Moo!
Weather was atrocious again today – wet and windy. We were going a little stir crazy, so we headed out to a new farm shop. Yes, that’s what we do for kicks. We have to go further and further afield to find new ones, though.
You might think they’re all alike, but wrong again, my imaginary internet friend. There are some things all farm shops seem to have in common – there’s a particular brand of frozen entrée name of Cook that’s in every one of them and some local grocery stores. I think Cook supplies the freezers for free, which explains that.
But they all have their specialities. Some have their own local fruit farm or market gardens. The one nearest us specializes in being terrible, which is a shame. It’s a fake farm shop for tourists.
The one we went to today specializes in meat. They rear their own pigs and sheep and especially cows. We like meat.
On a Summer’s day, you can watch the herd contentedly grazing behind the shop. You probably could’ve watched them discontentedly munching hay in a barn today if you had a mind to get wet.
They clearly have a mixed meat/dairy herd because FRESH MILK DISPENSER, Y’ALL! You buy the bottle (or bring it back washed), press the button and DAIRY MIRACLE. I’m very fond of milk.
I’d like to think on the other side of that wall is a cow hooked up to a milking machine.
March 22, 2023 — 7:15 pm
Comments: 8
Weary and elderly
You and me both, mate.
This sad seal washed up on the beach in Arun. He looked so awful, people kept calling animal control, who sent a vet out.
Because of course they did.
Turns out he’s just old and tired. And moulting.
I did not know seals spend one month a year shedding their hair and the whole layer of skin underneath it. During the month, they stop eating, sleep a lot, roll around on the sand and look like absolute shit.
That’s it, y’all. I’m moulting.
March 21, 2023 — 7:57 pm
Comments: 9
First!
Over the weekend. March 11 – about right.
I know, I know – it’s a lousy picture. You have to cut me some slack: I started my day carrying two filing cabinets up a flight of stairs and it just got more delightful from there.
Okay, a man took the weight and I mostly steered, but I got to bring all eight drawers up by myself.
People have no idea what a handicap it is being lazy.
March 13, 2023 — 7:06 pm
Comments: 6
It’s snowing in Yorkshire
Robert Fuller is a wildlife artist. Periodically, some thoughtful person sends me a link to his YouTube channel because he raised and rewilded two adorable baby stoats in 2021.
I’m linking because he also is running a couple of live streams, one from Fotherdale:
Welcome to ‘Live from Fotherdale’, a selection of bird cams streamed from inside barn owl and kestrel nests, a buzzard feeding post and a stoat habitat. This livestream also picks up passing foxes, hares, weasels and even badgers – offering the very best of British wildlife for you to enjoy.
And one from Ash Wood:
Welcome to ‘Live from Ash Wood’ where bird cams are streamed from a woodland habitat teeming with British wildlife. See inside tawny owl and kestrel nests, spot deer and badgers drinking at the pond and look out for the occasional sparrowhawk or buzzard flying through. There is a friendly live chat, offering a supportive and informative community of wildlife lovers for you to interact with as you watch the bird cams.
I was watching a little while ago and it was snowing like unto a bastard. This storm has missed us this year – well, it arrived as drizzle – meaning we won’t see any of the white stuff. I miss it. England is purty in the snow.
His streams don’t run 24/7, so I don’t know if those URLs will always work. If not, go to the Home tab on his channel and his livestreams, if any, will be there.
March 9, 2023 — 3:46 pm
Comments: 4
That baleful eye
Visitor at work this morning. I don’t think she’s a one-eyed cat, but only one eye is showing in all the images. Except the next pic: the cat’s butt going over the wall as I tried to get closer.
Well, I guess that’s technically one eye, too.
I know who owns her and where she lives, but that doesn’t means she’ll give me the time of day.
Not much to say for myself. Have a good weekend, everyone!
February 17, 2023 — 8:15 pm
Comments: 7
Unexpected stoat!
Making the rounds. It’s a TikTok ported to Twitter, so I don’t really know the backstory. Scrabbling in the walls leading to a stoat-hole, I guess.
Though wouldn’t your first thought be a rat? Maybe it’s a put-up job. “Let’s put Mister Slinky behind the drywall and take a video!”
