About those dogs . . . see the farmcollie on the far right sneaking in for a playful nip?  That’s Bebe.  She tugged hard on a tuft of old Blue’s fur.  Blue curled his teeth back in a snarl.  It’s a very careful snarl, not too much growl to it, not too much teeth, maybe [...]

Even the chickens huddle up close to the fireplace when the temperature drops and the snow flies.

Really, there’s a fireplace in this picture with the chickens — the back of one, at least.    The wide base of the chimney is the barely visible section of concrete wall jutting out behind the pile of straw on [...]

Gulls aren’t what usually comes to mind when I think of Missouri birds.  We have lots this time of year though.  I took a half hour off for birdwatching earlier this week on a return trip from a family visit near Truman Lake, and I found a flock of gulls just waiting to entertain me.  [...]

It’s the time of year when all things seem possible.  I dream of verdant growth, record harvests, perfect blossoms, and fruit unmarked by insect damage and snacking birds.   My wish list of seeds and plants is long and well over budget, yet still I dream.  I’ll grow long, tall rows of corn and salad greens [...]

The calves got bored with the fenceline meet-and-greet routine pretty quickly.  Or maybe they got tired of being licked.  So they went exploring.  Rosie behaved like a typical new mother, hovering close, keeping an eye on her restless offspring.  She tried to keep them close.  She tried to keep them together.

She’d head one off, get [...]

I was away for most of the day yesterday and left the calves and their mama in the barn where they couldn’t get into much trouble, and where not much trouble could find them.  The coyotes have been too active lately, and a couple of small calves would make a nice meal for the pack.
Unfortunately [...]

I knew that Rosie was about to deliver and had been checking on her at all hours for several days.  Besides that, she was huge.  Seriously, look at this picture (below), taken in the back pasture on a rainy day last week.

For comparison’s sake, here’s a shot taken a few minutes later with the other [...]