Great things come in small packages.

A package came in the mail for the critters today. They had to wait all the way until 4:30 before all the critters were home so they could open it.

THANK YOU TORTOISE AND HARE!!!

Lemur's first brownie batter

Lemur was eating a piece of cheese when Porcupine and Penguin started licking the bowl and beater from making brownies. The cheese went on the floor and he started grunting for some of his own. He needed a bath anyway, so Zookeeper gave him the spatula.

Now that's goooooood stuff!

Penguin ended up getting almost as much on her as Lemur did! She sure is getting to be a good cook!

Porcupine helped make the brownies too. Helping to clean up is the yummiest part.

What does a Zookeeper do on a day off?

Take the critters to the Movies!

MOST of the critters loved the movies. The older critters saw "National Treasure 2" and the younger critters saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Lemur didn't care for it too much, but he sure had a great time playing with the video games in the lobby and drinking Zookeepers Root beer!

The younger critters got out about an hour before the older critters, so we walked to a store and did some test trials of toys. The male critters seemed to think these Styrofoam swords worked great.

All days out with the Zookeeper end up with ice cream... no surprise there!

Lemur loves ice cream almost as much as Zookeeper!

Can you say SPRING CLEANING?!!!!

The Zookeeper took the day off on Tuesday to spend with the critters. What better quality time is there than cleaning cabinets??? :o) The critters all jumped in and we had the kitchen done in no time. Porcupine and Bass tackled the lower cabinets.

Penguin and Bee were the first ones in the kitchen to help.

Monkey and Bass happily help out!

Steelhead, Bug and Penguin do the high cabinets.

Porcupine, Bass and Monkey found a new use for the sled. Bass came to spend a couple of his spring break days with us. The three critters had a great time together. The Zookeeper hardly saw them at all because they were out in the barnyard running around all the time!

Easter Dinner

We had Easter Dinner at the Fish Family Creek. We all pitched in on dinner and had a nice relaxing afternoon. Nothing better than an Easter dinner! We could hardly wait!

Critter Cousins waitin' for dinner. Some of these critters TRIED to look silly. Zookeeper told them they look goofey enough without trying! :)

Relaxin' after dinner. Bug was munching on Raspberry Milkey Ways (Rainbow Trout always has yummy treats around her Creek!) Elk, Lemur and Hare get some cuddle time in. (The Grandcritters and some of the Hare and Tortoise's off spring voted on the names... they came up with the Tortoise and the Hare, because Hare is always zipping here and there, going, going, going and Tortoise is slow and methodical, always getting the job done.)

Rainbow Trout gave Lemur a little sample of dessert. It didn't take him long to figure out that this was yummy stuff!

Yummy Yum Yum!!!

Easter Afternoon

All that yummy food and playing with family really wears a guy out. Bass and Salmon hit it hard in spite of all the noise around them. Tortoise was sleeping too, but we didn't get a picture of him.

Steelhead, Bee and Lemur have fun with a real dog! Chelsey loves playing catch. Lemur wasn't so sure he appreciated the ball she kept dropping on his lap... complete with dog slobber. He loved being outside with the rest of the critters!

We were sad to see Tortoise and Hare leave, but they had a long drive ahead of them. We are so glad they could come and spend part of Easter with us!

When we got home the critters hid eggs and found them, hid eggs and found them, hid eggs and found them... remember doing that when you were a young pup? Then we colored eggs later that evening and my camera's batteries were dead... bat timing!

HAPPY EASTER!

Easter Morning. It was so pretty outside, even if it was super cold! We kind of got up late, but we were ready for church on time. The animals looked so fine in their Easter clothes. Penguin and Bee got to pick out their own Easter dresses this year. Can you tell who everyone is?
Back row: Penguin, Steelhead, Bug, Monkey. Front Row: Porcupine, Bee and Lemur

We have a secret place we go to every year for our annual Easter egg hunt. It's in a small town, so there are not that many people that come, but there are tons of eggs. We recycle the eggs back to the PTO, the kids have a great time, and they bring home lots of candy to share with Elk and the Zookeeper! :) I'd tell you where it was, but then you might go and we wouldn't get as much candy. :)
Lemur's first Easter egg hunt! He thought the grass was pretty cool! Elk wished he would have gotten more eggs, because he wanted to eat the candy, but when he sat him down on "GO!" Lemur just sat there and played with the grass. Maybe he'll get a little more competitive next year so Elk can have more candy. :)

Can you see Monkey, (left) Bee (front middle) and Porcupine (in Camo, and yes, he picked his own name :) ). They were all in the the same group. Bee did pretty good in spite of her broken arm!

