My Stories From The Country

Christmas Tree Shopping At Lowes

2010-11-23T04:57:00.000-08:00

My husband says I have ruined is favorite place to shop now.

But let me start from the beginning.

Shelby and I met him after work at Lowes. He gets there before we do. As we pass through the garden section into the building I see the artificial trees and give them a once over glancing. Let me tell you, the pictures on the Lowes site are useless. The trees I thought were ugly are not, the trees I thought were full and pretty, are not. The only thing I can figure is you have to bend your branches and stems just right so it looks good with no gaps and so I ended up getting something totally different than I thought I was going to get.

Shelby and I went on into the store and found Ian. It wasnt crowded, it was quite the opposite in there. As I strode by the pet section I snagged a bottle of Adams flea and tick spray. I need to spray my show birds with it, seven in particular right now this week as I am showing seven barred rock bantams this weekend in Dalton. Its more of a just in case thing. I checked them all over yesterday and didnt see any mites, but, if they are placed next to other birds in the show, you never know what someone elses birds might have. Its a good habit to keep them sprayed all the time. I usually use the Frontline Spray, but I am out of it right now.

On to the trees. You know how it is. You have to look them all over at least 27 times! You have to be SURE. This can be quite daunting for my family as their patience is next to none. Ian is not interested in getting a 'plastic' tree and Shelby has no interest in being at Lowes at all for any reason whatsoever. She is more tolerant when it is just her and I, because when you add Ian into the mix its like having two children with you. Add a lack of interest and it gets annoying pretty quick.

I was actually in a very good mood. I haven't felt in the Christmas spirit for a few years now. I am feeling it this year, and I feel like it is going to grow through December. I was looking forward to getting some new garland for the new tree that I finally picked out. I ended up getting one without the lights already on it. After inspecting closer I saw the lights were just twisted ever whichaway on the branches and I didnt much like the look of the tangled mess. I got three strands of multicolored LED lights over on the lighting aisle. I also got a beautiful huge crystal type star. Shelby said she thought it was pretty too. Ian walked around the corner and I kept staring at the star and I told him... well, I thought it was pretty...but, all I could thing of was those crystals looked like...well, your going to laugh, but they remind me of the crystals at the Fortress of Solitude, all sticking up out of that table or whatever they are all on. Yep, Superman Fortress of Solitude Crystal Christmas North Star. Thats what is going on the top of the tree. Too funny. He said that was just too sad, lol, but he could see what I was saying.

Before finding all the other odds and ends...I walked around and down each Christmas encrusted aisle, looking, gawking at all the pretty shiny stuff. Then I saw it. I think my face turned red as a beet and my head about popped off my neck from the pressure I got so excited!!! Wait til you SEE what I found. I found...wait for it...I found....

A lighted...Christmas....CHICKEN FAMILY!! Oh YES I DID! It can be used outside or inside. I am afraid it gets too windy out here for it to go outside, so I will probably set them up right next to the tree! They are SO CUTE! :) Ian rolled his eyes and Shelby was like OH MY GOSH MAMA like I had lost my mind over such a trivial thing...I dont care, I got excited!

I found a new ornament. Its a teeny tiny John Deere tin lunchbox replica...so neat.

I loved wandering the aisles, sniffing the candles. I found a nice cinnamon/pine scented candle that wasnt pungent like most pine candles. I will burn it so we can have that 'tree' smell in the house.

Now I must make something clear. Usually, I won't acknowledge Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday of all of ours and we want to give it our full attention. So when I wanted to go get this tree and browse at all the Christmas decorations and buy a few things more it was met with discontent and resistance by my family. Ian said it wasnt time for Christmas yet. I explained that he sure didnt want to come here the day after Thanksgiving, or any day after that. There would be no choosing which tree, you would get what they had left. It would be noisy and crowded, people and their kids up and down the aisles, stuff pulled off shelves, stuff missing that I would have wanted. It would have been less that a pleasure for sure. I was only trying to get the tree before all the chaos begins. I won't even be able to put it up until this Sunday.

I just felt happy. My family often comments about my moods, especially when I am in a bad mood. When I am grumpy. Most of the time it is because I am very tired and it is at the end of the day and I look around and there is still laundry to do, dishes to do...and I have no energy left to do that. I barely have enough left to cook supper. I pointed out that I was in a very good mood, but they were trying to ruin that mood with all the moaning and groaning. They should be thankful for when I am in a good mood.

We all know the saying. If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. ;)

Anyway, I have my PLASTIC tree. I have my light up Chicken Family. I have lights to go on the tree. I have a star and garland. I will get Ian to go up into the attic on Sunday and pull down all the bins of Christmas decorations. I thought all this warmer weather would make me not feel in the holiday mood, but it has actually been quite the opposite to my surprise.

So Ian says shopping at Lowes for Christmas decor has ruined his love for shopping at Lowes. I bet he will recover and live to shop again...at Lowes. ;)

They did like the little cardboard glasses with the lenses that made the lights on the tree look like certain shapes. They were such a simple thing, but so neat! One pair of glasses made the lights look like snowmen, another was snowflakes, and the last one was little Santa heads. It was really neat, so we got one of each.

Christmas Trees

2010-11-22T04:56:00.000-08:00

Ever since Ian and I have been married we have gone to get live Christmas trees. We always went to Browns Christmas Tree farm down in Fayetteville with his parents, along with Walt and Barbara, his aunt and uncle and their son, Ians cousin, Matt. After Shelby was born it meant even more to go to a Christmas tree farm and get a tree. Ride the hayride, see the farm animals, have a cup of hot apple cider in the country store on site. After picking out our trees, cutting them and loading them up we would all go back to Walt and Barbaras and have home made chili and cornbread. Barbara made the best chili, and I make mine just like she did to this day.

Ians mom passed away and it seemed that she was the thread that held together many traditions. Ians dad no longer wanted to go, which was understandable at the time. Walt and Barbara had moved some time before out to west Georgia. Things just kind of fell apart.

Ian and I continued our tradition of getting a live tree every year. The three of us would go out and get a tree. After moving out to the country we had to start over and find a local Christmas tree farm, but none of them had the tractor pulled hayrides, the animals to see, the country store with jellies, jams, homemade ornaments and much more. We just never really recaptured that feeling. Maybe because his mom was all about Christmas. She loved Christmas so much. She had a collection of Santas, the ones that looked like dolls on a stand. They were all so beautiful. She always had a beautiful tree, the bannisters wrapped in trim. Good memories. Yep.

Shelby is a teenager now. She is sixteen years old, so going to get a tree is okay, but we have never been able to find a place like we went to back when she was little. The last time we got a tree we went to a local farm and they didnt have anything left to speak of, every tree, except ones that wouldn't fit in the house, was gone. We did find a very small local Christmas tree farm that we got a fine tree from last minute...in the rain, and the cold. No hayride, no animals, no nothing, just cut the tree and go home.

Thats the last time we got a live tree. Last year, if you have been around my blog long enough, you may remember our Christmas tree was our date palm because it was taking up a third of the living room, or so it seemed, and has to be inside for the winter, so I just dressed it up and made it our Christmas tree. I loved it, WE loved it, but this year, I am feeling more traditional.

I have talked about getting an artificial tree for a long time. Every year I bring it up and every year it gets pushed to the back burner. I have many reasons for wanting one. For one thing, live trees have gotten pretty darn expensive. Its nothing to go out and find a normal size tree and have to pay fifty dollars for it. I learned that pine trees are messy and firs dry up and become quite the fire hazard. Leland cypresses are perfect, but they are pricey. If you want a tree that is going to last all month, you need a leland cypress.

Everyone knows that the first half of the year is when everyone has money. Tax returns come in. The last half of the year, not so much left. Ians hours always get cut back this time of year, but this season it may last for quite a while...on into next year and who knows. Every dollar counts around this time of year. With his hours cut we have to cut our spending and be careful with our money.

With that in mind, who has the money to spend fifty bucks on a live Christmas tree?

We don't exchange gifts with family or friends. We do get Shelby presents, she is still our baby girl and we want her to have her gifts and surprises at Christmas. She is the only one I shop for though. Ian and I both agree that anything he or I wants, we usually get it over time. Who needs to spend money on little trinkets that will be forgotten over time? I am not a jewelry person, nor do I like fancy clothes. You all know what I like. Does that mean I will get a chicken with a bow on its head for Christmas? No, but if I wanted one, I would get it myself, because only I know what I really want. I don't want gifts for Christmas. I want the fellowship of my family together for Christmas, that is what its all really about. Lots of good food and good people getting together.

Now, back to the tree. I told Ian this. I told him it was perfectly fine to get an artificial tree at this time. I pointed out that his other aunt, Aunt Linda, had always had an artificial tree, and she was pretty darn Christmasy, as she is his mothers sister. She is also a big fan of Christmastime. If Linda can have one, so can we, and still be Christmasy. (Is that even a word? If not, it is now, lol)

So, armed with our Lowes plastic money, today after he gets out of fire brigade training up in Rome, we are going to go get our first and probably our last artificial Christmas tree, so I want to make it a good one. I looked online at the trees. I don't particularly care for the Holiday Living brand trees. I do however like the Spruce multicolor lights seven foot tree by GE.

Holiday Living:

98.00 tree... http://www.lowes.com/pd_13693-84523-W14F0115_0__?productId=1214465&Ntt=christmas+tree&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dchristmas%2Btree

GE: a hundred dollars more http://www.lowes.com/pd_14370-25734-13667LO_0__?productId=3092483&Ntt=christmas+tree&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dchristmas%2Btree%26page%3D2

But, its like one of those things, your probably only going to buy this once, so why not get what you want to begin with. I mean, I am not unreasonable. I see there are trees that are 300 dollars, but I just don't want to spend that much, even if we will have it from now on. I am one of those in the middle kinda people. I don't want the least expensive piece of junk that will fall apart in no time, but I don't want the outrageously overpriced one either.

So, after we get this tree we will never have to worry about not having the money to get a tree, or finding a tree. We will have it, and I can breathe easy and just put up the tree. We have so many beautiful decorations we have collected for our family over the years, I think its going to be nice to hang them all on our tree this year. :)

I am even thinking about pulling out ALL the Christmas decorations this year. I haven't done that in a long time. Time to go into the attic Ian! :)

Hay and Feed

2010-11-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

Fall has been very dry here in Georgia. Usually we can squeeze by in the back pasture if I don't cut the grass just before it starts to go dormant. This year we had very little rain to give the grass that last boost and so there is little left to eat out back for Derby, Boggin and Dolly. They still browse, but it was time to buy some bales of bermuda hay.

I called my neighbor about five or so minutes away that has really great quality barn kept hay, but the army worms had taken over some of his fields and so he didnt have the supply he usually has. I bought his last four square bales. Now all he has are the big round bales. I would love to buy one, but I have nowhere to store it where it will stay dry and that is important. Moldy hay can kill a horse. I don't think it would do a llama much good either. I have a couple of local hay farmers phone numbers out of the Market Bulletin I will be calling soon.Right now one bale is lasting a week for the three of them.

The pigs don't eat hay, they eat fresh grass, but not hay, so I have switched them over to sweet feed. I was giving Boggin an Dolly some too, but it got expensive fast, so they are strictly on hay now. I have blocked the llamas from an area only the pigs and emu can get into. Its funny how I have to organize everything and be strategic to feed everyone. The emu that is out, Pacer, he has a feed dish that sits right outside the fence so the pigs can't eat his food. He sticks his head through and reaches it easily with his long neck. The llamas want the sweet feed, but can't get to it, so they hum longingly as the pigs smack and drool and eat their sweet feed.

Winter time is expensive to feed animals. There is no grass, no bugs, nothing much out there for anyone. I have so many chickens now (guesstimating close to 200) it is a big financial burden at this time of year to feed them and the big animals that are free to feed in the summer because of the green grasses being abundant. We get by though, we always do. I don't have to have any of these animals. We choose to have them because we wanted them, and we love them all very much. Lucky for them and for our pocketbook our winters are short compared to some other parts of the country.

Speaking of feeding, its time to get out there and do just that. It is pretty cold early in the morning so I wait for the sun to take the edge off before I venture out. It also gives me time to have my coffee and ponder the day while surfing the internet. I see a patch of rain moving through on the radar this morning so I thought I would wait that out for a bit. I am ready for the sun to come on back on this morning please!

I know my last entry seemed doom and gloom and pretty harsh. I do feel better after getting it out of my mind and onto the screen. It doesnt change the way I feel, it just doesnt feel like its poisoning me anymore. You can't keep that kind of intensity going inside, its not good for a person.

I hope everyone is having a good week. The weekend is almost here and I am hoping to get some things done outside. I have been trying to do some cleaning up out in the yard and around the outside of the house before winter really does come knocking on the door.

The State This World Is In

2010-11-17T04:26:00.001-08:00

I have a lot rolling around in my head this morning. I thought maybe if I got it out here it would help relieve some of the pressure on my brain...and my heart. This entry may seem disjointed at times and it is about the good and bad of people. This is how I see the world. Everytime I hear or see the ugly truths of what human beings are doing I try to remind myself that there are also people out there, good people, trying to stop what the bad people are doing. Without them, there would be no hope.

I see our government imposing all these new rules and regulations, laws being passed, all to 'save' us from ourselves. To 'protect' us from ourselves or other outside sources. The fear they have put into people has allowed people to let it happen. They couldn't get away with NAIS, so now, they are going to try and pass a law that will control all food supply. Google S 510 and you can read all about what is going on. This is Monsanto, this is big AG, this is the big boys taking your basic freedom to choose what you eat. They say it will make the food supply safer, but I only see control. Back yard gardens, farmers markets, roadside stands, the little man...is going to be shut down. Oh no, they will try and alleviate your fears, reassure you with a bunch of nonsense talk, but its just one more freedom lost.

There are so much wool being pulled over everyones eyes. The government is too big, too powerful. The people have no power. You say we have a vote? Yes, well who are you going to vote for anymore? They are all ready to jump in and control something or other. The only difference your vote will make is if you vote for the person that is against something that affects you. There are so many gray areas now, its overwhelming. The government has every right to listen to your phone conversations, snoop around in your computer, every privacy you thought you had is gone with the Patriot Act. I don't care, I don't think Joe Blow down the road riding his four wheeler through the woods hunting deer is a threat to the United States security.

I just read some article that the government wants you to share your retirement money with them, your 401K. They want to take half of it to help you save it or some baloney. It doesnt have a thing to do with the fact that the government is in the hole and the housing market is collapsing, people have no jobs, the economy is in the toilet.

I used to just think to myself maybe I was just getting more cynical with age. Ian and I had a conversation the other day, and with all that is going on...we have decided we are not just becoming cynical and griping about things the way our parents did, and their parents did. Nope. This is really happening.

I used to think storing food, ammo, water and other necessities was overkill. Maybe not. Maybe by the time I can see it is necessary...it will be too late. I am stilll not sure. I admire the people that already do this as a way of life. They have wood stored up, they have a whole room dedicated to shelves and shelves of canned food right out of their garden. No geneticaly modified organisms will be in that food. You have heard of GMO's haven't you?

Every day I see signs that we are just guinea pigs for them. They are finding out that the wonderful chicken pox vaccine your child took to prevent chicken pox is now showing up as shingles. You see...our bodies get chicken pox only once, then we are immune, but, it also makes us resistant to shingles which is in the same virus family as chicken pox. By preventing chicken pox you have set yourself up to have shingles. I remember when this vaccine first came out and Shelby was a baby. They asked me if I wanted it for her. I said no, thank goodness.

So many recalled drugs. Did you know that heart related surgeries are more often than not unnecessary? Try googling Unnecessary heart surgeries. The doc gets his though doesnt he. So does the insurance company that keeps going up on your rates year after year.

The internet has exposed horror after horror from undercover cameras in the U. S. about how animals are killed for our consumption. The cruelties they must endure before they get blessed relief from death. Chickens stuffed in cages all their lives to produce eggs til they are spent. So depressed even if they have the fortune of being rescued by an organization such as Farm Sanctuary they stand in one place, defeated, closing their eyes, closing out the horrors they have endured for so long. Cattle, being turned upside down in a kill barrel to have their throats cut, only to be dumped out onto a bloody cement floor to scrabble about until bleeding to death. Over seas...undercover videos of fur farms. Animals being shocked, their fur being stripped off of their bodies while they are still alive and aware. Cats and dogs in cages, diseased, unhealthy looking, waiting to be chosen on a street market to be someones supper. Dolphins..laid out on a fish market floor with their throats slit to bleed out. I ask myself, what kind of human being can do this over and over to a living breathing feeling animal, day after day, week after week, year after year...for money. How do they look at themselves in the mirror? These people...are they dead inside themselves? I do not know, but it is scary to me.

I do eat meat. I am not vegan nor vegetarian. There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Just because a wrong way is cheaper does not make it better. When you kill an animal to eat it, it should have lived a very comfortable life up until its moment of death. Death should be swift and painless. There should be no suffering. This animal is giving up its very life so that you may eat, and we should be respectful of that animal and thankful to that animal. These old barbaric ways I see should be outlawed. There is so much that needs to be changed.

Now I come to what I watched yesterday evening. I finally watched The Cove. This film is about the slaughtering season of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. The very man that trained the original Flipper dolphin back years ago, and was also in Flipper the tv series heads this movement up. Every September through March dolphins have a migrating pattern that comes through Japan. A bunch of fisherman corral these dolphins in to trap them with nets in coves. People can stand on a bridge and see this, but what they do not see is what happens in the other coves. The water becomes red with the blood of the dolphins that are not chosen to be sold to theme parks for 150,000 dollars each. They are brutally slaughtered, repeatedly stuck with spear type tools until they have bled to death. They are strapped up onto boats and pulled out to be processed.

The majority of Japan knows nothing of this. It was discovered that the dolphin meat was toxic, very high in mercury, so markets sell the meat as whale meat to disguise this. High amounts of mercury will do all sorts of damage to us. It messes with the brain connections and you lose motor skills, all sorts of things. There was a similar 'disease' they called it back in the fifties I think it was that was not a diseaess at all, it was discovered a company was dumping its toxic waste into the water and eventually it affected the people, babies were born disabled and later deformed. It is going to happen again if people aren't informed of the dolphin meat they are unknowingly consuming.

There is so much more in the film. If you have not watched it, it is a must watch if you care about the planet we live on. What I have told you here is just a fraction of the film. At the end, it was gut wrenching to watch, and when he walks into the room where many representatives from many countries are debating and present with that slaughter playing on a screen strapped to the front of his chest the delegate from Japan is trying to convince whaling to become legal again, saying the killing of the dolphins is much more humane and they are quickly killed...when the video that is playing shows otherwise. I burst out, crying, ashamed, mad. My hands pulled to my mouth covering up the sounds I wanted to make, but also mixed with feelings of joy that this man who knew no better back in the day...now chose to rectify his wrong and to try to change the way things are going.

Every day, the sun comes up and it is a new day. Today, I cannot go back to how I felt yesterday before I saw that video. Everytime I see and hear about things that I have spoken of in this whole entry it rips away a little piece of my faith in man. There are people out there fighting for what they believe to be right. It doesnt matter if its about our laws, our food, animals, even human rights. There is a right and a wrong, and these people remember what is right. Without them we would be doomed. I don't know if its enough. I hope it is. That is what keeps me going. The hope that the good will win out over the bad.

My days of innocence are gone. I am grown and I see things for what they really are. The rose colored glasses are off. How do you go about your day with all these things happening. How do you remain happy...when you know that each day our government is taking more and more away from us, using fear tactics to make us believe they have our best interest at heart, and us believing in a system that was broken a long time ago because it became fueled by greed and power instead of love and concern.

I used to believe moving out here to the country would isolate me from the outside worlds horrors. Although I don't have to put up with neighbors noise, cars going by with loud radios, and all that comes with city life, I can't get away. The government is bringing it to our doorstep. They are going to tell us what we can and cant have, what we can and cant do, what we can and cant grow in our own back yard.

I don't have the answers. If I did, I would act on them. For those that say to themselves "Things arent as bad as you think they are", I beg to differ. I don't know what it is going to take to turn this world around, I really don't. I see so much beauty in nature, but we humans tear it all down and tear it all up to make it our own twisted version.

I will continue on with my family life, with my farm life, with this life I have been given. I love my life very much. I just feel tainted. Like a white linen table cloth that gets more and more stained with spills each day.

So many issues, so much to ponder. It is very overwhelming, especially when you feel like such a very small fish in a very big pond.

Lay Offs

2010-11-11T06:17:00.000-08:00

Every year about this time Ians workplace has lay offs and cuts back everyones hours to save a few dollars right at the end of the year. It happens every year like clockwork.

Its obvious that this is the worst time of year to do that with the holidays coming up. Usually most are called back after a few months, but this time its different. This time instead of laying off a few here and there, they have laid off sixty people. They are shutting down some of the machines in production from lack of business.

Ian works on those machines, along with 14 others on various shifts. A month ago it was said they were understaffed in the shop and three people needed to be hired. This month they wanted four people laid off. Make sense? No, I don't think so. Ians boss said NO to laying off people in the shop. He said everyone would cut out overtime hours so that everyone could stay the duration of this lean time. Ian has seniority on a lot of folks in the shop so the plant would have to shut down for him to lose his job. Lets hope it doesnt come to that.

I feel for the ones that have to endure this time without jobs. Anyone who says the economy is getting better has not been paying attention. Ians place of work makes cartons for various brands of beer, Coca Cola and Pepsi products. If the economy was getting better why are these sales down so much. Yeah. Exactly. Because people are making tea and Kool Aid at home or drinking water.

We will be okay, we do this every year. It gets lean about this time of year. We make it through to the beginning of the year, Ian gets his vacation checks in by the end of January, except I bet we have to wait a bit longer this time. I bet they hold on to that money as long as they can. Then it will be tax return time and we will have our relief fund so to speak.

Christmas is not stressful here anymore. We never exchange gifts between adults. Its just not necessary. If we can just all get together and enjoy each others company and some good food thats enough, its plenty to be thankful for. I like to keep it simple. Simple is nice.

In the meantime I will be able to enjoy Ian being home on weekends. Whole, full weekends. We won't have any money to do things, but we will be home together. We don't live in a crowded noisy area anymore so we can enjoy each other in peace and out here in the country.

I do have a few things in mind for us to do weather permitting. Painting. So many things need painting outside. Ian hates painting...I don't mind it, I just don't have time most of the time.

Thanks for stopping by to see me, I really do appreciate all the visits :)

Possum, Hawk...and Weasel?

2010-11-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

Before I get carried away, I want to remember to answer Lisa's question. Lisa, if you want to buy a pullet that is already about to start laying you can expect to pay anywhere between 8 and 15 dollars, depending on the breed. Some are more in demand than others. For instance the dark chocolate colored egg layers like Cuckoo Marans and Black Copper Marans are very popular right now so they go for more. Before you invest in chickens I always suggest to read first on housing, basic care, predator proofing, nutritional needs, health issues, such as diseases and parasite control, both internal and external. There are no avian vets around here, so I have to do my own doctoring, Jeffers Livestock Supply online provides a wide variety of vaccines for poultry among other useful things. Some of it will be a learn as you go thing, trial and error. Things happen, you learn from them. Everyone also has their own way of doing things. You just have to find out which way works best for you, whether it be parasite control or nesting box preferences.

