The Animals are Still Running the Zoo

It should come as no surprise that the animals still call all the shots at the Cook No-Kill Hobby Farm.  They dictate our time, our pocketbook and even our vacations!  Since it has been over a year since my last post to this blog I thought I would re-introduce you to all the players in order of appearance!
Big Jack, our eight year old Newfoundland weighs 140 pounds and thinks he is a lap dog.  You can have the best seat in the house....but you'll have to move the dog!  That's our Jack.  He is also the best photo bomber in the county.  He is my loyal companion and dear friend.

The goats rate a close second in pampering.  They have a heated barn,  a great diet of sweet feed and alfalfa and on occasion get scraps from an odd neighbor who apparently rummages through the trash bins behind our local grocery store.  We now have four kids, born just a few weeks ago.  To make a long story short while we were in Ireland our billy goat jumped a five foot fence and got in with all the nannies.  In honor of his persistence we have gifted all the new babies with Irish names, Patrick, O'Malley, Clare and Collin are up and running, jumping and playing the days away.  Shout out to our nephew Tanner who tried like hell to keep the herd separated!  We also have Lucy (the goat who thinks she is a dog) Lucky, Baby, Starflyer (yeah, never let your grandkid name a goat when he is in his Star War phase!) Bhindi, and well geez I can't even keep track of them all.  My last count was 13 goats but when people ask me how many goats we have I give them the standard answer of 6, so they wont call me the "old crazy goat lady"!

In the past year we also got into the chicken business.  I use the term business very loosely.  We don't make any money but we do enjoy farm fresh eggs from happy chickens who aren't cooped up in crowded unsanitary and cruel conditions.  We also get to sit out on the back patio and watch what we call chicken TV, because their antics and actions are always entertaining.  We started out with 10 baby chicks, little did I know chickens sex organs are located on the inside (your biology lesson for today) and therefore the sex is really not known.  We ended up with three large roosters and I was lucky enough to find a man here in Morgan County who took them to live out their days on his farm.  Now I have seven hens that lay approximately 3 dozen beautiful large brown eggs a week.  Yeah, I know more on that issue soon! 

We also have a part-time dog, our daughters Corgi who would really just rather live on the farm so she spends a great deal of time with us.  She is the keeper of the herd of sorts and rather than stay in the nice warm and dry house opts to sit out by the haystack for hours on end sitting quietly watching the goats.  Tuff has become a fun part of the Cook No Kill Mini Farm.

Our last acquisition is Beyonce, bear in mind she already had that name and we didn't feel it right to change it, and it suits her.  She is a miniature horse (not a pony as Jon corrects me).  Our neighbors, who are moving needed to find her a new home and we couldn't bear the thought of her being sold at the sale barn.  She is short, overweight and pigeon toed....and the most gentle adorable creature.  We know um exactly nothing about horses and less than that about mini horses with bad feet, but like all fun things that happen out here we are just gonna wing it and see what happens!

Oh, the alpacas?  They are merely on my wish list, I will also keep you updated as this list changes!