Peanut Caught a Squirel

This Cat is Amazing!!!!

He is the best 

"Mouser", and "Snake Catcher" around!

Now we can add 

"Squirrel Hunter" to the list as well.  

This particular squirrel had been chewing holes in the siding of a cabin and was living in the attic.  

There are lots of trees, and other ares to build a squirrel home, but for some reason this particular little guy decided the lodge was were 

he wanted to be.  

I was shocked to hear from the kids, that Peanut had killed a squirrel!

With  most boys they want to try new things.  

Eating squirrel had apparently been on our son's list!  So Smalls, took the opportunity to skin and grill the little delicacy. 

Lets just say I now have a 

"Mom, can I grill this?" pan,  

saved for any 

future culinary consumptions!

     

Did you know?

It was a popular delicacy served up until the last century when it dropped off Britain’s menu.

But grey squirrel pie is currently enjoying a revival due to attempts to save its less aggressive red cousins from extinction.

Thousands of grey squirrels have been sold to restaurants, butchers and are on sale at farmer’s markets after being legally trapped and shot in woodland and rural areas.  

                                                  To read more click here.

Happy Sheep Make for a Good Night's Sleep

With Great Guard Dogs in place,  

Everyone is sleeping better.

Grain Boxes make wonderful beds for

 little lamb heads........

Did You Know?

A healthy lamb will sleep 8-12 hours a day.

An adult sheep will sleep just under 4 hours a day.

Ever Eaten Rattlesnake Before?

Welcome to the Oklahoma 

Velvet Tailed Rattlesnake.

Velvet Tailed Rattlesnakes do not tend to grow much bigger than about 4 1/2 - 5 feet long.

Called Velvet Tailed due to the black tint along the lower end of the body.  

As with most situations in our home, just about everything becomes an experience.

Rattlesnakes are no different.  

Smalls was home for a couple months in the summer and took every opportunity to enjoy the wonders of the ranch.

After gutting and skinning the snake Smalls decided that he needed to grill the meat.  

When asked what he thought it tasted like....

"Chicken!"

This one was just over 4 feet long.  And it was tanned right at 4 Feet!!!!  

Coyotes Killing Sheep

Problem after Problem 

Dad's Sheep in the Pasture began disappearing at an alarming rate!

We first saw the puncture wounds that I shared in a previous post.  

But then we found carcass that had been stripped clean.  

Often finding the entire skin of the sheep 

as if it had been skinned right off.  

Dad brought in different dogs, thinking that either the dogs were killing the sheep or that they were just not old enough to protect the sheep.  Either way- that set of dogs did not work 

and a change had to happen.  

It took a while to get the guard dog situation worked out and there was a great loss of sheep during the transition time.  

Sometimes there would  be no skin.  Only the bones.  

And for months the guard dogs have been bringing bones up to the gate.  

Daily walks of the perimeter fence were required to find the holes the coyotes had dug.  Once the holes were found, they had to be filled and the fence secured.  

Dad did a lot of teaching, needless to say,   

Master Mess Maker  (M<3) has become quite good at mending fence.  

Snapping turtle's Take Over

After huge rainstorms we will usually see an increase in frogs. 

 However we had about 6.5 inches of rain in under 2 days and there were snapping turtles EVERYWHERE!!!

The roadways were literally covered with snapping turtles!   

Coming home from church on Sunday, 

Smalls yells from the back of the car......

"Pull over, Dad!!!! 

I have to get a picture!!! That turtle is huge!!!"

Smalls was so excited you would have thought it was Christmas!!!

Did You Know?

* THE COMMON SNAPPING TURTLE IS 

NEW YORK'S OFFICIAL STATE REPTILE.

Can Sheep get Mange?

This is Peter.  

He is about 2 weeks old. 

 He started loosing patches of wool/hair. 

 It was only in a small spot 

the first day, but by day 3 

his whole little body 

was covered in patchy skin.  


This being our first experience with mites, it took us a little while to figure out what was happening and how to help him.  

Handling him only with gloves, we applied a thick coating of Lotrimin cream, for athletes foot, about three times a day.

Suprisingly within a week he was healed and the mites were gone.  We closely watched the other sheep and only saw a little spot on the udder of one other ewe, which we treated as well. 

Peter was so sad looking for a couple weeks until his wool grew back.  But there were no lasting scars or loss of wool.  

"Chicken TV"

Chicken Tractor or a Mobile Chicken Coop

Ever heard of "Chicken TV"?  

Chickens can be mesmerizing!  

We love to sit in the evening and watch them. 

 I have no doubt my stress lessens and my blood pressure lowers, when I take a little time to look after the little family of chickens.   

   A Chicken Tractor is a portable chicken coop.  This allows chicks to free-range in a completely protected manner.  

We have some little Bantams that we want to make sure are safe. 

Our little coop makes this possible.   

Bantams are mini versions of regular breeds of chickens.  

Our Chicken Tractor is in the garden.  

We move it every few days.  This provides a great benefit for the garden as well as the chicks.  

First,  the chickens eat the grass and bugs.  This helps keep insect destruction down in the plants and allows 

for very natural food for the chicks.  

Second, the chicken poop, over time will help to fertilize the ground for the next growing season.