fingers, hence their name. Neither of them seem worried. I expect that will change the first time one of them takes a bite at her fingers. They currently reside in a huge Rubbermaid tub and seem rather content. Joining them are several box turtles - in separate enclosures. Actually, Zilla recently built them a beautiful pen complete with pond, small tree and plenty of grass and shade. However, the little devils keep disappearing. We're not sure whether they're escaping or being carried off by birds as they are out in the open. Either way, like frogs turtles are thick on the ground in our neck of the woods.

The final, and newest, members of the family are guinea pigs. Two of them. A male and a female. And yes, this was done on purpose. I went to sleep on Sunday afternoon and woke up to excited squeals of joy that we now had guinea pigs. Funny, I didn't even know we were in the market to purchase rodents. My response to this development was to glare at Zilla. His response was to say, "We had the cage." Seriously? I have yet to come up with a response.

Sigh. The silver lining in all of this is that these animals all live either in the little house, the storage overhang or the yard. None of them are in my house. They make my girls smile and I suppose that's worth quite a bit. All I can say is I'm not bottle feeding guinea pig babies when they're born...and they will be.

Apparently, I'm a sucker (not to mention a push over). Have you ever been a sucker about something? Your kids end up with a pet that you said they couldn't have? Anyone want a guinea pig...or a turtle? I will say this, Zilla might not be abiding by the animal restriction but there is one thing he'd never think of bringing home - a snake. I've put my foot down and he's agreed not to cross that line. I'm thankful for that at least.

Instigator

P.S. I suppose I can't complain too much as when my parents told me I couldn't have a puppy I just asked Zilla to buy it for me for Christmas. Smile. I got my way. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree I suppose.

Cat and Mouse

I'm seriously thinking of giving my cats the boot. The dog too come to think of it. They aren't doing their jobs. I mean, I don't ask much. We feed them, give them water, a warm, fluffy place to sleep. Heck, we even let them come and go as they please. Jack, the dog, takes his job of protecting the family very seriously...to the point of waking us up in the middle of the night every night this week. I will say that I never worry for the girl's safety if a stranger walks onto our property. It's amazing how he quickly maneuvers himself between them and whatever threat he perceives. Okay, so I'll keep the dog.

It's really the cats I'm upset with. On a farm, what's their job? It's to catch mice!! They are failing miserably. To the point that the noise that gets Jack going in the middle of the night is two mice running through the walls of our house. Grrrr! We deal with this on a fairly regular basis. I mean we do live in the country surrounded by fields and forests. Our house is warm and has food. The problem is that since we've gotten the cats we haven't had to deal with them inside the house...until this year.

One morning last week I walked into my kitchen to get breakfast for the girls and there they were - two mice - standing on the floor in the middle of my kitchen...like they were fricking chatting. I wonder if they were discussing which box in the cupboard held the best snack. They did scurry as soon as they saw me - into opposite directions. Where were my cats? Curled up in a ball on the sofa, sleeping. Grrr!

I haven't seen the mice again but I have seen evidence of their existence. However, I have not seen or heard the cats react once. The dog barks but only in the middle of the night. If they don't start doing their jobs my editor may get a present.

Any critters making your life difficult? Any experiences with mice? Any suggestions on how to get rid of them? So far, nothings working.

Instigator

P.S. Congratulations to Jane, PM's winner from yesterday. Please email her at playgroundmonitor@writingplayground.com to claim your prize. As always, prizes not claimed within 7 days will be re-awarded.

What the... UPDATED

I made a promise to several people - including myself - that I wouldn't post anything about the farm for awhile. My blogs had kinda gotten run over with life on the farm segments and I hadn't talked about my writing in awhile. But that was before THIS happened!

Yes, my friends, that is the newest member of our family - Winston - standing on the chair in my LIVING ROOM! Oh wait...here's another picture of the little dev...er, I mean angel.

Yes, he is rather cute, and he did have problems when he was born and was being bottle fed for a little while. But when the, grumble, grumble, grumble, did my house turn into the barn?!?

I laughed the situation off the first time I was sitting in my bed and heard a commotion in the hallway. I couldn't help but grin and groan when Zilla and Sweet Pea came tromping into the room behind this gangly, adorable thing. The most important people in my life were so excited and thought it was so funny. How could I not smile too? Until he peed on my carpet. But I nicely said, "The goat belongs outside."

