Pippi's Opinion

Pippi, aka Peepers, Rodent, Rat Dog, *&#@(&^, etc. recently shared her opinion of Mr. MoonCat while occupying the couch with him.  I told him that it is unclear if she was commenting on his breath or his attempt at whistling.  Could be a combination of both...


What ARE you doing Daddy?



Ewwww, what IS that?



Make it STOP!!!


Just a note, Mr. MoonCat CAN NOT whistle.  It is a major cause for amusement around here.  I have to call/whistle for the dogs (or he has to yell for them) because when he tries to whistle, the dogs all just look at him with their heads cocked to the side as if asking "Why is the air escaping from Daddy's face while he turns blue?  Why doesn't he just have Mom whistle for us?"

Our Other Selves

My friend Susan pointed out that I needed to post a few pictures of Mr. MoonCat and I in our Renaissance Faire garb.  I'd been writing about all of the new outfits that we would like to make with our LA Loot and she requested some photos.  So here are some from the last few years; I hate having my picture taken, so there aren't an abundance of me :)  Hubby on the other hand is a ham, so I will have even more of him in the near future.

I think these are in order, timewise:

Me, left.  The lovely Aimee, right. (2006)

My first faire in (borrowed) WOOL garb,

105 degrees - miserable.

 

Dressed as Pirates for a charity event

2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie premiere (2006)

My man at my feet (2007)

notice his long hair

Our Big Day (2008)

He cut his hair to surprise me!

I loved it :)

Our tavern garb (2009)

he helps behind the bar - I shop

Some of his old, old garb in need

of replacement (2010)

So that's it for now.  I'll dig up some more photos in the near future.  You can see my hubby in his Nobles (fancy) garb where he portrayed Lord Huntley, George Gordon.  I renamed him Lord Pompousassedness as he played his character a little too well!  I still call him that when he gets a little too regal, royal or flat out obnoxious :) 

Our Newest Residents

I did manage to get a few photos off my flash card.  These are the two newest members of the family:

Pippi

This is the pipsqueak, aka Pippi.  I have to admit right up front that I have always been a big dog fan.  Noisy ankle-biters have never been my thing.  Until now I guess.  Little Miss Thing showed up at our place a few days before Mom passed away.  Someone had apparently dumped her off out in the country and she found her way to us.  I didn't want another dog and tried really hard to not become attached to her while we found a home for her.  Since this is a smart little cookie, she sidled up to Mom and took to sitting in her lap.  Mom declared "This puppy is already home."  End of story.  Pippi is now the resident princess/tyrant here at MoonCat Farms. She terrorizes the poor cats and occasionally gets walloped by one or two of them.

Small, Medium, and Large

On a sucky and sad note, we lost Mom's old dog Xena last week.  We figured she was at least 14 years old and hadn't been well for a while.  Personally I think she'd been holding out for Mom.  We sure miss them both terribly.  (This is the only photo I could find of Xena around here.  She used to hide when she saw the camera ~ I'm thinking she was of that belief that a camera could steal your soul.)


RIP Xena Warrior Princess

As promised, here is another photo of the hubby's new horse, Swifty.  Both he and the hubby were not pleased with having to stand for a picture.  They had just come back from a trail ride and were anxious for some refreshment.  Swifty craved some crunchy grains and Mr. MoonCat was craving some liquefied grains (beer).  They are quite the pair already.

Swifty & Mr. MoonCat

I Married the Chicken Whisperer

Sorry I've been off the grid for a bit.  I've been reading and reviewing up a storm over at One Book Shy as well as doing a lot of varied stuff around here.  Some of that includes watching the hubby's baby chooks grow up FAST!  (Notice they are now HIS - it's a love affair.)  The girls are doubling and tripling in size every week it seems.  Except for Midge, I think she is either a Banty/Bantam or just a runt.  Either way she is a tiny terror.  She beats up and bullies the bigger girls.  They all seem to tolerate the little tyrant.  She also has a thing for pecking at my toenails....

