A-Z Challenge - G is for Goats

Today's post is brought to you by the letter G.

I'll admit it. I like goats. Not as much as my friend Tracy Farr, who has written a whole book about goats, but I have enjoyed my goats. So have some of my grandchildren who loved to come and feed grandma's "doats."

Banjo, Lucy, Millie

One of my first encounters with a goat was when our oldest daughter was about three years old and we took her to a petting zoo. She was so excited to get a bottle and go into the enclosure to feed the young goats and sheep. Problem was, one of the goats kept wanting to eat the tassel on our daughter's hat. She bonked the goat on the head with the bottle and said she was done.

It's not surprising that her kids are not the ones who were so excited to feed the goats. Although to be fair to that daughter, she does inquire about my animals when she calls.

When I first moved to our little place in the country, I made the mistake of getting a billy goat and a Barbados Ram. They were both so cute as babies, but grew up to be most difficult to deal with, so I sold them and got a Nannie goat. We named her Lucy for no particular reason other than it was the first name that came to mind. When Lucy runs to the fence to get a treat, she does a little prance step that almost looks like dancing.

She runs to the fence often. In fact, every time I go out the back door she dashes over to see if I am bringing out a treat.

Not long after we bought Lucy, we decided to get her a goat companion, and we named the new girl, Millie. Again, not for any particular reason.

The first small animals were acquired to first clear the back three acres of brambles and brush, and boy did they. It looks like a park back there now. But I also got them to be companions for my horse. Since they are all herd animals, they do prefer company than being in a large fenced area alone.

Food? Do you have food for me?

Millie died last year of a snake bite, so that left me with one goat and one horse, which has been fine all winter as they are both in the back pasture together. However, when the horse gets moved to the front pasture for the summer, that would leave Lucy alone, so I got her a new companion; a little lamb, Marie. I did not name her, my neighbor  did. She was one of twins whose mother died after giving birth, so my neighbors hand-raised the two lambs, one male and one female. They named them, Donny and Marie. I didn't ask my neighbor why.

Could you make the goat leave me alone?

Right now, Lucy is not real happy about Marie being there. Lucy is a bit of a pig, so if Marie comes by Lucy's feed dish, or Lucy's hay, or the green stuff I have pulled and thrown over the fence, Lucy chases Marie off.

I hope she gets over it soon. I will be moving the horse to the front by the end of this month. The grass is looking good out there.

A-Z Challenge: F is for Frog

I've always liked frogs. Not so much to eat, although I know frog legs are enjoyed by many people. I'd rather have them alive and living on my property to help control bugs.

Here are just a few facts about this little amphibian.

Most frogs are green and are characterized by a short body, webbed digits (fingers or toes), protruding eyes, bifid tongue and the absence of a tail. Frogs are known to be exceptional jumpers, and many of the anatomical characteristics of frogs, particularly their long, powerful legs, are adaptations to improve jumping performance.

Due to their porous skin, frogs are often semi-aquatic or inhabit humid areas, but do move easily on land. They typically lay their eggs in puddles, ponds, or lakes, and their babies, tadpoles, have gills and tails so they can live and develop in water. Frogs are most noticeable by their call, which can be widely heard during the night or day, mainly in their mating season.

Out in the country, that call can be heard at dusk from the various cattle pools around us, as the males and females make plans to meet up.

My favorite frog, of course, is Kermit, and here are a few facts about him I did not know.The earliest version of Kermit first appeared in 1955, but he wasn't yet a frog -- he was more of a lizard-like, abstract character. Jim Henson explained that at first Kermit was just a simple puppet that covered his hand. Kermit was referred to as a frog by Johnny Carson in 1965, but didn't officially become a frog until the 1971 special "The Frog Prince." 

Kermit's signature song, "Bein' Green" was written in 1970 by Joe Raposo for  Sesame Street, and has since become an American standard.

Here is a link to the song if you would like to pause a moment and enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiIWMWWVco The song truly does have a wonderful message about tolerance.

To visit some of the other bloggers taking part in the A-Z Challenge click HERE

A-Z Challenge: E is for Egrets

Until I decided to write about this bird for today's post, I did not know there were so many different Egrets, although I did wonder when I saw my first Cattle Egret and asked my farmer neighbor what it was.

"An Egret," he said.

Hmmm, I thought. Didn't look like the Egrets I saw in the zoo. But I wasn't about to challenge my neighbor. I was the newcomer to these parts and I knew my place.

Now I also know more about Egrets.

