Just A Quick Note

If you wanted to give any suggestions to the two polish girls names and haven't post it here. So far I have:

Laverne and Shirley
Millicent and Matilda
Lucy and Ethel

I will choose on Monday and whoevers names I choose I will send you a little something in the mail for helping me out. :)

A Postaholic Today?

I don't know whats up with me today...but I just seem to be a little chatterbox! I will just go with it, because there are days I don't have a thing to say and pull back into my shell for a while. I think it is just the anticipation of shows, it makes me giddy. ;)

This afternoon after I got everyone taken care of outside I set to cleaning out Bonnie and Clydes abandoned house. This is on the screened in porch. I have a bad habit of leaving things like this if not in use and cleaning them only when I need to use them again.

First thing to do was take the plexiglass guards off and get to scooping out the old shavings....




You can see why I have to take the plexiglass guards off...shavings get trapped in between the chicken wire and the guards.

Next we have some places where the shavings collected in a damp spot and got stuck..this happens when they scratch around and expose the floor...and then promptly poo in that area...then go to scratching again and it gets covered up and hidden, which dries to the consistancy of CEMENT.


So I take a flat head screwdriver and scrape it all off the floor of the house...cause thats what screwdrivers are used for right? It has many many uses! ;) After scraping and spraying with 409 and a wire bristled brush...I got most of it...as you can see below. Next I sprayed every nook and cranny with Frontline spray, just to be sure no mites would stow away and then get on my birds later, or if there were some already stowed away, in hiding, lurking, waiting for some birds to be put in...either way, they are dead meat now.



Next I put in a perch, fresh shavings, a platform raised on bricks for their food bowl and waterer, put the plexiglass guards back on, covered the pen with a fleece blanket to keep out the wind and cold...and last but not least I put my two girls in there. After their bath tomorrow they will have an indoor facility to stay in where it is warm until after the show...then they will go back out to the house shown here until February 7th and 21st for those shows. Hopefully I can keep them clean and won't need to rebathe them.



Here they are above checking out their new digs





How about that CLOSE UP!!! ;)

Night night girls, sleep well...



The one at the far end is not dying...lol...she is looking around. All those feathers make it hard to look around...so she turned her head upside down. If they are perching I see them do that a lot.

My Religious Upbringing

A touchy subject indeed. A lot of people are very open about their religion on their blogs. I am one of the more reserved ones. Today this entry will take you back to my childhood growing up in my church.

Columbus is where I was born. Its where my parents were born and raised, its where their parents were born and raised as far as I know. I have deep roots in Columbus, Georgia. From birth my family and I went to Wynnton Hill Baptist Church. I looked and looked for a photo of the church, and do you know...there isnt one? Isn't that unusual in this day and age of computers and the internet?

I grew up in the nursery as a toddler. We went to Sunday school and then adults went to hear the preachers sermon. Children had their own sermon geared to keep us a bit more interested. We had our own worship hall to boot. We all know how hard it was sitting quietly in church with your parents without speaking and squirming, trying to be respectful. Once a teenager you had to sit with the adults though. I participated in the youth group. We went to Wednesday night supper and worship. This was my favorite time to go to church. There was ALWAYS fried chicken...along with many other side dishes. Everyone brought covered dishes on Wednesday night. Everything home made. It seems like Wednesday nights were not so formal, things were more relaxed.

When I was fifteen we moved from Columbus. Mama was ready to go, to make a new start. Erin, Daddy and I were not so enthusiastic. I had convinced myself that I wasnt going to get in the car, then we couldnt leave. As you can see today, it didnt work. We had to move because Western Union in Columbus was closing down. The one Daddy was going to work at when we moved was in East Point. Western Union was not the same as what it is today. Daddys work was full of ticker tape machines, lots of machines and equipment. It wasnt a mail service like it is today.

I got off track there for a minute, sorry about that. We moved to Jonesboro, Georgia. We had always gone to church...and once we settled in to our home we searched for a church to go to. First Baptist Church of Jonesboro was where we landed. We went a few times...but it just never really clicked for my parents or us kids. We still held onto our values and beliefs...but never really found a church to feel at home in again. To this day, I have not gone or belonged to any house of worship, but don't be sad for me. God is not in a building. God is in your heart. God is all around you.

Ians mom and I talked a lot about religion and our beliefs when she was still alive. I still hold those conversations close to my heart today. When Ian was a boy the two of them would go to church together. His dad had to work a lot, so that was probably why he didnt go with them.