Bug and Penguin wait for the "GO!" Bug said "Easter egg hunting is a bit embarrassing at my age, but any embarrassment is worth the candy!" He and Penguin took off running at the word go to the other end of the playground. They both got tons of eggs!

Checking their eggs for a "ticket" = prizes!!! I think our farm got 3 tickets.

While Mom isn't looking...

Lemur is 11 months old today... holy Lemurs! The time sure has gone by fast!
It has been so, So, SOOOOOOOOooooooo busy around the farm lately. With broken bones, surgeries, Strep throat (Bug), hackin' and coughin' (Bee and Monkey) and Bronchiolitis (The Zookeeper) and Pink Eye, (Lemur), PLUS keeping up with the farm and the barn and stuff. It has also been really, really busy at work for the Zookeeper because so many people are out on vacation, and then, darn it, people keep getting sick and going to the Vet... and then I have work, so I guess I better not complain. Anyway, I have worked a lot, and when I work, Lemur kind of has the run of the house. Hey, I keep an eye on him, but once in a while, he gets away from me. Today I was working and it was too quiet, so I went on Safari to find my little Lemur and found him on the Continent of Bathroom... enjoying all the natural wonders of the Continent. His favorite... T.P. Look what fun it is! He almost had a sculpture out of the stuff... better than snow, it's not cold and it doesn't melt. Comes in handy sometimes too!

So one day I was working away. I keep a pretty close eye on what Lemur is doing, but you know how it is with crawlers, they can get away from you before you know it! So typity, typity, type, goes the Zookeeper (haven't figured out what animal I am yet... any suggestions?) and pretty soon it is waaaayyyy to quiet around the farm. So I head out looking for Lemur and found him. He had gotten into the garbage and found a package of Red Vines I had thrown away. Boy was he one happy little Lemur! A red one, at that! I scooped he and the Red Vine up and put him in his high chair to finish of the lucky find. The darn thing was so old and stale, but Lemur has plenty of slobber to moisten it up. It kept him busy for a long, long time.

And then another day I could hear Lemur playing in the kitchen. His favorite place is in the pantry eating raw potatoes. He is not a potato racist... he likes both brown and red. Well, today he wasn't in the potatoes, he was grazing on cereal. It looks like his favorite is..... Frosted Mini Wheats! He LOVED them! He was covered from head to tail in the crumbs, sugar frosting and pieces of wheat. From now on we'll make sure the bags are sealed. :)

Tooth peas in a pod (or a Herd?)

Lil' Lizard #1 lost his two front teeth because he is 6... Mustangs lost his teeth because Mare lost her temper.... just kidding. :) Have you met Mare? She's barely tall enough to reach is mouth! :) Mustang got his teeth knocked out back in Mustang school showing off slam dunkin' a basketball, only the floor underneath happened to be wet... oops. He had fake teeth for a long time, but they started rotting out, so now he is getting implants. Liz #1 and Mustang would be 2 peas in a pod if they were whales, but since it's a Lizard and a Mustang what does that make them? Tooth peas in a Herd I guess, because I have no idea what a group of Lizards are.

Bee's X-Rays

I took Bee to the Vet AGAIN on Monday for x-rays and a new GREEN cast... HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY! He gave us pictures of her x-rays... yes, holy cow! She has 5 screws in the radius and 8 screws in the ulna holding everything together. She says it "itches and burns and feels like something is in her cast chewing on her arm and biting her." Poor thing. It hasn't been itching as much the last day or two as it was the first of the week. She will be in this above elbow cast for 3 weeks and then a short cast for 3 weeks and then we talk about another surgery to remove the plates and screws... whew!!!

