My friend Debbie is on vacation with her husband this week, so I am helping out on her farm.  Yesterday, Jim and I drove to her home in the country to feed her dog, refill humming-bird feeders, feed fish and harvest from her garden.  Best of all we got to TAKE CARE OF CHICKENS including my former pets, Rosie, Daisy, Violet and Scarlett.

All three ladies came running when we started calling to them.  Debbie has over 60 chickens but these girls are the only ones who jumped for grapes.

I almost missed Daisy’s awesome jump at the very beginning of this video.

Rosie and Violet were in no mood for hugging, but my sweet yellow girl let me hold her for a while.

After we took care of the chickens up the hill, we attended to Scarlett and Carlos who live near Debbie’s house in a roomy coop.

She has grown into a very beautiful bird.

We enjoyed seeing our former pets and were happy to see that they are healthy, beautiful and enjoying a great chicken life with all their new playmates.  We left Rowdy in charge while we were gone.

It’s so quiet here.  I don’t have one single thing to write about that might interest anyone.  I’m going to take a small break from the kittybunnychicken until I get a new batch of kittens, or until something fun, weird or fascinating happens.  I had an idea that I would go back to the beginning and read all 133 posts of the CHICKENDIARY.  Would it be obnoxious of me to repost them one at a time over the next few months?  Oh well, I’m going to do it anyway.  🙂  Maybe some of you will take that walk down memory lane with me.

I’ll take my leave by showing you my little friend “Hummy”.  He/she entertains me while I’m washing dishes.  Enjoy.

I took my last little foster to the shelter today.

She took her little squirrel toy with her so she could smell something from home tonight.  She’ll have her surgery tomorrow and will probably be ready for adoption by Thursday or Friday.  She is beautiful and friendly, and will stay in the kitten room only a very short time.  Maybe she and Harry (he’s still there) will strike up a conversation about the Burlingame Foster home.

Elizabeth and Harry never met, but I’m sure they have lots in common.  Harry was Mulder’s BFF for a while when they were babies.

I am often asked how I can give up these little ones after having them in my home for so long.  It ain’t easy, and I don’t recommend it for everyone.  My sister-in-law Beth could never do this.  When it comes to animals, her heart is made out of cotton candy and I’m sure she couldn’t stand the loss over and over again.  I will admit, I cried like a crazy blubbering idiot the very first time I took my fosters back to the shelter.   I promised myself I wouldn’t do it again, but then I realized how important the job was and how I was kinda good at it.  I have learned to steel my heart enough to make that drive and put my babies in the competent and caring hands of the staff at Montgomery Humane Shelter.  Today I waited until I was fully out of the parking lot before I squeezed out a few tears and then took a big sigh and drove home to my four cats and one bunny.

Elizabeth will be scared, sad and sore tomorrow, but soon she’ll make friends with the other kittens and wait her turn to be chosen as a beloved family pet.  I had a part in making her a very desirable kitten for some nice family and I’m proud of that.  Fostering is my way of making up for all the dumb, mean, stupid stuff I do on a daily basis.  I’m sure it doesn’t average out, but I’ll keep on making the effort just the same.   I hope you enjoyed our little queen as much as we did.  Here is a last video of Mulder and his sister doing their thing one last time.

Peace.  🙂

My last post focused on fowl, so today I’ll spend a bit of time with my other animal species.  Buster and Miss Elizabeth are happily co-existing.  He allows her to perch on his bunny cave and sometimes he’ll even sit with her a while.  Look carefully and you’ll see Mr. Mulder peeking out from the Bunny lair.

You will often find an assortment of kitty and bunny on the bed in the morning when they all come get their morning treats.

He doesn’t seem to mind at all if a group of kittens invades his personal space and lately they are all spending a lot of time together.

But recently I captured the most unusual interaction ever to take place in the Burlingame home between Bunny and Kitty.  Buster has NEVER  allowed another animal to groom him except sweet little Boo Boo, his sister who died a few years ago.

I captured this rare occurrence with my camera and I hope to see much more of it as my two “boys” get used to living together as brothers.

I am constantly amazed at the accepting and loving nature of the animal kingdom.  I feel privileged to be a witness to it. 🙂

Miss Elizabeth met her weight goal and will leave tomorrow.  We will miss her sweet face and adorable personality.  Thank you to the Darnell family for sending her to us to take care of for a while.  We loved every minute.

Mr. Mulder has developed some serious behavioral oddities.  Perhaps it is because he was too young when he was weaned, or maybe he’s just one of those rare creatures who was born to be weird.  He has a serious attachment to the fuzzy pink blanket and he “nurses” on it and makes biscuits.  Jim alerted me to this extra bizarre episode I captured on camera.

