The Island of Misfit Toys

I saw one of the iconic Rudolph shows on TV the other night.  On the show there is the "Island of Misfit Toys."  These are toys that are a little off, don't work and maybe were the victims of a bad design team.  The scene reminded me, in some ways, of our little farm. 

In the morning we head out to see Eeyore, the little goat wether that has seizures (no, he's not a fainting goat).  We give him a few pieces of candy as that seems to ward off his spells.

On the way to Eeyore's pen we pass a couple of rabbit hutches.  In the first is Ear and a Half, admittedly a pretty long name.  This rabbit lost half of one ear when a few days old.  He is pretty friendly and is one of our bucks.

In the next pen is an assortment of rabbit does.  One of these is Radar.  Radar was named by Dad because of it's abnormally long ears (huge really).  This bunny also is puny, less than half the size of our other does.  Not an ideal trait for meat rabbits, but she gets played with because she is cute.

Other misfit rabbits, who are old, or just can't get along, wander about the yard.  One even took the initiative this fall to dig a tunnel from the garden into the barn for easy access even when the barn is locked up. 

A couple years ago one of the ducks hurt her leg and couldn't hobble fast enough to keep up with the flock.  We all took care to make sure she had water and gave her a seperate pile of food so she didn't have to fight the rest to eat.  Last spring she proudly limped out of an old chicken coup with EIGHTEEN ducklings in tow.

This brings us to the latest arrival.  On Friday morning the cats were gathered about the front door waiting for food.  Oddly, there were four cats instead of the traditional, and expected, three cats.  I bent down to look at the new cat and it jumped into my arms!!  I didn't hold it long as I saw it's one eye was a cloudy green/brown with yellow discharge.   The cat is a small, young female.  We are guessing it was a pet that got dropped off as it tries to get into the house continuously.

It's eye is now sort of scabbed over and mostly shut.  The new visitor is very friendly, and even got a couple names--Pirate and Bella.  I thought the plan was to relocate Pirate/Bella this week, then this morning, I saw that Spark gave her a bowl of food and a steaming bowl of water (you don't need hot water to steam when it's 2 degrees out).  The provisions were sneakily placed behind the house but in view of Sparks room.  When asked, "Why the hospitality?", Spark replied "She might have baby Raggles in her tummy".

Well Pirate Bella, welcome the Island of Misfit Toys.