Roz and I both believed the same thing about this subject. We believe that if you keep your faith strong in your heart, and you try to be a good person and do the right things every day...that you don't need to go to a building with a bunch of people every week. I understand that many think that doing so strengthens your bond and faith with God. It may do just that for a lot of people. I am not very tolerant of crowds and people these days. I like my solitude. I have found that I feel closer to God just being still...listening, observing the outdoors. Sometimes it overwhelms me and my heart will swell with the love of the nature He has made for us.

In this day and age...the times are busy ones. Its hard to find a moment to relax and be together as a family. Every other Sunday when Ian is off, this is the perfect day to just be together as a family. I don't mean to sound disrespectful when I say, I would rather be with my family having some quality time than spending it in a crowd of people...some I know, some I don't.

The reason I don't shout my religious beliefs from the rooftops to everyone is not because I am ashamed, it is because there is a reverance and privacy to my thoughts and feelings regarding it all. Today, I have opened up that privacy for you to see. Whether you are happy or disappointed in me...it doesnt matter. What matters is that I am comfortable with my convictions.

Ian is agnostic, and I have always been alright with that. He respects my beliefs and I respect his. I do not push my beliefs on him. Shelby has been taught the basics by me...and as she gets older, she can make up her own mind.

Ian and I both agree on one thing. No one should push their beliefs on others. An invite to a local church by someone is not pushing. Keeping on about coming when someone declines the invitation, is pushing. Forcing religion on people will run them off, trust me. Its kind of like the teacher in Charlie Brown...all you start to hear is that droning wah wah..wah wah wah wah..wah wah wah..

So there it is...all layed out on the table for everyone to see. I believe this is the most revealing thing I have ever written about myself.

I thought about it, and I would like to add something. Ray, over on Dads Tomato Garden, or now called Tomato Gardening with Dad has Sunday meetings. I didnt realize until a few months ago that they had the meetings at his house. To me, this is more intimate and special...I like this and would be more inclined to go to a meeting like this, held at someones house and that is a close friend...just a thought that I wanted to put down here.

Another Sunny Morning

It may seem uncalled for to some, but I have to start my entries with the fact that the sunshine has graced us once again this morning! Its so beautiful to see, I do love sunshine. It was in the twenties again this morning. I think winter is finally coming this weekend. We are in for some really cold nights...down into the teens, Wednesday on through the weekend. Winds are coming with that Thursday night...which will make it feel like we have taken the plunge into the arctic tundra.

Yesterday I got the two silver laced pullets (pullets simply means any female chicken under a year old) looked over yesterday. They didnt appear to have any pesky mites but I sprayed them with Frontline spray under the wings, on the back of the neck, and above their ummm, well you know, where the eggs and poo come out. ;) You have to be careful where you spray the Frontline, you dont want to spray it at the base of the tale on their back. That is where thier oil gland is. It is what they will rub their head on and then rub on their bodies to keep their feathers looking nice. I went ahead and checked Coco and Kuckoo over and found they did have some bugs...so I sprayed them with the Frontline spray too since I was already out there with the bottle. Today I am going to clean out Clydes old house and put in fresh shavings, fresh food and water and put the two girls in there tonight. Wednesday they will get their bath and blow dry. Thursday they will be looked over for STUBS (fifth paragraph down on this link). Any final grooming will be done. I have some 'shine in a bottle' you could call it that I use on my birds. You can get this at Sallys Beauty supply...it is for human hair, but is great for making the birds feathers shine. You have to be very careful not to use too much though, or you will end up with an oily looking bird. Their legs will be shined up with mineral oil. Their toenails clean. The two girls will look very nice. Friday I will probably just fuss over them...just out of sheer anxiousness. ;) Saturday morning I will leave out around 5 am, just to be sure I get there in plenty of time. Cooping in deadline time is 9 am. The birds have to have under their wing pricked and be tested for any diseases. They will then get a band on their leg that is good for three months. That means they will be ready to go and won't have to be tested for the other two shows I will attend in February.

The eggs in the incubator that I am hatching for Tex are doing well. Five were fertile out of eight. One of the five is questionable as far as its development. The amount of veins are less than the others. It doesnt appear to look as strong and thriving as the other four. We will see how that one turns out.

I had a sick Red Star...one of my layer girls. I didnt even mention her in my past entries. Sometimes these things happen over the winter. Winter is hard on any animal. She moulted, but did not grow in her feathers as well as the others. Moulting is so hard on a bird. They need all the nutrition in their feed to go straight to the feathering out, that is why they stop laying eggs at the time of moult. She was in a weak state. I gave her all the usual things, antibiotics, a vitamin and mineral supplement, high protein food, but she was just too weak and didnt make it. I used to get very upset when any chicken died. Its still disheartening. I have to admit that I am attached to certain ones more than others. They pick me, I don't pick them to be buddies with. The ones that have these big personalities are the ones that become more of a pet to me. In the case of this Red Star, she was not one of the ones that I was close to. Like I said, it was disheartening. It always is, to lose any of them, but not gut wrenching pain like I feel when one of my buddies goes.

