Emu Pool?

Yesterday I drug the plastic baby pool John and Christi gave us for the emus to use since their dogs never seemed interested in using it to cool off.

Emus LOVE water when they are hot. I hose them down while they lay on the ground and flop around. I have a large plastic livestock waterer, feeder, whatever you want to call it. Only one emu at a time can fit in this, so the pool ought to be a lot of fun for three at once.

Here it sits...I filled it up...without any interest shown by the emus. Once it did catch their eye, they were curious, but very leery of it. I don't know why. So I dragged over their usual big pan and set it right next to the pool and filled it up, hoping this would encourage them to check things out more closely. Nope, that big yellow thing might get me they seemed to say. Last night I caught all three walking round and round the pool, cautiously dipping their beaks in it for a sip of water. I hope today at the warmest part of the day they will get in and I can catch them in it and take some pictures.

In the meantime...here sits the emu pool, empty for now.

 

Some pictures of the fraidy bunch...lol.

 

I never could get all three in the pictures at once, but I promise, I do have three. ;)

Fall Season Baby Surprise

Yesterday was a fine day to be outside. I sat around and watched chickens, took pictures(to be shown later), puttered about here and there. Just soaking up a Fall feeling day.

I kind of know these things are going to happen. Time just seems to slip by so fast and before you know it things have come to pass. Most of the time if someone gets to setting on eggs I will take them. This time..well, I just kind of never got around to it, and thats okay too. :)

I was doing a pass on the pens, making sure everyone had clean water and plenty of food. As I peek into Speckles harem pen...this is what I saw...

 

Here is a slideshow of Thelma and her three beautiful babies. This just makes me smile. Silkie moms are such wonderful dedicated mothers. If you remember, Thelma is one of the silkies I showed last February. None of the babies had bumps on their heads, so these are not Sultan/Serama (Speckles) mix. They are either silkie seramas, or possibly one of the eggs could have been Twiggys, the mixed little girl that is Shelbys chicken. I believe she is some sort of silkie/bantam cochin mix. Enjoy mom and babies. :) You will see proud daddy in a few of the pics, and an aunt Sultan in there too. MissTwiggy girl never let me take her picture though ;)

 

A short video of mom and babies

Slideshow of Pictures From Visit! :)

Saturday's Visit

Here it is Wednesday and I am finally able to make an entry about our visit to Ians dads and Christis house!

Monday the computer was not being very cooperative. Tuesday Photobucket was doing maintenance off and on all day. Rather than keep pushing it and trying to make things work I just walked away those two days. Today, everything seems to be working great, knock on wood.

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Ian, Shelby and I left out early Saturday morning and got us a big breakfast at Ryans in Hiram before hitting the road to Sharpsburg.

Thankfully, we had filled up the night before at Walmart in Rome. Get this. Now I have to get premium in the truck. We had a stroke of luck. Once we got out from buying groceries and getting a gas card to get three cents off the price it was discovered they were out of everything BUT premium. So, because thats all they had, they had to give it at the price of Regular! So, I got premium gas for regular price, which ended up being $3.76 a gallon. That is bargain today. Got to make that tank last a while, its like liquid gold isnt it?

Anyway, back to our visit. We pulled up with plenty of time for a full day ahead of visiting. After we got in and got relaxed I decided to pitch myself over a board they have in the doorway between the breakfast room and the kitchen. Yes yes, I am the worlds best at being a clutz. I knew it was there. I had been told it was there before. Darby can't get his feet up very well, he has trouble. This keeps him out of the rest of the house easily as its not hard for anyone else to step over, but it is for him. I went sprawling out on the kitchen floor. I did my shins up real good. Had to get both of them you know. It is a step up, and then also step over the board. I just stepped up for the step, not even paying attention to the board, so my foot caught on the board and over I went.

When you get older, and you fall, you dont get right back up. You just kind of lay there for a bit, contemplating how you got down there on the floor and observing how much pain your in at that moment. After a few minutes you finally get up, but you don't just spring back anymore.

Christi got two bags of ice and I sat there with my legs up on a stool with those bags on my bruised and battered shins. I really need to look where I am going better.

When asked in a joking manner why I did that...I just said,

"Well, I just wanted to go ahead and get that out of the way so I could get on with the rest of the day!" ;)

The dinner they cooked was wonderful. Fresh corn on the cob, fresh baked rolls (Christi bakes bread from scratch), potatoes all rotten, lol, thats augratin, but we like to say all rotton. They were cheesy too. Yum! Then there was the brisquet, which they were so worried it would not be as good as it caught fire, but it was fine. It didnt taste burned at all and it was so nice and crisp on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. Christi made this blueberry cake that was so moist and delicious for dessert.

