Pigeons

Well I have found out that most people know what a pigeon is..but few have seen a baby one..sooo here we go
These guys are about 2 week old and UGLY!!! Baby pigeons grow so fast that by the time I add another post they will probably look like adults. Now for the big surprise...here are the parents

Yes..they have curly feathers. They are know as frillbacks. I think they are neat looking birds. This is MAMA


This is POPPAFinally here is a close up of the feathers on the wing..I will post the babies again in a few days. I have another pair of a different breed sitting on an egg so I will try to take daily shots so you can see the difference a day makes!

New feltie

I was given the job to make an Icelandic pony named Asathor in the "tolt" position. This is an exaggerated walk were there is a pacing motion.

Here he is on the left.

So here is what I came up with. I think he turned out really well . I showed the owner pictures and she seems quite pleased also. Just have to mail him out now!

I really enjoy making felties and find it quite relaxing, stabbing at something over and over.

Great way to release some stress!!

I also have this little lady listed on EBAY right now. A string jointed faux fur Bunny. I needle felted her face and pink areas.

I think she turned out quite sweet. I named her Lily.

Surgery is Over

Well Timmy's little front tooth was pulled out..so he has 2 left. They also pulled out 2 or 3 molars..not sure how many. When I went to pick him up he was still on IV and very groggy. His eyes were actually crossing but he still tried to wag his tail at me. He had a rough night, whichever way he tried to sleep he could not get comfy. This means I also had a rough night because he sleeps with me!

The vet's and tech were all in love with him and treated him really well. Which they do with all the dogs in their care. So hopefully he will be able to eat better in a couple days, but he loved hard kibble and biscuits, poor little guy..

Poor Timmy

Hi again. I have not been here in a while because I have been sooo busy !!! Everything on the funny farm is rolling along.

I was giving Timmy a trim, yes hairless dogs get trims, when I noticed his teeth. While lifting his lip to trim his whiskers I realized 2 of his 3 front teeth were in bad shape. Timmy has very few teeth to start with. The breed is very prone to improper dentition. So off to the vet we go and a gazillion $$$ later we find out we need a cleaning and maybe 2 extractions.

Now I don't mind dental care on my dogs BUT I have a broken tooth I have not had looked at due to the $$$$$, but don't worry, Timmy is booked in.
So poor Timmy, he will only have one front snaggle tooth left!

Finally

I have finally had time to make a post! I have been very busy making felties and painting. So here are the 2 custom felties I just finished. The owner loves them!

Sunshine and Nikon and they were very fun to make.

I went to a chicken sale..big surprise...and bought a bird. Not a chicken mind you but a Kakarika. Ever heard of one? Me either!!

I have a nasty little parakeet who I thought might have a better outlook if I bought her a buddy. So meet Archie. Archie was not hand raised so he is not tame at all. I let him fly around the room where he gets into all kinds of trouble. As for the parakeet..she hates him..totally ignores him. So now I have 2 wild birds in my house.

Archie is interesting though. He can fly right up to a wall and then zoom at a90 degree angle up it. He reminds me of a jet plane. He has a HUGE appetite and is very nosey. He always tries to sneakup to see what I am doing. If I am lying in bed he likes to do this kamikaze fly by thing where he heads right for me then misses in the last second. He is very pretty with his red and blue wings. He also is very loud and I no longer need an alarm clock because he screams his head off every morning! Since he has no snooze button I am rarely late for work any more.

So Welcome Archie!!!

My Ferret Felties

Well I finished a custom order of 2 Ferrets and I thought I would share.

They were of Tyke and Tanner, 2 very cute ferrets!

Tyke is no longer with us but is lovingly remembered by his mom. Tanner is a little stocky fellow who I was told has a heart of gold:)

Here are some pictures of the felties I made to represent them.

They were needlefelted from all natural colored wool and are about 3-4" long.

The new owner seems quite pleased with them and one of her ferrets, Bean, stole one and it took an hour of searching to find it! Needlefelting is the art of making sculptures from wool. You use a barbed needle and stab a ball of raw wool until it starts to felt. I find it very relaxing and really enjoy doing it. One thing though, if you decide to try this craft , watch your fingers! Those needles are SHARP!

Spring is in the Air!!

Well things are a little crazy here at the funny farm! I assume it's because Spring is in the air!

We are holding a baby shower for my sister this weekend and my Border Collie Pippin got a hold of the big bag of diapers I bought and tore them all up. He also demolished my toilet paper and paper towels. That's what I get for forgetting to put things away...but I was MAD!! He really is a brat.