The Golden Phoenix pullet is all healed up. She wants out of her pen. I have tried once already to put her back in the flock she came from, but they were not nice to her at all. I ended up pulling her out by the end of that day. She retreated to the roosting pen most of that day just to be left alone. I don't know what to do with her. I could try to put her in with the layer flock. I have silver phoenix hens over there, so why not a golden phoenix. It is hard for just one hen to be incorporated into a new flock. She takes a lot of abuse before settling into her place in the flock. I am still up in the air about what I want to do with her right now.

I will close todays entry with a few morning pictures I took, because the sun is shining, and that alone is enough reason to take pictures. Oh, before I forget, Bill, you asked about those chicks I raised up a while back? The last ones I raised were over last Spring and Summer. They were a mix of giant cochins, golden phoenix, serama, white crested polish, and some of my own mixes I made up. They are together in what I call the "pretties pen". I have taken pictures of them before, but not recently. I hope this answered your question. I will see about taking some pictures of them today and will post them tomorrow for you okay? :)

On with a few pictures...




Eddie on the left...Troy on the right. With those thick winter coats the cold doesnt seem to bother them much.




Tiny says good sunny morning to everyone

Now this robust big young rooster here...will be rehomed soon. A friend of a friend needs a strapping young man for his flock of hens and he seems like the man for the job. He is not a bad rooster, just overzealous with my ladies, and is really just an extra out here, so he needs to go to a new home. He will be well cared for and very happy. I am hoping they will be coming to get him soon.




Thats all I have for today...everyone have a fine Tuesday and I will be back tomorrow morning with some new pictures of my progress towards getting ready to show my two girls. I think they need names. I already have a Thelma and Louise...the two silkie girls. How about y'all give me some good names for these sisters. Tell you what. Y'all give me names, and I will pick what I like the best. The ones I pick, I will send a little prize in the mail to you...how about that? So a contest then. Put your thinking caps on and get creative for me. :)

Sunshine This Morning

I went outside this morning like I always do to let the chickens out of their coops and was greeted with....THE SUN! Oh that glorious ball of fire in the sky. How I have missed it. It looks like we are going to have a full day of sunshine and I am in such a good mood because of the sun shining. It is COLD out there though. It was 25 when I went out, and its not much warmer now. The sun inspired me to take a few pictures. This was originally what I ran in to get my camera for...it just looked neat to me...




Just a fence post...with frost on it...but I thought it was pretty sparkling in the morning sunshine.

Everyone else seemed very happy to see the sun. One of the emu girls even let me give her a good scratching on the back of her neck up to the back of her head. They will let you touch them, maybe even rub their neck a couple of times, but this was different. She was actually ENJOYING this. She was all leaned up against the fence, you could see it in her eyes...it felt goooood. ;) I was looking through my pictures and saw that I havent taken any recent pictures of my emus...so I took some pretty headshots this morning and they were very accomodating.





Then Buckbuck was posing for me in the morning sun...he just stood there basking...looking beautiful...this morning was a good morning to be a cochin. They have a lot of insulation for this cold weather we are having.





Shelbys cat Fergie (yeah, we gave up on the name TOO as in The Other One) is no fool...she is in her bed under the heat lamp this morning...



I made Clyde a new indoor facility for winter. His house on the porch, which used to be for both Bonnie and him, is just too big and lonely for just one little chicken. He seems very happy to be inside. I am looking towards putting a trio of modern game bantams in his old house...if I can find a nice trio to buy at one of the shows I go to. So Clyde and Phoenix are now both officially 'house chickens'. I need to make Clyde a chicken diaper outfit before he gets to roam the house like Phoenix does. I made him a wide perch, you can see it on the right of the pen. It is a piece of 2 x 4 that is wrapped in newspapar and then I put a protective 'wipeable' cover of clear packing tape over the newspaper. Screw in the ends hold it on the sides of the pen. Poor Clyde, he will fall asleep on that branch that he is perching on and fall right off. He ends up on the floor of the pen sleeping. This is why I made him a nice wide perch...but he has yet to use it...he loves that stick. Its one of those that has washers, a wingnut and a screw in it...like you would get for a parrots cage.

