Day Camp

The first 4-H day camp was today.  Spark went as a camper and Dancer as a camp counselor.  Last year Spark chose the last day camp and had to watch Dancer go all summer until his came up in August.  This year he chose the first one. 

This is the school playground that it was held at.  The playground is huge wooden castle.

At the end of the day they both reported having a good time!

We took Dad to work tonight and on the way home traffic was stopped for this family to cross the road.

They made it.  Hopped the curb to get to the other side and waddled down to the pond.  Makes me miss our ducks but then I think of how fast they could eat everything in the garden and I got over it pretty quickly.

The Island of Misfit Toys

I saw one of the iconic Rudolph shows on TV the other night.  On the show there is the "Island of Misfit Toys."  These are toys that are a little off, don't work and maybe were the victims of a bad design team.  The scene reminded me, in some ways, of our little farm. 

In the morning we head out to see Eeyore, the little goat wether that has seizures (no, he's not a fainting goat).  We give him a few pieces of candy as that seems to ward off his spells.

On the way to Eeyore's pen we pass a couple of rabbit hutches.  In the first is Ear and a Half, admittedly a pretty long name.  This rabbit lost half of one ear when a few days old.  He is pretty friendly and is one of our bucks.

In the next pen is an assortment of rabbit does.  One of these is Radar.  Radar was named by Dad because of it's abnormally long ears (huge really).  This bunny also is puny, less than half the size of our other does.  Not an ideal trait for meat rabbits, but she gets played with because she is cute.

Other misfit rabbits, who are old, or just can't get along, wander about the yard.  One even took the initiative this fall to dig a tunnel from the garden into the barn for easy access even when the barn is locked up. 

A couple years ago one of the ducks hurt her leg and couldn't hobble fast enough to keep up with the flock.  We all took care to make sure she had water and gave her a seperate pile of food so she didn't have to fight the rest to eat.  Last spring she proudly limped out of an old chicken coup with EIGHTEEN ducklings in tow.

This brings us to the latest arrival.  On Friday morning the cats were gathered about the front door waiting for food.  Oddly, there were four cats instead of the traditional, and expected, three cats.  I bent down to look at the new cat and it jumped into my arms!!  I didn't hold it long as I saw it's one eye was a cloudy green/brown with yellow discharge.   The cat is a small, young female.  We are guessing it was a pet that got dropped off as it tries to get into the house continuously.

It's eye is now sort of scabbed over and mostly shut.  The new visitor is very friendly, and even got a couple names--Pirate and Bella.  I thought the plan was to relocate Pirate/Bella this week, then this morning, I saw that Spark gave her a bowl of food and a steaming bowl of water (you don't need hot water to steam when it's 2 degrees out).  The provisions were sneakily placed behind the house but in view of Sparks room.  When asked, "Why the hospitality?", Spark replied "She might have baby Raggles in her tummy".

Well Pirate Bella, welcome the Island of Misfit Toys.  

If it looks like a duck

and it quacks like a duck and it walks like a duck, it's a duck.  However, this rooster is convinced that the duck is a hen.  His chicken is in the barn sitting on eggs and the rest of the hens are in the coop.  There is already a rooster in the coop so this one lives outside as the two roosters not bosom buddies.  

When a rooster finds food he does this low, quick clucking sound and all the hens will run over to eat as he walks around gloating that he has brought home dinner.  Even when we feed the hens the rooster will do this like he "found" a buffet laying on the ground.  He is now doing this behavior for the duck, which is a male by the way. 

Another thing roosters do is put down one wing and while dragging it on the ground will do a little hop dance around a hen to tell everyone that the chicken is his.  The rooster has been doing this to the duck too.

The duck doesn't seem to mind the gender, species mix up, he follows the rooster around the yard.  He is probably lonely, until a few nights ago we had two male ducks but we found a pile of feathers back by the pea garden and the rest is history.   Last night I was up about 4:00 a.m. and there was a heavy stench of skunk in the air so I was thinking that perhaps there would be no ducks this morning but he persevered. 

So until the hen comes off her nest and her babies are grown to where she sends them off to fend for themselves, or the duck gets attacked in the night, we will have this odd fowl relationship in our yard.  We actually don't even know if the chicken is sitting on anything or she just needs a few weeks of R&R behind a feed can.

Signs of spring are starting to show up

The ducks are loving the puddles that are cropping up everywhere. They make such a mess of the yard and ruin the grass. Know that if you ever want to have ducks that you will never have a nice yard or garden again.

