Everyone's Friend

I began to notice changes in the cats' and dogs' relationships when the new kitten, Caspar, came into the house. It began when I noticed him contemplating joining the dogs in their kitchen corner napping spot:

 As with most of the animals, little Caspar's first friend was gigantic Seamus, who is big, soft and friendly:

 And Seamus is tolerant of all kinds of silliness:

 Do you think he'll let me?

 I'll give him a massage to show him I like him:

 His next canine friends were Clover, Fergus and Daphne:

 Then Caspar apparently decided that Seamus would make a good mommy substitute and he began kneading and sucking on his curly neck hair. Seamus didn't mind:

 Mostly he uses Sammy for play, but Caspar discovered they can cuddle together too:

 He often joins all the dogs (except Jack, who thinks Caspar is a little irritating) in the kitchen corner:

 And when no dogs or cats are available, he'll sleep with one of his many jingle-balls. But only after he's worn himself out batting them all around the house:

 Better still, he can curl up with a couple of dogs AND the jingle-ball:

 Daisy is a pretty good cuddler too. Caspar has made himself at home here and made good friends while doing so:

Around The Farm

My camera is working again, so I've resumed taking photos around the house and farm. As always, the "hottest spot in town" is the kitchen corner, with its floor pillows and dog beds:

 And the second most popular spot in the house may be the yoga mats. They were put there because Seamus could no longer walk on the hard floors without slipping and falling, but they've since become playthings for the kittens and sleeping places for all the pets. In this photo, Sammy was demonstrating his total trust of gigantic old Seamus. I was nervous, but Sammy's faith in his big buddy proved valid:

 Little Caspar, when he isn't running full speed all over the house, likes to sleep in the pet bed atop the bureau:


 The sheep farmers up the road had a bale and a half of expensive, good quality hay which their sheep refused to eat. They brought it down to me and dumped it in my pasture in three loads, hoping my animals would eat it:


My animals balked a bit at first, then began eating it. It lasted seven days, helping make a crisis at the end of the season less likely. I am still worried about running out of hay this spring, however:

 Ah, the look of green grass, something we can no longer see because it's now all covered with ice and snow:

 The two miniature horses' hooves began to get sore again, but when the pasture grass stopped growing, they had to eat hay. I got their hooves trimmed and they again began to heal:

 Blue still likes to recline on the wasted hay when he gets the chance:

 The white fantail pigeons raised two end-of-season babies to maturity:

 It's getting kind of crowded in the the pigeons' room now. I may have to sell some birds this spring:

 The little hens are molting but I still get an occasional egg:

 Notice that brown Easter Egger hen at the top of the picture. She's molting so much that she looks like she's going bald. She needs to hurry up and grow new feathers because it's cold, cold, cold here!