Ian is home today...and its getting late, time to do some things around here and be productive. I hope everyone has a great day today and I will hopefully see y'all tomorrow morning with coffee. :)

No Company This Coming Weekend

Well..my older sister was going to come and visit this coming weekend...but, she is sick. :( She has been in the bed with a flu/bronchittis for days now. I am sad that she won't be able to come, but she is sick, and I don't want her to 'share' what she has, and I especially want her to get WELL! :) I love you Patti and we will get together when you are feeling better again.

In light of this development, I have decided to go to a poultry show in Jefferson, Georgia this Saturday. I am going to enter two of my finest birds! The two daughters of Coco and Kuckoo. I am so excited!!! I only have a few days to get them bathes and check for stubs and all the other finer points of showing to do...but I will be ready.

Many pictures coming very soon! YAY! I am so happy to be going to a show! I am very sad that Patti isnt coming and that she is sick, but, I am happy to be going to a show!

Sunday..Another Trip Down Memory Lane

This is a picture of me at about three years old. Daddy had scanned this picture and sent it to me awhile back. I did remember where the pictures I was looking for yesterday were...kind of. I know they are in a faded pink album. Now, where that album is, I don't know. I mean, I don't know at all. Usually you have an idea where something is, a general area. Not this time. It should have been with all my other picture albums. Its not there. Its going to be one of those things that just turns up one of these days and I will say "Oh! I wanted this album a while back!"

Today...is pretty much like yesterday. It is dark and overcast. It poured rain last night and afterwards has gotten increasingly colder and the wind is blustery. So here I sit again today. It feels different today. I am being interrupted by Shelby again and again. I think she wants the computer, but right now I need some alone time to take my mind back in time. It isnt often I ask time for myself and I think she became mildly irritated with me when I cut her off this past time and asked her to please close the door behind her. She is, after all, an only child and used to my attentions. Today I feel I need some time for me though. Ian will be off work tomorrow and things won't be quiet and homeschool, laundry, dishes, cooking, animals wanting...all that will be going on. So right now, it is my turn at the moment.

My Daddys brother lived on the Chattahoochee River. There was a small house that was originally there, but the main living area was a double wide they attached onto the house. I was always ready to go to Uncle Rileys. It was always fun there. I was never very good at catching fish, but I tried. There is an old picture of me holding up some fish on a line we caught somewhere amongst my parents picture albums. I remember the front room of the old house always had one of those wire buckets full of crickets in it...for fishing I suppose. I remember fish on the grill cooking. I remember taking a nap in the cool of my aunt and uncles bedroom on their white chenille bedspread. There was no air conditioning in the house, just in the trailer.

One time when we were out there the river had dried up in that particular spot. I mean it was nothing but mud. You could walk out there where the water used to be..or so I thought. My younger sister and I went traipsing out and about. Way out I saw some duck eggs laying on the ground. Erin and I went to investigate...but halfway there something awful began to happen. I did try to skirt around areas that looked too muddy. I remember poor Erin, in her knee high zip up brown boots...sinking sinking down. The harder she tried to pull out, the further down she sunk. I dont recall our exact age. I am going to say she was 5 or 6, so that would put me at 12 or 13. I was in a panic. This was a very scary situation in a childs mind. What was I going to do? If I left Erin there to go get help, was she going to be there when I got back? I was going to get blamed for this no matter what. I was supposed to be careful. I was supposed to be the one in charge. I was afraid of sinking and getting stuck myself. What if we both got stuck? Then how would anyone know we needed help at all? All this and more ran through my panicked young mind. Eventually I mustered up the courage to grab my younger sisters hands and pull. I pulled and pulled. Eventually she was able to pull one muddy boot clad leg out of the muck. The other one...well...somewhere there is a brown knee high zip up childs boot at the bottom of the Chattahoochee. We walked back to the house and I don't remember the details, but I am pretty sure our parents weren't happy about us losing that boot. ;) I do remember Daddy asking us why we went out there in the first place. When I told him about the duck eggs he just shook his head. Thats the way I remember it anyway.

I had a sandpile in the back yard. I think most kids did. I spent many hours making mountains and digging out caverns going through that mountain. I had my little plastic animals I played with out in the sandpile. I made mudpies and I made 'soups' with grass, the berries from monkeygrass and other things I could find in the yard. I was not a squeemish girl about frogs and lizards. There were always anoles running along the fence in the thick honeysuckle vines. If I could catch one I would pet it and love it. I found out that I could lay the lizard on its back and rub its tummy and it would go into a trance. One time I brought the entranced lizard into the house and showed Mama. She was accomodating but hurried my back out the door with the creature. Much much later, when Ian and I had already married we purchased a baby iguana for a pet. She lived for fifteen years. I found out through having this iguana and doing a lot of reading that when you lay a lizard on its back...the reason it appears to go docile..lol, is because the blood is rushing out of its head and makes the creature barely concious. HMMMM...oops. Oh well, I thought I was the lizard whisperer. ;) Frogs were always interesting to me. The little grey toads were abundant in our yard. We had a small creek that ran next to our house that always had tadpoles in it. We even had crawfish in there too. I was always amazed at the different marks each frog would have on its neck. Sometimes the mark would look like a letter, usually a small "i" or an "l" shape. The only drawback to picking up toads was initially they didn't like it, so they would 'wet' on you...lol. It never seemed to deter me.

