Mulder’s first Christmas was a fruitful one. Some of his presents were a big hit.

MONKEY PUPPET!

Other gifts didn’t go over so well.

Kill me now.

Mom, tell Rowdy to stop makin’ fun o’ me!

Just TRY and put a sweater on me!

Mulder says he hopes your Christmas was Merry! 🙂

Last week we visited the farm of a good friend.  Brenda might be familiar to some of you who read my old blog www.mychickendiary.com.  She is my pal Skeeter’s mom, and she was a huge supporter of my fight to keep my chickens last year.  She even made a decoupaged box for me decorated with images of my chicken adventure.

Anyhoo…she owns a farm with some animals that don’t necessarily fit into the kittybunnychicken, but who are definitely worth a post! 🙂

Brenda’s granddaughter, Hudson (also a frequent visitor to my old and current blog) is a ten-year old kid who stays with her grandparents quite often, and is living the kind of childhood few modern kids get to experience.  Brenda and her husband raise miniature horses as well as “regular-sized” ones.  This little guy is a favorite named “Smacky”.

Hudson explained “all things horsey” to Jim–a city boy in the first degree.

Jim’s tired and often-told joke is, “I rode a horse once.”  So funny I forgot to laugh!

It wasn’t easy, but Hudson talked Mr. B into getting into the buggy with her.  That nervous look on his face betrays his true feelings about the ride.

Hudson was gentle with Jim, but later showed us some speed after “fraidy-pants” dismounted.

Brenda introduced me to Clyde, her Belgium beauty.

Brenda called him the “Fabio” of the horse world.  You could just tell this guy thought he was “all that and a bag of chips!”  Make that a bag of oats.  I also got to meet my old friend Maybelle.

Last year I was the beneficiary of Maybelle’s milk.  I’d provide the empty containers and Skeeter would bring me fresh, whole unpasteurized milk from her mom’s farm and Maybelle’s generosity.  Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.  Elixir of the Gods!  Maybelle is preggers again so I’m getting my empty milk jugs ready for filling!

At the end of our visit, Brenda loaded us up with some just-cut sugar cane, cane syrup (they press it on their property using Mule Power!) and the stinkiest broccoli we’ve ever encountered.

Jim and his bounty

Brenda harvested the pungent veggie while she was chatting with Jim, and apparently, fresh-cut broccoli puts the store-bought kind to olfactory shame!  These were the tenderest, most flavorful flowerettes we’ve ever eaten and also the stinkiest.  The smell still lingers.  It’s broccoli, I swear! 🙂

The best part of our visit happened after we left.  Brenda asked Hudson to gather up all the miniatures (20 in all) toward the barn so they could be handy for Christmas visitors to play with.  In her search for tiny horses she found the tiniest.

Little “Sparkle” is the newest addition to the family, and newly discovered by the fifth-grade farm hand.  Can you imagine having so many horses that you just happen to “find” a new one?

All worked stopped for the day while Brenda, Hudson and Skeeter played with the new baby.  We were almost all the way home (45 minute drive) with our freshly murdered Christmas tree hanging out the back of Old Blue so we couldn’t turn around to meet little Sparkle.  These adorable photos Skeeter sent from her cell phone will have to suffice til we can get back to the country to meet the little guy.

Have yourself a “Horsey Little Christmas” Hudson! 🙂

I have my chicken coop back for a few months so I thought I might as well make the most of it.

Last year, my girls Rosie, Daisy & Violet were the inhabitants of the only decorated chicken coop in Central Alabama (that I know of).  They even had their own stockings!

This year, however, the coop is adorned with generic stockings, garland, ribbon and tacky lights.  My aim was to copy the decorating skills of that famous cartoon character with the tricked-out dog house.

It really shows up at night and I think Snoopy would definitely approve!

I placed it where it can be seen from all angles if someone is walking by Casa de Burlingame.

And since I don’t have any live chickens this year, I hired some neighborhood extras to dress up and add to the scene.

They work cheap and their wardrobe costs next to nothing.

This year, my girls will spend Christmas with my good pal Debbie and her beautiful flock.  Although I don’t think Debbie will decorate her giant Chicken habitat with colored lights and tinsel, I’m sure that each chicken will have their own stocking to hang for Santa.

Right Debbie? 🙂