Great Egret

The Great Egret is a large bird with all-white plumage that can weigh about 2 pounds and has a wingspan of five and a half feet to seven feet. It is a bit smaller than the Great Blue or Grey Heron, but it does belong in the Heron family. Apart from size, the Great Egret can be distinguished from other white egrets by its yellow bill and black legs and feet.  Males and females are identical in appearance; juveniles look like non-breeding adults. The Great Egret is not normally a vocal bird; at breeding colonies, however, it often gives a loud croaking cuk cuk cuk.

Snowy Egret

The Snowy Egret is about half the size of the Great with shorter black legs and distinctive orange feet. Both species sport elaborate head, chest and back (red) plumes during mating season, their bills and lores turn reddish and their feet orange. Snowies eat crustaceans, fish and insects. 

Cattle Egrets are smaller than Snow Egrets and have  orange-brown patches on their head, back and breast, yellowish legs and feet. They "walk like Egyptians," with a characteristic head dart at each step like many smaller birds, and they eat insects, but do not always hang out with cows. Although the ones I see here, do.

This is a picture I took of the egrets lunching with the cattle in the hay meadow across from my place.

A-Z Challenge - C is for Cats

I know it doesn't take a lot of imagination to come up with C Is For Cats, but I simply could not pass up the opportunity to write about my cats again. Mostly because they are here. All the time. Right here. Walking all over my desk and keyboard.

Sometimes they will leave me alone and sit to look out the window. Lots of birds feed in the yard out there and nothing attracts a cat like a bird. Or maybe a mouse. A real one or a computer mouse. I like it better when it is the real one.

Harry, wishing he could get a bird

Since we have lost so many cats to rural predators, we have decided to keep our current four cats inside most of the time. Most of the time is the operable phrase, as two of them love to escape. Harry and Daisy really, really want to go explore the great outdoors. Daisy because she has already spend some time outside and knows what adventures lie there, and Harry because he would love to experience just one of those adventures.

Please, oh please let me out.

Daisy came to us by accident. Literally. She had gotten out of our neighbors house one day and would not come back. The neighbor lost track of her and she ended up in my barn one day after being injured. My neighbor was not interested in taking her back, so we have kept her. I couldn't stand the thought of her becoming coyote lunch while she was recovering from her injuries.

Daisy still likes to escape, but we usually can get her back in after a little while. Recently she escaped close to our bedtime, so I spent an extra half-hour trying to find her. I really did not want her out for the whole night. When she finally came running in just as I was letting the dog out, she brought a rabbit in with her. Turned out the rabbit was still alive and when I caught the cat, she dropped the rabbit, who then ran back into my laundry room.

Hubby got up and helped me corral cats and lock them in the sun room, while we tried to find the rabbit. No luck. It had hidden somewhere in the laundry room. By now it was an hour past our bedtime, and I was exhausted, so we decided to leave the back door open - it is in the laundry room - and hope the bunny would just go out during the night. And hopefully nothing would come inside.

That appeared to work. So far. No dead rabbit stinking up my house.

Visit some of the other bloggers participating in the challenge and see if they came up with something more clever for the day. Maybe someone actually wrote about being clever. A full list of the bloggers who have accepted the challenge can be found HERE

A-Z Challenge - A is for Aardvark and Armadillo

I'm doing the A-Z challenge this month along with many other bloggers. You can find a complete list on the official A-Z Website under the tab 2012 A to Z Challenge Signup List. All of the participants will go through the alphabet for the first 26 days of the month and do a blog piece about a word that starts with that letter. Today we have the letter A, and I decided to write about two funny animals.

When I went on Amazon to find a book about Aardvarks, I was surprised to see how many there are about this funny little animal, all with the same or very similar title. The most recent is by Simon Drew, an English author. His A is for Aardvark  was published in 2010. It is a clever book that shows children, via the pictures and the text, a bit about this interesting animal that eats bugs. Since some kids like to eat bugs, the appeal is evident.

That made me think of  other small animals with funny names and amusing characteristics. Some years ago a writer friend, Dee Stuart, wrote a charming book, The Astonishing Armadillo, about a creature who also likes to eat bugs, as well as a bit of dirt. More appeal for the younger set who doesn't mind tasting a bug or two. Folks in the Southwest are familiar with this creature that carries his armor on his back and doesn't seem to get how to cross the road without getting squashed, despite that armor.

There are a lot of jokes about the armadillo. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"To show the armadillo how to do it."

Bada boom!