FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/11/2026
Last day of 2018 is full of rain and bad birds 🐴
It’s such a rainy day today, but at least it’s above freezing:
And the ducks had to be chased away from the road three times this morning:
Stay off the road, ducks, or you’re going on lock-down! 🙀
My favorite kind of chickens 🐓
We received some beautiful handmade chickens for Christmas:
I love these chickens—they’re quiet! 🐔
And here’s Jewel letting off some steam:
Cold ducks 🐴
We had a little snow last night:
Betty is still in “bed,” which to her and Onslow are the saddle blankets in the tack room:
Onslow is already begging to be let outside:
We ran out of mealworms this morning, so the ducks are camped outside the feed shed until more arrive:
Cracked corn alone just won’t do on a cold morning like this. 🐴
Cat safety on the farm 😺
Watch out for those hooves, Onslow:
Find a place where you won’t get stepped on.
This wasn’t what I had in mind. . . 🐴
I saw better weather in London 🐴
It’s a messy, rainy day today, and we’re forced to eat-in:
So here I am posing outside London’s “Walkie-Talkie,” a modern office building nick-named for its shape:
I went all the way to the top!
Way up there is the Sky Garden, London’s highest garden.
Here’s St Paul’s Cathedral:
And the Tower of London:
And of course, magnificent plants throughout:
Here’s another famous London building, the “Shard:”
I’ve been to the top of that building, too! 🐴
Onslow goes after some sparrows 🐴
We’re so happy no one’s trying to put fake antlers on us anymore:
We’re looking forward to a nice day in the far pasture:
Meanwhile, Onslow climbs to the top of the duck pen:
You can see in the upper-right corner that he’s after sparrows:
After the birds fly away, he needs helping down:
Betty would have liked to join him. . .
But she climbed up the wrong side. 😾
Merry Christmas (from those of us who could be caught) 🐎
Merry Christmas from Henry:
From Iris:
From Stormy:
From Misty:
And from RC:
The rest of us beat it out of the stable when we saw the “antlers” coming. . .
But we wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, too! 🐴
All I want for Christmas is a dead vole 😺
Onslow gets reacquainted with a vole he killed yesterday:
Then, he and Betty climbed to the top of the hay barn:
They take turns walking out over the perilous “trestle of doom!”
It’s a long way down, kittens. 🙀
The bird netting caught the wrong sort of bird 🐦
Somebody stuck their bill where it didn’t belong:
Don’t worry, Lilly was rescued with a snip of the scissors.
And here are more London Christmas lights:
🐎
Thirsty kitties 😺
Onslow has adopted the great cat tradition of ignoring the water dishes and drinking from puddles:
And so has Betty:
Here’s Onslow trying to follow Kanna to the top of the duck pen, but this is as far as he got:
Here are some of the brilliant Christmas lights at Piccadilly Circus:
And the famous Carnaby Street:
All down the street are the words to Bohemian Rhapsody. 🐴
Cloudy Friday 🐴
It’s good to be back with the herd:
The kittens have grown. They are exploring the hay barn—
And the stable:
When I was in London, I saw Les Misérables. . .
It was across the street from Westminster’s Chinatown:
I saw Aladdin. . .
The open-air lounge was chilly, but had a great view of the street:
And I saw Hamilton. . .
It was just a short walk from our hotel at Victoria Station:
And across the street from “Little Ben:”
I was dripping with culture (but in the case of Aladdin, it was rain). 🐴
I’m back 🐴
I’m still unpacking and have lot of pictures to share. In the meantime, here’s a video I took at Windsor Castle. We were a little late for the changing of the guard, but we saw them afterwards marching back to their barracks in town:
You will notice they were playing Christmas music. . .
And they were followed everywhere by elves with big guns. 🐴
I’ll be back on December 20th 🐴
I can’t stop yawning. . .
I need a break, so I’m going to England for a week. I’ll share my pictures with you when I get back! 🐴
Warmer but windier 🐴
Security Deputy Kanna keeps lookout on the igloo:
The kittens are at play as usual:
They’ve discovered the hay in the barn, and the feed shed.
I don’t think Evil Cat is too keen on being a baby-sitter. 🐴
Everybody’s happy when the water flows! 🐎
We drained the hoses right last night, so every duck pool was full:
And the water tank under the barn is full as well, so we can have hay in the front pasture:
And Onslow (on the right) is out more and more:
See how big he’s getting?
He loves to explore. Betty does too. . .
But she’s more of a homebody. 😺
Rose racks up the awards 🐎
Oh my gosh!
Look at all of Rose’s awards!
Oh, and look at this:
Emerald green duck heads in the morning sun. ☀️
Kitty capers 😺
Pumpkin has a drink, while the ice piles up:
Betty follows Major Tom onto the snow, where she gets kind of hard to see:
Onslow’s favorite place to explore is the garage, and often he makes himself very hard to catch:
He has also discovered that he loves big cat food:
You’ll be a big cat yourself, Onslow, soon enough. 😺
Sunny Saturday 🐴
The sun felt so nice this morning, I whined and cried until my food was set out for me where I wanted it:
The kittens always can’t wait to be let out:
Don’t worry, cats, you’ll be out and jumping around like rabid grasshoppers in no time. 😺
Three-and-a-half tons of wood chips! 🐴
Chezzie, RC, and Stormy supervise the delivery of 140 50-pound bags of wood chips:
The ducks are spread out in the sun:
And here’s a little movie of me eating breakfast:
Kittens go to the vet 😺
Don’t worry, kittens, you’re in good hands:
Our friend Dr. Dana is giving you your first shots:
No more worms for you, Onslow! 😺
We can still smell the skunk 🙀
The skunk that poisoned the air yesterday has hopefully pulled up stakes—there’s still some stink under the barn, but it’s tolerable.
Anyway, here’s Schrödinger helping the ducks eat their mealworms:
Baldy’s watching our manure being shoveled. It makes a change from bickering all day with Hansel (our other rooster) 🐓:
As for us, we’ve got a bale in the bins and a bale on the ground, so we’re content:
Finally, let’s watch the kittens play!
Chemical weapons attack! 🙀
After our hay, we’ll be way out in the far pasture:
A skunk has really stunk-up the place, especially around the hay barn, where it’s unbearable! 🙀
Finn is telling Kanna she’s lucky she has a cold. 😾
Horse crime! 🐎
Overnight, somebody bumped the gate, because the latch was bent and the gate was knocked off its support block:
It’s a good thing the backup rope and harness were on, or else we’d all be walking down HWY 6! But luckily no harm was done, so we’re all having our two bales as normal:
In kitten news, Betty makes a potty:
And Onslow is trying to catch the camera strap:
That red strap is going to get some tooth marks! 😺
Where’s the clutch? 🐴
What do we have today?
We have Onslow giving us a scary cat face! 😺
What else? Well, where have the ducks been hiding their eggs? Let’s have a look in Bill’s canoe:
Lots of eggs for Bill’s next canoe trip:
It may not look like a lot of eggs, but that clutch is two or three eggs deep! 🙀
And how are we doing today?
Much better: It’s way above freezing, and yesterday’s downpour has melted a lot of snow! 🐎
Lots of snow-melting rain on December First 🐴
We’re having hay inside:
The cats are at their usual places:
Kanna had an extra treat this morning:
A mouse (there goes the tail and the last little leg)! 🐭