So, we had a possum coming and eating the cats food every night, and I managed to trap him and take him off to the deep woods where he wouldn't find anyone to bother. Ian spared his life, I am not sure what would have happened to him had it been left solely up to me. He was not diseased or mange infested looking, he looked healthy, so we let him live, far far away.

Yesterday, I went out to let everyone out and found one of my older black austrolorp hens dead in the chicken house. Her head was eaten off and her neck stripped down to the bone.

This is a classic way that weasels eat a chicken.

From time to time I have to go through and do maintenance on the pens as they become unsecure. Ties may break, staples come out, the usual stuff. I knew of a couple of areas that needed repairing and did so yesterday. I brought out my trap once again last night, baited it and left it to hopefully catch what had done this. This morning I found nothing. The food untouched, the trap still open.

Also yesterday, something got a hold of one of my young speckled sussex chickens and there was evidence of feathers being pulled out of the breast area, classic of a hawk clearing the way to eat the breast meat. Except the hawk was interrupted by Shelbys miniature horse Derby. I never saw what happened, but I knew.

Shelby went to let Derby out to the back pasture and found a trampled chicken carcass. She called me out to investigate. From the pulled out breast feathers I could see it was a hawk attack. From the broken up legs and feet and bulging eyeball and many other broken internal bones I could see that Derby had tried to get after the hawk, but in his freaking out he killed the chicken. He was trying to do the right thing, but it just didnt work out.

I have learned during a predators leaner months not to let my chickens out as soon as it is first light. Thats a good way for a fox to sneak in from the field next door and grab breakfast. I wait a little bit before I feed them and let them out.

Trial and error, even ten years into having chickens. Its a battle out there. Everything likes to eat chickens. All you can do is keep trying to keep them safe. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Most of the time I think I win. I don't lose many chickens. To lose a few a year to a predator when I have upwards of 200, is not bad. I hate to lose any of them, but I have been out here long enough to know it is inevitable.

I used to cry and freak out and throw a fit everytime something like this happened. I don't anymore. Its not because I don't feel anything, its because, well, you know its coming eventually. I am not close to every one of my chickens. Sometimes it affects me more than other times. I feel sad, but I don't freak out like I used to, unless it is one I was really really close to. Then I freak out, and rightly so.

I guess this predatory season has started early. I usually don't have troubles til the foxes and coyotes have their kits and begin having to feed them long about February.

Going out there to see how things are going, lets hope I don't have a weasel. I can block out a possum or a raccoon, but a weasel can squeeze through chain link fence, and I will have to make other provisions if this is the case.

Egg Recall... Again

2010-11-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/11/08/eggs-recalled-in-eight-states-over-salmonella-concern/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl6|sec4_lnk2|182992

The food industry better wake up, the people are starting to wake up. More folks want a few chickens in their back yard for their own eggs, and sometimes meat. More people are growing their own vegetables or buying organic after hearing about GMO foods. Who wants genetically modified junk?

I have read articles where the government is trying to make it difficult for you to do these simple things though. You have to fight for it. What would you rather have living next to you? A few hens scratching around in someone's organic garden, or a few flea bitten smelly dogs that poop up against your fenceline and no one cleans it up? Not saying all dog owners are this way, but, I am painting a picture here.

There is a 93 year old man that spent several thousand dollars on a coop to have a few chickens, relive some good memories and make some with his grandkids, but he has to fight for it. Here is the article.

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20101105/NEWS11/101105009

This is just one example of many many people having to fight for their right to have a few hens in their back yard. The old way of thinking needs to go out the window. Chickens make great pets, they don't need to be classified as 'livestock' anymore. I have proved time and time again that chickens have personalities and feelings. But the government wants you to rely on them, on their big companies they have invested in.

People are waking up, and they want to know what is in the food they are eating...for example...

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/08/do-you-have-any-idea-of-the-chemicals-used-in-fast-food-chicken.aspx?aid=CD945

There is just no excuse for putting that junk in there.

Here is a nice video to end with. Everyone, take control of your food! :)

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/lifestyle/family/raising-your-own-chickens-a-big-trend

Weathering the Winter

2010-11-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Living in Georgia is a blessing when winter comes. There is a well known saying this far south in the U.S., if you don't like the weather, wait a minute, and it will change. With that said, we still have our fair share of cold weather. Some love cold weather. I don't particularly like it for the simple fact that I have to go outside in it to tend my animals no matter how wet, cold, windy and miserable it may be. Some may ask why I do it. Because the rest of the seasons favor doing what I do, and I love my animals.

When I first started out with chickens, I had no idea how big the 'hobby' would grow, until now. I keep about 200 chickens on a regular basis. A couple of small houses, a few pens, that used to be enough. My set up isnt the most convenient for me any longer. The majority of my chickens are let out each day, and they may love the set up because they have their own little groups they run in. However, I would love to have one central roosting, feeding and watering house instead of all these pens lined up to close up each night.

I have been covering pens with heavy tarps, stapling them down securely because we have some pretty vicious wind out here at times. The seramas will have to have a heat lamp in their pen as they don't do cold weather well at all. I don't worry too much about the heavy layers. They always do fine as long as they are out of the wind and rain. Did you know that a chicken copes with the colder weather by adjusting their body temperature, lowering it as they sleep through the night? I still worry though. Its just my nature to want everyone to be comfortable.

I also rake out each pen and put down a thick heavy layer of wheat straw. I have over half my pens done this way already. Clean and dry. Dry is important to me when its cold out. Some folks use pine shavings, everyone has their method.

One day I want one central house for everyone, with graduated roosts, hanging feeders and such. That way I can feed them indoors and when its windy, cold, raining, I am not at the weathers mercy. Of course I am also expecting everyone to go in at night together, which may not happen. Not everyone gets along out there if they are put in a situation where they can't spread out. Eh, it will probably never happen. You see, all I did was cover pens, and they were already terribly confused and have been for several nights now on where to go to roost. They are all mixed up because all they can see is their doorways now. They will figure it out eventually.

The run in that Ian built last winter is going to be great for the pigs, llamas, and Pacer, my one emu out on guard duty in the back pasture, to use to stay out of the bad weather.

I have read we are going to have a mild winter. I hope so. Last year we had snow twice. The second time around was a good amount for here.

Before moving to the country I really didnt mind the cold. I only had a handful of chickens at the old house and it was easy. I guess the winter is there to make people like me appreciate the summer even more, and boy do I ever.

Shelby's 16th Birthday

2010-11-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday October 24th was Shelby's sixteenth birthday. Time passes so quickly these days. She has grown into such a beautiful talented wonderful young lady. I think Ian and I have done a pretty good job raising her so far in her young life.

We had a few friends over and had a cookout. Baked beans, french fries and baby back ribs. I will never live it down, because I do make awesome fall off the bone ribs....when I smoke them for a few hours. When I am in a hurry and put them straight on the grill...well, they don't turn out so good, they were overcooked and of all days for me to rush a good thing...lol...Shelby will forever remember the ribs, tasting like charcoal. I am truly sorry, but whats done is done, and from now on anyone coming to have baby back ribs at my house will just have to wait for them to slowly smoke from the smoker. Indirect heat makes for much better ribs let me tell you!

Shelby recieved her birthday gift from us early. She had been wanting a ball python, but not just any regular one, an unusual one, so we had been looking up breeders online and found a good one in PA, but it just didnt pan out this time. The one she had picked out got sold before we bought it, but she says it gives her something to look forward to next year.

Poor Ian, he says to us, "Why is it when anyone wants anything around here it is always an animal? Shelby, don't you want a video game or something?" He said it in jest, not in anger of course. If you have been reading for any length of time on my blog you know we love our animals, and have many. Shelby responded that YES, she did want a video game too. ;) Mawmaw and Gaddy had that covered.

This is Bandit, her new young ferret. I must say, I have never laughed so much and for so long. He is totally entertaining and so much fun to play with and watch. He makes a great buddy for her. He lives upstairs in a big kennel, of which we modified for ferret fun and living. The cage you see him next to was temporary til we got him fixed up in a bigger home.

It was a wonderful birthday with great company. Karen and Tiffany were even able to stop by that evening and visit for awhile. Here are some pictures from her birthday.

The Poultry Show Oct 23

2010-10-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

I love poultry shows, I think that has been established. I have never been to one that I have been disappointed in, even if I didn't win a thing...until now.

I was called at the beginning of the week, and was asked to show because the show had a severe lack of large fowl. With such a shortage, it would be easy to win something, so even though it was Shelby's birthday the day after I agreed to come. I was told it was okay for me to coop out early seeing as I needed to get back home and pick up the cake, clean up some around the house, decorate and get ready for the party on Sunday.

I packed up all of my birds in carriers and boxes the night before and put them in the back of the covered bed of my truck, packed up any grooming supplies, feed and water cups and feed. I also was thinking ahead for once and packed two director style folding chairs for Dwain and myself. It seems at almost every show there is nowhere to sit, so I brought my own seating to ensure a spot to plant myself. I also brought bottled waters in a cooler and some of those Arizona Tea mixers with Splenda. I am trying to stay away from any cokes of any kind.

(Yes, I know...coke is what we southerners call everything, be it Pepsi or Dr Pepper, its all a coke. Pop, soda, carbonated drink...its all coke to us)

I always have to leave the house at an unreasonable time to get to the Monroe show. It is two hours away and I like to get there and settle in without rushing. I got up at 1:30 am and left the house at 3:10 am. There was no danger of heavy traffic, or any traffic for that matter. I do like that fact. As I got into Atlanta I picked up Dwain. He is my best chicken buddy and the only one that will go to shows with me. My husband works a lot, and Shelby is just not going to get up and go with me at that hour of the morning, and I don't blame her. She did show last winter show season and won big, and I commend her for it.

After picking up Dwain we headed straight for Monroe. The directions seemed simple. They seemed simple the last time we went to a show there. They had it at Criswell Park. The directions for that location stated to go past the white church and turn right on Highway 11. No one informed us that there were 127 white churches on Highway 11, and that Monroe should probably be renamed the City of Little White Churches...and I say that laughing softly in jest with a smile.

The directions for this time sounded very simple. Go north on Hwy 11. After you pass over Hwy 78 start looking for the sign that points down the road to the show. Simple...right? But no, it was anything but simple. We rode up and down the highway in the dark looking for a sign, a sign in a sea of little signs all along the road displaying ads for all sorts of things. We stopped at the Waffle House along the road and I began searching on my phone on a message board to see if anyone had left directions. YES! Paydirt! It was on the Britt Family Property. So I googled it, and I got it! It was down some squiggly long country road, first road on your right after passing through Hwy 78. As we started to pull out, I heard a little bantam crowing in the truck in the same parking lot. Dwain suggested we ask him, just to be sure. Thank goodness we did. He said we would never find it to follow him. I thanked him very much and we followed.

Now, as we are going down the road, we don't go the way I expect to go at all. We pull into a parking lot with a building right there, and on the front of that building is Britt Appliance. We pull down the side behind that building to another building.

??????????????????????????????

Why wouldn't you just tell anyone coming to the show to pull down the side of Britt Appliance???? After daylight we did see the show sign, but COME ON!!!

Anyway, we thanked the man again and pulled on in. Hardly anyone was there. Not really too surprised seeing as no one was going to be able to find it until daylight.

First order of business for me is to use the restroom. I go into the building and ask where the bathroom is. There is no bathroom. There are two port o pottys outside. GREAT. No real bathrooms. So I go on and do my business...in the big blue port o potty. At least it was still clean and unused at the time.

Dwain and I began unpacking birds, I stood in line and got my birds tested (all birds must have a blood test for disease before you can show them) while he brought in the rest. After testing and paying my entry fees I took an exhibitor list and found my exhibitor number. We went to the large fowl section to look for the birds coop tags that would put each bird in its place.

Well, when you go to a show, usually you have coop tags with your number, the birds variety, breed and cock, cockeral, hen or pullet. I brought eight birds. I only had four tags, thus only four coops. Well this was not good. I went up to the table up front and told him I didnt have coops assigned, no coop tags, what was going on? He gave me clips and more coop tags, and I, yes I, had to fill out my own and put them on some empty coops so I would have places for my birds. To top it all off, all breeds are supposed to be together. Two of my cochins were on the far end of the table, while two of my others with three other peoples cochins, were on the other end. I think this cost me later on when the judge was judging as he came upon Buckbuck and Babes daughter and had to rethink his judging. He said he didnt see these. I told him I didnt have a choice, that the Andelusians were already tagged at that end. He understood.

So, I have every bird in their respective coops, finally. Now its time to get out the hanging water cups and give everyone some water. I usually fill my water jug before I even leave the house, but this time I didnt. So, once again I go to the front and ask where a faucet, spigot, hose, something to dispense water is. Then I was informed that there was no running water there. GREAT. Luckily a man overheard me and had a huge orange cooler full of water and filled my jug for me. I thanked him profusely and went on my way.

After getting everyone some water (you don't feed til after the judging, it fills their crops and the judges can't feel the birds physique as well) we got our chairs and cooler (and at that time realized I could have used some of my bottled water, oops), sat down in front of the large fowl table and relaxed for a few minutes. It was still dark outside, but the lights were on in the building, until they went out. Yep. So everyone that had gotten there later was running around in the dark using their cell phone lights to see. I had groomed my birds the night before and wasnt really concerned, but others were not having such an easy time. So, no toilets, no running water, AND no electricity. Wonderful. The lights finally did come back on about an hour later.

They did have a nice trailer brought in, one of those that cooks inside and serves food. Dwain and I got some breakfast when they opened up. Dwain was sleepy so he went out to the truck and napped. I don't blame him, I would have if I could have. He said later I should have got him up sooner, because he missed the judging.

Before the judging started I met a nice lady from the SC/GA border. She had been told I would be there by the lady I get my cochins from. She also had bought a cochin cockeral from her. She was new to showing and Beth had told her that I would talk to her and help her out. We sat and talked, I looked at her boy, he was beautiful. She told me not to think of her as competition, that she was just wanting to learn right now. I smiled and said to her Yeah! Until you win a couple of times, then you get bit by the bug and want more and more! Its addictive I tell you. I really enjoyed talking with her and meeting her and we hit it off right away. We exchanged phone numbers and plan to keep in touch and see each other at shows.

Now the judging begins. I had never heard of any of the judges there. There was a reason for that, but I will tell you about that later. Lets just go along with the story as it happened. The judge goes around looking at birds, pulling some out to look closer. Back and forth, scribbling things on coop tags. I wait patiently with my new friend. Dwain is still napping so we sat in the two chairs I brought, waiting for results. As he came by, I was telling her about stubs on Polish (tiny hairlike feathers, barely able to see them, but a no no, have to pull those out before a show, usually found between the toes) and how clean legged birds should not have those, he was looking for stubs on my buff laced polish pullet. He peeked over and overheard us and I nodded and acknowledged what he was doing and told him he wouldnt find any on my polish. ;)

He then proceeded to tell me my polish were all underweight. :( I informed him that three out of four were only about seven months old. Polish take a long time to fill out. They are not a heavy bird anyway, they are a more upright slender bird. He said it didnt matter, they were underweight. ????????? Whatever. Again, what I found out later explains a lot about this comment.

As all large fowl judging was over, Honey(my new friend) and I went around looking at the coop tags. I was explaining to her what each scribbling meant and how the judging process worked. There was also a discrepency of how the black cochins were numbered, there were two 'ones' and two 'twos' which makes no sense, they should have been labelled one through four. Again, you will understand this finding later on when I tell you what I found out.

On her tag was the word "COMB". Now, when a judge puts something like that on your tag, it generally means there is a fault with that part of the bird. Later, she was told that the bird was too young, and so the comb was not big enough or some crap. It was crap nevertheless.

William, my splash cochin got Champion Asiatic. WONDERFUL!!! My buff laced polish pullet got Champion Continental. FANTASTIC!! Shirley, my silver laced polish got Reserve Continental. GREAT! So I had won some stuff, and I was excited and happy. But wait...who won Champion Large Fowl and Reserve Champion Large Fowl? I mean, sheesh, I was a shoe in easy right? What happened? Even Beth just knew I would surely take home one of these places. Nope. Same exhibitor, won both, with two sumatra hens. I am sorry, but I have seen much better sumatra hens. I am not one to whine about losing to a better bird. I bow down to a better bird than my own and will always give tribute to a rightful winner. But not this, this was just not right. But, I would go home with something right? A trophy or two, or a plaque, whatever, so I went on up to the trophy table and started looking to see what I was going to recieve. I mean there had to be something there, there was a table slam full of stuff. Looking....looking. Not seeing anything. I see random stuff, weird stuff, like Best Phoenix, and even Second Best Phoenix? But there were none of those in the large fowl??? I was confused. So I asked.

"Oh everything here on the table is for the juniors except three things. The only thing for the adults is Champion Large Fowl, Reserve Champion Large Fowl and Champion Bantam.

??????????????????????????? Uhhhhh HUH??? Jilted, I walked away. He told me next year they would try and do better.

Some shows, small shows, don't have the money to get stuff. This is a medium sized show for the area. I have brought home four plaques AND a trophy from ONE show from this show in Monroe before.

I am all for promoting the juniors, but, they need to remember WHO pays for the juniors entries and WHO brings the juniors to the shows. Sometimes the parents are not exhibitors, but sometimes they are. Without the adults, and their money, there would be no juniors. So lets feel the love for the open show too, even if its just a little something, if you win, you should get a ribbon at the least! I was not very happy. I was not lied too, I won alright, I was told I would win, but I had nothing to bring home to show for it to put in with my other wins.

Well, poo. It was time to pack up and get out of there. I wasn't feeling any obligation to stick around for anyone so Dwain and I packed up and left. I didnt even take any pictures, and I am sorry for that, but I just wasnt feeling very happy. Plus it was too dang dark in the building to take any decent pictures.

Headed down the road I felt relieved to get out of there. What a waste of time. I know I should feel good about the good marks, but taking home a little piece of paper with scribbling on it just didnt seem very prestigious. Most of the birds I took were already proven champions, so I didnt have anything to prove, so to me it was a waste of time, gas, and money.

Now, onto what I found out later about this show. When you read this, if you are still with me, I know this is long, but if you are still with me, this explains a LOT!

First of all, I found out the show was put together haphazardly in a matter of weeks. Second of all, someone in the club that runs that show 'lost' 1500 dollars. Yeah, classy huh. Next, I found out that the judges they scraped up at the last minute had JUST gotten their judges license, so they werent even wet behind the ears. Totally inexperienced.

I talked with a friend of mine who's kids showed there, and she said when she asked the judge later what he deemed wrong with one of the kids birds his statement was,

"I just didnt like the bird". YOU DONT SAY THAT WHEN YOU ARE A JUDGE!!! You have to tell the fault in the bird according to the standard of perfection of that bird! Especially when kids are involved in learning! I was disgusted. She said even SHE could see the fault in the bird they picked for champion in the juniors, the back was not right on the bird at all. So, you see, all that I mentioned before, makes sense now. They didnt know what they were doing.

A lot of people you see at shows are not good sports and will complain because they didnt win. I promise you I am not one of those, and neither is she. We have just seen enough and been showing long enough we kinda know what is what. The judges are supposed to know much more than an exhibitor, but this time, that was not the case.

I have to honestly say, I wish I would have stayed home and took all of Saturday to prepare for Shelby's birthday party. I wouldnt have had to stay up past midnight preparing if I had stayed home. I was talked into the show with the notion I would be adding to my collection of plaques and trophies, and when that didnt happen, I was disappointed and pretty unhappy.

On a side note, I looked up some trophies online at trophydepot.com...and found some really nice trophies with chickens on top, really cool looking ones for anywhere between 5 and 10 dollars each. Engraving and shipping was free. So I dont see what the problem was. Bad planning, that was the problem, and lack of money, because someone felt they had to pocket 1500 dollars. The trophies they had were very cheesy and chintzy looking, bordering on ugly, some of them. Guess they got a deal, cause there were plenty of cheap looking ugly trophies.

Next entry I will have pictures and all about Shelbys birthday! A happier entry for sure!

Going to a Show

2010-10-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is Shelbys 16th birthday. There is a show in Monroe on Saturday. I wasnt going to go because usually her long time friend Tiffany and her mother being my long time friend, comes up. Tiffany and Shelby are six days apart, so we usually spend the weekend together and I get a cake with both their names on it and they blow out the candles together. We find a haunted trail or something to go to, go out to eat, just have a good weekend together.

This time, for the first time they arent coming. I dont know why other than she told me she has family in town and wont be able to make it. Shelby was very disappointed. Being as this is her 16th I wanted to have something going on!

She has another long time friend she grew up with, Matthew. Ian is long time friends with Adrian and I with his wife, Teddy. I called in a friend favor and asked if they would come on up Sunday and help us celebrate Shelbys birthday. She said she had been thinking about us a lot anyway and would love to bring her whole brood up for the day.

I am going to cook out on the grill, baby back ribs, Shelbys favorite. Potato salad, french fries for the kids, baked beans. We will have birthday cake and icecream too of course.

It will be a great day indeed, the Lane family are all great company! :)

So, in light of not having a full weekend of goings on, I am going to fit in that poultry show. Brian, VP of the club putting on the show called me night before last wondering what hole I had fell into because I had not entered any birds for the show. I told him I still didnt know what was going on that weekend, but would find out. After texting Karen and finding out they werent going to make it, I was free to go.

Brian made it irresistible for me. They are having over 700 birds so far, and only ten of them are large fowl. Bantams are an easy out for people to me. They are easy to show, and you dont have so much to do with them to get them ready. For instance. Just getting one giant cochin ready yesterday took two and a half hours. A bantam is easy to handle, easy to bathe and easy to blow dry fast. I choose to show large fowl because they are so much more dramatic looking to me. So, with only ten entered, and I easily could enter eight, I accepted. I don't want to get cocky, but it should be an easy win for me to win something, so I will do it. He even said I could coop out early after I was judged, take my winnings and head out if I had to. I do need to pick up the cake on Saturday and do some last minute preparations for Sunday.

So its a win win for all. Here are William and Jocelyn all bathed and blowdried. These are my Giant Splash Cochin pair. They look so great!

I will also be showing a pair of black giant cochins, Buckbuck and Babe (III). The Babes mother, a great champion who won many times over for both Shelby and I passed earlier, late in the summer, but we keep her memory alive with her daughters.

Also, I am throwing in a pair of my young bearded buff laced polish to see how they will do. I will show Shirley, and one of Kuckoo's up and coming great looking daughters. Shirley and her are bearded silver laced polish.

