Guineas & More Chicks!

Today was pick-up-guinea day!  We ordered 5 from the feed store, where they just happened to have extra chicks to be had...so we got 5 Speckled Sussex!

The guineas are smaller than the chicks-and look like chipmunks.  The sussex are very pretty with the wide stripe down their backs.  Everyone was starving and ate like pigs.  They're all getting along great with the other "older" chicks-so all is well.  I'm trying to make sure I hold each one several times/day...but the problem is they still all look alike!

The whitest chick has been named Xena-she's sometimes dominant but today ran over to me every time I walked in the coop.  She has also decided she would like to get out of the brooder..and flies straight up and almost makes it out!!  So funny!!  We are thinking about some Indian names for the others.  So far we have: Poops-On-My-Pants, Sits-In-Grit and Runs-With-Clover.  ha.

The guineas are mostly ignoring their turkey starter and eating the chick starter instead.  :-(
Tried to separate them into their own brooder within the larger one, but they panicked and just kept hitting the side...so gave in and let them back with the others; they were much happier then.  Haven't quite decided what I'm going to do about that yet.

Anyway, it's all been a lot of fun for us-though the cats are a bit jealous of the time we spend with them. Check out the pictures!

Day 1 with the chicks, continued...

These girls are fun!!! lol    They get excited when I come into the coop and start peeping.  Picked some clover (one for each of course) but only one chick noticed it. She picked it up, turned around and the others began chasing her around in a circle forever!  Hilarious.  They couldn't be bothered with the other clover bits I provided them, they only wanted hers.  I don't think she ever got to eat it-but she sure did amuse me!

Stays pretty warm in there; had to move the heat lamp almost to the very top to keep it just at 95 degrees.  They were clustered on the other side of the brooder, but still eating and drinking and pooping...lol.  Moved it back down tonight as it's chilly here again.  Will check on them again before we go to bed to make sure it's still warm, but I think I've finally found the right spot for it.  The biggest problem is that Treebeard wants to come in and visit!  (he's one of our cats...)  He sits outside the door and cries until I come out.  Maybe next month, Treebeard.

They're HEEERRE!!!

Well, the phone rang at 7:14 this morning-the chicks were at the post office!  YAY!!  They all look healthy (no pasty-butt!) and were hungry and thirsty.  We've got them all settled down now with full bellies and most of them are napping.

Seems like it took forever for this day to come!  But we have 5 "Easter Eggers" and 2 Buckeyes; 1/2 of the guineas are due in 2 days, the rest of the guineas and the Blk Copper Maran's are due at the end of the month.  Lisa worked really hard to get the coop and yard ready.  One of the cats (Treebeard, naturally) spent his time crying at the coop door wanting in...I'm sure he had visions of chicken for breakfast!

Took about 25 pictures, then had to come in for coffee and a break.  Will be visiting with them most of the day I'm sure!  Luckily there are plenty of weeds in the yard they can begin eating-too busy with chicken plans to do any mowing!  lol

Ah...the coop and the "chicken yard."  Yes, we're planting some grass and herbs for them and we may cut a few more trees-but already cut down a lot!  The lovely "leaf building" is one of Lisa's old sheds that will store the food.

Will finish predator-proofing this week, add the gates and then the final touches.  Lisa also found some guineas at the feed store in Berea-so yay!!  Tick-eaters!!  lol

Getting Ready for the Chicks!!

Well the time is finally getting close!  We will have the first chicks in about three weeks.  This weekend Lisa put up the fencing-hard work but it looks great!!  (I wasn't much help since I'm having an MS relapse...but I looked on approvingly nevertheless.) lol

Still have to get the underpinning up around the coop and the storage shed where we'll keep the feed.  And still have to put in the two gates-but it's looking good and we're excited to be on our way!  Next weekend we'll probably hook up the heat lamp, make sure everything stays nice and toasty and then continue the anticipation. I will have plenty of weeds for them to snack on too.

Will post a picture of it all tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed for a batch of healthy chicks!

Snowy Thoughts

As I sit inside looking out into the morning snow, I'm wondering what happened to the 60-degree weather we'd been having?  The weather here in Appalachian Ohio has been way too warm for winter, and the only thing it has accomplished is making me yearn for the baby chicks to arrive and getting the garden going.  (I suspect my friend Farmer Bob is getting a bit tired of me asking him if I can start my seeds yet!)

The nice thing about snow, even the little bit we're having now, is that it provides me with a time to slow down and just enjoy life. Some of my winter projects have actually been completed (!) although I still haven't knitted that winter hat that's been on my list since last year. I have time to enjoy the cats and attempt yet again to de-mat the Manx. I've painted the "cat room" and redecorated it; Lisa and even the cats seem to like it!

