Written May 5th...

It’s raining … again. It’s a nice gentle rain… so I should be happy for the pastures and farmers. The asparagus is going to love it. So is our shrub and tree row. It is also working it’s nice gentle way into my office under the computer desk. Why anyone would finish a wall without making sure it was sealed is beyond me. Frankly it’s amazing how the water can work it’s way through the seam between the wall…which is poured cement and the floor which is also poured cement. Probably didn’t come through to start with. But with time the ground has shifted and put pressure on the seams. Water is insidious in it’s quest to go where it wants to.

I’m frankly fed up with mud.

I was supposed to have clients coming today. I don’t know about the gravel/dirt roads now. Nor about that driveway… if it’s driven on now before it get’s packed again it’s going to be a mud slosh bog. Not to mention wet soggy dogs outside. They have so much hair that they don’t get wet down to their skin. They also have huge houses that they can hang out in all day and play if they want..

On the bright side… it’s not a nasty dangerous storm like the day before yesterday. WOW, that was a light show, complete with driving rain, hail, tornadoes, lightening strikes, and electrical outages. I would wager lightening hit a transformer. It knocked out a big area...miles in diameter. The electric company out here is pretty good about getting the power back on. I do believe I want a generator out here though. We’ve been fortunate in the winter to have no power outages. If we do the water lines will freeze. Not to mention not being able to run the pump for water in the first place. The entire whelping house will be in here with the wood stove. I’d really like a couple of solar panels hooked to a heating system for the whelping house. Some for the dog runs as well as for the big yard lights. The house too. Be nice to have heat without worrying about banking the wood stove at night or powerlines snapping in the wind and snow… oh what’s that word. BLIZZARDS! We generally have several a season. This past season it was one on top of the other. I am so ready for some nice warm sunny days… not totally blistering heat… yes I know that’s coming. But some nice warm sunny days… without the wind blowing at gale force.
Nice gentle breezes please.

Ok I’ll quit whining for a minute or 2, maybe. 3 new ducks joined our barnyard family yesterday. A Rouen drake, pekin hen, and a buff hen. I put them in with the baby geese. At this point they are about the same size.

Gotta go let the house dogs back inside. I put them out to potty… they are probably soggy stinkers by now.
Got some great photos after the storm… Check the Robbins Run Ranch blog...some fun pics of the critters too... enjoy...

Life is a journey... sometimes there are mudpuddles on the trail... Mary E. Robbins

307-788-0202

Bright Sunny Day...I feel good...

Good Morning… and a great morning it is too. Moved the turkeys and geese out to the fowl house yesterday. Turned the pullets out again. They are too funny… it’s an adventure into the big wide world for those little white hens. At this point they are venturing out of their crate little by little… and roosting in their crate at night.

I put the goslings (baby geese) in an outside yard with unlimited water to play in yesterday. Unlimited as their pan automatically refills. Yesterday evening I went to the fowl house to put them inside for the night and was wondering on the way out if I was going to have to run after them. Not even… this was so cute. I called them “goot goot goot” and here they came running to me. I picked them up 2 at a time and took them inside as they chattered all the way in. Just a note… they are too cute right now… mostly down with little feathers puffing out all over the place… and not very big. Just a few pounds each. My small gaggle (flock of geese) are Toulouse Geese (named after a city in France). By fall the females should weigh 12 to 13 pounds and the males 18 to 20 pounds. They will be varying shades of gray. I didn’t get them to eat. I’m hoping that I have both males and females then we will have some goslings (baby geese) year after year. Just a note… never tease a goose. These birds pack quite a punch with their long necks and beaks when they are adults. I pulled this picture from McMurray Hatchery’s web page.


