I was out and about just enjoying myself
Doing this and that
The dog, our dog—Boo Berry Betty—had come out
Then had gone back in.
I was getting a tad bored
So, I headed to the dirt pile
This is a big pile of dirt Dad keeps for
Repairing the roads, and ditch banks
And stuff like that
So anyway, Out I went
It was warm and sunny
I decided Mouse would taste good
Right about now.
When
SUDDENLY I SAW
DANGER
The only thing left for me to do
WAS
SCATTER!
TLC Cai-Cai
“COMPANY! I yelled, TLC COMPANY!”
“Who?” TLC Cai- Cai asked as he lazily walked toward me.
“Loki,
Black Beauty,
and Kia!”
“Oh, I like Black Beauty”
TLC Cai Cai exclaimed!
“I don’t think I like ANYONE!
If Mom stays,
I will be okay— I can handle the company.
OTHERWISE, I AM GOING TO
SCATTER!”
Boo Berry Betty
“Gosh, Boo Berry Betty. Mom and Dad have been B.U.S.Y!”
“I see that. They are going here and there and everywhere on the farm, in the yard, just everywhere.”
“Yes, and you have to FAST if you want to get inside and eat something.”
“Or just get inside, it’s HOT out here.”
“Aren’t you glad we are NOT people? Their work seems so HARD, Boo Berry Betty, we just get to do fun things all the time.”
“Yeh, but—we can’t go in when we want to.”
Why do you worry, you only come outside when you are with Mom?”
“Well, outside is so BIG! I just like inside better.” Boo Berry Betty replied.
“What are Mom and Dad doing now, TLC Cai-Cai?”
“Gosh, Boo Berry Betty, they SCATTERED!”
TLC Cai-Cai and Boo Berry Betty
There is something just marvelous
About
Birds!
Just so you know.
Although, Mom says I like them for the wrong reasons.
Not really, Mom.
I like them because they are….
DO NOT EVEN THINK OF IT!!! Mom yelled at me.
Shish!
Hummmm I like them because they have lift off
They can fly
AND THEY CAN
SCATTER!
They did, lift-off,
and they did
Scatter.
Sigh
TLC Cai-Cai
Okay, dokay, Mom and I were at the Upper End where Mom was busy taking photographs of ever so much,
and I was sniffing the air
from the safety of my little blue seat.
Blue for me. Boo Berry Betty. Boo Berry cereal is blue, so therefore Mom buys me lots of BLUE stuff. Besides, Mom told me blue is her first favorite color with lavender her second. So, my name being Boo Berry Betty told Mom she and I were perfect for each other.
Anyway, I got sidetracked.
Mom and I were out on the farm taking photos and smelling all the cool smells on the farm.
Mom saw the little chipmunk, who lives somewhere in the thicket behind the equipment. This little animal likes to run around on the header for the grain combine. Mom likes to hoover close by to see if she can get any photos of critters who want to run around on the grain header.
Yep, she got a good one! (after Mom put out a small handful of treats 😊) Chippy has a fun smell too.
Then Mom and I drove to the pond between the Upper End and the Back Forty where Mom SAW A BUTTERFLY!
(I smelled a Giant wild, HUGE wild, Doglike thing; I wonder if that is what Mom calls a coyote? I just smelled it; the scent was very faint.)
Mom very carefully tried to get a photo of the BIG white butterfly with black trim on its wings. Mom was hoping to get a really good photo because she thought it might be a Snow Apollos or Rocky Mountain Parnassian, or something like that.
Just as Mom snapped another bazillion shots of the butterfly it lifted up and flew away.
Mom reached out to give me a pat when
WASPS!
Every which, where, and even Up!
SCATTER!!!
Is just what Mom and I did (after a few more photos)
and I was getting nervous.
Mom started the four-wheeler, flipped it into gear and we were GONE!
Boo Berry Betty BROWN!
I know, I know! You think Boo Berry Betty and I, Yours Truly, TLC Cai-Cai are the only ones who can make the hens scatter!
Well, I’m here to tell you—Mom can too. (Sometimes, not often, but, yes, sometimes.)
And the big, loud, HUGE machines can make the hens squawk and run.