So wish me luck and I hope to have a great show! I won't sleep a wink more than likely as I get quite anxious before a show the night before :)

Coosa Valley Fair Exhibit

2010-10-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

I was making my weekly trip up to Tractor Supply to get all the animals feed and the manager was there and told me about a guy that came in and left his phone number on the door for a poultry show he needed entries for at the Coosa Valley Fair in Rome. Ears perked up I took down the number and called him. It was not really a real show, not like I go to. The judges were not ABA or APA sanctioned, it would have just been fair officials judging. So far he had no entries. So I asked him how many coops he had. He had fifteen. I told him I could fill them all easily and he said "Oh no! We have to let any others that want to enter enter their birds" I said well, I thought you wanted a show? He relented and said he did, but could I wait until right before the fair opening to see if anyone else had entries. I agreed to that. There was only one other person that turned up with birds, and it was an employee of Tractor Supply. He filled three pens and I took the others up. I went up a couple of days before the fair as the head honcho wanted to meet with me and let me see the setup beforehand so I would know what was going on, so I made a quick trip up and it was a nice set up, plenty of room in the coops for large fowl, so that is what I brought.

I don't work with the public much. I can be a social person when the need arises, but normally I keep to myself. Of course I was a bit anxious about the whole thing.

I told him I was not interested in judging or ribbons or anything of that nature, but that I would be more of an exhibit and I showed him a few pictures on my phone of birds I would be bringing. He said he would pay me a hundred dollars. That was good with me, since I was originally going to do it for free, but I didnt tell him that. Little did I know, before it was all over with, I would be wishing I had gotten paid a lot more for it that I did. As I said, I don't usually do this sort of thing, so I was feeling my way through.

When I arrived with my birds on the first day I was excited to share my beautiful birds with the public, educating them and expanding their way of thinking about chickens. Remember, I am in a rural area and most people have never seen any of the more exotic and unusual breeds.

I got everyones food and water cups set up, put shavings on the floor of each pen and got them in their coops. I was told that I could leave my birds there each night as there would be security patrolling the grounds. I only saw security personnel maybe a total of two times the whole five days I was there. There was no way I was leaving my champion prized birds there anyway. All the "I am sorry, we were watching" doesnt bring back a bird from being injured or stolen. So each day I came and set up, and each night I packed up every stitch of everything, food cups, coop cards, everything. It was a lot of work, but I know people would have messed with stuff, so in the long run it was worth the small amount of aggravation as opposed to a large amount of aggravation.

After the first day and night I got home and was pretty tired. The second day I got up and did it all over again. This day was 'Kids Day'. It was nerve racking and very stressful. I had one sign that said "Please Dont Put Your Fingers In Cages". In light of that some genius boy about nine years old read the sign and proceeded to tell his friends, "You can't touch these on THIS side of the table, but you can on the OTHER side". Because of course I assumed people would see the sign and common sense would tell them not to put their fingers in ANY of the cages. My fault for assuming.

Throughout the day I had kids blowing on the birds, banging on the cages, yelling at the birds. I had some parents that would stop their kids short and tell them not to put their fingers in the cages, to stay back, and so on.

I was very glad for the day to be over and to pack up and go home. After the second day I was wondering what in the world was I thinking.

Third day of the fair. Senior Day. The best day I had, wonderful day. I am thinking it is because I am closer to this crowds age than children. I talked to some wonderful people that day. Lots of stories told to me, lots of really nice people. I really enjoyed most of the third day very much.

On the fourth day I had made more signs.

I made another "No fingers" sign for the OTHER side of the table, and I made two of these, AND I wrapped yellow CAUTION tape around the edges of the table.

You may be surprised, or maybe not, to know that an adult in his 60's thereabouts was one that threw a pizza crust into one of the cages. I also found peanuts in the shell in another cage. What makes people think it is okay to do this? My birds are show birds. They don't eat junk food. Their diet is made up of things that is healthy and good for them. Just because I put my birds on display for the public does not give them the right to do whatever they want with them.

So, even with all the signs, caution tape, and me sitting right there I still had people being weird. I had an elderly woman come up, she put her hand and arm right through a cage to touch a bird. WHY? I asked her to please not do that. She came over to talk to me and starting telling me a story about how she grew up around chickens.

There is a sign at the Georgia National Fair rabbit exhibit. If I ever do this again I will make a sign like theirs. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It roughly states this:

Please do not touch the rabbits

Even if:

You have owned rabbits, have rabbits, know someone that owns rabbits, think that this sign doesnt mean you, if you have a dog, cat, or some other pet,

and it goes on and on, because that is what you have to do with the general public. Now, even though this sign is there, they have had to wrap each cage in fine mesh wire. It used to just be on the bottom half of the cages, you know, going halfway up the sides. Not anymore. Now it is all the way to the top. Because people just can't behave.

Onto the fifth day. I was so tired. I was beat down and had a new respect for anyone that does any kind of exhibit at a fair. I got there and set up. I was told today was going to be so busy. It turned out for some reason Friday was the hectic day. Saturday, either I was just so tired I didnt care anymore or it wasnt as busy. I was told I could pack up early that evening. I was told it was going to get weird. While I was packing up it did get weird. There are some strange people that come out after dark on Saturday night at the fair. People kept trying to talk to me as I packed up and I just kept on packing. If I had talked to anyone for long I would have never gotten out of there. There were packs of teenagers doing weird stuff in front of the cages and I wanted to get OUT OF THERE. So I did. I had two middle age ladies who appeared to be drunk running their keys back and forth across the cages to get the birds to look at them to take a pictures. Crazy.

Now, let us discuss the 'other' birds brought to the fair. This alone was stressful. He had brought some very bad looking polish and silkies. I am not talking about them just not being show quality. I am talking about they looked like they had been caught in a fan and chewed up. The first day I was way too busy to look at them closely, but the second day I looked closer and I figured they probably had mites on their body, but I had already took precautions for that by spraying my birds to keep them off. Then I saw it. Some of his birds had LEG MITES. Oh yes, in the chicken fancy this is dreaded. They are very contagious and very hard to get rid of once your bird has them. It is also very painful for the bird as the mites get under the scales of the legs and secrete waste, pushing the scales up and crusting up the legs down to the flesh. Very irritating and painful.

I freaked out. I went over to the TSC display and told him he had to remove those birds right away. I explained why and that I could in no way take a chance on my show birds getting such an ailment. He said they didnt bring a cage, but they would remove them the next day.

TWO days went by before they finally removed them. I told the head of the fair about it. We ended up pulling out more cages from his storage and putting them on the ground under the table so I could get the table clean with bleach water and let it dry. I told him I would fill the other three cages with fine birds the last two days of the fair. Over the days those birds were still on the table I sprayed all my birds legs with permethryn spray every day, freaking out the whole time. I even put a cardboard divider between my birds cage and the others. By the time they were removed the TSC guy wasnt speaking to me anymore. I don't care if he doesnt like it, he wouldnt have gotten through the door at a real show. At one point one of the polish hens began pecking away at the roosters butt, at the base of the feathers because it was so inviting and bare. Fairgoers were freaking out because there was blood on her face, blood on his butt. I kept telling people I was sorry but they were not my birds and I had already asked for them to be removed. Terrible, so I went and told the guy who owns them and he said he would phone his wife, but no one ever came, no one did anything.

On a good note. I was told by the president and the secretary of the fair that they had never seen so many people over in the barn, that is was truly a fantastic display and attraction, and wanted me to do it again next year. I want more money, thats all I can say. ;)

I take the good with the bad. If I had a dollar for everytime I heard

"I never seen a chicken like that!" or "What is that?" because they didnt realize it was a chicken, I would be rich. It is fun to people watch. I had one poor ignorant soul come around 'educating' his boys on them.

"THEMS FIGHTIN' CHICKENS RIGHT THAR BOYS" as he pointed to the buff laced polish.

I laughed and said, no sir, that breed is actually very docile and friendly.

He proceeded to tell me "Well, they ain't got them SPURS fer nuthin' !!"

and I said well sir, all roosters have spurs. The concept was lost on him. I shrugged and went on to talking to other folks.

I made signs, with the breed, a brief history of the breed, and the chickens name. People still came up and said, oh yes, here it comes, "What kind of chicken is that?"

I have had some time to destress and deflate and I laugh about it now. This is not a complete account of all my encounters. There were more bad ones. I yelled at some kids to STOP banging on the cages and keep their fingers out on the fourth day, parents standing right there. I had some good encounters with folks that wanted my email or phone number to buy birds from me this coming Spring. I even met a guy that his daughter shows, he lives in Arkansas. I sold him three great birds. We are friends now and that made it worth it. I had one wonderful lady that paints and she wants me to send her some pictures of my birds so she can paint them. I met some really nice people. Sometimes I had a great time, sometimes not so much.

Would I do this again? I really can't say right now. I can say I know I am not cut out to work for extended periods of time with the public. Hard as I may try, I don't hold up well. ;)

Sunrise

2010-10-12T11:56:00.001-07:00

Florida Vacation Part Four

2010-10-12T06:14:00.001-07:00

I am making at least two entries today. I have made one below adding to my family's vacation story, so don't miss it! :)

One of the mornings I managed to wake up early. I was ready to capture that sunrise and see the world come to life from a night of slumber.

As soon as I could see well enough I went down the lighted path over the dunes to the last steps to the beach. I sat there on the steps for a few minutes til I could see better on the beach. There was an older couple sitting in chairs waiting on the sunrise together. It was so sweet. Later they pulled their chairs to the water and I took a picture of them. This is where I want Ian and I to be one day, watching that sunrise and enjoying our retirement years on the beach.

Here are some shots I took before sunrise...and then just after, and on into the morning.

I have an actual video loading of this sunrise. It is taking awhile, but I will post it as a seperate entry after it finishes.

Thursday was a laid back day, we didnt do a whole lot. Ian was burned up and Shelby was tired. I of course, was still rarin' to go. I couldn't get enough, but I soon gave in and relaxed with them. The next morning I sat on the back patio and took this picture. Soon after we were packed up and back on the road. We took the scenic route up the A1A home. As we passed some of the homes for sale on the highway we pondered and began to talk of how if we were going to move here, we should really go all out and do it up and get a place actually on the beach. Yes, there are VERY expensive homes that are actually on the beach..but...we started looking...and that, is a story for another day. ;) I will post the video as soon as it is done uploading onto Photobucket. Thankyou all for coming by to see me. I really appreciate the comments and visits. Its time for me to get going and get some animals fed and watered this morning. Y'all have a fantastic day!

Florida Vacation Part Three

2010-10-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite restaurants down in Florida is Saltwater Cowboys. It is on a swampy/marsh type area at a dead end road not far from the hotel. They have swamp cats there. What are swamp cats you ask? They are the cats that have taken up residence there and live there around the place. You can see them laying on the wrap around porch outside the french doors, or fooling about out in the marsh. I have to assume they have them spayed and neutered as the population doesn't explode. I have never seem more than three or four.

We got there early before they opened so we sat in the truck a few minutes and then ambled up to the doors when it was closer to time for them to open. Here is what it looks like walking up to the door.

When we got inside we were the first of course so we got a good table in the corner and could see out all the doors and windows. After we ordered I went around and took some pictures of the inside.

A genuine jackalope! ;) He he...

We got our food and I had this...

Shelby had this...

and Ian had this...

We enjoyed our dinner very much. A few more pictures, and another seperate entry coming up!

Coosa Valley Fair

2010-10-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't disappeared this week! I promise! I am busy doing a chicken exhibit at the Coosa Valley Fair in Rome this week. I will be back after this busy week.

Know It All?

2010-10-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

At what point do we stop becoming a novice at a hobby? I am not just talking about chickens. I know others things they love to do. Crocheting, knitting, painting, photography, all sorts of things we love to do and are good at it. So when do we stop thinking we might be good at it, and start knowing we are good at it? I don't know. I don't presume to know more than all, but I think I know a pretty good bit about chickens. I have been steeped in raising chickens for nine or so years now. Thats not a long time for some of the people that have done it for so long. I do believe one thing though. I believe the internet is a wonderful tool for learning. I learn things on almost a daily basis about chickens. Whether it be health issues, or breeds I didn't know existed, showing, I am always learning. So I don't think I will ever 'Know it all'. To presume that would be closing myself off to learning from others and nobody likes a know it all anyway.

So how to you balance the fact that you know a lot more than a lot of people, but you don't know it all, and yet have a feeling of satisfaction that you know a pretty good bit, without coming off as a know it all. I don't know. I hope that no one thinks that about me. No one has given any indications of such, but that doesnt mean anything. You never know what people are saying behind your back.

Why am I bringing all this up? Well, there are so many people both young and old that get involved in keeping chickens that don't know a thing about them, and so when things go wrong, they freak out. I educated myself a long time and read up a lot before I even considered getting chicks to raise. It frustrates me to hear ignorance just flowing freely out of peoples mouths. Case and point. Recently I heard a lady say that she has had chickens for a couple of years so she does know some. Her problem was her rooster/hen ratio was outrageous. She had eight hens and four roosters. The roosters were doing nothing but what roosters do, all day long, and tearing up the hens in the process. She was told to get rid of three if not all of the roosters. She was worried about a decline in egg production with just one rooster. Well, if you know anything at all, roosters stress hens out. NO roosters are a hens ultimate dream. If your not hatching, you dont need any roosters. She actually thought you needed a rooster to get eggs at all from a hen. Common sense dictates that is not true, but I gave her too much credit. I have run across uneducated chicken owners time and time again, and it drives me crazy. Pick up a book, Google how to care for chickens, SOMETHING. :(

Well, I didnt plan on ranting about that, but I guess it just kind of came out. My line of thinking was not really aimed at that tonight, so I will switch over to what I wanted to talk about.

I went to Tractor Supply today to get my weekly feed load and the manager happened to be there. I had brought Phoenix and he was wearing his cute bumblebee diaper overall thingies. He was the center of attention all over the store of course. He is such a fine example to change peoples perception of chickens, roosters in particular, as pets.

So the manager mentioned some guy had come by wanting to put up a sign to anyone wanting to enter chickens into a 'poultry show' at a local Fair coming up this next week. My ears perked up of course. He said the guy was having trouble getting anyone to enter. I said I would give him a call and see what was up. I called when I got home and I asked him some particulars. He said a lot of people had been talking, but not actually entering their birds. He has 15 coop holes to fill. Thats not many...at all. So I asked him if this was an actual show or does he just want some birds for exhibition for the fairgoers to see. He said mostly for exhibition but there would be ribbons and prizes too. I don't think he knows what a real poultry show is. A real poultry show has ABA and APA sanctioned judges, is usually put on by a poultry club, you have to get your birds tested for disease before cooping in, there are rules and guidelines for a show. So, from what I can tell, this is just an exhibition, to someone like me. Fine, I get that, even if he doesnt.

I asked him if the coops were for bantams or for large fowl. He was not sure. I don't want to bring some giant cochins and try to stuff them into a bantam cage. I don't think that would even be a consideration, they would take up the whole cage. Either way I told him I could fill all the holes if he wanted me to. He gasped and was taken aback and said to me that he wouldn't want me to do that, that he would reserve me four holes. I laughed. Four holes, yeah....right. I told him I thought he wanted to have some great looking birds for fairgoers to see, and what would happen if no one else brought birds? He saw my point and said we would wait to see, and if no one had called him back to enter more birds by tomorrow evening he just might let me do the whole poultry exhibition.

He wants me to meet him tomorrow so I can look at the coops to see what they can accomodate. He mentioned putting more than one bird in each coop if they were bantam, which is fine, if I bring some trios and pairs of bantams that are already together and get along with each other. In a real show this does not happen. Each bird is cooped in seperately, no exceptions, at least I have never heard of it. Another thing is, no one waits til the day before the show to confirm an entry. There is a deadline for entering birds, usually three to four days, sometimes five days before the show. You have to have time to wash and groom your birds, get them ready. I will not be doing that, especially since this doesnt really 'count' per say. My birds look pretty good, I will do some spot clean up, but it takes a lot out of me to really get ready for a show, especially if I am showing more than just a few birds.

Now, what I want to know is, why do I do this sort of thing? I am not generally an outgoing person. I don't really try to help strangers. I keep to myself most of the time. Thats why I live in the country, to be left alone most of the time. I don't know this guy from anyone, but I saw that he needed help, and yes, it had a lot to do with the fact that it was chickens, but I called, and I wanted to help. He says he wants to have a real show next year. I will give him our local poultry club heads number and maybe he can work something out with him for next year.

I don't know what he thought was going to happen with fifteen holes, no way to notify anyone of an exhibition. He could have probably gotten some local 4H kids to do the show easy if he had contacted them.

I realize most people dont know who to contact, how to go about it, so I will try to help him out and get him hooked up with the right people for next year.

I don't know why I want to help total strangers sometimes. It doesnt happen often. As I sit here and type this I am shrinking back into my shell thinking, why did you do that? I could have had a perfectly quiet week, and now I will be transporting birds back and forth all week to a fair. He said I could leave them overnight, but there is no way. No amount of "Oh we had someone watching, I dont know what happened" or " I am so sorry this happened" will replace a prize winning champion bird of mine. So they will come home with me, and I will be right there the whole day when they are there. I know it will be nice, it will be fun. After all, if I am the only one bringing birds, then my birds, and I, will be the center of attention. There are not a lot of times I like to be the center of attention. When it comes to chickens and talking about them though, yes, I do like being the center of attention. :)

I know you were probably expecting my third and last installment on our vacation, but I didn't have it in me tonight. I just felt like rambling a bit. Had to get some thoughts out.

Florida Vacation Part Two

2010-09-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

After leaving the Alligator Farm we had looked through some coupon books and ads and saw an affordable scenic cruise and decided that would be fun and something we had never done before while down in St. Augustine. We paid for our tickets and were a bit early and so we waited on the dock. As we stood around we had a pirate guy pass us and he was into his part completely as he passed us saying AY MATIE in a growly voice. We had seen the pirate ship but didnt know that it was taking off soon, it was due to leave port just fifteen minutes before our cruise. As they left I took a few pictures. Shelby wished we had known about it so we could have taken that one instead. It was a different kind of cruise though, not scenic, it was more interactive with the pirates with songs and games and such. It looked like a lot of fun and we promised we would do that the next time we came to Florida. Next to that, for a teenager, I am sure the scenic cruise was lame, but we enjoyed it anyway.

The route took us around the bay. As we passed by things the ships captain told us what we were looking at. The pictures in the slideshow are labelled. If you want to know more about what you see you can go here: http://www.oldcity.com/attractions-sightseeing-information.cfm

The cross you see was erected by the Catholic Church, and you can read about it here:

http://www.oldcity.com/st-augustine-churches.cfm

Here is the best picture I took of the giant steel cross...it was beautiful in the sunset.

Even if you are not a religious person, this has to be awe inspiring.

It was dark when our ride was over and we were more than ready for supper. I had been looking up some local restaurants independently owned and we settled on a place called Hurricane Patty's. I had no idea what it was going to be like, and it was somewhat of a surprise when we got there.

Here is what greeted us at the door! I giant lobster, or shrimp statue.

My battery on my phone was going dead and so the flash didn't work since it was low on power, but I still wanted to get a picture of it anyway.

This was a waterfront bar and grill type place. The night life was in full swing when we arrived. We usually don't eat at almost nine o'clock, but this night we did. There were lots of people on the deck outside eating, talking and having a beer or such. When you walked in it was deserted in the dining area, and the kitchen was about to close, but we squeezed in an order before it was too late. The food was fantastic! Delicious! We all enjoyed it very much. We could see the bar area and there was a small crowd of locals having beers and there was a local band playing, just a few guys. They were actually really good and we enjoyed it a lot. It wasnt what I was looking for when we went to go find somewhere for supper, but it was different, in a good way.

Afterwards we went back to our room and collapsed for the night, tired from a full day. Oh I did forget, we stopped by the local Walmart to find me a plastic sand bucket to be told it was 'out of season'. Yet they had boogie boards where I stood? How can that kind of thing be out of season in Florida? Now I was on a quest, so we went to a local souvenir shop and found one, so I was ready to go shell hunting the next morning at dawn.

The next morning I went out as soon as I could see to get down there to the beach. Actually I sat on the steps of the walk at the beach til I could see well enough to go on out. I had my little bucket and I started out. Surprisingly after about two hours of walking the beach I didnt come up with that much. There were a lot of dead jellyfish, some driftwood, some trash (ugh) and shells here and there. I did find some unusual things, something that looked like green beans, sea green beans..lol. Funny. Lots of seaweed was washed up on the beach too.

When I returned to the room Shelby and Ian were awake. I set out a few paper towels on the coffee table and began unloading my treasures. I usually have an overflowing bucketful, but that was just not the case this time around. Here are a few pictures of what I found.

Now that I have posted about my morning excursion on the beach, I realize I have my events out of order...so, this was Thursday morning, not Wednesday morning, but we will rewind to Wednesday right now.

Wednesday Shelby and Ian and I got up and made out for a full day at the beach. Everyone had their suits on, I slathered Shelby with sunscreen. Ian said he wanted to get some color while in Florida, even if that color was red, so he skipped the sunscreen. I didn't use any because I am outside all the time and knew I wouldn't get burned much at all. I thought we could drive down to the beach, that way we could carry our cooler of water and drinks and chairs, all that we needed, but, when we drove to the beach access ramp it was closed and the sign said open to 4 wheel drive trucks only. Mine is not, so back we went to the parking lot, and back through the hotel down the path to the beach carrying less than we had in the truck.

Tip is ten years old now. She is still doing very well for an older dog. Border collies don't seem to know they are getting older. I saw her daddy live two years after developing cancer. It was like he didnt know he had it, he never slowed down. It did finally get him, and he had to be put to sleep, but he seemed oblivious to it for so long. It has been several years since Tip has seen the ocean, but she loves it. She jumps the waves coming in and keeps heading out til she can swim back in, back and forth she goes. She loves to come out of the ocean and scrub in the sand. She loves to dig holes. At one point everytime Shelby and Ian would start to build a mound of sand she would playfully come over and rake her paw across it, messing up their beginnings of building anything. She had a great time, and thats just what I wanted for her before she got too old to enjoy it.

Shelby went out with her boogie board, fearless as ever. Further and further out she went, trying to catch a wave to ride back in on her boogie board, but it was not cooperating, they would break and fade out too soon. Later Ian joined her and they were way out. There was a little bit of a rip current and at one point Ian got swept off his feet and feet went flying in the air, but he wasnt worried. As long as you don't panic, you will be okay.

I watched them from as far out as Tip dared to go back and forth in. We keep her on a 24 foot retractable leash for her safety, and for the courtesy of others at the beach. A young boy came up and asked if he could pet Tip and I said yes. She loves children. He began busily talking to me and it turned out they were from Acworth, Ga., small world. He began telling me of all the dangers of getting stung by jellyfish and sharks and whatnot if you go out too far, like Ian and Shelby were doing. I shook my head and listened. His mom must have told him all this wonderful information to scare him into not going out too far. We know there are things out in the water. Its the OCEAN. We are fully aware. We do not live our lives in fear though. We are ones that take chances and live life to the fullest. Not with reckless abandon, within reason, but we don't live in fear of things that 'might' happen. No one got eaten, no one got stung, or bit. It was a good day. We spent a few hours out there and then Ian had had enough sun and thought we should go in. I wasnt ready to, I was really enjoying myself, but, I relented and we went in. We all took showers and rinsed the ocean water and sand from us. Ian was right to come in, he was red, and getting redder! Shelby had a few places I had missed on her that were red, but all in all she was fine. I was red, but I knew it would fade fast. By the next day it was already almost gone. Ian is STILL peeling today from his burn.

