FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/19/2026
Well-fed ducks 🦆
Good morning!
Iris has the sun in her eyes:
Misty says, “Put the camera down and serve us breakfast, please.”
Speaking of breakfast, the ducks have finished their mealworms, and are “ducking” into the garage to eat the cats’ leftovers:
After that, they’re out in the front pasture, sifting through all the mud:
Look out, worms! The ducks are coming! 🦆
Muddy Monday 😾
Remember we told you yesterday that we had an 8-egg morning?
Well, we had a 7-egg afternoon!
Congratulations chickens! You established a new daily record of FIFTEEN eggs (They got so exited, they knocked over their nesting bucket)!
Anyway, it’s a mess this morning because it poured all night:
Chezzie says, “It’s a good day to stay in the stable.”
Don’t talk with your mouth full Chezzie, it’s impolite. 🐴
It’s an 8-egg morning! 🐔
The chickens got up early to give us 8 eggs. We’ll see how many they lay by this afternoon (their record is 14!):Onslow is up in the hay barn, chasing sparrows:
I’m where I normally am!
Stormy and Chezzie are soaking up the sun (it’s supposed to be over 50 today!):
Rose and Iris are doing the same, standing like statues:
I'll bet they move when they see breakfast. 🐴
Farrier Saturday 🐎
Good morning. It’s a good day for getting our hooves done. Our friend Travis says my feet are fine until his next visit. My hooves grow more slowly than everybody else’s:
Onslow is enjoying the view from Travis’s truck:
It looks like “Red” has a white hind leg:
He’s about to sneak in the garage for some breakfast. 😺
Horse crime! 🐎
Good morning! It’s only in the teens right now, so the mud is frozen:
Iris and Rose are back out in the front pasture, having spent two days in the stalls:
Rose was tired of being locked up:
And she knocked out her feed door to prove it! 🐎
Crowded house 🐎
The kitties are tucked in to breakfast:
There’s still a lot of mud. Hopefully the wind dries some of it up:
All our stalls are full this morning:
Iris spent the night inside, out of the rain and mud:
And so did Rose:
They’re quite cozy, and have lots of hay! 🐎
More rain, more mud 😾
It’s an indoor day:
As if we didn’t have enough mud, the rain is bringing more.
Iris and Rose are inside, too:
It’s time to dry out your hair and hooves, girls! 🐎
There’s a bright side to everything 🐴
It may be in the 20’s, but we’re glad it’s frozen the mud:
Misty is using her son, Stormy, to keep the sun out of her eyes:
Because of the mud, Iris and Rose’s hay bin was moved to higher ground:
It may take the cat-cops longer to get the hay out there, but it lets the children at Ms. René’s school see Rose and Iris better! 😺
Fickle chickens 🐔
Buttons says, “Good morning. Feed me.”
It’s a carrot morning!
The mud is still with us. Rose and Jewel’s hay bin has been moved away from it:
Have a carrot, Iris (Don’t worry, Rose and everyone else got a carrot, too):
For a change, some of the nesting boxes were filled with white shredded paper:
It looks like we don’t have takers, yet. (Remember, the eggs you might notice on the white nests are fake. The chickens are supposed to see the artificial egg, and think, “That’s a good place for me to lay my eggs!) 🐔
Pretty Kitty 😺
Good morning. The snow is melting and the mud is back. I’ll stay inside and eat my hay from this sack-thingie:
Don’t break the security camera with your butt, Iris:
And here’s Buttons, looking glamorous in back-lighting:
As you can tell, the sun is glorious this morning! 😺
Snow birds 🦆
The ducks are checking out the snow:
And so are the chickens:
I suppose that hay won’t come to me on its own. . .
So I will go to the hay. 🐴
Do they make ski goggles for donkeys? 🐴
Here’s a picture from yesterday, from the coop. It looks like nobody could find the nesting boxes at least 3 times:
The sun is out this morning and it’s blinding us! Buttons says, “I’m heading back to the hay barn. This snow is just too hard on my eyes.”
Iris says, “I’m just fine as long as I’m looking down, into all this nice hay.”
“Oh! by the way! do you know that there is a blank lined copybook on Amazon with my picture on it? Please click HERE and have a look, if you’d like!”
Other than that. . .
Jewel is having a roll! 🐎
Snowy, blowy day! 🐴
Oh my, where did the nice weather go?
The kitties are staying warm after breakfast:
The chickens are tearing into their breakfast of mealworms and cat food:
They’ve already given us 6 eggs so far this morning:
It’s very bright out on the snow:
Enjoy your hay, girls:
Try not to throw it on the ground, Iris. 🐎
Oh that Stormy! 🐎
Stormy, I can’t eat until you get your foot off my bowl:
That’s better. Thank you, Stormy:
We’re calling the new stray “Red.” RC is watching him head to the stable. He’s getting less shy every day:
Oh! Here’s our latest video, in case you missed it!
Don’t worry, Danny is better now! 🦆
It’s Valentine’s Day Eve! ❤️
Valentine’s Day isn’t until tomorrow, but I’ll take a kiss any day!
