Animals on the Farm

Since my parents moved to Kentucky, their household,which once contained one dog and one cat, has dramatically expanded to include a what could be moderate sized petting zoo! Below are pictures and a little bit about each animal or group of them.

First and foremost, is Fred. Fred is our golden retriever that we rescued from Alabama about 5 years ago. Fred is a big character. He spends most of his day sleeping, even when he goes to work everyday with my dad. He's treated very well and his favorite part of the day is eating off my dad's fork, at the dinner table, every night. Fred is also well known for his babysitting capabilities, pictured below.

Here's Fred babysitting the kittens, who we've been fostering since two weeks before their birth. They're intrigued by him - he could care less about them. To him its one more damn cat in this house that deprives him of our attention (this is how we think Freddy thinks).

This is the kittens' mother. We call her "Momma Cat." She's only temporarily staying on the farm. Once the babies are old enough, she and the babies will all go to new homes.

The Savage Beast. Maisy was once my cat, but she didn't like Boston that much, since she couldn't get out of the house. Now, she only comes in to eat; she normally sleeps in the barn.


This is Molly. Molly was a rescue. One of my Dad's tenants abandoned her in their apartment, so my Dad brought her home. She's incredibly skittish, but has taken up the hobby of beating up Maisy whenever they're around each other.




This is Lilly. She was also a rescue. She spends every night sitting on my Dad's lap while he watches tv. Lilly also enjoys spending her nights in the hay loft.

Jazz (left) and Murphy (right) spend their days grazing on the farm. Both are extremely friendly horses. As soon as you approach the fence, possibly with a treat or not, they come running. They don't miss any meals!

Here's one of the ten or so ducks on the farm. They're my Dad's prized children. My parents' first summer in Kentucky, the neighbor's dog came over and killed a few of their ducks. My Dad was so upset that he researched that it would be legal for him to shoot the dog if he caught the dog killing one of his ducks again. And yes, in Kentucky, if an animal is killing your livestock, you can kill them legally.

Here's Fred checking on the baby ducks. Unfortunately, something snuck onto the farm last night and ate all the babies.

Here are some of the duck babies. Three were born on the farm and three were born in captivity, in a hatchery. Every spring, my parents enjoy the hatching of several new ducks. Unfortunately, every spring the ducks suffer natural selection as wild animals sneak onto the farm at night and eat some of them.

My parents also have a pond, that is full of fish. Pictured is a large carp and a small cat fish to the right. The carp have recently started coming up at night, when we throw fish food into the pond.

We've arrived!

20 hours of driving, 1050 miles and no sleep means we have arrived in Kentucky. We left Manchester, NH at 5:45 pm on Wednesday. We drove straight, except stopping for gas and snacks until 4:15 am when we both really needed a nap. At that point, we had driven 630 miles. So we pulled into a 24-hour gas station in West Virginia and snuggled up for an hour nap. The gas station was a little sketchy but the nap was much needed; afterward, we were refreshed for finishing the trip.

We drove most of the trip and following morning without incident. About 100 miles into Kentucky and 100 miles from my parents, I got pulled over. The cop claims I was going 78 in a 65, but so wasn't everyone else. He just figured he'd pick out the MA plate. So after about 15 minutes on the side of the road, he gives me a form informing me that I am "violator." I have no idea what this means. There is no fine to pay; you have to call the "violator's office." After that we got off the highway and went straight to the liquor store, because I was a little pissed. I remained angry for the rest of the trip, especially since I have only ever had one speeding ticket and that was 4 years ago in the MA pike tunnel in MA.

We finally arrived at my parents house at 1 pm on Thursday. We went straight to the pool, upon arriving and began 3 days of complete relaxation.

During the trip, we played a lot of word games and crosswords, listened to Dane Cook, laughed a lot and discussed all life's current quandaries.

Lois spent a few days enjoying the Kentucky life and laying by the pool for hours on end. She left this morning to fly back home. I am immensely grateful to her for driving with me to Kentucky; without her, it would have taken much longer for me to get here. Below are some pictures from the road trip, including a lot of signs of odd names from West Virginia cities.

Here's Lois driving through the horrible NY traffic at about 9 pm on Wednesday.

This is Big Otter, West Virginia. I just thought it was an odd name.


And we've arrived in Kentucky!

Leaving in a Gold Hyundai...

Tonight, I packed up my car, beside some last minute items I'll put in tomorrow morning. I don't think much else will fit in it beside me and Lo; I've packed it to the max.

Tomorrow, I have class until 4 pm and then I'll head to NH to pick up Lois. At about 6 pm tomorrow evening, the trip officially begins!

First Blog Ever

Ok so I'm very new at blogging, so bear with me. My life has recently been turned up side down and after emailing a good friend my life update, she suggested a blog, so why not!

Here goes: its May 15, 2009. I am packing up my life's precious treasures to put in storage for a few months. I am moving out of the apartment that I have shared with my boyfriend, of about 4 years, to go live with my parents in Kentucky, not to mention we've also recently broken up. What prompted such a drastic move you should ask? I failed the bar.

Back in February, after studying my ass off for weeks, I took the MA bar exam. A two-day exam that is physically and mentally taxing on your body. I wasn't sure I aced it but with all the support from my friends, I knew I must have done well. I did well enough that I was 3 points from passing. I've been a little mad at the world since I found out I was only 3 points off.

Once I got the results, I knew I had to do something different. After I got over the initial shock of the bar failure, I got to work on making a plan for myself. I spent a lot of time talking with friends, family, and a few select others. In order to be successful on this bar, I needed to be somewhere that I would be completely supported by others (because I wasn't the first time around), where I had nothing to worry about but myself and studying for this bar. My parents were really pushing me to come stay with them, so I made the best decision I could: I was moving to Kentucky.

On a side not, but a rather important one: Prior to my bar results, I became aware that my relationship with Matt wasn't headed in a good direction. So I broke up with him. Its not as easy as I'm writing it to be but the short version is that I broke up with him because we just weren't a match for each other.

So in a few short days, I'll be packing up some clothes and books in my car, driving to pick up Lois (my best friend in life), and making the 1,000 mile drive to the Blue Grass state. I'll return to Massachusetts when I find a place to live and a job. I'll continue to make updates on the happenings in Kentucky, as this will certainly be a life experience.