My childhood was not always fun and games. Sometimes Erin and I had to get out in the yard and work with Mama and Daddy. We had to rake leaves and bag them. We had to pick up sticks and pinecones first though, so they wouldnt put holes in the leaf bags. Daddy had a garden. He has always had a garden as long as I can remember. Still does today. I never had to really work in the garden, but I would go and pick beans and tomatoes and squash with him. Erin and I would help Mama on Saturdays cleaning the house. Dusting was our job. We never had to clean the bathroom, that was strictly left to Mama. Sometimes we had to clean out our closets, or straighten our chest of drawers. Erin and I would help wash, dry and put away the supper dishes, things like that. I think back now and I am glad I learned how to do these things. I think it has helped me in adulthood to keep my house and yard in order, most of the time.

Its rocking on 1 o'clock, and I have to get the school schedule done for next week. Laundry awaits, as do animals. Shelby is playing music upstairs while she cleans her upstairs. She even cleans her bathroom. :) The music is distracting my thinking though, so I think I will close for today. Ian will be off work tomorrow so I doubt I will be online until Tuesday. Until then, everyone have a nice Sunday and Monday. :)

It Has Come To My Attention

It has come to my attention...as I sit here on this dark rainy windy Saturday afternoon...that I have not really revealed a lot about myself on this journal.

I am not even sure anyone is interested in ME personally...but, in light of the weather being what it is...and I am stuck inside looking longingly out the window like a caged animal...I choose to elaborate some today. If this is not your thing, and you just want to hear about chickens...you may skip todays entry, I will understand.

I was born in Columbus, Georgia. I was raised by two wonderful parents. We lived in a modest neighborhood near the Columbus Airport so I grew up hearing airplanes overhead. When you grow up with a particular sound like that you tend to tune it out after a while and you dont even hear it anymore until someone that is not used to it mentions it. We had a big clock on the wall that was like that. It had a loud tick tock sound as the pendulum would swing back and forth. Growing up with that sound, unless I tried really hard I couldnt hear that clock ticking. The type of batteries in that clock were those big huge batteries. I don't know where to get them, but my Daddy worked where they had them. Once we moved up to Jonesboro the clock batteries died and it hasnt run since, but it still hangs on their wall to this day.

I had a normal existance I guess you could say. Nothing out of the ordinary. Mama stayed home with me (which is a rarity these days) and Daddy went off to work during the week. I had an older sister, but at this time in my young life I didnt know her yet. My younger sister was born when I was six years old. We had one dog, Prissy. She arrived on the front door step about the same time as I was born, so I grew up with her. She lived to be thirteen years old. Cancer overtook her body and she had to be put to sleep. It was very sad. She was such a very good dog. Just a Heinz 57 as they say, but she was a good dog. When I was little, I would lay my head on her tummy and fall asleep. She wouldnt move until I woke up. Back then they didnt have all the fine flea medications they have now. She never got fleas though, I guess they didnt like the way she tasted. They only found her when she was sick with cancer.

Growing up I wasnt a fan of Barbie dolls and Baby dolls. I did have one Baby doll. She could wet her diapers...her name was Baby Wetsalot or something like that. I never took to human figure toys much. My favorite past time was playing with my stuffed animals. Not really a big shocker there eh? I was very careful with my stuffed animals. All of them meant a lot to me and I treated them with all the kindness and consideration you might have for a live animal. If they were held by the foot, or fell off the bed, I thought this was wrong and might hurt to them. What an imagination.

When I was growing up we didnt have fancy plastic toy food and boxes like they do now. I made my own. I did have a tea set. The whole shebang. Forks, knives (plastic of course) pots, pans..(these were actually metal!) plates...everything. I had a box that my Wonderwoman costume had come in (from one Halloween). I turned it upside down and drew stove 'eyes' and knobs on the bottom, just like a stove top. Perfect for my pots and pans. I was supplied with plenty of markers, crayons, construction paper, any art type things to be creative. I would make my own food to go on the plates and in the pots and pans. Oh I made everything from strips of bacon and fried eggs to chicken legs and pizza. It was a lot of fun to make exactly what you wanted.

