Once you've had one...

... then you have to have one wherever you live. 

First came the rock... LOTS of rock...

Excavation.

Tucker's up close and personal inspection!

Further examination by Hazel once the pond was lined and the rock placement had begun.

I kind of slacked off on the photos as the rock was being laid, sorry... This is after the pond is finished. Waterfalls are still to be designed.

And the first night. So peaceful and nice to have a pond again. 

A koi pond.... Close to the house.... With waterfalls.... Not to be fished in :)

West fall rushes down a rough rock, splits and finishes off by flowing over two logs.

Eastern fall serenely meanders over some large flat rocks. So peaceful! 

The logs and one root came from the property.

Michael transferred the koi to their new home earlier this week. He also brought a couple more roots and a few plants from Keller. The swing is my Christmas gift he hung so we can enjoy the pond and have a great view of everything out back too!

Christmas day photo. Nobody but Tucker looks happy to pose...

It survived it's first flood! We didn't put an overflow in because the water runs off and soaks into this sand quickly enough. The water was clear for a few days anyway... 

Fantastic work by the crew at Backyard Concepts in Aubry, TX!

Thanks for another beautiful water feature!!

Can't wait to add landscaping!

The life of Chaucer

Random photos of Chaucer enjoying life on the ranch. He had to check out everything while we were unpacking and working. And, he loves to fall asleep wherever he is...

Yep, this tray is mine...

Interesting shelf that I've never been on.

This should be a good spot to leave uncluttered for me to nap on...

I really like mom's step ladder! Lots of high places in this house so she uses it a lot... whenever I am not sleeping on it.

The middle step is just as comfy.

Mom was putting comforters, blankets, and sheets in here so while she opened another box I figured I'd try it out for size.

To mom's dismay the kitchen window seems to be a favorite of mine. Miata gets the one in the utility room. The pantry stays closed. There are plenty of other windows but this one is the highest and off limits. So.... duh, I'm going to lay here.

Hanging with Sierra and being irresistibly handsome.

"Laundry baskets have an unmatchable magnetic draw for Chaucer."

"Coming in close second are drops of water after showering."

Hey! My blog post. Go away and let me continue....

I pretended to be Goldilocks for a while and tried out all the new chairs they brought home. This one was just right!

Orion wants you to see how brave he was climbing this ultra tall ladder. Whatever.... I could have done that if I wanted to.

Growing pains

Coop activity is at a high these days with the guineas almost full grown and practicing their future guard duties. Frequent alarm calls are the norm these days and it's becoming more and more apparent we have a lot of girls. I'm hoping we have at least one boy! I thought we heard one a few weeks back but the girls are known to mimic the boys...  The male's call is a single syllable, "ki-ki-ki", and the female's a double syllable, "buck-wheat, buck-wheat". Over, and over, and over, and over again. When the males sense danger they start their call and the females will join in unison mimicking it and they proceed to provide a very loud alarm. You can't miss it. They'll likely be your initial welcome to the ranch because you "don't belong" ;) As for now they just like making noise. In January they'll be allowed to experience life beyond the coop. It'll be interesting to watch as they explore and learn their new surroundings.

When the keets were only a couple of days old.

One of them right after they moved to the coop at about 8 weeks of age.
(They were actually rather cute at this point but this one is just plain goofy looking in this photo.)

Guineas have really pretty feathers but their heads are bald - a reason I seriously hesitated to get them. Ours have lost their head feathers they had as keets and have started developing their 'helmets' - a rather stark contrast to their feathers. The neck feathers are a nice iridescent purple that I'll attempt to get a photo of one of these days when the light is just right.

I'm keeping an eye on you...

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Now for chicken updates...

Due to my paranoia the girls are allowed out on sunny days anytime we're outside. They're much happier free ranging around their yard in search of bugs, seeds, and whatever else they find. They'll be ecstatic to return to a normal routine once the guineas join them. And, I'll feel better because they will have added protection from the hawk. The itty bittys have joined the coop crowd, although they haven't figured out where to roost yet.... They get to join the girls most days as well. 

Not there first time out foraging but this was their first time to hang with the girls without wire to protect them from the inevitable establishment of their pecking order.

The itty bittys are about grown and developing beautiful fluffy curly frizzle feathers. 

Lucy, Carol, and Phyllis will not be providing us with adorable little bitty eggs... 

However, Lou, Carl, and Phil will be providing added security to the yard. Normally we'd have to re-home these guys but they have been raised together and there's not a hen (their size) in the equation to give them a reason to fight. Not that the boys don't dance around and spar once in a while. Hopes are they'll just do what roosters do ~ act as flock security and alarm clocks. 

