Cast of Characters

Inspired by another blogger I want to give you a quick summary of who lives on Farcical Farm. First and foremost we have the horses. Tonka is a 12-year-old grade gelding who foundered sometime before I fell in love with him. We are doing our damnedest to rehabilitate him, and I originally started this blog to keep track of his progress. Raven is a 15-year-old thoroughbred mare who is perfectly sound and happy to be my partner on the trails. Her primary function is to keep Tonka company and her secondary function seems to be keeping me on my toes.

Morsel, Timbit and Roland McNugget are 6-month-old African pygmy goat wethers. Their greatest joys include complaining vociferously and attempting escape. We use them to lure our city-dwelling friends with small children out to Deroche (with limited success to date). They also like to eat blackberry brambles, of which we have an endless supply.

Tilley, Watson and Willow are our pet dogs. Tilley is an Australian shepherd who was adopted through STAAR in 2001. Everyone (herself included) is shocked to find out that she will be 11 in November -- she still goes after tennis balls and strange men with equal enthusiasm. Watson is some kind of Australian shepherd mix adopted as a juvenile delinquent from the Moses Lake Animal Shelter last fall, after Rueben succumbed to old age. Most nights Watson spends at least 10 minutes at war with his tail, which is pretty much all you need to know. Willow is a funny-looking border collie who found me through TDBCR (an organization for which we have fostered many dogs) in the summer of 2003. When she was a wild child pup I often consoled myself by telling people "she's going to be a fantastic dog when she's 5" and I was right.

Spike and Hazel are our indoor cats. After Alley disappeared last April we vowed to keep our cats safe by keeping them confined. Spike was adopted as a very feisty 6-week-old kitten from the Vancouver SPCA in 2003. He grew up into a "steaming puddle of a cat" according to David. Hazel joined the farce from the Fraser Valley Humane Society last summer, once all hope of Alley's return had faded. Her attitude matches her very orange eyes.

Last and least, there's us humans. My name is Sarah, but friends call me 'dp' which is short for 'dangerouspenguin' which is a long story. I go by the motto "if I can't do it online, I won't do it at all" and that's how David and I met almost nine years ago. Ever since I was a little kid I have dreamed of living surrounded by animals so I feel very lucky right now, though I might change my tune when winter rolls around.

With the exception of some chickens, our final addition is scheduled to arrive next week. So far we've been calling him Jumbo because he already outweighs Tilley. Jumbo (name suggestions welcome -- we are thinking of something viking-themed) is a purebred working Maremma who will be tasked with keeping the pygmy goats safe while looking out for the rest of the property. His breeder describes him as "always into trouble" so he should fit in perfectly.