Here are a few pictures from the beach...

I didnt take as many pictures as I would have like to that day, but my camera quit on me some time ago and so I use my phone now to take pictures. We got new phones and I picked out the MyTouch Slide. I love the phone, but I didnt want to get sand in the slide out keyboard so I put it away most of the time we were out there.

Well, its noon, and I got to get a few things done around here before we are off to the grocery store, including making out a list, so I am going to stop here and I will pick back up tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed todays entry. :) Dad, thanks for keeping after me and getting me to keep blogging. Some days it comes easier than others. Oh and I do think that was the St Johns River we went over on 295...I think. Have to go look on a map and make sure! Thanks to each and every one of you for stopping by and reading my blog. I know I was gone for a long time. I had people reading that I didnt even know read my blog, and when I quit, they came out of the woodwork and I found out about them. They were disappointed I had stopped blogging, so I am really trying to make an effort to blog more. I do enjoy it too, and I know this winter my blog will be full day after day.

Florida Vacation Part One

2010-09-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

It has been several years since we have gone back to our favorite spot in Florida for vacation. I had forgotten how wonderful it is there. That is easy to do when you have a nice house out in the country on five and half acres. Nevertheless, getting away from it all, including daily chores for me, work for Ian, and school for Shelby is still very attractive. When you go on vacation things are simplified, and I like simple life.

So we left the morning of Monday September 20th and crossed the main bridge in Jacksonville that afternoon. I was so excited to be in Florida, we all were.

We weren't far from where we stay on the A1A now. We stay in Crescent Beach at a place that has individually owned rooms, very nice comfortable rooms called Beachers Lodge. This time we went and got a King Suite instead of settling for a Queen Suite. I was not disappointed. Our room was very nice.

Our first evening there we made it down to the beach before dark. The desire to feel the ocean spill over our toes and to sink those toes in the sand was very strong. It felt heavenly. There is no other place like the beach. Where we stay there are no 'tourist' crowds, just local residents and the few people that stay at the Beachers Lodge. Most seem to want the same peace and quiet we do.

Several years ago when we went I would be up every morning, waiting with my little plastic sand bucket for it to get just light enough I could see to get down the walkway over the dunes to the beach to pick up the treasures the ocean had washed up overnight. The next morning I didnt make it. I am getting older and my body didnt want to get up that early, so I relented and got up after daylight, fixing coffee and tidying up a bit.

The hotel has room service, housekeeping, but I dont really want anyone in there messing about. Not because I think they will steal something, its just the way I am. I get towels, coffee, toilet paper and such from them when they come around and I can manage the rest.

Our first full day in Florida we struck out and had some lunch at a place called the Seafood Kitchen. It wasn't busy at all and we had a great lunch. After our lunch we made our way up to St. Augustine's Alligator Farm. This is a place we all enjoy very much and we stayed there most of the day. Not only do they have alligators, but they have all 23 species of crocodile in the world housed there. They also have educational bird and reptile shows. They have a whole room dedicated to Gomek. He is in the center of the room, no longer alive, he is stuffed. To read more about Gomek you can go here: http://www.alligatorfarm.us/exhibits.html and look under Gomek Forever. They have live demonstrations of feeding the alligators, that is always a treat, which is narrated by the zookeeper that is feeding them.

We had a full day at the Alligator Farm and enjoyed it very much. After we left there we headed to historic St. Augustine across the Bridge of Lions...and tomorrow I will tell you what we did there...complete with pictures. :)

I hope you enjoyed todays entry.

I have a lot of thoughts in my head I want to get out onto this blog, thoughts that stretch out beyond our trip, and I really want to share them here, and I will in the coming days, I promise.

Rayne

2010-09-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I looked to the top of the stairs and saw Shelby with her face in her hands crying, sitting on the floor next to her two serama roosters pens.

I quickly made it up the stairs to see what was wrong and Shelby says to me through tears, "I think Rayne died, he isnt breathing or moving."

I could see he was gone. I gave her hugs and consoled her the best I could. When we lose an animal that is close to us around here it is always very hard.

Rayne was just a baby when we got him. He was one of the many seramas I recieved from a very nice and generous young lady that lives not far from us. From day one he took right to Shelby. You could say that he claimed her as his own, following her everywhere and wanting her attention, as much as she would give him, he ate it up. It was that behavior that made him a house chicken right away. I fashioned him a diaper outfit right away. He outgrew it of course, since he was just a young thing, but I intended on making diaper outfits for him and Jackie (her other house chicken)both for the winter.

Rayne was a show chicken for one season. He made Shelby proud taking Best in Breed and Best in Variety back at the beginning of the year. After the season was over she decided she was not going to show anymore and just wanted her beloved rooster to be home with her. He was such a character, so full of life. Seramas are just the liveliest little things, and so sweet. They get into your heart forever.

We agree that there is only one way to spare ourselves the awful gut wrenching heart break we feel when we lose a pet. That is to not have one at all, and to us, that is not an option. For all the love and joy they bring into our lives, it is worth the pain we feel when they are gone.

Rayne, you were a good boy, and we will miss you. -

NW Georgia Poultry Show

2010-09-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

I usually don't show any chickens in the later part of the year, simply because they are all busy getting naked, so it looks like chickens have exploded in the yard. Yep, its time for everyone that is not under a year old to molt. Time to get rid of the old feathers and in with the new feathers for winter.

This Fall season I have some newbies out of my bantam barred rock show stock (Shelbys former show stock, champion, that is). I sold all but four, two pullets and two cockerals. It turns out people want to buy these good looking birds from me and I am out of them already, so I won't have any to sell at the upcoming shows at the first of the year. I could hatch more now, but I am really going to try and restrain myself and have a chick free winter. We will see how long I can resist the temptation to crank up the incubator.

This past Saturday there was a poultry show at the Northwest Georgia Fairgrounds. The fair is or should have been going on while we were there. It started the day before at 5 pm, and runs through next Saturday night. We found out the hard way that even though it was the weekend, the fair was still not going to open until 5 pm. Seems like a waste to me. The bad part of this is I didnt pack any drinks, snacks, lunch, breakfast, nothing. I thought we were going to get to have some fair food, but it was not to be.

My good friend Karen and her daughter Tiffany, a long time friend of Shelbys came for the weekend to go to the show and hang out at the fair with me. My best chicken buddy Dwain was going to be there too.

We got there about 6:30 am, got my birds tested and cooped in and I put on my apron my best friend Sherry had given me as a gift awhile back (it has chickens printed all over it, of course) so I wouldnt get messy while I was putting the finishing touches on my birds (mineral oil on the combs, wattles, legs and feet...shine spray on the feathers). After finishing that, we started to walk around the still closed fair section. We came to the realization it was not going to open soon enough for our growling bellies and our parched throats so we piled into the truck and took off down the road to find some breakfast. We wanted Waffle House, but believe it or not, there wasnt one. I thought Waffle Houses were on every stretch of highway on every exit. So we settled for Ryans breakfast bar. We got back to the show and milled around some more, I took some pictures of some of the birds I liked along with pictures of my own. Dwain was taking an awful long time getting there, so I called him to see what had happened. No answer, but he called back a few minutes later. Turned out he had had a flat tire of all things. He had to go to Walmart and ended up getting two new tires. He did finally make it thank goodness. A chicken show is not a chicken show without Dwain with me! ;) He is my good luck charm. It has become a superstition of sorts. I only seem to win when he is around. Yes, its true! This time was no different. He was late so I didnt win anything big. I got great marks on my birds, Best of Breed, Best in Variety, Reserve Best in Breed, Reserve Best in Variety, but no trophies, ribbons or plaques this time. It couldnt be helped though. I don't blame you Dwain! ;) You know you are my best chicken buddy!

So the kids were bored. It was a double show, meaning one judge was going to judge all birds, then a second different judge would come around and you would have a second time to win. The first time around it took about three and a half hours. I figured I had plenty of time to get the kids back home and be back before the end of the second judging. Nope. Karen and I threw together a packed lunch for the three of us when we dropped the kids off and we headed back fast as we could. Got back, and they were done! Crazy crazy day. I still had a lot of fun though, because I was at a chicken show, and I was there with two of my best friends. :)

I also ended up buying two birds. A blue silkie cockeral and a porcelain D'uccle cockeral. The silkie is named Percy and the D'uccle Hermes....and yes, we just watched the new Clash of the Titans movie...ahem...lol, so that had some influence on their names.

Here is a slide show from the show. Andy Schneider was there broadcasting his radio show and giving away free stuff and prizes too. You will see a picture of him and one of my chicken friends sons standing with his rooster next to him.

Andy had deemed himself The Chicken Whisperer and he speaks up for the right for all to have backyard flocks. He has a radio show on Blogtalkradio during the week at 12 pm eastern time. Its a fun show, stop on over if your so inclined. He talks about other things too with special guests, but I always like the chicken talks the best. ;)

Enjoy the pictures!

Where To Start? How About A Poultry Show

2010-09-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

So its been a while hasn't it? I hope I don't hear an echo when I speak into my blog today. Its been a busy time these past few months and I haven't had a lot of time to really sit down and compose something that isn't jumbled up chaos in my mind.

Once again, I am in a hurry this morning, but I thought I would stop for a few minutes and make that entry, no matter how small. I did promise on my Facebook page that I would, and I want to live up to my promises.

We left off back there at the first poultry show of the season this year. With much poking and prodding I got Shelby to show some birds, and it turned out that she was a natural. It helps to have great birds, but wow, I never expected her to take home every top prize at this next show.

Pictures tell all...

In the first picture she is holding Babe, our top giant cochin hen. She won Champion Large Fowl with this wonderful bird. But it didnt stop there. Even though she had resisted showing, when the lady walked over and set the first trophy down for her bantam barred rock rooster winning Champion bantam, it showed that she was excited. Then, a few minutes later, here comes the lady again, this time with the Super Grand Champion trophy, over the whole entire Junior show! Thats when Shelby held her face in her hands as it turned red as an apple, she was floored to say the least. All birds also recieved Best in Breed, Reserve Best in Breed, Best in Variety and Reserve Best in Variety.

You may be wondering what my birds did at this show. Well, nothing...but who cares? When Shelby won so big, I was just beaming with pride and joy for her. It was the best feeling, better than winning myself.

I have to run, busy day today, but I will do my best to keep entries coming. We have a lot to catch up on!

Facebook

2010-02-26T18:05:00.001-08:00

Facebook has sucked my brains right out of my head and replaced it with Farmville, chat, Barn Buddy, Country Life, posts of all my currently 122 friends on Facebook. I can't help it, I need Facebook rehab.

I love you all though, and I promise to catch up on my blog soon. Right now my roof is being torn off and replaced, my pool is being replaced, my house is in shambles and shuffled about so the workmen can scrape the popcorn off the ceiling and make my ceilings smooth and neat and fresh.

I am lucky I can even reach the computer right now. ;)

The Northeast Georgia Poultry Show!

2010-01-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

I was finally able to convince my dear daughter to show some chickens at the poultry shows. Being a teenager, she has fought me here and there, but she reaped the rewards of getting her birds ready all last week for the show this past Saturday. I am so proud of her and her birds.

Let me back up a bit though. I do have pictures of some of the work being done behind the scenes here at home.

I had two new birds to show this year. Two beautiful appenzeller spitzauben cockerals (meaning they are under one year old). These birds are hard to come by and I lucked up getting the two of them awhile back as babies. Here is Haw. Yes, the other ones name is Hee. ;) They had never been bathed and blowdried before but they took it like champs and never fought it at all. I think they actually liked the pampering! The last two pictures are of them in show. They got great marks, so that lets me know they are good show birds.

Taking a break after blowdrying for about fifteen minutes, getting a treat for being so patient with the human and her silliness. ;)

A beautiful end result!

Now here are some shots of Shelby getting Rayne ready, and him getting some treats afterwards for being such a good boy for her!

The results for her efforts, four ribbons!

Rayne took Best in Breed and Best in Variety...

Her little white serama cockeral won Reserve Best in Breed and Reserve Best in Variety...

Her bantam Barred Plymouth Rock cockeral won Best in Breed and Best in Variety, and one of two of the pullets won Reserve Best in Breed and Best in Variety...

A couple of pictures of her two serama boys that won, in their coops at the show...

She also showed another serama cockeral and a serama pullet. The way they judge seramas, only the best two win placement of any kind, so these two did not place, but I was told by Tommy (the judge) that they are still very good birds.

Proud parent and happy child...

Once again, Dwain was there with me. He loves to go to the shows, but he is also an irreplaceable big help to me, and to Shelby also now that she is showing. I went to the Dalton show by myself, and I can tell you, it was very stressful trying to get all the birds in, tested, and cooped in all by myself. Dwain, the next show, you need to get in front of the camera. He also did a very nice thing for a young man showing at this show. He offered up a Golden Phoenix hen to go with the youth's golden rooster that was at show. He then offered up whatever he wanted to choose from he could have, he just had to come by Dwains house and take a look. :) Dwain you have such a big heart, you are truly a great friend and just an all around wonderful person. I am honored to know you.

So, on with my birds. I took Buckbuck and Babe again this year. I was met with BIG competition though. Beth was showing! The wonderful lady I bought my birds from in the first place. She truly has GIANT cochins. They were HUGE! I was so caught up in the show I somehow managed to miss taking pictures of hers or mine...but will be sure to take some at the next show. She works very hard at all the shows helping out, and I told her she deserved the recognition and rewards of showing, both because her birds are truly a sight to see and because she works so hard. I don't mind losing to her, she is my hero when it comes to cochins! I did place second to hers, and was happy to just place at all against her birds.

Here are my two at home after the show, relaxing, and hopefully managing to stay clean for the upcoming shows ahead.

My polish were show stoppers as usual. They always draw a lot of attention from spectators. Kuckoo was not in the mood to show that day. He was not performing like I would have liked. He had his head down and was slumping, pacing, looking for a way out of that coop. I could tell he just wanted to be home. I hope he will do better in the following shows. He did receive Best Large Fowl Polish last year. You can see that picture on my sidebar. The girls were looking real nice. Coco had some solid white feathers come in on her head this year after her molt, so she placed third out of her and her two daughters. Laverne did VERY well and won Reserve Champion Continental, Best in Breed, and Best in Variety. Her sister Shirley placed Reserve Best in Breed and Reserve Best in Variety. Here is a good picture I was able to take of Laverne at the show.

Shirley was not as cooperative...

and here is a nice one of their mother, Coco...

Its a shame about her crest feathers. Year before last she was going to take Champion Continental, but if anyone remembers, was disqualified for stubs, something I have since learned to avoid easily. Someone showing a buffed laced polish rooster at this show is now learning the same tough lesson I did, as theirs was disqualified for stubs.

Here is poor Kuckoo, this was pretty much his look the whole show. The pictures following this one are of a more relaxed and happy Kuckoo at home the next day, relaxing with his girls.

Shelbys winnings...

My plaque for Reserve Continental. I had a choice, five dollars and a cookbook, or a plaque...as you can see, I wanted the plaque! :)

There is quite a lot going on around here to blog about, a lot of stories rattling around in this noggin, and I am hoping to be able to put them down here soon. I will make an entry tomorrow that will include a slideshow of all the other birds I took pictures of at the show. Until then, everyone have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by to see and hear my ramblings!

Two posts in one day...Baby chicks!

2010-01-13T07:27:00.000-08:00

I have a serious depletion of layer chickens here. I spent the whole year concentrating on trying to hatch show birds, and wasnt all that successful at that. Now I got to step it up and get busy. I already have the Rhode Island Reds that were given to me, but it is looking like about half of them are boys. Boys are of no use to me, they don't lay eggs, so they will have to go eventually.

A neighbor down the road that has chickens called up and asked me to hatch, said we could split the chicks. He has cuckoo marans. They are in high demand right now. They are the 'IN' chicken to have. They lay dark brown eggs and everyone loves a fresh brown egg. He brought me enough to fill the incubator, 36 eggs. Out of those, a few were not fertile and after candling them after about a week passed I took those out. There were a couple that did not develop all the way and died in the shell. Other than that we had a very very VERY successful hatch. I have never had such a good hatch. 27 babies hatched. One has a problem with its feet, but it seems to still be trying hard to get around. I am going to see what I can do to make it some corrective shoeing to fix the toes. One foot is curled the other, the toes are laying flat, like when they first come out of the egg. I have fixed babies before. I had a splay leg many years ago with my speckled sussex babies. Way back when I didnt have a clue what I was doing. I got her up and on her feet. She is still out there in the yard today, turning eight years old about the end of this month.

Hatching babies is a good way to help me through the winter. It keeps me happy. I can sit and watch those babies forever. It always makes me smile. Every now and then I pick one up and cuddle it, put it back and get another.

Here are some pictures of them hatching, and now, this morning in the brooder. I also have a video, although it didnt turn out very good, it is dark and grainy, but I thought I would post it anyway. I caught the baby just at the right moment. :)

He is bringing me 24 more eggs hopefully in a few days. I would have filled up the incubator again, but I have been getting eggs from my plymouth rock bantams so I am putting those in there.

Snow

2010-01-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

As usual I am behind on blogging. I am really not as good at this as I used to be!

We had some winter weather here last week. There was not an abundant accumulation of snow. What did happen was it fell when the roads were right above the freezing mark and then after dark it all froze over to ice. It didnt get above freezing for days. With the wind blowing constantly it did dry up some streets, but a lot of them remained slippery.

Ian has and always will make it to work come hell or high water, or ice in this case. He leaves so early that it isnt a problem of other people being out. That afternoon when it hadnt melted though, I was worried about him getting home without playing bumper cars with everyone else on the road. He did take the truck. I didnt want him in his tiny little car against all the SUV and other trucks out there. Better the truck take it than him. As it turned out I had nothing to worry about, he made it work and home with no problems.

Here are a few pictures I took the next morning. Nothing to write home about, but the roads were treacherous for sure.

I don't know why people refer to the word 'pansy' when talking about a person who is a sissy or whatever. Pansies are TOUGH little flowers. I watched my four pots of pansies freeze and come back from it for two weeks straight. This deep freeze finally did them in though, they can't take the nights in the teens night after night.

We have a warm up in store for us, and I for one can't WAIT. I am very excited about it. Tending animals in this brutal cold is no fun, and you know its not fun for them to be out in it. Breaking up ice, pouring hot water on solid blocks of ice day after day, just so they can have water to drink. Not my idea of fun, and I am sure they dont like it much either.

The Weather

2010-01-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

My husband makes fun of me sometimes for watching the Weather Channel. Lately, there have been some stories on there about how extreme the weather has been this winter. It isnt just here in the United States though. England and Poland are getting a heavy dose of extreme winter too. It has been said now that this is the longest coldest stretch of winter since 1985.

I have seen a lot of folks say, "Where is the global warming?" in jest, but in fact if you believe in global warming, you know that it isnt always warm weather that results from it. Balance is thrown off and it can be excessively cold in places it didnt used to be so cold, like what is happening now. The polar ice caps may be melting, but we are freezing our tushes off at the same time, moreso than usual.

I like the Weather Channel. I will admit it. I like it for several reasons. One is the obvious, you get your weather forecast. I like the stories in other parts of the country that pertain to their weather, and the coverage of other countries weather too. There is something soothing about this channel. If I get up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, I will often turn to this channel. Why? Because you don't get SO interested in it you stay awake. Its not BORING, its just not a LOUD overbearing channel. Does anyone else ever notice this? It seems like some of the channels Ian watches are loud. Sports channels are loud. The UFC fighting stuff is loud. There is always someone shouting...Joe Rogan to be specific. Even Ian finds him annoying.

I am not that boring. I don't just watch the Weather Channel. I do watch movies that can have a lot of loud bangs and crashes in it, but that is part of watching a movie like that. What kind of shows do you watch? Does your husband or wife watch shows where there is a lot of yelling and banging? Maybe Jerry Springer...or Maury...lol.

We have a weather forecast for snow this evening. I am torn because it has been so cold, a little snow might make it prettier than how dead and frozen everything looks. On the other hand, Ian has to drive an hour away to work in it, and that worries me. No matter how bad the snow is, he will try to get to work.

I wonder what the grocery stores will be like today. I have to go out and pick up a prescription from Kroger and a few essentials like milk and cereal, orange juice and sandwich meat. I bet there will be a lot of people getting off work this afternoon and headed to the grocery stores to STOCK UP for the snow coming. It will stick no doubt. The temperatures have been below freezing for days and days now so the ground is frozen. The thing is, usually it doesnt last long. It melts in a day or two. I could be wrong this time. Our temperatures have been extreme for what seems like an eternity. It might not melt as fast. The weather forecast calls for wind too. Maybe that will dry up the roads so Ian doesnt have to ice skate to work.

Now that winter is officially here, I am hoping to direct my attention towards blogging more. There just isnt much else to do. The holidays are over. Now its just a waiting period until Spring.

There are the poultry shows coming up. I do have that, if I have any birds left to show. Remember Rocko? The bantam silver spangled hamburg rooster I bought from the show in Dalton from a top breeder? Well, yesterday, he went down hill...at a screaming pace. His comb lost its color and his wings began to droop. He drank vitamins, electrolytes, and antibiotics I put in the water. This morning when Ian left for work at 4 am, he was dead. I have no idea what caused it. It was so fast. Maybe it was just something random. Maybe he had some sort of organ fail on him, something internal just quit working right, I don't know.

Apparently I am not supposed to have silver spangled hamburg bantams. I have had a heck of a time with other birds of this breed. I have had two with colds that I was able to nurse back to health. I have one girl now, she is in pretty bad shape. I thought she was going to make it, seemed she was getting better, but now it is all going downhill this morning, very quickly. I will not give up on any animal though. I have seen some come back from the brink of death. Several years back Tim, my first and best japanese silver phoenix rooster, got sick. he wouldnt even stand, he was so weak. I was able to save him. I believe he had botulism. He is still alive today, strong and doing well. He will be five years old this Spring.

So, right now I am left with two hens that are healthy of this breed. Actually, they were both a touch sick with colds a couple of weeks back, but I have been able to get them completely well. Both are laying well, and unfortunately now I have no show quality rooster to breed them to. I don't know what I want to do. Should I try again and buy another rooster from the guy, or should I just give it up. The bantam barred rocks are doing very well and I already have two fertile eggs in the incubator from them. They are a good future show line for me. I do love the silver spangled hamburgs. There is not a flood of those at shows like some. I have discovered one of the breeds of chicken I love and wanted to show, is VERY popular and there are just so many to compete against it becomes overwhelming. That would be the brown red modern bantams. So I am abandoning showing that breed, for now anyway.

