Chicks!

I piddled around and waited too long to order chicks. Sold out!
I should have realized, after hearing stories about seeds flying off the shelves in this poor economy, that the same would apply to small livestock.
But we found mystery chicks from the Cullman Tractor Supply store.

I think we have Leghorns, a Rhode Island Red, and Dominiques. Maybe.

They are cute, at any rate, although I suspect that a high percentage may be cockerels.

Fuzzy.

Wuzzy.
We put them in a pen outside one sunny day, to soak in sun and eat bugs and scratch around, but mostly they acted like it was just another ploy to try to kill them.

The female Muscovy was verrrry interested. Poor thing wants to be a mama so bad, but is too dumb to figure out how to sit on eggs correctly. Maybe we should have brought her some ducklings.
This is how much they grew in just a week:

That one on the far left and one other black chick have tails already, which says "male" to me, but I pray I'm wrong.

Look Ma, real feathers!
To buy the chicks, we had to sign a paper: name, address, phone, driver's license number! I considered yelling "No NAIS!" and running out the door, but I didn't. I hadn't felt Big Brother peering over my shoulder like that since we tried to drive up to view the local dam, and had our plates and license numbers recorded.
Lord knows what sort of watch list I'll be put on for buying chicks, visiting a dam, and buying Sudafed.

"I'll be watching you."

You Dirty Rat

Sparky and Bennie were shown the door last night.

George had spotted a rat having a feast on some birdseed which had fallen under the old apple tree.

The girls were having a nap - we cruelly woke them, and popped them outside, near to where the rat had been and then we nipped inside and shut the door, quickly!









Eventually, as it was a cold night, we let them back inside to warm their toes and fill their tummies before settling for the night.

Grandson Harry ran across to our house today, shouting that he'd seen a dead animal... Upon investigation it turned out to be a very large, dead rat! Unfortunately this isn't a photo of our dead rat, I forgot to take one.

Can't take the triumph away from the girls though, whether by team work, or one working by herself (they do both) they got their target!





Fish suppers all round tonight.

A Proud Sadness

I haven't posted in a while, because we've started homeschooling for this year. This is our first full week, and I'm trying to stick to the schedule faithfully. The hardest thing for me to do is get in bed by 10:00. As you can see, it's 10:51, and I haven't had a bath yet. If I don't go to bed at 10:00 then I can't get up at 5:15. I'll get up instead about 6:15 which will give me time to have worship and exercise before waking Darcie at 7:00. I'll just miss writing in my journal and reading a book on creativity.
I got some bad news today. Garrett called and said he'll be leaving for Iraq on October 2. That only gives us two weekends, and he's not coming home this weekend. He's going to a Clemson game.
He kept asking me if he should go. Of course I'd rather he came home, but I wasn't going to tell him he had to. We'll get to see him for a long weekend the next week.
I hate this feeling of sadness I have. I have to keep telling myself over and over that I believe God is sovereign over life and death, and if it is his turn to die, he'll do it here in the U.S. or somewhere else. It doesn't matter where.
My heart says, "Of course it matters! I want him here in town where I can control things." Like I can! I'm having a hard time letting him go. I guess it's a mom thing.

Arnold's Magic Trick, Fairy Doors & Toby

click to enlarge any image!

Arnold is a well-fed, happy, old horse, who enjoys my visits, especially the part which involves treats.

He gets a little grumpy when I produce my camera instead of carrots, tells me to make it snappy.

No image 'thinnification', this is what he does, I simply

drained the colour for added effect.

He possesses an unusual ability - one I really wish that I could mimic - he can make himself look very thin (so thin that he looks as though he will expire if I don't give him something to eat) ..

a puff of wind could blow him away...



feed me, please....



He had his carrots, his apple, and two mints. He was a happy boy and he suddenly resumed his normal proportions!

I wonder whether he has learnt this magic trick from the fairies who live in the yard...







..I found these two fairy doors right next to Arnold's paddock.

They are in the base of that gigantic ash tree. Split ash trees are supposed to have magical healing properties.

I wish I had remembered that yesterday.




Toby may be the grumpy one when I tell you that I had to ring for a wheelbarrow to take him home from Arnold's...he had hurt his front right leg and couldn't walk on it. I couldn't find a thorn, a cut, a bee sting, or any obvious reason for the pain, but he wouldn't allow much probing.

