Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Been out of umph again!

I have kept the live trap baited and set ever since we had all the problems with the mink.
A couple of days ago, with the dogs, I went down to the creek. Angel, started barking non stop as she got close to the trap.
I immediately assumed we had another mink. You can imagine my surprise when I got closer and realized I had a raccoon not a mink in the trap.
Right away I knew why I hadn't got any eggs for a while and also what had happened to the eggs that were under the two broody hens! Coons love eggs.
Mink I can shoot my self but I am not ready to do in a raccoon yet! Rob had to take care of it for me.
The trap is re-set, it obviously pays to keep it set at all times.

Our daughters dog Frankie.

As I read Sara, from Farming Friends blog about rats that are inevitable when you have a farm it made me think about my own rat story.
I knew we had rats here as I see the odd one scurrying around the goat house at dusk.
Setting traps seems to be an exercise in futility and up to now I thought poison was not advisable. I now think if I set it out in a safe, away from every thing else manner, it may be the best way to control the rat problem.
We are re-building the goat house. It started out as a simple add 4 ft to the back of the structure and replace the floor.
In hind sight it would have been easier I think to pull down the house and start from scratch because taking the back wall off affected the sides, which affected the roof etc.
Any way, I digress from the rat story I was going to tell.
It was my job to pull up the old floor which had been put down in sections.
The first couple came up with out incident. I came to the first center section, as I started pulling it up, a HUGE mother rat flew out causing me to scream. My scream sent goats and chickens running in every direction which startled Rob who wasn't too pleased with me screaming at a rat anyway!
The rat had a nest with half a dozen or more new Born's in it. The ducks took care of them and I continued on cautiously lifting more of the floor.
If Rob thought the first scream was bad he at least understood the second one. 8 to 10 juvenile looking rats flew out from under the next section of floor that I was lifting, all heading in my direction, I had visions of them running up my legs, eeew it was awful.
I was shocked to see just how many rats there were out there and that is I when I realized that I need to get serious about controlling the problem with poison.
I will remove the rest of the old floor today. I am hopeful there will be no more surprises under it.

Well we still have our foster greyhound. Rob thinks it would be better for her to stay with us until her for ever home comes along rather than move from one foster home to another foster home. Yeah Right! he wants to keep her and he is stalling for time.
I have told Angel the Rottie's owner that she is too much for me to handle. I feel bad about it but she really does change the whole dynamics in the house.
He is picking her up next week.

It was the start up of our Spinners and Weavers Guild last week. My name was picked in the draw for a free years membership. How nice is that!

I looked after my great granddaughter over night last night. Her mum was feeling very unwell. She ended up going to the Dr who said she has an ear infection as well as the flu.
Baby Nicole is such a good baby. She hardly ever cries and slept from 10 00pm until 3 30am. Very good seeing she is only 3 weeks old.

My friend Sharon thinks I should keep Angel. (Princess as I have been calling her)
I took this picture today and I think Princess is bonding with Sharon.
Sharon would make a first class forever mum for dear Princess. Just look how they are looking at each other!
My family are also giving me a hard time about keeping her.
It is going to be very difficult to part with her on Wednesday. If we didn't already have Angel the Rottweiler that we are looking after, I would consider holding onto her until she is adopted out. However, 5 dogs are just too many to have in the house.
If you take a close look at the picture you will notice that Princess is sat on a rubber boot. It is part of her hoard of goodies that she has been collecting.

We have been asked if we want to continue fostering Angel until her forever home comes along.
Rob is in love and wants to BECOME her forever home!
I have said no to both requests.
She will make someone a wonderful companion but I am not prepared to take on another dog. It won't be easy to hand her over on Wednesday but that is what fostering is all about.