Category Archives: pets

2025, animals, Automotive, Farming Update, Nature, pets, Uncategorized

NIGHTLIFE

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The weekend Farm report from Ben

Every day this week, five AM pretty much right on the dot, Bailey barks outside. Luna and Humphrey bark inside until I can get to the door and get them out. And then everyone runs in separate directions and Bailey quietly wanders back to the garage, thinking, “suckers”. Pretty sure there’s been a coyote around for all the sniffing the other two are doing. Luna, she’s just running in circles barking. Humphrey is on the trail of something along the trees and around the crib, and down the field road. He’s got his nose to the ground and his tail is up and going. Bailey may sit and watch a bit, but mostly she’s letting the others take care of it. She will not engage until she has back up. Raises the alarm well, but not going to do anything about it on her own.

An hour later, they’re ready to come back in. Luna with a gentle bark. Humphrey with a scratch at the back door. Very randomly Humphrey might get locked in the feed room and he will not bark for attention. We realize he’s not around, call and call him and he will not bark. Eventually we backtrack enough we find him in the feed room, just waiting for someone to let him out. Not a sound from him. 

And every night for the last week, there’s been barn owls calling. The first night, there was one in a tree right in the back yard and I had a flashlight and it just bobbed back and forth looking at me. I didn’t know what the noise was; I thought Kelly was whistling in her sleep. Sometimes they’re further away from the house, and Thursday night there was two of them right here, plus at least one more further away. A soft, whistling, screeching noise. 

Daughter and the dogs take their daily walks. Sometimes, especially in this hot weather, daughter will text us asking for a rescue pick up. And Humphrey, just because he’s 10 years old and has a sore leg, sometimes we just go pick him up to give him a break. Bailey and Luna don’t always go for the walk. Bailey especially, as Luna is a bully to her, she’ll opt out just to get a break from Luna. And Luna sometimes thinks there are more interesting things happening at home with me. But Humphrey always ALWAYS goes for that walk, sore leg or not. I went to pick him up one day, and, not thinking, took the 4 wheeler, rather than the gator. He does not like being picked up, which is the only reason I was able to pick him up and put him on the front rack of the 4 wheeler; he didn’t expect this! And he sat there quietly and didn’t have to walk home. A win-win. 

Last week on one of those hot days, the fan in the chicken coop stopped working. What was in there was an old box fan from the theater because their other fan had stopped working last summer. And that fan was a replacement for a previous barn fan. I’ve always thought electric motors were interesting what with stator and rotors, the windings, the capacitors on some of the bigger ones, brushes, ect. We have had a lot of electric motors on the farm, many more when milking cows and they were vital to daily operation. Big 5 and 7.5 hp electric motors on the silo unloaders, a 5HP on the feel bunk, a 5HP on the vacuum pump, a ¾ HP on the milk pump, and any of them failing was a bad day. The ones on the silo unloader might be 35 feet up in the silo, so if it failed, it was a pain in the butt not to mention an expense. I learned how to check and change capacitors, and most of the time that was the only problem. They could be replaced in the silo. Getting the motors out of the silo was a much bigger deal. Ropes and pulleys were involved. 

So the chicken’s fan. The box fan I threw out. I took the one motor apart, found decayed wires deep inside and tossed it into the scrap bucket. The old barn fan motor; it would run for ten seconds, quit for ten, run for another ten, repeat. I pulled it apart. Well, first I watched some You Tube videos, then I pulled it apart, which first meant getting the fan blade and the cage guard off. (A torch was involved, just to heat up the set screws and shank to facilitate removal, not to cut it off.) I remember Dad buying this fan as an exhaust fan for the dairy barn, maybe 40 years ago, and it was too powerful; it got too cold in the barn in winter, so he took it out and it collected dust for a lot of years. Then I rescued it and hung it in the middle of the barn alley so I had a fan on those hot humid summer days milking cows. And I sold the cows 22 years ago and it’s been gathering dust again. Not really surprising the motor had quit working. I got it apart, found a wire shorting out on the windings, added a piece of heat shrink tubing to protect it, and Viola! It works! The chickens are pleased to have a fan back. 

