Last Weekends Ramblings

Thankyou everyone for your nice comments on our Christmas tree. I am glad I inspired y'all to do the same. :) Fern says he has been doing that for many years, and I am not surprised by that, he is a salt of the earth kind of man. I would expect him to get real planting trees every year.

My younger sister got herself into some more trouble recently. I won't elaborate on here. If you read my regularly, you will know that I don't elaborate on the sorted details of things unpleasant to read. She came out for a visit this past weekend, starting Friday night and left early Sunday morning. We didnt do a whole lot. Just sat around and watched some tv, talked a little, but nothing too heavy.

Since she left early on Sunday I went outside for most of the day. It was quite cold and the wind was unforgiving. It made it hard to work with tarps and hard to hay down pens. Nevertheless, I pushed myself on through the day doing what needed to be done before the coming cold was to come that night through last night. Sunday night it got down to 17 degrees with a wind chill of 8. As I have said before, we have no windbreak, so everyone must be sheltered from that wind. The heat lamps ablaze and the pens covered up...everyone made it through that awfully cold and windy night. Monday night was not much better, but it only got down to 30 and the wind was not so bad overnight. It has since picked up, but we are going to have a heat wave in the 40s today. ;)

There is some sense of satisfaction to knowing you have done what you can for everyone to weather the cold. After a full days work...coming in at dark, you know everyone should be able to tolerate the night.

Now before I show you the pictures, I have to say something. Winter, to me, is an ugly time of the year. Everything is dead, brown, and lifeless. So adding all these gray tarps to the pens..well, it just makes an already ugly scene, even uglier...lol. So, for the record, I do know that this is not 'pretty', but it is very functional. I just have to get me one of those signs...it says...



So on with the pictures of my work on Sunday.




First up is Shelbys cat, Fergie. She has decided the front porch rocker is too cold and windy and has retreated to the screen back porch. To accommodate her I have set up a heat lamp, clamped on to the back of one of our outdoor chairs with the afghan donated to Fergie when she arrived on our doorstep. Add the small chair pillows around the sides for more comfort, and there you have it, a warm place for her to rest her little fuzzy head at night. For the record, Mocha has a heat lamp too. :)




Buckbuck and Babe's pen covered. (that is not one of them standing there...a polish rooster has wandered onto their side of the fence)


"Hey mom! Whatcha doin' out here? Bring anything out for me?"

Row of pens completely covered now. These house all of my breeder Seramas, my four show birds, the Silver laced polish, and Johnny (he is doing better, but that leg is never going to be the same, he is getting along though)

The Sultan pen...almost completely covered, just a small space at the door so I can peek in on them.



Yes...even bad boy Alan has been covered.




The psycho twins are covered on the left (those two young roosters, polish silkie crosses, that had to be locked up..remember they ganged up on poor Bubba and beat him up. He hasnt been the same since, has lost his dignity and still hasnt found it.) Rusty and Rudy on the right, my two Serama boys I hope to show one of these days...if there is ever a Serama judge at any of the shows I attend.




THIS...now you see that tarp draped over the top of a pen...there is a cage underneath this tarp that is tied down to the fence. Mama says I am just catering to their whim by doing this...and maybe I am. I have about 8 or so chickens that roost on this part of the fence at night. They are right in the path of the breezeway so the wind is even more brutal to sit in this spot. It was getting dark and I had to find a way to keep them from becoming chicken icicles. I had a thought. I have one extra pen, would make the perfect frame, throw a tarp over it and secure it, wire one of the cage doors open so they can get in and out of it, set it on the fence and the roof of this pen, so they can still roost on the fence...making any sense??? LOL...anyway, it worked, and they all caught on in one days time as to where to go the very next night. Smarter than you think. :)




This is a horrible picture I know, but this is the bed area the emus have chosen for themselves, not myself. I took the picture through the screen porch and that is why it looks like it does. You can see two of my old girls, Speckled Sussex hens, wading through the hay. They turn it for me, it keeps it from getting too flat and also turns any emu poo that has been left overnight. My poor emus, I don't think they were made for winter weather. Yesterday while feeding them I could see them shake and shiver from the cold wind.




Last but not least...I gave the pigs almost a whole bale of wheat straw to work with and they seemed to have made themselves a very comfy cozy bed for the two of them. You can see, they don't seem the least bit interested in coming out of their bed into the cold morning air.

I also added hay to Speckles harem pen, and the two Sultan boys pen.


