About Me

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I am a 42 year old woman that is about as happy and content as one person can be. My husband of 21 years and our 15 year old daughter live on five and a half acres out in the country. We moved from the city four years ago and never looked back. I homeschool our daughter. We also love our animals. Our daughter has a miniature horse and two rabbits. We also have a border collie, two cats (again), two pot belly pigs, four peafowl, three emus, 2 llamas and an undetermined number of chickens, lets just say ohhh about 200. I have many breeds, from layers to fancy chickens. I love poultry shows, I love fowl in general as I have come to find out through having more than just chickens. Chickens will always be my first love though. I do show some of my birds occasionally.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Hi, My Name Is Kelly and I am a Chickenaholic

Some people drink. Some people smoke. Lots of people have addictions. I am addicted to chickens. I fully admit it, and I don't care who knows it. ;)

Sometimes, when it is cold and the days are short a few chicks to boost my mood til Spring is just what I need.

I really was going to let the hen set on the eggs, but I wanted her to be protected and in a little cubby nest I put in the pen. She wanted nothing to do with it, went and sat down as close to where those eggs had been, outside the box. :( Then she just came out of her broodiness in the snap of a finger by the next day. Sooo....

I did something I try not to do til Spring. I got down the incubator. I am not going into a full hatch or anything...but these eggs were already started! I had to hatch them, right?

Out of seven eggs I have four healthy embryos growing in here now. It makes me so happy when I candle (putting a flashlight to the egg to check progress, this done in the dark to get maximum viewing)them to see their little bodies swishing around in the fluids in the egg...living and growing.

Shelby is looking forward to having these four babies in the house over the winter too. She cant wait to be able to play with the new little ones. Besides, they are Serama, they wont take up much room over the winter. By the time they are big enough to go outside it will be SPRING! That is something to look forward to for sure.

 

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Lets take a quick peek inside, just for a second.

 

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You may be asking...why didnt she wash those eggs before putting them in the incubator. Well I will tell you why.

When an egg comes out of a hen it has a natural protective coating on the egg. It keeps bacteria from seeping into the porous egg shell. If you wash the egg, it can subject it to bacteria and if bacteria gets in the egg it will kill the embryo, so the egg is actually "cleaner" being left in its original state though it may not look so.

If the eggs are too dirty...I mean really nasty, I wont try to hatch those though.

The hen was setting for about three or four days on those eggs...I have had them in the incubator for at least a week, so we are at least half way there to hatch time. I am so egg-cited, its like a special treat to have these babies now.

Yes, I am addicted to chickens...but I am okay with it. :)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Another Chicken Hobby Entry, Hank

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This is Hanks first picture after arriving here at home.

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Hank was left at a feed store I used to frequent in Jonesboro. His owner was going off to college and could no longer care for him.

I stopped in to visit with the old couple that owned the feed store and pick up a few things. This was at the time Ian and I were still working on the old house on weekends getting it ready to sell. Ember you remember, was with us every weekend we went down and stayed with Mama and Daddy during this time.

As I came in the door of the feed store they looked up and said straight away, "How would you like a free rooster?" I did not disappoint them, they knew he would be going to a good home if he went with me. So I said I would take him on home with me for sure. I had not even taken a look at him yet, and when I did, oh my word.

This rooster looked very mean. He had some very long overgrown spurs. He was in a very cramped cat carrier and was not too happy about it. Even the man that worked there for the couple was not too keen on handling him. I convinced myself there was no reason to be scared of this bird and after borrowing a pair of work gloves...I got him out to take a better look at him and also put him in a bigger container to take home with me.

Wheweeeee! He smelled like sour garbage! Why did this bird smell SO bad? On closer inspection under his neck feathers he was also COVERED in mites, some kind I had never seen before! EW! They were long and creepy looking! I put him in the big box they had gotten up for me to carry him off in right away. Well...at least now I knew he wasnt aggressive, but boy did he smell!

Talking to this big man to reassure him he was in good hands, I drove back to Mama and Daddys house with him. Ember was busy scratching and eating bugs in Daddys garden. As I was getting out of the truck Mama opened the front door and saw I had a box.

"What have you got there?" she asked. Like there was any other answer than a chicken was in the box. ;)

I took him still in the box out into the backyard to let him out. I didnt know if he would try to run away and I sure didnt want to be chasing him all over the neighborhood so Daddy brought me some small thin rope to tie to his leg and tether him to a tree. He didnt even put up a fuss, until he saw Ember! Ohhhh a LADY!!! He got extremely excited, started trying to go see her. Ember was not so sure about this big old rooster and skirted around him just outside his reach of the stretched out rope. Hank knew he was interested in Ember, that was apparent! Once they got acquainted and Hank settled down Ember came into his space. He was the perfect gentleman. He danced for her, talked to her, showed her he found something good to eat. This was the beginning of something big I could tell.

But oh he SMELLED...remember...like sour garbage.

Once I saw he wasnt going anywhere the next step that very day before he went home with us the next day was to give him a bath. The first step was to powder him with Sevin dust. That was on Saturday. That was not that big of a deal for him. That treatment killed the bugs, but NOT that odor of sour garbage. So the next day, on Sunday, he got a BATH. Oh you have never seen such a pitiful sight. I had to tether him to the fence so he wouldnt run away. I used a dog shampoo that smells SO good surely it would kill that awful smell on him.

At first he fought me, trying to get away, then finally he resigned himself to getting his bath.

Have you ever seen a big rooster pout? I have, it is such a pitiful sight. Funny, but pitiful.

After I finished giving him a bath I let him loose and he didnt go anywhere, not one step. He looked like a drowned rat and he knew it.

What you dont think roosters have issues with their looks? Oh they do, yes they most certainly do. When one of my boys goes into a molt around here and loses his tail feathers he loses all confidence. Prime example is Tim. He is proud of his long long tail and all that plumage. Right now he has no long feathers and just a few short ones on his rear. I havent seen him dance or mate a girl in a while, and usually he gets pretty frisky with me and I have to remind him who is the boss, but not lately. Lately he just stands there looking at me, even moving away from me if I come toward him. But I am getting away from the subject...back to Hank...

Since he wasnt going to move, I moved him. I picked his waterlogged body up and took him to the middle of the yard. Ember came up to him but he just stood there, looking humiliated and embarrassed at his appearance.

I thought, OH NO, I think I have traumatized him so badly he is just going to stand there until he keels over and dies! People, he stood there for a good fifteen minutes before he finally decided he was going to live and started preening himself, seperating feathers and getting himself back together. Whew, I thought I had killed him with a BATH! LOL

From that weekend on Hank came along with Ember on the weekends that we went to work on the house. A match made in heaven. Two cast offs found each other and boy were they in love. At home if Hank strayed far from her she would make this screeching noise at him to come back...and he would of course. They were inseperable. Ember no longer had to stay in a pen or in the porch, she had her big old man and those mean hens no longer picked on her.

Once or twice I saw something quite amazing. Chickens will dig up an area of ground and take a dirt bath. It is instinctual behavior to rid themselves of parasites such as mites and lice. Even if they dont have them, they still seem to enjoy doing this.

Ember would make these little noises...and Hank would respond. He would take his big strong feet and big strong legs and dig and dig a brand new hole...but it wasnt for him. That was what was amazing. He did this just for Ember. When he was finished she would lay down in that hole and take her dirt bath as he stood by and watched. Eventually he would join her, but not at first. He always let her get started for about five minutes or so before he would lay down with her and flip and flop.

I miss Ember very much. I don't know if he does. I think he remembers her. During the winter they had a pen for just the two of them for shelter. They always slept together at night.

Hank became somewhat aggressive for a while so I had to pen him in solitude. After a break I let him out and do you know Ember and Hank, they hooked right back up. This was after a couple of months of being seperated.

We still have Hank of course. What a big ole puppy dog he is. He is not aggressive at all now. I guess he just had a moment where he was grouchy, I dont really know. He is the king of the yard, the boss. Well. Mostly. You would think a big ole ten pound rooster would be fearless...but there are two little men out there, Rough and Rowdy. They are just little white silkies. But they have an attitude that wont quit. Hank wont mess with them. If they feel the need to intimidate him they will run at him. He used to not run...but they would slam into him kamakazee style and send him freaking out running. Now he gives them a wide birth to avoid any confrontation. Makes no sense because if another rooster tries to mate a hen he comes running to knock them off and tell them about it. Not Rough and Rowdy. Guess I named those two perfectly...lol.