We love him despite his strangeness.  Maybe more BECAUSE of it. 🙂

Meanwhile, he’s a comforting big brother to Miss Elizabeth, who continues to grow and thrive under his nurturing care.

And Rowdy does her best to be as cute as possible so that Elizabeth doesn’t eclipse her title of “Queen of Cuteness”.

We continue to be a hot spot for young visitors wishing to play with kittens, bunnies and whatever exotic creatures we happen to be hosting.

Here’s a vase of virtual flowers from my garden.  Lean in close to smell their intoxicating perfume.

🙂

Miss Elizabeth has been on an adventure for three days.  The Norris family invited her to their house while Daddy was a way on a business trip.  (That Michelle is super sneaky!)  So while Nathan was bread-winning in South America, Mother and Children tried to integrate Little Elizabeth into their human and feline family.  She had a great vacation, but alas, the Norris’ kitties, Tommy and Cookie were having none of it.  After three days of trying, Michelle and Will brought Miss E home to the delight of Mr. Mulder.

The kids plan to visit their little houseguest while she remains here gaining weight.  Here are two very cute photos Catherine took of Elizabeth’s visit with her cell phone.

Although Mulder was very happy to have his little sister back, I think he was even happier to see his old friend Mr. Fuzzy Blanket!  Mulder, you are one weird dude.  Don’t ever change. 🙂

You might recall from a few posts back that there is a new children’s book series called Skippyjon Jones. https://kittybunnychicken.com/2012/06/27/mulders-been-moonlighting/

Well they’re not really new, but recently discovered by yours truly.  Skippyjon is a dead ringer for our Mr. Mulder and they have similar personalities as well.  Skippyjon likes to pretend he is a Chihuahua and he has a wild imagination.  He speaks with a silly Spanish accent and has crazy adventures wearing his mask and cape.  I’m a sucker for children’s lit, (send your young ones to my house to borrow from my extensive kiddy kollection) so I had to order a few of these books for myself.  The text is silly and fun and the artwork is downright beautiful.  Parents, beware!  In order to properly read these books to your children, you MUST develop the goofy and politically incorrect Spanish accent.  For a refresher course, you may check out this scene from an American classic, THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ

Or, if cartoons are more to your liking, you might study with the master of silly Spanish, Ren Hoek, of REN & STIMPY fame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjE4MJTtDxs

And to top off the whole weird experience of a grown woman playing with toys, enjoying silly kiddy lit and exposing her weird taste in cartoons to the world, here is the pièce de résistance!

My equally weird pal Tama presented me with a life-sized stuffed Skippyjon Jones of my very own!  The likeness is striking, don’t you think?

This little bandito has lived with our family for almost four months now and I can’t imagine life before he got here.  I recently found an unpublished photo of Mr. Mulder from Easter.

The Skippyjon books are available at the register at Khol’s and on Amazon.com.  No, I’m not getting any kickbacks from the author.  I just wanted to share a great discovery. 🙂

Buster and Mulder are the two fluffy male animals in the Burlingame menagerie.  (Technically Jim is a fluffy animal too, but his fur is not nearly as plush). These two are starting to hang out with each other just a bit.

We trained Buster from babyhood to jump up onto our bed for a slice of banana in the morning.  We bought some soft stairs because it’s too high for him otherwise.  This is a typical scene from our boudoir on any given morning.  Watch til the end when Mulder “discovers” the ceiling fan.

Miss Elizabeth is taking an extended sleepover at the Norris’ home.  So far things are going well.  More on this tomorrow. 🙂

It’s only been three days people!  I guess I should be flattered that some of you can’t get through a 48 hour period without a Kittybunnychicken update.  (I am actually :))  I know it’s because you are anxious for an update on Elizabeth, but I’m going to pretend that my readership misses my scintillating and informative wit and wisdom.  Yeah that’s it.

As you can see from the photo, our girl is resting comfortably.  She is growing very slowly, but growing nonetheless.  Her medication is complete, so she should start improving in size and stamina very soon.  Mulder is doing his best to rejuvenate his little sister.

The family recently spent a nice evening in the back yard and Elizabeth enjoyed the grass, bugs and sunshine.

I took a nice picture of four felines looking north.  You can see Boot’s grave marker in the distance. 😦  She was with them in spirit.  No one enjoyed backyard time more than Bootsie.

Mulder was interested in Jim’s girly white feet.  The boy needs to go barefoot more often!

So, I hope you’ve gotten your fix of the Kittybunnychicken.  I always want to give you your money’s worth.  You ARE paying for this right?

And do NOT tell Jim I said his feet were girly.  I know where most of you live. 🙂