Once upon a time the little bittys, Phyllis, Lucy, and Carol grew up to become...

Phil, Lou, and Carl!

Quietly discussing how they can escape back into the yard.

Phil pretending to sleep on his back.

Apparently this is Phil's best side...

Lou foraging in the grass.

A close up of little Lou's big eyes.

Carl is Rachel's favorite. He's got very bright alert eyes and is very sweet.

It was time to add more siding to the coop since the weather started cooling off and we had some rain. Here's the promised photo of the completed coop as well as a close up of the sign.

I'm looking forward to early February because we'll be adding to the flock and raising chicks is fun!!

Sadly, before I got this posted we lost Carl and this sweet handsome boy will be missed.... 

Needless to say, I'm very leery of letting them out before the guineas are ready now. I'm hoping they're good at their jobs...

Out in the rain

Call me crazy (if you don't already) but I actually enjoy going out in the rain to feed and check on the critters. As long as I'm equipped with things to keep me dry - rubber boots and Frogg Toggs. They seem to appreciate that I'm there even if only for a few minutes. And, of course, they like that I didn't skip feed time because of a little (um... in this case, a lot*) of water. Splashing through the puddles is just an added bonus! I usually prepare ahead for rain by making sure feeders are filled to the brim, water is fresh, and so forth, just in case I don't wanna play in the rain. Today I felt like playing!

Every morning the boys are served breakfast. Not because they don't have more than enough to eat in their pasture.... Horses like routine, and this gives us daily opportunity to love on them, check them over for injuries, observe anything out of the norm, keep them familiar with who the boss is, work with them, etc. Two of our boys also need a little help keeping weight on in the winter to assist them in staying warm. Some of the pellets we feed need to be soaked, which I do overnight, for reasons like colic that I'll spare you an explanation of. (If you have horses you should already know and understand this and, if not, you probably don't care....) When a container for this purpose was needed a plastic oil drip pan, that was purchased but never used yet was never thrown out, just happened to be conveniently available at the time. It's a good size for what we needed but getting the wet mush from the pan into the feed bags has proved to be a bit slow and messy. I found an old dog's cone of shame in the shipping container out by the shop, secured it with duct tape of course, and put it to use. Works great and is as easy to clean as the drip pan. Problem solved!

*After about 4-5 years of drought, much of Texas experienced a very very wet spring, especially the month of May. Well, we've been on the ranch for 14 weeks now. I didn't think to keep accurate records but once I started paying attention I've noted that we have received almost 30 inches of rain. It's just nuts how much God has blessed Texas with rain this year!

Unexpected package

When we first looked at the place we made note of a few oddities that stood out. I'll likely share them over time as we get more settled after the house sells and I post photos of this place becoming ours. One of them was the oven. It has a normal oven and then a tiny little oven next to it. We had no idea what you would do with it and why in the world it was there. During a visit with Michael's aunt we talked about how small it is so she sent this wonderfully funny house warming gift for our little bitty oven:

We eventually found out it's a caterer's oven.... because one plans to cater from out here. I didn't believe anything would fit until I put a 9" pan in. Honestly, Rachel and I use it all the time. It's the perfect size for smaller casseroles and meals. It's a lot of stove and oven for one like me that isn't overly fond of cooking. We didn't even use all 6 burners on Thanksgiving. And, even the previous owners never used the griddle. After we get the garden area in shape, planted, and producing that size will come in handy for canning. Until then, we'll enjoy our little caterer's oven and the perfectly sized pan!

Thanks, Mary!!

Hazel

Hazel patiently hung out in her transitional quarters for almost 3 weeks before I felt she knew this was home and was more than anxious to explore it.

This was the first few minutes in the yard. She was so curious of everything.

Supervision of the boy's breakfast is a job she took upon herself and she takes it very seriously.

Gates are easy for this nimble girl to traverse.

Warm paws melt the frost away quickly leaving cute little paw prints.

Pacing while waiting for Pi to finish his grain.

Thanksgiving morning she was supervising the beginnings of dinner for the day :)

I refuse to let her in but she often peeks through our legs at the other cats and dogs inside. They have regular cat visits through the windows. The dogs have learned to keep their distance although she lets them get close once in a while, especially Tucker because he tries so hard. She sleeps and eats in the garage. I've fixed up several beds for her but she keeps moving so I think it's time to quit trying to make her comfortable and let her be. She's right there when you go outside ready to talk to you and rub against your leg hoping to be pet. Hazel is always there to follow us and hang out as long as it's not too far from the house which is what I prefer. 

