Taking a car full of animals to the retirement home to visit the residents is a lot like traveling with babies. I feel like I have to pack everything, just in case. I have to prepare for all manner of messes. I have the milk, the brush, the wipe rags, the blankies, the toys, the water dishes, newspapers. The feed for the chickens and a collar and leash for the dog. What else?! The lambs will just follow me down the corridor, they don’t need leashes. The chickens are packed into their shiny new, second hand, found at the flea market, travelling cage. 
Minty and Meadow have had their coats picked, their bottoms wiped (well they are babies) and their hooves shined. You can see Meadow in the foreground of this shot trying to steal Minty’s milk! No worries, Minty will outshine her big bossy sister today. 
TonTon had to endure an unspeakably cruel ten minutes in the shower being lathered, scrubbed, rinsed, rubbed dry, then brushed forwards and backwards like a horse. Then I brushed the teeth and trimmed the toenails unlike a horse! The closest thing to a horse I have is Daisy and I am not about to try brushing her teeth, I will tell you that for nothing! 
Life holds such promise.. .. All-ways. All-days. 
Remind me that I have the battery for the camera on the charger. I must remember to put it back in the camera before I leave or you will have no photos of today at the old folks home. For some extraordinary reason my camera battery has begun to behave like my lap top battery. I don’t think I need to explain any further, you know what I mean! Such a bore. 
It is still chilly this morning, so I hope those chickens are cuddling closely to each other. They are quite pretty now but are not Rhode Island Reds which is what I thought I bought. That gold and white is Not Red!
Kupa and his girls had the whole day out of their pen yesterday. Pania and Tui had a lovely day slowly exploring the ground floor of the barn, while Kupa spent an unusual amount of time chasing off roosters. I fully understand why he would want to chase roosters, but he did look a bit silly. What he thought he was going to do if he caught one, I have no idea! Things will calm down soon.
Have a lovely day. I will see you tomorrow. Where did this week go? Did someone put their foot down? This week has raced by!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
46 responses to “Travelling with 10 chickens, 2 lambs, and a dog.”
Ugh, batteries, they’re such pains! I hope you’ve remembered to take it because we’re so eager for your photos. You’ll look like a travelling circus (in the best possible way of course!) going into town with your menagerie and all that paraphenalia! Or Dicken from the Secret Garden. You take such good care of your animals too. Tomatoes already?! We’re still hoping for spring. 🙂
We have tomatoes too. I thought being farther South we were special. Oh well. Clearly we’re not. Off to cry….
Cry louder honey.. I can’t HEAR YOU!!! c
The tomatoes and the grass are growing apace. I hope it goes well at the old folks’ home – lucky them so have such well-prepared animals. I recently discovered that rechargeable camera batteries eventually die. So I had to buy a new set.
OK…normally I’m all over you gushing about your trip to see the Old Codger and pals…I do admire that. But I want to know how you, with your much colder climate, winds, rains, interruptions while you nurse a baby lamb…and you have a tomato! I live in sunny Southern California and I don’t have anything close to what I see in that picture. It’s not photo shopped is it? LOL! You do all things well, Celi! You asked about the doggie visit to my dad in the hospital. The volunteer and her furry friend came into the room, introduced herself and her dog, and stayed about ten minutes. My dad and mom had the chance to pet the animal, but also just to talk about him and visit very casually with the volunteer. Isn’t that great? Like what you do, of course, but my dad is in a traditional hospital recovering from pneumonia–a medical facility! And the dog was then going to go to the local library for a program where children read to him! I love it! Debra
Hi Celi, I hope you had fun at the retirement home 🙂
Sounds like quite a party! Hope you all had a lovely time at the home.
What a sight you all must have made, walking through the halls, making your collective sounds, sniffing as required, and making new friends. Beautiful action, and I’m sure the highlight of many a day.
Beautiful peony, Celi (I skipped my reading yesterday).
The chickens are probably Production Reds; they’re related to Rhode Island Reds, but they’re actually supposed to be better layers. They’re more common these days. I love the idea of taking lambs to the nursing home, brilliant!
Thank you Andrea and welcome. I am hoping these girls will be good layers .. they are quite pretty so far! c
Ah, nice photo of the freshly shorn sheep!
This week certainly raced by! I hope you had a great visit at the retirement home. 🙂
You are a good woman, Celia. What a treat for those folks to have you in their midst.