FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/22/2026
I’ll be back next Tuesday, August 8th 🐴
Charlie is doing better, but she still needs care. She’s getting new medicine, and will get lots of new bedding to make it easier on her when she lays down.
Also, I’m going to England again. This time we’ll try to explore the countryside instead of staying in London. I’ll share my pictures when I get back! 🐴
More Georgia pictures ❤️
There goes Georgia, after the ducks!
There go the ducks, after Georgia!
Here she is with her Daddy:
Here she explores a big stump in Bettendorf:
And here she is, on the big-girl swing!
What a nice girl! ❤️
Get well Charlie! 🐴
Poor Charlie’s legs and feet are hurting. We found her laying down in her stall this morning.
But she’s eating her hay, and she was given some pain-killer. So let’s hope she feels better soon. 🐴
Our Milt has gone to Chicken Heaven 🐓
Milt (né Mildred, before we knew he was a rooster) passed away quietly Thursday. He came to us as a tiny hatchling back in April 2014. 🐓
You will be missed, Milt. You were a good rooster and never tried to attack anyone. 🐓
I’m having a snit 🐴
I’m moody this morning. . .
Maybe having my breakfast outside will cheer me up. 🐴
Dinner time 😺🐔
Dot 🐔 and Noodle 😺 join Schrödinger for dinner:
Canned cat food is so good. . .
. . .it makes you lick your chops! 😺
That’s the biggest hawk the ducks have ever seen! 🐴
Here’s a short video of the ducks running for the bushes when the crop duster buzzes the farm. You may have to play it a couple times to get the full effect:
Georgia is a duck’s best friend 🐴
Our great niece Georgia, the nicest girl in Chicago, paid her first visit to the farm!
She fed the ducks a whole bag of meal worms!
Georgia is just so sweet, we can’t wait for her to come see us again! ❤️
I don’t understand cats 🐴
Right now, there are 4 kiddie pools of fresh, cool, clean water. . .
. . .and Schroeder is drinking out of a mud puddle. 🙀
Nasty storms all night, but a little cooler this morning 🐴
Nimbus is officially a citizen of the farm. Earlier this week she went to the vet for extreme vetting, and got her shots.
Welcome to the club, Nimbus! 😺
Will it ever cool down? 🐴
Thursday’s heat index was 109! We all came in from the field, soaking with sweat.
Lucky for Stormy, he has is own fan.
And so does Henry.
Where the heck is my fan? 🐴
Fowl news 🐔
All hands on duck!
L’Orange has gone to sleep and is starting to sink. (She’s apparently not been keeping up with her water-proofing.)
Oh, and Minnie has found a new friend in the truck wheel:
Very Very hot! 🐴
It’s was nasty, sticky hot yesterday and it’s the same today!
I’ve had it, I’m heading for the stable.
At least the stable is shady and has a fan. 🐴
Cat with a boo-boo foot 🙀
Poor Major Tom has a hurt paw. 🙀
He could get some help, if he would let himself be picked up. 😾
Well, at least he got a nice can of cat food, all for himself. 😺
Ducks in danger 🐴
L’Orange, Paschal and Pooter are flirting with getting flattened! 🐴
GET OUT FROM UNDER THAT TRUCK! 🐴
Tussle in the bustle 🐎
Iris is wearing her tail in a bun these days:
Actually, it comes rubbing her butt against the stall bars:
But it’s an interesting effect. 🐴
Fly masks are fun 🐴
You can’t tell who I am, can you? 🐴
Come on, guess! 🐴
Off we go, to the masked ball in the far pasture! (Sometimes you have to put the best face on things.) 🐎
One big happy family 🐔🐓
Milt has recently been Minnie’s “gentleman caller.” 
They make the perfect couple. 🐓🐔
It’s rainy today 🐴
As promised, a couple posts ago, here are all the awards we won at the Fair last Sunday!
Great Sunday at the Mississippi Valley Fair 🐎
Julia, Mara, Mary, Ann, Jewel and Iris won over 20 awards Sunday, with First Places all around! We’ll have more details later when we sort through the pictures.
In the meantime, another baby bat let go of the rafters before it was old enough to fly:
Remember, we never handle any wild animal that can bite!
Like the last time, its mother will hopefully come down at night and get it. 🐴
Swallow production is up this quarter 🐦
Iris has new stall-mates:
The male, on the left, is perching on a nest that is probably not in use, because it hasn’t been spruced up with new mud, like the nest on the right. 🐦
It’s a little cooler and drier today 🐴
Poor Evil Cat was trying to enjoy a nice can of food, set down just for him in the grass. But he was spied by the chickens:
So, of course, the chickens moved in, and Evil Cat was moved out:
But don’t worry, he got some breakfast anyway:
He was lucky Schrödinger or Major Tom wasn’t around to run him off. 🐴
Hot cat! 🙀
Noodle gets up to his cat-knees in the pool. This is the first time I’ve seen him with two legs in the water, so he must have been hot. 🐴
I really thought he’d jump all the way in. But I guess a cat will never purposely get completely wet. 🐴
Patrick is teacher’s pet 🐴
The other ducks are jealous of Patrick:
They say he “kisses up to the boss.”
Yup, he does. 🐴
More swallows to entice and annoy the cats 🐴
Here’s one of a new clutch of nestlings that has moved out onto the wires in the stable:
Here’s the whole family of six (one of the babies is under the security camera):
In this shot, the father is on the far left, and the mother is on the far right:
The parents don’t let you get too close without starting a “twitter storm!” 🐴
Firecracker Hot 🐴
How hot was it Monday?
It was stretch-out-on-the-grass hot! 😺
It was lay-on-the-wet-ground hot! 😺
It was too-hot-for-a-fly-mask hot! 🐴
Slow news day 🐴
I’m afraid not much is happening at the farm today (other than it’s hot), so I’ll just show you the rest of my alligator farm pictures. 🐴
That’s a lot of ‘gators! 🐴
Chezzie Trespasses 🐎
Misty says, “Chezzie, get out of my stall!”
Chezzie says, “Stop blocking the door, and I’ll get out, gladly!”