Midge (r) next to the "normal" sized girls

Now that the chickens have full use and access to the entire chicken run, it was getting a bit interesting trying to get them all into the coop at night.  It was a 2 person job until the middle of last week.  Something finally clicked and they all figured out that nighttime = bedtime!  We ~ usually HE ~ just have to go out now and close the little trap door & they're all snug in the coop until morning.  Yay!

These are some of the photos Mr. MoonCat, aka "The Chicken Whisperer" took for us yesterday evening.  Can you believe how much they've grown in a week? BTW, the hubby has HUGE hands so for reference, it takes me two hands to hold the hens that are posing for his photos..

Messy eaters

Henrietta Hen

Stella the "Chicken Whisperer's" favorite girl
Do I sound jealous?

ALWAYS eating..

Nap time

Christmas Shopping in July

I am one of those people who like to have their Christmas shopping done by, oh say Halloween?  I hate the last minute rushing during the holidays.  It drives me nuts.  I want to be able to enjoy myself (and let's be honest, buy things for myself since I'm not having to shop for others at this time of year...)  Hello sales!

So I have been spending a lot of time shopping creatively online lately.  Being home with Mom makes it hard for me to run around and find the things that I want for my family and friends. 

Today I'm looking at knives on a neat site I just found called The Knife Depot.  Mr. MoonCat and Dad are both most likely going to end up with something sharp and pointy in their stockings.  ~ Good thing neither of them pays much attention to what I write on a daily basis.  If you are on here today, you're getting sticks...sharp and pointy sticks..

For Mr. MoonCat, I'm looking at a folding knife like this one:

Pops is probably going to get a pocket knife similar to the one below:

 

 

Mrs. MoonCat is most likely going to get this beauty:

  

The handle is made of 100% post consumer "Paperstone".  Practical and pretty - I must have it. :)  See how easy it is to get off track when shopping for gifts for others.  But in my defense...today's my birthday.  So look to the right to see what I'm getting myself.....he he

 * A little vocabulary lesson ~ I do enjoy words after all: 

• knives is the plural of knife
• knifes is the act of stabbing or knifing someone

Just so you know....

  

Back in Action

I've missed all of you!  I apologize for the long lapse, but I can tell you that we've been extremely busy.  Thank you so much to those of you who checked in on us; we all appreciate you thinking of us.  I promise, I'll be better now and update you on all that's been going on here at MoonCat Farms....

~~~~~

Mom is doing well.  She's still wheelchair bound, but she's determined to get back on her feet for more than a few minutes at a time.  I've been keeping her busy hulling strawberries and going through boxes for our monster yard sale in July.

We had some very dear friends here for several days.  Linda is one of mom's dearest friends whom she misses very much as she lives several states away now.  This is a photo of her with her husband and their adorable dog, Cappy.  I love Border Collies and would have kidnapped him in a second!

While Linda was here, some other dear friends also came for dinner.  Mr MoonCat outdid himself with some fabulous ribs which made my side dishes pale terribly in comparison.  We all really enjoyed the visit, especially Mom.

~~~~~

Obviously I'm back online again!  I am so far behind on EVERYTHING:  email, blogging, reading the posts of my lovely friends, etc.  I was happy though that I managed to save everything from the laptop.  I was so fed up though, that I bit the bullet and bought myself a new desktop.  I had been wanting one for ages, but really couldn't justify it. 

But, wait for it........I won $2500 on a slot machine!!!!  I was just about bouncing through the roof. This hand was DEALT to me!   So after paying several bills and taking care of a few things, I decided that the money had dropped into my hot little hands at this particular moment for a reason - I needed a new computer!  The best part was that I hadn't gone there with any of my own money.  They were having a promotion and had sent me a $40 voucher and a free meal coupon if I'd come in that day.  I am SO tickled that I took them up on it.  It was amazing!