 I've even e-filed my taxes already!

So what's a girl to do now?  Well I could go check out the new pics of everyone's baby chicks...but that just makes me want some of my own.  I don't even have any yet, but I've already figured out how to expand the coop we have so that I can get some more breeds.  Cabin fever anyone?

There are two blue jays sitting on the tree beside the window, glaring at me. Time to get off the computer and go feed them!  (Just one more peek at the chicks on Facebook...)

Ordered Baby Chicks Today!

Well, this is the start of our new adventure.  Took the plunge and order chicks this morning-Easter Eggers and Buckeyes.  The Black Copper Marans had to be ordered separately and will come at a later date.  I didn't know people ordered chicks so early!!  I've been checking different websites trying to decide on breeds, and when I went to order found that almost all of the early dates were gone!  We had hoped to have them in April, now we're looking at May and the first week of June.  Ah well...I suppose that will give us more time to prepare, and maybe we'll even have the fencing up by then! lol

The Buckeye Chickens are the only breed developed by a woman-so you know we had to have those.  They are on the Critically Endangered list, so at some point we will probably get a rooster and hatch some eggs.  They are the color of a (duh) buckeye nut-and the woman was from (duh) Ohio.  Good choice I think.

The "Easter Eggers" lay blue-green eggs.  The true breed is Araucana and they are from South America.  Breeders have bred for the egg color in this country, and so the "Easter Egger" was born.  Not a true Araucana but the colored eggs should be a novelty and sell well.

The Black Copper Maran is also a rare breed and lays chocolate eggs (like a Hershey bar color!)

This should be fun-more to come as the days go by.   Below: top pic is a Black Cooper Maran, followed by a Buckeye and then an Easter Egger!



       

If you are a business, and especially if you are the US Government, please relay the following to your employees:

1. If your automated "customer service" message asks for my birhdate/address/order# or social security number-DO NOT ASK FOR IT AGAIN when the actual human finally comes online. If you feel you MUST repeat yourself, at least preface it by saying that you need to confirm the information; don't act like it's the first time you heard it.

2. When I, as the consumer, ask you a question-ANSWER IT!! Do not play used car salesman and talk around the issue until you've changed the subject.  If you are afraid I'll be unhappy, I'm more unhappy when you DON'T ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!

3. If I have to ask you to repeat yourself more than 3 times because I cannot understand a word you're saying, be proactive and politely transfer me to someone I can understand. The 4th time I ask you to repeat yourself  I'm getting a bit perturbed.

4. When I call you for a phone number for another agency or business that YOU have referred me to in my LAST call...do not ask for my phone number and billing address.  You don't need that in order to provide a phone number.  Asking for my billing address allows me to think you're going to charge me for something I've probably already overpaid for.  And you've already read my phone number on your intrusive caller ID.

5. Understand that if you've done the above and you then ask me to fill out a short questionnaire at the end of the call-I am NOT going to give you a good review.  (I don't tip lousy service at a restaurant either-my guilt doesn't extend that far).  And if you are the government, especially the Social Security office-put a service questionnaire in place.  When I ask for someone to comment to, the fact that there is no recourse for me just makes me go blog about your lousy attitude.  I pay your salary, and when you tell me my disability backpay is not a priority for you...well that's just insulting.  It IS a priority for me, and I don't appreciate the attitude.

While your CEO's and my representatives are raking in the big bucks, I'm sitting on hold and then having to listen to your rudeness.  Stop forgetting that you're being paid because of people like me..

Humanure and More

Today I learned that a friend of mine is going to have treated sewage deposited on six acres of his farmland. What a great thing!!  The sludge is coming from a local treatment plant, and he'll be paid by the ton deposited.  The sludge will be spread out over the field and left to compost for a year.  These fields were used to grow hay before, now they should yield several times as much hay per acre after the rich compost settles into the ground. Part of the deal is that the soil will be tested several times each year-I would expect only rich hummus to result.

Civilizations have used this practice for millenia. It is still used in China.  Read all about it in the wonderful book The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins.  It is past time for us to start being responsible for how we treat our wastes.  Why dump everything in landfills when we can reuse it as compost for vegetables and flowers and who knows what else?

In our times we need to be creative about how we live.  Mother Earth is too precious for us to keep treating her this way.  Instead of hiring some company to pour poisons on your lawn, why not plant a few tomatoes and peppers?  Even in cities you can keep a few chickens!  Be responsible for what you eat and what you do.  Your children will thank you for it.