Shelby will be showing some birds this season. She has never shown, but she has Rayne, her sweet little house rooster. He has such a good disposition and good type I told her she should show him. She will be showing the barred rock trio and a few other seramas in the youth. I hope she will bring home some ribbons and maybe a trophy and it will inspire her to get into it more, maybe have her own line of seramas.

For now, I will be showing the same guys and gals from last year. I will probably show a few of Buckbuck and Babes offspring this show season, but not at the first show in Jefferson. There is a one weekend lull between shows and it is really hard to keep everyone looking their best for long periods of time, so I will wait til there are the three shows in a row for that.

A moment of silence for Rocko. For what he could have been. He wasnt with us long, but I will miss him.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009 was another wonderful Christmas. We missed my younger sister Erin coming this year but she was in good hands with her boyfriend DJ. They went to New Orleans to visit his family. They had spent Thanksgiving with us, so I guess it is only fair to share her with others on Christmas. ;)

My parents came on Christmas day. John (Ians dad) and Christi (Johns wife) came on Christmas day. So it was a small gathering but having just the few made it more intimate and we were able to visit each other better. It seems sometimes the bigger the gathering the less time I am able to give to everyone to talk and visit. So this was actually just right and very nice.

John and Cristi brought their pups...I say pups, but well, you will see. ;) Darby, Johns dog, is an Irish Wolfhound and Cristis new puppy, five months old, is a deerhound. Her name is Cassie. My Mama, she loves Darby. She saw him when he was much smaller and was amazed at how large he is now. She wants one of those big dogs, but I don't know if Daddy would be able to stand it. They have the 'grand dog', our dog Tip, and right now that seems to be enough. They even keep her when Ian, Shelby and I go somewhere that is overnight or longer. She always comes with us when we go to visit. She is like a grandchild they can spoil and then give her back. ;)

So we had a very nice Christmas dinner and even though it was cold John and Cristi managed to see a little bit of the llamas, a glimpse of the pigs, chickens and so on. I think my Daddy was a big taken aback at the screened in porch arrangements. I do have many small chickens in cages in there stacked up. I made sure there was no smell though. Everyone was cleaned out the day before Christmas and it just smelled like pine shavings. It was very clean and orderly. I sometimes worry what everyone thinks, but Ian says...and its true, Ian says, we don't live like other folks, and thats whey we moved out to the country. We like the way we live, with our animals and our country life, and thats just fine. I agree, we have to be comfortable with ourselves and live like we love to live, and we do.

John and Cristi had to get back home that evening to the other dogs to let them out and feed them. As the evening wound down I was getting pretty sleepy and Ian was asleep by around 9 pm, and I was not far behind him. My parents spent the night with us, and I left them with the tv controller and was asleep not long after. Isnt it pitiful? Ian and I both sacked out before my parents. Whats this world coming to? LOL!

The next morning I cooked a nice breakfast for us all. Once it warmed up a bit, as warm as it could be this time of year, we went outside for a stroll around the back. The animals were all glad to see us and were very receptive. Daisy, one of our pot belly pigs, even let Mama pet her.

Here are some pictures from Christmas and the day after. We had a really nice Christmas!

And The Beat Goes On

2009-12-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I made that my header for this entry. Its as good as any, because no matter what happens, life goes on, except for lately here amongst the chickens things haven't been going so well.

Wintertime, is a time for colds, infections, just not feeling so good in general. I mean, you wouldn't feel your best having to endure the outdoors in winter. My heavy girls and boys do well, they have big bodies and very rarely get sick. It seems when it rains it pours though. I been bagging and tagging left and right.

About a month ago I put my young up and coming show polish I had hatched over the Spring in the double wide pen that used to house sultans. For whatever reason, polish seem to grow really really slow, so their body mass is not substantial until after they are way over a year old, even then, they aren't like the heavy breeds. And Serama, well, they don't survive winter, period. You have to bring them in where it is tolerable. I have worked hard to enclose the porch with plastic and I have two utility heaters running full blast in there. It does indeed keep it tolerable.

So on with the deaths. A few weeks ago I had one young silver laced polish die. This was before I even moved them to the big pen. Then, just a few days ago, I go out to feed and water and the first thing I find is two more of my young show line dead. This came the morning after we had that horrible storm blow through with high winds, so bad it actually lifted the front posts of the run in up out of their two foot holes and I found them sitting out of the holes the next day. I don't know if the little ones were frightened to death or what, I probably would have been. It was a bad night that night with all the rain and wind and it was cold too. So, I moved what was left into the porch, IMMEDIATELY. I already have a boy and a girl in with some seramas in the porch. I have three left of the ones out in the pen, along with a young white crested polish cockeral, the only one left that survived that bunch of chicks I bought from the guy down in Jenkinsburg, if you may remember. I am sorry if this entry seems discombobulated. I feel as if I am up and down and all over the place so I hope anyone reading this can follow what I am saying.

So here are the ones left of the polish...from the double wide pen. They are doing well, in the porch.

The silver laced polish girl in the second picture is fine. I just turned on the light in the porch so most everyone was settling down for the night and she was sleepy.

Then, there is Buzzbomb. Do you remember him? He was my best serama breeder. He was cursed with being a serama. I say that, because he loved his freedom, so much, I think depression killed him. A couple of weeks ago, we had a cold snap, so I brought Sheila, his mate, and him in. He immediately became withdrawn, sinking his head down into his body. He was that way for two days. Soon as I let him out...he snapped right out of it and down the steps he bounded off to do fantastic chicken things for the day with Sheila by his side. I had seen this not once, but twice, so I know he wasnt sick. Once a chicken is sick, its touch and go. I do everything I know to do to save them, but most of the time the result is death.

This past week has been brutally cold. He would not have survived some of these nights in the twenties. So I brought them back in. He withdrew again. He would eat some, and drink some, but after five days I noticed he was painfully thin. I started antibiotics, vitamin and mineral supplements and a shot of penicillin in the leg. There was no signs of improvement and yesterday morning I found him passed on.

People say chickens don't have feelings, that they are mindless dumb creatures. I know that poor Sheila was grieving. She was very agitated and upset the day before. She knew. The next morning at daylight she was pacing the cage back and forth, frantic. I pulled Buzzbombs lifeless body from the cage and put it out of her sight. She was upset most of the day. Today she has been better, but I KNOW chickens remember. I could count a hundred ways I know this, but that is for another time. So here is poor little Sheila. Those two were bonded. They went everywhere together. Some chickens group together out there, but they seperate and go wandering their own way at some points during the day. Not these two. I have four girls and one boy out of this pair, and I know it is Buzzbombs son. If you look back an entry or two, you will see a picture of his son. Its the entry with the white cockeral, the other one, the dark one, is his son.

Poor Sheila...

We lost a battle with one of the silver spangled hamburg hens. She came down with a cold that resulted in respiratory distress. She was gasping for every breath. I treated her intensively. I took her out of the porch and into the house in a clothes basket with some towels placed down in the basket. I covered the basket with another towel and put her next to a heater vent in the bathroom to rest. For the next two days I gave her antibiotics orally.

Yesterday I was holding her in my arms, slowly dropping a few drops at a time of medicine into her mouth, as she gasped over and over. It broke my heart. All of the sudden, she spasmed, her wings pointed downward towards her feet, her legs became stiff, and then, she was gone. I started to cry while she was dying. I knew that was what was happening. I have been through it before with Mazda, our first house chicken. It is so heartbreaking to hold them and not be able to do anything but just hold them, comfort them while they pass. That is what I do for every one of my animals if I am able. It hurts, but they deserve the comfort.

So here is her sister, and now she is alone too.

And now, tonight, I found one of my white crested polish girls with a swollen eye. It is swollen shut and puffed out. She also seems to have a bit of runny nose. Once again, I got out the syringes, the needles, the penicillin, gave her a shot. Mixed a cocktail of oral antibiotics and vitamins and gave her a good dose of that. She is resting now, in a carrier in the porch.

Her head is tucked and she is sleeping. Please please, I don't want to lose another.

Then there is this guy here below. Shelby has named him Ellis. Ellis is one of the bantam barred rocks I showed. This little guy started wailing on his brother the other day and wouldn't let up, so I seperated him to a pen of his own. A few days went by and I thought, EH, he can have his freedom out in the yard with the free rangers. You see, he has a fault, as far as show quality goes. He has droopy wings. The muscles that are supposed to hold them up tight to the body do not do their job so well. I had already put the girl with the inverted comb, the silver spangled hamburg that was disqualified, and her brother, back into the yard and they were fine with it, glad to be out of cages.

Ellis, on the other hand, did not fair so well. When I put him out, I watched for awhile. I didnt just throw him to the wolves so to speak. Any rooster low on the totem pole knows his place and won't challenge any dominate rooster. He stayed out of Petes way and seemed to be fine, so I left. That night I went out right after dark just to see where he was roosting. I have several places for the chickens to go in at night. They have their choice of plenty of shelters. Keeps the fussing and fighting down.

Well, I couldnt find him. I looked everywhere. Great. Apparently I had sent him to his doom. The next morning I went out with feed and no Ellis. Not all day. I looked for him in the daylight, but he was hiding really well, or he had run away. I was so upset with myself for doing this. I felt so badly. I had tried to just give him his freedom, and instead sent him to his doom.

Yesterday I went out as usual to feed. I got to the third feed pan and started scooping feed into it and HERE COMES ELLIS! He is crouching like the devil himself is on his tail, but running for me as fast as he can. I was SO glad to see that little guy. He came up to me fast as he could. If he could talk, I knew exactly what he would be saying.

Mama! Please! Save me! I promise I will be good, please get me out of here!!! Please! Pick me up, take me in, I WANT to go back in a pen PLEASE MAMA!

So I stuck out my hand and he came right up to be picked up and was snug in my jacket hanging out while I finished feeding and then we went in. I made him up his own pen, again, and he seemed VERY happy about it all. Here is Ellis, peeking out. I told him it was okay, that I would never ever banish him to the yard again. It was just a relief to see his little fuzzy butt again.

I call this the "WALL O' CHICKENS"...this is part of what my porch is looking like right now. Please excuse the shavings on the floor, I hadn't vacuumed them up yet with the shop vac I keep in there just for that.

I am doing everything I can. All I know how to do to take care of all my babies, but some die anyway. I don't get as upset about every single one as I used to. Some I am closer to than others. Some, like the polish, I never had a chance to establish a bond with them before they died. It just sucked that they died. It was very hard to hatch them and I worked hard to take care of them, and will continue to do so with the remaining ones.

If you are still with me and reading this, thank you for listening. Sometimes I just have to get it all out, it makes me feel better.

Christmas Tree???

2009-12-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Yes? Well? It is! It didnt occur to me that it looked like something out of a Dr. Suess book...lol, but a comment left on Facebook about it by an old friend made me look closer, and I could immediately see it. So, of course I googled images, typing in Dr. Suess Tree to see what I would get. One in particular was extraordinary! Take a look.

Go ahead, Google it, Dr Suess Tree, after you set it to images...there are some good ones on there!

Didn't Do That, Not Going To That...

2009-12-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

Well, we ended up not going to the parade. I hate it, but Shelby wasnt feeling up to it. I had worked her too hard I guess cleaning up some upstairs. Ian had been at work for hours and hours. By the time he got home and got settled, he was bone tired. I was sitting on the fence anyway as to whether I felt like going, as I had done some work of my own and was feeling a bit tired myself. Seems like when dark thirty hits, even though technically the day isn't over, it is over, because its cold, and its dark.

Eh...oh well. We got to see them at the stables face to face. I looked up some Christmas parades of them on Youtube. Not the same, but thats okay.

There is another bantam chicken show this coming Saturday. I would like to go, but with Christmas right around the corner I don't think its a good idea to go. It does cost money. Money to enter, and lots of money in gas to get there. This one is kind of far away, over a hundred miles away. Its not one of the 'GOT TO GO' shows anyway. Those come started January 30th. There will be shows for four weekends in a row starting with this date. Those are MUST GO shows. I will take some of the bantams I took before, but the large fowl is really my thing.

I did however get our 'Christmas tree' decorated. I must say, it looks quite festive. I want to add some tinsel to the tree tops first though...before I show a picture of it here. Shelby doesn't quite know what to make of it all..lol, as she has always had traditional Christmas trees. I guess her parents are getting a little loopy these days...having pygmy date palms for a Christmas tree. ;)

Ian and I spent yesterday doing some yard clean up. It was cold and overcast most of the day. By the time the sun poked out for any length of time it was almost time for dark thirty. He cut up the old pool liner, most of it, with a saw zaw, bagged it, and we took that along with other trash to the dump. We burned a lot of sticks and twigs from where I had chopped back bushes awhile back. He still has to chop up the old rug from the porch so we can dispose of that, but time was short, and daylight fades fast this time of year so we stood and sat around a small fire for the remainder of the daylight, about fifteen minutes, then went in for some leftover chicken and dumplings to warm our bones.

Chores left to do outside are hard to get done. Just a little at a time. I managed to get some hay spread out in the emus hoop house, but I need to replace the old tarp with new before it rains again, which is tomorrow I think. I got their new stock tank set up and filled. Uhhhh...uh oh...be right back...

Well thats forgetfullness for you. I had it filling last night, the hose on just a little bit. I had told Ian when I was standing there at the fire not to let me forget to turn off the hose when we went in, but he forgot to remind me, and I just plain forgot. So..yeah, I just went out and turned it off. The bad thing is, their stock tank is close to the young polish's pen. I HOPE it didnt flood that pen. It is hayed down thick, but I still HOPE its not flooded. I will have to check it shortly. BIG OOPS there.

So what's on tap for today. Well, I got an appointment, just a check in, check up kind of deal with the diabetes doc. Since changing my dosage my numbers have come way down and are steady and under control. Doc should be happy about this, as am I.

Other than that, its just laundry, school, a bit of cleaning and cooking.

Oh I do have to go up to the Kroger pharmacy and exchange my lancets. I am beginning to think going to the pharmacy is like going to a fast food drive thru, you better check your bag to make sure you got what you asked for BEFORE you get home, cause you don't want to have to go all the way back to get the RIGHT order.

When I first started all this, I had to go get some needles. The kind that go on the pen type insulin dispenser. I got up to the Kroger in Rome, and they gave me a box of needles, but asked me if these were the right gauge needle. Nope, they were not. I need the Novafine needle. Well they didnt have those in stock. They called around to other Kroger pharmacies until they found that Cartersville pharmacy had a box. So I got them from there. This time, I went to pick up my test strips and a box of lancets. Lancets are the little finger pricker doohickies that you insert into the spring powered whatchamacallit that makes it poke your finger. I got home, didnt really think much about it til the next day. I opened my lancets and they might as well given me a set of kitchen knives to slice open my hand with, as these were tiny flat spear looking things, I swear, you could have carved a turkey with them. Okay, maybe thats exaggerating a tad, but it DID say for optimum blood flow on the box. I'll say! So I called them, told them I need the THIN lancets. She proceeded to tell me that my prescription did not specify thin lancets. I said OH YES THEY DO, the label for the prescription clearly states THIN lancets on the first box of them I recieved. This is a REFILL. OH..okay. She says. She says they have thin lancets in and she will set a box aside for me to exchange. So I am going to do that today. It's not even a PILL prescription, its a prefilled BOX of lancets. All they have to do is read the box, slap my label on it and hand it over. I am not even mentioning that I called this in the day before, and when I got there the next morning, they didnt have any, but they would be in at one o'clock, and thats when I picked the WRONG ones up. If they had thin ones in at that time, like she says, WHY didnt I get those? Oh yeah, because my prescription didnt specify thin, oh but wait, YES IT DID. Good grief. Like I said, its like a fast food drive thru.

Okay, mini rant over. I guess I am just not cut out to deal with the public for any extended period of time. ;)

My girls weren't giving me any eggs at all. I actually had to break down and go over to Carlton Farms
and buy some eggs from them. I have to do this every year about this time. I still won't buy eggs from the grocery store. On my way back I dropped a dozen off to Jim and Linda, good neighbors of ours not far from here. They had been asking for eggs to buy, but I just didnt have them. This time of year the girls that are not too old to lay are molting, and who wants to squeeze out an egg in this kind of weather anyway. Jim wanted to pay for them but I said no way was he going to pay for them, especially after dropping that huge round bale of hay off at the house. (He does that, I come out on the front porch and just notice a huge round bale of hay sitting in the front yard up by the fence from time to time...lol. ) He is a good neighbor. So I got home that evening, and guess what I found the next day in one of the laying boxes...well of course, three eggs! :) Guess they heard me crying about not having any eggs for breakfast on the weekend.

Well its time for me to stop lolligagging around and get to work. I already got all my little chicks fed and watered in the porch. Those two little heaters I bought at Tractor Supply are doing a great job of keeping it warm in there for my little chickens. Ian is so tolerant. The whole back porch is enclosed in plastic and is housing most of my little chickens and a dozen rhode island red chicks.

The pigs found the run in. The have claimed one corner of it for their sleeping quarters for the winter. I can't really blame them. They say pigs are smart. They would be dumb to stay in their hoop house over the run in, so I say they are smart. It has been built for the llamas though. The pigs and the llamas seem to get along okay, so I think they are all using it together. The pigs don't stay in there during the day anyway, unless the weather is really bad. I still need to take a picture of Ians handiwork. I am proud of him for building it. :)

Okay, now, time to go, got plenty to do. Just felt like rambling on a bit this morning on my blog. Have a good Monday all.

Its GOOD To LIve In The Country

2009-12-04T05:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday at five o'clock I got a phone call as we were sitting down to supper. It was our neighbors down the road that we are friends with, the ones Shelby rides horses with. She asked what I was up to and we talked for a few minutes. Then, she told me what she was calling for, to let me know that the Budweiser Clydesdales were stables not far from here and did we want to go see them at the stables. GOOD GRIEF!!! I told her why didnt she shut me up and just tell me to listen, that I was wasting time we could be going to see those celebrity horse!!! LOL! She laughed.

Apparently, not many people knew you could go and visit them at the stables. I don't know who you had to know to know you could, but we evidently knew someone who knew! Laury said she had just gotten an email about it from one of her Saddle Club members herself, so she didnt know til right before she called me. We told her we would meet her there.

We got there and the driveway itself took five minutes just to get down to the stables. These people had some serious money! What a SPREAD! It was just too bad it was getting dark and I wasnt able to get more pictures outside. Their house was huge, and on a hill, it was just so beautiful. The stables were immaculate. They had to be, since they had been approved to house these magnificent beasts. They are being housed her because yesterday they were in the Cartersville parade and tonight they will be in the Rockmart parade. Rockmart is just the next town over from us, in the same county. We will be going to the parade tonight.

I don't think many people knew about being able to see them like this, because there was just a handful of people wandering the stretch of stalls. I can't tell you how close I came to not being able to take the picture of Shelby, Tate, and Aubrey in front of the horse. Lately my rechargeable batteries have been pooping out sooner than later. We have several sets. I have thrown out two sets. I only have one set, and it is in my camera, and I didnt know how long those would last as this was a last minute thing and I didnt have time to recharge the ones in my camera, so I just had to hope they would hold out. I was going around taking pictures of them in the stalls, and I didnt realize they were going to take one out for pictures. By that time my red indicator light was flashing and I didnt know if I was going to have enough juice to get it or not. I was panicking. This was a once in a lifetime thing, and my camera was going to fail me at this momentus time. I did manage to get one picture, and then that was all it was going to give me. WHEW! I would have liked to have gotten more pictures of the horses the owners of the place had, but I didnt have any more batteries with me. They raise and show Tennessee Walkers. There were many pictures on the barn walls of them performing with them.

Enough babble, here is a slideshow of the pictures I managed to squeeze out of my camera! Hope you enjoy them. :)

Slideshow of Dalton Poultry Show

2009-12-01T06:01:00.000-08:00

There were many, so many birds. These are pictures of just a few of my favorites. For some reason I never took pictures of my silver spangled hamburgs or their competition, but I will be sure and try to do that at the next show in Hartwell, Georgia.

I didnt expect to have a big win or anything at this show. I don't normally show bantams, so this was just a test run to see what the birds I have would do.

Results were mixed. The barred rocks did well with one cockeral winning Best Variety/Best of Breed, and one of the pullets winning Reserve Best Variety/Reserve Best of Breed. This doesnt win ribbons, but they are very encouraging marks. The cockeral's tag even had NICE! written by the judge. The other two took second place in their breed.

There were 104 moderns...needless to say, finding the best one of these was like finding a needle in a haystack. I did not envy the judge, as this was a tough job. Mine did not place, but I am not surprised, they are both molting. I am thinking of taking Sister in place of them at the next show, seeing as she is a pullet and chickens do not molt their first year.

I had tough competition with the Silver Spangled Hamburgs. I went up against a breeder that had been perfecting his flock for six years. I had spoken to him before the show and made plans with him to buy a cock bird from him at the show to replace my only breeding cock bird. Since I was showing, he decided to show some of his. I lost big time against him of course, but without any competition, I wouldn't know if mine were any good. He consulted with me, and he sold me a lighter marked rooster to go with my hens because my hens had too much black in them. He says he thinks he knows where my birds came from, a good breeder, but my birds needed some lightening up, so I will put this bird with my darker pullets and hens to hatch in the Spring for some hopefully really fine show birds. Only one was disqualified. She had an inverted spike for a comb. Too bad, she is the sweetest of them all.

I had this said to me about two of my birds, from different people.

Get rid of that bird.

I explained to them that just because I don't breed that particular bird because of a defect, doesnt mean I want to get RID of it. I just put them out in the yard with the community of chickens. If I got rid of the ones with some sort of defect or problem I would be missing out on some real characters, and some real friendships with those birds. I love my chickens, and just because they are not perfect does not warrent me getting RID of them. They just won't be a breeder.

Alright, here are some pictures...

I am going to enter two serama cockerals at the next show...here they are...they are B's. The ones you see in the slideshow above are A's, very small. I don't have any A's, but thats okay. :)

Here is a picture of Rocko...the new Silver Spangled Hamburg rooster that will be with my girls this Spring. He already had this name, so I kept it. I like it.

A few of my up and coming show chickens...still just babies...

I put an ad out on Craigslist, hoping to find the owner of the flock of Appenzeller Spitzaubens I got two chicks from awhile back. I originally got two chicks from a lady in Rome, which had bought them from a lady in Carrollton. She since sold the flock to a guy in Villa Rica, which called me, and has thirty eggs incubating, of which I will buy some chicks from! So...the breed you see at the top, my header, that is an Appenzeller Spitzauben, from Switzerland. Here are my two cockerals that I intend on showing at the other shows that show large fowl...better pictures later...but here they are.

Thats it for today, I have to get moving. I got birds to take to Dwain today, and he is giving me a breeder house thingie...will show you later, it has compartments...kind of a wall unit type thing. :) Have a GREAT Tuesday! :)

Llamas and Alpacas at the Georgia National Fair

2009-12-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

Distractions

2009-11-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

Stand up tall she tells me, stand up here on this pedestal she tells me, look at me she says...but wait...

