12 Days Of Christmas, Country Style

We do things different in the country.  If our true love sent us presents for 12 days of Christmas, we wouldn’t have any namby-pamby stuff like 12 Lords a leaping or 3 French hens.  No sir.  Here’s how WE’d do it:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

A Parrot in our pantry!
.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me. . .

Two Loving Llamas!

and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Three frosty sheep!

two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Four Calling Birds!

three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Five Canning Rings!

four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Six Hens A Laying!

five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Seven Turtles Swimming!

six hens a laying,
five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Eight Goats For Milking!

seven turtles swimming,
six hens a laying,
five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Nine Peacocks Prancing!

eight goats for milking,
seven turtles swimming,
six hens a laying,
five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

 

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Ten Roosters Leaping!

nine peacocks prancing,
eight goats for milking,
seven turtles swimming,
six hens a laying,
five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Eleven Chicks A Peeping!

ten roosters leaping,
nine peacocks prancing,
eight goats for milking,
seven turtles swimming,
six hens a laying,
five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

 

On the twelveth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . .

Twelve Guineas Grazing!

eleven chicks a peeping,
ten roosters leaping,
nine peacocks prancing,
eight goats for milking,
seven turtles swimming,
six hens a laying,
five canning rings,
four calling birds,
three frosty sheep,
two loving llamas,
and a Parrot in our pantry.

 

And THAT’s how we’d do presents for the 12 days of Christmas, country style.

Friday’s Farm Fotos

Time once again for a look at miscellaneous pictures I took around the farm this past week.  This first picture is of Valrhona, one of our Shetland sheep ewes, bedded down in the dry grasses in the main pasture.

The grass is maybe 6-8″ long, and seems to be just perfect for nestling down into it for extra warmth.  All of the 4-legged animals seem to think it’s great!

Once again, the animals are out in the main pasture:

I took this picture from inside the house, looking out the window in the dining area.  The sheep are in the shorter grass areas, grazing the green stuff tucked underneath.  Our Maremma sheep dog, Neffie, likes to stick close, but keeps to the highest vantage point she can find.

Still looking out the window, I saw one of our Buff Orpington hens.

They love to scratch around in the leaves along the fenceline, looking for something tasty to eat.

One of the escapee roosters was doing the same thing around the base of a tree.

I sometimes throw crumbs out there, which they seem to enjoy.

The wild birds like the suet feeders.  Sometimes a Tufted Titmouse comes to visit.

And sometimes these little birds show up in bunches.

I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of birds these are, but can’t find anything that looks *exactly* like them.  The nearest I’ve come up with is an American Tree Sparrow.  But the colors aren’t quite right.

Here’s a couple getting a drink from the birdbath.

And one was sitting on the picket fence.

So, anybody know what this bird is exactly?

Now, I know exactly what THIS bird is.

That’s an immature male cardinal with a punky ATTITUDE.

And I do mean, ATTITUDE.

I think his mohawk “hairdo” looked pretty cool.  Bet he thinks he’s a read macho dude!

Our farm collie, Toby, isn’t so much macho as goofy.  The minute we go outside, he runs around like an idiot trying to find a stick to carry.  It doesn’t matter if it’s toothpick sized or a log.

Sometimes he gets sticks that are so big he can barely drag them around.

He and Neffie seem to enjoy grooming each other, each though they are both “fixed.”

Later in the week I saw a Northern Mockingbird getting a drink from the birdbath.

The cardinals also visit the birdbath.

Sometimes even the chickens hop up for a drink from the birdbath, like this little Golden Sebright Bantam hen.

Glancing through all these pictures, you might get the idea things are pretty fowl around here.  From the looks of all these guineas following our male llama around, I’d say you’d be right.

We’ve got all kinds of birdbrains outside and inside.   This one on the inside is hanging from the curtain on the back door. . .

And bidding you GOOD-BY!

Frosty Morning

After spending time in Florida, we’ve come back to FROST.