Before we ate we went out to visit the dogs and see all the fencing that John had put up in the woods. The dogs have lots of room to run and spread out. It is a really nice set up.

We sat around and talked and just had a really good time. Christi has a lot of experience with giving animals shots and stuff and she is a nurse, so she and John are going to come over in about a month and she is going to show me how to give Derby his 5 way shot for the Fall season. We also left with a plastic baby pool for the emus. They had bought it for the dogs, but they just never seemed interested in using it to cool off in.

We left and got home just before dark. I fed te animals in the dark and kept the lights on around the outside since the chickens were all waking back up and coming out to eat. After I thought everyone had about finished I turned out the lights for the night. We hit the hay ourselves not too long afterward. It had been a full and fun day.

Here are some pictures from our visit. Tabasco is a beautiful scarlet maccaw, but he is not too keen on being held or petted. I did manage to hand feed him a few goldfish crackers. He is such a beautiful bird.

If I misplaced names of the dogs on the pictures I apologize right now. I tried to get it right though. If I didnt, Christi, just let me know and I can change the headers of the pictures. These dogs are so sweet and gentle. My favorite is Rebbie. He was just magnificent looking, and so sweet too.

Enjoy the pictures. :)

Unbelievable. While I was typing this out I was waiting on the pictures I had loaded onto photobucket to load into a slideshow so I could put it as a slideshow on here...but it is still loading...and you know why? I minimized that page, and went to photobucket on a new page, and it says they are doing maintenance AGAIN! GRRRRR! Well, I am sorry. As soon as they are done fiddling around I will post the slideshow. I will do it on a seperate entry so it will show up as a new entry.

In the meantime, we are going to start school. I will hopefully get those pictures up soon.

 

Time For The Weekend

It's finally here, the weekend. Ian has today, tomorrow and Sunday off so we are going to have a great weekend. We are going to visit his dad and Christi this weekend. Return the visit you might say. :) I have been told they are fixing brisquet on the grill....mmmmmmm! We are going to get to see all of Christi's fantastic dogs too. Its going to be a lot of fun.

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I hope everyone in Texas has battoned down the hatches and is going to stay safe. Paula is over that way. Paula you and John stay safe. Let us know you are okay after the storm has passed. Texas is usually pretty dry this time of year from what I gather, but they have had more than their share of rain and storms this year.

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After working hard on the pen and moving birds my momentum slowed. Just getting darker earlier and that cuts my time down. Yesterday was spent cleaning out waterers, getting everyone fed and watered. I made a chicken ramp for the moved chickens. They are not catching on to perching in that pen, so I am hoping the ramp will encourage them. At first I tried just placing the board in there from the ground to the perches, slanted, but the few that tried couldnt get a good foothold and were sliding backwards on it. I took some molding and cut it up into little pieces and found some carpet tacks I hadnt even opened from when I put the new carpet down in the screen porch and used those to fasten the little footholds all the way up. It seemed to work. I sprinkled some food on the ramp and two of the cochins caught on. I still don't know if they are really going to use the perches. Guess I better be putting some hay down on the ground in there to keep them all clean.

Yesterday I really wanted to work on getting a shelter pen built for the polish bunch, but it just didnt happen. Shelby woke up early and didnt feel well, so she went to lay down and take a nap. I caught up the laundry and dishes and picked up around the house a bit while she slept. This put us behind doing school so we didnt finish that til almost 5. We got it done though. Then there was only enough time to go out to feed and water the ones that needed it, then it was time to cook supper and Ian to be home. Just not enough hours in the day sometimes. I will get to it though, I always do.

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Today once Shelby and I have done school its a trip to get groceries and of course to Tractor Supply for the animals feed.

So, Sunday I will probably be outside puttering about. I did most of next weeks school planner this past week since we were going to be visiting this weekend. Since Ian is home I probably won't be posting anything til Monday.

Everyone have a very nice weekend and see yall on Monday. XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Work Work, All Week Long (Alan Jackson)

I did what I set out to do yesterday. It was not easy, and there was more work involved that I thought there would be, but it is done. That is the way it is with most things though, they always take longer than you think they will. Yesterday was no exception.

Now I fed my animals earlier in the day, I know I did. I remember, but they didnt seem to remember this. Everyone came to the gate, crowding in as tight as possible making it hard to squeeze in through the gate without stepping on chicken toes. After about fifteen minutes, most lost interest.

I went to tugging and pulling on the old pen I intended to repair and move to the other side of the pool deck. As I pulled and tugged, alternating one side, then the other, the bottom came loose from the dirt it had been enveloped in from sitting there for the past year or so. I kept up the alternating, pulling one side then the other all the way through the yard to the other side. Yep, it would have been easier if I had a hand so that it could just be lifted and carried, but I don't have a hand. Ian is at work and Shelby, I guess she could have helped, but I really don't like to burden either members of my family with my own self induced work. It didnt really matter too much anyway, the bottom on one side was rotted and fell apart into pieces but still clinging to the wire because of the staples hanging on. Three of the four corners at the bottom came loose from each other. The wood was soft from being in the ground so the screws didnt hold, they tore right out. Great...this was going to be more work.

