It's a zoo

Oh It Is Good To Be Home

2009-11-10T21:19:00.003-05:00

How much did I miss home? Well let me just say that I have never been so happy to smell the, um, fragrance from the local dairy. After 19 days away (that's the longest I've ever been away from the farm) all that cow poo was the sweetest smell. I don't know if I would have felt the same if it had been 90 degrees out!

Of all the animals I missed Hoover the most. Here's how he greeted me. He is always mellow! I just about burst into tears when I saw him.

I missed the chickens almost as much as I missed Hoover. Everyday I asked "How many eggs did you get today?" Collecting the eggs is my favorite part of the day.

I was so excited to find that I got home just in time to find the first eggs that my Wellsummers laid. There's nothing like finding these small eggs that have such amazing rich color! I think it is so incredible that the chicks that I hatched in the Spring are now all grown up and laying.

The pictures don't do the color justice! The smaller eggs are a rich deep brown color. There's a touch of red to it. A bit of terra cotta. Like rich hot chocolate with a hint of terra cotta. I could look at these eggs for hours. These aren't the first Wellsummers I've had but it doesn't get old. (I know, but, sorry, I'm weird like that.)

Now this picture is a bit better but it still doesn't capture the true color.

Oh, I am so happy to be home. Even the thought of having to muck out the barn is a happy thought!

First Hand Experience That Growing Old Is Not for Wimps

2009-11-03T18:56:00.007-05:00

Oh Dear Bloggers! I have spent the last 2 weeks helping my mother who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. Now I cannot tell you how old my mother is (because she would sense I had done so and flatten me with her walker) but I can tell you that my father is 84 and my mother is somewhat younger. (But she is in the same decade of life and that's all I'm saying.)

I see my parents several times a year. I drive them from Ohio to Florida (and back) every winter. So, I have seen them slowly aging. But it seems that suddenly they have gotten old.

My mother, prior to the problems with her knee, walked 5 miles every day. This was something she really enjoyed so when she had to stop it was frustrating for her. She first thought about having the knee surgery 7 years ago so this was not something she did overnight. There was much thought and consideration (and hand wringing) that went into this decision. I must say that if you were to meet my mother you wouldn't believe she was, um, the age she is. Now if you were to meet my father you might think he was much older than he is.

I think I can handle the mental side of aging. I can't tell you how many times in the two weeks I've been here that we search for, glasses, wallets, cell phones, car keys, remotes, and other things I can't remember.

The physical side of aging looks much harder. Not being able to lift a half gallon of milk, struggling to get out of chairs and cars, walking very slowly, losing your hearing. Having your joints hurt and cease to work. These are the things I think are going to be more difficult to deal with. Especially since I already misplace things and am getting quite used to it. (Heck, I just told you my parents are in their eighties so clearly I'm no Spring chicken -oh how I miss my chickens!)

Oh, and the shrinking. I really don't think I can handle shrinking. I mean I'm not a tall person. I cannot afford to lose an inch. I think I might fear shrinkage the most.

So most of my recent posts have been me playing catch up with things I had been to busy to blog about.

Walking In The Woods

2009-11-01T10:44:00.003-05:00

This year I remembered to take my camera out more often to try to capture what I love about fall. So a walk in the woods with Hoover was a perfect chance.

We found this fallen tree.

I a always fascinated by lichen. I've found some beautiful colors. This reminds me of aged copper.

Notice Hoover there on the right? He is a whirling dervish in the woods so it is hard to get a good picture.

I was tempted to try out this fallen branch as a balance beam. I'm trying to remind myself that I'm getting too old for broken bones so I didn't do it. I still wish I had. *sigh*

A classic shot where Hoover has turned before I can snap the picture.

All the pictures seem so calm. Here is a video of how windy it was that day. I love the leaves blowing in the wind.

Cape Cod Camping

2009-10-27T20:59:00.006-04:00

I have some how managed to live this long without ever having gone camping. I guess it wasn't something my family was into.

So I didn't hesitate when my friend asked me to go camping with her and her 2 1/2 year old daughter. I mean why not give it a try while my back is still young enought to surrvive sleeping in a tent.

Here's the tent.

It rained quite a bit (not what a first time camper wanted) so here is our table under a tarp.

Brace yourselves dear bloggers, here's a rare picture of me with a yummy lobster.

The Cape Cod coast as seen from a whale watching boat. (Notice the tower?)

This tower is in Provincetown.

I walked to the of the tower and here is the view.

Nice cloud.

This is a blurry whale tail.

Whale dorsal fin.

This is a long stone wall that is a shortcut but it isn't a short walk. We didn't make it all the way across because some things are too much for a toddler and some toddlers are too much to carry.

I loved this flag.

The great dog flag was on this boat.

There's just sometihing about lighthouses. They always look good.

We got a nice day so we went to the beach.

These were the clouds on the drive back home.

I took this trip in early September during my blogless time. I absolutely loved Cape Cod and camping was fun. I would do it again. (I slept on an air mattress so no back ache.

The Best of Fall Doesn't Last Long Enough

2009-10-23T18:48:00.002-04:00

If only "peak" lasted longer. I love watching the leaves change color. I am among those who love winter so it isn't like I dread the coming winter. I just would love to have the amazing colors to last for a whole month.

Give me a chance to get sick of it.

I love how the sunlight makes these next two pictures seem like different worlds.

First Snow Flakes

2009-10-18T21:28:00.004-04:00

As much as I love fall, my true love is winter. I know I was in the minority in my joy at seeing the first snow flakes.

The only bad thing was that there are still leaves on the trees and there was fear of the weight of the snow bringing down some branches.

It stayed on the grass for a bit. Just enough to get my hopes up.

Sheep and Wool Festival

2009-10-17T20:36:00.003-04:00

This weekend is the big Sheep and Wool Festival in Dutchess County. It is one of my favorite events. It is a sure sign of Fall.

I was addicted to knitting for a while and I'm always sorry I stopped. I'm thinking this winter will be when I pick the needles up again. I have quite a stash of yarn, (because I also had a major yarn addiction!).

So while I enjoyed the festival I did not allow myself to buy any wool.

I did have an amazing chicken pot pie!

The place was packed.

Here's a sheep that's been sheared.

This one still has his wool. There were a lot of white sheep but not so many of other colors. I like the brown ones.

The white ones do have such sweet faces. I really would love to have some sheep and I know if I started learning the different breeds I'd get way to involved and I'd end up with some rescued sheep.

OK now this is where I could really lose it. Alpacas! These are such amazing creatures. The look in their eyes. They have a presence about them. I would take an alpaca in a blink!

Then there's the llamas. They're like brave alpacas. I would love to have a llama. I once met a llama that stared me down and then let me pet it, and then wouldn't let me stop petting it.

I've Been A Bad Blogger

2009-08-23T20:24:00.002-04:00

Well, I must say that I have been neglectful of my blog lately. In all fairness I do have a good excuse. We have been crazy busy trying to keep up with the growing grass. I swear that as I mow I look back behind me and can see the grass growing. It also doesn't help that it is constantly raining. And don't even get me started on the heat and humidity.

I did find the time to take pictures of the latest blooms.

You can't tell from the pictures but the hibiscus are huge. They catch my eye from far away.

I fear the mowing will never end. Or at least not until it snows. I have never wanted it to snow so badly.

Have You Ever Been to a Place That Was So Beautiful You Never Wanted to Leave?

2009-07-25T22:06:00.015-04:00

This weekend a friend and I went to Innisfree Garden in Millbrook NY. The following pictures don't even begin to do it justice. It was once privately owned. The cost to create this amazing landscaping is unimagineable to me. I believe it is impossible to be in a bad mood here. Whatever the cost, it was worth every penny! It is scerene beyond imagination. I found myself thinking if I were a wild animal this is where I would live. Every where you look is an amazing, breathtaking view.And I mean EVERYWHERE! People instinctively paced themselves so as not to run in to other groups. The wildlife was like something from a Disney movie. Even frogs were calm and aproachable. I want to visit Innisfree as often as I can. I want to see it in every season. I was heartbroken to learn that they aren't open in winter! Even the insects were special. Anyone know what this odd looking bug is? There are numerous waterfalls. And water features. The mushrooms seem more beautiful here. I will leave you with some videos.

One Winged Goose Goes to the Zoo

2009-07-19T15:31:00.003-04:00

There is a little zoo near us that has agreed to take the injured Canadian goose. It has a large fenced in pond where the poor little one winged goose can live out a good safe life. Here is a video of the goose at her new home.

I was very careful not to get too attached and never gave it a name. I will miss it. It is such a sweet creature but I couldn't give it the kind of home it needed.

Here is a photo with the white Embden goose that kept it company during recuperation.

Gravity and Hollyhocks

2009-07-13T21:54:00.002-04:00

This weekend it got quite warm, really the first warmth of the summer. I was out weeding and decided I could use a dip in the pool to cool off.

There was no one about and no real chance of being seen so I skipped the wardrobe change and went au natural. (There will be no pictures) (I have no idea why it is called "skinny" dipping).

Now, I have known for a long time that gravity is not my friend (not any of our friends really). But bobbing about naked in the pool it occurred to me that gravity is in cahoots with plastic surgeons. Now we all know that life isn't fair, but if it were gravity would have a decreased effect on us as we age.

Here is what I propose, (and yes, I know this isn't scientifically realistic). Up to the age of 30 gravity has its way with you. From the age of 30 up you get a 10% decrease in gravity with every big milestone birthday. So by the time you hit 70 you would get a 50% break in the effect gravity has on you.

Think about it. Your joints would last longer. Back pain could be a thing of the past. I'm not sure what it would do for the face but boob jobs would not be necessary. Plastic surgeons would be against it but they could devote their time to figuring out how to get affordable health care to everyone and fixing serious deformities.

Back to reality (ugh) here are pictures of my hollyhocks. They are really looking good this year thanks to the absence of the Japanese Beetles. (Who I hope have all drowned in the tremendous rains.)

Goats-How NOT to Get Things Done

2009-07-11T21:44:00.006-04:00

I don't know what I was thinking trying to get something done in the barnyard while the goats were loose was clearly a sign of impending dementia.