Little Rabbit went out but then realized puddles aren't his thing and came back in. He doesn't play well with other rabbits so he got booted out of his cage. Sounds like he is the lucky one to be out and jumping around but it make him very vulnerable to danger or worse, an untimely death.

.

The chickens really don't like to get their feet wet. They haven't been out of the barn since November. They stick their heads out the door and then quickly retreat. They remind me of the ground hog, but instead of checking for spring once during the winter they check every day.

The sky is a brilliant, bright, warm looking blue.

This is the part you can't see in the top picture, acres and acres of snow waiting to melt.

When Eeyore is out he loves to be in the middle of whatever is going on. Here his intentions are to help the kids with their snow rolling but he was standing in the way of progress and Dancer had to lead him out of the way.

All the snow came off the top of the barn roof in one huge pile. Until that melts we won't be getting the gate closed.

It's going to be a while before we can get the garden going. This one has at least three feet of snow in it.

The chores are much easier and more enjoyable when it is warm out. Dad doesn't even have a hat on.

The kids tried to make a snowman. The snow is perfect because it is so sticky but the balls where too heavy to lift.

The bird bath is making a come back. The cat uses this for it's drinking bowl more often than not. In the winter the cats and chickens drink out of the goat waters or eat snow. I think the cat has to humble himself to drink out of the goat's pail so this is an ego booster for him.

The drive way is finally starting to show some cement. We don't shovel it much in the winter, just the side where we back the car out. The other side the kids sled on and the guy who plows our snow usually takes a pass at it so it isn't as deep as the yard.

The icicles are growing at an alarming rate. When it is nice during the day and cools off quick in the afternoon they can grow a couple of feet in an hour. This one is about four feet long.

There are branches down all over the yard. Once spring does finally arrive we are going to have lots of work to do.

Ducks On A Cold Tin Roof

I went out to the barn this morning and the ducks were in the yard eating, as usual. When I was done in the barn I came in and got the dog to go out to potty. For some reason the ducks went up on the barn roof. I wanted to get the camera right away for a cool picture. Nikki aka Pokey, the fox terrier, had other plans and took her sweet time going. By the time I got back out there was only one girl duck left on the roof and she was getting ready to jump.

I don't know if something came through and spooked them or if they just wanted a better view of the sunrise. The duck are on the move all day and night, or so it seems. We find them in many an odd place.

"We sure had a lot of company today"

This is what Spark said tonight and he was right. This morning, before the butt crack of dawn, a couple men came over to put in a new bathroom window and sliding door in our dining room. This is what the door old door looked like. It has never opened since we have lived here. It was so drafty that we caulked and taped the two sides of the door together a few winters ago because the blinds would blow back and forth when it was windy out. In the winter I am sure the heat just poured out of it. The glass so dirty between the panes that we never had a clear look into the backyard from that vantage point. But now all that has changed and we have a beautiful new sliding door! The other sliding door in the dining room had been replaced before we moved into the house. I said to the Dad, "How bad do you think that one was that they choose to replace it over this one?" I shutter to think.

Later in the morning a man came to buy some ducks. Before he could buy them we had to catch them. Last night we went out to try and catch them in the dark. The hope was that we could just walk up to them and pick them up like you can a chicken in the dark. We quickly learned that this isn't true for ducks, they are just as hard to catch in the dark as they are in the light. He brought a net with and we chased them into a building where we were able to "net" ten of them for him. We put on quite the show for the men putting in the new door and window!

This afternoon a family came to look at the goats we have for sale. They didn't buy any but it was fun to meet them and show off our "girls".

So yes, we had a lot of company for us. We can go weeks without anyone stopping by so to have so many in one day is probably a record.

"You can't stand on one leg"

When I was a kid my parents had a lot of company. People would just stop in or they often invited people over. It was customary for my dad to offer them a drink or a beer. After they had finished their first beverage he would always say "you can't stand on one leg," meaning have another drink and another round would be passed.

Well, obviously our ducks can stand on one leg. Here they are in the driveway enjoying a puddle that has formed there during our very rainy days this last week. They are not only standing on one leg but they are sleeping on one leg!

The eagle has landed and eaten

by Dad

This morning I took the dog out to potty and noticed a large shape out of the corner of my eye. In back of the house, under an apple tree, was a Bald Eagle eating one of the ducks. We had thundestorms last night and the ducks had been making a racket playing in water by a down spout through the early morning.

The eagle took flight as soon as I noticed it. The pup and I went to check out carcass. There was a six foot diameter circle of feathers and scattered "duck parts". It must have been working on it a while as usually birds of prey just eat some organs, a few chunks of breast and fly off. It's possible that something else killed the duck as this noble bird isn't too proud too eat carrion.