My stuffed animals would sit around my little table and chairs set. Oh my table and chairs was not like you see now...you know the ones, those plastic set ups. Noooo...this was a miniature version, real wood, of a full size dining room table and chairs. I don't know what ever happened to it, but that is one thing I wish I still had for when Shelby was little. We think it got left in the attic when we moved to Jonesboro and someone else found it and now its gone. I would always feel sorry for the stuffed animals that didnt get to sit at the table and sometimes the ones stacked on the bed would get plates of construction paper food in their laps. When it was bedtime I always had to choose just a few stuffed animals to sleep with me at night in my bed. I hated that the rest of them had to sleep elsewhere. Mama always said there just wasnt enough room for me and all my stuffed animals too. I rotated them out though...so everyone got a turn.

Isnt it funny, how things start to come back to you...to flow from your mind as you sit undisturbed on a quiet day and just begin to write. Here I was going to just give some brief synopsis of my childhood, but I find myself thinking in more and more detail.

For instance. I remember having a pet squirrel. Not one kept in a cage, but one in the trees. The way this came to pass is to me, very odd. One day I was standing next to my tire swing, which was attached to a tree of course. A baby squirrel came scampering down that tree with mother following behind, all the while scolding the youngster. The youngster promptly jumped onto my shirt and hung upside down on the front of my shirt with his back feet. He was not afraid at all. My Daddy was right there and he just said not to move. I think he was afraid I might get bitten. I didnt though. After a minute the youngster jumped back onto the tree and his mother escorted him back up into the trees, all the while scolding away. That squirrel had a notch of fur missing from his tail. A couple of months later, I had a squirrel, with a notch of fur missing out of its tail...come right up to me. That was the beginning of a very odd relationship. You couldnt pick the squirrel up, but you could call him out of the trees, whistle for him I think it was...and he would come, jump on your shoulder and I always had peanuts in hand waiting for him. I know it is common in big cities for squirrels to come right up and take food from you, but this was in a small little neighborhood.

Even then, I loved animals. I have always like them more than people. Growing up I never had a slew of friends...a pack to run with you might say. I had one or two close girlfriends. Sherry was my constant starting at the age of 13. We have been best friends ever since. She was there when I had my pet squirrel. I have some old pictures somewhere of this...I must find them to show on here.

I am going to close on this note for today. It was nice to sit and just ramble and remember some good memories from childhood. I have many more rolling around in this head of mine. One is of the visits to my aunt and uncles place on the Chattahoochie River...but that is for another day.

If you made it through and read all of todays entry...thanks for sticking around and hopefully it was at least mildly entertaining for you. If you could see the images in my head of the things I have spoke of today it would be even better. You may get a better idea of what it was like.

After Becky told me the name of her doll I decided to look up my old doll...it was a Baby Alive doll, above is a picture of the one from the 1970s I found when I googled images of the doll.

I Love The Polish Breed

There are breeds of chicken that I just cannot resist. Their beauty draws me in. The polish breed is one of my very favorite breeds. They have a very pleasant disposition in my opinion. I only have two colors of polish right now. My show birds, Coco and Kuckoo, and their two daughters. They are silver laced polish. I want to breed more of these from this pair as their potential to win at shows is great.

Last Spring I got ten white crested black polish chicks from Swints in Jonesboro. They are not show quality, but I never had any interest in showing this color anyway. They were just to add to my flock.

Now I have been given 8 eggs to hatch from Ians friend at work, Tex. I am trying to patiently wait for at least five days to go into the incubator and candle the eggs for veins beginning to show in the egg. I talk to the little eggies through the incubator, play them music...hoping every one will be fertile and hatch a healthy chick out. Tex doesn't know what color the polish are. He said the parents looked gray with white tops...so I am assuming they are white crested blues. This is very exciting for me as I love this color. Here are a few pictures I borrowed from Feathersite to show of what I think these eggs will turn out to be.







Tex said the parents looked to be standard size...the eggs I got seemed a bit small so I hope they don't turn out to be bantam Polish instead of the standard size. Aren't the white crested blue polish so pretty?

I am leaning more and more towards looking for some nice breeders of the buff laced polish too. It would be nice to have a few of these in the future to show...here are a few pictures of this color I borrowed from Feathersite... First is the rooster, then the hen.





