Saturday afternoon, as Greg and I were getting ready to head to our neighbor's 3-year-old's birthday party, we checked on the baby rabbits.  I discovered, much to our dismay, that one of Nefertari's babies had gotten a hind leg tangled in some loose threads.  We gently cut everything away, but it was apparent that the baby had broken its leg and was going to lose its foot.  We decided to put the baby back in with Nefertari and see how things went.  It was a bit smaller than the others (who have been growing by leaps and bounds!), so it was likely it hadn't been able to nurse, either.

*sigh*

Well, Nefertari took care of the whole ordeal by eating the lame baby.  We came out to check the next day, and the infant had vanished completely.  No sign it had ever been there.  It was a bit distressing, but I appreciate that Mother Nature took care of it all.  Next time we know--no loose-threaded rags.

On the bright side, we have pictures!  Prepare to die of cute!  These are pictures from yesterday, meaning that they are five days old in the shots.

This one is an odd color--gray with tan.  Thutmose, the father, is white with black spots.  Nefertari, the mother (and Thutmose's daughter), is white with tan spots.  It's a gorgeous pelt color, so we'll keep this one around for a while.

This one is a more standard color.  You can see the black eyeliner, dark ears, and even a wee couple of spots along the spine.

Thutmose got his nails clipped yesterday (for the first time), which he didn't care for too much.  I tried to wrap him in a sweatshirt and put him on his back, but he didn't like that idea at all--even nipped me a couple of times.  Luckily, I was wearing leather gloves.  He did just fine when I kept him upright, so that'll be how we do them in the future.

However!  We had to trim his nails because we put him into a new, larger hutch and I was afraid we might not be able to get him once we put him in there.  He'll stay in there for the time being, but once the babies are older we'll shift Hatasu, Nefertari, and their brood into the big hutch so they all have more room.  It's a double-decker and quite palatial; we got it second-hand from some friends (the husband is allergic to rabbits, so they'd never have any), but had to re-hang the side door before we could use it.

THAT took all damn day.  Okay, maybe three hours, but it was the second time we'd gone at it.  Fortunately, Ben (our sharecropper) arrived on Saturday, so he was able to give us a hand.  Seems we really needed three pairs of hands to do it after all.

We did quite a lot of other stuff around the farm, too:  trimmed back the goat-bent fencing, added in a new section, and extended the top with chicken wire.  Again, three pairs of hands really made this a lot easier; I couldn't believe how much easier it was than when Greg and I did it alone last year.  Ben transferred a bunch of seedlings into the garden--mostly tomatoes and peppers--while Greg made wire cages for them.  I had plans to finish with the fencing, but my Ryobi battery ran out, so instead I wrangled up a mostly-completed hay manger out of wire fencing, a used tired, and baling twine.  We ended the day with a few beers (cider for me!) around the bonfire.

Today, of course, it's snowing. *sigh*

Productive day today.  I tilled the garden, including burying shrimp shells and stripped bones left over from stock.  Watching the ground steam was a trip and a half.  Dumped ashes on top.  Greg mucked out the shed and reloaded it.  Even with two applications of sunscreen and a hat, my face still wound up red.

We rearranged the rabbit hutches and I nailed backing onto them (feed bags and a vinyl-backed tablecloth) to keep the rabbit urine from eating into, oh, the side of the house.  Scooped up all the rabbit poo from under the hutch and pitched it into the compost.  Discovered 3-4 baby wasps' nests in the new hutch; promptly cleaned those out.  Moved the butchering station to the back of the house near the hose outlet.

Discovered that the old turkey pen had become OMG Lord of the Flies. o.O  Seriously.  That shit was gnarly as all hell.  Decided that we need to get out the flamethrower and bake the fuckers out.  That will have to wait for another day, though.  In airing out the turkey coops (which, sadly, had not been cleaned since their last inhabitants), I discovered . . . a bucket of feathers, guts, and blood.  From Thanksgiving, when the last three turkeys met their match.  *sigh*  I remember telling Uncle Mark to just chuck the bucket into the coop and we'd deal with it later.  Y'know, after it froze.  Well, it froze.  And then unfroze.  I have no idea how much of the fly issue is due to rancid turkey entrails and how much is due to rancid turkey excrement. *hangs head*  I did give the contents of the blood bucket a good burial and rinsing, though.

Since we started up the fire pit with the first bonfire of the season, we decided to invite several people over for dinner.  About half bailed, meaning that we wound up with the boys:  Pete, Kevin, and Casey.  The latter two had been trimming horse hooves all day and Casey had been checking on whether or not two of his mares had caught.  One of his gloves broke during the process.

For what it's worth, you do not test a mare's fertility by going in vaginally.  Nope, it's back-door rectal lovin' all the way, baby!  Casey brings up this topic of conversation as we're sitting around the bonfire at dinner, then proceeds to smell his hand.  There was also a significant amount of gas passed, and I was the recipient of some serious reverb. *facepalm*

But hey!  This wasn't just dinner--it was dinner and a SHOW.  Utilizing the bed of Kevin and Casey's pickup, we chucked the rabbits in the back and watched 'em fuck.  Errr . . . "breed," that is.  Casey had mentioned earlier that in his 4-H childhood he had bred rabbits; without knowing the ins and outs (so to speak) of reproduction, he noted that rabbits breeding smelled like French toast.

Yeah, I know.

There were plenty of jokes made about French toast, getting pregnant from sex in the back seat, and much cheering on of the rabbits.  The male (Thutmose) is perhaps a bit dense, as he kept aiming for Hatasu's head, or side, or back, or anywhere that wouldn't do any good.  He did successfully nail his daughter, the younger rabbit, two or three times.

Finally, at the end of the rabbit lovin', Thutmose curled up next to Hatasu and flopped down. (There were jokes made there, too, but Pete did point out that the rabbit had come something like seven times in the last twelve minutes, so we gave him a break.)  I climbed into the back of the truck to fetch out the rabbits and wound up with a damp wrist for my troubles.  Casey sniffed it in order to discern whether or not it truly smelled of French toast. (The answer, for those of you breathlessly awaiting, was No.)

We rounded out the night back in front of the bonfire again.  Greg tossed a few remnants of snow on top to tamp it out, and we all went our separate ways.  I sent leftovers home with Kevin and Casey, gave Pete's greyhound a farewell ear-tousle, and cleaned up from dinner.

A good beginning to spring, methinks. :)

Getting a lot of fox action lately.  Saw a pale blonde one trotting across the snow this morning.  I love having these guys nearby.

Spent a goodly portion of last night fantasizing about building the new turkey shed.  May have some feelers out for people who have more experience and who can help.  Wandered around the Milner Mall yesterday a bit and salivated over a set of windows from the Yacht Club.  They're already put together and would be great for a greenhouse.  Just gotta get all the scratch together to get this going.  *sigh*

Gotta get the turkeys lined up too.  At this point, looks like the mixed run is sold out 'til June.  Just gotta get everybody on board and go from there, I guess.  Money, too.  Argh.

Thinking lots more about goat possibilities.  Kevin and Casey are getting rid of all of theirs, and Greg and I talked last night about the possibility of doing goat milk next summer.  He was supportive of the idea and I know there's a high demand, especially for value-added products like cheese.  Just gotta hang onto the commercial kitchen.  Looking to do boarding swap with Brandie as a possibility.

SPRINGSPRINGSPRINGSPRINGSPRING!! *boing!*