My own 13 year old daughter has shown me how to make my own slideshow video with music today. :) Thanks Shelby.
Here are todays pictures of my chicks still in the house. I hope y'all enjoy this. If the song hitches a little, I don't know why. Hopefully it won't for you. If so, I apologize.
Wow, look at all the new Moods they added! Quite the choice now, very cool.
So its Friday, and we are on our last day of school. Shelby will have successfully completed the Seventh grade, with flying colors. :)
This is our third year of homeschool. Every year just seems to get better and better. I always give her the option of going back to public school the next year, but she continues to want to be homeschooled and I am very happy about that. She is able to continue to learn more than any public school could teach her this way. She is able to pursue her own interests and truly be herself without peer pressure. She is writing stories and making short intervals of movies to go with her story. She is still drawing up a storm. She loves music, has learned to sew this year and we even started on learning Spanish. I can't tell you how proud I am of her. She is just doing so well in school and in life. She has a great head on her shoulders. :)
I already have some fantastic books picked out for school next year. I am anxious to get them soon and look over them. I think homeschooling is good for me too as it keeps my brain working full time. Things that seemed boring back when I was in school are no longer boring. I do remember what made them boring though, the teachers were a big part of that problem. I try to make sure it stays interesting and peek her interest in things. That is why I am so excited about this particular type of book I am getting. It asks the questions to peek your interest and then tells you an in depth answer. We have the geography book in this series, and she has really done well with it. She has retained a lot from this type of teaching.
For all the good time we have doing school, and many accomplishments we have made...there is nothing like the release from school for three months! Ahhh yes, summertime freedom. As much as I love to teach her, it will be a nice break for me too. I have a lot of projects I need to get on over the summer. I want to paint her upstairs playroom, and my bathroom. I have the pigs new enclosure I want to get done and the fenced walkway from out the side porch door. The horse is eating away at the stairs slowly. They areactually rounded at the ends now. That is one habit I have not been able to break him of. He is a wood chewer. He chews on the sides of his house, on the fence gates. I have had to staple chicken wire over the gates so he wont chew on them. I will have to do the same with the barrier I am about to make to keep both him and chickens away from the stairs. (The chickens (cochins)like to hang out on the stairs and poop them up, and I just hate that). I am always modifying things so I can have the animals without them tearing everything up.
One example of this is we are going to have to get sand and some big rock gravel this weekend. It seems slowly but surely the chickens have dug out from around the edge of the bottom of the pool under the deck. You can get in and feel with your feet around the edges where it has sunk in. Not good, not good at all. So we have to fill that back in best we can with sand and put down gravel so they cant pick it back out with their little beaks.
These are all things I have chosen to live with I guess. I just have to modify the offending area, like the pool, and the stairs, to prevent damage.
The goats decided to start eating the siding on the back of the garage. I couldnt figure out what the heck was happening to it til I caught them doing it. So I had to staple some chicken wire over the offended area to make them stop. I will have to see about blocking that whole strip of siding from them this weekend. Hopefully they won't eat the whole garage before the weekend.
I want to stop a minute and thank everyone for the encouraging and kind words from my recent losses of chicks. I know people have a lot bigger problems than I do. Losing chicks is nothing compared to some of the hardships many are facing now. With gas prices and food prices soaring I am worried for the average person how they will survive. I know a lot of people that were already stretched thin, and now, how do you stretch thin thinner? Especially worried about a few in particular.
Well now I am just rambling aren't I? ;) I should go take some nice chick pictures to post before the day is out. I never end up getting online over the weekend since Ian is home. I give it over to him so he can have some weekend fun and relaxation. That isnt all he does of course. He will be working in the garden and cleaning the pool this weekend also.
Time for me to go for a while. I will post some pretty chick pictures shortly.
OH be sure and go by and see Carrie. Her eggs I sent to her in the mail are hatching. :) Congratulations Carrie, you are officially a mother hen. ;) She will have a video of one of the cochin eggs hatching out later today hopefully. That ought to be great to watch. Here is the link to her journal if you don't already have it and visit her. Carrie
Half of my hatch out in the grow pen. That is what is gone now. Yesterday afternoon I saw a white tuft in the front yard. Slowly regretting every step to what I would find, I walked to it. Sure enough..there lay the wings and various other parts dismembered from the second silkie baby. The only two I hatched from my newer silkies are now gone, dead.