I am working on a pen that will either be for the pheasants or for Peanut to finally get to be broody and hatch something. It is kinda big so I (stupidly) decided to build it in the barnyard instead of building it elsewhere and moving it TO the barnyard.

First Biscotti stole the bag of zip ties and ran off with them.

Then Amaretti managed to get inside the pen, through the door I had just cut.

If they didn't make me laugh so hard I'd really lose my mind.

What Went on Here Today

2009-07-08T21:59:00.012-04:00

It was a rare nice day here.

Here's a video of Kirby coming up from the pasture for her dinner. Normally there are rocks in the tray so she has to root around for the food.
Peanut our turkey hen has gone broody again. She has made a nest in the corner under the goats' bench. This little wild goose was injured by possibly a snapping turtle. She is missing a wing and is staying with us for a while. She is going to live out her life at a local zoo that has a safe place for her. This white embden goose is keeping her company. She was the runt of her group so they make a good pair. Here's Apollo. The flash really brings out turquoise in his feathers. Here's a video at the barnyard. Dozer our big tom turkey would like to steal the show. Beethoven is the Polish bantam with the "hen saver" to protect her from the advances of the roosters. I must say I really like the "hen savers." My poor hens were really starting to look ragged.

And now we ride off into the sunset.

Another Good Storm

2009-07-04T22:00:00.004-04:00

I would like to thank Mother Nature for not letting the sunshine for a few weeks so that when the sun came out today it seemed like a reason to celebrate.

Last night I took these pictures of an incoming storm. I believe I have previously established my fascination of clouds.

Do you see a big hand in this one? (above)

Like I said, days and days of rain and gloom made today seem like the first time we've ever seen the sun.

July 4th and you need a jacket to be outside watching the fireworks! Love It!

Strawberry Heart & The Kindness of Strangers

2009-07-03T22:20:00.004-04:00

If you don't have sunshine you won't grow strawberries.

I was searching and searching for a few berries to savor when I found thisNote the bright blue sky.

Too cute. But I ate it anyway.

I have to tell you all about Dogs with Blogs. Hoover has branched off and started his own blog. He has met so many cool dogs.

Hoover had a post about how his favorite duck was (by total accident) mowed over and basically turned into confetti. In no time at all two fellow Dogs with Bloggers sent him new duckies. It was one of those warm fuzzy moments where your faith in humanity is restored.

Gryff spent a few days with us this week. Here he is during a brief sunny moment cooling off in the pool. (Note the ball in his mouth)

I can't imagine life without animals. They are such a source of joy. If you have a dog or love dogs or love people who love dogs check out Dogs with Blogs.

Horseshoes and Rainbows

2009-07-01T21:51:00.005-04:00

Well this (thankfully) doesn't happen every day.
It was one of those "What do I do now?" moments. I saw something was on the tire and I thought it must be a clump of grass until it came around again. I stopped the tractor (duh) got off and took a good long look. I was about a quarter mile from the house so I had to decide whether to pull it out, hoping it hadn't pierced through and would stay long enough to get to the house, or choice #2 leave it in the hope that driving on it wouldn't make it worse. I went with the odds and pulled it out, jumped on the tractor and drove fast to the house.

It was the right decision as the nails had gone in the thick part of the tread and didn't pierce the tire at all.

The rainbow was a bonus after NOT getting a flat tire.

Here I attempt to put the rainbow pictures together.Not too bad.

No More Whiny Wednesday

2009-06-28T12:14:00.004-04:00

I don't think Mother Nature was too happy with my complaining about her.

Thursday morning I was stung by a wasp. It was very hot and humid.

Then that night we had some of the most incredible lightning. I was standing outside trying to catch some the the lightning on my camera when it occurred to me that it wasn't the wisest thing to be doing. But I did catch this. The good stuff is at the very end.

Whiny Wednesday

2009-06-24T22:45:00.004-04:00

Whiny Wednesday was inevitable.

Deep down I'm a whiner.

Always have been.

While I have complained that there has been relentless rain,
that was basic complaining. Now, Mother Nature is planing to turn on the heat.

Some of my least favorite words (OK I HATE these words).

Hazy

Hot

Humid

For most of June we've barely had temperatures in the 70's and rarely seen the sun. Tomorrow it is going to be 88 degrees and we have water standing around everywhere so I'm sure it is going to be plenty humid.

It's like a giant birthday party for mosquitoes!

Let the whining begin!

I'm Gonna Build An Ark.

2009-06-21T14:19:00.006-04:00

We have had over 10 inches of rain since Monday afternoon. The ground is spongy and rain is in the forecast every day through Wednesday.

This little frog was clinging to the window. I think he was looking for a place to dry off.

Kirby likes that all sorts of puddles have sprung up for her bathing pleasure.

Everything is lush and green, but the strawberries need sunshine to ripen. Right now they're just rotting.

The Goats Are Learning To Deal With The Rain

2009-06-20T13:31:00.005-04:00

We had over 6 inches of rain this week. The goats took advantage of every tiny dry spell.

Nutter Butter is lounging on the rock while Mallomar grazes.

It has rained so much that they have even gone out in the rain to graze. These are goats who NEVER go out in the rain. Now I know that it makes their fur curly.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Hoover

2009-06-16T22:18:00.003-04:00

Oh, Hoover. I do love him so. But he is forever a challenge.

He tested positive for erlichiosis last year but never displayed any symptoms until recently.

Hoover has always been a picky eater. We jokingly call him to dinner saying it's "time for a beating." We give him a bowl of food and he just hangs his head like we're yelling at him. Then he lays down and we have to beg him to eat.

I have tried 5 different kinds of premium dry dog food hoping to find something he would like. We give it to him dry, wet with nice warm water. No luck.

Now that he need to be on a strong antibiotic it is important that he has food in his belly when I slip him the pills. So we have moved on to the big nasty, canned dog food.

Nasty to me heaven to Hoover. All this time poor Hoover just wanted canned dog food. And I feel terrible for not thinking to try it sooner.

I think he thinks he's getting people food. I let him lick the fork clean. Then he cleans his bowl.

For Hoover it is all good.And if Hoover is happy and well, then I'm happy.

What A Lovely Award

2009-06-15T09:56:00.008-04:00

I want to thank Jennifer for this nice award.

Here's the rules:

Rules:
1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered.

Oh my 15 is a lot but I will do my best.

I would like to send this award to:

Hannah at Chicken News

Shannon at Pigtopia Studio

Delphine at From a Caravan to a Chateau

Sandy at Birds, Bees, Bugs, and Blossoms

Charlie the Big Dog

Emma at Emma's Dilemmas

Clare at Normanby Nature

Mooky's Hood

GA Farmwoman at Life on a Southern Farm

I highly recommend all of the above blogs.

I reserve the right to send off this award to other blogs as I find them!

A Walk With Some Clouds

2009-06-14T14:57:00.002-04:00

It rained everyday last week. And we had some big storms last night. It was dreary looking this morning but after breakfast (mmmm oatmeal) the sun came out. So I asked Hoover if he wanted to go for a walk with me.There is a lot going and growing after all that rain but I couldn't take my eyes off the sky.
I am fascinated by clouds. I always have been. It is cloud paradise out there today.
Hoover was off smelling everything. He is a great dog to walk with because he does his own thing and requires nothing from you. I was free to just take in the sights.

You really appreciate the blue sky when you haven't seen it for a while.

Baby Bambi

2009-06-11T23:17:00.005-04:00

Hoover and Gryff.

Chased what looked to be a very new born fawn into the barnyard.

The poor thing was exhausted and probably thought it was safe inside the fence of the barnyard. It was safe from the dogs but Cleodoesn't like strangers in her barnyard.

Luckily my husband heard the commotion and came to the rescue.

Baby was reunited with mom and everyone is safe.

Blooms

2009-06-07T22:05:00.009-04:00

These Diantus
plants
came up
out of nowhere.
They aren't really in a great place.
But I can't bear to pull them out.I love the different patterns on the petals.

When the heat of summer comes they will fizzle and go to seed. And maybe next year there will be more of them.

These lilacs are on the north side of the house so they bloom much later than most other lilacs

A peony.

My Broody Hen

2009-06-05T20:20:00.002-04:00

I finally had one of my hens go broody. I picked some eggs and put them under her. I marked the day on the calendar and marked the day they should hatch. Well, of course, the hatched early. While we rushed to prepare a safe place for her to finish hatching and raising her brood the other hens killed two of the chicks. I don't know why they do that. It is so sad.

We finally moved her and she was all out of sorts. I have never had to move a broody hen before and maybe it was the wrong thing to do. I just couldn't bear to see all the chicks slaughtered.

She has one chick and is still sitting on eggs. Nature can be so heart breaking.

Hoover's One Year Pacemaker Anniversary

2009-06-02T21:57:00.003-04:00

It has been one year since Hoover's big pacemaker operation.

There isn't a day that I don't think about that little battery pack in his neck that keeps his heart beating properly.

He is such a sweet animal. Today I was weeding and he came up and just sat beside me. When I took a break I started petting him he was so happy for the attention. He's the type of dog that you feel happier when you pet him. He just has a way about him that you have to experience to understand. He loves being around people even if they aren't paying attention to him.

I can't even begin to express how much I love Hoover. He is so much more than a dog or a pet.

Ebay and Eggbid - Very Bad

2009-05-27T22:26:00.003-04:00

My parents have been here for a visit so things have been busier than usual.

How could I forget that I bid on (and won) 24 ringneck pheasant eggs. I fear I've lost control.

But isn't a loaded incubator lovely?

I've Gone and Done it Again

2009-05-21T21:40:00.003-04:00

My name is Cori and I'm an incubation addict.

(Hi Cori)

I do this to my self every year. I've got 18 guinea eggs, 18 red/gold pheasant eggs, 12 Barnevelder eggs, and 10 blue splash Marans eggs. I should mention I'm down to one automatic egg turner. I've borrowed incubators from a friend and am plotting all the turning, stop turning, and hatching on a calender.

I'm my own worst enemy!

If the grass would stop growing I might actually have time to take some pictures.