I dont know how old Hank is. I figure he was at least two years old when we got him from the looks of those spurs. He may even be older than that. He has been with us for two years now. He has so much character. I love that rooster so much.

Here are some more recent pictures of my big boy Hank...

I hope you enjoyed his story.

 

 

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Dont you just want to hug him and squeeze him and bury your face in all those soft feathers? You can you know, he doesnt smell now...lol.

I was looking and looking for this picture of Ember when I made the entry about her...found it finally so I thought I would add it here.

 

 

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John Scalzi's Monday Photo Shoot

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Light Effects


As the days get shorter and the amount of sunlight we see is less, I thought it would be nice for this week's Photo Shoot focus on light -- and the sometimes surprising things it does:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Show us light in a surprising way. Long exposures, interesting reflections, the play between light and shadow -- anything that calls attention to the light itself. This is very open-ended, so I'm curious to see what you all will come up with.

This picture was taken early this year after a serious hail storm with high winds here at my house. The winds were so bad it blew over an old oak tree down into the road and tore down the little barn we had put up for Shelbys miniature horse Derby.

I thought this picture would be nice for this Mondays Photo Shoot. The sun was peeking out behind the receding clouds and was just brilliant looking. I grabbed my camera quickly because these perfect moments only last just that...a moment. If you look closely above the sun you can see an airplanes jet stream also.

 

 

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Here below is what happened with the barn and the tree...

 

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Monday, November 26, 2007

Tip Herding Bad Chickens

Okay, one more test...this is from bliptv also...but this time it looks as if it embedded properly...this is a new one.

Tip was a little to excited in this video, it takes her a few minutes to focus and really pace herself and get down to business and there just wasnt enough chickens out for her to have time to do this...but here she is anyway...lol.

Hmmm it doesnt want to embed it, still trying, bear with me..

 object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&file=http%3A//blip.tv/rss/flash/509797&feedurl=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/rss/&autostart=false&brandname=KellyGa&brandlink=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/" width="400" height="255" allowfullscreen="true" id="showplayer"><param name="movie" value="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&file=http%3A//blip.tv/rss/flash/509797&feedurl=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/rss/&autostart=false&brandname=KellyGa&brandlink=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/" /><param name="quality" value="best" /></object>

One more short one...

object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&file=http%3A//blip.tv/rss/flash/510020&feedurl=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/rss/&autostart=false&brandname=KellyGa&brandlink=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/" width="400" height="255" allowfullscreen="true" id="showplayer"><param name="movie" value="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&file=http%3A//blip.tv/rss/flash/510020&feedurl=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/rss/&autostart=false&brandname=KellyGa&brandlink=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/" /><param name="quality" value="best" /></object>

Using a Different Site For Video

Dad and Helen, please see if you can play this video. It is the same one from down below, but it is from a different video upload site. If it works for everyone, I am going to use it instead of YouTube.

Click on the link and it should start, its not embeding like I want it to, but see if the link starts the video for you.

 

 

object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&file=http%3A//blip.tv/rss/flash/509216&feedurl=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/rss/&autostart=false&brandname=KellyGa&brandlink=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/" width="400" height="255" allowfullscreen="true" id="showplayer"><param name="movie" value="http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&file=http%3A//blip.tv/rss/flash/509216&feedurl=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/rss/&autostart=false&brandname=KellyGa&brandlink=http%3A//kellyga.blip.tv/" /><param name="quality" value="best" /></object>

 

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Coopers Hawk, Or Any Raptor

Well thats a fine how do ya do. I looked up Coopers Hawk online and in my bird book. It seems Linda was right on the money about the type of hawk.

After reading up on things I see that it is illegal to kill any raptor species at all. That applies to every raptor in the United States. So as far as I could read, it is not endangered, but it is protected, everywhere.

I haven't seen it come back. That is good, for both of us.

As I said, once a predator finds a food source, it keeps coming back.

I am not going to say I would shoot it. I am not going to say I wouldn't.

I am going to say that IF I ever did such a thing...

the three S's would apply.

You learn this rule in the country.

Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up.

So, with that said, that is all I am gonna say about that.

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Alrighty then, I am off to heat leftovers, finish the school planner for the next two weeks, make out study sheets and test sheets and finish up laundry. Everybody have you a great evening and I will see ya in the morning.

PS. For those that couldnt see the video, I was trying to load it to UnCut Video, but it just wouldnt take it.

How do I compress my MOV to an MPEG? Anyone know?

I hope I have not offended anyone with my views on killing predators. I used to have a very soft heart. Living where people constantly dump animals and where there are many hungry wild animals, it is a constant battlefield.

I do have a little business with my hobby, I do make money at it. Especially when I am selling chicks in the Spring and Summer. I sell eggs all year long.

So in order to have this sometimes a person has to do what a person has to do. This is not the first time I have had to deal with predators and I am sure wont be the last.

If you want livestock, any kind of livestock, you have to be ready to do what it takes. Cattle Farmers kill coyote year round around here. Calves wouldnt stand a chance without the farmer and his gun. That goes for stray dogs too.

Back when we had stray dogs everywhere, before we had a fence...and even then, the fence didnt stop the fox I had come and snatch my silkies and my frizzles, every one of them, I had the animal control out here constantly picking up dogs that had torn into my pens.

I was informed that if any dog, whether it be someones dog, or a stray was harrassing, maiming, killing,eating, livestock the owner was right and justified in killing that animal. No owner could do a thing about it. That is the law.

Where wild predators are concerned the lines are not so clearly drawn, but around here nobody seen a thing, if you know what I mean.

Country folks got to look out for country folks...and their livestock. Just the way it is.

Alright, this was kind of a dark entry...so I will be on my way.

Hawk 1, Chicken 0 * Company For Next Weekend

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This is something that a chicken flock owner does not want to see. Yet, about 8 a.m. Thanksgiving morning this is what I found.

Yes I know, the hawk is a beautiful bird, but he is standing on one of my buttercup hens, dead. :(

I live in the country, and yes, with this comes wild predators. I accept that.

You know what though. I think there are more predators in the city limits than here in the country. Well, where we are anyway. We are so open with no trees things like possums, raccoons and coyote do not feel comfortable trekking across the fields in search of food. So that in itself protects us to a certain extent.

I guess the mouse hunting was not good for this hawk. Last year there was corn planted across the street. I imagine once they had harvested that was prime hunting ground for this hawk. This year there was cotton planted though..and I dont know of any mice that eat leftover cotton, not even the seeds. So my hen took the fall for that.

We left the carcass out there to try and shoot the hawk. Once a predator finds a food source it will keep coming back til that source is gone, just a fact. Couldnt find the pellet clip for the darn gun. I think it is lost for good. It was not with the scope I keep put away and it should have been. We will have to order another clip. BBs are not enough to kill much of anything. Though it wasnt for lack of trying. We pinged that bird all morning and all the next day. Even if we hit him he just flew off and came back later. BBs dont fly true, they tend to curve. Pellets on the other hand are shaped like bullets and tend to fly more true. Anyway, the hawk got his fill without us being able to do him in. I am sorry to say I am sure we havent seen the last of him. I only hope I can get a clip before he visits us in the future.

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It is time for some company again. Shelby requested that Tiffany come over soon to spend the weekend...so after talking to Karen they will be coming up for the weekend next weekend.

Since we are going to have company anyway I thought I might conglomerate and have Kenny and Billie over along with Sydnee and Sam. They are the folks we went to visit when Kennys son was going to be shipped off to Iraq.

I called Billie yesterday and asked how their Thanksgiving was. They had a nice crowd of family and lots to eat.

We had talked about them coming up when we were over visiting them and I asked her how about this coming weekend. Believe it or not they werent going to be doing a thing, other than she would have to check with Kenny about his work schedule. She will call me back in the middle of the week to firm up the plans.

