~AROUND  THE  FARM~

Sapphire Farms is actually two farms about a half mile apart in south central Pennsylvania. Mary and Sue are sisters with a common love of the Arabian horse.  We thought you might enjoy some images from our little corner of the world...

The house at Sapphire Farms West

March 2008 Whitetail buckMarch 2008 Whitetail buck

Pennsylvania Whitetail deer photos taken in March 2008

Iris Garden at Mary's house

Clematis at Mary's houseRare red Tall Bearded Iris at Mary's

100 year old Peony just starting to open at Sue's house

Tall variety of Pinks and turtle shell in Sue's rock garden

Images of some of our lovely flowers - May 2008

       Decker Terrier      

Our beloved Decker Terrier, Lexi.  She is getting older now and the vivid brown markings on her face are turning white but she is still one of the best canine companions I have ever had.  This rare breed is starting to make a comeback.  These dogs are intelligent thinkers, loyal, clean and just the right size!      

Lungwort, a shade plant, in full bloom.

Rainbow, November 2006

A colorful Pennsylvania rainbow in November after a storm.

Blind squirrel and friend - December 2008Hawk December 2008

December 2008 -- blind squirrel with his lookout buddy and the reason they are so nervous.

 

LR Elana

 Homozygous black broodmare LR Elana in her "everyday attire".

FARM  KITTIES

When I first posted photos of our cats on this page I never expected all of correspondence we have gotten about them!  Apparently there are quite a few cat lovers out there...

We never set out to acquire farm cats but it seems like our little collection keeps slowly growing.   (Butter and Marble reside with Sue while Twiggy and Blackie reside a half mile down the road with Mary.)

Butter on watch

Butter, guest greeter and property patrol.  Butter got her name from the color of her coat.

Butter above, December 2009 -- "Does this coat make me look fat?"

New kitty dubbed "Marble" because of her marbled dilute torti coat pattern.  Found as a tiny kitten in the middle of a dirt road by my son (no houses around, figures) who knew right where to bring her...lol.  Marble was kept in the house for the first few months, but is now allowed free range on the farm.  We figure that she is about six months old in the photos above, taken in December 2009.  Her favorite spot is a kitty cube on the porch!

Butter is still adjusting to having this new addition around...she is not overly amused by the sheer gusto for life that Marble exhibits.

TwiggyTwiggy

Twiggy, another unexpected new addition.  Found underneath our rural mailbox on a cold night about 6 weeks before these photos taken around the beginning of October, 2008.   She was given the name "Twiggy" due to her extreme lack of body mass or fat.  This kitten was in such bad condition that we weren't sure if she would make it -- her eyes were pasted shut with a thick layer of goo that even covered her nose to the point that we were unable to tell if she had eyes at all.  She was very, very dehydrated, thin, hungry and sick.  Now she's been to the vet, had antibiotics, eye ointment, dewormer and lots of attention.  So far, so good!

Twiggy caught in the act!

Twiggy re-arranging the Christmas tree, December 2008

Twiggy in December 2008 -- caught in the act of making some adjustments to the ornaments,  lights and garland on the Christmas tree.   Her eye color recently changed to a vivid  green so we are guessing that  she is pretty close to four months old now.  We have picked August 15,  2008 as her  birth  date as  we will never know exactly when she was born.

Blackie, fat and happy

This is the life!

Blackie, a rescue.  This cat was doomed for euthanasia at the Humane Society, having bit several caretakers.   The woman who took him to the Society was so terrified of him that she was afraid to leave her house -- even to get in her car to go to work.  She worked with Mary and carried a broom along in her car every day to protect herself from Blackie on her dash to and from her car.  He was, in fact, the absolute meanest thing on four legs that I have ever seen, racing towards humans to launch a full-fledged attack with teeth and claws.  In order to save this cat Mary went to the shelter and adopted him, spent hundreds of dollars to fix his broken fang (someone had apparently kicked him in the face to save themselves when he attacked them) and countless hours being kind.  At first nothing mattered to Blackie -- even after his wounds were healed and he was free to roam around the farm he was always seething mad with hatred for humans and would launch an attack from the bushes at every opportunity.  We carried brooms for months when out and about on the farm!  Time, patience and love wore him down...he is now the most loving cat to all who visit and a great companion for Mary -- he is quite the talker and follows her everywhere.

Keep watching this page as new photos are added...

ALL INQUIRIES to Sue at InquirySapphire@aol.com or call us at 717-938-8801