Ducklings! (Specially for Alison)

2009-05-17T15:40:00.002-04:00

My friends just got 50 ducklings. I ran over to see them. Ducklings are much hardier then chicks or pheasants. I'm tempted to get some but I know it will lead to geese and swans and our pond is too small to support all that. I would love a pair of swans.

If you order chicks (or have someone send them to you, are you paying attention Alison?) you have to get 10 or more so there is enough body heat to keep everyone safe on the journey. You usually have to get 25 chicks.

Pheasants - Not A Great Hatch

2009-05-14T22:28:00.004-04:00

I don't know what the problem was but I only hatched 6 pheasants.

They are darn cute and very active.

I've looked online to see what might have gone wrong. I really think it came down to fertility. It might seem crazy but I just ordered some more pheasant eggs on ebay to try again.

The Pheasants Are Hatching, The Pheasants Are Hatching

2009-05-12T22:07:00.004-04:00

As in "the British are coming."
I have been very anxious about the pheasant eggs because I've never hatched them before. I thought they would break out really fast like guinea hens but it has actually taken them hours to break out. Right now I'm up to 3 out with 6 more pipping. They're not dry yet but they seem more fragile than chickens. They're much clumsier than chicks.

Life, Death, and Rainbows

2009-05-10T18:46:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was busy and odd. We got up extra early to take two car loads of stuff to "The Worlds Largest Yard Sale". We were up before 5am. All the animals were fed, chicks checked on, incubators checked. We were out the door at 6am. We spent all day at the sale.

We did very well, and got rid of a bunch of stuff. Our basement is much more tidy now. I left the sale after 4pm and was home by 5pm.

Hoover was very happy to see me. I made a salad for Kirby. I checked the incubators and decided the chicken eggs that were going to hatch had hatched and turned off the incubator so it could cool down and I could clean it.

When I checked the incubator an hour later the temp was 71 degrees and shockingly I could hear a chick peeping. I quickly opened the incubator and tried to find the egg that was alive. I found it and peeled away most of the shell turned the incubator back on and put the chick in. I didn't really think the poor little thing could possibly survive after getting so chilled.

Then I went down to the barn to put everyone in for the night. I was not prepared to find Splish, one of my favorite hens dead in the goat stall. Splish was the only Blue Splash Maran hen in the flock and I had hoped to hatch some of her eggs to add more to the flock. On the bench in the goat stall there was an egg that didn't have a hard shell. Imagine an egg with only the membrane. It is not unusual to occasionally get an egg like that and it doesn't mean a hen is sick. It is just something that happens. I have no idea why Splish died.

While I was going about the barn getting everyone in, the sky darkened and a thunder storm started. Within minutes the sun came out while it was still pouring. I went out, got soaking wet and saw a rainbow. It was late just an hour before sunset and I could see the full rainbow. I managed to catch the rainbow with a flash of lightning. I have never been able to walk away from a rainbow, I stay until it disappears.

So, I'm walking around the barn soaking wet. It felt like my clothes weighed 50 pounds. I'm torn between the sadness of losing Splish and the beauty of the rainbow. I went in to collect the eggs and I found a tiny blue egg. This egg was even smaller than the tiny white egg I found before. Have you ever heard that things come in threes? I was thinking the little chick in the incubator, Splish dying, and the rainbow was three. Then there was the tiny egg and when I went to write the egg count on the calender I saw that there was going to be a full moon. It was all just too odd.

I was so exhausted, and still soaking wet. I dragged my wet butt back to the house. When I checked the incubator the little chick was still alive.

I fell into bed.

When I woke up this morning the little chick was moving around the incubator. I have moved her (oh, I hope it is a girl) to the brooder with the other chicks. She is still doing well and we have named her Coolio.

We're Up to 12 Chicks

2009-05-08T21:06:00.002-04:00

I think the hatch is over. Not the best hatch but considering how the were probably tossed about in the mail I can't really complain. I don't know if I will order any more eggs or just try to hatch my own. Of course next week the pheasants hatch. Maybe that will hold me for a while...Doubt it.

HATCHING

2009-05-07T22:09:00.003-04:00

It doesn't matter how many times I incubate eggs, I always get so eggcited!

So far 8 have hatched. I'm pretty sure a few are from the eggs that came in the mail.

We Are Gonna Have a Ton of Blueberries This Year

2009-05-06T21:54:00.003-04:00

There are so many blueberry blossoms! I think this is the year I learn to make jam. If anyone has a sure fire recipe send it my way, please.

I have to throw in this picture. I was weeding and after I yanked the first dandelion I looked at my glove and it was like a little work of art in my palm.

Dandelions

2009-05-05T22:58:00.002-04:00

To most of us they are just weeds.
But to Kirby, they are yummy snacks.

The Geese Have Hatched

2009-05-04T22:31:00.003-04:00

I really need a camera with some zoom.

There between the two geese are about 10 baby geese. Gooselings, gooselets, whatever.

Everything is Blossoming

2009-05-02T14:58:00.005-04:00

I am officially letting go of Winter and embracing Spring. However, I will not ever embrace high temperatures in the 90s in April. I have not forgiven Mother Nature for that little stunt.

I went around and checked the fruit trees to see what was going on with the blossoms and most everything is in bloom.

Here are some apple buds
still closed up tight.
And here are apple blossoms. My focus leaves a bit to be desired. Must work on that.

Here are cherry blossoms. This is a sweet cherry. I have never tasted one because the birds always get them before I do.

Peach blossoms. These peaches are heavenly. You must eat them outside, bent at the waist so the juice doesn't run down your face.

New Flock Members

2009-05-01T21:11:00.003-04:00

Since Babyface passed away Peanut is the only turkey in the barn. My friend (the one where I get most of my new creatures) had just gotten a pair of turkeys that weren't really working out. Peanut has been looking around for Babyface and seemed sad so here they are.

The tom had some sort of crazy name that ended in Dozer, so we are calling him Dozer. The hen is really sweet but nothing about her jumps out as a name. We started thinking of names that go with Dozer and came up with Dreamer. Sometimes they're Dozey and Dreamy.

Cleo really checked them out. I think Dozer was startled to see a bird that was bigger than him. Peanut perked up when she saw them and I think in time they will all bond.

Ordering Eggs for Incubating

2009-04-30T21:39:00.006-04:00

I have ordered chicken eggs online for incubating many times. I've never had a problem. I've never had one egg arrive broken. So I wasn't prepared for this.

I knew it wasn't going to be good from the looks of the outside of the box. And there was the letter from the post master saying my eggs had soiled 13 other packages. There was egg yolk everywhere so I was surprised to find that only 5 eggs were broken. Normally I never clean or wash eggs in anyway before I incubate them but clearly this was a special circumstance.

These are Welsummer and Americauna eggs. Will any of these eggs hatch? I'll know by May 9th.

Less than a week after I started the chicken eggs in the incubator I received a call from a friend who had just gotten some pheasant eggs and wanted to know if I could incubate them. So I fired up my second incubator since only one incubator has an automatic egg turner I decided to put half of the pheasant eggs in the incubator with the egg turner and move some of the chicken eggs into the other incubator. My thinking is that the eggs in the automatic egg turner have the best chance for hatching.

I'm very excited about the pheasant eggs. I have never hatched pheasants before and I would love to have some pheasants around the farm.

Here's a picture of the eggs in the incubator. The brown eggs are the Welsummers, the large blue (white looking) are the Americauna, and the small green eggs are the pheasants.

P. S.

2009-04-29T21:45:00.003-04:00

Dear Mother Nature,

It was 92 degrees yesterday and tonight we have a freeze warning. Seriously? I won't be surprised if it snows tomorrow. :o)

A Letter to Mother Nature

2009-04-28T20:31:00.003-04:00

Dear Mother Nature,

I don't know who did what to piss you off but let me offer my sincerest apology. Maybe you're going through some sort of personal problems and you've decided to take it out on us peons.

I personally don't enjoy August weather in April. Quite frankly I don't enjoy August in August. I really don't enjoy having the high temperature jumping 25 degrees overnight. But who am I to tell you what to do. You wanted a 4 day heat wave in April. OK.

You know, it's not just me. The daffodils aren't happy. Have you looked at them lately? They're done. Some of the fruit trees have bloomed and now I hear you're thinking of dropping the temps into the 30's. That's not nice.

Now, the bugs are loving you. They're hatchin' and flyin' around, all crazy buzzin' about. But, what will they think of you tomorrow? If it is 28 degrees cooler than today will they be singing your praises? I don't think so. I don't even want to think about the poor butterflies.

You know we all do better with gradual changes. We like things to be predictable. But you need to have some fun and shake it up a little. I get that. I don't like it, but I get it. I hope you got it out of your system.

By the way nice touch with the wind tonight. Will the house blow off the foundation? I will have to wake up tomorrow and see.

I'm putting away the shorts and getting the spring jacket back out. Enough of the crazy stuff. Please?

Love Ya',
Cori

A Walk Along a Stream

2009-04-27T20:31:00.005-04:00

It was very, very, unnecessarily hot this weekend. I'm talking insane for April in New York. A friend of mine has a stream on her property that is in a ravine that was a cool place to hang out. It was very pretty and I took some pictures and a little video. These flowers were popping up all over. I have no idea what they are. But very pretty. Here's a little video.

These odd mushrooms are coming up around our pond.

Turtles on a Log

2009-04-24T20:49:00.005-04:00

I wish this picture was clearer, or I had a big ol' zoom lens. But I was so excited when I saw these turtles sunning themselves on a log in a pond, that I pulled off the road and took this pic with my cell phone.

Hmm. You can see that there are six turtles there? They were so darn cute and I love turtles.

A Sad Farewell

2009-04-21T23:05:00.003-04:00

It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you of the passing of Babyface. Babyface was a large breasted white turkey. She was given to us by some good friends along with a male who we named Casanova.

The big white turkeys that have been bred to have large breasts weren't meant to live long. Just long enough to grow big and be on the table for Thanksgiving. I'm glad we were able to give Babyface a long and happy life. She was such a sweet creature. When she looked at you it was with big eyes full of personality.