If you have been following the blog you know the ducks are being a nuisance in the garden and having one less is fine. Recalling the ducks rampage through the bell pepper garden I say "Fly on majestic bird, enjoy your 'Duck on a Bed of Apple Leaves' and come back soon"

Ducks and green peppers don't mix

The ducks have been dining on our green peppers. Three of them were inside the fence munching away on the peppers when I chased them down and caught one of them. She was quacking profusely as I carried her down to the creek. At the same time, the rest of the family was trying to drive the other ducks through the ditch and to the creek. The ducks took a wrong turn and headed back up to the yard. I threw her into the creek anyway hoping she would find utopia and stay there, or better yet, invite the rest of them to join her. No such luck. About 10 minutes after I threw her in, she comes prancing up to the barn quacking her unhappiness to all who would listen. Next step was to make it obvious where to get down to the creek, after all, the other duck found her way back so easily without a trail so with a trail they should head right to the creek. Dad went down to the swamp with the weed whacker, made them a trail to follow and make it more enticing to go to the creek.

We start driving them down to the path and they veer off to the corral. We give them time to regroup and try again. This time they find the path, go half way down it and zoom off to the left into the weeds. Spark tried to keep them going towards the creek but they just couldn't figure it out. This time it took all of them about an hour to figure out how to get back up to the house. What duck wouldn't want to swim and live in a creek? We will just have to reinforce the fence around the garden. Ducks make chickens look smart.

You're not welcome here

When we had hay delivered a few weeks back, a couple of the ducks were still sitting on nests in the few bales that were left from last years hay. We wanted to move all the bales so we could use them first and make a clean space for the new hay. Dad took a pitch fork and scooped up a nest, with mad duck moms attacking him, and put the nest under the pine trees so they could finish sitting on them in a covered spot in the yard. After depositing the first nest he went for the second, was just getting to the tree line with it and in the first nest is a skunk absconding with an egg. The skunk saw him, turned to spray, Dad dropped the nest and ran like the smart man that he is.

To take care of our little skunk problem the live trap was brought out and set for a swift capture. The first night we had success! However, as Dad got closer to the trap it started to meow. We had caught Vidalia who was not amused with the dirty trick of a treat being in a trap.

The days and weeks have been going by with no skunk. All the eggs, from the now abandoned duck nests, were slowly leaving the area and once in a while we could smell he was near.

Last week after cleaning Dancer's two big bass, Dad put the fish guts out in the trap. Well, yesterday afternoon Mr. Skunk could take it no longer, he went in to have a little fish feast. When we saw him in there we had the dilemma of what to do with a skunk in a trap. It's not like you can go up to it and take it out. We did walk about 15 feet from him and he didn't seemed phased at all which made us think that he has been near for a long time and was use to us. This morning Dad shot him and we are going to wait a while to take him out in case he isn't dead. Skunks are great carriers of rabies in our area and we are so relieved to have him gone.

As we thought back to this spring, we remembered that once in a while there would be the deep, rich smell of skunk in the yard. Ducks would be sitting on eggs one day and the next they would be all gone which we thought was odd, what were the ducks doing to their eggs especially after sitting on them for a couple of weeks. Many of our new ducklings that hatched went up missing with no sign of them, now we think he must have been grabbing a few at the duck buffet every night.

So Mr. Skunk, you are not welcome here. We hope he was not married with children. He was living in an old wood pile behind the trees but it is not like we will being going back there a knocking. We'll just keep our eyes out for any relatives he may have had.

Feed us! Feed us!

When the ducks are hungry, which seems like most of the time, they will come charging after us quack, quack, quacking. If we are in the barn they will even come to door and yell in to get their food out. Here Dancer is pouring out feed for them. We always feed them in the same spot so all the grass has long worn off.

We may not be able to talk to the animals but they sure can tell us what they want.

Things aren't always as they seem

A duck sitting by a log

Look again and it is really a duck sitting by a log with a brood of babies under her!

There's a little black duck swimming in the water

See her open beak? That is her telling me to back up or she will back me up. And she means it too, if we get too close she attacks, hisses and bites.

Both of these mommas brought out their ducklings from under the hay tarp today and they must of mixed up the babies because they are now co-parenting. The duck out of the pool is still giving us and ear full. The other mother is protective but not near as aggressive.

Spark and Dad dug a hole for this bin so that the ducklings can get in and out of it easily.

Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh

Gloomy sky and cold rain is the theme of the day. It is so cold that when we came out of church this morning Spark broke out in song - Jingle Bells. A dear lady in the parking lot said "I think you have the wrong season!" I don't know, it could snow.

We really do need the rain. We are in a burning ban where starting a fire, even a recreational one, is a $1,000 fine. What we don't need is cold rain and 40 degree temps. The potatoes and peas that we have in will rot in the ground instead of sprouting. The ducks have been out in the garden digging up the potatoes and rummaging in the dirt where the peas are planted so they need all help they can get to make it into plants. Hurry summer!

Where's the mother?

This nest of 18 eggs is tucked in the hay under the tarp. The only problem is that no one wants to be the duck that sits on them. Maybe when the weather gets warmer one of the ducks will get broody.
Now this little guy knows exactly where his mother is! Sometimes when we walk in the barn she will have a whole row of babies on her back. When we walk over they all jump down and come to the door. We would like to think it is because they are excited to see us but it is probably because they know a handful of rabbit pellets will be coming their way.

Just Thursday 4

The morning started so nice with Spark coming in to snuggle on the bed with me. Mmmm, he is so sweet. Then he says "Mom, are you going to get up, it's 1:00?" After I spun over faster than a pig on a BBQ spit to look at the clock, he says "just kidding!" and zooms off. He is getting more like his father every day.

Going out to the barn there was a long trail of these foot prints. We are guessing them to be fox prints. It is time to get out the live trap or it will be back every night for his duck supper until they are all gone. Last year we lost a few to a raccoon until we caught him.

The ducks seemed to be on cloud nine with the spots on the yard that have no snow on them. Once they find a puddle they turn it into a mud puddle. We are going on our fifth month of snow so they are probably thinking that migration thing other ducks do is not such a bad idea. Actually, ours are domestic ducks so they don't fly all that well.

Dad started the spring cleaning in the barn. In the sub zero winter temps everything is frozen down so we can't get do much cleaning in the stalls. Here he is putting some on one of the flower beds. By the time he tills here, if spring ever comes, it will be mostly composted.

The warmer temps have made the snow sticky enough to make snowballs. Spark and Dancer made a snow fort. Snow fort play has come a long way since I was a kid. Video games have seeped into every part of their lives. Their game had three levels of play, easy, medium and hard. There was a set amount of money and buying snowballs was determined by how much money one had. They can also 'reset' the game. The game was quite creative and I know they are retaining the history we do. They were Rome attacking Asia Minor, Britain, Greece, Spain and Cesar's son-in-law Pompey's head came from Egypt on a Fed Ex truck.
Nikki played Queen of the Snowball.

We got a little science experiment in while we were outside. Dancer threw ashes out on the yard to see if the dark color from the ashes will attract heat from the sun and melt the snow faster or if it doesn't matter and white snow melts at the same rate.

We came in and made guacamole for lunch. Here is our recipe.

Guacamole

5 ripe avocados

3 Roma tomatoes

3 sweet peppers

3 garlic cloves

1 onion

cilantro to taste

3 tbsp. olive oil

sea salt to taste

lime juice

Mash the avocados. Dice the tomatoes. Run the peppers, garlic and onion through the food chopper. Mix everything together and get out the chips.

This is so good, I am hungry just looking at the picture again.

Spark looked up how to grow an avocado tree here - http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/seed/2002114535011263.html He got out a glass and started his right away.

Dancer changed the laces in her new tennis shoes from white to blue. She got new ones last night and we bought a size 7. Her old ones were a size 5. Why she never complained how small the old ones were is beyond me. She just got new tap, jazz and ballet shoes because her toes were coming out of her old ones and I should have thought then that her street shoes probably didn't fit either. The picture shows that there is quite a significant size difference between the two shoes.

Spark grew another head. All this and we got some "real" school work done!

Just Thursday

A few things that happened here today.

We had some company stop by. The ducks came charging up to the door and we half expect them to ring the doorbell.

Played with the goats. This how big our baby goat Desdemona has gotten in the last week.

Trekked out to the garden. In some spots the snow is about three feet deep. Not problem if it is hard enough to walk on top but when your foot plunges through the hard crust it is cold in your boot, which hopefully stays on your foot when it is pulled out.

Dug for snow peas. Actually, they are digging a cave in one of the big drifts in the garden.

Found some garden tools that got left out last fall. We have some work to do on those.

Bored the cat. He was following us around and then we must have not been exciting enough for him because he meowed and left.

Sat on the deck and soaked up some sun.

Drew some pictures and savored chocolate ice cream.

Worked the calories from the ice cream off on the treadmill

and the trampoline.