When anyone comes to see us it us usually a little haul so I made the offer that they were welcome to spend the night if they needed to. She said thanks for the offer but they would be going back home that night. We both know how this is. When you get older you just want to be in your own bed when it comes time to go to sleep for the night. I told her I totally understood how it is. Its probably about an hour and fourty five minute drive from their house to ours. Not too bad. I would drive it home, but I still wanted to offer anyway.

So you know what this means...I got to get cracking around here! I cant decide if I want the Christmas decorations up NOW before they come...or after they have come and gone, either way we wont be going to cut a Christmas tree til later. What do you all think?

 

I guess I will let everyone else around here have the computer now.:) Early bird gets the worm as they say...or the computer...just all depends on how you look at it.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday..see you tomorrow morning.

Suppertime for the Little Ones

Some could see the last video, some could not. If anyone has any suggestions I am open to them.

I have read over my camera manual, I have tried looking over Help topics for any program that might be of use to convert the movies from MBs to MPegs but haven't found a thing yet.

This DSL is popular here at my house. So popular I can't seem to get my turn on the computer. I was the first one UP and AWAKE this morning, so guess what, I TOOK IT!!! Nobody can have it til I am done either. ;)

I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday morning. It is cold and the air is wet feeling this morning here in NW Georgia. Rain is in the forecast for all day so we are socked into it for the day.

All right, lets try another video this morning. I didnt get the whole story here, but got most of it. I had already opened Phoenixs pen and Bonnie and Clydes house and the two boys were inside soon as I called them. Bonnie is kind of hard headed and sits and complains wanting someone to come get her..so I did. You will see.

Next time I will try to get the whole story. Here is a video of what happens in the evening when it gets dark. I hope everyone can see it this time...we will see.

 

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thankgiving

Here it is Friday night and I finally get to have the computer. I am afraid to get up from the chair as I might lose my spot! DSL has changed everyone in the house today. Ian has been on the computer from 9 tis morning til I finally kicked him off to eat supper around 7 this evening. Poor Shelby, she says she would like to have it when I am done..which I will be right after this entry.

I have made more videos...I will post them later on next week when I have some time to myself in the morning with my coffee.

It looks as if everyone had a pretty good Thankgiving. Ours was very nice also.

I brought potato salad, stuffed celery, devilled eggs and three containers full of sweet tea. I also brought a smoked turkey breast.

Mama made her sweet potato pie stuff, it is so yummy. Dressing, gravy, rolls, green beans, some sort of candied cranberry rice stuff. Erin made fresh salad with her homemade dressing and Mike brought a wonderful apple pie. Mama also had a pumpkin pie.

We had the spread layed out in the kitchen buffet style and made our plates in the kitchen then came to the table. Daddy said the prayer and then we all dug in til we were stuffed to the gills. We had a very nice visit I have to say. Lots of hugs, lots of smiles, lots of good company and good conversation.

Our good friend Brian came over to have Thanksgiving with us also. He has made it to Mama and Daddys every year for a long time now.

Believe it or not, all the leftovers are gone. We distributed them over everyone at Mama and Daddys and we had our leftovers throughout the day so they are gone. It sure was good, all of it.

Well enough chatter, here are some pictures I took over at Mama and Daddys yesterday. Do you ever notice I am not in any pictures...lol. It is because I am always the one that takes the pictures.

I will be honest with you too, I dont like having my picture taken. So really it all works out. ;)

Okay...heres the pictures.

 

 

 

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Here is Erin making the salad fresh.

 

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From left to right: Brian, Mike, Erin, Mama, Daddy, Shelby, and Ian.

 

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Ian and Shelby

 

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Mike

 

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Brian

 

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Mama

 

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Daddy

 

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One more of Erin.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

First Day Of The DSL Life

Good morning! Life is GOOD, yes it is.

I made my first video this morning, would you like to see it?

Usually Phoenix pushes out of the top of his covers...but today was different of course.

Here he is wishing you all a very GOOD MORNING!

 

 I hope this works, I am still learning so bear with me please!

 

Ohhhh that worked SO good! This is so cool. :)

I do wonder why it was kind of grainy. I may need to consult my camera directions on how to refine that if I can.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Wow, like night and day

There is no comparison. DSL ROCKS! I cannot begin to express the freedom that I feel. All my frustrations of waiting my life away for pages to load have been lifted. There is nothing like it. Simply amazing.

I am going to attempt to make a video of Phoenix waking up tomorrow morning and post it here.

I went back and watched all of Dads (Tomato Garden) videos...all the while sitting there SMILING. :) I so enjoyed hearing his voice and listening to him talk. I am seeing him for the first time as dial up would always cut me off before any video could completely load. I sure did enjoy them all.

Its only nine thirty now, but I am tuckered out and I want to get up early and get my coffee going and get on here and see just what I can get into now that I am on DSL. This is going to be so much fun. :)

Night night everyone...sleep tight, dont let the bedbugs bite. ;)

Life is GOOD.

Grandmamas Bad Mood

I know this is my third entry today. I just have a mind full of things I want to talk about I guess. I have days when my mind is totally out to lunch for the day...but today is not one of them.

My Grandmama and Mama talk every Sunday on the phone. It is no secret that my grandmama can be very difficult at times, very acidic, somewhat venomous. Some Sundays she is very sociable and they have a good talk. But when it is bad, it is very very bad. This past Sunday was a pretty bad one.

Those two do not talk politics. It makes for a bad time. That was one thing that Grandmama was determined to spout off about. Mama finally told her she sounded like a sound byte for Fox News. We all know that Fox News Channel is republican television. Mama said she wanted to tell her she didnt have enough money to be a republican, but she didnt go there. She had already taken offense and claimed Mama was calling her names. She said NO NO NO, dont you go there, I said YOU SOUND LIKE A SOUND BYTE. She said "I was not calling you names."

Then Grandmama got on the subject of the holidays. She told Mama that everyone was busy around the nursing home getting their hair done and packing to be picked up and taken to visit their families. Then out of the blue she says to Mama,

"I guess I wouldnt be welcome at your table."

?????? Why would she say something like that. I don't know. She is just a bitter angry woman most of the time. Mama said she didnt know why she would say such a thing, that she is always welcome. But the fact is, she is not transportable. Well, I guess we could, BUT. We would have to rent a van with a wheelchair lift. We would have to drive for two and a half hours there, two and a half hours back, in that van. There is the cost of the van, the cost of gas. You see, she has no concept of what things cost. We are not the rich family she seems to think we are. None of us can afford to do this kind of thing. Besides, her newly found son should be doing things like this. He is right there IN TOWN and so Mama is going to be straightforward with him and his wife and explain the situation. Maybe he can rent a van with a lift and bring her to their house for Christmas dinner or something. I dont know. She cant walk, much less stand. For a while we would lift her up and it was terrible on my back because it is just dead weight, she cant help at all. Lifting her up out of that chair and putting her into a vehicleis very hard on her and me. Daddy cant do it, and Mama sure cant. That is why I think renting a van with a lift would be best.

I understand that if I was in Grandmamas position I would get lonely...and that might even make me mad. I would try not to lash out at the only family that gave a hoot about me even after all I had put them through though. Good grief.

She started in talking to Mama about her friend she has there at the home. She said a lot of families bring food almost every day to their relatives in there because the food in there is horrible. Her friends daughter has started to bring Grandmama dinner along with her own mothers dinner. Mama thought that was really nice of her. Grandmama said she felt like a charity case. Mama tried to explain to her that sometimes we need to just graciously accept when someone does nice things for us. Well Grandmama told her she has already told her friend to tell her daughter not to be bringing her food anymore. I said well thats RUDE. That is how Grandmama sees things though. She doesnt think what she did was rude at all. We all know that it probably made her friends daughter feel bad.

Grandmama was on a roll this past Sunday. She almost always asks Mama if I am STILL homeschooling Shelby. She will tell her yes but wont go into a big argument over it all because Grandmama has no concept of the real world today. She thinks I should throw Shelby to the wolves (wolves being bullies, thugs, etc) because it would toughen her up. Does she not watch the news? Kids disappearing left and right. Locally here in Cobb County two 8 year old boys and a 9 year old boy took an 11 year old girl into the brush and raped her. The neighbors reported seeing them all playing together earlier that day. Kids bringing guns and knives to school with intent to use them on others. No, no thankyou.