This winter was hard for Babyface, but she spent her last day outside in the sun walking around like she hadn't for months. She went into the goats' stall and bedded down in a favorite corner. I actually thought she was preparing to lay an egg. She tucked her head under a wing and quietly passed. She was one of a kind.

Babyface and Casanova.

Appollo Does the Dance

2009-04-19T21:59:00.003-04:00

When I went to the barn this evening Appollo was trying to impress the ladies. I caught his dance with my cell phone. If you listen closely you can hear the almost rattlesnake like sound when he rustles his feathers.

And here's the view from the backside.

Interesting Eggs in the Pond

2009-04-18T22:29:00.005-04:00

Since the sad discovery of the remains of Jeremiah I had been avoiding the pond. With the weather warming up I thought it was time to see who was gonna be the new big frog. There were lots of frogs but none stood out as a potential new King of the Pond.

I did however find this odd looking egg sac.

Here's a close up. I have looked up salamanders, and crayfish and neither have eggs that look like this.

Anybody have a clue what this mess might grow up to be?

Double Yolked Eggs

2009-04-17T20:50:00.004-04:00

We have a hen that is consistently laying double yolked eggs. I'm not sure which hen it is. No one really stands out. From the size of the eggs someone should be walking funny.

Here's a picture of several eggs. On the bottom row there's a chicken egg, double yolked egg, turkey egg, double yolked egg, chicken egg.

Turkey eggs are pretty big. But the double yolked eggs are even bigger than the turkey eggs. I feel sorry for the poor hen who is pushing these puppies out.

There's Elves in the Drains

2009-04-16T22:27:00.005-04:00

We have elves in our drains. The mission of the elves is to drive Hoover crazy.

Mission Accomplished!

Too Cute

2009-04-15T21:44:00.007-04:00

I have been looking at pictures of Hoover when he was a puppy to see if he was a "bonehead".

I think the pointy protrusion appeared after the fainting spells (which told us his heart wasn't working properly and then he got the pacemaker).

We have a vet appointment next week and this puppy picture shows that his head looked normal before the pacemaker.

Here's one that shows the bone head, (head bone?)

Cleo in the Barn

2009-04-13T22:47:00.006-04:00

I was lucky enough to catch this video of Cleo. I filmed it with my phone so it isn't the highest quality. But it cracks me up.

Imagine THAT having a hold of your ear?

I Love My New Green Shoes

2009-04-12T22:38:00.004-04:00

Green is my favorite color. So when I saw the new Danskos in "celery" I knew it was time for a splurge.

I'm a sensible shoe kind of girl. No pointy toed-high heels for me.

Peanut Is Laying Eggs and Giving Attitude

2009-04-11T18:28:00.007-04:00

Peanut is a bronze turkey. Unlike chickens, turkeys lay eggs seasonally. As far as we've experienced it they lay in Spring. Peanut laid her first egg this year while I was driving my parents back to OH. Yesterday I found Peanut nesting in the corner of the stall.

She was all tucked in and had been putting shaving on her back (I don't know why they do that). I thought she was sitting on an egg so I felt around under her to get it. She gave me such a look. I moved her to find that there was no egg. She settled herself back down with a "See, I tried to tell you. Now leave me alone." Peanut is very affectionate and I have never seen any sort of attitude from her before.

I went about finishing up the barn chores. Getting everybody in and fed for the night. I had gathered all the eggs and was turning off the lights when Peanut started calling. I turned the light back on and went into the stall. Peanut was standing there shaking the shavings off her back. A big speckled egg was at the spot where she had been nesting. She looked at me, all sweet again, saying "Now I'm done and you can take the egg. Thank you very much."

I think I must have moved her right at the time she was about to lay the egg. It might have been uncomfortable to be jostled at the very moment. I have no idea because I've never laid an egg. But don't let anyone tell you that turkeys have no personality or are stupid. Peanut us very sweet, she loves a good tummy scratch, and she is far from stupid.

Letting go of Winter

2009-04-09T20:51:00.006-04:00

Unlike most people I love winter. For me the melting snow triggers serious sadness. I will watch the last traces of snow along the treeline, cheering on the cold cloudy days that keep it alive. But eventually it happens.
A really warm, sunny day comes along and it's over.
All the ground is bare and brown.
The grass from the fall is all
packed down from months
under snow.

It is really unattractive.
I know that Spring will
bring beautiful things. Like these crocus (croci?). And the daffodils are coming up (pictures to follow at a later date). So even though there were snow flurries yesterday I am beginning the process of letting go of Winter. Today I spent some time in the greenhouse transplanting seedlings and root cuttings. It was nearly ninety-five degrees in there and quite a shock to my system. It made me want to do the snow chant. (There's an old Calvin and Hobbes comic where they do a chant to bring on snow and I've always remembered it.) I don't want to abuse it so I'm putting it away until October/November.
So, I think it was because I was a little off kilter that Cleo caught me off guard tonight. Cleo is our Emu and she loves shiny things like earrings (belt buckles, sunglasses, corneas) and I know that she has been eyeing my earrings and I always kept an eye on her when I am in the barn. Tonight she got behind me and I didn't pay attention to where she was and then I felt my ear being ripped off. I was shocked. I'm actually glad that she picked my earring over my cornea, but it really hurt. Luckily no real damage was done to my ear. She did however totally change the shape of my earring.

Home Home Home Home Home Home

2009-04-06T20:55:00.007-04:00

I'm home!

It was fun. It is always great to spend time with my parents (not necessarily in the car for hours.) But,I miss all the animals so much when I'm away. Every night I would ask my husband. "How many eggs did you get?" "Any weird eggs?" "How's Hoover, Kirby, the goats, the chickens, Cleo,.....?" It must drive him crazy.

Well, there were some weird eggs that he saved for me. I have gotten over the disappointment of not being the one to find them.

Hoover greeted me fresh from rolling in something disgusting.

Kirby flopped down for a belly brushing.

The cats were all over me.

I brushed the goats and collected today's eggs.

It is so good to be home!!

On the Road Again

2009-03-31T22:01:00.003-04:00

Well I'm back on the road again.

I flew from NY to FL and now I'm driving my parents from Florida to Ohio. Then I'll fly back to NY.

I miss all the furry babies and I will have an exciting gift waiting for me. I found out I won the b-day give away from Pigtopia!! So a custom pigture (picture) of Kirby was my prize. Very exciting!!!

Here is a picture of a creepy tree at the Georgia rest stop. I have to look up what this plant is that is taking over all the trees.

Some Sunsets

2009-03-21T21:03:00.004-04:00

I cannot seem to get a good picture of a sunset. Every night after putting the animals in the barn I have an amazing view of the sunset. And every night I stand looking at it in complete awe. I have repeatedly tried to take a picture that captures what I see. I have repeatedly failed.

When I bring the pictures up on the computer I am so disappointed. The pictures are nothing like the scene that takes my breath away when I stand out in the barnyard. I have tinkered with the brightness and the contrast, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I just know that I have yet to capture the sunsets I see on "film."

I think it is partly because the pictures never meet up to my expectations that I never get tired of looking at the sunsets. No matter what still needs to be done I always take the time to enjoy it. I love that it is different every night. I'm always bummed when there is heavy cloud cover. It is something I wish I could share with everyone.

Tiny Egg

2009-03-17T18:10:00.009-04:00

Getting the eggs is the highlight of my day (most days). That's not to say that my days aren't exciting, just that there is something about collecting the eggs that I love. I always want there to be a lot of eggs and I'm hoping there will be some really dark brown eggs. So I never know what I'm going to find.

Yesterday I found a tiny white egg. I was catching a rooster to put him in with the goats (to give the hens a break) and he kicked up this tiny egg. Now, I know HE didn't lay it. Almost all of my hens lay brown or green/blue eggs. So I'm trying to figure out who laid this tiny white egg.

Here's a picture, from right to left: really big egg (one of our hens is laying twin yolked eggs), a normal sized brown egg, a normal sized green egg, the tiny white egg. There is a second green egg on top.

So who could have laid this little egg?

It could have been one of the guinea hens.

They are all just getting old enough to lay an egg. It would be a really small egg for them. But sometimes a "first" egg is small.

Then there is Beethoven.

Beethoven is a white crested black Polish chicken. I've never really been sure if Beethoven is a hen or a rooster. He/she has never crowed. So I'm guessing she's a hen. She a bantam, and if she is a hen she would lay white eggs. It could be her egg. We named her Beethoven because when she was getting her head feathers she we debated between "Einstein" or "Beethoven" and decided that Beethoven was a name that could go either hen or roo and still invoked the crazy "hair."

Just another picture of the egg with a penny to give some sense of scale.

Happy Birthday Kirby

2009-03-17T12:36:00.005-04:00

Today Kirby turns two. She was just a tiny little thing when we got her. I never thought she would be as big as she is today, but we love every inch of her.

This is how she is spending her birthday-

You would think the sun was shining just for her. The only thing she would like better is to be out eating grass (or the best eating dandelions!).

Here's an earlier picture of our little St. Patrick's Day baby.

A Walk on a Warm Day

2009-03-15T20:42:00.004-04:00

It certainly felt like Spring today. I decided to take the boys (Hoover and Gryff) with me while I walked the fences. Between the wind and the deer there were a lot of rails down and they don't get back in place on their own. I actually like walking the fences. I get to see things from a different point of view. As long as I stopped to throw the ball for Gryff every few minutes everyone was happy.

I saw some lichen (I'm guessing) growing on a rail. I had never seen this bright red before.

Then I saw these mushroom like growth on an old stump. They remind me of turkey feathers.

After we had walked all the fences and Gryff had decided that he was so warm he had to lay in a puddle, we walked around the pond to see if any fish were swimming about. We didn't see any fish but I did see a sad sight. I'm pretty sure that Jeremiah, the big, big frog passed away over the Winter. He was the loudest frog on the pond. Sometimes he would wander to the pool and I would fish him out and carry him back to the pond. I'm not sure how frog reproduction works but I don't think he got to fertilize any eggs this season. Hopefully some of his offspring are around. I don't even really know that he is a he. But I did look forward to seeing him every year.

Cousin Gryff

2009-03-14T21:58:00.005-04:00

My sister's dog Gryff (short for Gryffindor) is staying with us for a bit. Kirby and Hoover love having their cousin around. OK Hoover loves it but Kirby is indifferent.