Hey, look mom, look, pay attention! Listen to me!

Look there mom, look, out there, outside the door. What is that?? Let me get down so I can show you!

What is THAT??? It looks like a threat to me! SOUND THE ALARM! All chickens ALERT ALERT!

(At this point all the chickens in the boxes were sounding the alarm...bok bok bok bok BOK! Over and over.)

Well, if your not going to do anything...I just can't work under these conditions! Hmph! Why don't you try one of the pullets and see what she can do for you!

and this is what SHE thought of it all. Note the poo on the pedestal. Sigh...this photo shoot did not go as planned. ;)

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-30T05:51:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is always held at Mama and Daddys house. Sometimes Mama invites a friend or two that doesn't really have family in the area. This year it was just family though. She invited them as always, but had other plans.

I really missed having Ians dad and Christi there. I think it would have been nice to have them there too, but they stayed home. I know Mama would have loved to have seen Darby. Darby is Johns big lap dog. When I say big, I mean BIG. He is an irish wolfhound, but thinks he is a teacup chihuahua. ;)

John and Christi, I know you will read this, so just wanted to let y'all know you were VERY missed. :)

My older sister Patti has never had a Thanksgiving with our Daddy. We got to talking one day on the phone, and before we knew it, we were making plans for her to come up for Thanksgiving. Originally she was going to stay for a couple of days at my house, but, fate would not have it as my niece Ashley got a new job at a local novelty toy store and had to work the next day so they had to go home that evening.

We had a really nice turnout this Thanksgiving. There was Erin and her boyfriend DJ, which is practically family, we REALLY love him! :) Mama and Daddy of course. Ian, Shelby and myself. Patti, Ashley, and her boyfriend Davey. Davey has been a fixture in Ashleys life for several years now and we like him pretty good too. ;)

This was also a first Thanksgiving for me to have with my older sister. It was just so nice to have all of us together.

There was plenty of food of course. Everyone cooked and brought dishes. I only wish it hadnt ended so soon. Before we knew it Patti, Ashley and Davey were having to hit the road to go home. Patti is like me, we don't see too well after dark, and on unfamiliar roads, it is even scarier for us.

Well, here are some great pictures of our family together at Thankgiving. I hope yours was as wonderful as ours was. :)

Birds Are In

2009-11-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

This morning I went out to feed...and one of the birds I was going to show, was dead as a doornail. It was this young fellows Daddy. My one and only Silver Spangled Hamburg bantam breeding rooster. This guy has two brothers, but they have minor defects that prevents them from being show quality, so he is my star man for this breed. I am hoping to find a show quality rooster to replace the one that died, hopefully by Spring and hatching season.

His three sisters here above.

One of the two hens above is his mom...these were the two in with the Daddy rooster that died.

The two barred rock bantam pairs, all under one year old.

These are the boxes I made to keep them in for the show season. This will keep them out of the mud and muck out in the yard. I will change their shavings often and keep them clean.

Today they have been spritzed with Frontline spray. I didnt see any mites, but just making sure. Mites will get you disqualified and it is shameful, to me anyway. I put just a tiny bit under the wing in the wingpit, on the skin. Its like when you put it on your dog or cat, it doesnt do a lot of good if its not applied to the skin and falls onto the fur, or in this case, the feathers.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will be bath and blowdry days. I got to fit in cooking my contributions to the Thanksgiving meal at Mama and Daddys house. Stuffed celery, Potato salad, and two smoked turkey breasts. I am going to bring some tea sweetened with Splenda too, a couple of jugs. One green tea, and one regular tea.

So today is just a waiting day for the birds. They will relax in the living room and enjoy the comfort of indoors. After show they will go out onto the porch with the chicks and Seramas.

I am also showing my two brown red modern bantam hens, but they are in a suitable enclosure on the porch already, so they can stay where they are. I will just take extra care to make sure their house stays very clean so they don't get dirty. After a bath and blowdry I will have to keep a heat lamp on them for a couple of nights, just in case they are a little damp under the wing, or maybe just keep them in a carrier inside. Either one. Its just that their man will be left all alone outside if I keep them inside. I guess I could just bring him in too, so he won't be lonely.

I know I still have to post the llamas from the fair, and I will. I didnt forget. :) Good Monday to all!

Oh and yes, those ARE tree trunks you see in one of the pictures above...yes, we do have a giant TREE in our living room. It is a pygmy date palm we bought a few weeks ago from Burgers Market in Cartersville. It was on sale, and we had been looking at it for a long time, so we got it. It will be our Christmas tree, yes, thats right. I am going to wrap the trunks in lights and hang little silver balls and such off the tops. :) Here is a full picture of it...

and yes, I know I am crazy, and I dont care. I have trees and chickens in my living room, and I like it that way. ;)

Pictures From The Georgia National Fair

2009-11-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

Every year we never miss the Georgia National Fair. It is one of the things we always do. Shelby, Ian and I enjoy it so much. Today are some pictures from the fair. Tomorrow I will post all the pictures of the beautiful llamas that were there to be shown. I am going to post all the pictures first, then at the bottom I will have a description of each. Its easier than trying to refigure the font in between every picture, every time. Yes, I guess I am lazy like that. So here we go...

The first three pictures are of Robinsons Racing Pigs. They never disappoint and we always love the pig races! They had miniature pot bellies and regular size pot bellies racing...and swimming!

Picture 4 was sweet, one was licking the other, grooming I suppose.

Picture 5...well, she just was too tired to care that her head was resting in the food dish...being a show cow is just so exhausting! ;)

Picture 6...someone getting their cow ready for show.

Picture 7...some dairy show cows. There were rows and rows of many different breeds of cows. If you look back a year ago in October you can see I always take picture of the cattle.

Picture 8 is in one of the three buildings they have where you can go in and see what people are peddling, be it the latest cookware, getting some of those dots...you know that icecream, dippin' dots or something like that, the latest in bed sleep technology, to all the FFA and 4H exhibits from local schools. SO much to look at. We always go to this area to buy our honey.

Picture 9...the Christmas tree competition. This year was not as good as last years. They had some really wild stuff last year.

Picture 10..Shelby holding one of the chicks at the Tyson display. They have a see through incubator of eggs hatching, some plastic adult mechanical chickens moving in a display, maps of all the chicken processing plants and farms, cookbooks, videos running of how they process chicken (skipped that taste treat).

Picture 11 is all the chicks. Kids get to come by and hold a chick here.

Picture 12...a junior show of their pigs.

Picture 13-15...a few pictures of the draft horse show with carts. It goes on all day with various shows, from riders, to teams, etc...very neat to watch them come clopping by...very powerful thumps to the ground if you are right there at the ring.

Picture 16 and 17...Dewey is still doing the stockdog demonstrations. When his star border collie and revered pet champion died he was not into his shows for awhile, but he has a renewed interest in that now he is using Kelpies. He still has a few border collies, but in the show has gone strictly to Kelpies. They are a fast and furious breed compared to the border collie. You can see they take on those longhorn cows like nobodys business.

Picture 18 and 19...Shelby getting her picture taken with a young bobcat. They had a wild cat show there...the last of the pictures are of some of the other cats they had there. They were not ones you could take your picture with though. ;)

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the highlights of the fair we love to go to every year. There was much more to see than this throughout the week the fair was there, but we can't go every day so we missed out on sheep and goat shows, and there are horse shows of various breeds from miniatures to draft horses throughout the week. Just have to pick a day that has what you want to see most and go that day..this year, it was the llamas, and I will have lots of pictures in tomorrows post from that.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Show Fever

2009-11-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yes....yes yes yes yes...YES! This is what I need! There is going to be a show in Dalton, Georgia on November 28th. This is my FUN thing. This is what I do, and I have the trophies and ribbons to prove I am getting good at it, or at least getting good at having an eye for good birds and owning said birds!

So far, I have fifteen birds on my list to show, if they are showing Seramas, if not, then I have 13. Lucky 13? Yeah...Lucky 13. ;)

4 Barred Rock Bantams...2 cockerals (this is what they are called if under a year old but must be at least six months old to show) and 2 pullets (same rules apply here too)

My trio of Silver Spangled Hamburgs...one cock and two hens.

The above mentioned has fine looking offspring I hatched that is of show age..so three Silver Spangled Hamburg pullets, and I have one good looking Silver Spangled Hamburg cockeral.

My two brown red modern hens. I have a nice rooster, but I refuse to 'dub' him as I think it is cruel and I won't do it. They require this for showing, so he has to stay home. I am sure he will miss his girls terribly that day. He is a good boy. :)

If they are showing Serama...I have a really nice B size solid white cockeral.

I also have Buzzbomb, he is a perfect Serama rooster and I think he would do very well. Here is a picture of him. This picture is old, but he still looks the same pretty much.

I will see about getting some pictures of my show prospects so you can see for yourself how fine looking my selections are. ;)

Until then, here are some pictures I pulled from the internet of the others...

Brown Red Modern Hen here...and then picture number 2 is of a SSH hen, and picture 3 of a SSH rooster.

and...here are examples of bantam barred rock hens and roosters...

I have a secret I haven't shared yet. It all started one day when I saw Seramas for sale on Craigslist. I found out they were about fifteen minutes from me, and reasonably priced. As usual a lot of the roosters were too big. That doesnt seem to matter yet at the shows here as they don't weigh them, so you can show one the size of an elephant...okay, maybe not that big, but you know, they are supposed to be the smallest chickens in the world, and still get away with it.

I bought a little white rooster from her.

But I need to back up. This young lady had about 300 seramas to start with and has slowly sold them off and given them away. She got them from an elderly lady in South Carolina. The elderly lady had failing health (she was in her 80s) and wanted to sell them, but not seperate them, whoever bought them had to buy them all, so Dani did. Dani is a young lady, she is in college and has been breaking and training horses since she was 8 years old. I guess she is pretty good at it because a week from tomorrow they are hosting a Parelli horse class at their home. In light of her busy schedule, she doesnt have time for all her chickens, so she has seen fit to give a lot of them to me, yes GIVE. I feel so fortunate, I feel like I have hit the chicken lottery! :) Some are good show prospects, some are not. Thats just my opinion, I am no expert. I am rehoming about five roosters to Dwain, which is a chickenaholic like me. You may remember he went to two shows with me last year and had a blast.

She also had two pairs of nice barred rock bantams and asked if I wanted them too, so I said yes of course. I also was allowed to relieve her of about a dozen Rhode Island Red chicks and two Buff Orpington chicks. I had neglected my layer population this Spring and Summer because I was concentrating on my Seramas, Silver Spangled Hamburgs and Silver Laced Polish this year for not this show season, but for the next. Have to think ahead...way ahead. There is no telling how many are boys and how many are girls, I am just going to keep my fingers crossed and hope I have a lot of pullets.

She still has some chickens, but not near as many as before, thanks to me. Because one cannot have too many chickens. You can have too many roosters, but never too many hens.

I heard today that the auction barn I had been frequenting will open back up. Remember the guy that I sold those two white baby goats to..for Joe? I saw him at Tractor Supply today, and he said he had been talking to the owner, and there is promise of it reopening sometime in February. They had to close for financial reasons. I was making a good bit of pocket money before they closed selling off some roosters and chicken related items such as metal feeders. You may think it is hard for me to sell off anyone, but the truth is, too many roosters make the hens very upset...for obvious reasons...ahem. I have several locked away that would gang up on my hens and play three way tag all the while the poor hen was screaming in protest. My girls shouldnt have to endure the barbaric practices of young roosters that have no manners, so they get locked up, until they are sold.

So you see, I have been busy with all these new chickens..and I promise, I will have pictures of them all, even the ones going to Dwain, so if your reading this Dwain, you can see what you are getting the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Next up, a show in Hartwell, that will be a trek way out east in Georgia, but way out. That is also an all bantam show. Just have to try and keep everyone clean for that one. May have some bath and blowdry time for some again before the December 12th show.

So how is that for some chicken talk? Tomorrow I will post pictures I took at the Georgia National Fair back in October...got to keep things rolling on the catch up this week. Yesterday and today were busy busy busy so I didnt get a chance to get on at all yesterday. Sorry I missed a day!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Insulin Started, and The Corley Family Reunion

2009-11-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

A little late posting this morning, had some morning feeding to do outside as I didnt get back in time before dark to feed. Needless to say everyone was more than ready to eat!

I had a doctors appointment to get my insulin started and for them to show me how to do it and some information. I am also going to be scheduled to go to a class to help educate me further on my diabetes. It went well, and I stuck myself in the tummy. I am using the 'pen' method. It is very easy to use and understand. I won't bore you with the details on it all, but I did find it easier to give my next injection on my thigh instead of in the tummy, and I also used a piece of ice to numb the injection site beforehand, and it helped a lot, didnt feel a thing. :) I think things will be okay, just have to do what needs to be done, get my sugars in line and things will be just fine.

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Now onto catching up on things that have happened lately. Ians Dad called us a while back and let us know there was going to be a family reunion in October in his hometown in South Carolina and would we like to go. Well of course we wanted to go! There had never been a Corley reunion before, this was the first. It was a day trip because Ian had to go to work the next day, but it was a nice day and we had a nice drive up and back.

The reunion was really nice and they had a nice set up at the community center building with a good lunch all set up and even pizza for the kids if they didnt like the fried chicken and all the fixings that were with it. A lot of visiting and talking and such went on. I met folks I had never met, and folks I hadnt seen in a long time, but met a couple of times before. Believe it or not, I can be quite talkative at things like this. I get along with folks short term very well. :) Not bad for a person that likes being isolated and somewhat of a recluse. ;)

Being my normal weird self, I brought Phoenix. He wore his diaper all day and didnt complain til we were almost home that evening. He wore his John Deere outfit, it fits the best out of the ones I have made. I tried to fancy up the one I made that was yellow with tiny little bumblebees on it and ended up ruining it, so maybe I will try to stick to the basics. That seems to work better. Soon he can wear his candy cane outfit and his snowman outfit for winter and Christmas. Those fit real well. You know he is going on three years old now? Time flies. Anyway, we brought him with us. He sat on our pile of coats in the backseat with Shelby and rode the whole way without walking all over the place or complaining about the long ride or anything. Good as gold. When we got there I put him down on the ground and got a few strange looks, but everyone soon warmed up to the little rooster and thought he was quite unique the way he loved peoples attention and wore his little diaper. Pretty soon the kids were congregating around him and he really was the life of the party for the kids. We all remember going to family reunions as children and they can be quite boring for children, but that little chicken lit up their day I could tell.

When we sat down to eat Phoenix was napping in Shelbys jacket. I knew he wouldnt want to miss the sweet tea, butterbeans and cornbread. Thats his favorite meal in the whole world, unless you add some corn on the cob. ;) He sat up in her jacket and ate from his little pouch nestled in nice and warm. It was a bit cool that day so he was happy to sit in her jacket and eat. Several folks around us didnt even notice him at first, but when they did they were so surprised!

So many folks don't even think about chickens as pets, but they really can be a lot of fun. Chickenmom over on Youtube has a new video of Phillip and Suzie if you have kept up with her videos. She is the one that taught me how to make the diapers. She has two chickens that are always indoors. She bought some crickets as a protein treat and they ate them up like candy!

Here are some pictures from the reunion...

It all ended too soon for me. Two hours later everyone was heading back for home, but I had a really good time and I know it was nice for Ian to see some folks he hadnt seen in so long, and meeting some he had never met before. Phoenix kept Shelby from being bored, although, she is such a good teenager, she doesnt complain about much, so I think she was okay with it all too. :)

Oh Paula, about the mister, yes I have one, for the chickens, but from what I have heard, they like baby pools even better! :)

Llamas

2009-11-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

Llamas...they used to be something unobtainable by us common folk. They were the thing to have, if you could afford it. Now it is alpacas, and I personally think that fad will fade too.

I met a lady at the Georgia National Fair this past October. She was with Southeast Llama Rescue. Yep, a rescue, and there are other divisions of this rescue out west from me and north of my state. It seems there are a lot of unwanted llamas these days. Luckily, these organizations have made it possible and affordable to own one of these wonderful creatures. Or, you can foster. There are requirements of course. You can't just throw one out in the back pasture and thats it. The requirements are not unreasonable.

Once my health issues are ironed out I think we may foster...with the intent to adopt. A kind of try it before you buy it thing, in case we have issues with our existing llamas taking in new llamas. Once you adopt, its 250 dollars. That gets you one delivered to your door, gelded if a male, shorn, wormed, current shots and ready for his or her new home.

Recently I saw an ad on Craigslist. Due to health issues a local llama farm is selling out of their show stock of llamas. They want thousands of dollars for one llama. A few are just under a thousand, some up in the thousands. They will never get it in this economy. I am sure they are in a circle of llama fanciers for friends, but it seems they must not have the money or interest in buying these llamas.

They can come with some behavioral issues. My llama is an example of that. Hers is mild and we can see past it, but some males, they have been coddled by humans when they are too young, and that creates a gray area as to who is the human and who is the llama. For a male, that may mean he sees you as a rivalry later on in life and attack you, knock you down, hurt you bad. Some say this behavior can be changed with patience and time. I hope they are right.

Okay, so, how did we end up with llamas? It is a little known fact by most that Ian loves llamas. He is one that would have never actually gotten one, but he LOVES them nonetheless.

When an opportunity presented itself, I took it. Joe, my neighbor and friend, the guy I got the emus from and goat advice, and later became good friends with, called me up. I had just sold the goats. I dont remember if I told that story on here or not, but, long story short, they grew up and started stinking and urinating on their faces and bodies constantly. They were chewing up the side of the garage and constantly breaking into the chicken area to gobble up the chickens food, so I just decided to find them a new home where they could be the boys they were.

So Joe called me up, and said, "OH Kelly! I got something I want you to come on over and see! You just got to see it!" Knowing him, I knew it was an animal of some sort.

I said," Joe, you are gonna get me into trouble, I just got rid of my two goats and now you want me to come and look at something that I probably can't resist!"

He assured me I needed to see this, I just must come and see. So I gathered up Ian and Shelby and we came over that afternoon. Turns out he had bought a 10 month old male llama from the auction. He auctioneers for a local livestock barn and bought him for a hundred and thirty five dollars. Said he would sell him to us for a hundred and fifty. We just stared at him. He was beautiful, shy and standoffish, but beautiful. It was not a bad thing for him to be shy. That meant he had not been overhandled earlier in his life. We could work with him. Ian knew I wanted to get him, but not for me. For HIM. He agreed that he wanted him, and the price was right, and so we bought him. Joe brought him over and he was a little bit of a handful getting him off the trailer and whatnot, but he was just scared.

The first thing that happened was Derby came running to investigate what we were putting into HIS pasture. It was a touch and go moment, Derby chased him and they ran all over the back. Then, all of the sudden the new llama turned and faced Derby. Derby stopped, and they both slowly leaned in and touched noses. From that point on things were fine.

At first we couldnt get near him. Joe named him for us, because after two weeks Ian still had not given him a name. His name is Boggan. Joe said he looked like he had one of those hats, a toboggan on his butt, because he was all cream colored, except for his tale, which was brown.

Weeks went by, Ian couldnt get him to come anywhere close. He carried a bucket with a little sweet feed in it out there every day after work. Eventually, after weeks of patience, Boggan decided to look in the bucket, after Ian had put it down on the ground. Now he would eat out of the bucket, on the ground, with Ian standing away. A couple of weeks more, and he could get him to eat out of the bucket while he held it away from his body, stretching out his arm. Now, he will eat without too much stretching, but it took awhile for him to become comfortable enough to not snatch away at any slight move from Ian.

Then came my llama. I had decided Boggan needed a companion. I started searching Craigslist. Weeks went by and I found one not too far from where I live. She was two years old and a protector for a herd of milk goats. They wanted 300, but I had 250 in pocket from selling some roosters and feeders, a few other farm related odds and ends at the auction. They took the offer and Joe, having a livestock trailer, helped me go get her and bring her to the house. Turns out Joe is distantly related to the folks selling the llama. They talked for a short bit and we petted the goats, dogs, and llama.

She was an odd one. In all the encounters with llamas I have had, which were limited to the fair, I have never had one greet me with such enthusiasm. She was right up on me and she would touch her face to mine, like kissing me on the cheek. Strange.

Once we got her home the first thing to happen was Boggan gettting spit on. She had to put him in his place. He was several months older now, but didnt quite know what to do with her. He tried to nurse her, but that wasnt working, so then he was going to try and mate her, and thats when the spitting came. Females dont get mated unless they want to be. The mating position is a laying down one, and if she doesnt lay down, that means NO. He got spit on for his troubles.

She has some issues. She comes running, on a daily basis, does the gup gup gup sound, like she is getting that nasty smelling wet grass up from her stomach juices to spit it, sometimes even doing this sneezing kind of sound through her mouth, but you just ignore her and walk on by. Like a kid pitching a fit, walk right by and ignore it, they say HUH, and quit, when there is no reaction to the behavior. She will then settle down and walk around with me and I will give her the attention she deserves at that point. Its like she forgets and then it clicks, and she is like OH, okay.

One thing she has done is get Boggan to loosen up around us. He is still not going to let us touch him, but he is more relaxed, and she is definitely the boss. He follows her everywhere.

Llamas are wonderful. They don't tear down fences, barriers meant to keep the big animals out of the chicken area. They dont chew up things, they are nice to all the other animals. They don't attack my chickens. They are gentle and sweet. A noninvasive animal. They keep my chicken safe too.

I bought llama halters and the short catch leash that attaches under the chin on the halter. If this coming weekend permits we will be putting them on and giving wormer and a little grooming. He came to us barrel cut, but she has a full fiber coat on, and it is just a mess, but we will leave that for the winter and sheer her in the Spring. Boggan is not going to like this, but it is time for him to begin to be handled, groomed and touched on a regular basis. It won't be too hard to catch him, he follows my llama everywhere, so we can get him in a tight spot and restrain him easy enough. We have touched him before, many times, but he is frightened and stands very still for it. This will change with time, it just takes time and a lot of patience.

Oh I didnt tell you her name. My llama had a name already. Dolly. I know. How original, how boring. Dolly Llama. Yay. So, I wanted to name her Cinnamon. So, in order to convert her over, I am calling her Dolly Cinnamon, and will drop the Dolly eventually. I joke to people, that her full name is Dolly Cinnamon Psycho. Hopefully we can drop that last one too, someday. ;)

Here are some older pictures I took of them. It is overcast and supposed to rain so I will try and take some new pictures of them soon.

I have a doctors appointment at three today. I will be learning more about my diabetes and how to give myself insulin shots. Needless to say, I am not excited, but it is necessary, so I will do it. That has been my motto as of late. Its necessary, so I will do it.

