The Latest and Greatest

So - here we are on an exciting Tuesday morning.  Winston is outside playing until the lawn mowers come later this morning.  He loves them but is afraid of the equipment so he prefers to hang out inside while they do their thing.

Emma has been out and about this morning and now she is lounging on the bed while I type this.  She is feeling quite frisky this morning.

The ferrets are up and about playing outside and inside and with each other - they are wild little children!

The kitties are all three doing well - they have had their canned food and Phoebe and Ollie have had their meds.

I have critter land chores to do today so I will be in and out of their area quite a bit.

The little critter seem to love going outside during the day.  I am so happy they like it.  Winston likes having them outside as well and can often be found napping next to their play space.

Our sweet little birdie Lauren is doing well this morning - she was in her nest when I checked on her. I have moved a bird bath and feeder not far from her location - I don't want it too close as other birds will visit the feeder and I don't want any of them disturbing the nest but I also want to make it easy for her to get to food and water.

Babies on the Porch

I am so excited!  Yesterday I went to water my poor droopy plant on the front porch only to find a birds nest had been built in the plant and it has four eggs in it.  After some Googling once I saw the mommy bird I determined that it is a Carolina Wren!

You can barely make out the eggs....

From the top you would never know its a nest

I found this great page with lots of info on Carolina Wrens - http://www.animalspot.net/carolina-wren.html

I ordered some yellow Do Not Enter tape that I will put around her area - its where the UPS guy drops packages and I don't want her to be scared.  We should have little babies soon and if she likes it here the article says sometimes they will do 2-3 broods over the summer.  Fingers crossed!!

Pet Peeves

It's been awhile since I posted an edition of Pet Peeves.  For the most part my sweet furry children bring me much joy and happiness - but - there are things that make me nutty the little darlings do....

For instance - yowling at the critter land door.  OMG - Oliver!!  He is a very vocal cat...he talks and talks and talks and talks some more.  Regardless of whether you are with him or not - he talks.  He could hear voices of visitors in the living room and proceeded to yowl at the door.  He never tires of meowing it seems so he can yowl for hours....joy....  He has gotten in trouble twice today for yowling - not going to deal with it every day.  He is doing this because he got attention when we had people staying with us.  So obnoxious.  Phoebe (kitty) tries meowing occasionally but if you holler at her she stops immediately because she can't stand to be in trouble.

To add to yowling - Emma (dog) is a yipper.  In her old age she is quite chatty....so - when she goes outside for 6 seconds to do her business she will yip at the door until you let her in.  If you don't let her in for an hour - she will yip for an hour.  She yips if you are in one room and she is in another.  She yips if she hears you talking to someone (human or critter) that is not her.  She won't stop when she is told and she never tires....she and Oliver need a sound proof room so they can yip and yowl together....

Piglet (Winston) - well - he is still head swiping on occasion.  It happens when I stand next to him with my legs even to his ears.  I think that because he has such limited peripheral vision that he finds that spot threatening in some way because he can't see what I am doing.  He swipes and then he gets in large amounts of trouble and then he pouts.  Swiping is much better since we trimmed the tusks - at least he isn't accidentally drawing blood....crazy pig.  Oh - and the fact that he is a giant pink turd to guests.  I have my fingers crossed he will outgrow that eventually.



The girl kitties and the ferrets are not currently on my list.  They are all pretty go with the flow so they aren't doing anything to make me crazy - but give it time.  All of them have been and will be on this list again....

I love my yowling, yipping, swiping little dears.....



 

A Busy 9 Days

Wow!  Our crazy 9 days of people staying with us is coming to an end.  The bulk of our company leaves tomorrow.  The critters will be quite happy to get back to a regular routine.

The littlest critters are probably the least impacted....they get less 'mom' time and things have been so busy that I haven't done a great job of keeping up with the cleaning necessary in their area but other than that they aren't really impacted by company.  They have to sleep in their bedroom rather than having access to their full area but now that they have access to outside during the day they really don't seem to mind.

Emma has been good - she likes having company - lots of targets for begging for people food, getting love and attention and play time.  She has done well this week.  My mom's dog Quincy is here and she has enjoyed some dog play time as well.

Winston is definitely the most impacted when we have guests.  He is inside a ton more than he or I would like because he is such a pink turd when it comes to visitors.  His schedule gets all outta whack and he really would just prefer his humans and his schedule and nothing else.  It doesn't happen like that all the time little piglet - so sorry....

He did well with my cousin - but - he still feels the need to send a pink turd message that he is higher in the herd every now and then.  I think tomorrow will be close to back to his regular routine with Wednesday being a regular day.  All in all he has been a pretty patient pig - spending lots of time in his room without putting up a fuss.  As I type this he is napping on the patio.

Emma is sacked out on the living room floor, the kitties are sleeping outside in the sun and the ferrets are in various sleeping spots throughout their area.

All in all - things are good at the zoo!!!

Happy Birthday Tabby and Kai!!

July is a busy birthday month - today Tabitha and Kai turn 2 years old!  Time goes so fast!  Tabby and Kai joined our crazy little zoo in November of 2014.  I would be remiss if I failed to mention my sweet Harlow - it would have been her birthday as well but sadly we lost her to a systemic disease called FIP last September.  We miss her very much but we are thankful that we see lots of her personality in her siblings each day.

The ferrets all got play time, Ferretone - their favorite supplement and a tiny bite of a yogurt covered pretzel - their absolute favorite people food treat....

Kai is still my wild and rambunctious child - full of piss and vinegar each and every day.  He is very affectionate and he loves to play.

Tabitha is my beautiful, petite girl.  She is very sweet but fiercely independent.

What's that you say?  It's my birthday - perhaps I should get up from my nap...

Nothing like a good birthday wrestle to start the day off:

The litter mates - Tabby on the left, Kai on the right

Wrestling with a little help from Bash

And a heavenly happy birthday to my darling Harlow - I hope she is having a big party with Nigel the hedgehog, her ferret brothers Clooney and Finn, her kitty sisters Zoey and Isabel and her Grandpa....

This was taken on her first birthday - which we were so lucky to celebrate with her.  No one thought she would make it to that date - we actually got an additional three months with this sweet girl.  Miss you my cutie!

Winston Made a New Friend

Usually when we have new people at the house I post about what a giant pink turd Winston was.  I am happy to report that he was a sweet pink boy today instead.

My cousin is visiting and he and Winston totally hit it off.  There was no head swiping, no lunging, no nipping.  He got cookies and flopped over for belly rubs.  He was quite the well behaved little piglet.

What was the difference you might ask?  I am convinced that the difference is fear.  The people who are unsure about the pig or who are afraid/intimidated by him are the ones who experience Pink Turd Syndrome.  The people who show him no fear are the ones who he is super well behaved with.

I am happy to see him making friends with people other than us and I am glad that people other than me get to see what a sweet boy he can be.

Winston's Birthday

Winston's birthday happened to fall at a time where things here are whacky busy.  His birthday is on the 3rd of July - I cannot believe he is 2 years old!  I guess in some ways I can't believe he is only 2 - I can't remember or imagine my life without a pig...

The 3rd was packed with errands and chores and events and Winston didn't get much of a celebration - lots of extra loves and some cute birthday hat pics.  So - I decided that we would officially celebrate today - which unfortunately wasn't a whole lot calmer.  Little dude got some 4th of July sunglasses and a birthday balloon which he wasn't all that interested in.  He was very excited about the frozen strawberry fruit bar cut up and covered with strawberry yogurt.  He also got four or five Hot Tamales - that pig loves those little candies....

Yes - I had to break out the mop - he is worth it!  And yes - he desperately needs a bath!!!