Gryff is a Border Terrier. He is a ball freak. He will let you throw the ball until he is near exhaustion.

When Gryff is around he makes Hoover seem like a giant. Having two dogs is twice the fun. It does mean double tummy rubs in the morning, and a little less space in the bed but totally worth it.

Who could resist that face?

Little Red Lighthouse by the George Washington Bridge

2009-03-14T11:48:00.005-04:00

There is a lighthouse right next to the George Washington Bridge. I never knew it was there. Apparently there is a popular children's book about it. I've been told that you can see it from the Henry Hudson if you are on a bus, you have to be high enough to see over the wall. A big SUV will also give you a view.

I googled it and found out you can go to the lighthouse and even go inside it. It is on my list of things to do for 2009.

Pictures of the George Washington Bridge

2009-03-08T17:22:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures of the George Washington Bridge. I had this amazing view from the Milstein Hospital, which is part of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. I was in the city to give some moral support to my sister while her husband was having surgery. Once the surgery was over and we knew he'd come through it without a problem I felt like it was OK to take some pictures.

It's funny how I didn't want to take any pictures until I knew he was going to be alright. As if by taking pictures I might make things go wrong or it was improper to take the pictures until we knew he was out of surgery. Strange how my mind works.

Pretty Orchids

2009-03-08T16:46:00.006-04:00

I was so happy that I had my camera with me when I saw these orchids in the bathroom of my sister's apartment.

I really wish I knew something about taking "real" pictures. I'm just a point and shoot kind of girl. So I played with the different setting on my camera and took some with and some without the flash

I also took some at night when there was less light coming from the window behind the plant. But I think the ones with daylight coming through the window are better.

Digital photography saved me a bundle on this one. I went a bit crazy taking about one hundred pictures. I probably wouldn't have taken as many pictures if I had to develop film.

Snow in the Big City

2009-03-03T21:23:00.004-05:00

I took the train. I probably would have made it just fine driving in but why risk it. I took a few pictures with my phone but I have have better ones on my camera that will have to wait until I'm back "upstate." Above is a picture of the subway station at 72nd and Broadway.

In an ironic twist of luck (for me) New York City got more snow that we did at my house. So I actually hit the snow jackpot.

So rare to see the snow while it is still pretty and white here. I have to say that they clean up the streets and sidewalks like real pros in the city. They don't mess around.

Big Storm on the Way (I Should Be Happy)

2009-03-01T20:48:00.005-05:00

So we are bracing for a big snow storm. The forecasters are using such exciting words, Mega storm, the big one, blizzard conditions. These are words I long for. I love snow and big snow storms. The more snow the better...but not tonight.

I have to go into the city tomorrow. I very rarely go into the city and normally I would be so very happy to watch a big snow storm but I don't want to have to drive in one. Now I know how the rest of the world feels. Well, sort of. I'm not dreading the snow, or cursing it. I'll still think it is beautiful. It will still make me smile.

Maybe I'll take the train. I wonder if the trains run on time in a big snow?

I'll have to find the MTA website.

Wish me luck.

Apollo Before and After

2009-02-26T20:17:00.004-05:00

The top photo is of Apollo taken by the tractor in the summer of 2008. The second photo I took of Apollo today (2/26/2009) behind the barn. That's Artemis in front of him. The top photo is clearer because I took it with my camera, the other I took with my phone. But you can see how much bigger his tail is.

This will be Apollo's first real tail. Last year he grew 7 eye feathers. I can't begin to count his eye feathers this year. I will get to count them in the fall when he sheds them. Then next year he will grow an even better tail.

I could watch Apollo all day. Apparently I'm the only one, all the "girls" at the barn walk right past him when he's strutting his stuff. Last year I was so excited when his eye feathers showed up. I didn't know he was too young to grow a full tail.

I might try to hatch a few of their eggs this year. Last year they were too young to really make fertile eggs and I never saw them mating. I will only try to hatch the eggs if I see them mating. I hope it is more "romantic" than chicken sex.

Hoover Turns Two Years Old

2009-02-25T20:33:00.004-05:00

Our boy, the Hoove, turns two today. We're lucky to know his birthday because he was born in a shelter. So we are also lucky to know that he was never abused or neglected. Really we are so in love with this crazy mutt.

To start his day off right we gave him a double tummy rub and for the rest of the day he was the King. So really it was just like any other day

Banana Trees

2009-02-22T19:43:00.003-05:00

I have some friends who do landscaping and they were taking two banana trees out of someones yard at the end of summer. They hated to just throw them away but where could they find a place for two banana trees to spend the winter in New York? Me, jumping up and down like a maniac, Hello, I have a green house!

So these two huge banana trees show up and I find one pot big enough and another pot not quite big enough and we dragged them into the greenhouse and potted them up. I have no idea how we will ever move them!

The trees got through the potting shock and were doing great when we had the first serious cold spell. This was the perfect time for the heater in the greenhouse to quit. Of course it was a Friday night and when I looked into the greenhouse on Saturday morning I couldn't imagine what was going on. The banana trees were missing and all the other plants were black, as if there had been a fire or something. I went running in and it was freezing. The temp overnight had been down in the single digits.

I didn't know if the banana trees could possibly survive. The huge, red-green leaves that had been pointing to the sky were drooping, black, and brittle. With in a week each tree sent out a new leaf from the middle of the plant. I cut off all the old leaves and slowly new leaves have been coming up ever since. I should have taken picture of them after the freeze so I could really appreciate their amazing comeback but I didn't want to remember them like that if they didn't rebound.

Hoover's Six Month Pacemaker Check Up

2009-02-19T16:09:00.004-05:00

Here's a picture of Hoover in the lobby of the Animal Medical Center in New York City.

I can't thank the great veterinarians enough. Hoover wouldn't be alive if it weren't for their quick work. Today we found out that the pacemaker signals Hoover's heart to beat 74% of the time. All the tests show that everything is working normally and we don't have to go back for another six months. The battery should still be good for 4 more years.

Poor Hoover, he isn't cut out to be a city dog. The noise and the traffic were too much for him. While we were in the waiting room a NYPD officer and German Shepard came in. Then a Rottweiler came in. Hoover is terrified of large dogs. There were also 2 ferrets, an iguana, at least 5 Yorkies, 2 cats, a golden retriever, dachshund, beagle and a Scottie. There were no problems between any animals it was totally peaceful. Pretty amazing in my book.

If you live near New York City and your pet needs care that your regular vet can't provide, this is the place to go.

Salad in the Snow

2009-02-18T18:42:00.003-05:00

Here's Kirby having a salad in the snow. I've heard of other people's pigs who hate going out in the cold but Kirby is pretty hardy. She will go out no matter the temp but she would prefer that the sun be shining. She will lay out in a sunny spot when it is 20F if there isn't any wind.

A little snow

2009-02-18T18:00:00.009-05:00

Today we are getting a bit of snow. I'm very happy to see the snow as I prefer it to the ugly brown grass. I just wish it could have waited to show for another day because I have to drive Hoover into the city for his pacemaker check up tomorrow.

Here's a video I took with my phone. A little grainy but I wanted to capture snow falling so I can watch it when it is all gone.

If you want to see some really beautiful pictures of snow you should look here
Link

A little visitor at the barn

2009-02-15T11:43:00.004-05:00

My first day back from Florida I went down to the barn and I should have know right away that something wasn't right. All the goats were all standing outside, nervous. Inside the goat stall Cleo (emu) and both the peacocks were making odd noises. My first thought was that it was strange for Cleo and the peacocks to be in the stall together. I went inside the barn and opened the inner door and found a little possum (opossum?) cowering in the corner.

I was startled and slammed the door. Then I realized that the poor little thing must be terrified having a giant emu threatening it. Of course Cleo was doing "her job", protecting everyone. I have no idea what the peacocks were doing. I've never seen them act like they were defending the barnyard.

I needed to get the possum out of the barn but I didn't want to be the one to do it. I'm not proud of my fear of dealing with this little guy. I believe if I had taken a moment to think about it I would have figured out how to get it out myself, and I would have had the presence of mind to AT LEAST get a picture of it in the stall. So I'm embarrassed to say that I called my husband and he got the critter out of the barn. Then it occurred to me that I wanted to get a picture. So all of these pictures are of him out in the snow (oh, I miss all that snow!)

Have you been eating poop?

2009-02-14T18:26:00.003-05:00

Of all the crazy things that I hear myself say. I know that Hoover, given the opportunity, will eat Kirby's poo. I try to pick up the poop before he gets a chance but sometimes...well...sometimes he gets it fresh from the "oven".

Yeah, it is a disgusting thought. And it is hard to miss "poo breath" when it hits you in the face. It is really bad if he has already started kissing me before I notice. I really really love Hoover so I manage to get over his nasty habits.

Now this reminds me of something that I meant to bring up earlier. During my trip to Florida I unfortunately had many opportunities to visit many public restrooms. I was very disgusted to find in nearly every restroom (I can say that in every single rest stop along the highway I found the nasty toilets) women had peed all over the toilet seat. I truly don't understand why this has to happen. Women! Listen! To! Me! STOP PEEING ALL OVER THE TOILET SEATS IN PUBLIC RESTROOMS!! This is disgusting, rude, unnecessary behavior. It is unacceptable and it MUST stop. I fear that you seat peers are having the next generation of seat peers. You must teach your children NOT TO PEE ON THE TOILET SEAT. I sincerely doubt that you do this in your home or at friends' homes so don't do it in public restrooms.

I hate the melt

2009-02-11T19:32:00.003-05:00

So for three days now it has been melting. All my beautiful snow is melting. I take some comfort in the fact that it has been melting for three days and there is still some left. And I hope so very much that the melting will stop before it all goes away. This is the hardest thing for me to watch. I mean you know, watching bad things happening to animals or small children is far harder to watch and I can avoid that but the snow is right out the window and I have to see it every time I go outside. Very unavoidable. Locking myself in some windowless room isn't an option. So the snow is gone from the roof and there are places where I can see dead grass. It is almost physically painful. I was so happy when I got back from FL and found that there was more snow than when I left. I only had two days to enjoy before it started melting.

