FRANCIS'S BLOG 02/02/2026
Schrödinger has transport problems 😿
“Oh my gosh, there must be two feet of mud down there!”
”Don’t just stand there—carry me to the grass! I have white paws!—Do you hear me?—WHITE PAWS!"
What a nice day! 🐴
Sunny and 51℉! The ducks had worms and water outside:
And RC and I watched cows:
It was a nice day; not an exciting one. 🐴
Rooster Ingenuity 🐓
The roosters need more bedding for their coop.
So they help themselves to my dinner hay:
I cry fowl! (sic) 🐴
Everybody likes eggs for breakfast 🐔
The hens enjoy a Daisy egg. (The C:D Egg Count is 90:84—from what we’ve read, the poor duck could go laying them all through the winter.)
Yesterday’s nasty snow is over 🐴
Evil Cat and Tux (foreground) get their breakfast on the snow today, in order to avoid a particularly moody alpha cat:
Presenting said moody alpha cat in the process of reprimanding a cat cop:
Uh-oh. 🐴
Here’s a video of Mary! 💛
Here's Mary at the Black Hawk East Arena doing her pattern (with "Wayne"). She won a first place and is headed to the Regionals in spring! 🐎
This video was from Saturday, but she also won a first place today (Sunday). (Egg Cnt is 90:81)
Slow news day. . .
. . .so here’s a picture of RC and I grazing into the sunset. We’re looking forward to tomorrow as it’s supposed to be above freezing.
Egg Cnt 90:79.
Nice Day (relatively speaking) 🐴
It was only in the 20’s, but sunny and no wind! So the ducks and hens had their breakfast mealworms in the golden leaves.
The roosters had the run of the farm all day, but as the wind picked up, by evening they were waiting by the coop. (Daisy plopped another one, so the egg count is 90:78.)
Zelda is a genius! 😺
“Hey Francis, I’ve invented the Crazy Comfy Cat Cozy!™”
”Quick! Put the camera down and plug me in!” (Don’t worry, as DHS Safety Commissioner, I advised her that using electric water buckets incorrectly is forbidden.) (Egg Cnt is 90:77)
Pony Crime 🐎
“Lightning Lips” Chavez has a guilty look on his face: He knows he is on the wrong side of the gate.
His prehensile lips made short work of that hook.
Oh, we are so NOT in the mood—
—for snow. But at least it wasn’t too deep or too cold—
—or too windy, so our breakfast didn’t blow away this morning.
The poultry hasn’t figured out yet what to make of snow:
But unlike poor Daisy, at least the chickens know not to lay an egg on it:
So the egg count is now 90:74 (but ever since it’s been freezing the egg cracks as soon as it is popped out).
Rooster crime! 🐓
You can see by the warning sign that the roosters have chased themselves perilously close to the road:
(90:73)
Cold but sunny 😺
The roosters inspect the foundation for insects, and add to the autumnal color:
Until Luigi gathers them up for the night:
We wish Daisy would stop laying eggs—but alas, the egg count is now 90:72.
Mother-Son Security Team 🐎
DHS Deputies Misty and Stormy keep an eye out for problems (either that or they’re waiting for breakfast):
The egg count is 90:71.
Cold Duck 🐴
It was 22℉ this morning. The ducks now have a skating rink. You can also see how two of them have their feet up in their feathers. They were only born last April so this is their first taste of cold (I don’t have the heart to tell them it will get worse 🐴). The egg count by the way is 90:70—"Daily Daisy" keeps laying them!
A happy horse is a rolling horse! 🐎
Stormy enjoys his first day back with the herd:
Egg Count is 90:68.
Slow day for the Department of Horsefarm Security 😸
Sometimes being DHS Chief and Deputy Chief means just keeping the lid on things during a windy day. Egg Count is 90:67.
Stormy is home! 🐎
Stormy had to come home for a while, since Mary can’t take care of him, having a broken finger. It looks like he picked up a big cut on the inside of his leg—but it’s leftover dye from when he played the Queen of Heart’s (Mary's) horse on Halloween!
The language barrier. . .
But the chickens know that “kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty!” means “dinner time!”
The chicken:duck egg count is 90:65!
Dirty Birds
But they got some nice new pond water this evening, so those beaks will be clean and orange in the morning. (89:63)
One must make do. 🐴
Since, for the time being, we are without a manure spreader, the poopies must be burned:
But the marshmallows have been delicious!
Egg Count 89:62.
Egg Cnt: 89:61.More news from our champion, Mary! 💛
Mary won first prize in Springfield, MO in the alumni riding competition this past Saturday! Yippie! 🐎
Halloween news from Mary! 💛
Here is our Mary with her cute and talented BlackHawk class in front of their knockout Halloween stable show!
Mary is working that Queen of Hearts get-up for all it’s worth, right down to the aristocratically disdainful look:
Egg Count is 88:59.