Normally it would probably have been possible to hobble back the short distance home - but given Toby's recent problems with his rear right leg ... he just wasn't going to get anywhere on two legs! He was embarrassed, but tried to look dignified.

He had a check-up at the vet's and he couldn't find anything either. Salt water bathing was recommended. Watch, wait, and see whether anything develops.

This morning he is walking without any problem. Fingers are crossed. A walk without Toby is not the same.

Nokian Extreme 294

A week ago, on bitter cold day, I decided to install my new studded tires on my hardtail. A good day to work in the house and I was anxious to see how well they work.
You are supposed to ride them on pavement for 30 miles as a break-in. Before doing that, I rode 4 miles in the snow, singletrack at Lake Manawa.
On the snow-packed trail, they performed abut the same as normal mountain bike tire (riding with less than 25# air pressure). As the temperature climbed, I watched for snow packing on the tread. The fork of my Trek4300 hardtail was starting to pack with snow, but the tire tread kept pretty clear. At icy spots, I noticed that I did not slip on the hills (a very good sign).
The next day, I headed out on the local paved bike trail (11 miles). I upped the air pressure for this ride - about 35#. As expected, the trail is mostly clear, with spots of ice from snow melting. This is where the studded tires excelled. Previously, I would lift my feet off of the pedals and spread my legs for better balance as I rode across the ice. With the studded tires, I could continue pedaling right across the ice. As a test, I found I could even accelerate on the ice!
The other test was section was riding on a packed snow/ice trail which was plowed, but not "cleared" (see photo). Where previously I might walking the section, I was now able to ride right through.
Finally I finished the break-in with a 20 mile ride on pavement. Air pressure upped to 40-45# (probably should have been higher). On a 20 mile ride, I noticed the higher rolling resistance of the studded tires. My riding pace was slower and my legs sure felt it the next day!
Bottom line - The Nokian Extreme 294 Studded Tires are AWESOME. Now I am not an aggresive rider, but I did not feel slippage on either bare pavement or ice. They do the trick riding on ice or packed snow. However, for the higher rolling resistance of the tires, I will ride non-studded tires for normal riding - use the studded tires when you know you will encounter icy conditions.

Have a Merry Season of Joy!

Mom's Acting Debut a Disaster

About two weeks ago, Mom got an email from our local neighborhood association's president headed with big red capital letters: WE NEED 11 MORE PEOPLE TO BE VICTIMS. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. Mom, being Mom, was intrigued and signed up.
It turned out that the California State Military Reservists along with the San Rafael Office of Emergency Services needed volunteers to be disaster victims during a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class simulation exercise, to be held at our National Guard Armory. A large-scale earthquake would be the "event" to be simulated.
Volunteers began showing up at 10:30 yesterday morning for "moulage," the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training. There were four great young kids who applied all kinds of make-up to simulate injuries ranging from soup to nuts - fascinating to watch.
Volunteers chose cards of the injuries they wished to have, along with their vital signs listed, and whether they would be needing immediate attention once found by the reservists, or else delayed treatment if the wounds were superficial. The volunteers received a wonderful box lunch, which I was particularly interested in, from a fabulous restaurant nearby. Even though the following photos show us eating lunch with our fake injuries, they could make some squeamish, so stop here if you don't want to look.

Mom chose to have fallen with lower leg and back injuries. Here is some of the "moulage" done on her. She just has superficial injuries.

More injured victims in their very life-like make-up, eating lunch. Some of these volunteers laughed a lot as they chatted up a storm!

A lot of discussion on our acting roles: victims were to moan, scream and act "it" up. The CERT instructors of these Reservists really wanted the "actors" to let it all hang out. One big secret was that the Army guys had no idea that there would be a simulated earthquake and NO CLUE that there would be all those victims lying about both inside and outside the Armory grounds. There was also to be a real fire from "downed power poles" and everything had to be "handled" within half an hour besides. Whew!
Mom said thanks to me for coming and guarding her lunch, but a soldier told Dad and me that we had to leave. Then, the Volunteers' fearless leader took them all to their various and widespread stations and the drill began. They couldn't take photos, but mom said it was amazing.
The Reservists first divided up into teams of four, then put out the fire, and found all of us, spending the time necessary to assess our injuries and acting accordingly. Mom thought that her rescue team, which loaded her onto a furry tippy stretcher and carried her a long way to the "field hospital" should have been real doctors! She couldn't remember the day of the week! I think Mom's going to pursue a CERT certification herself. I hope I get to go!