She believes that Shelby will suffer because she doesnt interact with other kids enough.

Guess what. That is just a plain old myth. Why do I say this?

Because there is proof this is not so. It would be one thing for me to say that she is more outgoing now, but Erin pulled me aside and said,

"I thought Shelby was shy?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

" Well soon as Mike and I came through the door she was eager to show me her new High School Musical PS2 game where you sing in the mike with the game and all that, and she was singing and dancing away in front of us. In front of Mike even, and she had never met him".

I said." Yes, she is much more confident and outgoing and creative these days. I think it is because she has been allowed to be herself and does not feel the pressure of pushy upstart kids in public schools and she has never fit in with regular kids. She has always been more mature so it made it awkward for her."

As the evening wore on and we went out to eat Erin watched her the rest of the night and was just so impressed and surprised at how Shelby was.

Makes me proud. Makes me know that I made the right decision.

WOW..I got way off track. Back to Grandmama.

Mama suggested we go down in December to visit. I said that was fine. But then she decided to talk to Paul first. She thinks that Paul should step up and do some things with her for the holidays since he is closer. We will see how this holiday season pans out.

 

Sherrys Visit on Saturday

I didnt think that Sherry and I were going to be able to get together this past weekend. I was already set for disappointment. She has waited until the last minute to tell Kelly what she had planned. When she did finally tell him it was right before bed Thursday night and I guess he didnt have time to give it a lot of thought and just said okay. The next morning he was asking questions.

Why does Kelly want you to come up so bad? (well, she wants to come up BAD too! Duh.)

When are you going to come back?

I wanted to go hunting on Sunday too (I dont THINK so buddy)

Guess I will just eat Fruity Pebbles all weekend. (Sherry said OKAY, if thats what you want to do...lol.)

You get the idea...poor pitiful him.

Sherry even arranged for Kelsey to spend the night with Patsy (Sherrys aunt) on Friday night so that Kelly could get up on Saturday morning and go hunting. But he is just pitiful. Doesnt want her to ever go anywhere. She really really needed the break. By the time it was time to take her back home you could have poured her into a glass like molasses she was so relaxed!

**********************************************************

I have had the same cell phone number for 8 years now. Sherry still doesnt know it. She was supposed to call me Thursday night late and tell me it was all a "GO". I got no phone call and was disappointed. I waited until about noon on Friday and finally couldnt stand it anymore. I called her. She answered the phone like nothing was going on out of the ordinary. I couldnt understand it! So I just came out and asked her why she never called me last night.

Well...long story short...she left SOMEBODY a message that everything was planned and she was ready to go for the next day. Wasnt me, cause she dialed a three instead of a four as the third digit. Oooopps.

Being as it was already noon and I was going to have to drive Ians little car down there and I didnt want to get caught out in the dark we opted for me to come and get her early Saturday morning. I am sure Kelly was happy to see she was not already gone Friday night when he got home.

***********************************************************

Saturday morning I got up at 4 am and headed out on the road by six. I was cussing that little car. I felt like a sardine in a go cart! I can't remember if I said what he drove, but he has a Mazdaspeed...its an MX5, a souped up Miata. I dont care, it is so cramped. I hated it. I was a nervous wreck for about the first hour of the drive until it got light out then I started to get used to the car and relax.

I got to her house around nine...we took off and stopped for lunch in LaGrange. Did a lot of talking, catching up. 

Erin called me while we were on the road.Mike and her were about to eat at the Waffle House in Powder Springs...that is about an hour from my house. She wanted to know what I was doing because they wanted to come visit. Remember now, I have never actually met Mike, only talked to him on the phone a couple of times.

I told her I was still at least an hour and a half from home. Long story short I called Shelby and told her to be listening and looking out for them because more than likely they would get there before Sherry and I.

We got there about twenty minutes after they did.

LOL..he is NOTHING like I expected. I wish I had thought to get a picture of the two of them. I will make a point of that at Thanksgiving dinner.

So we talked and hung out. Sherry was tuckered out and went upstairs and took a nap. That being pregnant takes its toll on a body.

Ian got home around four thirty and to my amazement they were still hanging out at my house. Guess I am not so boring after all..lol.

We had plans to take Sherry out to Catfish Den over in Hiram..and Erin and Mike seemed to be getting hungry for supper so I invited them to go with us.

It was actually very NICE! We all sat around talking and joking, eating, having a good ole time. After supper they headed out for home and we did the same.

**********************************************************************

After visiting for the day with Sherry, I noticed that she has changed a lot. She had her some fake nails on. A new hairdo. Always with the make up. Dressier clothes. Kind of girly now I guess you could say. Nothing wrong with that. Just different.

When I took Erin, Mike, and Sherry out to give them a tour of all the animals Sherry turned up her nose and said, "Ewwww...shoooeeeee it smells out here!"

:( Ummmmm its a farm. We have over a hundred chickens, two pigs and a horse. What goes in, must come out, and it is going to smell like poop. Especially if that poop has become damp from the morning dew and not dried out yet. Just the way it is. I do try to hay down areas of dirt. I put shavings down in the chicken house..but there is going to be some smell...its a FARM.

She couldnt take it and went inside. I was kind of disappointed at this. She used to not be so girly. Erin and Mike took it all in stride and enjoyed seeing all the animals. They went out front afterwards and wiped a poop or two that got stuck on the bottom of their shoes without any complaints.

Derby tested Erins pockets. He knows we dont carry treats. He gave up on that a long time back. A new person though, they might have something! She had on some tight jeans and couldnt shuffle her pants with his lip so he ended up nipping her. I told her if he does that she needed to whack him on the nose and tell him no. He is not allowed to mouth anyone. Its just not safe, it leads to nipping and biting. NO mouthing. She said she wasnt going to do that. I said Well, your gonna get bit then.

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Thats about it for Saturday..I will do an entry about Sunday seperate from this one.

Here is a picture of Sherry holding Bonnie. You can see Bonnie is enjoying it very much as she lays her neck and head out on Sherrys arm. Sherry was just so surprised that chickens love to be held and petted. We all love to be loved. :)

 

 

PB190013

Buzzbomb...and..maybe some babies?

PB200005

Good Tuesday mornin'. :) This morning I thought I would do an entry on the first of five new birds I have had for several weeks now. They are not very handleable so I will be working with them a lot over the next few months to get them accustomed to it and not be so afraid of people. The ones I have chosen to show in February will get special attention so if the judges want to handle them it won't be a problem.

I must have taken over fifty pictures yesterday afternoon trying to get a good shot of this little man posing in the classic Serama position. It took some doing, but we finally managed to work together and get it done. I still think he can puff that chest out more than he is showing, I know he can. I have seen him do it.

I held him for a while and scratched all a chickens favorite spots, talking to him soothingly. Petting and stroking him, touching around his face slightly getting him used to being handled. It will take awhile, he is a wild one. That is one reason his name is so appropriate. He is the smallest of the three roosters I got from the older gentleman (you remember the story, what a time I had getting those birds).

I have discovered something. If I am not careful I am going to have a house full of "house chickens" that are all vying for my attention. I know that I need to tame down these new birds, but I really need to be careful. You see, these little ones, they sneak their way into my heart and then BAM it hits me, I have another little clingy cuddly bird. That makes it very very hard to keep them out in a pen and not closer to me, like the way Phoenix, Bonnie and Clyde are, being on the porch during the day and coming in at night. Yes, yes. Bonnie and Clyde are coming in at night too. I don't go as far as putting them in a pillow tent with covers like Phoenix though. Only Phoenix gets that special treatment. Bonnie and Clyde have indeed found their way into my heart almost as deep as Phoenix is. I will sit in the rocking chair in the evening and all three will end up on me at times. All three lined up in a bundle on my chest, snuggled down. I just smile and tell them they are my little babies.

I am so excited that I will be able to show video of their evening antics when they come in at dark for their wheat bread and juice or water. I can show so much more now, so you can really get a feel for their personalities.