The padawans managed to get the theater boiler apart and out on the boulevard. One of the neighbors asked if he could have the metal. I said “If you can move it,  you can have it”. And he did! I don’t know how, but it’s over in his yard now!  

One of the padawans brought his car to my shop.

He was replacing some part of the exhaust, to make it louder or sound “cooler”… I didn’t follow the full explanation. He and a buddy spent many hours removing the old parts. Started at 8PM, went for supper and came back, left at 2AM, back at 4AM, left at 7AM. Every time they came back the dogs barked. By 9 PM the next day it was reassembled. Padawan’s girlfriend drove him out. She hung out in the shop, played with the dogs, made a chicken friend that she sat with for an hour, and helped daughter do chores. We like her a lot. 

WHEN WAS THE LAST ALL-NIGHTER YOU PULLED?

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO DO IT AGAIN?

2025, Farming Update, pets

Buns And Rope

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Today’s Farming update comes from Ben.

When I grew up we didn’t splurge on hotdog buns or hamburger buns, unless maybe it was a special event, or there was family coming, then it was buns for Messy Josephs. (Sloppy Joes). 
Hot dogs? On a piece of bread. Hamburgers? On bread. Kelly’s family did hamburger buns.
Kelly would cut hot dogs in half to fit them on a hamburger bun. Well, that’s just weird. But It’s how our parents survived. 
We are living much more recklessly, and we get the appropriate buns. And it’s tough to use them up before they mold. And it bothers me once the hotdog bun gets a little dry and breaks open. Or we have real fat hot dogs and you can’t smush it into the bun without the back opening up. And on the other hand, I still struggle eating that last bit of bun without the hotdog. We certainly don’t eat as much bread as we used too.

So much of food is tied to our up bringing. 

And then there’s ratchet straps. Dad never owned a ratchet strap. And I didn’t know about them till I started working as a stagehand because everything there is ratchet straps.


And it seems like those really are the only way you should be securing something in a truck or trailer or securing it. Not rope, not bungee cords. Ratchet straps.

Dad had two long pieces of rope; they were probably 100 feet long. One was about a half inch diameter and there was another one that was maybe three-quarter inch diameter, and I think it was the old rope that used to go up through the hay mow to pull the bundle of hay up into the barn. They always hung in the shed. Seems like he was always using rope for something. This was the old sisal rope. The thicker one was worn smooth and probably didn’t really have much strength left in it.

And now, I very rarely use a piece of rope. At the college I’ve got some polyester rope, every now and then I have to move light fixtures from the cat walks either, up or down to the stage, and I use rope for that. Sometimes when the physics kids are in and they wanna hang a bowling ball as one of their demonstrations of The Conservation of Energy, I tie a rope around a piece of steel 40 feet in the air. But I don’t remember the last time I used a piece of rope at home. Twine, that’s a different story. Just bought two more bales of twine for the baler, and I am often cutting a length of twine to tie up something.

I have an assortment of rachet straps. Some have flat hooks on the end, some have regular hooks, some are 1” wide and 10’ long. Some are 2” wide, and 20’ long. Learning how to tie up the loose end is another skill I’m still working on.

On Thursday I took the trailer to Plainview to pick up some 12’ tall pallet racking. The guy helping me load it also helped me strap it down and he did the ‘fold and tie’ with the slack. I haven’t perfected that one yet, so I did the ‘Roll and loop’ method, which takes longer.

Luna is not a good rider, yet she can’t stand missing a ride. I had time to take a side trip to Theilman, MN, which I remembered being too once before, but I didn’t remember it being in the driftless area. It was a great drive and a fun way to use up 20 minutes.

For some reason, Luna sat nicely in the backseat a few times. It was odd.

Crops are all planted, and I noticed the first soybeans I planted are just starting to emerge. We got a nice 1” rain on Tuesday; slow, all day, light rain. Just perfect. On Monday I took the old plow over to that field of grass. Of the two fields, one was heavy soil, and more wet than I would have expected, and it didn’t work up well.

In proper conditions, the dirt would have ‘spread’ more as it turned over and you end up with a nice smooth field bed. I think there’s a reason this field was taken out of production 20+ years ago and put into a ‘conservation’ program. But the new owners think this would be a great food plot for deer hunting. Well, there’s a lot more deer around than there was 20 years ago, and if I ever get it planted, it will make a good food plot. Seems like every generation must relearn some things. Good or bad.

