Fall is here, and so is the flue.

The leaves are turning and, as of the crazy wind over the last few days, falling off the trees. There is a slight nip in the air and all around it feels like fall. It's about time. Many cups of chai tea and, today, a warm fire in the fireplace, can I just tell you HOW much I LOVE this, is just a fantastic way to spend the day. The smell of wood burning permeates the house. This is just blissful.

MAT stayed home from school today. Yesterday he brought home a new lunch menu, and a fever, and then later last evening puking...all over the floor. Yay. Thankfully today he is fever less and even more thankfully he is vomit-less. I hope it was a noncontagious and simple yuck and that it is all done in this house, as we are to have company this weekend and have a very important 90th Birthday Party to attend. I really do not want to miss either and I really don't want to be ill, again.

So MAT stayed home and we all snuggled, Mr. T is included in that, unfortunately he is laid off again. Boo, but whatcha gonna do? We are making the best of it. We are rearranging the house, Ok ok, I am rearranging and Mr. T is keeping his mouth shut. I am loving the new arrangement and feeling renewed, which I need knowing that Mr. will be around all the time. I am finding little projects for him to do that don't cost anything but need to be done just the same. So even though it is a bit scary, it is not so scary with simple things like homemade butter on corn bread muffins, snuggling on the couch under a homemade blanket with your kiddo's, in front of the fire, in a room arranged to your specifications, while sipping on some chai tea. So till my next check in I say, things are good all around.

New duckies!

And they were free! My local 4-H poultry lady called me last week, I called her 2 months ago to ask some questions about butchering and to let her know I would happily take any unwanted birds that she heard about.

She ask, when she called last weeks, if I might be interested in some free birds. I said "sure what kinds? How many? Where are they?" She said, "well...there are 30 or so chickens, about a dozed turkeys, 20 or so Muscovy ducks, and some geese too." Taken aback I said "well I can only take 4 or so birds, I just don't have the room."

"Anything will help, the owners are being evicted and cant take any with them." She gave me the address and I went. I brought home only 4 Muscovy's, some adorable ducks, and they fly.

I WISH I had a place for those turkeys, and the rest of the Muscovy's, but sadly we do not. Next year maybe we will get lucky and get some more free birds when we have a place to put them. But for now we have a drake and 3 hens.

They did fly when I brought them home, and after a not so fun trip around the yard to get them back in their pen on the 3rd day, their flight feathers have now been clipped. Maybe next year we will let them grow in so they can fly around the property, once they know where home is. This year they need to be flightless so they stay home, though I am sad they can roost anymore, they are so cute up on the dividing boards in the pen.
So we welcome Hammy the drake, Nancy the brown and white adult hen (they are in the first picture), Franny the white and brown juvenile hen, and Maude the chocolate hen (in the second).

Update on the cat/dog relationship

They are working on it. An ongoing process. Intense negotiations are happening.

Watermelon accepts that the dog is not going anywhere, she is still not happy about it, but she is being far more cordial than she was 3 weeks ago. And Morgan, she is such a GOOD dog, is really trying to be very goo and to keep her prey drive in check. She has accepted that she is not allowed to eat the cat, though she still sometimes gives into her prey drive and stalks her a bit but is quick to snap out of it when notified by a human. Both pets are behaving far more nicely than I expected after the fireworks of the first week.

Now I don't see them snuggling, EVER, but I think they will eventually not have to be watched every second they are on the same floor of the house. So things are great. Morgan has not shown a single sign of aggression towards people, not even a tiny growl, at even the most unexpected or intolerable intrusion of space by the kids. They can pull on her nostrils and poke her eyes and the worst she has done is gotten up and walked away. They have put their hands in her food bowl and she doesn't mind at all. She is just wonderful, we are very lucky to have found her.

Our new addition.

We are announcing a new member of the family!!! We adopted!! That's right folks a new family member and IT'S A GIRL!

This is Morgan.

She is almost 4 years old, an American Stafford shire Terrier mix, and a total sweet heart.

She is a rescue dog from the Humain Society and she was half off because September is adopt a pet month!

This was a surprise because when we went and picked her, last Sunday, there was no hint of a discount. We were gonna take her home anyway, but half off the fee and free obedience training and a really great well behaved and housebroken dog, hey what a deal!

We picked her out last weekend, yes we picked her out when the kids were sick, I know terrible parents. And then Mr. T went and picker up our new girl yesterday, the day he and I both took a sick day because we were both sooooooo ill yesterday. But we had planned to get her before we were ill so he went and picked her up. She is so well behaved, so far is totally behaving by and following the rules, and listens when told to do something. If only the children were as well behaved. Ha!

We have only had one hiccup so far, Watermelon. Watermelon does NOT care for Morgan, at all. And she shouts it from the roof tops . She has not been un-puffy since Morgan entered the house yesterday. And there was even a swatting incident that made Morgan bleed and bark. Her nose is fine and the cats nails have been sufficiently trimmed, sorry Morgan I should have done that earlier, but other than the cats supreme dislike of Morgan she has been a peach. Morgan's opinion of the cat...I am not sure she has one. Until the swatting she seemed rather uninterested. Watermelon refuses to be nice even though Morgan is trying her hardest to be gentle, give her her space and not fight. Watermelon is determined to make something of it. So we are currently on a rotating schedule.

The cat can be out of the bathroom when the dog is on the deck or in the yard. I am not even sure if having the baby gate will give Watermelon and escape route if something would go awry. She seems to want to stand her ground and refuses to head for the hills, and rightfully so she was here first. So that's where we are. One more girl in the house, I have decided I am bound to have boy children so I might as well have girl pets.

Welcome Morgan, we have a place for you right over here, next to the couch, but never on it.