I really just wanted to see if I still had the knowledge to squeeze an animated gif under a meg. And I do. It clocks in at 900K. Go me.
Do go look at the color one. It’s adorable. Bear in mind, a weasel is even smaller! But see if you can avoid the other one making the rounds, the Indonesian one with the snakes.
February 13, 2023 — 7:54 pm
Comments: 4
What is going through his tiny pea brain?
Sam, my #2 cockerel. I’ve told the story before. He used to be my #1 cockerel. One day, my #2 cockerel had enough of Sam and beat the snot out of him, henceforth #1. I didn’t realize it until chicken bedtime and I had to coax a muddy, bloody Sam out of the hedge.
When I get home from work and let the pekins out, Mo swaggers up to the girls and Sam runs round the back of the house as fast as his feathery feet will take him. There, he perches on the back of a chair and stares at me.
He’s looking right over my left shoulder as I sit in my comfy chair and shitpost on my laptop. He’s there for hours.
I would love to think he’s having weird, small, chickeny thoughts about the room, but it’s probably more about the oats we throw out the back door from time to time. Roosters are all about freedom, food and sex (in season). Not so much interspecies curiosity.
Good weekend, all!
January 27, 2023 — 7:05 pm
Comments: 6
It’s a chickenspiracy!
Okay, here’s one of the stranger conspiracy theories on offer. The woman in the video at the beginning of this thread says she’s been keeping chickens for thirty years and her chickens have never completely stopped laying in Winter. But this year, she didn’t get a single egg after October.
Until she switched from commercial chicken food to a mixture of corn, sunflower seeds and commercial goat food. Now they’re laying again.
But that’s backed up by tweet after tweet down-thread and some reposted Facebook threads saying the same thing. Lots of backyard chicken keepers say their hens stopped laying in September/October this year while eating commercial layers pellets. Not enough protein, some speculate.
A few years ago, one of our neighbors gave up keeping a few pigs for market. The government had mandated that commercial pigs be raised on commercial pig food. No more kitchen scraps. That was a red flag for me at the time, because it meant the government effectively controlled the price of pork.
It didn’t occur to me it also gave them an avenue to put something in the feed and hence the food supply. You know, tell the manufacturers that thus an such a chemical was a required de-wormer. Like something to make pork taste less awesome, or statins or a vaccine or an anti-fertility drug.
Okay, okay…I’m getting carried away. But who puts anything past the bastards now?
My chickens? My fancy little hens never lay from October to March, though they did stop earlier then usual this year. I’d be surprised if the conspiracy hopped the pond and contaminated a good old British brand like Marriages.
January 23, 2023 — 8:14 pm
Comments: 9
Monsters among us
Somebody left these two adorable porkballs tied to a lamp post on a rural road last week. It’s been damned cold here and they’re just little’uns. Rescuers think they’re micropigs.
The weird thing about that is, micropigs can go for a fair bit of money – depending on how micro they are. These guys look highly adoptable. People are strange.
Did I ever tell you about my pig? It was my job to take care of him. I think I was about 15. He was adorable when he was little, but but he grew up into a serious asshole. He was always getting loose and running away. I had to chase him down, and when I caught him he usually bit me.
Pigs have a nasty bite on ’em.
I think the experience was supposed to teach me a hard lesson about keeping livestock, but when the time came for his last ride, I couldn’t wait to shove his chompy ass up in that truck. Bye, bacon!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
January 20, 2023 — 8:08 pm
Comments: 6
Pope Kitteh
I did not realize until Sissy Willis linked to this old post on her blog that the pope emeritus, Pope Benedict XVI, was a famous lover of cats. And it was mutual.
“Every time he met a cat, he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time. The cat would follow him. Once about 10 cats followed him into the Vatican, and one of the Swiss Guards intervened, saying ‘Look, your eminence, the cats are invading the Holy See.'”
Huh. An image search of “Ratzinger cat” turns up lots of images, bless ‘im. Anyway, looks like poor old Ratz isn’t well.
Perhaps Lady Bast will have him.
December 28, 2022 — 6:43 pm
Comments: 4