Finally

2009-02-01T15:15:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture of Nigel (my Garmin) with the statistic of our 3 day drive. I must explain the 85 mph maximum speed. There was a semi coming up behind me and I really think he was going to mow right through me if I didn't get out of his way. I had to speed up to pass the semi that was on my right. Really Officer, I swear.

It is amazing how exhausting driving is. Of course if I factor in the fact that my father woke me up at 5:30 the last two mornings and I'm really functioning on a bit of sleep deprivation. He doesn't understand why I'm tired when he isn't. Well it might have something to do with the fact that he sleeps for most of the car ride while I'm driving.

But we're here safe and somewhat sound. The place they're renting is really nice. It will be very comfortable for them for the next two months.

Three hours of Ice What a Nightmare

2009-01-29T21:51:00.003-05:00

Hey, here's a good idea. Let's start out a day early. I mean the weather here in Ohio is total shit, so let's get this show on the road and head south.

Hmmm, I don't know the roads here are still really bad. Maybe if we don't leave too early it will work.

Really we want to get going. Let's leave, say, six a.m.

No I don't want to leave that early.

Fine pout pout.

Seven a.m. ........... Are you awake? Get up it's late. I thought we were leaving early.

I never said we were leaving early. Get out of my room. I'm not ten years old any more.

Nine a.m. car is packed. Everyone last potty breaks.

Did anyone forget anything?

Did you unplug the TV?

Nine-twenty a.m. in car sliding down road.

Nine-thirty back at garage, forgot to put out garbage.

Ten-thirty sitting in traffic 10 miles from house.

We should hit the Ohio River in one hour and ten minutes on an OK traffic day. Today it took us 3 hours and 40 minutes. A fun 3 hours on what I can only describe as a nightmare of living life on the edge and not the fun edge like a roller coaster where you know you're going to be alive at the end of the ride. This was a white knuckle, please I don't want to shit my pants and die here on I-75 with all these other idiots who didn't know any better than to stay home where it is safe and warm. Oh my god look at that semi off in the gully jack knifed and crumpled. I really don't want to die here in Ohio on I-75.

I did find moments to look at how pretty the trees were all covered with ice and snow.

Then in Kentucky the roads got better and for the first 3 hours it looked like something right out of Dr. Zhivago. The trees were so covered they were bending. Sort of magical destruction. I wish I could have taken a picture.

So, night one in a hotel in Tennessee. The magical ice is gone but it is still cold. I find myself looking for animals. I would throw myself on anything furry right now.

I need to touch fur!

2009-01-28T20:39:00.002-05:00

This time of the year for the last 5 years I go to Ohio and drive my parents to Florida. They stay down south for 2 months where it is warm and then at the end of March I fly back and do it all in reverse.

I love spending time with my parents but I miss all the fur babies back home.

I miss Kirby and Hoover the most. But I miss all the barnyard antics too. How many eggs were there? Is Cleo dealing with the snow? Are the goats behaving? Is there any rooster fighting going on?

Has Beaker said anything funny? Is Kirby tearing the house apart? Has Hoover caught any elves?

I managed to get to Ohio before the big storm. I must say this is the prettiest Ohio has ever looked. But I wish I could see how much snow we got in New York.

The car ride down to Florida is always a bit challenging. I don't think we kids were as demanding on long car rides. We are all very happy to get to our destination. And I will say that the mood in the car starts to improve as the temperature starts to warm up outside.

This year I have a new ally. My Garmin GPS who's name is Nigel. I love Nigel and he will be such a help finding hotels and restaurants.

What's wrong Cranky Butt?

2009-01-21T15:34:00.004-05:00

Today Beaker called out "What's wrong Cranky Butt?" She just cracks me up. I have long since stopped editing my speech around the house out of fear that Beaker will repeat it. I talk to all the animals out loud every day and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they started talking back. Usually when Beaker spouts out something new I have to stop and try to figure out when I said it (since Beaker only mimics me for some odd reason). But I knew right away that I have been calling Kirby "Cranky Butt" since the grass has been covered with snow and she has been stuck in the house.

Ha! I got rid of the line!

2009-01-20T20:00:00.004-05:00

So I totally revamped the look of the blog. That line was making me crazy. (Much like a little pig is making me crazy!)

I'm still playing. Gotta figure out how to make the clouds fill the header.

Thankfully there's a lot of winter left.

Why is there a line down the middle of my blog?

2009-01-17T22:11:00.002-05:00

I don't know when it happened but all of a sudden there is a line down the middle of my blog. I tinkered with the layout and it was all good. If anyone knows how to fix it let me know 'cause it is driving me crazy.

Br-r-r-r-r-r it is freaking cold

2009-01-17T20:17:00.005-05:00

I love winter and snow so for me to say it is cold you know it must be VERY cold. Hoover seems to be able to handle it although he isn't spending as much time outside as usual. He does get out and let off some steam, so to speak.

Kirby is another story. She is going stir crazy. She is cranky and bored. She has torn up her bedding and torn a piece off of probably the only nice piece of furniture we have. Treats seem to be the only thing that calm her down but I don't want to let her get fat just to keep her happy. In a perfect "Kirby world" there would be an indoor grassy area where she could graze and root around to her little heart's content. But for now I'm just trying to stay one step ahead of her.

Six month summary

2009-01-17T19:21:00.011-05:00

So life got a bit crazy and the first thing to be put aside was the blog. How does one put six months into a single post? I'm guessing not very well but here goes.

Hoover is doing very well. You would never guess that there was ever anything wrong with him. The month of June was a nightmare simply because the vet's orders were to keep Hoover as quiet and still as possible. The electrodes on his heart needed time for scar tissue to form. This was the key for the pacemaker to be successful. The problem was Hoover felt great. He was back to normal as far as he was concerned and normal meant running and jumping, exactly the things he wasn't supposed to be doing. Keeping him quiet for four weeks was one of the hardest things ever. After his check-up when the doctor said he could stop being quiet and go back to being Hoover he ran like a wild animal. I think he thought we were just punishing him for four weeks and once he was set free he wasn't going to stop running. Amazingly he didn't run away. He is very hard to get to come in the house now. I think he is afraid we're going to lock him up again.

I hatched batch after batch of chickens and guinea hens. I suppose I went a bit to far. My biggest problem is that I have too many roosters. The first batch of roosters I actually have in the freezer right now. It was quite a shock to me to learn I had it in me to do that. In all honesty I didn't do the actual killing but I did the plucking and disemboweling. Friends of mine just down the road had raised a fair number of chickens for themselves and to sell. When you hear all the things about how our food is raised and what they feed to meat animals it really makes sense to raise your own if you can. So I brought my roosters to their house and in return for processing my boys I helped them process theirs. They had a great quality scalder and plucker which really made things quick. I was prepared to back out if I couldn't handle it but it was very humane and very clean. I have a feeling it was much cleaner than at a major processing plant. I know it was more humane. I do not know if I have it in me to do the actual killing. I have 13 roosters right now who are a little small but getting to be very problematic (the hens have strong feelings about this).

The garden was great. A record crop of blueberries that were so delicious. The very first plums from one of the trees we planted. I can't currently remember the name of the plums, but they were small and, like the blueberries, delicious. I have great hopes for them this year. There were more peaches than ever and each tree ripened at a different time (so rare when these things go as planned). They're the kind of peaches you have to eat outside or leaning over a sink because they're so juicy.

The apples trees were loaded. We made more cider then ever and like every year I thought it was the best ever. I really miss the apples. They're not the best keepers so when they're done it is sad and waiting for the next year is hard. But with the cider frozen that can be enjoyed and is just as good as when it was fresh pressed.

Kirby had large chunks of pasture to roam. It seems that no matter how much room we gave her she had to dig it up. I guess that is what pigs were born to do. She is a very well behaved little pig. Each morning I would put on her harness and leash and walk her out to her area. Some veggies or grains were used to keep her moving. Given her choice Kirby would take all day to get to the pasture eating every dandelion along the way and digging up the world (and the nice parts of the lawn). During a long rainy period when she didn't want to go out she refused to potty. She held her urine for over 48 hours and developed a bladder infection. It was very bad and the vet had to come and give her a shot and then we did a round of oral anti-biotics. From this I learned how to make a piggy potty. Kirby will do anything for food so no matter how hard it rained after that I would stand out in the rain with her favorite thing and after she emptied the tank she would get the food. It was shocking sometimes how much she had in the old tank. I'm guessing close to a half gallon. She can really kill some grass.

Strange Roommates

2008-06-22T21:38:00.002-04:00

Because the chickens pick on Babyface I moved her into Cleo's stall. The emu and the turkey seem to get along fine.

After one of the hens hatched some chicks the others began to pick on her and the chicks so I moved them in with Cleo and Babyface. They're an odd little group but they all get along, or at least they all tolerate each other.

Hoover gets a pacemaker

2008-05-31T23:02:00.007-04:00

Talk about crazy. On Thursday Hoover seemed to be having seizures. I first witnessed it about 3:00 in the afternoon he seemed to lose control of his legs and fell to his side on the ground within seconds he was trying to get up then standing and staggering the bolting off like something startled him. Now keep in mind that Hoover is not quite a year and a half old, very active, prone to weirdness, adorable, and sweeter than sugar. So I call the vet I love who wasn't in and then thinking this could be serious I called my backup vet and got him in for the last appointment of the day.

The vet drew some blood to run some tests, took a chest x-ray, and did an ekg (which had to be sent via phone to a cardiologist who couldn't get to it that day). While listening to his heart the vet said "something is not right". Apparently Hoover heart was beating way too slow. Like 42 beats per minute. Normal is 70-120. While this seemed odd the vet said she needed to get blood work back and get the results from the ekg.

So I take Hoover home and he seems OK but a little tired. He goes about his business and while we watch him more closely than usual we aren't really worried.

