I’m a farmer

Well I checked to make sure my insurance was good with the animals, made sure I had all the proper permits, and even got a pair of pot belly pigs, pygmy donkey’s, and a miniature horse so I guess I’m now officially a ‘farmer’.  I got the little donkey from the ‘Little Ass Farm’ up the road.  I love the name of that place.  It’s a sweet little donkey too.  Her name is Blossom.

So far, the animals have been a huge success.  I even have people stopping by just to see the animals.  Yeah, I do charge for them to pet my animals.  Hey, you gotta pay for feed for all those critters ya know.  I even got a pair of pheasants and some quail too.  Man those are some pretty birds.  I can sell the babies they hatch because I’m not eating their eggs, that’s for sure.  Maybe we could have ‘pheasant under glass’ for dinner if they raise babies.  I’m not killing them if we do.  That’s going to be someone else’s job, not mine.  I’ll just sell the babies, I’m not eating any of the animals!!

Chicken coop

Well the chicken coop is finished and it’s great.  He even found me some Rhode Island Red chickens that are grown and already laying.  I also got some Jungle Foul too.  Those are supposed to be the original chickens, or so I was told.  One things for sure, the rooster is absolutely gorgeous.  The hens are rather small but the rooster is about as big as the Rhode Island Red rooster.  I also got some Bantam hens and a rooster.  They lay little eggs and are just the cutest things running around.  Of course they are each in different ‘runs’ and have separate parts inside the barn too.

Now he has talked me into getting a few pygmy goats and pygmy sheep too for a petting zoo type thing.  He’s trying to talk me into getting a couple of those pot belly pigs too.  I think he’s trying to make a farmer out of me.  I’m thinking about the pigs.  I guess I need to check and make sure there won’t be a problem with having a small petting zoo and what if any, special insurance I would need too.  I better call my insurance agent right now before I get in over my head.

Another Monday

Well here it is another Monday after a pretty busy weekend thank goodness.  The funny thing is I got an interesting suggestion from one of my ‘guests’ this weekend.  They asked me why I don’t have chickens to have fresh eggs for the guests since I have a garden to provide fresh vegetables for them?  They were saying the chickens would also provide education and entertainment for the children since a lot of the city kids have never seen a chicken up close and personal or seen eggs being gathered either.

I thought that was an interesting question so I called a friend of mine that does all my repairs and building that I need done and asked him about building me a chicken coop.  He said it wouldn’t take too awfully much to fix one since there’s already a small barn on my property.  He said he could attach it right to the side of the barn and make it so that the nests are inside the barn in a small fenced in area where the kids can see the eggs in the nest but can’t get to them.  He’s going to start on it tomorrow.

What a great day

About 4:30 today, there came a knock on my front door.  When I opened the door, there stood three kids and 4 adults, all from the local elementary school where we donated the school supplies that were collected here.  These beautiful smiling faces on these children warmed my heart before I knew why they were even at my door.  Out popped three little hands with hand made ‘Thank You’ cards from each and every child at school that had received supplies from us. The parents all made sure to thank all of us too.

I called all of my staff in so they could be a part of this since they were a huge part of what made the whole ‘School Tools’ collection a success too.  Then a bright idea hit me.  I knew that some of the patrons that had brought donations would be coming back soon so I invited the parents and children in.  I have a couple bulletin boards where I post upcoming events and I let the children put every ‘Thank you’ note on one of the bulletin boards so everyone could be thanked by these sweet children that had a hand in helping out.  That sure made my day.  Well it probably will make my whole week in the end.

Weekend special

This weekend we decided to run a special to help bring in some business.  Our community always collects items for the local schools for the children in need of school tools.  I decided to continue what we started 3 years ago by offering half off on the weekend stay with the donation of a fully packed back pack for a child.

By fully packed I mean a pack of pencils, 100 sheets of loose leaf note book paper, pack of erasers, colored pencils and markers, 3 ring binder, pencil box or pencil pouch like goes in the binder and anything else they want to contribute like lunch boxes or other school supplies.

Last year, we collected 15 fully packed back packs with some of our patrons bringing more than one.  Everyone brought extra supplies.  Everyone that works for me also brought items for the kids.  It was wonderful to take them to the schools.  I hope this year is as successful as the last three.

Surprise visit

There was a gospel group that had come to a local church to sing and decided to stop by here.  They had stayed here a few years ago and wanted to come by and say ‘Hi’.

They graced my patrons with a mini gospel singing.  They were even better than I remembered them being.  They sang a few of the old standards and some original songs the members had composed themselves.  The children were dancing and several of their parents were singing along with them.  It was a wonderful treat.

Most of the people even gave money to the group for them entertaining them even though there was no charge.  There are still some good people in the world, we just have to take the time to see them.

Talula does the Hula?

Did you hear about that judge in New Zealand that has gotten sick of all the stupid names parents are putting on their children.  It seems some parents thought ‘Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii’ was a good name for their daughter.  Well it has caused this poor little girl all sorts of embarrassment and she never even told her closest friends what her real name was.  When someone asked her name, she would just say ‘K’.  The judge changed her name and it has not been released what her name was changed to so they could protect the little girls identity.

Don’t parents even consider what consiquences a stupid name like that does to a child?  I thought Frank Zappa was the only idiot that would name a child something stupid like Motorhead, Dweezle and Moon Unit.  Guess he’s not the only one.

We lost a feisty one

Estelle Getties from the old show ‘Golden Girls’ died today at the age of 84.  Bless her heart, she had dementia and if you have ever dealt with someone with that, it is as devastating as Alzheimer’s Disease.  Estelle played a character that I figure I’ll end up being someday, a feisty, opinionated little old lady . . . but the funny thing is, she was actually the youngest lady on that show.  She was a great actress and will be missed.  You can read more about her passing at Yahoo News.   Please do check it out – if nothing more than to honor her memory. Gals like her don’t come along very often.

Happy 4th of July

I sure hope you guys are having a ‘blast’ today.  We have a special July 4th package deal going on where the whole house is decorated for the 4th, and we are having a huge picnic type dinner for everyone in the community too.  The other local businesses like the tubing guys up river are throwing in with me and offering tubing and canoeing along with my package.

It’s kind of a bring your own fireworks type display and everyone brings a side dish too from the community.  Watermellons are in the river getting good and cold and so is the beer.  We always have the best time, and the house is booked solid for the whole 3 day weekend.