Before finding this massacre I spotted a light colored tuft in the grass out back. This was another young serama I had raised. Dead. Fully intact, but with a neck wound.
I always try to look at the bright side of things. Thank goodness the two young sultans had not been taken.
I spent the better part of the evening before dark wiring a fifty foot roll of chicken wire around the bottom half of the grow out pen.
I am not so sure that the neighbors dog is the culprit.
There is something else that puzzles me to no end. When I find the bodies, not parts, but full bodies...they are on a fire ant hill. Why do you suppose this is? It wouldnt be strange for it to happen once, but this has happened three times now.
I think it is a cat, or a fox, well actually it could be anything. What is happening is this.
Whatever is coming, and it is during the day, because the babies are all in a covered corner at night and wouldnt be scared of whatever is trying to get them...is spooking the smaller ones to the point of them squeezing out of the wire. They are in such a panic, they are trying to get away, when actually they are going right into the jaws of whatever is after them.
That is why none of the bigger ones have been killed. They can't fit through the wire.
I want to continue to use the grow out pen. I have many more chicks in the house that will eventually need to go out there. I can't put them out there with this happening. So I hope putting the chicken wire around the bottom half of the pen will keep the chicks in and the predator from grabbing at them or scaring them out of the pen.
So, now I am down to three serama, two sultans and seven of my chicks I invented. Along with the ten polish and five americauna and the one buff.
It looks so empty in there. So empty.
My older sisters girls are just so grown up. Mine is not far behind I know. It will be no time and she will be grown. The graduation was at 9 am so we werent able to make it to that, but Patties mama had a nice party for her at her house afterwards, so we were able to go to that. I am very proud of this young lady.
On a side note, get this. Do you know how we used to throw our hats after everyone had graduated?
Well they cant do that anymore. Nope. Its not allowed. Want to know why? You ready for this?
Because it might come down and one of the corners on the hat could poke someones eye out.
Go ahead, laugh, laugh til it hurts. Isnt that absurd? I wonder, really, how many eyes have actually been POKED OUT by this age old tradition. I mean REALLY. So there is a short video at the end of this entry of her and her friends throwing their hats up...and get this...
NO ONES EYE GOT POKED OUT!!! LOLLLLL ;)
My oldest niece is 21. She has decided to make her first great step into the wide world of independence and get her own apartment.
Its scary, I know. I am not so old I dont remember. That risk you take can be overwhelming. You don't want to fail and have to go back home, no matter what, you HAVE to make it, to prove to you, and to everyone else that you are in fact an adult now and can survive on your own.
She has taken this one step further than most can financially these days. She has her own apartment, not with a room mate. She is totally enjoying this too.
I was worried for her. She is trying to finish up the last year of college. With things costing more than ever I know it has to be tough. She is making it though. She is a tough young woman and she is determined.
Seeing her in her own place...well it really makes you realize, she is grown up. I think it is harder for us as we get older and see the younger generation growing up before our eyes. I mean, gosh, it wasnt that long ago that we were in their shoes...right? I think back now and shoot, by the time I turned 21 I had been out on my own for over a year, and got married on my 21st birthday. So she is doing just fine.
When Daddy told her how proud he was of her for all she had accomplished, as well as Erin, my other sister...and Mama...and me, all of us, really impressed and telling her how proud we are of her she broke down in tears. She told us we just didnt know how much that meant to her.
But I do. We all need support and approval, especially when we are hanging out there by a thread. We all need that encouragement and support. She is going to by just fine.
Here are some pictures of her place, her and her fiancee', and my sweet pretty niece in her new apartment.
There is nothing like that first taste of independence is there? We all remember...it has such a sweet taste to it doesnt it? ;)
Somehow I managed to not take a picture of her cute kitchen! I will have to make sure I get a picture of that next time. They are such a cute couple, reminds me of Ian and I when we were first starting out. So sweet.