Buster Peebody dragged out some of the wool I use for crafting and had it thrown about everywhere in my bedroom. Now all the pretty colors are mixed up..sigh..He also got into Hansel's (the ferret)cage and rolled in his litter box...sigh again. So last night Buster had a bath. He really did need one though since he still smelled rather ripe from the dead frog he rolled in at my sis's farm. Buster is a 1/2 poodle, 1/2 Brussels Griffion. He has terrible teeth and I think he is going to cost me alot of money for dental work. I bought him on impulse at a chicken auction. Seems I buy alot of animals on impulse at chicken sales.. He was so ugly he was cute. So I waited till the end of the day and haggled his price down to almost nothing. He grew into a short, fat , thick dog but his personality is very sweet. He just likes to smell bad.


Finally my goats got loose and ate all my neighbours Tulips. Of course they left the stems and leaves behind so it was even more noticeable. Whoever said goats will eat anything must have never owned one because my 3 are so finicky they turn their noses up at everything.. My brother is my neighbour and his daughter considers one of the goats to be her cousin, so I didn't get yelled at too much.

This is Lily, my nieces cousin! LOL.


Behind her is Aldante my horse. He is probably wondering where all the little apples went. I think Lily knows!

One of my goats is named Percival, Percy for short. He adopted me many years ago. He just moved in one day from another farm and refused to go home. They would take him back and he would just return again. So I let him stay. He is a large black and white goat. Must be around 10 yrs. old now. He is the most annoying of the three and the smartest

This is Percy and Lily when she was just a little girl!


This is Lily-Belle when I bought her. As you can see her mouth is always full of something! Her figure shows that her eating habits are grand.


I bought her at auction. She had badly infected ears and mouth but she came through it all with flying colors.

.

She has spikey sharp horns and knows how to use them. She is short and fat and always looks pregnant.

Finally there is Jacob. I got him at a auction as a newborn. I bottle fed him till he was a big boy.

He is the most placid of the three and is very gentle. I had him neutered as a baby and he grew quite large. He is almost as tall as my pony and has the most impressive rack of horns I have seen on a goat. He spends alot of time scratching his back with them. He just loves Lily. There have been others but they have all passed on so now I am down to this little bunch.

NICE RACK JACOB!!!
They are a pack of trouble but fun.
So I hope these guys smarten up for next week or it will be off to reform school for the bunch of them!

Have a great weekend!

Spring Day

Well it is finally warming up here and Timmy will finally walk outside on his own. I guess when you are hairless winter is not a very good time of the year. It is so nice not having to dress him in his winter coats and carry him everywhere. He seems to have remembered that he has legs and they actually work. So sunbathing is the sport of the moment.


He refused to stand up for some pictures and kept showing off his wanker, he really has no shame. So to embarrass him I posted it. Naughty Timmy!






He has a rash/dry skin running from his hip right down his entire leg. Hairless dogs seem to have alot of skin problems. I have tried every cream out there and any suggestions would be appreciated. He has pimples and blackheads everywhere then this big patch of dry, red crinkly skin. This is Timmy in the morning before I fix his hair. Talk about bed head!

I did buy an all natural spray with Tea Tree Oil etc. and it has helped a bit. At least he has quick licking it! I guess a season of heavy clothing will dry out anyones skin! Hairless dogs need special skin treatment so buyers beware..they are alot of work. He has to have alot of bathes, alot of moisturizer and sunscreen all summer. His wardrobe takes up an entire drawer in my dresser and I have come to realize he is a better dresser than myself. He has enough "bling" collars to make any dog jealous. Hopefully I can get some pictures of him modeling instead of lounging!

Hansel = Prozac on Legs

Today is all about Hansel. Timmy actually hates Hansel but that is just too bad. I find him QUITE amusing. Whenever I feel down I just get Hansel out of his cage to play and his silly antics crack me up every time!

I guess I should mention Hansel is my ferret..

.

So of course like most of my animals he has a story. I use to go to an auction barn every weekend..taking in rabbits, chickens and pigeons..it is a compulsive problem I have that I can't control! I was late this particular day and the auction had ended. Just a few animals were left in the ring waiting to be taken away. So I walked through them just being nosey when I saw a hamster cage. In the hamster cage was a ferret. He was shoved in there with a little scrap of material, at least they gave him something, most at this place wouldn't.

I asked around about him because I just got a good gut feeling about him. I certainly knew nothing about ferrets. Turns out he hadn't sold and was going back where he came from. The farmer who owned him found out I was asking about him and offered to sell him to me. He wanted $100. I laughed and offered him $20..he tried to tell me the cage was worth $20 LOL..Long story short he took the $20 and now I owned a ferret. He had been bought the year before at the auction as a baby for his grandkids. The grandkids no longer liked him so he had to go. He had been living in a chicken barn all this time.

