Critter Upate

Cinder watches a scrub jay who was inside the barn - she knew he wasn't supposed to be there!

Smokey was thoroughly checking the hay bale that would be going into the pig pen. Just making sure it was approved.

Must have been some prior mouse activity.

And if you look very closely in the background, a mouse of a different sort was playing in the grass field -- Miri was back there, sneakily peeking at us.

MammaLlama and Teesie took a good, hard nap in the sunshine together.

And Mamma and Teesie even played together! We don't see this very often. If you listen very closely, you can hear some of her funky llama noises too. I don't know what emotion makes her do that, but she has a couple of weird vocalizations -- one sounds a little like a laugh, but she seems to do it mostly if she thinks someone is threatened (or maybe if she finds it funny?), and the other is a soft gurgle sound that is sort of a sound of affection. Maybe.

The boys, enjoying some time on the hillside.

Our 2 bays are getting a little too rotund, so they have to wear grazing muzzles now. I feel sorry for them, but it's really the best thing for their health. 

Neither of them is very happy about it, but they have quickly adapted. Quigly still comes immediately to me and willingly lets me "put his mask on." Arby is a bit of a stinker, but he's learning that if he doesn't let me put it on, he doesn't get to go outside the barnyard! And that's the pits if you don't get to be out with all your friends. So eventually he complies. It's a little more work to manage this way, but it's the right thing.

As long as we're updating about critters, I might as well include the family of baby mice we found in the barn. Ugh. Hate this. They are pretty cute when they are this small, but we don't need mice! And strangely, we couldn't get the cats interested in taking swift care of this issue for us. Of course, Miri was ready to take care of them -- meaning, literally. She wanted to take them in the house!

Miri fell asleep on the couch watching TV with Mommy one recent Friday night, and JuicyBear was a good companion.

When he was sure she was totally asleep, then he settled down too.