Friday, May 28, 2010

FAQ Friday, episode 5

Who besides me is doing a happy dance because it's Friday? Did I just feel the earth shake? Welcome to FAQ Friday, where I'll try to answer the questions you've posed during the week. But before we get to that, if you haven't counted the hay bales and submitted your guess in hopes of winning an $80 gift certificate to csn|stores, there's still time. The contest is open until 7 pm Mountain time tonight.

So this week, there were questions about burros:

From Tina:
Q. How old are George and Alan?
A. They will both be 4 years old this fall. I adopted them from the BLM and brought them to the 7MSN when they were 1 – here they are before they stepped out of the trailer and into their new life.
Q. Do you like one better than the other or is it like with kids, you can't really say?
A. I love them both so much it hurts.

From cdncowgirl:
Q.
Besides noodles, chairs and of course cones what other toys do the boys like?
A. They LOVE their jolly balls and also have a fondness for 5-gallon plastic pails - handles removed, of course. Basically, they'll pick up and play with anything they can get their mouths on. Unless it has claws and is named Deets.

And questions about tarantulas (Gaina and other arachnophobes, you might want to skip this part:

From Mrs. Cravitz:
Q. PLEASE TELL..........What DID YOU DO?
A. Can you see me hanging my head in shame? I must admit I threw a big rock at the tarantula. And the rock stayed atop the tarantula for the entire summer, and I had to walk around or trip over it several times a day. But I wanted to make sure he was really dead. In my defense, that was my first tarantula and I later learned I need not fear them.

From Peppermint Ph.D.:
Q. What do you do to make sure they don't get inside your house?
A. Smooch does a most excellent job of warning me when a tarantula has breached the perimeter. Don't believe me? Check this out. (Gaina and other arachnophobes, if you've gotten this far, don't click that link.) But seriously, it's not like the ranch is swarming with them. In my 4-1/2 years of living here, I've only seen two near the house. And I've learned not to wear my glasses when I'm out and about so I can continue to pretend there are none in the pastures.

And questions about fences:

From A New England Life:
Q. What's with all the dead trees around the fence? Do they have a purpose?
A. The dead trees that line my garden are called "coyote fence." I've put them up to hide the boring wire behind them, but this type of fencing really is used in the west to keep coyotes out of where they don't belong.

And questions about a certain porcine princess:

From Gaina:
Q. Does she need sunblock in the summer or is she OK because her skin is dark?
A. I'm not sure it's because her skin is dark or because it's as tough as a tire, but Wynonna's skin handles the sun just fine. She's "blowing her coat" right now in preparation for the hot weather to come - instead of shedding gradually over several weeks, a pot-bellied pig loses her coat almost all at once. Not a pretty sight. Think bald. And when I pet her now, my hand leaves bare spots in its wake. But her lightweight summer coat will be growing in shortly and she'll be ready for her closeups once again.

From Farmgirl_dk:
Q. Did you ever tell the story of how Wynonna came to be on 7MSN? Was she a rescue? Do you have to trim her feet often?
A. I moved out of Albuquerque to a small ranch in 1996 so that I could have a few animals besides dogs. I got it in my head that I needed a pig and purchased Wynonna from a breeder when she was 8 weeks old. I knew nothing about raising animals back then, but she turned out ok despite my ignorance. She's never gotten into serious trouble, never been in jail, and except for that one accidental drug overdose (a story for another time) has led a drama-free life. I trim her hooves about every three months, and this post goes into all those details. Spoiler alert: it involves a lot of popcorn...but it used to involve a lot of beer.

15 comments:

  1. What fun! I love the questions and the answers to this/that on 7MSN Ranch.

    I was interested in what happened to the tarantula, and now I know. I thought that was VERY interesting about Wynonna's 'coat'. Some other questions I remember being answered in the past, but it was fun going back to those posts again.

    Hurray for Friday's!

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  2. I feel serene knowing now what I didn't know then. Thank you for the links back in time. Those older posts were a hoot.

    Loving those Alan and George so much is just so right.

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  3. Aaaand, one wonders--beer in pig, on pig, on owner or in owner? That is the question......?

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  4. That shot of George & Alan still in the trailer is precious.....they had no idea they had just entered the pearly gates! Happy Memorial Day.

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  5. Just two comments:
    I really love your header (double header).
    Hay count .... 71 bales (I always read your Friday Q and A post)
    Have a nice weekend!

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  6. That is the sweetest picture of George and Alan in the trailer about to step foot on their new turf! They are cuties for sure!
    Have a safe holiday weekend!

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  7. Damn! I wasn't thinking. I should have asked how many bales of hay there are in the barn. *grin*

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  8. For my Tucson house, because it's the home of tarantulas also, I bought a long handled net. I only did this after one year being confronted with a huge black spider in one of the bedrooms. It was not a tarantula but an equally harmless wolf spider (I think) but I could not figure out a way to get it out of the house and had to kill it regretfully. After that I made sure I had the equipment to remove such a visitor as they may not be poisonous but the thought of them crawling around inside the house is not a welcome one.

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  9. Hi Carson: It's always nice to know the answers to questions on Fridays. Enjoy Memorial Day and my guess for the number of bales is 78
    Best always, Sandra

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  10. Hehe, thanks for answering my Question...and thanks for warning me about the ss..ssp...that thingy. LOL

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  11. "And I've learned not to wear my glasses when I'm out and about so I can continue to pretend there are none in the pastures."..... HAHA! ignorance really is bliss!

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  12. I just found your sight thru PW's and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. It's now in my favorites. Love all of your animals names. They are very fitting!

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  13. I so love the desert...love your pix!
    Drat...as always, a day late & dollar short! Couldn't guess on the haystack...was gonna say 83 cuz my other guess were spoken for!

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  14. I too absolutely adore the picture of George and Alan before they stepped out of the trailer...so CUTE!! I keep looking back at it again and again :)

    I am trying to be more mindful of the critters around my house...spiders and even snakes whose habitats we're actually invading...but I gotta draw the line at the interior threshold. Coincidently a co-worker told me today that she killed a snake IN her house yesterday...no idea how it got in...YIKES!

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  15. Love the pic of George and Alan.

    The trailer looks like a doorway into another dimension -- and I bet that's just how George and Alan felt.......

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