As for the mice the scoreboard is as follows:

Hazel ~ 1 confirmed

Michael ~ 2

Rachel ~ 8

Happenings of the past month

Getting sick really throws one off one's game, especially me! The stomach flu hit us and after about 3 weeks we're all finally healthy again. That meant catching up and getting back to a regular schedule. Daylight savings happened which always throws off my sleep and morning routine. I'm a mess! I've got so many things to share! Rather than overloading you with blog posts I'll spread them out over the next few days/weeks. In this post I'll just point out a few things that have happened (not necessarily in order). Let's go back to the end of October....

Our first ever trip to Canton for Trade Days was rainy and cool so it was actually a nice time to be there. Didn't get to see much outdoors but hit everything inside. I'm not really a shopper unless I am looking for something. I was. A very specific something. So, after maneuvering around slowly browsing Christmas shoppers, overflowing carts, and an abundance of scooters all day long we drove home in pouring down rain with a truck bed loaded with my finds:

Once these are transformed I'll let you know, promise. As for me, I don't see Canton anytime in my future, but I never say never because I just might need something very specific again.

Then we lost Lillie Mae. She was almost three years old and her feathers were coming in beautifully after this year's molt. It was rather difficult to lose one of our original girls but it wasn't the first and won't be the last. Finding her was the hardest part. I'm looking at the bright side though... yes, there is one ~ she wasn't laying many eggs anymore due to age and health issues. If you're not producing on the ranch you're just another mouth to feed and an unnecessary expense. That may sound harsh but it's reality. No, the dogs have nothing to fear.... yet ;)
As for Henrietta and Reba, they are cooped up most of the time with the guineas for now. Good thing it's a roomy coop! I've researched protection from red tail hawks. One of the feeders has been moved close to the yard to attract crows. They may chase off the hawks. Once the guardian guineas are ready for free ranging and we've added various other things to deter them everybody will be super happy again. Honestly, I don't think they're all that put out and it's only for a little while longer.

The new run in was delivered and built on one of my roughest days. Not that Rachel was feeling any better but she met the guys at 6:20 in the morning to show them where to build it. Due to a miscommunication what was supposed to be tan with brown roof and trim turned out all brown. S'okay, we got a 5% discount for the inconvenience. Now the boys have somewhere to go when it's raining (like this weekend) and if we ever need to separate somebody for any reason we can do so with panels that we have lying around. Yes, we have a barn but it's more of a hay barn and on the other side of the property. We'll eventually use it for cattle and maybe a hog or two. This is just for the boys in the boy's pasture.

Troy staying dry from the rain. Happy is probably behind him out of sight and Pi in the stall on the other side.

We have multiple huge slash piles from when they cut the pines out back we're thinking of shredding them into mulch rather than burning them. Being outside city limits we sometimes burn our trash. After moving the firewood to a more accessible spot and out of view we decided to burn the remaining pieces that had started to rot and fallen branches in the yard. Gave us a good excuse to make s'mores :) Had to make sure Merlin didn't attempt to pick up burning sticks!

I discovered some cool fungus out under the trees....

• Somewhere along the way Hazel was released from her transitional quarters. I'll update you on this sweet cat in her own post. 
• It has rained somewhere in the vicinity of 25", give or take, this autumn so it's like a swamp around here. But, hey, the grass is green and the pond overfloweth! 
• Rachel has killed 4 mice found in the coop. The guineas didn't have access to that side at the time or they should've taken care of them. 
• Feral hogs have found the second feeder near the bottoms out back. I see smoked hog in our future! You may contact me if you're interested in one of your own. We have plenty! Three bucks and several does also visit it regularly. The does visit the one up close. No venison will be harvested from Lazy Dog Ranch. They are for visual pleasure only.
• More trash and junk has been discovered (rolling my eyes over the ridiculous things that were dumped in the most random places) that'll eventually be hauled off.
• At some point the farrier came by and entertained us with stories of hog hunting while getting the boy's hooves in shape. 
• I learned what part of the house is powered by the generator after some strong winds blew through. We can cook, watch TV, and stay connected to the internet but showers have to be taken by candlelight... Very romantic!
• My room is no longer in boxes. Not that it's done and ready for me to make anything yet, like Christmas cards, sorry....
• We dined at the local winery and it was delicious! A really nice treat tucked away in the middle of nowhere that's just down the road.
• Sierra discovered ticks in her regular beyond her border security checks ~ UGH, I DO NOT LIKE TICKS!!! She does seem to wander less outside the property and for shorter periods of time these days and I'm very happy about that. Have to keep an eye on Merlin so he doesn't follow her. I can't have them traveling 4 miles away that takes me 10 miles to get to. That was nerve racking!

It's good to be back!