a cat at the desk! While I wish I could blame my lack of updates on Mr. Winkles here, the truth is, along with getting sidetracked by work and a fun horse event this past weekend, I haven't had anything very exciting to report. It has been raining in Los Angeles for about a week (very unusual for this time of year) so the chickens have only gotten out a couple of days when the weather has cooperated. All in all, the ladies have really become just a part of my routine. They get let out and fed breakfast scraps in the morning, then I give them a snack of flax and sunflower seeds if I'm home in the afternoon, and then it is time to herd them back inside with an old hummus tub of layer mash. Occasionally Maude will stubbornly refuse to go in the cage, but for the most part I've got her number now and can herd her in within a matter of minutes.
I have to laugh when people ask, "Aren't chickens a LOT of work?" They were at the beginning, but not anymore. I think they take as much work as a cat. They're pretty self sufficient, self exercising, and you just feed them and clean up their poop!
My horse, Africa, is the most time consuming of all my pets, but she is also the most fun! (And I get help with her care since she doesn't live at the house.) Here she is after I gave her a haircut the weekend before last, right before the dismal weather rolled in:
