Greenbriar Farm - Troy, ID

09/06/2023

Twice a year we want to take the cats on a 1500 mile drive. That takes a plan! The one we have worked out has been so successful we now take all seven on camping trips with us. The trick has been to get them accustomed to a small pet cage for safety and to use it at home.
Greenbriar Farm cats spend the day outside in their yard. But at the end of the afternoon they all come in for dinner, which is served in their individual cages. Or, as we prefer to say, their own studio apartments. Among the cats there are timid ones and bullies; cats who eat slowly and those who are greedy; and there are some with special diets. Each has their own cage and they all know where to find their own. Once everyone's bowl has been filled, the noisiness of sorting changes to the crunching of eating and then the peacefulness of an after-dinner nap. An hour of napping is usually enough and then they are released to sit on laps and share the evening with us. In the morning the routine is repeated and then they go out to their yard for the day.
This way of doing things is the secret to relaxed, safe travel with them. They all have a fondness for their own cage and, with the addition of a litter pan, it becomes their personal bedroom/bathroom/kitchen accomodation. When it's time to go down the road we just load up their cages, listen to indignant cacophany for ten minutes, and then settle in for the ride.

04/06/2023

Billie wears the protective gear of the professional that she is when she works. Kate and I think she looks cute.

28/05/2023

We expanded Pip's studio - he does sculpture.

25/05/2023

It's truly fun in May to watch the native bees buzzing all over the maple tree flowers. But there is a downside of Spring . . . fences. Over the winter horses have leaned on them, snow has pushed them, and gravity has been relentless in the soft soils.
Dave and Jerry have pulled wire, pounded in fence posts, cut out encroaching brush, and restrung electric.
After a few trips to Spence Hardware and a lot of hours of hard work Rumour has a new pasture.

24/05/2023

Billie and Jerry have a nice routine on the days they don't have responsibilities at the farm. They have breakfast at a favorite place and then visit thrift stores and other shops they like.
I WANT to do this but can't quite manage it. I take a list to Moscow but when I've done half the stops I decide the other half can wait until next time and, like a barn sour horse, I head for home.
Moscow is a lovely little town and I am determined to take advantage of it. I'm not interested in eating out. Well, let's be honest - I've already spent my money at the feed store and the veterinarians'.
But there are things I want to do. I want to visit Moscow Contemporary gallery. I haven't been there yet after the split with the University. I want to walk around the native garden at the Appaloosa Museum. And, instead of just picking up new books at the library, I want to take time to read a magazine I wouldn't see otherwise.
If I do these on a Saturday morning I can even go to the Farmers' Market!

19/05/2023

In the 43 years we have been at the farm many cats have wandered in lost and scared. We've told them they could stay and that we would help them. Each has their own story but one cat in particular was different. Bear showed up as an adult and stayed for one year before he disappeared. One morning, 14 months after we last saw him, he was at the door - thin and limping. Where had he been?
We took him to the vet for vaccinations and retesting for leukemia, then loaded him up and headed south for the winter.
It is our custom during those long evenings in Arizona to gather cats, dogs, rabbit and people into a cozy room with a TV. Bear loves this so much he actually waits for Dave to sit each night so that he can get in his lap for the entertainment.
We're thinking that, wherever he was for 14 months, they wouldn't let him watch TV, so he came back.

14/05/2023

Every morning we apprehensively check on Daisy, my oldest pack goat at 15 years. She still eats well and walks my long loops around the farm but she seems . . . preoccupied.
She has always been the leader of the group. When she was younger, and one of only four goats packing with me, she led the group in a stand off with a bear coming into our camp.
Last year, when the whole group of seven were confronted with a coyote, six of them did their stiff-legged frontal stand-off, but she quietly went behind the group. She knew she was past the age when she could do her share. I couldn't help feeling a little sad for her.
This morning when I went through the barn to check on her she wasn't there. So I continued out behind the barn and there she was - flirting outrageously with the young boys!

11/05/2023

11/05/2023

Kate, Dave, Jerry and Billie do the manicured-horse-farm look. Harriet does the no-mow-May look.

09/05/2023

Since the middle of the 20th century there has been a mother-in-law house on the farm. In the 43 years of our tenure it has been mostly used by college students who were helping out with chores. We have decided to take it a bit up-scale in order to rent it to someone who is looking for a country lifestyle.
Here Jerry and Dave are working on building a deck with landscaping.

06/05/2023

The spectacular thunderstorm last night kept us inside watching TV and Duggie joined us.