So one of the coolest perks of all of this is that the laptop is also back up and running.  I was being a tightwad and decided I'd fix it myself or it'd die from my trying!  I completely wiped it and started it back from scratch.  It's now behaving beautifully.  So I have my lovely new big guy in my sewing room/office and the laptop is used primarily as a back-up in the living room.  I do a lot of work on the couch while watching the Star Trek Next Generation reruns every evening.  "Tea - Earl Grey - HOT!" 

~~~~~

I'll leave the massive garden update for another post, but I will show you what Mr. MoonCat is up to - besides getting all of his lovely curls chopped off for the summer..

Beuford - The Roping Dummy Steer

This is Beuford.  He is a dummy steer for practicing roping.  I can rope enough to help out at brandings and working cattle, but I'm not a competitor.  Mr. MoonCat doesn't know how to rope, but is insisting we keep Beuford in the front yard anyway.  Of course, he IS the cheapest of all of our pets to feed.

Below is Beuford with a dummy sitting on him...

"It's the other direction, dear.."

And finally, my beloved hubby - Mr. MoonCat.  Gotta love him....(I have a piece of paper that says I must, by law.)

"Thank goodness he has no aspirations to ride bulls.."

My Husband is a Dung Beetle

Male beetle moving ball of  dung with his hind legs

First off, let me state for the record that I did not call him this.  At breakfast this morning, he told Mom and I that he is the dung beetle of the family.  While this is not a normal conversation in the majority of homes, it is really not a super surprising one for this group.  We obviously aren't normal anyway so let me try to explain this statement.

When we were camping last summer we came across a funny sight while hiking.  I was in the lead and had to stop as I saw something rather strange:  it looked like a little turd moving along the path in front of me.  Upon further investigation, we found that it was a dung beetle with a rolled up ball of poop.  He was rolling it uphill and in a very straight path - over pebbles, twigs, whatever.  He was a persistent little guy as the ball was about three times his size and it was very unwieldy.  We must have spent about fifteen minutes just watching as this amazing little creature kept to his task.  He was the epitome of the saying that "the impossible is possible if you keep at it".

Now, the reason Mr. MoonCat popped off with this little gem today is that he had done some reading on these fascinating little bugs.  We were talking this morning about how ants can carry many times their own weight and we told mom about seeing the little dung beetle at work.  Hubby's ENTIRE basis for saying that he is the dung beetle of OUR family is that the males are the ones who do all the work in dung beetle couples.  They usually roll up the ball of poop and move it to wherever the female designates while she directs or even HITCHES A RIDE while he's working! 

Mr. DungBeetle moving poop while being directed by Mrs. DungBeetle

If this hadn't hit me as so funny, I might think about being offended, but I chose to laugh my butt off at him.  (It's especially significant today as I "requested" that he move around a bunch of furniture yesterday..)

I did some reading myself on dung beetles and was really amazed to learn how beneficial they are to agriculture.  They can be found on every continent except for Antartica!  I had already known (from my dad) not to kill any that we found out in the manure pile at the ranch but really didn't know why.  I've learned that they help keep down the fly population and thus the spread of disease in livestock because they make the manure inhospitable to the fly larvae and maggots.  Learn More Here about them and how dung beetles are a very beneficial part of managing and sustaining pastureland. 

I hope you enjoyed yet another insight into the not so ordinary happenings (and conversations) here at MoonCat Farms.  And just for the record, I did NOT hitch a ride on his back while he was moving furniture - I directed. 

photos courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.org/

Garden in Progress

Mr. MoonCat has been toiling tirelessly (do I get extra points for that?) getting our veggie garden up and running.  He spent much time plotting and planning:

He consulted with the locals:

He put up fencing:

He laid out raised planting beds:

He fenced in the chicken coop and built the compost bins and a potato box:

He received approval from the overhead supervisor:

He received a well-deserved kiss from his appreciative wife - no photo!!

Hello, My Name Is... 100th Post!

Trisha from Mom Blogs at MomDot wrote about how we, as bloggers all introduce ourselves when we first set up our "About Me" page. We then forget about it and start posting. That is all we really tell about ourselves other than our day-to-day posts on our day-t0-day lives. We then just associate other writers as the blogger known as MoonCat Farms, not a person named Julie behind the words.