I have a little surprise. The two new Serama hens have been laying regularly. One went broody. Now I ordinarily don't do any hatching or buying in the winter. I have to have some down time for the holidays. There is plenty to do for the holidays. Well...I am letting that hen set on those eggs. I am going to see if the old tale of hatching in winter will breed smaller birds. I will probably be bringing the babies in once they are hatched because even with the heat lamps I don't know if it would be warm enough. I put an enclosed rectangular nesting box in yesterday with fresh hay and put all the eggs into the cubby hole and showed the MAD hen where her eggs were now. I closed her up in there for the night to make sure she gets settled back down on those eggs. I believe she is setting on about 7 or so eggs.

The others have not been named, but his stuck out in my mind right away.

He is so hyper and so quick...so I named him Buzzbomb...BB for short.

Here in the picture above you see him in a classic Serama pose.

(Please excuse the porch floor, the carpet had not been vacuumed yesterday)

 Okay Andy...now you know I did this entry first this morning just for you since you got onto me for not doing enough chicken entries...;)

Here is one more of BB in a pretty good pose...

 

 

PB200006

Monday, November 19, 2007

Its Monday...

I have had a busy day today and haven't had a lot of time to get to sit down and get an entry done like I want. I was pretty darn tired and fell straight into bed last night after coming through the door at about 10:30 p.m. and slept a little late this morning. House is cleaned up, laundry is a going, school has been in session for some time now, dishes are done, everything that needs doing is done or being done, but Ian will be home in about thirty minutes so I dont really have time to make a thought our proper entry.

I do have some GREAT news! DSL has come to Polk County!!!! No more slow loading and getting cut off. I can now make videos of the chickens, or Tip herding, or whatever I might want to show and I can also watch everyone elses videos without hesitation! I am just so happy!

Our hardware and whatnot is supposed to arrive in the mail on Wednesday. With Thanksgiving coming up I imagine Ian won't get around to putting everything into place until Friday when he is off. Hopefully it will all be a simple uncomplicated process and we can get back online in no time.

I know a lot of you have DSL...and I am not sure how this all works. I know my new email address will be a Bellsouth address, but can I keep my AOL email and journal for free? Right now we are paying ten dollars a month. Sorry, I am just not savvy on how this works. I of course want to keep IMing, so I will have AIM. I want to keep my journal, and I know a lot of you journal with AOL but dont have AOL service. I just dont want to lose what I use every day.

How does it all work? Do you use the DSL, and can still sign on to AOL journals and mail and still be going at DSL speed? Did that make any sense?

AOL is not staying connected more than a few minutes at a time this afternoon so I am not going to try and load any pictures on this entry today. I will be doing good to get this off of Wordpad and onto an entry page! Sure will be nice to race through the internet at high speeds in a few days. I am just so happy about getting DSL. :)

I am slowly catching up on everyones entries. You know how it is if your gone a few days. I will catch up just in time to fall behind again for the holiday! LOL.

I have lots I want to tell about this past weekend. I think I will take some time and type it up on wordpad into several entries so it wont be so long though. Maybe I can sneak in one tonight before bed and one in the morning. Have to just see. Time to go outside for a bit now...hope everyone is having a nice Monday. We are having some very mild temps in the seventies today with a breeze, feels pretty good out there.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Sherry is coming for sure

Long story...but I am going to get her tomorrow morning early...will fill in the details later...so I will be gone from now til Monday...

Y'all all have a good weekend...see you next week with pictures and stories to tell about our visit. :)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Mate Meme

The Mate Meme

1. Who is your mate?
Ian (said with a long 'I' sound not a long 'E' sound)

2. How long have you been together?
Dated one year, lived together two, been married for 17 years now.

3. How long dated?
Oops, already answered that above.

4. How old is your mate?
40

5. Who eats more?
Depends on what we are eating. ;)

6. Who said "I love you" first?
Me

7. Who is taller?
he is..he's 6'4"

8. Who sings better?
I love to hear him sing "Paint Me A Birmingham" He sounds just like Tracy Lawrence. Makes me swoon. I think I sing pretty good too.

9. Who is smarter?
 He is, he knows a lot more Math than I do!


10. Whose temper is worse?
Mine

11. Who does the laundry?
Me

12. Who does the dishes?
Me

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Me

14. Who pays the bills?
He does, and he can have them!

15. Who has bigger feet?
He does.

16. Who has longer hair?
He does!

17. Who is better with the computer?
He is.

18. Who mows the lawn?
Me

19. Who cooks dinner?
Me
 
20. Who drives when you are together?
Me

21. Who pays when you go out?

He makes the money, he pays.

22. Who is most stubborn?
Me

23. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?
me

24. Whose parents do you see the most?
Mine


25. Who kissed who first?
I probably kissed him first...lol.

26. Who asked who out?
I asked him out!

27. Who proposed?
He did

28. Who is more sensitive?
He is

29. Who has more friends?
Its about the same on each side.

30. Who has more siblings?
me, he is an only child, I have one full sister and one half sister

31. Who wears the pants in the family?
We both do.
 
Picture of HIS hair!!!! LOL
 
 

P9250248

One of Shelbys Talents

I want to talk about cartoons. I want to tell you about Shelby and cartoons. Some cartoons today are not worth a dime, but some are entertaining...maybe that is the way it always was. Todays cartoons are nothing like the ones I grew up with. Bugs Bunny, Popeye, all those Saturday morning cartoons.

Shelby has a favorite cartoon called Ying Yang Yo. You wouldnt believe it. There are websites for any and all television shows. You can write your own stories and post them chapter by chapter on one site. This could be any show from Heroes, to Smallville, to a cartoon series you like. Shelby has frequented this site for a while now. She was not old enough to be a member of DeviantArt at the time. You have to be thirteen. She is now, so she has made a lot of friends on that site. Kids draw and show their art off on the site. There is a message board, all that.

I have been thinking about something. I think Shelby has a talent. I think we should submit these ideas to someone qualified to do something with what she has done.

She has made characters...based on the way Ying Yang Yo characters are drawn. These are totally new, just with the idea of the style of drawing. She has made up totally fictitious characters...she has taken real people and made them into a cartoon character of this style of drawing. She made an awesome one of her friend Tiffany, but gave it to her before we had a copied picture of it. I hate that, as it was really good. She can draw and redraw these characters so it is not a one time shot kind of thing. Now this is the neat part. She has made up whole scripts of these characters interacting, a story if you will. She has also written a book, chapter by chapter of one of her first characters, first manifesting in her mind, then onto paper later as a drawing.

What do you think about that. My side of the family has always been very artistic. My own Mama writes stories. I was never good at anything like poems or stories, although the talent of drawing was prominent.

Shelby has her own style of drawing talent. If you asked her to draw a scene, or draw a horse, to look 'real', she may have trouble with that. But cartoon characters..well she is really something else. Even before all of this she made puppets of made up and real characters from this cartoon. She took small brown paper sacks, like lunch bags. She cut out all the features, like ears, legs, arms, etc and pasted them onto thesack...she drew their face features and pasted them on there.

Shelby is an only child. Being an only child has made her fiercely independent. She likes company from time to time, but prefers her own company most of the time. When she was a toddler I would play with her a lot...but as time went on, I felt like I was more and more in the way of her wanting to play her way. So I backed off and let her come to me when she felt like she wanted someone to play with her. I think being left to her own devices, left to think without interruption, to create without outside influence, has been good for her, she has other talents besides this. I think she has the potential to be a real singer. She has a strong beautiful voice when she is belting out the tunes alongside Miley Cyrus AKA Hanna Montana playing on her stereo. But for today...I am talking about this talent.

Take a look at what has come from her imagination.

 

Shelby 055

Above you see some of her favorite pop singers she has transformed into cartoon characters from her own imagination.

Below you see herself transformed...

 

Shelby 047

Below you see she has taken the characters from High School Musical and turned them into her version of them as cartoon characters...

 

Shelby 054

Next here below we have her three totally made up characters that she has written an actual book, with chapters...and adventure book...

 

Shelby

She admits that she mostly likes to draw cats and foxes as her characters...but here she strayed from that and made an alligator charactor...

 

Shelby 045

Below is another totally made up wolf character. Notice most of her previous drawings are of girls...this one is a boy.