I’m done at the college, and I guess I’m on summer vacation.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR PARENTS THAT YOU DO DIFFERENT? OR NOT?

2025, animals, Family, pets, Uncategorized

The Fashion In Facial Hair

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Yesterday was Kyrill’s grooming appointment. He gets groomed every 6 weeks or so. Cesky Terriers don’t shed. Their coats just gets thicker and longer. It is also curly and needs regular brushing out. This is him, exhausted, after his appointment yesterday.

As you can see from the photo, Cesky Terriers have a very distinctive grooming pattern for their faces. They have the traditional terrier beard along with a hank of hair that extends from the eyebrow to the nose. This is presumably to protect their eyes as they rout vermin out of their holes and chivy wild swine from their dens so hunters can shoot them. Kyrill can see very well through all that hair. I make a point of trimming the hair from the outside of his eye sockets so he has good peripheral vision.

My father and grandfathers never had beards. Neither Husband or son has a beard currently. Son will occasionally grow one for a special contest at the college where he works. Husband had a beard decades ago, but his hair is curly and his beard had the texture of a scrub brush, so he hasn’t had a beard for more than 40 years.

I don’t find the current trend of excessive human male facial hair particularly attractive. I suppose it is less expensive than shaving every day. We are traveling to Montreal next week, and Son wants us to get him some fancy shaving things at a store he likes there, at our expense, of course!

Male Baboons, do you have, or ever have had, a beard? Female Baboons, ever had a significant other with a beard? What are your favorite or least favorite dog grooming standards?

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2025, animals, pets, Uncategorized

Luna The Brave

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Ever since we got our dog three years ago, our cat, Luna, has chosen to stay in the basement during the day. She only comes up at night when I and the dog are safely ensconced in the guest room with the door closed. She sleeps with Husband in the master bedroom, and wanders freely around the house. In the morning she returns to the basement for the day. The dog has no access to the basement.

Kyrill is not an aggressive dog. He is just curious and wants to investigate the cat. She has always been timid around other of our pets, even the cats, and doesn’t like a long, terrier nose sniffing her all over. I didn’t want to force them to engage with each other out of respect for Luna’s discomfort. The header photo is of Luna before we got the dog. She liked using the hanging rug as her climbing wall.

Over the past several months I noticed Luna and Kyrill booping their noses together through the gate that keeps Kyrill from going in the basement. I was very surprised a few weeks ago when I came home from work and found her sleeping on the upstairs bed in the master bedroom. The dog roams freely around the upstairs all day and can hear a bug crawl across the floor, and would have heard her jump over the gate. Kyrill just ignored her and did not give chase. She spent hours on the bed. He is able to jump up on the bed, but didn’t.

Last weekend I went into our study upstairs to work on the computer, and Luna followed me in with the dog. I made Kyrill sit while I petted both of them. Both sat by my chair while I worked. When I got up to leave the room, Kyrill came with me and Luna stayed for a few minutes and then went back downstairs.

I have no idea what has brought about this new show of cat bravery. I can only hope that it continues and she can finally come upstairs and spend more time with us. I like our increasingly peaceable kingdom.

Who have been your bravest or most timid pets. What fears have you or your pets overcome?

2025, Food, home, pets, Uncategorized, work

Loungewear

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I am afraid I made a grave error with my last purchase of loungewear. I bought a really soft and fleecy cardigan that I wear over pajamas. The texture is very similar to fluffy cotton socks. Our dog is obsessed with stealing and chewing socks. Who do you think made off with the cardigan belt the minute I got it out of the package? I got it back before any damage was done. Now, though, I am afraid Kyrill thinks the cardigan is a big sock for him to chew!

Husband tells me that I am not allowed to cook in the cardigan as it is a cream color and he doesn’t want me to stain it. I confess that I do cook in my pajamas sometimes. I never wear them out of the house, though. My usual outfit is a sweatshirt with corduroy pants and soft socks. I wear those to work, too. I only have one pair of sweatpants. I only “dress up” if I have to testify in court as an expert witness.