The problem is that Winston now thinks he's a person. Or that Zilla is his mama (which is kinda funny in and of itself). The goat follows behind him, as in if Zilla takes on step backwards Winston would be crushed. And that's how the little devil got into my house, over and over and over again. No one could shut the door fast enough before he just bounded up the stairs and was in the kitchen. Sigh.

Being the mean and wicked woman that I am I finally had to make an edict. Barn animals stay in the barn! For the moment my house is goat free. We did just put him back outside with his mama and the other goats. However, in barely two days he's managed to get into the pasture with the donkey and almost get crushed twice. I'm a little worried that my peace and quite won't be lasting for long. We lost one baby already this year and we really don't want to lose another because he can't stay on his side of the fence.

I think maybe Winston has an adventurous streak that's going to repeatedly get him in trouble. Winston is definitely too staid a name for this goat. Got anything else we can call him?

Instigator

P.S. The winner of Susan Gable's The Pregnancy Test Passalong from Monday is M. Contact Angel within 7 days with your snail mail address at angel@writingplayground.com.

Another Chapter in the Animal Saga

So, things have been rather quiet on the animal front here lately. In fact, I've been the only one to bring home a new animal in months. I actually like the donkey now and I was starting to get complacent. Which is why I was blindsided last Saturday when I can home from a wonderful trip to Birmingham after attending the Southern Magic reader's luncheon only to find TWO new animals. Not one but TWO.

Admittedly, it was late when I got home. Dark out and after the girl's bedtime although they were both still up watching TV. The first words out of Sweet Pea's mouth when I walked in the door were, "Don't be mad at daddy," which of course meant that there was obviously a reason to be mad at Zilla.

She proceeded to tell me (in a cute and rambling way) that a goat had somehow found it's way inside our fence. The ugliest, silliest, most hideous goat I've ever seen. It has half of one horn missing and its tongue is too big for it's mouth - it lolls out the side constantly. She stands barely halfway up the shoulders of our two males.

This, however, is more funny than concerning. What's one more goat? And besides, I think it irks Zilla just a little bit that his premium goat bloodlines are being diluted. The best we can figure one of the neighbors saw it wandering the area, mistook it for one of ours and since we weren't home decided to help us by putting it back inside our fence. We've had animals escape the fence before but never break their way in.

What's more concerning that funny (at least to me) is that the second addition to our family is Freddy - the frog - who at the moment is living in my good Pampered Chef mixing bowl topped with tin foil. He is an interesting little thing though. Apparently he changes color based on his surroundings. Although what I really want is my bowl back...after a good swishing with bleach of course.

So, the brood increases. I'm wondering what will appear the next time I go out of town for the day. At least the HOD Luncheon isn't until May. I have a few months to prepare.

Instigator

P.S. As you probably already know, we're all participating in NaNoWriMo this month. However, my daily totals are going to stay put for a little while as I just got copy edits in today. I knew as soon as I started working on something else I'd get interrupted. Should have started writing earlier :-)

25

I did it! I finally did it!

I've sold twenty-five short stories to the Trues magazines. And this sale is even sweeter because it's to True Story, the only magazine I had not yet sold to.

So to celebrate I'm bringing out the chocolate fountain and skewers and all sorts of goodies to coat with that scrumptious liquid confection. Oh, and the cabana boys will be here to serve you all. Just snap your fingers, and your wish is his command.

Farm Fodder

I'm finding that life on a farm provides quite a bit of fodder for this blog. And apparently, according to our hits, reading about goats, donkeys and ducks interests everyone else too so here's another story I just had to share.

Late last week I woke up to the ungodly sound of one of our baby goats screaming. It's about 6:30 and I'm barely conscious but the sound is just grating on my ears. I tell the girls to stay put, throw on the closest pair of shoes and head out into the back pasture to find the little guy with his head stuck through the fence. This isn't an unusual occurrence. For some reason they seem to think the vegetation on the opposite side of the fence is tastier than the exact same damn grass on this side of the fence. The little guy's horns are starting to grow in and he can no longer get his head back through the hole once he's gotten it over there.

Only this time Eeyore has decided he isn't a huge fan of the screaming either. I walked out to find him gnawing on Austin's back. I immediately start yelling at the donkey thinking he's hurting the poor thing. Everyone's gathered around the scene - the other seven goats, our pack of ducks, the 2 geese, even the cat I haven't seen for months is sitting in the pasture watching the melee. From my point of view, the sheer volume of animal poundage is a little intimidating, not to mention the sight of the donkey's teeth in the goat's back.

