FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/19/2026
Movie time! 🐴
Here’s a few seconds of Jewel waiting in the trailer. She and Iris are at a show today.
And here’s an even fewer seconds of us coming into dinner (with me bringing up the rear).
Tree surgeons 🐦
The ducks intercept any tasty bugs on the way up and down their favorite shade tree.
It’s symbiosis!
The ducks get to eat and the tree gets less buggy.
Jewel visits the farm 🐎
Here’s Jewel in our trailer. She stopped by the farm to pick up Iris for a trip to the vet.
Mary and Mara, and Jewel and Iris, have a horse show over the weekend. But first, the horses have to get certificates of health.
Jewel won’t be staying with us, but at least she got to stick her head out and say Hi! 🐎
Horse trespass 🐎
Charlie and Chavez spend some quality time in Iris’s stall.
When Iris shows up, this won’t be pretty. 🐴
Too bad it’s still 3 months to Halloween 😸
Zelda is cutting loose with seriously spooky flashbulb eyes!
Look! She can even make them change color:
It’s still hot! 🐴
The storm last night brought us no relief from the humidity. 😿
At least the ducks can swim where they drink. 🐴
I look like a raccoon 🐴
No, I haven’t been crying. And my mascara isn’t running.
It’s just been so nasty-hot and humid, this is how we sweat. (Actually we sweat all over, like people, it just shows up around my eyes) 🐴
Thursday afternoon was so humid! 🐴
Hot kitties everywhere! 😿
Thursday evening the heat index was over 100, and everybody felt it.
Luckily we had a storm last night, so Friday morning is cooler. 🐴
Hot, Hot, Thursday! 🐴
Julia and Chezzie had their lesson early this morning, before it gets too hot.
Get out of the way, Schroeder!
Go lay in the shade with the other cats! 🐴
Schrödinger is not impressed 😾
What a lovely rainbow this morning! 🐴
Schroeder says, “That’s nice⎯😺
NOW FEED US!” 😾
Lots of food, if you’re willing to walk for it 🐴
Here we are, way out in the far pasture:
If you squint, you can see us! 🐎
Fowl news 🐦
Here we have one of the dozens of baby swallows hatched this year:
And here we have Dot and Gretel sharing the same nesting box (Why? I don’t know 🐴):
Gretel is the black feathers in back. 🐔
Introducing Jewel! 🐎
Saturday, Ann and Mary went to their first horse show with Jewel⎯the newest member of the family. Jewel doesn’t live at the farm yet, because she is only 3 years old and still in school, but Ann and Mary visit and ride her often.
Jewel’s professional name is One Krymsun Jewel (if you Google it, you’ll see she already has a “web presence”).
Above are Mary and Ann and Jewel, with their total of 8 ribbons and 2 trophies! 🐎
Peaceful pasture 🐎
Here we are in the far pasture:
Henry, me, Charlie, and Chavez, with RC in the background.
Nasty storm! 🌧
Wednesday night was open-stall night. We had our dinner hay inside and spent the night mingling (and poopie-ing) in each others rooms.
It rained buckets and there were 76mph gusts! This morning, Security Chief Luigi checked for any damage.
Nothing significant to report.
We were lucky. 😺
Chezzie is first out of the gate 🐎
Chavez beat me to the hay this morning. 🐴
His door was left open, and he’s a fast eater.
Kanna did not get the memo about the asphalt sealant 😿
Remember yesterday I told you the driveway was coated with sealant? 🐴
Well, Kanna decided to do a little finger painting. 😺
She shall hence be known as “Kanna of the dark foot.” 😿
Although they say some Vaseline can get it off. 😺
Lickety-lick-lick 😺
Kanna and Luigi enjoy some duck pond water.
In other news, early this Monday morning, our driveway got coated with wet, black glop.
We’ll have to check for black paws and chicken claws this afternoon. 🐴
Riding time 🐴
Iris and Stormy got ridden Friday.
They don’t look too happy.
They’re waiting for Mara and Mary to hurry up and saddle up! 🐎
Before and after shots of our bridge washout 😿
Here’s a picture of our lovely bridge, before Monday night's downpour:
Here’s our Bill, Mary, and Mara inspecting the damage from the creek flash-flooding because of it:
Where did our bridge go? It’s hard to believe the creek can rise so high, or that water can move so much earth and rock in the course of a few hours.
Here’s a shot of the bridge from upstream, before:
And after:
You can see how high the water went, by noticing that the grass is bent down so high up the bank. The water went over the bridge at some point.
We’re afraid the bridge troll may have been washed into the Hennepin. We sent Ukie, a certified troll cadaver dog, to search for the body.
Here she is being called up after we gave up the search. Alas, poor bridge troll. . .
Tuesday was very hot 😾
We didn’t do too much on Tuesday⎯it was so hot.
Luigi spread out under a tree.
The ducks sat under the horse trailer.
And the bats hung out in the hay barn. 🐴
Pumpkin in the grass 😺
Pumpkin has been taking evil lessons from Evil Cat (just as a hobby). Here is her “snake in the grass” pose:
I think, though, that she looks like a sea serpent. 🐴
Ferdinand has been snorting feathers again 🐴
Ferdinand has “feather nostrils” again.
He gets them from picking at the other ducks.
Not nice, Ferdinand. 🐴
Water line 🐎
There’s a minor backup at the water tank this morning.
Hey RC, give someone else a crack at that tank!
Lazy Luigi 😺
Luigi will now demonstrate his new, “passive" method for catching swallows:
So far, no success. 😾
My BFF Marian stopped by Thursday! 🐴
Here I am telling Misty about my visit with my friend Marian! 💛
(I’m also waiting for her leftovers, but that’s beside the point)