I am still assessing what clothing choices I will make now that I am not working full time. I don’t think I will stock up on much more “loungewear”, especially if it is soft and fleecy like socks. I am drawn to comfy but not baggy, pants, and soft sweatshirts. I am taking care to keep my new cardigan out of Kyrill’s reach, along with all the other things he loves to steal and chew like socks, pens, papers, and eye glasses. Terriers certainly are good at helping us always put things away!

What is your favorite “loungewear”? Any memorable work uniforms?

2025, home, pets, Uncategorized

Nighty Night

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I’m reading a memoir right now (Thirty Rooms to Hide In by Luke Sullivan).  In the early pages, the author paints a picture of his life growing up with his five brothers in Rochester in the fifties.  Here is an interesting passage on bedtime:

“Bedtime was indeed death.  Even the rituals were the same: the preparing of the body (the solemn washing of teeth, the funereal donning of pajamas), the readings, the occasional prayer, and finally the inevitable darkness.  All that was missing were Hallmark sympathy cards arriving in the mail.”

I never really thought about bedtime in terms of rituals but in my world, it’s probably the most consistent rituals that I have.  Teeth, pajamas, highlighting items done from my to-do list, making a list for the next day, med/vitamins, daily entry in my “good things” journal.  Once I’m actually settling in, there is the arranging of Nimue’s blanket on my side of the bed; her ritual is to settle in for about ten minutes, knead a few biscuits, purr while getting some scritches and then heading to her favorite bed on top of the radiator.

Almost forgot the “bang” treat for Guinevere and the yummies for Nimue… this usually happens between teeth and jammies.

Any bedtime rituals you adhere to?

2025, animals, Farming Update, home, pets, Uncategorized

Comb Over

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Today’s Farming Update is from Ben.

Two blogs in a row about Chickens! Who’d a thunk?

Get your long johns out for this coming week. Better yet, just stay inside until next Saturday. Nature is trying to kill you this week.

No further progress on the bathroom this week, still waiting on the countertops. We heard the electrician was on vacation last week, and when I pestered the boss electrician yesterday, he said two guys were on vacation and he’d get them out when back. Huh. Are they still on vacation or is he bluffing me? Could be either one.

Good thing our neighbors went on vacation again so we could do some more laundry.

The guys put heavy paper down on the floor when they started remodeling, and that’s still there, so we stopped the Roomba at the first of the year. Thank goodness for cordless vacuums, am I right?? So Much Dog Hair! My goodness…

Out in the shop I’ve finally figured out what I want to do for bolt storage. I cleaned out under the shop work bench, (That’s Luna helping me in the header photo) which hasn’t been cleaned out in 30 years, and I bought some good heavy duty storage bins to replace the old anti-freeze jugs we’ve been using since dad cut the sides out of them 40 years ago. I lined up a few bins that I’ve used over the years to see the progression in storage:

I’m not sure where the metal cans came from. They were up in the old shed ‘attic’. Dad made the yellow antifreeze jugs, I went to the small red bins, and now I’m doing the clear ones.

When these wear out it will be someone else’s problem.

A month ago, as egg prices were increasing, I thought I better look into getting chicks ordered in case they’re months out like they were a few years ago. To my surprise, nothing seemed to be delayed. I put 40 or 50 chicks in the cart, but didn’t want to order yet.

And then the company sent an email saying they’ve been overwhelmed, the website is down, and they’re not taking any more orders for this year. Well heck. I thought it seemed too good to be true. I started looking up other hatcheries. All seemed to be months out on orders. I know the local Fleet Farm will have chicks this spring, which is new for them. And the local Tractor Supply always has chicks, but again, this year, better get there as they’re coming off the truck to get any. And I saw even some of the local grain elevator will have chicks, but they’re also saying, ‘First come, First served’. Way back in the OLD old days, Rochester had two full-fledged chick hatcheries, and one of the buildings is still there, subdivided into multiple small businesses.

I haven’t seen the local elevators have live chicks in many years.

I found a small hatchery out in Willmar, MN that could get me chicks in April, and I got my order in. I did ponder just hatching my own. Guess I still could. I hope the new place is able to follow through.