Friday morning the vet calls to say Hoover needs a pacemaker. WHAT!? I'm thinking do they even do that for dogs? Now Hoover is acting really out sorts, breathing funny and just lying around. I'm trying to stay calm and be logical. My first thought is if this were a human member of the family I'd be getting a second opinion. So I call the vet I love and tell her I'm freaking out and she gives me the number of a canine cardiologist. I call. He's on vacation until June 9th. Well that's no good. They give me the number of a cardiologist in NJ. I call and he's out of the office for the day. I call my friend back and she gives me another number. I make contact and they tell me that they wouldn't recommend a pacemaker with out other tests but if he does need a pacemaker they don't to that procedure and they refer me to the two places I've already called. I tell them no dice at those places and they say bring him in, let's get things rolling and see if we're really looking at a pacemaker case.

I:
Print out map

Get Hoover together

Get Hoover in the car (with Hubby help)

Drive like a semi-controlled maniac to a vet hospital an hour away

We get there and they take Hoover immediately. I am now weeping semi-uncontrollably. They are so nice (Katonah Bedford Hills Veterinary Center I highly, highly recommend them). When I tell them Hoover is terrified of large dogs they take him to a private room for his tests and them to a private carpeted room (very amazing if you know what a sick dog can do on carpet) so he is in a quiet place where nothing will scare him. His heart is now beating 24 times a minute and things are getting critical.

They start making phone calls to find a cardiologist who can see Hoover NOW. They find one in the city (NYC) tell them I'm coming. They print me off a map with directions and warn me that I should stay call so Hoover stays calm because he could go into heart failure. Driving into Manhattan while staying calm, I might be able to do that if it is the Upper West Side of Manhattan on a slow day with no pressure. So, of course the Animal Medical Center is on the Upper EAST Side and I'm feeling MUCH pressure. Have I mentioned that I have been weeping uncontrollably on and off since about ten in the morning and my contact lenses are getting fuzzy.

So we get in the car and I start off directions in hand chanting to myself that I am calm and everything is going to be fine. But inside I'm freaking out and on the verge of total panic and on top of that my heart is breaking. How can this dog that is still just a puppy and was running around like a wild thing be on the verge of death?

Just a little over an hour later and amazingly still outwardly under control I arrive at the Animal Medical Center. Now I must tackle the problem of parking and I'm prepared to abandon my car in an illegal spot to get Hoover quickly inside. I'm thrilled to find that they have parking with a valet! I literally jump out of my car, give the keys to a man walking toward me, grab Hoover out of the back seat (calmly) and run into the building. I get to the registration desk and tell them I have Hoover and they should be expecting him. One girl turns back and calls out "Does anyone know about a Hoover coming into emergency?" From the back I hear "Oh, Yeah. That's the dog that could drop dead at any minute." I burst into tears.

Two interns come out and take Hoover and I'm given forms to fill out. I call my sister who lives in the city to tell her where I am and what's going on hoping she could come before I have a complete melt down. By this time my contact lenses were so cloudy I didn't know how I'd get home and I'm thinking of course I'm going to be taking Hoover home because this is all too crazy to be true.

After what seems like forever I'm taken to a room where the doctor is going to talk to me but really it is so I'm not freaking out everyone in the waiting room with my non stop sobbing. My sister arrives! Thank you! She is the voice of reason and logical thinking in stressful situations. The intern comes in and starts to explain that Hoover does indeed need a pacemaker and that he needs it quickly. Getting the pacemaker will give him a chance to have a normal long life. Then the cardiologist comes in (Dr. Bond, Betsy Bond) and she says that in 30 years of practicing she has only once seen a dog Hoover's age with this condition. Basically there is a block preventing the signal from one part of his heart to the other part that tells the heart to beat. (That's my scientific understanding of the situation.) The pacemaker will tell his heart when and how many times to beat bypassing the block. I didn't know it but while she is talking to us the rest of her team is starting to prep Hoover because once I say yes (and of course I'm gonna say yes!) they are starting the operation. The other thing is that this is going to cost a LOT of money but there is a angel who loves Hoover who is going to take care of that.

We ask to see Hoover before they start and the wheel him in on a table. He already has shaved spots on his paws and his eyes are weird like he's not really there and for some reason his head is pointy. I again burst into tears as if my only working function is the ability to leak water from my eyes. I pet him and kiss him on the nose and they wheel him off.

No point in hanging around they say. Go home and we will call you when it is finished to tell you the results. Through all of this I never think Hoover will die. It isn't a possibility in my mind. So we go to see if my car can stay there (where miraculously they did actually have valet parking and I hadn't given my keys to a random person walking toward me.) But my car cannot stay there and I can't see well enough to walk through New York City let alone attempt to drive so my sister drives us to her apartment on the other side of the city.

We are thinking of where to park and my sister says let's just see if there is a place by the apartment. Well, the parking fairies are smiling on us because there is a place right n front of her building where the doorman can help but keep an eye on it. And since we have to ask him to fit it into the spot he will have to remember who's car it is.

Later I get the call from the Vet that everything went great and Hoover can probably go home the next day. And I burst into tears. I then go to bed and sleep like the dead.

Hooked on hatching

2008-05-27T16:56:00.007-04:00

I have become obsessed with hatching eggs. I recently bought the new incubator pictured above. I'm very excited about this incubator. It has a much larger viewing window and has been preset to hold the temperature at 99.5 degrees. My first thought was that I would stop using the old incubator but then I decided to hatch guinea hens and chickens so I use the old one for the guinea eggs.

Here is the new incubator loaded with Maran eggs that I ordered through the mail from a breeder in Texas. The eggs are gently rotated back and forth like the mother hen would do while she sits on them. With my old incubator I rolled the eggs at least 3 times a day by hand.

I want to raise chickens that lay very dark brown eggs and from everything I've read it seems like Marans are a good breed.

There are also some Araucana eggs in their from my own hens. I still want to have some blue and green eggs too.

It takes chicken eggs 21 days to hatch. Guinea eggs hatch in 28 days. I check on the eggs several times everyday. Even after hatching 6 different batches of eggs I still get a thrill out of seeing the first signs of a chick starting to break out of the egg. I love being able to see the moment when the chick finally breaks the egg open. They lay there wet and exhausted, looking nothing like the adorable fluffy chicks you think of. Chicken chicks seem to take much longer to break out of their eggs. Guinea chicks burst out of their eggs not too long after you see the first "pip" in the shell. I have had chickens the took more than 24 hours to break out of their eggs.

Blogging frustrations

2008-05-27T16:54:00.002-04:00

I'm still trying to figure out how everything works here on Blogger. I've learned how to tinker with the html so that I could make things the size I wanted, like pictures and having the blog fill the whole page.

One thing I can't seem to fix is if I start a thought one day and finish it up a day, or a week, or a month later it posts as if I did it all on the day I started and it is put back in the order. That can really get me crazy. For instance the post about hatching eggs in the incubator was started on the day one of incubation. But I finished writing it the day before they hatched. (I plan on posting all about the hatch soonish but I need to upload the pictures first.)

I have some great (in my opinion) movies of cute things but for the life of me I can't seem to get them to play on my blog. I have spent many hours trying different ways to get them on but nothing has worked so far. I haven't given up. I hope to have some entertaining things up soon.

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on how to fix things let me know. I'd love to get comments on what you think of the blog even if you don't know how to fix my problems.

Puppies!

2008-05-07T16:08:00.002-04:00

There is a veterinarian that lives just down the road from us. Actually she and her husband are both vets. In case you haven't noticed I like animals. Veterinarians facinate me. For most of my childhood I wanted to be a vet and I don't know when or why I veered from that but I didn't veer too far really.

Anyway about the puppies. Once I happened to pop in at the vet's when she was doing a neuter on a dog and I said I'd love to watch. After she instructed me what to do if I started to pass out she proceeded and I was facinated. So when she called me to say she had an unexpected Cesarian section coming in and no assistant available and would I want to help out I jumped at the chance.

I hopped in the car and I was there in minutes, so excited I was almost bouncing off the walls. I got there before the pregnant Boxer patient. So again with the instruction of what to do if I felt faint (She must have had a bad experience with someone). The patient arrived and the woman who brought her was a very experienced breeder who had been through a few Cesarians.

Lucy, the Boxer, didn't even look pregnant. She was sedated and put on the table, hooked up to anesethia and the operation began. There was surprisingly little blood. As the puppies were pulled from the uterus, I was shocked at how big they were. They came out in a sac that was much stronger than it looked. The sac was slippery, slimey and hard to break open. I found I was being to careful and the pups were not as delicate as I wanted to treat them. I'm a quick learner and it was a situation where instructions were being shouted (kindly) in rapid succession. There was nothing I wanted more than to get these puppies off to a good start so I did what I was told as best and quickly as I could. At the end there were five incredibly large pups and one small runt. Five girls and one boy all breathing (very important) and nursing.

It was such an amazing thing to witness. I was on a high for the rest of the day. The vet said it was fun to see someone who was so excited about the experience. I guess after performing so many you get jaded. My hope is I preformed well enough that if she ever finds herself in a jam again she'll call me up.

Sorry no pictures of this one. I was so excited that I flew out the door without even thinking of it. Anyway I was all covered in amniotic fluid and my hands were icky. The images are forever in my mind.

Dove's nest

2008-05-02T22:14:00.003-04:00

The other day I noticed a tiny egg in the herb bed. My first thought was to look around and see if there was a nest nearby that the egg had fallen out of. Well, considering the herb bed is right in front of the sun room window there really wasn't a lot of places for a bird to make a nest other than the roof and the gutter. So no nest in sight and I'm thinking would a bird have made a nest right on the ground, right by the house, right by the driveway? No. But, yes it turns out that a dove did think this was a good place to lay some eggs. Now there are two eggs there and I see her sitting on them whenever I walk or drive by.

Momma dove is very alert. Even when I thought I was being sneaky and peaking through the sun room window to take pictures of her, she was totally on to me and never took her eyes off me. I did manage to get these pictures.

So I'm hoping she can manage to survive, hatch, and raise these babies. I would love to watch the whole process play out. But I know she has Hoover, four cats and the elements to battle. I'll keep you posted.

Big Changes for Kirby

2008-04-22T22:40:00.003-04:00

Kirby loves being outside. Up to now her "outside" area has been a somewhat small fenced in area off of the back porch. This has allowed us to constantly keep an eye on her and cater to her every whim, like constantly throwing some bird seed into her rooting box. But pigs root and so our back yard is all torn up and when it rains it is a muddy mess. The rooting is fine and what she needs to do to be a happy pig. We knew this going in and were prepared for this.

