This is Buddy, Kayla’s pet rabbit. We got him when he was just a baby, in September 2007. When he was very young, we brought him in the house on occasion to let him run around and get some exercise. At first it was pretty cute, but after awhile, it became an annoyance!

One morning, Buddy ran behind the freezer and got trapped. We were afraid he would get into the fan (wouldn’t that have been a lovely mess?) Fortunately we were able to reach the power cord to the freezer, and unplugged it until Tim could come home and pull the freezer out to rescue the rabbit.

Another day, we noticed one of our appliances wasn’t working. It was fairly new, so we were a bit confused, trying to figure out what was wrong. We followed the power cord back to the wall. And there was the problem. A chewed up power cord. Thanks to Buddy. He’s lucky he didn’t get zapped!

One night we were watching the tube, and reached for the remote control. Pressing button after button, this remote wouldn’t work. It felt kind of funny – the buttons were so small. We clicked on the light to see what was wrong. Buddy had chewed off the top of all the buttons on the remote control.

By now I was getting pretty annoyed. This “cute little furry bunny” was becoming a royal pain in the you know what.

Now, when we bring Buddy in for exercise, he is limited to spare bedroom, where he can run, leap into the air, bounce off the walls, and explore in all the nooks and crannies. Then, back to the barnyard he goes, where he enjoys his favorite treat – the Tasty Twigs & Pretzels!

We raised the two black cows (Mr. Moo & T-Bone) from the time they were just a little over a week old. They were bottle fed two or three times a day for the first month. That was a lot of fun – for the first couple of days. They were pretty strong and aggressive, even at just a couple of weeks old. At feeding time, Moo & T would come running toward us, sometimes making it difficult to get close enough to feed them. “Indy” came to live with Moo & T late fall, 2008. We are taking care of him for a friend.

Moo & T will eventually end up in the freezer, and we’ll be getting more cows to replace them. But for now, we are really enjoying having the cows on the farm. When the kids are outside playing, the cows run to the fence and wait for attention. Tim feeds them more often than anyone else, so when he goes out there, the cows start Moo-ing, thinking (and hoping!) that it is feeding time.

It has been fun having cows on the farm again. We haven’t raised cows before, but the prior farm owners had them when we moved in back in the mid 70′s. They’re a lot of work, and a lot of fun to raise!

Our “farm family” grew by two on May 6, 2009 when Tim came home from the auction with a little surprise. Okay – looks like we’re back in the baby-bottle business! We now have two more calves – Brownie and Cupcake.  They say it’s never a good idea to name your pets that will eventually end up in the freezer – but the kids are right on track by naming them after food.

Brownie and Cupcake are not from the same mom, but they sure look alike. Brownie is obviously a few days older than Cupcake. He’s taking his bottle very well. Cupcake, on the other hand, is struggling. He is so small and fragile, and is still learning how to stand up and lay down.  Brownie bounces around, especially around Bradley, whom Brownie seems to think is his new mom. Both have started their moo-ing in those squeaky little voices.

Our day starts bright and early around here – feeding the baby calves, feeding Moo, T-Bone and Indy (the three big cows), the pigs Steve and Porkers, all the egg layers, and of course, the bunny!

Finally, spring has sprung, and the animals are enjoying the outdoors. Gardening season is underway, and the greenhouse work has begun!