So as I was carrying my new prize to the car, everyone kept telling me how awful ferrets were and how they would bite. He seemed calm enough in the cage so I simply ignored them and took him home.

Well he did bite..BAD..right through my leather work gloves! He sure did love his towels though! I ended up keeping him in my barn with the rabbits until he got loose and tried to kill my chickens. Well I decided he better go to the vet and get his needles. So with gloves on he got a checkup and I decided to have him neutered. When he came home I put him in the house to recuperate and he never left! Unfortunately I had been told not to have him de-scented so he can rip quite a stink when he feels like it!.

One thing I should mention about this fuzzy bum is that he is nearly totally blind and deaf. No wonder he got so nippy. I thought about getting him a buddy but was worried he might get hurt if the playing became too rough. He loves to hang out with me, follows me around. He loves to do laundry and the dishwasher. You just have to make sure he is not in them when you close the door. He hoards dog food and loves hiding in drawers. He plays with our house cat and Buster Peebody my dog thinks he is great. We all just hang out!

He now lives in a triple decker cage in my room with a air purifier going all the time! He has numerous towels to dig in but he loves his sack the best. The sack hangs from the side of the cage and he can cuddle in it. He was very sick this winter but he pulled through and is now the picture of health. He is considered old for a ferret but shows no signs of slowing down. It is amazing what proper nutrition and some kindness can do.

Oh by the way, Hansel quit biting soon after I handled him for a while. I understood his problems and we worked around it. Now he never startles when I touch him, even in a deep sleep. He will still nibble on a toe now and again just to let you know he is there. Owning a ferret is like having a kitten that never grows up! He is a delight to own and his dances and twirls never cease to amaze me. I love this little guy.

Road Trip

Well the dogs and I took a road trip this weekend. We went to visit my sis who lives near Niagara Falls. It is a 2 1/2 hr drive but it went by quickly.
I had my smelly dog Pippin the border collie in the back of the SUV while Timmy, FiFi(toy poodle) and Buster Peebody(terripoo) sat in the back seat. For the first time ever Timmy did not get car sick!

We all had a nice visit. I think Buster Peebody had the best time though. His buddy Toto(cairn terrier) played with him the whole time we were there. They play fought, ran and rolled in something together that was quite stinky. Fifi just followed me around whining as always and Timmy found a sun beam to sleep in.
Pippin is an outdoor dog so he stayed in the kennel. He can't be trusted around children or men so he has to be contained when we are visiting but we did take a few runs around the barn area.

My sis has a great place with lots of land, a riding arena and a really nice barn. My nephew has all the silkie chickens I use to own so it was nice seeing them. This will be the first year in many I won't be hatching out chicks so hopefully the silkies will produce some so I can get my chick fix.

So we all made it home safe and sound and quite tired. The pack is still lolling around this morning. What a tough life!!

Timmy: The saga continues

So here we go..

So Timmy is home but will not interact with the other dogs or animals at all. In fact he will hardly interact with me. He seemed to know Timmy was his name though. I guess he liked it. He grew quite ill within a few days so I rushed him to the vet. He was full of different parasites. Even though the shelter had wormed him he was still sick from them. He also had a lump on his neck and a weird thing going on with his nose. The nose was constantly swollen and blood red inside the nostrils. So as soon as he was feeling better he went for surgery. He had the lump removed and 2 biopsies done. The tests were all negative. The nose is still a mystery and flares up every now and then.

While he was recovering at the vets they phoned me and said I had better come over. It seems he was sitting in the cage, head down, dejected..totally not responding to anything they did. What I saw was a sad little dog who had finally given up on people, his back was to the cage door his head hanging. I went to the cage and gently said "Timmy..I'm here" and the change was instant. He spun around and hopped about and when I took him out he pranced on his leash. I guess he thought he had been abandoned again.

Its took 1 1/2 yrs for Timmy to finally play with me and another 6mths before he would play a bit with the other dogs. He knew all about putting sweaters on, being groomed and apartment living. He knew to wait at the elevator door, use the balcony etc. Along the road someone must have loved him very much. Every time we walked by a senior lady he would get all happy and animated. I assumed from this it was probably a senior lady that had loved him first. How he ended up in that shack is a mystery to me. He was already neutered so he couldn't be used for breeding. A few of my friends said that he probably would be better off as an only dog with a senior but I was too in love with the little guy to give him up. He just needed time to trust me.

Now he dances when he sees me, sleeps with me, howls for me when I'm not there. He never bit a child again . Once he figured out they drop food he was their constant shadow! He is still a loner but will allow my poodle Fifi to cuddle up beside him once in a while. I'm not sure how old he was when I got him but he is starting to show signs of aging. He has become VERY spoiled and likes to be carried and pampered. Likes to have his photo taken. He has his spots where he sits and sleeps and will not let the other animals use them and he loves food..all food..fresh vegetables and fruit most of all. His fav. treat is Chicken Chow Mein..loves the bean sprouts.