She's a big girl now. So big that when I went to put her harness on I discovered that my baby has out grown her size medium harness. This is not quite as sad as when she grew out of her small harness which she did in a matter of a few months. Anyway I squished her into the harness and walked her out of to a new area we had fenced off for her in the pasture. It a great area for her but it is away from the house a bit so we can't just look out and see her. It is probably harder for me than for her. She is in a larger area and having a ball. We will be able to move the fence around give her new areas to root around.

I very much want to get her closer to the barnyard critters. Because the goats can be rough with head-butting she won't be in the same area with them but we will get her just on the other side of their fence. It will be so interesting to see what they all think of each other.

Tiny blue egg

2008-04-18T20:26:00.002-04:00

From left to right: turkey egg, brown chicken egg, blue chicken egg, banty chicken egg, tiny blue egg.

I love finding surprises in the nesting boxes. Recently I found a tiny blue egg. We have some bantam hens so small eggs aren't anything new. But this was a teeny tiny blue egg. One of the Araucanas must have had an off day.

Incubating eggs

2008-04-16T14:13:00.001-04:00

It is time to add some new chickens to our flock. I have started researching different kinds of chickens and decided that I wanted to add chickens that lay very dark brown and blue and green eggs. There are actually groups dedicated to chickens that lay colorful eggs.

I started searching for varieties of Maren chickens first. These are chickens that lay dark brown eggs. Some people call them chocolate eggers. I intended to buy day old chicks but couldn't find the chicks I wanted so I bought eggs to hatch myself.

We had an incubator with an automatic egg turner from a few years ago when we hatched our own eggs, but that was just to see if we had any "working" roosters. Now I'm trying to actually accomplish something.
Here's the incubator set up. I had to run it for a week to make sure it would keep the right temperature and that the egg turner was working.

So then the eggs arrived and i loaded them into the incubator and all seemed to be going well.

Here's a view through the window.

Now it would just have been too easy to load the eggs in and have everything run smoothly. On day 3 I noticed the turner wasn't working. So I unloaded it and started turning the eggs by hand. No biggie. Then the temperature started getting wacky. One day it spiked up 4 degrees higher than it should have been. I can only hope it didn't fry the little buggers.

We'll soon find out. Today is day 20 and they should hatch tomorrow.

Beaker surprises me

2008-04-16T09:48:00.002-04:00

Beaker is a very smart bird. Sometimes, when she uses the right words at the right time, I think she is the smartest bird in the world. She was having a very good day, smart wise. We had a visitor in the house who asked if we knew who Barney Fife was. I said, "Sure, he was on the Andy Griffith Show." Right after I said that Beaker started whistling the theme song from the show. Now I taught her that song but I don't ever remember saying to her that it was "The Andy Griffith" song. It was just too funny. Then after I got back from the barn, it was getting pretty dark, and Beaker called out from her room, "How 'bout some light?" Every day she makes me laugh but some days harder then others.

Gremlins in the greenhouse

2008-04-14T20:27:00.002-04:00

It is Spring and I have started vegetable seeds in the greenhouse. In previous year I have had trouble with mice and chipmunks digging up bigger seeds like, pumpkins and squash. Sometimes they eat the seed and sometimes they move them. I think they move them with the thought that they're storing them for later. Then I find I've got pumpkins and squash plants coming up in the pots with the fig trees and the lettuce beds. Sometimes I move the seedlings and they do alright. Other times they can't take the shock of being uprooted.

This year I strongly suspect the peacocks have found out they can get into the greenhouse through the side vent. I do not have solid evidence but I was both Apollo and Artemis running around the greenhouse all agitated and there was nothing bothering them (like Hoover). The destruction was not the typical small critter havoc. The lettuce (a peacock favorite) was all torn up and nice pothos plant I had nursed back to vigorous life was basically destroyed.

I need to touch fur

2008-04-09T21:38:00.001-04:00

I've started something of a tradition where every winter I drive my parents from Ohio to Florida at the end of January then drive them back at the beginning of April. My parents are great people and really much more fun than a lot of people I know. The driving is the only really hard part of the trip unless my father, who is on blood thinners, manages to cut himself. So far I think he has managed to cut himself every time I've seen him for the last several years. Also he has a bit of a short temper but he's had that my whole life.

The truly worst part of the trip is being away from the zoo. I find my self craving fur covered creatures like an alcoholic craves their next drink. I find myself approaching strangers asking in a pleading voice if I can pet their dog. I only do this to people who are actually walking dogs.

I get some strange looks as I basically mug the animals petting them all over letting them lick me and rubbing my face into their fur. Hey, petting a stinky dog is better then petting no dog at all. I will ask the people any questions I can think of to prolong my fix. Eventually even the nicest people will get tired of standing there and pry their pet from my arms. Worse is when the dog tires of my attentions and tries to get away from me.

Animals are like oxygen to me. I need contact with them to survive. OK maybe not to survive but I do need contact with them to be happy.

Gathering Eggs

2008-03-23T15:38:00.003-04:00

I don't know what it is about gathering the eggs everyday, but I love it. Every evening I look forward to going to the barn. I love spending time with all the animals but it is the gathering of the eggs that I get a kick out of. We don't eat that many eggs (actually we give away far more than we eat) but I almost obsess about how many eggs we get.

When the chicks first came I couldn't wait to get that first egg. Hens start laying eggs when they are 5-6 months old. There is a lot of care that goes into raising a chick to egg laying age. When I found that first egg I was so excited. It might sound crazy but I still have that first egg. (It is in a very safe place) Everyday after finding that first egg was like an adventure. Would there be any eggs? How many? I was always hoping to get just one more egg than the day before until the day came where every hen had laid an egg. So we were getting 4-6 eggs a day in the beginning.

Every year we add to the flock and we add breeds of chickens that we don't have always picking ones that are interesting and lay anything but white eggs. Right from the beginning we had the Araucanas that lay very pretty eggs in shades from green to blue, for which they are best known, to pinks and peach colors. Last year we got our first Marans, Cuckoo Marans, which lay very dark brown eggs.

Now I'm hooked on getting even darker egg layers. I couldn't find any of the kind I wanted as day old chicks so I'm doing something new for me. I've ordered eggs for hatching in an incubator. I've incubated eggs before and I've let a broody hen hatch eggs for me and both times I ended up with twice as many roosters as hens. Not at all what I want. But it will be interesting to see what I end up with.

Right now we are averaging 10 eggs a day. The most we ever had was 17 in one day. That was in the summer when the days are longer. In the winter when there are less daylight hours the egg number go way down. In some of the commercial hatcheries the hens are subjected to 24 hours of light to get the most eggs out of them. I like knowing that my eggs come from chickens living in a natural environment free to roam around and eat bugs and grass.

Kirby and the Yummy Ball

2008-03-23T15:37:00.001-04:00

In nature a pig would have to root around covering a good bit of area to dig up food. We wanted Kirby to work for her meals so I found a ball that was meant for dogs. It is called a tricky treat ball. It has compartments inside so when you fill it with food it has to be rolled around to get the food out.

Every morning and every evening I tell Kirby "go to your room", and she runs into her pen. I have found that trying to fill her ball while she is out is too much of a challenge and toes tend to be bruised. So I fill up the ball and drop it into her pen where she pushes it around until it is empty. She knows when it is empty and the only time that she pushes an empty ball around is when she is trying to get us to give her food.

On rainy or super cold days when Kirby can't spend time outside I will put low calorie treats (Kirby's favorite are Gerber fruit puffs) and raisins and she pushes it around the house. This is a great way to get pent up energy out and bring on a nap.

Hoover just doesn't get the whole "fetch" thing

2008-03-16T20:36:00.001-04:00

Hoover has a lot of energy. I thought that playing fetch would be a great way to both spend time with him and help him burn off some energy.

My sister has a dog, Gryff, who has played fetch from puppy hood. Gryff is a little obsessed with balls and playing fetch. He will chase a ball and bring it back to you and let you throw it until he is exhausted. He will rest for a bit and then start right up again.

I didn't know if Hoover would "get" the concept of fetch right away. He's seen Gryff play fetch so I didn't think it would take much for him pick up the game. Hoover loves toys so I bought him a ball and he liked it. I gave it to him and then called him and took it from him and threw it. He ran off after it and I called him back and took it from him and threw it again. He looked at me like I was crazy. He walked to get the ball, looking back at me the whole way. He got the ball and I told him to come. He did, but there was no way he was giving me the ball again. He ran off and hid the ball.

He basically doesn't trust me with his toys now. I brought home a new stuffed toy (stuffed toys are his favorites) he took it from me and ran up the stairs with it then came back down without it. He gave me a look that said "Hey, crazy human, no more throwing my toys." I think I may have really offended him.

I have tried to play fetch with him a few more times but after the first throw he won't bring any toy back to me. So in his own way he does "get" the fetch thing but he doesn't "believe" in fetch.

Animals as Antidepressants

2008-03-16T20:24:00.007-04:00

I know that homes for the elderly and even children's wards in hospitals will bring in animals to brighten patients days. In an airport I recently met a woman who had a small dog that was traveling with her as a companion animal for a medical condition. This dog, by a doctors prescription, was to ride with the woman on her lap as a calming device. I think this is brilliant.

I know when I'm stressed, if I can pet or even just watch some of the animals I start to relax. There are times when I'm petting Hoover or Kirby that I can reach a meditative kind of state. It would be interesting to see what contact like that can do for blood pressure.

Can you imagine if instead of prescribing drugs doctors tell people to go get a pet? Bad day at work? Go home and rub your cats ears for 15 minutes. Have a fight with your mom? Half an hour of puppy snuggling should take care of that.

No chemicals, no dependency, no adverse side effects. Instead of being bombarded by commercials for Zoloft, and Prozac there will be reminders from The Humane Society and the ASPCA that having a pet is good for your over all health and well being.

I'm not saying that all medical conditions can be cured by having animals but wouldn't it be nice if a lot of them could?