Other than getting the tree at Lowes on Saturday, I reckon that is pretty much my weekend ramblings. Since we have rain coming in for Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and possibly the weekend, I imagine I will be doing this all over again. Ah such is the life of a farm girl and her menagerie of pets. I don't mind though, I love my animals and if I could afford it I would probably have them all set up with heated houses. I am not a rich person though, my family and I get by, and then a little more, but a barn is a couple of years in the future right now. We will have one though, you can bet on it.

A New Tradition

Good Monday morning! It was a busy weekend here on our little patch of paradise. We had company, we went and got a tree, and I spent the day readying the animals for the cold night we had last night and will have tonight. No, I didnt knit sweaters for each one. ;) Before I get to all that I wanted to share my epiphany I had. I know I am not the first to think of doing this, but I was glad I thought of it for us. Hmmm...something is up with blogging this morning, I can't seem to break to another paragraph. Lets see if I can get a picture in here.


The only way I can seem to keep typing is to type under Html after any break in the sentences, so that is what I will do.

This is a picture of our Christmas tree. You may be asking yourself, why is it so small???

Since I met Ian, we have always gone with his parents to cut down a real tree on a Christmas tree farm. This was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed it. Over the years things happened, things change. My mother in law, Roz, she passed away right after Thanksgiving seven years ago now. Christmas has never been the same since. Ian, Shelby and I have still gone to cut a tree. Since we live so far from his dad now, we don't get together to do that, and havent for a long time. Ians dad has since remarried to a wonderful woman that we love very much, but tradition has changed. Sometimes it is time for a new tradition. This is where my epiphany came in.

We dont have a lot of trees on our property. We have no windbreak. We need some trees. I hate raking leaves, so I want evergreens. Why not go to Lowes and buy a real tree...but in a pot, so we can keep our tree alive each year by planting it in our yard? I was excited about this new idea. We could get a tree every year and plant it to have forever. What a concept. :) So that is exactly what we did. The picture above is the tree we picked out. It is called an Emerald Green Arborvitea. Here is a link so you can see what it will look like all grown up one day. :)

http://www.aboutarborvitae.com/emerald_green_arborvitae.shtml

We love our little baby Christmas tree and can't wait to watch it grow up. :)

Since the blog format or whatever doesnt seem to want to work right for me, I will just save the weekend ramblings for another entry, at another time.

Lets Talk About The Weather

Does weather affect your mood? Especially if that said weather goes on for days? I am very affected by weather. As I sit here writing this we have had four straight days of rain, drizzle, fog, and just dreary weather in general. I know that some areas of the world are saddled with this type of weather for weeks on end. I don't know if I would ever adapt to it. Four days is a very long time to not see the sun at all in Georgia. The ground is saturated. The air stays damp. Its like you are breathing in mist. Nothing dries out, everything stays wet.

Tip, Phoenix, and Clyde are fortunate enough to be inside with Ian, Shelby and myself. We can escape the damp air and the muddy ground by being inside. The other animals on the farm have to endure it. Everyone has shelter, but who wants to stand in a shelter for four days? Especially if your used to going out and taking a stroll around the back half. Goats hate getting wet, so the only time they come out from their house is when its not raining. I haven't seen a whole lot of those two needless to say. The horse hates being wet but insists on standing out in the rain. I still don't understand that. The pigs stay in their house, in their bed of wheat straw. The only time pigs like to be wet is in the summer when its hot. The emus don't seem to mind too much. Their feathers have a waterproof seal so underneath the main feathers they are dry. For four days this has gone on. There is only so much you can do, and then you just have to suck it up and endure it. I have put down so much wheat straw just to walk out around the chickens.

Don't tell me you can't see they misery in these faces. LOOK into their eyes, see their discomfort and unhappiness. The animals mood is affected just as much as mine. This makes me even sadder that they are miserable. What can I do?

The one thing no one can control...is the weather. It is what it is. The only thing we can do is sit and wait it out until the sun shines again and dries up some of our mud.

Here are some pictures I just took of what it has been like here for us. I know others have terrible snow blizzards, others have their plight, but I am just not used to this day after day.





BuckBuck and Babe come to me with pleading eyes. BuckBuck seems to be asking when this dreary weather end.



Blue on the left and Bubba on the right...hanging out on the pool deck to escape the mud, looking in through the screen. They seem to be asking me to make it all better.



Goatmans hair is ruined in this weather, he just gives up and stands there in the rain.




Just look at the ground beneath their little chicken feet. Even with all the wheat straw I throw out it quickly is soaked into the muddy ground.




As I walk around to the gate to take the pictures of my layer hens Blue and Bubba follow me around to this side of the deck. Bubba closes his eyes, hunching up against the blowing drizzle saturating his feathers...just trying to get through it all. LOOK. LOOK into their faces, my poor babies. At least the weather is mild right now. It has been in the sixties. That will soon end though. On Monday winter will make a return.


