Animal Farm or the possible effect of Country Living

When you live in the Country, you most probably will start to have animals. More and more animals... all different kinds of animals.

When we purchased our home near Lake Nacimiento, we started with 2 dogs. Having a dog is not uncommon and especially when you have space for them to roam, it makes sense. They bark at anything that passes the property, entering or just because. Our dogs love to walk the fence line and they give us a certain sense of security. Of course, once you have one dog you might as well get a second dog, or third dog...! Who's counting?

The next species that we took in were horses. We started with two horses and we are now at five horses. How did that happen? Well, our family grew into country living and having our horses live with us on the property was an unavoidable next step. Of course, we had to build the necessary facilities like a barn, arena, pens etc. Our horses are living in a luxury resort hotel. I hope they know it.

With a barn, come the mice. As a result, we needed cats! One cat might be lonely, so we adopted two cats to prevent the mice population to increase. No doubt, there is no better way than having cats to get rid of a surplus of mice.

At this point, you would think we have enough critters living with us, but no!!! We started to adopt goats. We raised the first pair of goats from when they were only 2 months old. We discovered our love for these animals. They are smart, loving and just fun to have on the property. In the meantime, we've adopted more goats. One goat loves to hang with the horse, the others prefer to roam the property and try to get into my rose garden.

Then, one day, a duck walked all the way up our driveway. I think she chose to live with us. We called her Duckie Duck and she moved in with the goats. She ate their food and I think she felt like she was a goat not a duck. Since she adopted us, we decided to adopt another duck to keep her company. It turned out that we adopted a group of ducks and a goose from the local animal shelter. Unfortunately, we lost the ducks over the time. We were very sad when they passed away and we only had Victoria, the goose, left from this flock. First, we were worried about her, but then she took care of our old goat and was his nurse until the end of his life. It touched our hearts, but Victoria would never leave the side of Thomas, they were inseparable. Now that Thomas is no longer with us, Victoria has connected with the new goats we brought in. She simply loves their company.

I have added several photos so that you get a glimpse of what animal heaven on earth can look like. I don’t think it is everyone’s lifestyle, but it surely is for us. I wanted to share our extended family with you. Please share your animal family with me and your story of how you found each other.