Patrick and Danny Fairbrass say, “It’s a great morning for standing on one leg!”
Betty, please stay away from that truck! 🙀
There’s no food there, Jewel, just poopies and sawdust:
Come have some of my hay:
I’m going to visit with Misty:
🐴
Fowl deeds on a fine day! 🐎
It’s going to be a beautiful Sunday morning!
But it was chilly enough last night to freeze the chickens’ water. So they’re lined up to get a drink after it was changed:
But being a little thirsty didn’t stop them from making eggs! It’s a five-egg morning:
What’s this? You’re not done yet?
Make that a six-egg day!
Other than that, the ducks have had breakfast and are lounging about. We’ve only had one egg from them this year:
Which is fine with us! 🐴
The mud is getting less muddy 🐴
Misty says, “Good morning from the water tank!”
“What would we do without tank heaters?”
Rose and Iris have been spending the night in the stable because of the mud, but what mud that’s left is frozen this morning, so they’re back to having hay in the front pasture:
As you well know, I like to sneak my hay from the wheelbarrow, so I don’t have to bend my neck:
Well, look what’s back! It’s Mt. Vespoovius!
Farmer Rich doesn’t want us using the manure cart while it’s so cold, because frozen poopies might break it. When the mountain gets big enough, he’ll get it with his bulldozer! 🐎
Oh those kitties 😺
Oh, I’m so sorry! It’s a nice, sunny day, but I didn’t think to take any pictures. Shame on me!
Anyway, here are new videos, in case you missed them:
😺
It’s a good day to stay in the stable! 🐎
It rained all night. Just look at this water, and deep mud!
We’re all spending the day in the stable:
This includes Rose. . .
And Iris:
Rose will dry out her hooves in Jewel’s stall (Jewel is in her run):
And Iris will stay cozy on a new bed of sawdust in Stormy’s stall:
Other than that, I’m happy that the hay is dry:
Yum! 🐴
Rest in Peace, Evil Cat 😿
Our hearts are broken. This morning we discovered that Evil Cat had gone to Good Kitty Heaven. He was a very old kitty, almost 20. He spent his latter days keeping comfortable on the heated pet pad:
Here are a couple of pictures from when he was young and beautiful:
We’ll miss you, Evil. Thank you for many years of being a very good kitty. 😺
Percy gets a bath 🦆
The snow has melted into a bunch of mud. Other than that, good morning! Have some hay, won’t you?
Speaking of breakfast, it looks like Buttons is in Betty’s favorite spot 😾:
Finally, our Percy will be nine in April, and he can't get around very well. He’s gotten very dirty, so we plopped him in the basement sink:
Just look at how dirty that water was!
He’s squeaky-clean now! 😺
Are the cat-cops trying to tell me something? 🐴
It will be another day in the 40’s—another good day to be on the farm:
Schrödinger’s black fur is good for absorbing heat from the sunshine:
Rose is very easy to see this morning, in her pink coat (don’t worry, Iris, your coat will get changed soon):
Sophie says, “Good morning from the farm house!”
Anyway, I’m in a bit of a “mood” this morning:
My hay was put in a bag! It’s ok, I can still get to it; but I can’t eat very fast:
Am I being told I eat too fast? (Well, maybe, but I won’t admit it!) 🐴
Happy horse faces! 🐎
Here are Jewel, Chavez, and Stormy, having carrots:
That’s a “happy carrot face,” Chezzie:
Jewel has to squeeze in to get her share:
That white schnozzola belongs (of course!) to Stormy, who would eat the whole bag if you let him:
But don’t worry, everybody (especially me!) got their fair share. 🐴
We caught the culprit! 😺
It’s warming up, into the 40’s! Iris and Rose say, “Good morning. We hope all the snow is gone by this afternoon!”
And here is the very bad mink that bit our duck:
You should be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Mink:
We are letting you go, but you must never come back to the farm again! 🐴
Chilly chickens still make eggs! 🐔
It was zero degrees this morning; but, the chickens were still on the nest at eight:
And by 10 o'clock, we had eggs!
Seven total!
As for me, I’m about to brave the cold, and go outside:
I found a nice flake of hay. . .
It was put out just for me! 🐴
We think! We think! Our weasel is a mink! 🙀
It’s a nice day, today. We’re sorry that all we have for you is this fuzzy shot from our security camera:
We thought the nasty creature that bit our Danny Fairbrass yesterday was a weasel, but our friends that know their vermin say, “That is a mink!”
Mink or weasel, you need to leave our farm NOW! 🐴
Emergency duck migration 🦆
Horrors! A weasel squeezed into the duck pen! We saw it on the security cameras. It bit poor Danny Fairbrass on the neck. Poor Danny!
So the cat-cops moved Danny and the other ducks from under the hay barn to the car garage by the farm house:
They had been parking their cars in there during snowstorms:
But safe ducks are more important!
If I see that weasel, I’ll kick him into the Hennepin Canal! 🐴