The Chicken Whisperer

Granny Smith has the chickens so tame this winter that they will perch on his shoulder or arm as he goes about doing the chores.  Cute!

Park Benches in I. F.

Miss Delicious and her friends were bored one afternoon over break, so they decided to visit each of the artistic park benches in Idaho Falls:

On the "Doggie Footprints" bench.

Trying to figure out the "Bench Map".

The vintage "Bicycle Bench"

George Washington crossing the Delaware (or Snake).

Being little Fishes at the "Fish Bench"

And Miss Delicious transforming into a goose.

Selling the Lambs

This morning the boys took their lambs up to a local sheep man to sell.  They shut down the sale here and so he's pretty much the only game in town.  He has about 2,000 sheep right now.

He liked the boys lambs a lot and said they looked really good.  Of course!   

I tried to get pictures of them.  Not successful.  They were way more interested in eating.  But, as you can see, they are no longer little, cute lambs gamboling about on the green sward.  They are enormous, dirty rugs with huge appetites.

This is Smut Smut.  He is the biggest, piggiest of the lambs.  He is also gigantic.  All of them survived, though, which is a tribute to the boys good stewardship, even little teacup, who was so tiny when we got her.

So, here's the reality of the sheep business, though.  The rancher gave them $90 a head for 6 lambs = $540.  Subtract 3 bags of milk replacer at $70 a bag, plus the $37 it cost to buy them from the sheep experiment station, minus $15 or so for selenium shots, and $170 for a ton of hay and guess what?

You make 8 dollars.  

True Story.

Circa 1900

I especially love Prairie Spy's face - sort of that deer in the head lights look that all old pictures have!

The Art of Miss Delicious

This year for Christmas Golden Delicious drew pictures for her brothers:

Chris LeDoux for Prairie Spy

Buck Brannaman for Nova Spy

And the Hulk for Granny Smith!