Water Logged and weekend!

WOW! Last night it rained fairly hard and steady from midnight until about 4am. I checked the rain gauge (I finally bought one 2 weeks ago after ours froze and cracked last fall...talk about procrastination!) and it said about 1.5 inches of rain! That was plenty to make the cow yards go from dusty to sloppy. We were anticipating more rain this afternoon and within the course of an hour and a half we measured another THREE inches of rain! Not that we flood here, but the pasture is the lowest spot (the cattle one) and it was pretty much covered in standing water!

My poor new guinea hens (read below) were drenched to the bone so I grabbed them up and brought them into the big barn where I put them with the Old English Game Bantams for now as its the only pen with chicken wire on it. I sure don't want them flying around free yet until they know that this is home!

The girls (sheep) were not amused I made them stand in the rain for a bit while I went to go open gates and get the barn ready for them to come back in. Their fleeces sure look amazing however! :)

The girls (dogs) were brought into the house just as the first sprinkles were coming and its lucky they did! It was sheets upon sheets of rain and there was standing puddles of water in the grass (or at least it was squishy to walk on!) Its supposed to rain more tonight...And while the barns are high and dry, the pastures might take a bit to dry out...but the rain is ALWAYS welcome!

This past weekend there was a dog show AND the exotic animal auction. I had sent Ell and Mac to live with Barb (Mac's breeder) for the week as I knew I wouldn't make it to the dog show on Saturday due to the exotic animal auction.

Rayna and her mom Sue came to the auction as is tradition and I sold off most of my ducks and chickens and also my last lovebird! I now have only my two pet birds (Kipper the parakeet) and Baby (the hand raised cockatiel) left to place into loving homes. Kipper is seven, and Baby is five.

I happened to purchase a gorgeous pair of Saxony ducks...like the ones that I lost last year to the mink, and I also got a few guinea hens. The extras were sent home with Rayna and her mom. I kept a lavender, a pied and two pearl....and they all turned out to be HENS! My lone male guinea hen should sure be happy.....now if I can only catch him! Sue at the end of the auction also found a silver Swedish drake and a blue swedish drake, which I needed for the three hens I have left so I'm ok for male:female ratios for next spring.

I also did an impulse buy and purchased a Highland heifer calf, but after coming to my senses I sold her to my neighbor who now has 4 of them. she needed company and I needed to save what little money I had! I'm glad I talked myself out of her...even though she was adorable and it was a super deal.

The auction didn't get done until close to midnight and by the time we got home, had supper and got to bed, it was after 1am. I had a lot on my mind and had to get up by 5am for the drive to the dog show in Hutchinson, MN. I woke up, sicker than all get out and extremely tired. I figured that since Barb did such a great job with Mac and Ell the day before, that I'd let her work her 'magic' again and I'd meet up with her later to pick up Ell. Mac on Saturday was BOW for 2 more points and on Sunday Ell was BOW for 2 more points! Ell now has 10 points with 1 major and Mac has 7 points and on the hunt for majors.

Overall it was a great weekend! Now I just need to get over this sinus/head/allergy cold thing and we are back in business!