Alright, here are some pictures. :)

We didnt have a shelter for them, as you know, we don't have any trees. So Ian went out every day after work and slowly a run in for them went up. A run in is just a sort of barn, but it is open for them to come and go in and out and they please. It was almost finished, rain was coming, so he placed the tin roofing on top of it, nailed down the front, but didnt have the support beams up inside yet. Hoping the weather wouldnt get too windy, he did all he could. It did get windy though, and blew off all but two of the sheets of metal. He will get those beams up this weekend and the roofing on and finished, I know he will! :) He still has to cement the main beams into the ground but that is a formality. It isnt going anywhere, just needs to be secured with the cement.

Well, thats enough jawing for today. Hope everyone has a great day. Thankyou all for still coming to visit my blog. I am going to try to be here more and more over the winter. You will probably be sick of me by Spring and glad for me to get back outside. ;) XOXOXOXOX

Which One?

2009-11-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

Oh what the heck, one short fun entry won't hurt. After reading my entry and the previous one, I realize some of it, well, most of it is redundant. I will do better tomorrow.

Now, I was cooking eggs not too long ago. We have some eggs from our free rangers, and then, while I was taking care of the neighbors chickens, some of their eggs. The neighbors chickens were kept up and on layer feed all week. Can you see the difference? Which one is the egg from one of my girls that free range, (they get a feed I mix too, but are allowed to go out and eat all the grass and bugs they want on top of that)and which one is the one from the neighbors cooped up birds?

Calling This Catch Up Week

2009-11-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

I feel like blogging, but being away so long, it makes me feel a bit overwhelmed and I dont know where to start, so I will just take it one day at a time and try to start where I left off. I have peeked in on some folks here and there, even though I haven't left a comment. I want to get back to visiting blogs regularly, Facebook is nice when you are pressed for time, but sometimes you need to sit and think and write and read.

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Lets start with my visit with Sherry. Her and her husband Kelly, and their two daughters have moved from Phenix City, where my truck was stolen right out of their driveway. It has been three months since that bad event happened, and I just got my truck back last week after a lot of hassle with the insurance over many things. I won't rehash those last three months, it is over, and I am glad.

They moved about thirty minutes northwest of where they used to live. It is a nice rural quiet area. It is actually a half hour closer to me so it only takes two and a half hours to get there now. I was very excited to go and visit and see Sherry and their new place.

On the back burner, I had been having some trouble with abdominal pain. If I ate certain foods, which then was a trial and error mystery, I had two days of pain and it put me to bed, along with a third day of extreme weakness and recovery. At this time I had lost a total of thirty pounds in about six weeks. I thought I was just doing a REALLY great job with my diet. Really, in the back of my mind I knew it was too much too fast, but when you have been overweight as long as I have, you can hardly frown at what was happening to me. The pounds were melting off, who cares why.

I felt good that Friday morning and made the trip. I got there around noonish and we went wandering throughout the house as she showed me everything. I have to say, I am so happy for her. This place is so much better than where they were. Such a big step up. A lot more room and with two girls they needed it. Her oldest son still stops in and stays a few days here and there, so its good to have that extra room. We wandered outside and walked about the yard. She told be about all the cleaning up she had been doing. We walked back to the neighbors that own all the property and I met them. They were a bit strange, but nice enough. They live in a two story 'building' they built themselves. The bathroom is seperate from this building. There are only two rooms to this building. A bedroom downstairs and a one upstairs. They only seem to really cook on the grill. The fridge and a counter are under the steps that go to the upstairs bedroom. It overlooks a little tiny pond and has a deck attached to it. Very basic necessities. To each his own I reckon. After we visited a bit Sherry took us up the road to the neatest place to eat. It overlooks water and is actually a river not a lake, even though it looks like a lake. We ate lunch there, and thats when I got into trouble. I knew better, but I ordered chili cheese fries. I only ate like three or four bites. I had a hamburger and ate half of that. After we ate we went for a walk down on the walkway and dock area. The guy that runs the little store there has a boat that he transports folks up and down the river with. Its mostly just a tour/fun type thing I think. We asked him to take a picture of us on the boat. He was very nice and took our picture. After lunch and a little walk and talk we went on back to the house. It was a couple of hours later I started to feel it. The pain was coming. It always starts small, but there is no stopping it once it starts, but I ignored it because I didnt want it to happen, I didnt want it to ruin our visit. But it did, eventually.

That evening we sat around talking and I guess it was around ten o'clock everyone was winding down and we were pretty tired so everyone went on to bed. I was not feeling very good, but thought maybe if I could just sleep it off. That was not to be though.

It got worse and worse, to the point the pain was causing me to cry and moan and groan. I would fall asleep for a little while and wake back up with the pain worse. This continued all night.

I can't drive in the dark. I guess I could if it was an emergency, but I just dont like to do it if I dont have to. It had become quite foggy overnight also. Time ticked by so slowly. Now I had decided soon as it was light out I was going to drive myself home. Waiting for daylight was horrible. Around 6 am Sherry woke up and came in and I told her how bad off I was and my plans to get home. We talked and I cried and she hugged me and I told her I was really worried, that something was wrong with me. She comforted me like a best friend does.

Finally daylight...and fog were arriving. I didnt care. I had been slowly packing my bag up for the past hour and was ready. I drove the whole way home moaning and groaning and calling for my mama. Oh yes I did. Mamas, even when you are grown can help you feel better. I called her so many times, I wondered if she could pick up on it that morning. Just calling out Mama, helped me get through and get me home.
Of course there was the occasional prayer to God to get me home in there too, pleading for me to make it home.

Finally I made it home. I spent the whole day in pain. That night at 10:30 I told Ian I couldnt take it anymore. Something was wrong with me, and to take me to the ER. It didnt take too long and I was back in an ER room and they had an IV in and pain meds going in. Instant relief. There is nothing like it. I was so relieved. After some bloodwork and that morning an ultrasound I was released.

I was told I had Type 2 diabetes. I was scheduled for a catscan several days later. That was done. Results, the same as the ultrasound, cysts on the liver.

I know I am repeating myself on some of this, but I want to just go in order of events, so I apologize for that.

Skipping forward some, to catch up on my condition now.

I have been taking my blood glucose every day. I cant get it down and I am scheduled to go in for 'insulin training' I guess you could call it, tomorrow. I will go to my regular doctor, which just happens to be a diabetes specialist, and learn how to give myself shots and when and just all the information that goes with having it. I had a hard time accepting this reality at first, but I am up for it now. Its what has to be done, so I will do it.

I went to an upper GI doctor last week to see what is going on with the abdominal pain. He is not so sure it is my liver causing the pain. Yes, there are three lesions on my liver, but with the food triggering it so soon after eating, he wants to check my stomach first, and schedule a mammogram. He wants to make sure there are no lesions or cysts, whatever you call it, in these areas. Meaning he wants to make sure what is on the liver did not spread (BIG C WORD IMPLIED) from somewhere else.

We all know what a mammogram is. Now I have been scheduled for an endoscopy on December 2. The doctor is not going to do a liver biopsy unless its really necessary. Right now, he doesnt think it is. One thing at a time he says. Okay. So, they are going to knock me out completely for this, because I told him the truth. I am scared of anything invasive. I dont want to know it, feel it, see it hear it. I dont want to know it happened. This procedure involves running a light and camera down my throat into my stomach my means of a tube like structure. Maybe I just have an ulcer, that would be nice to know it was just an ulcer. So now I have to program myself to accept that this IS going to happen on December 2, and I must accept that it is for the best. They have to find out what is causing the pain, because I cannot live like this forever, wondering what I can and can't eat.

I have discovered that spaghetti sauce, and chili are off limits. You might say oh, thats easy, its the tomato base that is causing it, from acid in the tomato. Nope. I can eat a tomato without any trouble. Slice it up and eat it and I am fine. You might also think I cant eat spicy foods. Wrong again. I can eat my favorite food in the whole world, with no pain. That would be hot wings. I have made them at home and eaten them out at a restaurant, and I am fine afterwards. Makes no sense I know.

So you may be asking, what do I do when I get pain? I have a prescription for pain killers right now that works great. It helps me function while I get through those two days of pain, dulling it considerably, and helping me sleep too. If I dont want to sleep I can fight it off with this pain killer, and I like that. I am not addicted, don't worry. But I can see how people would get addicted, I sure can see why. I only take them when I end up with a bout of two day stretch abdominal pain. I try to watch what I eat to avoid it all together. It is very hard to take care of my family, the house and the animals if I go down for two days. So the best thing to do is try not to do it at all.

I have now lost a total of 52 pounds, so the picture I show you of Sherry and I is not current. I have lost 22 more pounds since then, but on a good diet, not because of the diabetes. I limit my sugar intake and so the weight loss has slowed to a more normal pace.

So today you are caught up on my visit with Sherry, which ended a day early. I didnt get to take many pictures at all, but I know there will be a next time, when I am well again and can visit, hopefully in Spring. Who knows, maybe sooner?

Each day this week I will catch up on something. There are PLENTY of chicken related things to talk about, and I will, after I have caught up on everything else. Tomorrow...Lllamas.

Developments

2009-10-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

Well, my weight loss was due to the onset of Type 2 Diabetes. I am still losing the weight, but at a snails pace now.

The first weekend in October I went down to visit Sherry, to see her new place since they moved.

For the past seven weeks prior I had to really watch what I ate, or I would get severe abdominal pain. No greasy fatty foods, nothing spicy. I didn't know why, but I didn't want to end up down and out in the bed with pain, so I avoided the foods, and the situation.

Sherry and I went to a really cool restaurant on a lake nearby her house for lunch that Friday. I had one or two bites of chili cheese fries and half a hamburger. Bad move. A couple of hours later I started to feel the pain coming on, knowing what was going to happen by that night. I guess I should have gone on home then, but I ignored it, hoping it wouldnt get any worse, but it always does.

By ten o'clock that night I was feeling pretty bad. Everyone went to bed soon after and I was up and down all night. The night seemed to last forever with very little sleep. As morning came closer I began to pack up my things. I knew I had to get home, beyond that, I didnt know what I was going to do, but I knew the way this goes. Once I get the pain, it lasts for two days and then the third day I am weak but recovering. Sherry heard me up and sat with me until it was almost daylight. I don't drive well in the dark, and it was foggy that morning too.

I took off for home, having about two and a half hours ahead of me. I have also been very thirsty for the past seven weeks, so I stopped at a store and got a huge cup of ice and water. I probably shouldnt have driven, but I had to get home, that was all I could think about.

As I drove I talked to myself, soothing myself, moaning from the pain, crying, mumbling. Yes, it was that bad. I called out 'Mama' and 'God' many many times over. Everyone knows that calling for your mother is soothing, and God, well, that speaks for itself.

I made it home in record time, with little traffic to deal with and got settled down for the day, still in pain, and working on sleeping as an escape, especially since I had had no sleep the night before.

Skip to Saturday night. At about 10:30 that night, I couldn't take it anymore. We headed for the ER and being located where I am, the hospital was not overcrowded with sick people, gunshot wounds and overdoses. There were only two people ahead of me. After checking in I guess I had to wait only about twenty minutes before I was escorted to a room, where I had to wait just a short time and I was given an IV, they took blood, then hooked me up with pain meds. Blessed pain killers, yes, I felt the pain melt away and I began to relax and of course Ian was right there by my side the whole time. He was so tired, he had already put in a full days work, and now he was going to be up half the night with me at the hospital. After I got the pain meds in me, I relaxed and told him to go on home and get some sleep, that I would be fine. I got some good sleep myself. The pain meds only last about three hours, then I had to ask for more as my pain was creeping back in.

An ultrasound had been ordered to find out what the problem was. That morning the doctor came in and asked me if I knew I had Type 2 Diabetes, and I said no, but not totally surprised because of the rapid weight loss and the excessive thirst. I was given insulin in my IV, and that helped with the whole thirst thing. I had an ultrasound and cysts were found in my liver. When I eat bad foods, it aggravates the cysts, thus the pain.

I was released after requesting a last minute pain med in my IV before leaving and the IV coming out. I wanted to make it to the pharmacy and get the prescription filled for the pain before it came back. Ian filled my prescription for Norco and off we went home. I had only to take three pills before the pain was gone on its on. I still keep the extras close by for fear of another bout of abdominal pain.

A catscan was scheduled as out patient last week. I went in and got the blue dye shot into my veins (if you have never had it done, it is weird feeling. The IV site got a bit hot for about thirty seconds, that was uncomfortable. Then you feel like someone has thrown warm water on your insides...thats the only way I can describe it. Then that goes away. I also had to drink some unpleasant stuff, it was not too bad really, just the fact of what it was, the barium sulfate I think it is. I tried to imagine it as some kind of vanilla smoothy, but my imagination failed me.

Now I have to sign a release, which I didnt know, wasnt told, so my regular doctor can get the results. The results have been in, but I wasnt hearing anything back from the doctor that ordered it, so I called to ask what was going on and found this out. So, a release form was faxed to me and I will fill it out, and it will be faxed to the doctors office, and then the doctors office will fax it back to the hospital showing I gave permission for my doctor to have the information. Lot of paperwork being shuffled about if you ask me, but I guess thats just policy.

I am doing okay, it took a few days to really get my strength back, but I am puttering about as always around here, trying to get the house clean, and taking care of the animals. My first few days I was so tired and slow. My family had to step up and help me. Ian fed the animals every day. Shelby took care of all the babies on the porch and did the laundry. As I was getting my strength back, I was getting Shelby to help me cook supper and do dishes.

No one person can or should have to do it all. This is what I had always been scared of. That my family would not be able to do the things that needed doing in order to keep things orderly. I had four chickens die, I had a problem in the sultan pen and they were dying off quickly. I was too sick to do anything, and as quick as they were going down, I dont think I could have saved them anyway.

I think I am having another episode around in the yard like I did when the ground stayed so wet before and I had to dust the ground with lime. Over the summer, it stayed wet, hot and humid. Fall is here, and it is still wet on the ground. It is always wet. This is not good as chickens like to peck at the ground and drink out of small puddles. There is no way to stop them, but you know the bacteria is breeding, and the lime has to be put down to kill it off. That pen was wet too. On top of those, I had two others die in the yard.

Since I have been back on my feet and out there tending things as they should be tended I haven't had anymore problems. There is so much rain, I will be having to lime again and again.

I have an appointment to see about the diabetes. I have been told by the doctor from the ER that it is not so severe that I will need insulin shots. He told me with the right diet and maybe one or two medications I should be able to control it.

I still haven't gotten my truck back. It has been almost two months. This is a long story, but to make it short, we have ended up getting the state insurance office involved to rain down on the head of the insurance adjuster that we have been dealing with that won't cooperate with us to get it fixed properly.

Friday is the Ga Natl Fair, and we will be going to enjoy that. What I will be eating there I have no idea. It won't be calzones or pizza. No gyros or polish sausage. I think I can have the grilled chicken and the roasted corn. I will have to be careful not to eat anything fatty or greasy, which is the very essence of fair food...sigh. The food is not worth the pain I go through though, so I will stay away from grease and fat.

I can't remember if I have said it here, but we have a second llama. I hope to tell more about them in future blog entries. I just thought I should come and kind of update what has been going on.

Ian and I, well, mostly Ian, is digging post holes for posts, to make a run in for the llamas this winter. We went to Lowes and got all the supplies for building one. I imagine the pigs will end up using it this winter as well, can't really blame them, I would use a run in shelter over a hoop house anyday on a cold windy day. There will be plenty of room in there if they do.

With all the rain, I imagine I will be blogging more soon. It is going to be getting cold here soon too. We have a weather prediction for some chilly nights here next week, into the upper thirties. Time to cover the pens and get the little chickens in for the winter so they don't freeze.

Always something that needs doing. With that said, I need to clean out the babies shavings and put fresh shavings in.

Weight Loss Recording/Weather

2009-09-28T03:07:00.000-07:00

As of this morning...

28 pounds have been lost...and I am not looking for them, they can stay lost. ;)

We are finally going to get a break in the rain here. The feel of Fall is in the air...and going to be sticking around all week. I will take it with no complaints, it has been muggy and sticky and wet and warm, and I am ready for it to be crisp, dry and cooler.

Flood victims are everywhere here around Atlanta. We were fortunate to be one county west of one of the worst hit counties, Paulding county. Fortunate in the sense that we didnt have any flood problems just thirty minutes west of anywhere in Paulding county.

Hope everyone is doing well and getting some nice weather out there, wherever you may be. :)

Just Recording The Weight Loss

2009-09-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

22 Pounds gone as of today. Now thats something to be smiling about. :)

I Have To Take A Break

2009-09-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged on a consistant basis for some time now. It looks like I am going to try and stay off the computer other than to check email. You see, I am not getting any younger. Neither is Ian. We look back and see a lot of time has passed, and I look forward and want more time than what we have left. The only way to do that is to concentrate on getting more time.

I am overweight, and Ian has gained weight back lately too. My liver is suffering, Ians ankles are hurting. Its not a matter of just losing weight anymore. Its a matter of how long do we want to live. I want to have Ian around for as long as possible, and I want to be around for him as long as possible. We have plans after his retirement at 60 of moving to the sunshine state and living out our lives fishing together and long walks on the beach in the mornings together. We can't do that if we don't get with the program and get our bodies back, our health. I want Shelby to eat healthy and take up healthy habits.

We are changing our lifestyle. We are not shopping at Walmart anymore unless its something we cant get cheaper anywhere else, like shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. We have a Super Ingles in Cartersville that Shelby and I ventured into and absolutely love, and there is a Burgers Market, an indoor vegetable and fruit stand if you will, across the street from it.

No more chips, cookies, cakes, icecream. Its okay for us to treat ourselves occasionally, but not on a regular basis.

Its time, time to get back to living, and get off this computer for awhile. I have made a lot of friends blogging, Ray White in particular is my heart here in blogger world. I am not leaving, just taking a break. For how long I don't know. Winter will probably put me back on to the computer on cold, rainy, windy days.

Its time for me to concentrate on me, my family, and our health. Sitting here in front of the computer was really taking its toll. For two weeks now I have stayed off for the most part other than checking my mail, and you know what? Eating right and staying busy has led to me losing fourteen pounds in two weeks time. I want to keep on doing this. I need to do this. I don't want to wake up one day and look back with regret that I never lost my weight, and when you start thinking about your mortality, and your husbands, and your childs health, and worrying, its time to change.

Change is good. I will miss y'all, but I have to do this. I have been happier the past two weeks staying busy and off the computer. So for now, this is what I must do. I will still check my emails, so if anyone wants to drop me a line, I will be happy to hear from you.

Til I see you again, everyone take care and I hope everyone stays well and happy. :)

Praying Mantis Photoshoot

2009-08-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

I took a whole day to clean out the front flowerbed and trim all the bushes. The weather had eased off and Sunday was a nice day. While working I found a little green friend. I have seen many juveniles, but its been a long time since I saw a full grown adult. He tolerated me bringing him in and setting him on one of my little houseplants by the front door so Shelby and I could conduct a photoshoot. ;) After a few videos and some good photos I let him go back onto one of the azalea bushes. He was perfect looking other than he had lost an antenna. So yes people, this is what we do out here in the country for excitement...lol. Well, its fun for us anyway.

Shelby took this picture of me...taking this picture....

Now you see why I can't get anything done around here. We are busy playing with bugs! ;)

Playing In The Creek

2009-08-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Its been hot, and its been humid. We are in August in Georgia, so there ya go. When we moved here to our little paradise in the country we were quickly spoiled by having a pool to retreat to when it got to be too hot to do anything else outside in the middle of the day. We had plans to buy a liner here this month, seeing as ours has bit the dust. The crooks stealing the truck has put a hold on that, seeing as our deductable is a thousand dollars, but, we will have a pool again eventually. Until then, we have a great friend and neighbor a few miles down the road. His property has the Euharlee Creek running through it and has quite a nice set up back there for folks he is so inclined to invite back there. He tells us to just come on down, don't come knocking on the door to ask permission, one time permission is all that is needed. Some folks go back there without permission, but he doesnt seem to mind as long as they don't go tearing up stuff, which has happened on occasion with teenagers just getting a little too much back there.

Anyway, we went down to the creek and Shelby and I took our neighbor friends Laury, the lady she rides horses with, and also Aubrey and Tate, Laury's daughter and son. It was pretty hot that day, but under all the big shady trees and being right down at the creek with all that cool water kept us nice and comfortable. Laury and I took our fold out camping chairs and plopped them down into the water and sat down to watch the kids play. Tip went with us too, and had a big ole time. Joe's dog came down to the creek to visit us. Tip was a bit jealous and would bark at him, but they never got into it physically. Joe's dog is just a pup as you can see the puppy look in him even though he is as big as Tip.

Ian was off that day, but didn't go with us. After we had been there a couple of hours he did change his mind and came down to the creek to hang out with all of us. I walked around and took pictures of all the neat stuff Joe has back there in his private little park. He has built or made everything I took pictures of and some folks even have their weddings and baby showers back there. All that remained of a bridge you will see in the pictures below was a metal skeleton. Joe built it back up halfway over the creek and it is where he likes to hang his hammock and take a nice nap when he gets a chance, which isnt often, he is always busy doing something with his goats or things that need doing on his farm.

I know there are snakes in this creek. I feel you can't go around being scared of what might happen. When I was a kid we always played in creeks. We didnt have a creek this wide and this much fun, but it had snakes in it. I never got bit once. We stayed where the water flowed in this creek anyway. No one cut their foot on anything, no one got bit by a snake, no one got pinworms, everybody just had a good old fashioned fun day at the creek. :)

an old turbine of some kind that probably used to pump water out of the creek...

The screened house with booths to sit in inside and the grills...including the 'pig' grill Joe made for fun.

Ian and Joe's dog walking to the bridge...the dog is named after the roads name, Auchmutey. The history of this bridge is accounted for on the sign. Very cool.

A few more pictures of the deeper section of the creek and then where we were. The deeper section is about 12 to 14 feet says Joe. He has ladders imbedded into the sides of the bank and a rope swing, tire swings over on a big tree for kids and a little double seater swing for the adults while the kids play on the tire swings. We didnt go to the deep side. We figured that side probably was more likely to have snakes.

Ian parked his MX5 next to the truck when he came to the creek, so I had to take a picture of it. Kind of comical isnt it? ;)

Where To Begin

2009-08-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

I guess the best place to begin, is at the beginning, so that is where I will start.

Last Thursday I spent a good part of the day getting the animals fed and watered up extra because I had a trip planned on Friday.

Friday morning I left for Phenix City, AL to go and visit Sherry, my long time friend of over thirty years. We don't get to see each other often, and since she has had her baby a year and a half or so ago it is hard for her to get away from the house. She also has her hands full with Kelsey, her ten year old daughter. It is just easier for me to go down there and we always have a nice visit at her house. I usually spend the night and come back the next day.

I planned on leaving early so Sherry and I could spend some time together during the day before Kelsey got home from school. Kelly, her husband, kept their youngest daughter while we went out galavanting. First stop was a cute little corner diner where we had lunch. Afterwards we went across the street to a little thrift store and got a few cute things there. I found a huge ceramic seashell that will look nice on the bathroom counter with maybe some rolled up washclothes in it or something. After leaving there we went to a flea market about five or ten minutes out from where we were. It was full of treasures and of course we both found things to get there. I found Ian a really neat pipe that is wood and is a carved out dragon. I found a cute sign that of course had roosters on it. I will have to take pictures of these things later, but after Friday things went terribly wrong and I haven't felt much like taking pictures of the odds and ends we found, because they seemed so meaningless after what happened.