Kitten ADHD

Well!  The kitten is just wild!  Guess we don't remember how active they can be.  lol   Hopefully he'll be ready for a nap soon.  Lisa has decided to name him "Strider"...although she swears he has ADHD!!  He's adorable though. He has decided he is going to drink out of the "big boys" water bowl, which is an old dog bowl on a stand.  The others just stand up there to drink; he's too small so he LEAPS up onto it and lands in the water every time!  There is water everywhere, but unfortunately he doesn't seem to care!

2 Years Later...

Been awhile since I blogged!  Lots of stuff has happened...Lisa is working in Lancaster, and I got my social security disability approved after 3 years.  What an ordeal!

We're up to 6 house cats (all rescues) including the newest- a white kitten I got Lisa for her birthday yesterday.  The other cats don't seem too impressed, although they like the kitten food.  Sigh.  The 7th cat is Sam-who lives in a ditch down the road and refuses to come inside where it's warm.  He does show up for meals 2-3 times/day though.

Most of the cats are named after Lord of the Rings characters-except Hera who is our only female and named after the Goddess of Mischief. The kitten doesn't have a name yet, but he looks Elvish so he'll probably get an Elvish name.  Right now he is watching me type this from my lap.

In the spring we're getting chickens!  We have the hen house ready, but still need to do some (okay ALL) fencing. We're getting abut 25, including a few guineas, and "easter-egger" chickens that lay colored eggs.  Can't wait!!!  More on that to come.

Stay tuned for all the news -and feel free to leave me a note!

Right to Work

Ohio is a right-to-work state. Sounds great doesn't it? When I first heard the phrase, years ago, I thought is was great to be living in a state where our right to work was guaranteed by law!! Silly me.

What it really means is that you have a right-to-work-as-long-as-you-are-willing-to-take-whatever-cr ap-the-company-dishes-out. If you're not willing to do that, we will get rid of you and you have no recourse.

Friends and friends-of-friends have been running into this more and more in the last few years. Age and sex discrimination? OK here. Hostile work environment? OK here. Wanna be called the n-word all day? Come to Ohio; it's okay here!

And if you want to take off ONE DAY for a parent's funeral-well go ahead but then you'll get fired for not showing up for work. What? You told your boss you had to have a day off? So what?? This is a RIGHT TO WORK state and we have the right to force you to work, regardless. And don't think you can go to unemployment afterwards because if you're not willing to work, you can't draw unemployment.

I've also learned that you shouldn't report any hazardous work environments to OSHA. Locked in the building all day with no exit in case of fire? Too bad. Fumes getting to you? Too bad. Because OSHA will 1: not take you seriously if you don't give them your name and 2: they will tell you your name is CONFIDENTIAL. But #3 is that they will tell your employer anyway and after your (former) HR departments posts the OSHA poster in the lunchroom (that is required by federal law) you will get fired and they won't make any other corrections because the troublemaker is gone and no one else will take the chance of losing their income, so no one else will report them.

So, go to the attorney who practices employment law and give it a shot. First, no one here will do a "free consultation" because attorneys have to make money somehow-so they will charge you a fee upfront before they will talk to you. Then they'll tell you that yes, you work for an asshole and there's nothing you can do about it because...Ohio is a right-to-work state!!! Yeehaw. And then you will see on a 'documentary' on tv about how Appalachians are depressed and alcoholics and you will wonder why. This is why.

(Don't call the unions either. They don't call back. It sounds really good to think you can get a union rep down here and unionize the god-company. Then we can all be protected and be able to work and pay our rent and buy food for the kiddies. Sorry-they're not interested either.)

It is a feudal society where only the kings and queens rule and classism is rampant. I wondered for the last few years why no one was talking about this. Where is the anger? The questions? The will to stop it?

I think all that must have been crushed years ago. My grandfather had the union in the coal mines and that is what saved his life. His granddaughter is wondering what happened to the notion that working people deserve not only a job, but a little human dignity to go with it.

Woodpeckers and Cougars and Bears-Oh My!

My mother asked me the other day if I knew what to do if I saw a bear. "Get my camera" wasn't the answer she was looking for. But it is what I'd do-hopefully. Apparently there's been a lot of bear and cougar sightings around here- and the park rangers are doing workshops to teach people what to do. (put your hands in the air and back away slowly...sounds like a cop show.)

