FRANCIS'S BLOG 06/05/2026
Nasty rainy weekend 🐴
Even the ducklings think this rain and cold is a little much:
Minnie didn’t even try to go out:
She just huddled in the garage. 🐔
Artful art work! 🐴
Ann’s friends made her some quilt work so lovely we had to show you.
This is the first truly lovely rooster I have ever seen, and so quiet! 🐴
The same can be said of these brilliant chickens! 🐴
What nice friends! 🐴
Look out, birds! 🐦
Finn is practicing her rafter-roaming.
And her stable-stalking.
She knows it’s nesting season! 🐦
Katfish goes sparrow fishing 😺
Katfish catches another sparrow:
And as usual she plays with it:
And, as usual, it flies away:
Unfortunately, it flew into the feed shed:
So Katfish just caught it again. 😺
When ducks attack 🦆
Pooter doesn’t permit cats in his pool:
Time for a duck attack! 🦆
It doesn’t seem to be working:
Noodle just keeps playing in the water. 😺
Time to give up, Pooter. 🦆
Sunny Saturday 🐴
Here we are, coming in to dinner yesterday afternoon:
And guess who’s leading the pack? 🐴
Usually, I’m last one in. . .
But Iris is last in, because she’s always trying to hog-in a last bite! 🐎
Mouse-munching and duck-diving 😺
Kanna, aka Fräulein Mouz-munchen, invites little Mickey to see what she looks like from the inside:
Also, the ducklings find a pool so deep that they can really swim!
Everybody into the pool!
Cloudy Thursday 🐺
I’m stuck with baby-sitting Ukie this morning. 🐺
I think she needs a bath. 🐺
Whew! 🐴
Mystery cat 😺 and amazing giant fish 🐟!
Our new Mystery Kitty (she’ll get a name soon) is getting more friendly. She always eats ravenously. Let’s hope she’s not eating for four-to-six. 🙀
Oh, let’s check in with our Bill ❤️, who, as you may know, loves to fish for carp. Here he is, with carp-zilla:
And here he is, with carp-a-saurus:
I wouldn’t want one of those in our water tank: it looks like it could pull me under! 🐴
We have tame ducks and wild ducks 🐴
The ducklings now spend the day in the big pen.
And, we had a pair of wild mallards in the creek yesterday. They’re hard to see, because they wouldn’t pose for us, but here they are, flying away.
We hope they come back soon! 🐴
Iris is all dolled-up for her birthday! 🐎
Here is our Mara, admiring her fabulous makeover of birthday-girl Iris! 🐎
Look at all the pretty ribbons, from mane to tail. 🐎
She looks just lovely for her birthday and Easter. 🐎
Good job, Mara and Iris! ❤️
Tax Day is Iris’s Birthday! 🐎
Today, Saturday, is Iris’s birthday. She is 8 years old! We began the celebration yesterday by letting her graze all by herself on the thick, sweet grass in the riding circle. 🐎
Today, Mara will give her the full spa treatment, of bath, with mane and tail shampoo, and hoof polish! 🐎
Oh great, another stray 🐴
We've recently been having a new “guest” at meal time. 🙀
Mystery Kitty is all-black, like Evil Cat, and looks to be pretty young. 🙀
Please, new cat, don’t “bless” us with a litter of babies! 🙀
Sunny Thursday 🐎
It rained last night, but it’s a bright sunny morning! Here we are, posing for a group shot, on our way to the far pasture:
All except for Iris: she’s still hogging up any crumbs left by Henry. 🐴
Ducklings on the run 🐴
The ducklings get to roam around for the first time:
Like the older ducks, the flock always stays together:
Everybody comes running for meal worms!
Luigi has declared the ducklings officially “too big to eat.” 😺
Ducklings new digs 🐴
The ducklings now have a nice cozy pen in the garage:
The farm house smells much better! 🐴
Cat Crime by Schroeder (who else) 🙀
Repeat-offender Schrödinger not only crossed the road again:
But this time, he was seen “contributing to the delinquency of a kitten,” by enticing Noodle to cross the road with him! 😾
That’s a “bad kitty!” to both of you! 😿
Ducklings day out.
The ducklings spend their first day outside:
They love the grass.
They’ll be out of the pen as soon as they grow past “cat size.”
Sunny Saturday 🐎
Yesterday was so nice and sunny, we didn’t want to come in from the far pasture:
When we finally came in to dinner, Stormy and Misty stopped to roll:
They think they’re so good at it, they propose “synchronized rolling” become an Olympic sport:
Here’s a short movie of them in action:
We’ll spend today in the far pasture, too! 🐴
Fun in the sun! 🐎
We’ve had one or two sunny mornings, but Thursday (yesterday) we had our first sunny afternoon in, oh, I don’t know how long. 🐴
It’s sunny this morning, too!
The cats aren’t being grumpy (today, at least). The sun is just making them squint. 😺
Chicken-Shines 🐔
On this sunny Thursday morning, the chickens finally get to spend some time out of their pen that’s been so muddy from all the rain:
Here’s Minnie, trying to dry out her feet-feathers:
These nasty clumps of seaweed are supposed to be fluffy white feathers:
Don’t worry chickens, drier weather has to get here sooner or later! 🐴
Ducks in detention.
Crime most fowl! The younger pekins (L’Orange, Paschal and Pooter) have been walking out on the road, to the peril of themselves and traffic!
They have been sentenced indefintely to the pen!
Compassion Cats 😺
As you may remember, Luigi lives with diabetes, and sometimes doesn’t feel very well.
Pumpkin’s keeping him company this morning, trying to cheer him up.
She’s hoping a nice, therapeutic lick will help. 
And she reminds him, “At least it’s sunny today!”
Soggy Monday 🐴
It rained again last night, so we have new mud, to go over the old mud:
But, we’ll dry out our hooves on the front pasture, which is still more grass than mud.
Oh, and here’s a picture from last weekend, where Noodle was in charge of dog-sitting Ukie:
Kitty gets a horsey ride! 🐎
Finn waits for Iris to get going:
But Iris has to be convinced that there’s no more food leftover before she’ll move! 🙀