I mentioned to daughter that we’re giving her Monday off because it’s Presidents Day and the college is closed. Kelly still has work, but daughter and I can take the day off. Then I proceeded to tell her about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, asking what she remembered about them. I suspect sometimes she claims no knowledge because it’s easier than telling me what she does know. I told her about General George Washington, being the first President, and the dollar bill, and then started on Abraham Lincoln and the civil war, and his assassination, which led me to question the difference between murder and assassination (yep, politics, that’s what I thought) — and then I got a phone call which took a few minutes. When I got off the phone, daughter said, “What about having Monday off?” and I got the giggles. All of this information and she focused on what I said ten minutes ago?? I guess I should have known her priorities. And then, two hours later, she texted me a paragraph on Abraham Lincoln. Hmm! Maybe she was listening after all? Now I’m really curious: did she look that up herself or did they talk about it at her program? The kid never stops fascinating me.

This rooster was waiting for me to put corn out. 2 PHOTOS

Notice his comb? Not the traditional one you pictured in your head, is it.

And this rooster:

He got frostbite on his comb. He’ll be OK.

Did you know, there are 9 different types of rooster combs.

Credit: https://bitchinchickens.com/2020/06/01/chicken-combs-wattles/

Chickens always look pissed off.

My current batch of chickens is really not cold weather hardy. Last week I was getting 12 – 16 dozen eggs / day. Then the weather got cold again and I’m down to 4-8 eggs / day. Some varieties are more winter hardy than others. The fancier the breed, the more ‘delicate’ they are. I’m sticking with tried and true this spring: Black Australorp and Barred Rock.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE ABOUT CHICKENS SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT?

WHAT HAVE YOU LOOKED UP THIS WEEK?

2025, animals, education, pets, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized

Home Away From Home

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Last year our local college terminated the Theatre, Music, and English departments. There is a rather fine auditorium at the college that has remained pretty silent and unused for the last while. It is in the main building on campus and is surrounded by the library and classrooms. There are multiple ways of accessing the other rooms and hallways from the auditorium.

The Badlands Opera Company is putting on Into The Woods in a couple of months. They often use our church sanctuary for their productions, but this time they are using the college auditorium. Last week the Opera Company folks paid a visit to the auditorium to scope out the place and see what they would need to do to get it up and running. There is a loft above the stage that was used for costumes and props. It was left in incredible disarray by the theatre faculty as a sort of “screw you” to the college administration. Much to the Opera Company folks surprise, they noticed a cat sticking its head from out of the loft ceiling. They also noticed a litter box and the personal effects of someone who had been squatting in the loft.

They phoned the police and campus security, who secured the auditorium and found another cat. Both cats were taken to the city animal shelter. They also figured out who had been living in the loft and had him get his stuff out. I don’t know how long the guy had been living there. The college is upping its security. The Opera Company folks decided that they would only go to the auditorium in groups of three from now on. It was interesting that public comment indicated more concern about the welfare of the cats than the fact that someone had been living in the theatre loft. I hope they are comfortable in their new digs at the animal shelter.

What is the most memorable hotel you ever stayed at? What hotel would you like to stay in if you got the chance.?

2025, animals, Family, pets, Theatre

Broken, But Still Good

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Luna managed to rip a chunk out of her frisbee on Thursday. And that put me in mind of the quote “broken, but still good.”

Last Sunday we saw the musical ‘Parade’ at the Orpheum. Oh. My. Goodness. It’s a musical about the 1913 trial – and subsequent imprisonment and lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish American from New York, living in Georgia. A musical? Yes. One of those stories that needs to be told. That you probably never heard of. The entire production was fantastic. Look him up.

It was a beautiful week on the farm. I took Tuesday and Thursday off to prune fruit trees and do some outside stuff. My day went off the rails about 10AM, but it was still so nice to be home and outside. The chickens are loving it, I guess. We got 13 eggs on Thursday! Evidently, this batch is not so ‘winter hardy’.

Our bathroom is getting there. Floor tile installed and they’re working on the wall tiles. Monday they’ll set cabinets.

Our dog Luna. Boy she loves life. She’s an early bird, and really does not want to be touched after about 11 PM. That’s her sleep time.

