Latest miniature horse foal

Here is our latest miniature baby, probably the last one for 2008. Dad is Batman and Mom is Unicorner Serrano or "Sera" for short., she is a lovely black mare sired by Bristol Pepper Rey (a grandson of Chianti).

Speaking of love...

This is Apollo....

Isn't he beautiful?

Xena (Shire x Percheron) + Apollo (pure Friesian) = a dreamy baby!

With the help of UPS and Doc Edwards we hope we have a gorgeous baby next spring!

This was our first experience with artificial insemination for our horses.

Then we got the bright idea to see what will happen when you breed a miniature to a draft horse... Batman + Freda?

We will see next April!

Love is in the air...

Or something like it...
Our little cat Ellie-Mae has been calling and calling... then she started spraying all over the house. We knew it was time to make a decision to spay or breed her. She is a 3/4 Birman from Annbirwaves Cattery's cinnamon point breeding program. She has very nice Birman type and GORGEOUS deep blue eye color but we didn't know if she had inherited the sought-after cinnamon gene.

Luckily there is now a test to see if a cat carries the cinnamon gene. It only requires swabbing some saliva from the inside of the mouth. The test is done at University of California at Davis,
http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/cat/.

So I sent it off and received the results yesterday. I highly recommend them! Very prompt and only $40. We found out that she is not a carrier so off to the veterinarian she went today to be spayed. This service is so welcome, no longer will we have to test breed cats to find out if they carry the preferred (or not preferred) colors.

Cock-a-doodle-doo

Last time I was at Ann's house, two of her little bantam roosters were having a crowing contest. Amazing how much noise can come out of a little bird! Guess that's why Bob says NO everytime I mention getting some chickens.

Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day with family. All the ladies at church received carnations and Randi received special recognition as the "Newest" Mom. Here is a photo of mom and daughter, Rylie.

Last year's "baby" is growing up, here is mom Karla with Kade.After church we ate lunch and relaxed at cousin Steve's. Here are my two aunts enjoying working their Sunday crossword puzzle.

Bob's Photos

I mentioned that Bob bought a new digital camera... here are a few that I picked out of the hundreds he has taken in the last few days... a very nice telescopic lens allows for some neat photos.

Here are two of our babies playing... the larger filly is the youngest, that's Fancy, the smaller one is one of our miniature colts and yes, he is standing up... He also still needs a name, any suggestions? It will be Unicorner Rowdy B........ something that starts with a B. His full brothers have been Rowdy Batman, Rowdy Behavior, and Rowdy Belus.

Tunis lamb - Sienna

This is the youngest lamb on the farm. We call her Sienna, she has wonderful red coloring and very nice conformation. Thanks to Bob Bartholomew for letting us have her and her mom. Thanks to DH (Darling Hubby) Bob for the photo too. He has a new camera and there should be lots of photos now!

Another use for wool...

When trimming the hedges we discovered this birds nest from last year. Apparently the birds know a good use for wool!

Connecticut in Springtime

My friend and fellow cat judge, Ann and I went to Connecticut to judge a show near New Haven. We rented a car in Hartford and just drove around the state. The first day we visited Dinosaur State Park near Rocky Hill.

Then on Saturday we found a Daffodil Festival to attend in Meriden, as well as a Wool and Fiber show near Hartford. Here's some views from the Daffodil Festival.

They had a lot of things going on, parades and bands, lots of arts and crafts booths and a big tent with all kinds of festival food. I tried the fried Oreos, like they weren't fattening enough by themselves...?

The CT Wool and Fiber Fest in Vernon was a lot of fun too. They had lots of wool related vendors and some educational demonstrations. Not only sheep wool either, they had angora rabbits and alpacas there as well. They were also giving oxcart rides to the kids.

The Geneticats cat show was Saturday and Sunday in Ansonia. We judged about 150 cats each on Sunday and had a great time. Lots of wonderful entries, I especially enjoyed seeing some of the rarer breeds like Chartreux and Egyptian Mau and the new Peterbald and Savannah.

Our Fancy Filly

Goldie's fine filly, "Fancy" is growing like the weeds. Goldie has finally relaxed and isn't taking motherhood so seriously these days.

Muddy horses

We have been having weekly rains which we are thankful for. They are great for the growing grass, but as you can see the minis stay quite muddy. Here is a photo of Robin and her gorgeous son (who needs a name) walking in step.