I ran back into the house and grabbed the phone to call DH - cause I wasn't going inside the fence without another sane person telling me I should. I really don't WANT to go inside - hoofs and snapping teeth just aren't that appealing at 6:30 in the morning. But I KNOW I'll probably have to anyway. The problem with living on a farm.

However, while I'm on the phone with DH (who incidentally told me not to go into the fence under any circumstances and that I was more likely to get myself hurt than help the poor goat - which was probably true) I realized that Eeyore isn't actually TRYING to hurt Austin. He's trying to HELP him. I watched in complete stupefaction as the donkey, as gently and he could, pulled the goat out of the fence with his teeth. As soon as Austin was free Eeyore chased him away from the fence and scolded him for being stupid enough to get stuck in the first place.

That darn donkey's growing on me.

Instigator

P.S. Yesterday's winner of a copy of Christie Ridgway's new book is Mary F! Please email Playground Monitor with your snail mail info to claim your prize. Prizes not claimed in seven days will be forfeited and re-awarded.

Add Another Ass

I came home last night to 2 asses in the back pasture - DH and a brand new donkey. DH because he's supposed to be on animal restriction. The donkey because, well, he's a donkey.

Sigh. One more mouth to feed. DH claims he'll just eat the grass. We'll see. He also claims the thing is worth $2000 but he only paid $50. I find that hard to believe (even though the people were selling because they just didn't have the space to keep him healthy). At the moment we're having problems with coyotes which is why DH says he got him in the first place. I think he just wanted a donkey. :-)

The girls have named him Eeyore. We have a cartoon theme going with our animals so I suppose it's appropriate. He doesn't look like an Eeyore to me though. He's too brown. I will tell you that one of the funniest things I've ever seen was Eeyore chasing Jack across the back pasture. Serves the dog right for annoying the snot out of the poor thing while he's getting used to his new home. Boy can both of them run though.

The goats currently won't come out of the barn. I don't think they know what to make of Eeyore. Both Pokey Joe and Billy could take him - they probably weigh the same - but they haven't gone there yet. We'll see how long it takes.

The first thing Sweet Pea said to me was that Eeyore is used to being ridden. I think we'll keep the saddle off him and just let him scare away they coyotes for now.

Instigator - who is scared to find out what will be waiting today when I get home.

P.S. Congratulations to Nicki, the winner from Kelley St. John's blog last Thursday.

Down on the Farm Part 2

I was awoken yesterday morning with the exclamation, "It's goat day! It's goat day!" Let me just say that these are words I never thought would be part of my life. The things we do for those we love. *shakes head*

So, as most of you know from last week we have 3 new baby goats - Austin, Uniqua, and Tyrone. (We have a Backyardigans theme going - Tasha is Austin's mama.) Baby Girl came home from school on Monday with a calendar that said Wednesday was bring a farm animal to school day. Somehow, I don't think her teacher expected real farm animals to show up :-) But DH graciously agreed to spend the afternoon letting 3 and 6 yr olds manhandle his babies.

Here are some pictures of Sweet Pea and Baby Girl with the goats.

(Pictures Removed)

The kids were the most fascinated with the umbilical cords the little guys are still sporting and the fact that both goats peed on the floor. Considering several of the 3 yr old's are still working on that issue themselves, I had to laugh.

My life has seriously taken a turn I never expected. Somehow, I think their teachers are feeling the same way right about now. The end of the month is bring a bunny to school day. Guess what DH is taking?

Instigator - who promises to blog about something other than farm animals next week.

New Addition

We have a new addition to the family, Austin, our baby goat. He's 4 days old and just cute as a button. Unfortunately, he won't be ours for long because we'll be selling him in about 4 or 5 months. We just can't keep another male goat, 2 is more than plenty. The problem is explaining that to the girls. They're already in love with him (and we probably compounded the problem by letting them name him...not the most intelligent mommy moment I've ever had).

This is part of the farm life. We simply can't keep everything. The female goats will breed for us when they grow older but the males we have are sufficient for that purpose - not to mention that Austin is related to the females and therefore would dilute the gene pool.

We've explained this inevitability to both girls and so far they seem to understand. Whether or not that holds up in a few months when abstract becomes reality remains to be seen. I'm hoping that by then we'll have a couple more baby goats (Girls. Please.) and that they won't miss Austin quite so much.

Here's a picture of the little fella with his mama.

And a grainy image of him. DH had to chase him around the pasture to get this. He's definitely got spunk!

Instigator