 

 

Shelby 046

Thursday Babble

What a change in the weather from the past weeks. It is getting light out, barely...but I can see that it is clear skies. I heard THUNDER last night. I think we may have gotten a little rain sometime in the night too. I loved the sound of the rolling thunder...it was soothing to me as I drifted off to sleep last night.

I talked to Sherry yesterday for a little while. She still didn't talk to Kelly about coming up. She said she had to go into work as he was coming home on Tuesday so there was no time to really get into it. She did say she called Patsy (her aunt) to see if maybe she would keep Kelsey on Friday night and that way Kelly could still go hunting on Saturday morning. (I say this as I roll my eyes) After he gets done with his fun he will go and pick Kelsey up from Patsy and take care of her Saturday night. I personally think Kelly should keep her both nights. I dont care if she is a pain to keep or not, it IS his daughter.

A little friend of Kelseys was telling Sherry something to the effect that her daddy spent a lot of time with her and took her places to do stuff together a lot. Kelsey replied that her daddy never spent time with her, that he was always spending his time with his friends and didnt take her anywhere. How sad huh.

Sherry was beside herself yesterday. She is not getting good rest. Kelsey is constantly wanting to go here or do this. Sherry described her as never being STILL. Makes me so thankful that Shelby was always a calm easy going child...still is.

I am supposed to call her again today and we will see if everything is going to go through and I will be able to go down on Friday morning and get her. I sure hope so, she really needs to get away for a couple of days and refresh herself. I told her to be thinking about what she wanted for supper on Friday and Saturday. I said whatever you want, I will cook it, you just tell me what you want. She got pretty excited about that. I told her to think about it and let me know today seeing as I will be making out the grocery list for today.

Okay, enough about all that...I want to talk about chickens. I want to...but I dont really have any new material! LOL. I have really got to get out there and bring each new Serama in for a good picture of each, but I reckon it wont be today. The only thing that happened new was one ofmy newer waterers has a leak so I replaced it with an old one, a design I dont like much, til I can get a new one at Tractor Supply today.

You know how it is. Sherry could care less if my house is clean and the yard is picked up, but I still want to do it. I want her to have fresh clean sheets on the bed upstairs for her. I want the porch to be all nice and neat and vacuumed of hay and shavings dragged in so we can sit out there and have coffee and talk and relax. So, I still have some things to do today before I go out this evening with Ian and Shelby. We havent gone out to eat before going to Walmart for groceries in a while now. Ian suggested we go to Red Lobster where they were having the Endless Shrimp, but of course that ended a couple of days ago..so that is out. I told Shelby I dont care where we go, I just want to get out of cooking...;)

Well its daylight now...time to get crackin'! I hope everyone is having a nice morning. I am so far. I think I will do that meme that is going around about your significant other.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Side Tracked and Off Course

Okay...I know I am not the only one that does this...speak up if you do what I have done today.

I was going to dust the birds...really I was.

Somehow I got sidetracked into cleaning the tile over the tub and scrubbing the tub out...then I thought..hmmm I need to get down there and scrub those baseboards...but then...

I went upstairs and finished vacuuming first, taking a break from the bathroom cleaning.

After vacuuming I see a nick nack shelf I got a while back in a yard sale leaned up over in the corner of Shelbys bedroom. I have been meaning to put it up and redistribute all her nick nacks as they look really jammed up on the three shelves they are on.

I get Shelby to get my tool kit and my miscellaneous bag of screws and hooks, stuff like that.

(Yeah, I know, what happened to dusting the chickens? Or how about that bathroom waiting on me downstairs?)

I put the shelf up...looks good. Start redistributing and dusting everything...looks good.

Hmmm how about this. "Shelby go downstairs and get that nick nack shadow shelf thingie I got in that yard sale thats sitting in the corner of the living room"

Okay, lets put all her horses on this...that looks good..but wait, how about that little nick nack shelf with the dragons on it...we need to move that. Okay, did that.

Dust the bedroom...strip the sheets and bedcovers off the bed.

What? You are asking me what happened to the bathroom...well, its 3:30...and I think I will go on outside and get the animals fed and watered early...and I am sure something else will come up that I find to do out there...to distract me from finishing the bathroom.

Can you tell I had good intentions? LOL.

As I go down the stairs with the vacuum and dust oil and rag in hand I notice the pictures of Shelby cascading down the stair wall need dusting...better go do that before I feed and water...nah...

it is going to be dark at six o'clock. I can do it then.

Oh yes, all this and Shelby did get her schoolwork in, along and along I sat and we did some new math...starting algebra. Back and forth, back and forth...got the clean dishes out, dirty dishes in, except there are too many, they dont all fit...

What? You think I am scatterbrained? Unorganized? Well yes, yes I am. ;)

Okay, well...now, have any of you gotten everything and nothing done all day like this?

;)

Bugs Gone, Sherry Coming

Good Tuesday morning. How are we all feeling today? Ian woke up achy and tired, said if there was ever a day to call in (which he NEVER does, so I dont know why he says this) it would be today. I know I can always use more sleep so I feel for him. Maybe that is why I stayed up this morning after he left so I could suffer with him? ;)

Yesterday evening when the little ones came in I checked for little nasties on their bodies. All gone. They all ran for the hills screaming in agony or died running because there was nothing there, not a trace of any bug on their little chicken bodies. I checked Phoenix over again, no bugs. BUT, Shelby took Twiggy out to see him yesterday. I took him from her right away...paranoid me. Yep, dang it, bugs. So Twiggy, Thelma, and Louise will all be dusted today. I don't understand how this happened, these birds are in a pen seperate from the yard area. So, I reckon everyone, and I mean everyone...will get dusted. It is going to be a long process, but I will get it done. This has happened before, in the Fall. Always when the birds are migrating, like blackbirds flocking in huge numbers and landing in the pasture areas. The crows become more prevalent in the Fall too. All these birds carry lice and mites and my birds pick them up from them. Just part of having chickens. I have always had to dust from time to time when things like this happen. So here I go..dusting pens and dusting around a hundred birds. Has to be done.

I talked to Sherry yesterday evening. It seems her family is driving her insane. It doesnt help that she cant take her meds and she is pregnant. Kelsey is driving her to the brink not minding, not listening, getting into trouble at school. Kelly set her off the other day by making a mean comment about her son. I don't care who you are, Mama bears claws come out if you talk about thier kids in a bad way. Just the way it is. Doesnt matter if you are right or wrong. Besides, it wasnt doing anybody any good to say mean things, just upset everyone. She is ready to get away for a couple of days. Kelly still hasnt looked at her car. So....

Instead of taking my behometh gas guzzling truck to get her I will take Ians car. Oh man, I hate to drive his car. He has a MX5 MazdaSpeed. Yes it is cute, yes it is a buzzbomb of a car, convertable..but it is SO small and so low to the ground. I feel like I am going to get run over at any moment. Plus it is a six speed. I am SO done with shifting gears and pushing clutches in. BUT, it gets thirty miles to the gallon as opposed to mine which sucks gas at thirteen miles to the gallon, and that is on a good day. I told Sherry I would come to get her in his car and he could take the truck to work that day. THAT I can afford. I will be taking back roads for sure though. Highway 27 all the way baby. No interstate for me.

She starts telling me that Kelly isnt going to like it. He says he HAS to go hunting at least once on the weekend. BULLDOODY. He can suck it up and keep their heathen kid for the weekend like a Daddy should. She never asks for much, and she needs some time to herself to relax. She cant even get him to take the child for an icecream so she can take a shower in peace. She said maybe she should wait til the last minute to tell him. Why would you do that I asked. I would think giving him advance notice would be the thing to do so he can prepare to spend the weekend with his daughter. She said she is afraid if she tells him now that he may try to sabatoge her plans. WHAT??? I said you tell him you are going to take a couple of days off as MOM and WIFE because if you dont there is going to be an explosion. She NEEDS to relax for a couple of days. I am supposed to call her back on Wednesday to confirm plans to pick her up on Friday, so we will see.

Anybody getting any rain today? I wonder if we will be getting some here in the next day or so. Weather guessers say a twenty percent chance tomorrow.