But any time after 5 AM, she is excited to go. Wherever we’re going, whatever we’re doing, she’s going with. I call her my white shadow.
This week we’re back to the frisbee. As winter began, I had taken all the frisbees into the machine shed so they wouldn’t get lost in the snow, and that’s why we had moved onto sticks outside. For the time being, we’re back to frisbees. She gets a better workout because she must chase the frisbee further than I can throw a stick.


She doesn’t seem to have vertical observation. I’m not sure if she can’t, or she just doesn’t, and she’s lost the frisbee more than once because she’s looking the other direction when it comes back down. I’m guessing she’s only watching about 10 feet in elevation.
It was a pretty big deal on Thursday this week when she actually caught the frisbee at her head height. Twice! She’s come close a few times before and it may have been the combination of a lucky throw and timing on her part, but you could tell she was pretty excited about it.

These are heavy duty frisbees; they are very thick and the knobs around the outer edges give her a good place to grip, and they will hurt my fingers trying to get it back. We’re still working on the release part. Also Thursday morning she finally managed to tear out an entire chunk. And that’s how I got to the phrase from the movie ‘Lilo and stitch’, referring to family, “It’s little, and broken, but still good”.

It seems to fly just as well, even with a chunk missing.


If you haven’t seen the movie ‘Lilo and stitch’, I would highly recommend it. It originally came out in 2002, our son was ten, our daughter seven, and it is the story of an older sister trying to raise her younger sister. It provided us with many wonderful quotes and fits of laughter. We recognize the stubbornness on both their parts, and the older daughter screaming into a pillow in frustration, while the little girl also screamed into a pillow just about put Kelly and I on the floor in laughter.
The social worker, Mr. Cobra Bubbles (Once worked for the CIA. Convinced an alien race that mosquitoes were an endangered species. He had hair then.) He tells the older sister “Thus far, you have been adrift in the sheltered harbor of my patience. “
I love that line.

Reading the quotes on the IMDb website filled in so many lines that you don’t always hear in the movie. There are many very funny background lines that are almost throwaway lines. Sometimes it’s the tone of voice that’s used.
David Ogden Stiers plays an alien named Jumba. Partnered with a nerdy scientist alien Pleakley, the two of them are the comic relief.

JUMBA: “WHAT? After all you put me through, you expect me to help you just like that? JUST LIKE THAT?”

STITCH: [Alien language] “ih”

JUMBA: “Fine!”

PLEAKLEY: “Fine? You’re doing what he says??”

JUMBA: “He’s very persuasive”

PLEAKLEY: “Oh good! I was hoping to add theft, endangerment, and INSANITY to my list of things I did today!“

JUMBA: ”Haha You too?”

Lilo: “Oh good, my dog found the chainsaw.”

Of course the quote, ‘damaged but not broken’ can be a metaphor for so many things. There’s several books with the title of ‘damaged but not broken’ and it could be a battle of cancer, or it could be your relationship with God. One can make it even simpler and just apply it to everyday life.

SHARE EXAMPLES OF BROKEN BUT STILL GOOD. OR “CAN’T vs. WON’T”?

2025, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Birthday Balloons

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YA doesn’t like a big fuss made about her birthday.  This year she did request a birthday breakfast at one of her favorite places – The Lowbrow – but that was it.

This is hard for me as I love making a fuss.  In my old job, everybody was in charge of someone else’s birthday.  Card and treat.  For the last several years of my employment, I had Norma’s birthday.  Norma loved having a fuss made over her almost as much as I loved making a fuss; we were a match made in heaven.  I miss those days.

Anyway, YA doesn’t ever want a gathering, a cake, a fuss.  About five years ago I made a banner that I hung up in the dining room and then I added balloons for her age.  She allowed this so that’s my go-to these days…. I hang up the banner and put up the balloons.

I figured out that year that I could extend the festivities a bit by celebrating the dog.  YA is 20 years older than Guinevere so all I had to do was take down the “2” balloon, leaving the “5” balloon up for the dog.  It’s the only fuss that Guinevere gets; she doesn’t even like the balloon.  If you take it down to show it to her, she runs out of the room. 

This year, with Guinevere turning 10, I did have to get a “1” balloon to make her age correct.  Seemed a little silly to buy a balloon for the dog, but I did it anyway.   Since I’m not making a big deal about Norma anymore, I guess the dog gets the attention!

Have you ever celebrated a pet’s birthday?  How?