I know that all eight of those eggs are Tex's eggs. I know that. He asked me to hatch them. I just want to bring them up for a little while..enjoy them while they are little. I don't think he will mind. They can't be housed outside for a while anyway...it will be too cold for them. If it is a good hatch, I do wish to have some eggs of my own of these from the lady he bought his new incubator from, and maybe...maybe? one of the babies from this hatch? Hmmmm? ;)

I better get outside and enjoy this sunshine we are having today. The weather folks say rain is in store for us tomorrow. I have a few things I want to do out there today, and sitting here isnt getting those things done.

I want to take a minute to say...I do enjoy each and every comment I recieve. I appreciate you taking the time to stop and talk to me for a few minutes. I know some are busy, and you just stop in for a quick cup of coffee and you are off to work, or to take the kids to school, or other important obligations...and don't have time to leave a comment...and even though you don't leave a comment, I see you have been by through my sitemeter and the little round globe and thank you for giving me a glance before getting on with your day.

I know it has been a bit dull around here since winter and the rain has kicked in. Pictures have not been at the forefront of my posts. Things are about to pick up around here in February though. We got shows to get ready for. Lots of bathes, blow drying, looking over legs with a fine tooth comb for STUBS!! ;) For those that don't know...that is what kept me from getting Best Continental with Coco last year!!! Not going to be the case this year...no way...going to have perfect birds going into the show coops this year.

I was going to post some of last years videos of my getting Rod and Kuckoo ready for show, but the new host for AOL videos (since they shut Uncutvideo down)...Motionbox...doesnt seem to want to cooperate and let me post it. The directions are simple enough to follow, but when I try, it tells me it doesnt have the complete code.

Thats okay though, there will be plenty to see when I start prepping for this years shows. :)

Time to go outside and play for a bit...hope everyone is having a great day. Maybe I will take some pictures after I finish my work outside, if its not already getting dark by then.

Todays header picture is of a black breasted red modern game bantam rooster. This is another breed that I would love to have. I almost got a nice trio of this color last year at the show in Newnan, but someone bought them before I could. Maybe this year I will come home with some of these cute little stick chickens as I call them. ;)

Is The Drought Over NOW???

You may notice that my new background is that of raindrops. This is because I don't know of any other weather anymore, this is what we have, day in and day out. We are actually under a Flood Watch in this area today. Surely this means we have surpassed our drought. It seems the weather folks think we are supposed to live in a swamp, or a rain forest, or maybe we are supposed to become an island in the middle of the ocean before our drought is over. I don't really know, all I know is that we are drowning in mud here, and to me, that signifies the ground is FULL!




It started to rain last night around 8 and do you know it has not stopped at all since then. How do I feed the animals? I am waiting for a small break to come so I can run out and at least feed them what they can eat right away before it becomes mush, but there is no break. Should I build an ark? Well, at least it isnt cold. We do have that going for us. We have had mild temperatures.
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I have been away for quite some time I know. It seems there is always something to do, something going on, someone coming over, or somewhere to go lately. I will back up to New Years Eve.

New Years Eve day I went like always to pick up groceries. By the time I was leaving Walmart it was getting pretty busy. I was glad I got there earlier than later. My older sister Patti had decided to postpone her visit for the coming weekend. It turned out this was for the best and in a couple of weeks when she does arrive things will be much more calm and peaceful. Karen was coming alone. If you remember, I was waiting for Tiffany to make the right decision and commit to her previous engagement with us on New Years Eve. I was not pleased because this was going to upset Shelby. When I told Shelby she was mad at Tiffany. She said that it was not right. Tiffany gets to see her other friends all the time. Shelby doesn't. She said as much. She spent New Years Eve mad, and that turned into tears New Years Day morning. She came down from upstairs and I hugged and cuddled her. She said she had believed that Tiffany would make the right decision, and when she didn't, was really disappointed. At this point she didnt want to see Tiffany for a while. Karen SAID she would tell Tiffany that Shelby was busy on Saturday, because you see, Tiffany wanted to come BACK out on Saturday to visit, I guess to try and make up for New Years Eve. Well guess what. That didnt happen. Karen called Saturday afternoon...but Ian and I were gone to take the trash to the dump and pick up some hay from Mr. Abrams for the horse and goats. When we got back we were hit with the news that they were on their way. Ian and I had both agreed we were all 'Companied out' and were ready for a quiet weekend. This changed things now. Ian said he was glad to see that Shelby was not TOO mad at Tiffany. Karen had told Tiffany just how upset her bad decision had made Shelby and did say she was sorry she hurt her feelings...said it to Shelby.
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New Years eve...was...fun, at first. You know, as you get older, it takes longer to recooperate from a night of wine, champagne, and tequila....especially if you don't drink like that anymore. I did not overindulge as much as Ian and Karen, so I was actually able to lay down without feeling woozy after seeing in the new year...Ian had to stay up, he was woozy. Karen had already promptly thrown her guts up as I held her hair. We are old, and we just can't handle it anymore. It took me two days to feel normal again. So now you know, lol, I am not as wholesome as you might have thought. At least I don't make a habit of it eh? ;)
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Lets see, that takes care of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday...Saturday was uneventful even though Karen and Tiffany were visiting overnight. We kept things lowkey. I fixed a nice supper of greek salad and pasta with pesto and sauce, with some breadsticks.