John and Christy, if your reading this, the only reason I haven't called and told you about this before is because its better here, where details are written down and I have told the story so many times now over the phone to Teddy and others that saw my post on Facebook about it, and called to check on me and my state of mind. I am okay, I just want things to get back to normal, whatever that is.

Here we go.

Friday night we went to bed at Sherrys around 11 pm. I always always always lock the truck with the remote, which also engages the alarm. Everytime I get out of that truck, I hit that button. This time was no different. I knew it was locked from earlier in the day when Sherry and I had returned from our outting, but being the OCD person I am I had to hit that button not once, but twice and hear the chirp of the alarm being engaged before going to bed. The truck was parked in the driveway, pulled up right by the window on the house, next to the couch that I slept on that night. I never heard anything. I don't sleep heavy when sleeping over at other folks houses, so I know they never could have cranked it in the driveway. Who is they you ask.

THEY are the people, persons, person, whatever, that TOOK my truck. Yes, it was stolen right out of the driveway. I don't know how they did it. The window was not busted out. I never heard an alarm, I never heard it being cranked. Somehow they managed to steal it during the night.

I woke up around 8 am, but everyone was still asleep so I just layed there, waking up, thinking about things the way anyone does when they wake up. Kelly, that is Sherrys husband came through the living room and we said our good mornings and he walked out the front door onto the porch to have a smoke. I got up and went to follow him outside. As I stepped out the door I looked to my left and saw Kelly, standing in the driveway where my truck should have been. It was like my eyes must have been playing tricks on me, I couldnt process what I was seeing. Then Kelly turned around and looked at me and said, "Where's your truck?"

It felt like a ton of bricks hitting me in the face. Yes, yes I said, yes, WHERE is my truck??? WHERE IS MY TRUCK??!!!??!! I said this over and over as I became increasingly freaked out and started crying and walking around in the driveway in disbelief.

The Phenix City police were called immediately. They took a good ten minutes to get to the house, guess its a good thing it wasnt an emergency. :( I had Bucktooth Barney and 'New police officer trainee' guy for my policemen. BB seemed to be less than concerned about much of anything, very nonchalant, very uninvolved and had a whatever attitude. Meanwhile the trainee was trying to be concerned and take down all my information. As they called in the report the truck came back as recovered.

It had been found, according to the report, at about 7:30 am in the middle of the road next to an abandoned hospital facility just a couple of blocks away. The police had it impounded and took to the impound yard by a wrecker after they had run the tags and it had not been reported stolen. EXCUSE ME!?!?!? Oh yes, I said this to the police officers standing in front of me. I said,

"Wait a minute, your going to tell me, that you found a fifty thousand dollar truck abandoned in the middle of the road, wrecked, damaged, (I will get to that later) and three hours from Polk County and it didnt dawn on someone that I would never leave a vehicle like this in the middle of the road, that is more than likely had to be STOLEN?????"

"Well uh ma'am we can't do anything if its not reported, we just have to take it to the impound and wait on the owner to call and report it stolen." says Bucktooth Barney.

The system is obviously flawed.

I asked about the vehicle being fingerprinted. Nope, I am told it has been compromised. When the truck was found it was handled by police and by the wrecker that towed it. BS. When I went to the impound to get my things out of the truck (Clothes, stuff from the flea market, etc) the thieves had gone through EVERYTHING. I mean, the glove box, the console, even the toys in the bed of the truck I had brought for Sherrys baby! I was told by the impound yard man that all of the employees fingerprints were on file so if the police needed to pull prints, theirs wouldnt be a factor. The thieves had even thrown three of my music CDs in the bed of the truck, for whatever reason. You know their prints HAD to be on those! I will get back to these three CDs later on in the story.

So of course right after the police had been called I called Ian. At the time I was still in freak out mode. He came straight down to my rescue. Sometimes I feel like such a child and he really is my knight in shining armor. He comes and makes everything okay. I love him so much, he is my life.

While I was waiting on Ian, Sherry and I rode to the impound and got my belongings like I was saying before. I took the camera with me and took a picture of the main damage. Now I wished I had taken pictures of all the damage, I dont know why I didnt. My mind is not always on top of things like it should be.

They smashed the face of the radio, they scarred up the ignition, had pulled off the right side of the steering column cover. It was deduced that the thieves took the truck up to the abandoned hospital and did burnouts and donuts. When they pulled out of the parking lot of the hospital they had to have punched it and had it wide open. They lost it and the rear drivers side wheel slammed into the curb, breaking off the wheel from the axle. Amazingly, the wheel and tire sat down flat immediately and the axle fell into the back of the wheel, holding up the body of the truck, keeping it from smashing to the ground and breaking the body of the truck. This picture was taken at the impound, but this is also how they found it in the road.

The employee at the impound said he could smell where the thieves had been smoking crack in the truck. :( So I had crackheads steal my truck, isnt that lovely.

Sherry does not live in a 'bad' neighborhood. The houses are older houses, very modest. No one is by any means well to do, but everyone keeps up their little yards and their houses are for the most part neat. Never in the twelve years they have lived there had anything like this every happened. Then again, no one there had a viper truck parked in their driveway overnight either.

Once Ian got to Sherrys, Kelly and him went to get some cash out of the bank. It was Saturday and there was no way for Ian to get money out at the credit union at work, so Kelly fronted us the cash. Impound facilities only deal in cash, so in order to get it out, thats what we had to have.

We had it towed to the nearest Dodge dealer and had it put in their shop. Of course then the insurance had to be called and dealt with. At first, things seemed to be going nicely. Our agent was very accomodating. His contact for sending out an adjuster called me, we talked in length, the adjuster would be out Tuesday to the dealer. The estimate the dealer gave for repairs was approved by the adjuster. Everything seemed to be going great.

The dealer called me and said he just needed the okay to start on repairs and I gave the okay. Being older and wiser I ask a lot of questions. He told me what was on the agenda to be repaired. Thats when it all fell apart.

The whole axle, wheel, tire, would be replaced...great!

The whole radio would be replaced...great!

BUT, the ignition switch was not approved to be replaced.

How could this be? It looked like HELL. It had been monkeyed with no doubt. Yes, we knew it would crank the truck, but it had been compromised. It was not in the condition it was before all this took place. WHY would you pay over 4000 dollars in repairs and decline to fix a small thing like the ignition switch and steering column cover??? I have no idea, so I called the guy that was in charge of the adjuster coming out and began to give him a very agitated conversation.

He said whoever stole it had the key.

WHAT????? NO THEY DID NOT! I said

Then he said we had to do a recorded interview because of this discrepancy. So he asked me a bunch of stuff and I answered. Then we got back to the ignition. He says his adjuster says,

It is operable, it works, so it would not be replaced.

BULLSH*T

If that was the case, if I had a big dent in my fender, but the truck still worked, they would decline to fix it??? I think not.

I told him it looked like they took a screwdriver to the thing and it is all scarred up and I want it replaced. It had been compromised, they had started it by tearing into that very area.

IT WILL BE REPLACED, thats all there is to it. I mean it, I wont have it any other way.

I am supposed to get a phone call this morning after the guy reviews his adjusters pictures and report. It better be all good news, thats all I got to say.

So, now you know, what has been going on, oh, I said I would get back to the CDs.

I had a phone call from the Phenix City police department yesterday. The policeman that was handling my case. He said that he was just calling to make sure I got my vehicle back. Ummm yeah, I sure did. That is not all I had to say to him though. I expressed my extreme displeasure with how this whole thing had been handled by the police officers that made the report and I explained to him they could have easily taken prints off the truck, the filthy thieves had had their hands on everything. I even told him about the three CDs thrown in the bed of the truck. This seemed to peek his interest. He actually seemed to care, and asked me if I still had the CDs. I said yes. He said to put them in a plastic baggie and handle them as little as possible doing so, and if I wanted to bring them to the police department for fingerprinting he would be happy to see to it. Wow. Someone was actually going to do some real police work. Amazing. I thanked him for doing this and told him it really meant a lot to me for someone to take the initiative to do something, anything. So, when we go back down there I will be dropping them off. It will take about a week for them to be processed. I am not holding out too much hope. But this is better than nothing. We will see.

I have a lot of other farm news, pictures to take, but I think this has been more than enough for today. Here are a few pictures of my beautiful truck I took right after detailing it, which I will be doing soon as I get it back home, to get every last inch of it clean of the nasty filth that is on it from those no good lowlife thieves.

Isn't she just a lovely, beautiful thing? I do love this truck.

Couldn't Make It Three In A Row

2009-08-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

I thought I could make it three entries in a row, but it didn't happen. Things got busy around here and I had to heed the call. Its been really hot and sunny here and so I had to get out in the morning while it was still agreeable to feed and water. I spent two mornings constructing a dome type shelter for the emus. They really needed some substantial shade. I will take a picture of it later. I got pretty hot the first day and had to stop and come in. My skin felt hot and I was breathing like I had run a marathon. I drank my weight in ice water and came in to enjoy the air conditioning and sat down in front of my floor fan til I cooled down. The temps have been in the nineties and the heat index has been 110 to 115, so I really have to watch it...oh and thats my weather stations report from...THE SHADE! The humidity has been unreal too.

I have five and a half acres and with all the rain we have been having I have had plenty of mowing to do. I do like to mow though. It is very relaxing for me. I had let it get away from me in one far corner though and had to mow on high just to get through it. When I was done I had flecks of grass and had dandelion seeds all over me, not to mention all the little tiny bugs sticking to me. I am going to go over it again this afternoon once it is dried out. We haven't had any rain in days yet with this humidity the tall grass was very wet near the ground, even in the afternoon. I have to say though, this is the best the yard has looked since we moved here four years ago. All the rain we have had has really made the grass grow thick and choke out some of the weeds.

I spent a good part of the day yesterday cleaning the screen porch. It really needed it. Some of my smarter chickens have found a rotted screen and deemed it a chicken door. There is nothing for them to eat in there, but they insist on checking anyway, and leaving their little presents on the outdoor carpet. I got it all cleaned up yesterday though, and it is looking decent again. Blue is the smartest one. He finds a way in and eats the cats food and drinks the cats water. If it was just him, that would be okay, but Samson, Sophie, and a few layer hens have watched and learned from him.

On weekends when Ian is working I tend to work outside a lot, and he is working this weekend, so I am going to get on out there. It is already ten o'clock and I am late this morning getting out there. Ian, Shelby and I stayed up too late last night and Ian is probably regretting that at work this morning. I was fortunate enough to lay back down after he left and got a few more hours of sleep. Shelby is STILL sleeping, but then she is a teenager and teens need like ten to twelve hours of sleep. ;)

I know I have been slack and I want to come and visit y'all on your blogs soon. I am thinking that in the heat of the day I should sit and read a few blogs and catch up with my friends and my faithful readers that hang on here. Thankyou for sticking with me even though I have been erratic. :)

I have a few pictures to share with my entry of course. I always like to have pictures.

Bougeanvilla flowers

We have a lot of hummingbirds this year, I am happy about that. The swallows have had a successful hatching season. The nest have been full of babies constantly up until a couple of weeks ago. They have stopped sitting on eggs now.

Samson is really looking beautiful, even in his juvenile lanky look, he is going to fill out and be a really handsome man. I just might have to show him in February!

You may remember Einstein...he was stomped on by overzealous emus and they broke his leg. I didnt have the heart to put him down and hoped he would walk again. He recovered very well and gets around nicely. Here he is running by, busy as ever, and his leg does kick out to the side when he tries to run fast, but he does get around fine and can roost at night. He is SO SWEET and always comes to see me when I am outside.

I am off to see what I can get done today. I promise to visit a few blogs today. I hope to get by yours. :) Thanks for being my blogger friends.

Feathered Friends

2009-08-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, yes, well...a peacocks rear is probably what you expected to see first thing when you opened up todays blog entry from me, but even the backside of a peacock is pretty to me. Emerald hasnt gotten in his big boy feathers yet to impress the girls, but he is working on his angle, practicing. The white one is a boy too, but he doesn't display as much as Emerald does. Right now I can't remember his name, so forgive me.

Okay, so here are two shots that aren't all rear end...

In the fishpond news, it isnt good news. Unfortunately I really didn't THINK ( I know, big surprise) about how HOT it is out here with no shade, and that the pond was BLACK and would just soak up the heat from the sun. I managed to kill the two fish that Teddy gave me. On the upside, she ribbed me about it and said I did in one day what she has been trying to do for sometime now. Nobody seemed very upset to see these fish die except me. I told Ian, Shelby, Teddy, and no one seemed to really care, so I quit beating myself up about it. In light of this, I won't be getting any more fish for the pond until I come upon a good solution of keeping the pond cooler. Shade is the obnious choice but I was also reminded of what I do to keep all the buckets and pails of water cool for the animals drinking water, something that may have saved the lives of the fish, but, the thought came too late. I freeze 2 liter drink bottles filled with water and toss them into the drinking water of all the animals and rotate them out once they are melted with more frozen ones.

On a happier note, my best serama girl was sitting on five little tiny eggs under a pallet laying beside the sultan pen and after 21 days has hatched out five perfect
little babies. Saturday night came a terrible torrential downpour. Lightning, thunder, heavy rain, lots of wind. We were on the road home from Newnan going up Highway 27 headed right for the storm, and it was a storm for sure. I am not going to risk my life for chickens, but as soon as I felt it was safe after we got home I ran out and lifted the pallet and made a pocket with the front of my shirt and put the babies in there and carried mom in. I put them in a carrier and put a heat lamp on them. I was so afraid she would sit on them even if under the pallet was flooded and would end up drowning them. It was damp under there, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Enough talk, here are Sheila and her babies. One picture is of Jack, Sheila, and the babies. :) Daddy had liked this little fellow and I named him after Daddy. After these two paired up, her name became my Mamas name of course.

The duckies have grown so much...I can't tell them apart, but I named them, Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo, and Tod, like the name Todd, except one d, for The Other Duck. ;) They are a fun bunch.

Its time for me to close this entry now. Two days in a row is a record for me isnt it? Maybe I will surprise us all and have an entry tomorrow too. ;)

Bad Blogger...BAD..shame on me

2009-08-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

I have been informed by my husband that his father and Christy are missing my blogging. That in itself was enough to get me back on here blogging. ;) I got a lot of catching up to do, so lets just start from this past weekend and go backwards from there. I won't try to cram EVERYTHING into today, but will put a good bit in here.

Christy, I want you to know, I did it! I asked Ian if he had told you I did it myself, but he said no. Oh, well you probably want to know what I did. I gave Derby his shot! It was easy! He was a good boy.

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Soon I hope to be taking pictures of a new addition to our little farm. This animal is going to actually be claimed as Ians very own. He has not thought of a name yet for him, but he is working on it, I hope. I told him he needs to be thinking on it.

It all started with a phone call from Joe, you know Joe Tilley, they man that does the auction every other Saturday at the sale barn in Taylorsville, and that I got the emus from, and that helped me out when I brought the goats home and Eddie was sick.

He called me and said, " Kelly you got to come over and see what I got! You are gonna love him, I just know you are gonna want to have him!" and I said, "Joe, you are gonna get me in trouble! I just got rid of two goats and now you are tempting me with something else!" He says, " No, you just got to come see him, I promise you are gonna fall in love with him!"

So of course I said okay. I mean, he doesnt live that far from here. We are practically neighbors in the country sense of the word. We were planning on going out later anyway to get groceries and the animals food, so I said we would stop on by.

Well, I will tell you what the animal is now. It is a 10 month old male llama. Yep. I told Ian maybe this will turn out better than the goats. Llamas have soft feet, soft pallats, and no horns. So they can't be tearing up stuff and chewing on everything.

We got over there and Ian seemed to really like him. What was really attractive was the price. For those that don't price llamas very often, they can go for anywhere from 300 dollars to into the thousands of dollars. Joe bought him at the auction for 135 dollars. He said we could have him for 150 dollars.

My first thoughts were that he would be a good guardian for the back half of the property. The emus were good for that for a long time, but since getting big they have had to have their own pen area and are only let out under supervision because of their habit of wigging out and deciding to stomp a chicken here and there.

We had a good time over at Joes...he took us down to the creek (Euharlee runs on the back of his property)...but that is a story for another day. I didnt bring my camera that day, so I will save that for later. Needless to say it is beautiful out there.

Do you remember me talking about chasing his llama he bought awhile back, trying to corral him in? That llama is his buddy now, silly thing. Thats the thing about llamas. Once they know they are yours, they are super loyal and affectionate to their owner.

Anyway, Joe has to catch up the new llama and then he said he would deliver him to us and we could pay him later. He wants us to have him. Some other man wants him, but he said he doesnt want him to have him, he wants us to have him. :) So we got him. He isnt here yet, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will have him here.

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Saturday we went down to Newnan. Ian frequents a board that caters to the Viper truck fans. For anyone that doesnt know, we have one of those trucks. The SRT-10 Dodge Viper truck. Ours is red. Someone from the board wanted to have a get together and so we decided we would go. I am not good at meeting new people, its very uncomfortable for me, especially a whole group of people, but it went over fairly well. The hosts were our age, thereabouts, and we were first to arrive (I know, SHOCK, we are always the late people) so that made it all the easier to get to know our hosts before everyone else arrived. She had quite the spread for drinks and food. They live in a neighborhood, nice houses, but VERY up against each other. When we got home that evening Ian said, you know, being there really makes you appreciate what we have here. I agreed wholeheartedly. Postage stamp lots make us feel claustrophobic anymore.

I took some pictures of the trucks there, one person brought their Challenger instead, which was pretty neat too. Here are some pictures...

I don't know why I didnt take a picture of OUR truck, guess cause we have seen it plenty before...lol. Our truck was the only one that was an extended cab, everyone elses was a standard cab. If you look in the picture above, the one by the mailbox is ours. Isnt this Challenger handsome? Here is one more of it...

This truck below was my favorite of the ones there. You can't tell by the picture, but it wasnt just black, it had that sparkly stuff in the paint! I love that. Ian says its the redneck in me, that its like, bassboat sparkle...lol. His car has it though! I wish my truck had it in the paint, I think its pretty.

I took a close up of the hood, love this hood! There was a red one that had a hood like this also. Here are the rest of the trucks...

Loving the window decal on this one. Anytime anyone is asking about these trucks...their first question seems to be..." That thang got a HEMI in it?" and the proper response is NOOOOOOOOOOO...its a V10 VIPER ENGINE!!!! Being asked this so much, I can relate to why he has this window decal. A V10 Viper engine will blow a hemi out of the water.

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Before we went to this truck party, we went over to our dear friends house, Adrian and Teddy. We visited them for awhile and had a very nice visit. It has been so long since we have seen each other. Everyone gets caught up in the day to day life and sometimes it is hard to stop and take a break for just a day to visit, but we did it Saturday. Shelby had been wanting to see their son Matthew for awhile now. They have known each other all their lives. Its funny, now that they are teens they are all shy and awkward with each other, its kinda cute. ;) Here are some pictures of them, and then Ben, Matthews brother jumped in between them and was clowning around. :)

While we were there, Teddy mentioned their little ornamental pond, and how she was going to just take it out. It was for her Dad, and he passed a year ago. Ever since he passed she has not kept it up. Who has time with Ben running around? Ben keeps her VERY busy. While we were gone to the truck party thing they cleaned it all out and put the two fish that were left in there in a bucket for us to take home with us. We have always wanted one of those little ponds and she said we were welcome to it.

Yesterday we went to Lowes and got all that we needed to get the pond running while the fish waited in the bucket in our kitchen sink. I was periodically changing the water to keep the oxygen level up in the water for them, and to keep the water clean for them. One fish is believed to be ten years old, and since they were her Daddys fish, I want to honor that and take good care of them. This is why we were rushing to get the pond set up to get those two fish in there and comfortable.

Ian spent til almost dark digging out the hole, leveling, and repacking. While he did that I hauled bricks over to the steps. These bricks will be hidden by decorative bricks. The ones we bought yesterday are mainly to support the upper half of the pond as we didnt want it ground level. Here is a picture of the work that got done yesterday and the fish put in. It's not prettified yet, but its functional. We will add the bricks and put our tropical plants all around it and things of that nature to make it look nice before the week is out.

This is enough for today...tomorrow I will get on the subject of what has been going on around here with the chickens.

Love y'all John and Christy. :) Hope you enjoyed todays entry. XOXO

How To Make A Chicken Diaper: For Donna W.

2009-07-16T16:16:00.001-07:00

This is probably going to be a train wreck and clear as mud Donna, but here goes. Let me know if you have any questions as to what I am talking about.

First, we are going to measure for the elastic straps that go on top. I use 3/4 inch wide elastic for bantams. Measure from about the spot I am pointing to on the front there, to about the spot I am pointing to on the back. This is not a precise science, but it is usually very close. My first diaper was a disaster, but the second, much better.

Next, your going to measure from the point I am pointing to on the breast, going under the bottom of the chicken with the measuring tape to the point I am pointing to in the second picture. For the actual pouch, you need to add about three inches of material on the top, and the bottom. This will be the poo catching pouch. Looking at the picture, the second picture, go a little lower than where I am pointing, and then add three inches. I am a bit high on that one.

The first picture below is of the pattern. You have the long piece that is going to cover the breast and through the legs and out the back end. The short piece is going to be sewn onto the top. Remember, you are going to be sewing inside out, so when it is finished you will turn the pouch outward so the seam is inside the pouch. The top piece is just cut from the bottom piece to match. I leave a little extra at the top of the second short piece, because you are going to fold it over and put elastic in there, so the end result looks like the third picture here,

Here is a picture of it finished...so you can get an idea of where you sew the straps onto the outfit. Put the elastic in that section first though, like shown in the picture before this one. You can see, you sew on two little patches, I just make two little squares and sew it up, turn it inside out, then sew it on the elastic about halfway down. I then take those super sticky velcro squares and stick them onto the material, one side up, the other side down, so they match up and close together. That line you see on the short piece is the part you fold over to put the elastic in.

Of course on all the edges you want to hem it up, you can probably see my hem, and then you can also see where I messed up. In the middle of the breast part I had to cut a little bit out, it was too long in that area and drooped, so I cut out a portion and sewed it back up. The next one I made was better as I redid the pattern to be a bit shorter there.

Now, what you want is some Carefree panty liners. You take two of them and criss cross them like this, inside the poop pouch. Take the strip off and stick it into place. I use safety pins to hold them in place on the back and the sides, just to be extra sure they stay in place. Here is what it looks like...

I would have shown you his John Deere one, but it is dirty right now and is in the wash...so this was his Christmas outfit. :) Chickenmom on Youtube has some really fancy outfits for her chickens. I am not THAT good. I go for function and thats about the best I can do. ;)

Donna, I hope this helps. Please keep me posted as to how this goes. Who is it for?