Extended Family

It has been the wettest, most humid summer ever, followed by the wettest, bleakest, muddiest Fall ever.  I've tried not to whine about it because at least we aren't on fire or getting drowned in hurricanes, but we've just had another 3-4 inches of rain and I can hear it pouring down right now.  The mud is beyond description, the second cutting hay rotted in the fields, there is fungus sprouting in odd and unusual places and I find that slogging through it leaves my mind a muddy mess as well. 

Since there is nothing but mud and more mud to talk about here (even spell check just wanted me to change mroe to mire, very fitting), we might as well visit with some other parts of the extended farm family.

Remember Lulu, the Afghan Hound puppy?  She has just relocated to Florida where she celebrated her first birthday by getting a fenced yard to run in, a haircut and some MUD to play in.  Lucky dog.

Then there was Elva's sister who was babysitting an entire herd of very clean Golden Retrievers. 

I'm not sure how they stay so clean. I suspect they may be existing in an alternate universe - one where the calico cat keeps all mud at bay. She was abandoned on their property a few months ago scared and feral.  The vet said she would always be feral, but all those Goldens must have rubbed off, because she is anything but now and she rules the house with an iron paw. 

The nameless donkey that Dave took in found his way into the chicken coop  on the only sunny day we've had in months and made it his own.  His official name is now Herb. 

He will, hopefully, be a driving partner for his new friend Hoss (and the rest of the herd: Stormy the other donkey and Levi and Amos, the horses).

 And, a couple of hours north, where it is also dark and muddy (especially as Bill is one of those really wacko guys who voluntarily gets up at 4am), a glow-in-the-dark unicorn is brightening things up and making friends with her new herd.

As for my herd, they are all in the barn, dry, out of the mud and not much interested in picture taking.  And I need to go mop up muddy paw prints.  Again.