Looking out to the right, straight out, and to the left from my front porch. This has been the scene for four days now. I will still take it over the city life any day though. A bad day in the country is still better than a good day in the city for me.

So all you folks that are enjoying the sunshine, enjoy a ray for me and my animals today. I do miss the sun desperately, as do they.

Visit With Grandmama

Before you get all sentimental and say AWWWW to these pictures...I have to give you a reality check. Grandmama is not one of those sweet little old ladies. She is my grandmama and I love her, but she is in a nursing home because she can't seem to get along with her family for any length of time. There is a rocky road to where she is now, but I won't elaborate. Now that she can no longer walk and needs more care than ever it is best that she is where she is. The nursing home she is in is very nice and is actually out in the country right outside a very tiny town that has a little tiny square. Its so small, the only place to go and eat is Subway. So that is where we go to pick up lunch for Grandmama and us before we stop in for our visit.

I left my house around six thirty a.m. and got to Mama and Daddys house around quarter til nine. Traffic on I20 was a parking lot. I always forget that the morning rush on I20 is a nightmare. We still left pretty quick and we were on the road just after nine. Three hours later we arrived at the Subway and Mama and Daddy went in to get the sandwiches and cokes while I dressed Phoenix in his snowman diaper outfit for the visit.

Grandmama was waiting in her room for us. We had a nice spot at the end of a hall to have lunch together. Grandmama always likes to have Subway sandwiches. It is such a nice break from the food there at the nursing home. Not that the food is bad, its just..well, kind of like hospital food you know. Its tolerable, but given the chance, you would like to have something else.

Since there was so much room to spread out where we were sitting to eat lunch we spent most of our visit there at the dining table. Daddy had brought some pictures of my younger sisters visit to Paris and was showing Grandmama those. I had pictures on my camera of Shelby to show her. She hasnt seen Shelby in several years now and wanted to see how much she had grown up.

Grandmama doesnt like the typical things you would think. She doesnt want to be given plants, flowers, nick nacks, wall decor, nothing of that nature for her living quarters. Bring her some candy and popcorn. Bring her some cokes. She loves her news too. She has her views on politics, but we don't like to discuss politics. It always ends very stressfully.

For some reason she loves my little chicken Phoenix. When we are coming to visit she always asks me to be sure and bring him. This time I was prepared and it was stress free with the diaper outfit. Everyone could watch him, hold him, pet him, and there were no worries. Employees and residents alike peeked in many times to see the little rooster. Everyone knows when we are coming and asks Grandmama if I am bringing him. I always do of course. I am glad there is something I have to bring that she enjoys. We went back to the room when it was almost time for us to go. I was doing the driving and I don't like to drive at night so we had a very short visit. Even leaving when we did I still had almost a two hour drive in the dark. We took some nice pictures in the room before we left.

Here are some of the pictures from our visit.

I Am Back, Now Time For Catch Up

Visiting hours are over til Christmas now. ;) I have gone to see folks, I have had folks come here. My younger sister is supposed to come the weekend coming up, but that is just a leisurely time.

I cleaned and I cleaned, for two weeks I cleaned. Every nook and cranny is clean in this house. Now if I can just keep it that way until Christmas day when friends and family come for Christmas dinner.

So lets back up. I have pictures of things that have gone on and I am backing up to right after Thanksgiving for todays entry. We were invited to Brians twin girls birthday party he was having for them at his house. Shelby is good friend with the girls. It was a typical day as of the past weeks, overcast, drizzle, cool, and windy. Seems that is the theme for this time of year. Once we were there and inside it was better. Here are a few pictures from our visit with them.




Shelby and the girls catching up




Their birthday cake




Official TEENagers now...13




Opening presents




Brian dipped the icecream as folks came by with their plates of cake

It was a really nice visit that day. Everyone lives so far away from us now, its always a special visit when we go to see anyone.

Next up...pictures and an entry on the visit with Grandmama...

Uncut Video Going Down The Tubes

I just got my FIRST email from AOL, even though they claim they have been notifying me, that the AOL video will cease to exist on December 18th. They have a site to transfer them to, Motionbox, BUT...I did a test and even though you are transferring them over to Motionbox and saving them, once you delete the video from AOL video (which is what will happen anyway on December 18th) it won't show on your entry anymore. You will still have to reload it onto that entry. :( I have almost a hundred videos on my journal from before we got here from AOL. My dependence on AOL is coming back again and again to bite me in the rear.

