More Michigan adventures

Today my new roommate (Jae) and I headed south back into Indiana to pick up a new addition to the colorful menagerie here on the farm. I have mentioned some of the critters here, but, until now, I didn't have pics to go with my comments. I will start today's post with some pictures of the animals residing on the property.

We'll start with the llama (Snickers) and his lovely lady ewes, since I've already mentioned them. Those girls look like they are gonna pop out some babies any day now, but we're still waiting!!

There are also quite a few ducks and chickens running around. The ducks come in a variety of colors, and there are even several Muscovies.

Hershey and Cadbury are the resident meat calves, although they have a long way to go until they are big enough for the dinner plate.

Coyote is Quimby's new bff. She doesn't care so much for the Chunk, but Chunky has lots of love for the puppies of the world.

And, of course, my ponies are right at home amongst all the other creatures.

So what else could we add to the bustling little farm to make it even more colorful? What, indeed! How about this fuzzy little face?

This cute little girl was a "free to a good home" pony-sized molly mule. She's still just a baby at about a year and a half old. The guys who had her seemed to think she was crazy and flighty. Watch this video and see if you think the same thing:

The new mule (we still need a name for her) caused quite a sensation in the neighborhood. Horses and calves couldn't figure out what this strange looking beast was.

Watch the fierce, wild mule on film! And please, leave a comment if you have any suggestions for this little devil's name. One last note... she is NOT mine, she's my roommate's. So far I've refrained from adding more to my own head count!

Llama drama

Today the ponies had a new resident move into their pen. He's black and hairy with a face only a mother could love. They immediately decided he was the ugliest horse they had ever seen, an offense to their refined equine sensibilities.

Snickers, of course, didn't enjoy being the butt of horse curiosity. He just wanted to return to his beloved ewes across the fence.

Snickers is a very accomplished whiner. If you've never heard a llama whine, you can consider yourself very fortunate. It's rather grating and extremely pathetic. As my roommate puts it, "He's the whiniest damn llama I've ever known."

 Zeplin, Layla, and Jazzy converged upon poor Snickers as soon as we dragged him into their domain. I think he was convinced that they were a special breed of llama-eating horses. Zeplin especially wanted to know what he was about, even talking to him face-to-face in spite of Snickers's weak attempts at spitting at him in the cold winter air. Layla took offense that something so ugly wanted HER hay, so she pinned her ears back and charged at him whenever he got close.

When I fed the ponies their evening grain, Snickers was able to take a few minutes while they were distracted to grab a couple mouthfuls of hay. Then it was back to running away from monstrous horses.

I guess we'll see tomorrow if any attitudes have changed overnight...