By: Richard

Katrina and I recently expanded our animal empire by two. It all began this winter when my animal loving wife went to the barn to feed the precious little miniature donkeys. She opened one of the plastic bins we keep grain in and out jumped a barn mouse!

In her words it was more like a 10 pound rat and it went for her throat but she was able to wrestle it off only with the aid of a nearby shovel. My guess is that her screams hurt its ears so bad it ran for the field and never returned.

The Tractor Seat is Louise’s favorite spot in the barn.

Well, it makes no difference which side of the story you believe we agreed we needed to get a couple of barn cats to keep the mice population in line. After all we purchase grain to feed our animals and not the entire population of mice in Rutherford County.

With the assistance of Katrina’s sister, Valerie, we added two new little kittens to the barn. They are named Thelma and Louise.  They are terrific. Thelma is a real hunter and daily places her catch from the night before in the barn in plain site so we can’t possibly miss it. Bird feathers and mice body parts are now part of our barn decor. Although Thelma is loving and purrs as soon as she is picked up her joy in life is doing what we asked of her, hunting.

Thelma with a full stomach!

Now, Louise is a different cat. She is more of a lover than a hunter. I have yet to see her so much as bat at a fly. She prefers to sleep and be petted. When she sees Katrina or I approach the barn she starts meowing and running after us. She wants to be picked up and purrs as soon as we stop to pick her up. When we do, she just melts into our arms and purrs louder.

Even if she never catches a mouse she has a home for ever. In fact I have told Katrina I think we should swap her out for Lucile our house cat from hell. Louise would be a wonderful house cat and Lucile could use a reality check that living in the barn would deliver.

I never have to worry about the Tractor Seat being dirty, Louise keeps it neat as a pin!

Technorati Tags: barn cat, bird, mice, mouse, thelma and louise

We have just added a new Junior Herdsire to our Farm, KKR Stroke of Midnight. “Stroker” is out of Sunset Acres Rowdy Yates (a producer of multiple ADMS Champions) and Heavenly Sydney (a beautiful, drafty brown and white jennet). This little guy is just a “doll” and should blend very well with our jennets. Thank you Kathy Loudamy, We just love this little guy.

More information on Stroker is on our “Jack” page.

Technorati Tags: herd sire, jack, kathy loudamy, kkr miniature donkey, miniature donkey, sunset acres rowdy yates

Many of you who know we are located in Murfreesboro, TN have called and emailed about our well being. Our town was hit by a disastrous tornado today that left many homeless and several dead. Our property and animals were spared of any damage but just a short distance away there is major devastation.

I was at my desk; looked out my window and saw the tornado pass by just a short distance away. It is Mother Nature at her worst.

This home was located just around the corner from a property we own. Ours suffered only minor damage.

This is the remains of a company’s office building that I have done consulting work with in the past.

Please say a prayer for those that were not so lucky.

What appears to be a pile of scrap metal in this photo is actually a number of semi trailers blown into a pile. Look carefully at the right side of the photo and you can make out some of the more complete trailers.

The National Weather Service said the tornado tore a 23.5-mile path through Murfreesboro and packed winds as high as 165 mph. The width of the storm was a half-mile, and it was on the ground for 36 minutes.

Technorati Tags: Murfreesboro, Tornado

By: Richard

Just found this on YouTube and couldn’t resist. It is just too good. Now, if we can just get one of the miniature donkeys to strut to a Four Seasons or Beatles song we might be able to retire! I’m headed to the barn with my boom box now!! Where is Macy Lee? She has attitude.

Technorati Tags: bird, miniature donkey, ray charles