I Need To Take A Break

Nothing is wrong here. Everything is good. I just need some time away from the computer for a while. I am getting a lot done around here for a change and I like it. I miss reading everyone and posting, and I will be back soon. I didn't want anyone to worry. I am just enjoying the simple things in life around here and find myself not wanting to sit for very long. December is a busy time for everyone including me. A lot of driving, visiting, going and doing things. I know when January comes things will slow down some. :)

Visiting During The Holiday Season/Work To Be Done

Good Tuesday morning. :) Here above is a picture of Shelby with her cat. I tried to name this cat TOO as in The Other One...but she wasn't having it. She has given her a real name and it stuck. This cat's name is Fergie.

The family thing I was worried about yesterday turned out okay and things wents smoothly without incident. I was relieved to say the least.

This Friday my parents and I are making a trip down to Buena Vista to see my grandmother in the nursing home. Phoenix will be dressed and ready for it. ;) It will be a one day trip. I will leave out of here early and pick up Mama and Daddy and head straight down and hope to be there around 11 am. That will give us four hours to visit then it will be time to hit the road again. I don't like to drive in the dark so we will have to leave at three o'clock at the latest.

My older sister Patti will be coming for a visit with her two daughters and their significant others December 13th and 14th. I am excited about seeing them! Its alway nice to see my sister. We don't get to see each other often enough. Both our lives are so busy and its so nice to pause and have a nice visit.

Somewhere in there we have to make time to go get a Christmas tree at the Christmas tree farm not too far from here. I am keeping it simple this year with the decorating. Usually I will take down all nick nacks on the shelves and around the living room and replace them with all the Christmas nick nacks. I put up lights and pine looking garland in the doorways...lights strung up the bannister of the stairs and more pine garland. Lights on the front porch, lights around the pool deck. It is a lot of work to put up, but always seems to be even more work to take down and put away again. Instead of all this I am going to concentrate on getting some unfinished business done around the outside. Winter may be here, but I really want to get some of these things done. It helps that I have made a list of what I am going to do each day. I just want things to be in order when Christmas rolls around and we have all our family and friends over for Christmas dinner.

The sun is trying to break through the clouds this morning. I hope it will succeed. Its cool, but tolerable. I will be able to get some things done out there today I am sure of it. I feel pretty good today and with some of Dads coffee it will get me going!

Everyone have a fantastic day! :)

I am hoping come January I won't have a thing to do and I can relax. ;)

Show Fever

http://browneggblueegg.com/Shows.html

Yes I know its only December. I just had a look at the postings for poultry shows and got excited though. The small show that started up last year in Calhoun is having its second show February 7th! Last year I went, but didnt show. This year I want to show. I think I will show some of my Sultan line. I won't be showing them at the big show in Newnan, so this would be a good time to show them at the Calhoun show.

I emailed the people of this site I posted above. They have the Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Associations big show in Newnan listed under the wrong state. They have it under Tennessee. They haven't fixed it yet. That one is February 21st.

I have decided to concentrate on maybe winning something this year. I have four Silver laced polish. Two pullets and one hen (Coco) and one rooster (Kuckoo). I will be showing these four because they will have the best chance of winning, especially now that I know what STUBS are! (If you didnt know, a stub is a fine little tiny feather that grows out from under a leg scale on a clean legged bird, a big no no, and a disqualification.) I will be plucking any of those I find. Coco would have won Best Continental last year if not for her eyelash sized stub between her toes! I am hoping her daughters will give me a bigger chance of winning since they look as awesome or moreso than their mother.

So thats what I got on my mind right now. Sultans in Calhoun, and Silver Laced Polish in Newnan for February. Its going to be a great February! :)

(Actually what WAS on my mind was my younger sister and her troubles, and the fact that my parents are going to be involved in her troubles today and I dont feel good about this...I am actually very worried, but I am trying to keep a positive outlook on today)

Finally Getting Around To A Thanksgiving Post

Good Monday morning. :) I am going to throw up some pictures from Thanksgiving here today. That didn't sound right...well, you know what I mean. ;)

We had a very nice Thanksgiving at Mama and Daddys. Karen and Tiffany came. (My friend and Shelbys friend)Erin (my younger sister) and Mike. Then there was Ian, Shelby and myself, and of course Mama and Daddy. Tip came with us too of course and got her share of some turkey while I sliced it up before dinner. Good food and good company. I have a lot to be thankful for that is for sure. :)











I usually get a picture of everyone at the table, but didn't get the shot this time. I managed to get everyone in a picture though, and thats good enough. We do buffet style at Thanksgiving and Christmas as you can see in a couple of the pictures. There was just too much food to spread out on the table and then have room to eat too!