Trisha set up an "Introduce Yourself to Your Neighbor" round-robin/Mr. Linky type of event in order for us all to learn a few things about the people that we're conversing with regularly. Important things such as my name is really Julie or Jules, not MoonCat Farms and the hubby is not legally named Mr. MoonCat, but Michael - although it does have a ring to it.


I thought it would be fun to join in and share some of my info as well since this also marks my 100th post! I was going to do a giveaway to celebrate, but I think I'll just give away some information - much more valuable. I will be doing an actual giveaway of something tangible that you can hold in your hot little hands in a couple of weeks. It will be my 1 year blogiversary and the beginning of OWOH or One World One Heart 2010. You can click the icon to the right or read my post about it here.

On to some valuable dirt on the MoonCat Farmers...ummm, Julie & Mike.

• We are both firm believers of lazy weekend mornings, he likes Saturdays for the cartoons, I like Sunday just because I do.



• My favorite author is Diana Gabaldon. After we got together, I made him read the first book "Outlander" because he is my "Red Jamie". He insisted we use a part from the book in our wedding vows....



• We love being an auntie and uncle and are hoping to add a child to our life this year and finally become parents ourselves.



• I like rock music and he likes country. I grew up on a ranch listening to country and he grew up as a city slicker listening to show tunes.



• I rarely wear anything but pants and he regularly wears a skirt - I mean kilt...



• We both enjoy fishing. I catch them, he cleans them.



• I am the proud owner of a Fantasy Football team. I play with several guys I grew up with. Hubby watches a lot more NFL since meeting me.



• We both have natural, very curly hair. My father once remarked that if we ever had a child, "that THING would have some WILD hair!" Thanks Daddy.



• I am still extremely close to a group of friends that I have had since I was six years old.



• Michael played the part of "Lord Gordon" in Renaissance Faire. I dubbed him "Lord Pompous-Assedness". I was a serving wench that he dallied with once or twice.



• We met online!



• He is ex-military and I am ex-law enforcement.



• We both enjoy cooking and way too much eating.

Well, I think that takes care of some of the burning questions you've had about the MoonCats. I hope you can now rest easier knowing that I hate to gut and clean my own fish! This has been fun for me and I hope you'll go by Trisha's blog here to learn more about her and some of the great bloggers that are participating. It really is cool to be able to put more of a name and face to some of the fabulous writing out there.

Hey while you're still here...look at the poll I have posted to the top right. Do me a favor and click on a few of the things and let me know what you think. It's quick, easy & anonymous and it will help me out with knowing what you'd like more or less of. Thanks gang...

Hope you'll stay with me for the next 100...

Mr. Mooncat and Celie

For your viewing pleasure, a Mr. Mooncat story told in photos. (Explanation is at the bottom in case you can't fathom what in the world he's doing....)

I'm sure you're scratching your head & saying "Huh?" about now. Let me give you a breakdown:

Mr. MoonCat installed a doggy/Kitty door to the garage so we could put the litter boxes out there. (We don't use the garage for cars, just mile-high stacks of boxes, laundry, and now litter boxes.) We began having problems with Celie (Princess P) refusing to use the kitty door. She would wait for one of us to open/close the garage door for her or she'd have "accidents" during the night. (She is hubby's completely spoiled rotten little beast.)

Photo 1 was taken must minutes after it was done. Notice Petootnia using it right away, she's our explorer, aka Brave Kitty.

Photo 2 is the hubby showing Porkchop and Hammy the kitty door. Celie is in the garage - on the opposite side of the door.

Photo 3 is Mr. MoonCat "reasoning" with Miss Celie. (Notice Porkchop's rapt attention - on the toy)

Photo 4 is the view from the garage side.

Photo 5 says it all. Celie became extremely bored with the entire episode and went to sleep.

This is my life............................

(Princess P/Celie has conceded. After a few nights spent in the unheated garage, she decided to give in and use the kitty door. What a mean mommy huh?")

Jessicurl Review & Giveaway

Karissa at Prissy Green invited the Hubby, now aka Mr. Mooncat, and I to review hair care products from Jessicurl. We did a his and hers perspective on the product line designed for those of us with naturally curly hair. It was a great way for us learn about this product line and share our findings with other curlyheads.

Please click HERE to check out our very first (and hopefully not the last) guest post/review and sign up for the generous giveaway being offered. While you're there, enjoy the many different things that Prissy Green has going on. Let her know you came her way from MoonCat Farms!