So that is the Timmy story and it will have a happy ending because I will never allow him to suffer again in his life.
He is a survivor and a fighter..he is my muse..my Timmy.

Timmy's Story

Hello again. Today is about Timmy. Now don't get me wrong, I do not love him any more than any of the others , just in a different way. Each pet holds a special piece of my heart and Timmy is ...well...unique.

Quite a few years ago I was looking for a poodle since my old fellow Sid had to be put to sleep. So I went to the local SPCA quite often but could not find the right dog for me. So one day I go in and they say they have an apricot Mini poodle but he had already been adopted so as I started to leave they said "he is being housed with a hairless if you are interested".

So I thought..why not.. and took a look. Well the poodle was all over me, as poodles tend to be but there was no sign of the hairless. Then I saw the blankets on the floor move and out comes this funny looking dog in a green tartan coat.

So we spoke for awhile and he finally came over to sit with me for about a minute, then crawled back under his blankets. Apparently I was not his type!

So I asked for any history on him and here was the story...He was found in a house/shack abandoned with quite a few other dogs. Most had died and the remaining ones were living off them to survive. Only 4 made it out alive..a yorkie, a lab, a wolfhound and a hairless. They were in pretty bad shape and needed care but were soon put up for adoption. All four were adopted out but one was returned. Four hours later. Seems the hairless bit the lady that adopted him, bit the vet then bit the kids. So a no kids home was best for him. They had featured him on a TV show but no one wanted him.

Well I have nieces and a nephew that visit all the time and already have one unreliable dog so I had to pass him up. Well I couldn't get this aloof little dog out of my head. So I did some research on the breed and liked what I read. I figured that I don't have kids, so if I just put him away when visitors come over all would be well.

So it was a long weekend and I had to wait till the Tues. to call about him. Yes he was still there..no they could not hold him. So I left work and went to adopt the hairless then know as Noah..as in No Ah Hair! I walked into the pen and NO DOG, so I grabbed a worker and said the Hairless was gone..was he adopted finally? I felt crushed..So she went in to check and he was there, lumped under the blankets. Totally uninterested in the world.

So I adopted him under the reasoning it was near my birthday and I deserved a gift..so I brought him home and named him Timmy...little did I know how much of a gift this dog would be.
That's how we came to be and I will post more about the homecoming in
another post.

My Weekend

Well it was a beautiful weekend in our area so I made the most of it by working in the yard and barn area. Getting the yards cleaned up in the spring is always a big job.

I also did some barn work and decided to clean out 2 of my chickens. They have to be kept by themselves because one is blind and one is a cripple. They were attacked by a raccoon at another farm and I nursed them back to health.
So to clean the pen I had to put them out in the alleyway of the stable.

The blind one started to get scared so she walked in little tight circles until she gently bumped into something and then just stood there. So her crippled friend started to cluck very softly until the blind one found her and the she hobbled away , leading her friend to a patch of sun to bathe in. I thought it was so wonderful. People always say how stupid birds are but these two actually depend on each other. Sometimes the crippled bird will push against the blind one to get up and her friend always stays still for her.

Once finished there I checked my email and found out my Timmy, the chinese hairless crested dog had been chosen to model a collar for a wonderful online store http://themodernpet.com/. He is going to model a special occasion collar and I get to take the photos. We are both very excited and have been giving him different hairstyles to see which look is best. I like a side part on him..LOL

I have been given the wonderful opportunity to paint 2 portraits by a very lovely lady. One is of her horse and one is of her cat and dog. These animals are beautiful and I can't wait to get going on these. I will post updates as I work. If you would like to see the dog, check out his blog http://sheltiesense.blogspot.com/. His name is Stormy and he is a gorgeous sheltie.

Also check out this blog http://mvfiberfarm.blogspot.com/
There are the cutest baby goat pictures EVER there.
Well that's about it for the weekend. Have a great day.

Brand New

My name is Jennifer and I am the pround "owner" of a zoo.

Right now we are slim on the numbers of animals here because I am planning to move from the country to the city. ECH..but I love my guy and want to start our lives together. So I have rehomed quite a few of my birds but the rest are going with me.

I decided to start a blog because I am always asked for pictures of my pets. So I thought why not add their stories also..some sad..most funny..I love art and create and sell some under the name Totallytimmy.

I also have a shop called http://www.totallytimmy.etsy.com/ but more about that later.

First we will start with Timmy. My muse. More about him in a later post..See Ya!!