That’s not to say it was warm in Florida while we were there.  Nope!  Here I was worried I ought to be digging out our short-sleeved shirts to take, but that wasn’t an issue.  Wouldn’t you know, when we go to visit, they have a cold snap.

Just not as cold as it was here this morning!  In fact, the sheep were sporting some pretty frosty fleece.  It’s most noticeable on Papaya, since she has black wool.

However, I never could get her to turn her head and look at me.  There was a lot more frost on that side though, than the other.

Valrhona had a bit of frosty fleece, too.

She’s probably the most photogenic of the sheep we have left.  I love her moorit colored face.  Her wool isn’t really the reddish-brown of moorit, however, but more of a mioget or light fawn color.

I also noticed this morning that it’s high time to put the heater in the birdbath.

The water buckets and pools were in the same shape.  Time to plug in ALL the heaters to the water supplies!

There are still a few frosty buds and blooms on my camellia bush, but it won’t be long until they’re all gone.

I guess I can’t complain considering the bush bloomed for about two months, through October and November.

The buttefly bush blooms are long gone, but there were some frosty skeletons this morning.

I need to do some serious trimming on these bushes before spring!

Some of the leaves on the Arrowwood Viburnum in our front yard are a pretty orange-red color.

They looked especially classy with a glaze of frost.

Neffie, our Maremma, patrols the farm no matter what the weather, so a little frost didn’t stop her from making her rounds.

I guess I might as well get used to this. It is, after all, December 1st, and time for some cold weather!

The Briars And The Ewe Sheep

Remember our poor old ewe sheep Papaya with the briar on her butt?

As in THE briar, ONE briar, that’s more than enough briars???!!!!

Well, last night I went out to do chores.  I was running a little late (okay, a whole lot late!) and it was almost dark.  My wooly pig, otherwise known as a Shetland ewe sheep, otherwise known around these parts as Coconut, came running up to me looking for food, as usual.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  No, she didn’t have a briar stuck on her butt.  You know, as in ONE briar???  That’s right, she didn’t have just one briar, she had a whole bunch of briars!

I went back inside and got some leather gloves before I even tried to deal with that mess.  (And yeah, grabbed the camera too so I could get a picture, even though a flash doesn’t go far when it’s dark outside!)

So, have you ever tried to chase a sheep around in the dark while trying to grab hold of prickly briars and pull them loose from wool?  Well, let me tell you, if you’ve never done it, you’re sure missing an adventure.  Or at least a lot of good exercise!

And in case you’re wondering where she got all those briars, well, The Farmer was being industrious and clearing out the undergrowth from a line of evergreens along one side of the pasture this past Saturday.  He threw the trash over the fence for the animals to eat.

Unfortunately, that included the briars.  For Cinnamon the goat, that’s a good thing.  For the wooly ewe sheep, it turned out to be a bad thing.

And I thought picking those little sweet gum balls out of their wool was bad!

Ewe Crazy Sheep!

One morning this week I went out to do chores, and saw this:

If you don’t see it at first, look a little closer.  Papaya has a big briar stuck to her butt.

Valrhona wanted to know just what I was going to do about it.

Can’t you see she’s got a briar on her butt? DO something!”

Our flock matriarch strolled out to have a look-see.

Papaya, you crazy ewe! There’s a briar on your butt!

One of the hens wandered by, totally unconcerned with any problems the ewe sheep were having.

Nice try Papaya, but that looks NOTHING like one of my beautiful tail feathers.

She probably figured it’s just some more shenanigans from those crazy sheep.

Papaya seemed to think there was nothing wrong.

Hey lady! What are EWE lookin’ at!????

She left all in a huff, dragging her briar and her buddy Valrhona along with her.

I had to corner her in the sheep shed and chase her around a while before I could get hold of her.  (Too bad nobody was here to take a video of THAT, ha, ha!)  She’s a wild child, and doesn’t like to be caught. 

Eventually, however, I got hold of her and pulled the briar out of her wool.  No more briar on her butt.

You crazy ewe.