BUT—-
Those hens have a few tricks in their feathers, let me tell you.
For one thing—NEVER! EVER! Chase Skitter Bug. EVER!! She has a very pointy, sharp beak. Just say’n.
And—Skitter is very much in charge of her flock and her BIRD SEED!
See Mom scatters bird seed out by the hen run so the birds will stay out of the hen house; the birds like to eat the chicken feed.
So Mom puts bird seed or hen scratch outside the run for the birds.
Now, if Skitter Bug sees the birds pecking around on the food on the ground—
Well, just let me say—
Skitter knows how to make those little birds
SCATTER!
TLC Cai-Cai
“OH!”
“HELP!”
“MOM!”
“HELP!”
“BOO Berry Betty”, Mom yelled,
“Come help me put the chickens away,”
“OKAY, MOM!”
Teeee heee, chuckle, snort!
Boo Berry Betty
I get this “Scatter” thing, Boo Berry Betty. I always scatter when there is a HUGE BIG MOTOR somewhere close.
I mean like RUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Is the word.
And RUN to the house is the answer.
Hiding in the house is the only way to go.
BUT—
Sometimes in the house—
MOM does the unthinkable!!!
SHE VACUUMS!!!
When that happens you and I have to
SCATTER!!!
TLC Cai-Cai
“Boo Berry Betty,” Mom called.
“Come now. The hens need to get out and go scratch around.
Come On. Leave them alone.”
What?!?! Stop? I haven’t even started.
I’m just standing here in front of the chicken house, not doing anything.
“Boo Berry,” Mom swooped down and picked me up.
“No herding chickens until I tell you.”
Off we went to the sidewalk.
Then Mom put me down.
“Here you go. Stay around here and play.”
Then Mom went to mow the lawn and I
RAN TO THE HOUSE
BIG MOTORS SCARE ME
“IN MOM! IN!”
Whew, Thank Heavens.
In. Mom can do her thing WITHOUT ME!!!
Boo Berry Betty
We have a chipmunk…
actually, two that live with me in the farm yard. But Mom can never seem to get a photo of them. These Chips are the descendants of two Chips
who were friends with Sam-Sam.
And Fuzzy.
And Boomer. Now their great, great grands are friends with me.
Since Mom can’t get a photo of them, she is posting one she saw out on the farm—where I NEVER go.
We also have several ground squirrels who share the chicken feed with the chickens.
Once more these are the descendants of Stanly and Stewart and their lovely squirrel wives—Shirley and Shelia.
It seems whenever Mom is around and the squirrels are around, she never has her camera. BUT— out on the farm, Mom saw a squirrel hiding behind his tail. So cute-thought Mom.
We also have a family of bunnies.
Momma bunny told me it was much, much safer to hang around the farm yard, than the farm proper. She knows, she was over by the equipment area when she grew up.
It was a dangerous and very scary place to live.
The Gambol Quails have migrated in to share dinner with the hens. They are extremely fast. (and, of course, Mom never has her camera when she is working in her yard.)
The pair of Gambol Quails have BABIES— that run and dart very fast. I have a goal….no! No! NO!!!! I don’t. Never! I can’t even think of that goal! EVER!!!!
One day I was a tad bored, Skitter Bug was close, I was bored so I hopped out from under the peony bush right on her back. (Mom saw). Mom screamed NO!
She didn’t need to scream.
Skitter Bug turned around very fast and pecked the heck out of me, then when I fell over, she flew up and pounced on ME!
Let’s just say—hens are off the grocery shopping list. (Although to be fair to me, I didn’t want to eat her, just play with her.)
We have
birds,
and birds
and
lots of birds.
One day we had a hawk…
WOW, THAT BIRD IS BIG!!!
I had to hide in the wood pile. Mom was outside and saw the hawk. She yelled at the hawk—“SHOO! Go away!
(I’m not sure if this IS a hawk—any ideas?)
These animals in the farm yard are NOT your dinner.” The hawk just looked at Mom, but he did fly away.
So—that’s the working list of animals in the farm yard.
Plus, Me, Dad, and Mom.
(We also have a badger…Mom…did you hear me?)
TLC Cai-Cai
Life on a Colorado Farm 