Sunday morning I got up and Karen was already up. She does try to help around here when she is visiting. She means well. She has an obsession with dishes. If there are dishes in the dishwasher that are clean, she must put them away. If there are dishes in the sink, she must rinse and load them into the dishwasher. There is just one drawback to this. It takes me a week to find all my pots, pans, bowls, glasses, silverware and put them back in their place so I know where they are! Sometimes they are just a little off, but other times, I have to go on the hunt. She means well, and I am a nice person, so I dont say anything about it. Its not something I can't fix.

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I spent all of Sunday morning making out the school curriculum for the coming week. Karen and Tiffany left soon after I had finished. After they left I spent time outside catching up with the animals.

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Sunday Tip had had a few accidents on the carpet. They were small dribbly spots on the carpet when she got up from where she was sitting. Tip would never intentionally go on the floor. Still later in the day it happened in the bedroom in several spots. I knew what it was, she has had it once before. She had a urinary tract infection. My poor girl. I felt her tortured pain. For a woman every minute that passes with a UTI is maddening. You feel you have to go, but can't go, and if you do, it is painful. The sooner you get to the doctor and get some antibiotics flowing through you the better. Left untreated, kidney damage can occur. So you know me, I was on the phone when the vets office opened Monday morning. I wanted to be on their doorstep when they opened, but there was no since in it. There was only one doctor there on Monday mornings and she went in to do surgery at 10 am til lunchtime. I was able to get an appointment at 1:40 so that would have to do.

I got Shelby up, we got ready to go, packed up her school books and headed out to Mama and Daddys. They live in the area where the vet is. You might ask why I didnt ever change vets when we moved. We have been with this one for so so long, and I trust them and its worth the two hour drive. I figured since we had to be down there anyway we would make a day of it and visit with Mama. Shelby did her schooling while I was gone with Tip to the vet. Mama could help her if she needed help.

So we got to the vet....



Just like anywhere on a Monday they were pretty busy. I wasnt able to get a urine sample, but the doctor did agree after dabbing her 'area' and said the urine looked a little pinkish. I also asked about some lumps that Tip has. One she has had for some time, several years, and it is growing, but very very slowly. The doctor said that was definitely a fatty lump and not to worry. Another had surfaced several months ago, but not grown. It was on her shoulder area. That was also said to be a fatty lump. When dogs get older, these are common. There was one more in question, it was on her stomach. It is only peasize. The doctor said to just keep an eye on it, and if it starts to grow they would take it out. Tip has her regular yearly appointment in May, so we will address it then if it has grown. My only concern, and I told the doctor this, is that her daddy got cancer and eventually it took over his body and he had to be put to sleep.

So here is Tip relieved and ready to get out of there and go back to Mama and Daddys...




She has had two doses of antibiotic now and is already feeling relief. She has a ten day regimen of pills to go through to kill all the bacteria though.

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In other animal news...the Golden Phoenix hen is recovering nicely, she is feeling very well and healing nicely.

I have a surprise coming today! Ians friend from work, Tex, bought a new incubator, but it was so big he couldnt get it home in the car, so he has to get it home in the truck later, BUT, the lady he bought it from also gave him eight hatching eggs. Guess who he wants to hatch them? ME! He says they are polish...but doesnt know exactly what kind. He said the parents had a white top, but the rest of the body was kind of gray, with white tips on the wings. This may be a white crested blue, or what is called a cuckoo polish. The cuckoo polish has a white top, but is barred on its body. I hope they all hatch, and I am hoping Tex will let me keep one of them if it is a successful hatch. I know he will if I ask. I want to raise up the babies for a little bit myself, then he can have them when they are bigger. I know he won't mind that either. I will be sure to update on the progress of these eggs on here.

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Here I sit, its Tuesday...and its time for school, time for laundry, time to try and get some animals fed here and there in between the downpours. This has been a long entry I know, and I hope it hasnt been too boring to read. I did cover a lot of days to catch up to today though.

I want to try and catch up with all of you this week. I should have the time now that hopefully things are settling down around here into our old routine. Thats about it for now, and should be about all...as this is a long entry for me! I hope whereever you are you are drier than we are and have plentiful sunshine. :)