Lizards and Horses and Bears come to visit

The Lizard family (you have to know my brother to appreciate this humor... I asked Ma and Pa Lizard what animal they wanted their family to be, and after great debate, the last I heard was the Lizard family... with much eye rolling and haruphing from Ma Lizard... sorry Ma... the kids all seemed to think the name was cool!) Anyway, so the Lizard family came to visit last weekend. They came on Thursday night because lil' lizard #3 had a doctor apt on Friday. It was so great to see them. The lil' lizards keep getting bigger and cuter every time we see them. I let Monkey stay home from school on Friday to play with Lil' lizard #1. They had such a great time together and got along so wonderfully! Ma Lizard and I hardly ever saw them. The three lil' lizard ladies played and played inside. Ma and Pa Lizard took lil' Liz #3 to the doc and the other kids played here while I worked and they watched movies and took naps. They were great.

Friday night we had a yummy dinner and played games. Ma and Pa Liz and Elk and I laughed so hard a few times we cried. I have to share a funny thing that happened to Elk and I, but please don't think we really are this dumb... just brain dead from a long trying week! So, we were playing Scattergories. The letter was N and the category was Universities. Elk wrote down "North Virginia University." I said, "There isn't a North Virginia, there's just East and West Virginia." The Lizards started laughing and just as I said it, I realized what I had said... then quickly said, "I mean West Virginia and Virginia!" I thought I was going to pee my pants we were laughing so hard. It's good when you can laugh at yourself, right? :)


Mama and Papa Bear came Saturday night to have chicken dinner and see their Grand-Animals. :) Dinner was yummy, dessert was better and listening to stories retold and embellished by Pa Lizard and Mustang was the best. They take adventures that we had on the ranch and retell them into Patrick McManus type stories, it is such a riot! Wish we had it on video!! Again, thought I'd pee my pants!!!

Ma and Pa Lizard and Elk and I got a babysitter for the little kids and went for a drive and went out to lunch. It was nice to have adult conversation w/o littles running around... well, one little went with us.

Lil' Lizards 3 and 4, they are such good friends and so cute together! Lil' Lizard 4 teases Lil' Lizard 3 and then runs away... so funny! Good thing Lil' Lizard 3 has such a cute sense of humor!

Lil' Lizard 4 was feeding Lemur handfuls of cheerios... they both had milk and cereal all over them! They were both very quiet and serious. I think Lemur ate more from Lil' Lizard 4 than when he feeds himself!

Operetta - The Three Little Piggies

The Bee sings her solo in the "3 Little Piggies Operetta" at school on Thursday. I took her in just for the one performance. It wore her out and she was ready to go home. She did great singing her solo.

Bee's class performing their operetta. It was very cute - 15 minutes long. Bee was the Mother pig.

A hungry Bee! She wanted cereal and crackers.

The Bee was a pretty sick little insect most of the day on Wednesday. She threw up most of the day until the "Vet" called in a prescription of Phenergen for her. Before that if she would even take a sip of water, it would come back up in a matter of minutes. The Phenergen seemed to settle things down. She was able to take a nap and later eat something. Her pain was much less by the end of the day... if no one touched her!

Bee's Surgery Day

We were at the "Vet" at 7:30 in the morning. Lemur was still in his PJ's!

Bee was pretty smily for the camera, but she was really nervous - especially about getting the IV. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be and she was very brave. Surgery lasted a couple of hours and she woke up asking for her pink bunny and her "B." (Her blanket.)

She was HUNGRY coming out of the hospital. We found a KFC not far away and she talked me into stopping at a donut shop for a treat.

Snuggled in moms bed with a good movie... it took her mind off of her tingling fingers and the feeling that the bed was tipping upside down.

Sunday afternoon walk

The little critters and I went for a walk on Sunday afternoon. We found some ponds that have a nice walking trail around them. The more he is outside, the more Lemur loves it. Monkey took him for a "cruise"... off trail. If you know Monkey, he doesn't stick to the trails ever. Lemur was laughing and looking all around as Monkey took him on the scenic tour. Bee and Bug rode the bike and scooter and I just walked along and soaked up the sunshine.

We had such a sunny weekend, all of the animals got kissed by the sun and have rosey cheeks to show for it.

Bee, Bug, Lemur and Monkey.