The pandemic is “over”, the kids are graduated, summer break is upon us, and we’re leaving. 6 weeks in Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. Our lovely friend Maria is staying at the house and watching over Super Bueno Farm. Thank you Maria!

These are the instructions for the farm if anyone wants to sign up to watch the place on our next trip, it is not for the faint of heart but there is always wine in the cabinet and eggs in the chicken coop!

SUPER BUENO FARM 2023

Thank you for watching over the house and pets while we are away!

CATS:

Miley is an indoor only cat. If she escapes, she will usually run back in quickly if you hide the dog and call to her. Her food is in the laundry room behind the door. We keep her food bowl full. She can be a little high maintenance. If you let the food level get low, she will start whining. She may whine and demand you follow her all the way to laundry room. Add some fresh food to the top of the bowl and she will be happy and quiet again. If she is coming upstairs and yelling in the evening, she is looking for a wet food treat. We give her about a teaspoon of wet food in a tiny dish. Dishes and extra food are stored under the kitchen sink. If you put the dish on the top of the bookshelf to the left of the fridge, she would be incredibly grateful. That way Theo can’t get it. She likes that feeling of power and superiority.

Nova is Megan’s cat, and she is in her room. We are trying not to traumatize Miley, so they are separated. Nova likes to chase Miley around the house when she is free to roam. Theo and Nova kind-of sort-of get along, so we bring Theo into the room occasionally so they can act like they like each other and chase the other one around the room. Helps them get their beans out. Nova is pretty easy going, she has food, water, and a litter box in the room with her. She loves to play by hunting her toys or running around her tunnels. She spends most of her time staring out the window looking at the birds or scratching at the door trying to get someone to play with her. We like to just bring our breakfast in to keep her company or make her sit in the bathroom with us while we shower. She can be feisty but normally just wants attention.

CHICKENS:

There should be six of them. If one dies, feel free to put it in a bag in the garbage or give it a ravine burial. By that I mean, throw it as far down the ravine as your arm can throw while singing “The Circle of Life” and calling for bobcats. All the chickens have been named but we don’t remember them. Just take note of the color of the bird so we can pretend to know which one to mourn.

The chicken’s food is in the metal bin by the chicken run door. We fill the metal container inside the enclosed coop and cover it with a trash bag. If you don’t cover the extra food, they poop in it and that is nasty. There is a scrub brush hanging inside the main run on the coop wall. That is what we use to clean out the water dispenser. This system allows us to feed and water them about once a week. More water if the weather is hot. If the weather is super-hot, I have been known to make big ice cubes with Tupperware and throw those into an extra water bowl. There is a fan inside the coop that can also be turned on. It is on for most of the summer. I have also been called a Crazy Chicken Lady. That said, mine have survived some big heat waves!

Chickens love all sorts of kitchen scraps. Salad fixings, bread, cereal, and noodles are all great. I don’t recommend cilantro, onions, or anything with fish. Those all make their eggs taste gross. And we don’t feed them chicken. That would just be wrong.

DOG:

Theo is the big ask when it comes to staying at our house. He was born on December 22, 2022. You do the math on how old he is today. Basically, he is a puppy. A sweet, mostly gentle, mildly insane, huge ball of energy, puppy.

He eats three meals a day. We are not on a clock with this. He eats breakfast with the first person that gets out of bed. Lunch is when we remember, and dinner is after we eat ours. There are lots of different puzzler style feeding bowls and toys to try. We use these to entertain him. On a workday, his breakfast is usually served by me in an open bowl so he can eat it fast, and I can get on the road. Lunch and dinner are in fun feeders to keep him busy. He gets one cup of food at each meal. The food is in the garage in one of the metal trash cans. The second trash can is full of treats. These are great for when you want to leave him alone and you know he is going to spend time in his crate.

He really does like his crate, but he also knows that we often leave when he is put in it during the day. We try to make it fun by giving him a pig ear, a pizzle stick (don’t google it!), or a non-rawhide bone in the crate. There are raw bones in the freezer that are great if you are going to leave for a few hours. They can also be reloaded and refrozen with wet dog or cat food. “Go to Bed” is the command to get in his crate. He has figured out how to pop open the crate door if you don’t lift it correctly into place and slide the little lock bar. Smart little dude. There are containers of tiny treats on most flat surfaces in the house. There are carrots in the freezer if he is hot or just looks bored.

We reward him with a “Yes” and a treat when he does what we ask. Current tricks are Sit, Down, Belly, Come, Shake (or Paw), Hurry Up (his potty command), Go to Bed, and Go Home. The last one is handy if he escapes or runs off from the front yard. Tell him to Go Home and he should run to the door and sit. It is probably easiest to just hang with him in the backyard. We give a few treats when this is successful because we think it is so important for his safety. He walks on a leash, but I will say it again, he is a puppy. He pulls but not hard. Keep a handful of treats with you and reward him when he walks along side you instead of pulling. It only takes him a minute to remember NOT pulling gets treats. We wear the dorky treat bag when we take him for walks.

Theo LOVES water! If he is hot, let him into his pool. Throw a ball in there and he is good for a while. Cools him down and it is hilarious. He also loves to run through a hose spray. There is a big basket of dog towels in the laundry room. Walk in and look straight ahead. His extra leashes, poop bags and harness like items are in the entry way closet. So is the Nature’s Miracle. Again, puppy. He is good about not messing in the house, but accidents do happen. Usually, it is because we ignored his cues or didn’t let him out immediately upon letting him out of his crate.

He does not have a specific time that he gets up or goes to bed. He gets up when I do or occasionally, he gets up before me. Pretty rare but it has happened; I think I had Covid at the time. You can tell he is tired when he starts to run around the house like he is using ALL his energy to stay awake. If he spends a minute barking or complaining when you put him in his crate, don’t sweat it. Our goal is not to have a dog that is happy 100% of the time. We want him happy but also very well behaved. Sometimes that means he barks alone in his crate. He is not allowed to jump on people or get on the furniture. When people come into the house, we ask them to ignore him. Don’t make a fuss. If you make a fuss about his adorable cuteness, he will jump on the people and probably pee on them. Not popular.

Thank you for looking out for the homestead. Feel free to eat the food, drink the drinks and host a party!

The first 2-week leg of this trip is just Megan and Amy as we explore Singapore and learn how to dive with nurse sharks in the Philippines. Together, we will write a blog so that when we are old and grey, someone can read to us where we went and tell us our old stories. We are going to be a hoot in the nursing homes.

Will and Emily will be joining us for the middle 2 weeks when we first get to Thailand. We are currently looking for a family-friendly Airbnb just outside the red-light district of Bangkok and we are open to suggestions. Will’s take on Amsterdam’s red-light district was “Interesting. Kind of weird with my sister”, so this time we are making it a full family affair.

We start this adventure on June 25th with 18.5 hours in the air. Gulp.