The Turkeys look pretty good today. I was concerned, they are actually as big as my leghorn pullets are … but not fully feathered. We have 10 turkeys now. A mixed group of Broad Breasted Bronze and Giant White. You do not want to tease these birds either… other than just being plain wrong. You will regret it greatly, The bronze range from 20 to 40 pounds with hens being on the smaller end of the weight range. The giant white range from 25 to 45 pounds respectively. I am looking forward to watching them grow up and forage around the fowl yards and front pasture.

Puppies are doing great… so are my young dogs. I plan to snap some photos of my happy hairballs today as well as starting on spring clean up today. Hello camera... hello rake. Hello broom... hello dog brush... I am so happy I actually feel good this morning. I'm sore and aching from working but feel good. It's been a long time. Had a couple of nasty allergy attacks this past week. Snatched my breath away in a hurry. It took a couple of days to get over each of them. I took zyrterc yesterday morning and used my advair... yesterday morning and last night... and I'm happy to say I'm breathing. And my lungs don't hurt. What a relief... It's a glorious day...

Washer just quit running... so I'm throwing the laundry in the dryer... starting another load... getting myself into a bath with some wonderful bath salts ... fixing brunch for my hubby and myself... biscuits and gravy today I think...

Life is a journey…enjoy the trip…. Mary E. Robbins & the Happy Hairballs
307-788-0202

April Fools Day...

Well old friend I’m starting on the mindset once again. Feel a bit like shit to be truthful. The Picture is a bit of tongue in cheek. My attitude has been the berries ever since I broke my bloody foot. Damn, of all the stupid things to do. Yes I'm pissed and I'm beating myself up a bit. With a good dose of sulk on top of it.

Another bloody blizzard just kind of spiraled my attitude down into no-man's attitude. Yes dear ones it's true... there are time my attitude .... hmmmm... what's the word? SUCKS... this past week has been a bloody good example of that. Better today... conscious effort to change it. Sucky attitude makes Mary a shit to be around... even for myself...

Upset stomach and overweight. I weighed this morning... uck... 293 lbs. I have some great tools for weight loss and overall fitness. Time to actually use them. I came to the realization that when I cook for David, it does not mean that I have to eat it. Be a good thing. Weight has to be turned around or it will be the miserable death of me. Frankly it’s a slow painful way to suicide.

I’ve been losing all my time to the computer, so it’s schedule time. Not set in stone but a guideline so I don’t lose track of all time. Start at 6 am and the next thing I know it’s after dark and I still have kennel work to do. Not a good thing, not good for my dogs and not good for me.

What do I want included in my daily do’s :
Kennel
Reading
Workout
Marketing
Training
Tax work
Real estate
Personal private time…bit of peace and meditation
Time with husband
House work… I really like a clean house and at this point it’s scary dirty… front end loader anyone…
Time management… what a misnomer. It’s more like self management within the constraints of time.

Dog food recall threw me for a loop... I cringed when I heard it ... I wonder how many of my clients are feeding their dogs that stuff. Poor dogs. My hairballs are like my children to me. The thought of killing them with feed that I thought was good for them just makes me heartbroken. I' m glad I found HealthyPetNet when I did. At least I know my personal dogs are safe in what they are eating.

I'm so fed up with careless shits cutting corners to boost their bottom lines, that I could just scream. Actually rather than just screaming. I'm going to tell everyone about some safe, healthy dog food, and the corner cutting creeps can just go bankrupt as far as I care. I'm done with their crappy feed. Major name brand feed ... damn it. At least they did the recall. That's something anyway.

Life is a journey... sometimes there are sharp rocks in the road... Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs

Can You Answer This Riddle?

This came into my inbox today... thought it was pretty neat... enjoy...

Can you answer this riddle?

Here is a pretty neat little thing from PaulHarvey. See if you can guess the riddle at the end.

Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

Send this to all of your friends. We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them.

Paul Harvey RIDDLE:

When asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer, compared to 17% of Stanford Universityseniors.

What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it, The rich need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?

Send this to 10 people and then press shift and you will get the answer.

P.S. You won't believe this, but this really does give you the answer!!!!