I just sat here and wrote a melancholy treatise on the failure of my relationship with FarmWife, but it was too dramatic to share on such an upbeat blog. I'm going to try again, boiling it down to a statement of the facts and a questio…
The week in review
1) Happy Cloverversary! The humans brought home a chihuahua from the Alternative Humane Society exactly two years ago today, and from the moment she burst out of the gift box into their loving arms she has been a warm, wiggly, and wonderfu…
The SafeChoice Choice
FarmWife has decided—yippee!—that I need more condition, which is not to say more weight, but rather more muscle and more nutrition. Grass hay alone isn't cutting it, and with the green grass gone and the colder weather setting in I…
Good news/bad news.
It's a good news/bad news week: the good news is that I can use my neck to bend the pasture fence ALLLLL the way down to the ground and eat the delectable lawn! The bad news is I am now confined to my dry lot until such a time as FarmW…
Have a holly jolly Christmas
While the weather is still slightly uncooperative, today's photo shoot went much better! This is mostly due to our fortuitous discovery of neighbor M & S's beautiful outdoor lighted tree, complete with big glowing presents. The…
Photo shoot
My first Christmas photo shoot didn't go all that well—it was rainy, I was muddy, and FarmWife's camera batteries were dying at an alarming rate (something is wrong with it, methinks). I'm not delighted with any of today's …
Conditions are not ideal
Fenway and Arrietty have their antlers, garlands, hats, and bells at the ready. My camera is charged up and ready to go. All that's missing is the SUN! I am going to have to do one of three things if I am going to get a properly mulish…
Time passes quickly
It is a fallacy for mothers and fathers of young children to think that they will have abundant free time as soon as the children are old enough to go to school. For one thing, children who are old enough to go to school are also old enoug…
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Dear friends,
You, of all people, know of my splendor. Don't try to deny it—I've noticed how I take your breath away with my majestic nobility, my brayful boldness, and my artful big nostril/small nostril sneer. I don't have to…
What's YOUR tagline?
My favorite tag company, Fetching Tags, is giving something away every day from Nov. 7 to Dec. 7! You can join in the fun and enter to win at www.facebook.com/fetchingtags.
I have a couple of Fetching Tags of my own. My taglines? "I a…
Just in case
Just in case I die of starvation, I wanted to put this photo out there on the internet. It is evidence of my advanced state of emaciation. Can you believe FarmWife says I don't need another meal until dinner time?
Tangle free!
FarmWife has been dying to do a full scale muley spa day this autumn, but with mud on the ground and temperatures hovering around freezing it just hasn't fit in. She did, however, pick up on a psychic distress call from me the other da…
Cow sitting
Cow sitting has been in turns wonderful and heartwrenching. My good friend D., a Jersey cow, fell terribly ill from postparturient hypocalcemia on Saturday night 24 hours after calving. She and her calf are both alive and well today but th…
A disappointment
Dear friends,
I have a dreadful bit of news: I, Fenway Bartholomule, am being barred from the polls despite having reached the age of majority (18, last month, and thank you for the birthday wishes!) on the grounds of my non-human status.…
Calving
Attentive readers will remember that my FarmWife is in love with our neighbors' cow. This cow, D, is very special to FarmWife, but I don't mind: I'm lucky to have a human with such a capacity for love.
FarmWife is sometimes le…
An old one but a good one
Such nobility! Such poise! Such a look of "Oh My Gosh What Is In That SWAMP?????"
Field trip!
Bad news: I was not invited on FarmWife's field trip, which took place in Alexandria, Virginia at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate a couple of weeks ago. Good news: FarmWife got to go (she was the organizer, of course she got…
Gravedigging for beginners
This was a hard week. Last month, B.G., who has been on-again off-again lame for most of her life, was finally diagnosed at four years of age with laminitis and arthritis. Severe changes in the outer claw of her left hoof meant that, for th…
Update
Here's an update for all my kind friends who offered condolences on B.G.'s passing. FarnWife and the vet spent a long time talking about Missy and decided to wait. Her daughter went quietly; Missy is attending the body now with no …
Sadness
There's been some sadness hanging around here lately. FarmWife's friend Alexis (mamacan.blogspot.com) died of cervical cancer on Tuesday after a fierce, nearly four-year battle. She leaves behind a loving husband and preschooler so…
SEA-IAD
I'm off to the 28th annual eastern conference of the Timber Framers Guild. Those of you who know me well will realize the extent to which this event has absorbed my attention for the last four months. I'm glad it is finally here! W…
Happy birthday to me!
