Be Honest...

Does this jacket make my ass look big?

No Days Like Snow Days

Bully Hill got about a foot of snow last night.  It was a pretty snow that stuck to all the trees.  It did bring down a few branches on the pine trees, but it was pretty nonetheless.  Here are a few shots from today:

It was a good day to work from home and enjoy the company of the animals.

On another note, I just read that Charlie Sheen was hospitalized today for stomach pains.  If he has leptospirosis, we know who to blame... that's right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  If he could only have warned us sooner.  Nonetheless, all of us on Bully Hill Farm, Petunia included, wish Mr. Sheen a speedy recovery.

A Few Concerns

I was reading the CNN website this weekend when I came across an interesting article by Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  It was entitled, "A furry dilemma: Sleep with your pet, risk catching his bugs."

Here is a link, just in case you want to read it for yourself:
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/22/a-furry-dilemma-sleep-with-your-pet-catch-his-bugs/?iref=allsearch

The central theme is, if you sleep with your pet, you risk catching his bugs... but I suppose that was sort of set forth in the title.  The story has a few examples of people contracting meningitis or even the plague from their pets.  One or two of the examples actually had something to do with the pet sleeping in the individual's bed.

Now I'd like to make fun of this article, but we had the household leptospirosis pandemic caused by Petunia and her late sister.  Thus, I know that there is a risk associated with bringing animals into the home.  Still, as the article points out, if you properly care for your pet(s) and routinely see the veterinarian, it is extremely unlikely that they will be spreading zoonotic pathogens to you as you sleep.

And yet, I still recall picking Petunia out of her kennel at the city animal shelter, looking into her little brown eyes, and stating, "You're going to be the death of me."

(Here she is a few weeks later... after she grew some fur)

She almost succeeded with the leptospirosis bit, but that is all behind us now.  I mean, it's not like Petunia leads a high-risk lifestyle.

OK, she occasionally gets into the pond and might ingest some filth while trying to catch frogs...

and she eats poop, but what dog doesn't?

(Yes, that is actually my dog eating poop)

Well, there is her friend Mr. Skitters, the rabid raccoon, with whom she likes to spend time.

That is a little concerning, but it could be worse.

OH GOD NO, not Charlie Sheen!

Well, it looks like Hepatitis Pea is going to need to go back to see the veterinarian... and possibly rehab.  I'm going to see if they can write me a prescription for antibiotics too.

Bad dog!

The New Guy is a Jackass

We had been keeping Gino separate from the horses for the past few days.  We wanted to make sure that he did not have some terrible donkey plague that would kill us all.  We went through that already when we rescued Petunia and her sister.

Plague or no plague, we have allowed Gino to join the horses.  The introductions went well.  Snow was desperate to meet him, so we let her out first.  She was very gentle.  Surprisingly so.

Next we let Ellie Mae out.  I had no concerns about Ellie, she is a gentle and understanding horse.

It all went swimmingly... almost too good to be true.

It was pretty clear that we made an excellent decision in adopting little Gino.  He's very cute,

and quite personable.

Just when we decided that this was one of our best decisions ever, it started. 

He likes to chase the other horses...

and bite them.

He also seems to enjoy biting my leg.

So, it's sort of like one big happy family.

I think...

A New Addition

As you may know, the Mrs and I have been expecting... to adopt a mini donkey at some point.  We finally got the opportunity to adopt a MDINA (a "mini donkey in need of assistance") just after Christmas, and we jumped at the chance.  We have named him Gino Bartali il Ciucciarelli (Gino Bartali the little donkey).

Mini donkeys are not bred down in size.  They are Sicilian so they just happen to be short and rather hairy.  Little Gino is white and gray with a sorrel (reddish brown) cross on his back.  He stands about 36" tall.

Since he is from southern Italian and seems to be religious, we named him after Gino Bartali, the great Italian cyclist who raced just prior to and just after WWII.  Gino Bartali, known as "il Pious," was a beautiful champion and even helped the Italian resistance during WWII.  Hopefully little Gino will live up to the name.

We were initially a bit concerned that little Gino would get bullied by Snow and the Bumpas hounds, but those concerns were quickly laid to rest.  Snow is completely smitten with, as the Mrs. calls him, "little donkey man."  We have not really let them interact because Gino was just vaccinated today.  He will be on quarantine for about 2 weeks, but it appears that Snow will stand outside his stall and watch him until we let him out.

He has also proven that he can hold his own with the Bumpases.  Thus, he should be a fine addition to our farm.

This is exactly how my week has felt...

Country Livin'

It is a wonderful time of year.  In order to enjoy the outdoors, I have been getting out with my trusty camera to capture some of the local beauty.  This view is one of the reasons I love my little part of the world. 

There are just so many perfect little farms scattered around.

Each one seems to have its own little story to tell.

 Quaint little churches that seem to just pop out of the landscape.

 It is just a good time to get out and appreciate rural living.