Here is a picture I took last year around this time of year...just so you can see how many black birds we are talking about that come through. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday...I am going to do my best to have a good one, y'all do the same. :)

 

P1030041 P1030048

 

Monday, November 12, 2007

The Weekend/Bonnie and Clyde

This weekend was a nice quiet one, and I for one loved it. I kept telling Ian on Saturday night how nice the evening was. We were just sitting there, watching tv, I was cutting up this and that for my sausage and chicken gumbo soup I was making. He asked me why I liked it so much. I told him because...because he was home, Shelby was home, we were all home and nobody was coming over, we didnt have to be anywhere and there was just no pressure at all. I just felt so calm and at ease..it was a blissful feeling and I liked it very much. He just gave a big smile back at me because he understands what I am saying and feels it too.

Sunday I did something that I have been meaning to do for quite some time now. I don't know what genius decided to spray paint the stovetop white to match the cabinets...(original color is a light beige) but they had a pea for a brain...thus making them yes, a peabrain. I guess they never used the dang stovetop. I wouldn't be surprised as they both worked and their toddlers were in daycare...so I guess thats why the paint never chipped. Maybe they painted it for looks right before they put the house up for sale. I dont really know. All I know is it was coming off..fleck by fleck. The heat from using the oven or the stovetop was weakening the paint and everytime I would wipe it down little flecks came off. It was looking really rough. I got out a couple of razor blades and went to work. A couple of hours later I had a nice new looking shiny light beige stovetop. I lined the crumb catchers under the burners with fresh tinfoil ( I DO miss my ceramic glass top stove) and it looked good as new. I called Ian in to show him how good it looked and the first thing he says is

"It doesn't match the cabinets."

I said, "SO??? It matches the paint on the walls!!!"

He just shook his head, laughed softly and walked off as he told me it looked much better now.

WELL IT DID, it DID look better! LOL.

I went outside til dark and played around. Feeding, watering, scrubbing out some waterers that were a little dirty looking. Everybody looks good. Nobody is suffering from the cold, thank goodness. We are going to have a warm week this week. I for one welcome it. I will enjoy it to its fullest.

Oh I forgot, three movies came from Netflix so we watched The Reaping. I have had that on the list waiting to be released forever. I saw the previews for that and wanted to see it right away. I was not disappointed. It was VERY GOOD!

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Last night I called the little chickens in after it got dark. I can open Phoenix's pen door up and he comes right on in. He is so funny about the division of the kitchen floor and the living room floor. He always has to HOP over, and sometimes give a little flight over from the slick kitchen floor to the carpet. What a strange bird. I opened Bonnie and Clydes door up and told them they needed to start coming in on their own. I usually pick them up and carry them in. Clyde took his cue and flew out onto the porch floor and came on in. Bonnie of course being the woman that she is stood at the door of their little house and complained that no one was coming to get her...so I came and got her of course. ;)

Everyone had their wheat bread and fresh apple juice. Bonnie is always first to come up and settle down onto my chest. Clyde tends to wait awhile and lingers at the watering hole for a long time, sipping his drink, really enjoying it. Phoenix complains, starts whining to Ian that I am holding Bonnie, and he is jealous about it. So he hops up onto Ian for a while instead of me. Clyde comes on up after a little longer and settles in with Bonnie. I let them sit with me for about ten minutes, long enough for them to get settled down good and then I put them into their carrier for the night. It gets too cold for them at night. They are teeny tiny you know. A lot smaller than Phoenix.

As I lifted them up off of my white tank top...I saw a speck of something dark...same color as their feathers..not unusual really..until it moved. Hm...now these things happen. I expect birds out in pens and in the yard to pick up bugs from time to time, but why had these two gotten bugs? They have never been out in the yard and are confined to their new house in the porch or indoors in the carrier for the night. I squashed whatever it was with a look of disgust on my face. Ian noticed me doing this and asked what was going on. I told him they had bugs! How did they get bugs??? He just said, "Well, sometimes things like that happen." But how? I dont know, but I am a bugaphobic when it comes to fleas, ticks, lice, mites, whatever. Nasty nasty!

Luckily it is a fairly easy process to rid any of the birds of these parasitic pests. All that is needed is some Sevin dust, or some variation of. I cleaned out their house, dusted the house and all its cracks and crevices (mites will get off the birds during the day and crawl into the cracks and crevices of the wood to hide, then come out at night), put down fresh shavings..and went and got Bonnie and Clyde. Set them down into a box so I wouldnt be spreading the dust everywhere and used a little shaker to put some in my hand and dusted under wings and on their butts. That should do it. No problem. I took the carrier apart, cleaned it real good and disposed of the old shavings, put in some new for tonight.

I am keeping a close eye on Phoenix. He didnt have any buggies...but he is on the to be watched closely list..lol. I dont want to dust him if I dont have to.

Okay, time to go start supper and wrap things up around here. Ian will be home soon and I want to be done with my chores...y'all have a good Monday...see you tomorrow. I didnt get the pictures of the new birds...yet. I will get around to it though...I promise.

A couple of recent pictures of Bonnie and Clyde taken this month...

Relaxing on the floor..

 

 

 

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Veterans Day

I have been visiting everyone's journals this morning and seen so many wonderful tributes to the men and women that gave so much for us to have our freedoms that we have today. I just want to add my "Thankyou" to all that have served. I cannot imagine what it is like to have to go through what these men and women went through and still go through today, but I am thankful that they have and continue to be there for us all here in the United States of America.

I don't know of anyone in my family that served in any of the wars. I know that seems odd, because it seems like everyone knows someone that is serving or has served. Remember when we went to visit our friends Kenny and Billie and their family? The reason they were having a get together was for Kennys son. He was shipped off to Iraq weeks ago now. Only 18 years old, a new baby and a new wife. I cannot begin to imagine having to leave all that he has here to go over there, but I am thankful for each and every one that has and does.

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I will not clutter this entry with my own personal thoughts of the wars in the Middle East. I only hope that what we are doing over there is worth the precious lives we have lost and the precious time of our men and women. That is all I will say.

GOD BLESS AND KEEP THEM ALL

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Ember

This is Embers story. Ember is gone now. A fox took her from us. Needless to say, the fox had a stroke of bad luck and I took him out of this world.

Remember the friend of Ians at his work that had given me the Silver Phoenix and the Aracuana mutts? His son raises game chickens. I do not keep or care to ever own games. They are supposedly very docile to humans but you get two roosters together and they will kill each other. If you have ever ridden by a place that has them you will see individual birds tethered to a small shelter for each. The hens can be fierce as well, especially if they have chicks. Well, his son had a hen he didnt want to keep. She was only half game. The other half of her was Rhode Island Red. I was a bit leary of getting her, but decided to go ahead and take her.

For anyone that doesnt know, it is very hard to introduce one hen to an established flock. That is why when I add layers to my free roaming flock I always add at least five so the focus on everyone reestablishing a pecking order is not on just one bird.

I picked her up from Ians work. The friend had brought her up and I was already out that way so I was anxious to get my new girl. She was the prettiest color. Shelby immediately named her Ember because she said the feathers around her neck looked like burning embers. The name stuck right away. She had not been handled a lot so she was wild as anything. I got her home and kept her quarantined for about two weeks in a pen on the screened in porch. This time also allowed me to have easy access to her and handle her more to get her settled down.

After I was sure she was healthy and fine I let her go out into the flock and watched. I figured having game in her would give her an advantage and she wouldnt put up with any nonsense. Days went by and things were not going as planned. The old girls were not accepting her into the flock. I took her out and she became the first real pet chicken I guess you could say. She was the precursor for having Mazda, and then Phoenix. Making be realize I could have a single chicken and as long as I gave them the attention and interaction they needed, they were fine with it. She was more than fine with it because she did not fit in nor did it seem she was ever going to fit in out in the yard.

Now here comes the funny and interesting part about Ember.

While we had already made our move to the country...the old house was stillon the market and almost every weekend we had to come and do more repairs or painting, things that need doing to a house being sold. We would spend the night on Saturday night at my parents that lived about twenty minutes from our old house.

This was before the pigs, before the horse...so all I did was stock up on the chickens feed and water so it would last the weekend and we were off and gone. They were all locked up tight still at this time remember because we had no farm fencing.