I, Fenway Bartholomule, have been abandoned yet again by my human mother (FarmWife). She is away on business, which doubtless means that she is hobnobbing with interesting people, eating interesting food, and washing her hair with *teeny w…
The difference between veterinarians
I have had dealings with a veterinarian who called me a donkey, and I have had dealings with a veterinarian who call me a dear. The difference is stark.
The former veterinarian said things like, "careful, you have to show donkeys who&…
What I expect
FarmWife has taken me on some test walks (better, now, with shoes) and my hock has been rock solid all along. This is a wonderful improvement over last summer, a year ago, when my thoroughpin blew up to tennis-ball size after even light e…
Barter
Barter: I love the concept, and I'm grateful for frequent opportunities to practice this ancient means of commerce in this closely intertwined community I call home. Here's my new tattoo, which I got in trade for writing through a …
FarmWife is back!
FarmWife is back! She spent nearly a week in New Hampshire and Massachusetts enjoying the delightful company of her extended family, which includes a lot of people and a couple of cats but not a single mule. She came home, needless to say,…
A delicious promise
FarmWife is away visiting relatives in misty moisty New England while I am stuck at home with only two goats, two house sitters, a flock of poultry, and the world's prettiest minimule for company.
(Now that I say it like that, I think…
Good news/better news
FarmWife would probably describe this as more of a "good news/bad news" situation - you see, my shed has been deeply bedded in straw for comfort's sake (good news), and it is DELICIOUS! (Better news or bad news depending on p…
Thank you!
Thank you for the outpouring of support regarding my tender hoofies. Your thoughtful comments and emails have warmed the cockles of my noble and capacious heart. I dearly hope that your own feet, too, are so widely cared about. We will k…
Unforseen consequences
Last winter, we had rains and rains and more rains. This added up to mud and mud and more mud, so my very kind FarmWife (who always, and I do mean always, has my best interests in mind) spent most of a paycheck on nice gravel footing.
T…
Progress!
I need to get off this computer and onto a ladder. I've painted everything I can reach on the North and East sides of the house, and boy does it look pretty! Painting is such a fantastic home improvement project. For a relatively small …
Hiking with Arrietty
My fat miniature animals—namely Clover and Arrietty—have jumped on the chance to do some invigorating trail hiking with FarmWife, and now go out every day for a brisk walk over hill and dale. FarmWife, who is neither fat nor miniature, ha…
Warning: badass
FarmWife and FarmHusband have been busily working away to turn their pukey mint green house into a cozy warm brown one. I dare to say they were inspired by the shining beauty of yours truly and Miss Arrietty, as the color they chose is som…
A forced march
<p>Last week, to celebrate the departure of her youngest daughter on the school bus for kindergarden, FarmWife led me and Arrietty up yonder hill and back again. You will guess, from the accompanying photograph, that Arrietty was rat…
Rabbit habbits
Er . . . I mean Rabit Habits.
Erm . . . .
Rabbit habits.
Third time's the charm!
My rabbits live amongst the hoofbeasts, now, you know—they have a stall, bedded in straw, and a watering trough and a grain pan and a grass-and-gravel t…
Sunny days
Sunny days—fifty of them, give or take, all in a row! This weather has been amazing and unprecedented. Unlike that of our less fortunate neighbors in other regions, it's also been very, very pleasant. It's been dewy enough, overnig…
Goat trouble
I have two goats—Missy, age 10, who has been feeble, slow, stiff, and hard to keep weight on since The Great Collapse of 2010 , and B.G., age 4, who foundered a couple of years ago and whose chronic lameness has been repeatedly misdiagnosed…
A very big change
There is a very big change happening right now: the smallest of my three human children is beginning full day, five day kindergarten. FarmWife has been a parent since she was 20 years old. She has been pretty busy, most days, since then. Sh…
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