Who is two? A breakfast animal cracker toss!

Our little Ambassador of Love turns two today! He is still stinking' cute, and still full of love, all though on a quieter tone than when he was a rambunctious little sprite-the latter has been taken over by Opie's sidekick, Ollie.

We tossed animal crackers today in his honor, for breakfast, and The Misfits thought a breakfast party was swell-why wait until lunch or tea for a birthday party?

Annual Live Nativity Scene...who will be Jesus?

Before you ask, no, I never film or photograph the Annual Live Nativity Scene. We have to have some rituals all to ourselves. Besides, it takes a lot of energy to get it to happen, and often ends in disaster, like someone knocking the manger over, or Boone eats the Baby Jesus bed...

This year there is some debate about who should be Baby Jesus. I will let them figure it out, this is really their Christmas event for themselves, so the decision is their's to make.

Odd animal friendships-it's all the rage, but we knew that long ago

In case you haven't noticed on social media, it's all the rage to post sweet videos of odd animal friendships-emus and donkeys, chickens and cows, dogs and ducks, on and on. I enjoy many of those videos too. Although I do sense many are propped.

Many people are out of touch with Nature and I feel like some of these videos present Disney-ized versions of real creatures. There are people out there that truly believe all pigs are teeny [um, those are called new born piglets] and should dress in clothes and live in houses, or that a horse lying on the cold earth in winter is abused and they call a sheriff [please don't do this, horses love to lie on the ground even in winter].

So, I hesitated somewhat to share my Goose & Llama evolving friendship, but after weeks together, the goose, who we named My Grace, does seem bonded with her llama. And I like that, she has a defender. I find them sleeping together, they eat together, and for the last couple days I've allowed Birdie to go outside and get some sun. I wanted to make sure she was stable enough, the last thing we want is for her to fall or pull something due to her nerve damage as it could set her back.

I now have Birdie on anti-inflammatory pills and we have gone to pills every other day after getting good results for one week of daily pills. The idea is to taper her off as much as possible without losing ground. Nerve damage is a long road of recovery, if at all, so I feel we will go a year before we see what recovery we will have.

But I'm pleased with her progress, and she seems like herself too. She tried to do a little llama 'skip' something they do as they run, head and neck down-it is like a frolic and I so miss seeing her do it, it is pure joy. But she couldn't quite make it work, and I encouraged to stop and stand.Still it was a sign of progress.

So Goose & Llama will not be appearing in any viral videos, I am sure of that, but their friendship does seem real. And lets not forget My Grace was there for our old friend, the World's Grumpiest Pig aka Rosie. I've seen these inter species friendships many times, and sometimes they stick, and sometimes they evolve.

I have a crazy theory that My Grace admires Birdie's long neck, and Birdie admires Grace's neck too and how it can twist and turn.

We celebrate Papi!

Papi turned a year older and we celebrated with him this week. Papi is one of the youngish elders in the Elder Cat Suite, turning 10. When the shelter took him in he had such bad case of urinary issues that he had chewed his penis off. Surgery was done to help what was left, poor chap.

If you have met Papi you know he is not one we have to worry about keeping weight on! The opposite. He is a portly fellow but what is funny is he is always the one to sit back and let everyone else eat first, so I try to give him as little wet food as possible. But on his birthday, we did not measure his intake.

Everyone needs a day off from counting calories, I told him.

{If you are one of the I-Love-Papi-Club people, feel free to send him a donation, or cat food [of course the latter will be hidden in a locked safe}

Will I ever learn

You'd think after all these years I'd learn not to store the Christmas lights in the barn.

Teapot on the loose!

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A post shared by Katherine Dunn / Apifera Farm (@katherinedunnapiferafarm) on Nov 30, 2018 at 8:37am PST

Misfits on the run!

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A post shared by Katherine Dunn / Apifera Farm (@katherinedunnapiferafarm) on Nov 29, 2018 at 5:22am PST