After the visit to see her new apartment we went to her sisters graduation party...that and pictures to follow in the next entry.
Before I get into the weekend goings on I thought I would just get this off my chest.
Massacre
Devastation
Trauma
Death
Dismemberment
Grizzly Carnage
Panic Stricken
Yes, these are all things I found early Saturday morning.
But let me start from the beginning. I was up early getting ready to head out to pick up Mama and Daddy. We were going to be going down to Columbus, Ga. to my youngest neices graduation party. Ian took the dog out when he got up. He came back in and told me I had two of my smaller young ones from the grow out pen loose over in the horses and cochins area.
Many of the chicks CAN fit through the wire fencing, but unless they are in a panic they dont do it. My first thought was WHY were they in a panic to be out. There is never a good answer for this question.
I went out and caught one Serama right away. The silkie chick was proving more difficult so I got Ian to help me out with that one.
When I went around and over to the grow out pen I saw what had happened. The wire had been pulled away and everyone was still inside, but there were many many less chickens in there. Remember that adorable picture I just took of my babies asking to be fed? That was everyone in the grow out pen.
It is hard to explain, I will have to take a pic of it to show how the pen closes up. I had one latch in the middle to keep it from pulling back. That was obviously not enough. The bottom was pulled back.
Now, I put the Serama back, Ian gets the silkie back in and I start to look around.
One Serama, dead in the pen. Looking out I see flecks of color in the grass. Mostly white. I go out to investigate. I have to go back and get a BUCKET to pick up all the pieces. This was for sport. This was a killing spree for fun. This was no predator. Nothing had been eaten. Only heads, legs, wings torn from their bodies. I shudder to think of their pain before they died. I was so upset as I picked up the pieces and placed them in the bucket.
Two of my wonderful sultan babies are dead. One of the silkie babies. Many of the serama, at least five. What can you do, its done now.
So it had to be a dog. Had to be a SMALL dog. Know why? NONE of the older chickens were dead. None of the Polish, none of the Americauna that were in that pen. NONE.
I cant prove it. But I KNOW it had to be that damn dog, that dog from behind us. The shoe stealing, kid biting dog. Remember? It has found a way to climb my fence. Had to. A wild predator does not kill for sport like that. When a wild predator kills, they EAT because it is a meal for them.
I am going to kill that dog if I find it in my yard. With my gun. Oh yes I am. And I am going to enjoy it. I am also going to enjoy throwing the body over the fence to rot until the neighbors decide to mow again and find the body in their yard. I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take it. Those sultan babies were my show prospects for February. Now I only have two instead of four. The serama were of the Class Bs, show quality. Now they are gone too. They don't care, they dont see. They are dumb hickerbillies that dont have any consideration for anyone else. Period.
I have one body missing. The silkie chick. I wonder if that stupid dog took it home to add to its collection of shoes. I wonder if the neighbors found the body and know where it came from.
Its secret recipe time too. Oh yes it is. One way or the other I am going to rid myself of this nuisance. I spent too much money on that fence to protect my animals to have some little crappy dog come over the fence and reak havoc in my yard at night.
Once the Emus are full grown, they will KILL anything that isnt supposed to be in the yard. I have already seen it happen. They ran that cat off. Trying to stomp it.
Why cant I just have some peace here? I can deal with the fact that I am going to have predators like fox and coyote. They are just trying to find a meal. But this, this was just a massacre for fun, that is all it was.
I am so mad and sad at the same time about this.
So I have gotten this off my chest...now on with the weekend.
Just a side note, it is legal here in my county to kill dogs on your property if they are caught harrassing or killing livestock. The owners of the dog cannot touch you. That is why I have to make sure it is on my land, and I will definitely document with pictures of the dog on the property.
Happy Memorial Day to everyone.
I hope it will be a day filled with family and friends and a good time.
This is the time to celebrate all who have given their time and their lives to our country to try and make it a better place to live.
A Happy Memorial Day to all.
May there be much BBQing and pool swimming in your day. :)