Whenever I move things around, there are chickens waiting to see what I unearthed. That is fine, but a had a half dozen meandering about as I struggled to get the pen to where I wanted it. That was aggravating. Once I got the pen in place where I wanted more onlookers showed up. They were just sure I had food. I had a bucket, yes I did. But it had my new stapler (COOL Design! It is actually made backwards, will show that another time) A new roll of wire, a box of staples and wire cutters in it.

How many times does an emu or a chicken have to look in that same bucket to actually REMEMBER that there is NO FOOD in the bucket? I couldn't tell you, because they just kept looking for hours. Even when I was finished, picked up the bucket and went out of the gate, I had gawkers and followers, wondering if maybe somehow food was in that very bucket. Bird brains! LOL

It had already rained earlier in the day. George paid us a visit. This time he pushed open the screen door and came straight to the back door and scratched at the door! Guess he really needed some company. Shelby dried him off and I tried to call, but no one was home to come pick him up. Later I found out the reason he wasnt in his pen for the day was because Lisa (his owner) had let him out to do his business, and he went off somewhere and wouldnt come back. I always keep him on a retractable leash in transition from the house to the pen, always. I don't care to be chasing down a dog through the cornfield next door to their house. Shelby and I loaded George into the truck. He sat happily in between us in the front. We got him back down to his house. There was another storm coming, I had checked the radar. So I just put him in the house. I have a key to their house because they told me just to keep it since I am the one that takes care of George while they are away so much. This day it came in handy.

So back to the pen. I replaced the rotted beam at the bottom and reattached the corners. I couldnt use screws so I had to wire it all back together. Then I set to work on wiring the chicken wire to the bottom beams. I used to just staple them down, but I found out the hard way that foxes have very strong teeth and will pull that wire til the staples pop out and they can get that wire away enough to get into the pen for a free dinner. Now I wire it all to the beams AND staple it all down. After I got that all done (OH yeah, did I mention this was IN THE RAIN???) I put new staples in areas that had popped loose all over and wired the chicken wire to the frame pieces all the way up. No fox will get in this pen. Once I was satisfied with the security of the pen I made a gated pathway from the grow pen that has the cochins, golden phoenix and serama in it. I filled a feeder and showed it to them. Most followed and were in the pen without incident. I had a few stubborn chickens, but I herded them on out. Two serama got loose since they can fly so easily, but I wasnt worried, they werent going anywhere. The emus herded them up for me and got them cornered. I intervened before anyone got stomped. It is a little cramped in the pen, so I made a little temporary fenced area outside the pen, covered so no big emu heads can browse in. My goal is to fence off this side of the yard so these chickens can free range without being killed by the emus. You see, they grew up with my layers, but their brain for some reason cannot process that it is okay for the new chickens to run about. They chase them down like an intruder. So to keep them safe they will have their own free ranging area. The same will go for the White Crested Polish, they will have a shelter pen at night in their section so that I can lock them up, like I will lock up the cochins, golden phoenix, and serama at night, in the repaired pen.

So, what are my plans for today? Probably to work in the rain some again. LOL. I am going to put together a pen for the Polish. Tomorrow, hopefully I can herd them into the three foot grow pen and take their 4 foot grow pen down, using those posts and fencing to fence the area for the cochins, etc.

I know it sounds chaotic right now, but I really do have a plan in place. ;) I even have a diagram down on paper so I dont forget what I am doing.

Sometime or other I need to think about planting my plants I still have in pots. Maybe next week, til then I will just keep them watered.

Its time for school, laundry, dishes and house cleaning. I hope everyone has a great day today. Send me some of that cool air Carrie! She tells me she has had a high of 59 and a low of 38! I will take the 59, but I am not ready for the 38.

Boo is on lookout..for what, I have no idea..lol. Probably food.

The Title of this entry popped in my head, this part of Alan Jacksons song, Good Time. I love that song. :) I got the new CD the day it came out, and I love every song on it.

PS Those arent our broken cars in the background of that last pic, thats the neighbors...we have our own broken cars thankyou, and they look much better than that...lol.

It Looks Like We Are Going To Live

Remember the giant particle collider that was going to be turned on? They delayed it until today. It was turned on, and we are still here! So life goes on, everyone get back to work and quit partying like its 1999...ha, thats a Prince reference for those that don't know. ;) The world isn't going to end today, and I am glad, I still had a lot to do. ;)

Here is an article on it all...

ScientistsActivateParticleCollider