Well, we always took Tip with us...that was a given. What to do with Ember though? I didnt want her to have to be in that pen on the porch all weekend. So we took her with us. Every weekend we loaded up Ember, loaded up the dog and went on down. Ember would hang out at Mama and Daddys all day within the safety of the fenced in back yard. At first I would get her in in the evenings and put her in her pen we carried along with us so she could sleep safely. Eventually she had other ideas and decided she was going to start roosting in the tree in front of my Daddys shed. There was no way to get her down, she had made up her mind when dusk fell she was going to sleep in that tree, so we let her. Eventually she spent whole weekends without being caged at all in their back yard.

Now comes the funny part. I knew she was laying eggs regularly...but when we took her with us on these weekends I never could find any eggs anywhere. I just assumed that the travelling was a little stressful so she wouldnt lay those weekends. Mama and Daddys next door neighbors garage faces their house and they often leave it open. One evening I couldnt find Ember...it was getting late and she was not in the tree and not in the yard. I was in a bit of a panic and afraid she had run off. I went next door to ask if they had seen her..and as I walked into the garage something caught my eye. Their washer and dryer are in the garage. Therefore, there was a round basket of dirty clothes which I was told later is almost always there with something in it to be washed. Right in the middle of that basket on those dirty clothes sat Ember! She had been jumping the fence and laying her eggs in their baskets of dirty clothes! LOL! I knocked on the door and the neighbor lady came out and saw Ember sitting in the clothes too and we just laughed! The first thing she told me was she couldnt figure out why she kept finding eggs in her laundry basket. She thought some kids were trying to play a prank on heror something. So I told her she was welcome to have the eggs from Embers weekend eggscursions and eat them. She didnt even mind if Ember came over to visit. I was afraid she might not appreciate her visits, but she was okay with it.

A couple of months after this we acquired Hank. Hank is super special too. Hank and Ember became an item immediately. My biggest rooster and my smallest hen, a match made in heaven. Hanks story is next time...and we brought him to Mama and Daddys from a local feed store there...thats how I came to have him, just stopping in to say hello and get some things and they knew I would love to have this big ole Aracauna rooster. This was the first time Hank and Ember met. I will save this romantic story for next time though.

After we got Hank she got brave and with her strong handsome man next to her none of those bossy hens would bother her. She actually became very independent and anytime any of those hens tried to flare up at her she would not back down, she would always show them that she was boss.

I will never forget her last molt before we lost her. I have seen bad molts, but I had never seen a hen lose ALL her feathers. She was completely naked other than her upper neck and head. She looked ridiculous! Poor thing. It was getting colder at night so I decided to bring her in at night and put her in a deep box of hay so she would stay warm. She seemed to really appreciate that. When her feathers did start to grow back you could see those pins all starting to poke through the skin. She got really irritable. I would be too as I am sure this process was very uncomfortable and maybe even somewhat painful. Her plumage came back and she was more beautiful than ever though. I regret that I don't have more pictures of her than I do.

We still miss Ember very much...she was quite a character. There was definitely no other hen like her...she was really special.

 

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You can see on her left foot she has a little bent toe. She had that when we got her. Don't know why...but it never bothered her a bit.

Below is a picture of Ember with her man Hank.

 

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Friday Was Busy

Yesterday was a pretty full day. I got out and about around ten o'clock or so. I decided I would try the new Walmart in Rockmart since the one in Rome was really falling down on the job lately of having things that I use every week. Some things have been totally eliminated. They just arent carrying it anymore. I hate that sort of thing.

I had to get the lay of the land. I didnt know where anything was of course so I had to go slow and feel my way through. My list of what I need to get usually coincides with the course I take through the store, but this time it was a jumble since I didnt know where a thing was. I had a great time going through the store though. On their clearance aisle I found a bunch of packets for canning, clearanced at twenty five cents to fifty cents each! Packets for pickling cucumbers, bread and butter and kosher both. Packets for making salsa. Packets for making Spaghetti sauce. I used all these back during the summer. I just grabbed up the boxes of packets and took them all! For those prices I could afford to get all that was left, so I did. None of that stuff goes bad til like 2010.

It took me three hours...too much browsing I guess. I made it out of there around 1 oclock. Ingles had chicken breasts on sale for $1.88 a pound so I drove across the way and picked up some packs of that.

The new Walmart did not have my wire, or my staples. I HAVE to have these things. It is essential when having chickens. You are always stapling things back into place or wiring something down. I needed to get two 250 watt heat light bulbs, but the new one didnt carry that either. I did manage to get the heavy duty utility lamps I needed to hang, but no bulbs. Well, I say no bulbs...but they had the regular white ones...but I needed RED. Red allows the chickens to still sleep at night. Oh, that is what all this was for by the way. To keep the Serama warm at night.

So I still ended up heading up to Rome to get these things I mentioned. Not wanting to waste the trip I stopped in Tractor Supply and picked up some three way scratch and layer crumble along with a bag of Mini Pig Food. I shouldnt have to get feed for at least two weeks now, I hope. I usually get my chicken feed from an independent little feed store, but I was already closer to the TSC and wanted to pick up the pigs food too.

I was feeling pretty tired after running around here and there all day. It was rocking on 2:30. I was getting off of 411 onto my little exit to 101 and these guys in a SUV were honking at me. I perked up and looked around at them. They were grinning from ear to ear and the driver made a circular motion with his hand and arm, still grinning.

LOLLLL OHHHHHH

He wanted me to GET ON IT!

You see, most people will look at my truck and just think EH...it is a fancy looking Dodge 1500. But it isnt. People who KNOW engines, and KNOW trucks recognize mine for what it is. You see, my truck has a Viper engine in it. It is a V10 and it will outrun just about anything other than a fast sports car like a Viper, simply because my truck is heavier. I can't tell you how many people give a holler or a thumbs up, things of this nature to me.

Well that got me going, got me perked up. I slammed in Jason Aldeans CD with the first song being the Johnny Cash song and pulled out...and slammed the pedal to the floor, looking back to see if they were watching. There were. ;) When the truck hit second gear (it only comes in an automatic) it barked the tires for them.

I love showing off my truck. It is a powerhouse. When someone recognizes what it is I get pumped up. :)

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Okay, a few things. YES! Everyone, Paula, you and anyone else, lets go riding down those country back roads! Pile into the truck and lets GO. :)

Lisa, I did in fact work for Dominos when it was thirty minutes or less. The delivery area was smaller back then in the early 80s, and drivers werent allowed to take more than two seperate deliveries at a time. It was fairly easy to get it there. A pizza can be made from scratch in a couple of minutes. One person on dough, one person on sauce, a couple on toppings during peak busy times and it is in the oven in about two minutes. It comes out in about ten and into the box, cut and set up on the heat rack where drivers are waiting in line to go. Routed and out the door, they had plenty of time to get it there. At first it was thirty minutes or its free...then later it was just three dollars off. They got greedy and expanded the area and couldnt do it. With only three dollars to lose per delivery, drivers wanted more pizzas to deliver, more money, (commission) and more tips, if you could get the pizzas there fast and still hot. They changed it later to mileage instead of commission, but drivers still wanted to make as many runs as possible. I cant imagine trying to deliver anywhere now with gas prices being so high.

I have decided I am not going to talk about my sisters troubles anymore. It is too negative and draws out all of the positive energy I have, makes for a bad day...so that is all I am going to say on that. I said plenty enough.

Okay, I am going to make a nice entry about Ember now...and then I am off to clean this house all day today, downstairs today, upstairs tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Did anyone watch Animal Cops Houston on Animal Planet last night? Sheesh...worst case any of them had ever seen. 57 dogs seized, cats, horses, pigs, a cow. The place was a trash pile inside and outside. Junk everywhere. Standing room only for animals. Feces and urine was everywhere and these people were living in it. There was even two dead dogs IN THE HOUSE that they found, rotting away. There was everything from old sinks to whatever else you could imagine in the yard. Imagine a junk yard. It was so sad, but they got all the animals out and got them the care they needed and adopted out. The cow was so sweet looking, she went to a very good home it looked like.

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VVVRRRROOOOM COMIN ATCHA

 

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