ha! with a smile? never... with death in her eyes.. sure.
wow what a day yesterday. the rain held off (thank heaven) so we ran right out and whacked the last 2 remaining meats. you'll note its TWO not three. the 3rd one flopped over dead the other nite. and i mean flopped.
the dog and i heard a terrible flapping in the hen house so we ran right over there thinking that marauding wombats or what not got in there... nope.. that 3rd meat went down. hard. it was horrible. me and the dog stood there clutching each other and screaming. then it was over and that huge meat lay there in a heap, belly up.
course at this point i normally would go and get TBM and tell him to 'get the gloves'... but i have evening chores alone these days. i could have sent the dog in but i'm pretty sure he'd just help himself to the dead meat. so i had to do it. i'm not even kidding - i could barely lift the thing.
we're still taking bets on whether or not the garbage guys actually TAKE the garbage - that meat practically filled one huge garbage can itself.
what a waste!
so anyway. then there were two.
we got so much fat from the biggest of the two you cant even believe it. i was slack jawed and buggy eyed - actually i was in chicken fat heaven. i'll probably get several CUPS of rendered fat - from just those two meats!
and the biggest one is as large as a small dressed turkey - its just amazing. and the livers! the livers were as big as my palm!
last nite i make a liver, rosemary, tomato pasta sauce and the one liver from the smallest of the two was too much for me to eat in one sitting.
so thats the word on that. a little bird told me that meats are on sale at one of the hatcheries for $0.80... might just get some more. but then...we'd need a 3rd chest freezer but we've been thinking about that anyway.
then.
wow. does everyone read coldantlerfarm? did you see where Jenna got run over by her sheep? i was a little smirky last nite thinking "Dog#1 would never let stupid sheep run me down - let alone let me lay there in a heap"... but then i laid there all nite worrying about the whole thing. that poor gal lives alone and is pretty remote. thank heaven she wasnt hurt badly - just bruised. but wow.
a good reminder that animals are unpredictable and if you're short like me.. they are only gonna take you so seriously.
so last nite i started working with Kai to "watch the gate." Dog#1 already does this, he stands at the open gate - doesnt come in, doesnt walk away, doesnt let anyone out... and comes in if commanded, usually b/c a rooster is chasing me.
i kinda laughed the other day when Debbie when to 'charge' me and i threw a bucket of water on her. she's not that big - but Sunny was huge and at least as big as me. she's gone back to her home herd but if she got saucy and wanted to give me a head knockin.. sheesh. i might have been the one laying there in the dirt.
so anyway my point is... Kai is gonna step up her training so that when we get bigger animals she and Dog#1 can work as a team if i ever get in a pickle.
some folks say that a dog will get run off by livestock - but i taught Dog#1 to stand and fight a while ago - Kai wouldnt need that much encouragement at all and working with Dog#1.. heck.. i could have cape buffalo and be as safe as kittens.
speaking of.....
here's little Scruff - and yes she's that small. full grown she's only about 7 pounds:
pretty much she's only as big as one of Nicholas's haunches! she's getting the hang of being around other cats. she's meeting the others under the bedroom door and has been cute-ing it up for us. we love her long tail and tiny face. and extra nipples.
happy thursday everyone!