We don't have a newspaper here, so we don't get to read about all the local happenings.Everyone on my road has seen "our bear" except me. (and you wonder why I'm depressed-lol) Sometimes I hope he will come eat the extremely noisy neighbor's dogs-okay I don't really hope that. But they are loud and have driven away some of my wildlife...sigh. And I'm starting to suspect she's an irresponsible breeder, but that story is for another time.Haven't seen any cougar tracks either.

I did hear the pileated woodpeckers yesterday and this morning-but no sightings yet. They usually only come up from the woods twice/year- early spring and late fall. The first time I saw one I was just in shock at the size and beauty-so I look forward to seeing them every year. If it doesn't pour down rain today maybe I'll get a glimpse.

Sea Shepherd

I watched Whale Wars on Animal Planet last year and still think about it a lot. I really like this organization who put their words into action. You can volunteer as part of the crew and work the oceans to stop Japanses whalers. If you didn't see the show, catch it in reruns.

Paul Watson is the captain and head of the organization. He used to work for Greenpeace, but realized that direct action was the better course of action-letter writing only goes so far, and whales were still being slaughtered. He and his crew disrupt the whaling ships so they can't hunt. What other organization encourages you to work with them, instead of just sending money??They are at sea again now trying to stop the hunt. You can follow their progress on their blog. www.seashepherd.org

Rain

It has been a drizzly week. Consistent rain and fog and very cool temperatures; haven't even been motivated to get out the camera and I usually love rain pictures!

I did see the Baltimore Orioles a few days ago-but not since. Unlike all of the literature, they seem to ignore the orange slices, orange 'juice' etc. and drink the hummingbird sugar-water and eat a few seeds. My oranges will rot again, as usual.

I suspect the wild cat has had her kitten (s?) She looks thinner this morning-but we haven't found them yet and so we don't know if they're living. Perhaps she just had a miscarriage as she wasn't that big to begin with. We need to concentrate on capturing her and get her spayed. Joy.

Time to go get dressed...

The Cats

Mama


Frankie

Treebeard

The Dogs

This is Linzey! And this is Kasey!

Well!!

It's taken me 3 weeks to remember my password to login to this blog. AARGH!!! Guess that's why I took short-term disibility from work due to 'cogitive issues'. :-)

It's been an interesting few weeks without going to work everyday. I'm still not used to it-thinking I need to get more rest since I have to get up to go to work. But I feel more like a human, so it can't be all bad.

So since I've been away it seems Hillary is still hanging around, but Obama seems to have things in hand. It's still raining in Ohio, and the stray cat looks pregnant. Otherwise...life goes on I guess.

Now that I've got my password written down, I'll organize my thoughts and get back to it.

(I tried everything I could imagine for my password...and it was of course such a simple thing.)

Capitalism is Killing Us.

I listened to an NPR story this morning about growing food in Africa using "traditional" seeds. The story was about people using the "old" way of growing food-no chemicals or adulterated seeds-and gee~the yield was better.

Really?

The assumption that everyone needs to make money to pay for living is driving me nuts. Stories appear everyday about some country starving to death because people can't afford food. Can't afford food? How did we let that happen?

It seems "we" have accepted the fact that capitalism is the best way to live. It's not. Money doesn't buy happiness-or life-or these days not even much gas for the tank. Why do we rip out the trees and pastures, throw up a development and then tell people they need to get a job to buy food and gas to drive to a job, so that they can just survive? Leave us alone!! Let us live in our familial areas, grow our own veggies and raise our own meat-if we want to. There is nothing to say that we all need to live in polluted cities, working for poverty wages so we can buy some GMO corn to feed our starving children. It's wrong.

The revolution we need is the No More Capitalism Revolution. Join it. Watch how your life becomes yours again. It's amazing how healthy we are when we're not running around trying to earn a buck (that's not going to buy you a cup of coffee anymore.)

Slow down!! Breathe! And don't participate in the capitalist problems anymore.

My Mind...

My mind is everywhere today. And nowhere. I am struggling to learn how to live more simply, yet somehow the bills still show up in my mailbox! It seems my only choice is to try for disability through work-if I can convince the neurologist to go along with it. I need an income, but I need a life more. It would be hard, but worth it I think.

My brain doesn't work like it used to. Sometimes I get "lost" driving home. Sometimes my feet are tingling so much that I can't press on the brake pedal of the car-now that's been an interesting experience! The spreadsheet that used to take me an hour to do now takes two days. And even then it's usually not right. By 11:am I'm exhausted...so the rest of the day accomplishes nothing.

It's time to be able to enjoy my life-or to start having one. I have animals that need me to spend time with them-and I don't have the energy to do that now. Time for new choices.