May 19, 2013

Not much happening in the rabbitry.  I have 2 broken babies in the box, and they just opened their eyes.  That's about it for news there.

The chickies are growing fast and keeping me busy buying to keep up with them.  I only buy 20 lbs of chick starter at a time so I'm not feeding it longer than necessary.  I kicked the adults out of the pen so the chicks could have the run of it.  I moved the PVC feeder so the outside birds could reach it but I could still fill it from inside the pen.  It's sticking through the chainlink.  Because of the way it's hung, a couple of the feeder holes are inside the pen, and the older chicks are eating big bird food as well as the starter I provide in another feeder.

The oldest ones are getting on the highest roost already.  The one at the front of the line is one of my favs.  He's half Silky, half Cochin.  Super fluffy!

I decided to revive the garden blog.  From now on, garden and nature stuff will go there.  Natureschild Gardenworks

tnt

4.6.13

I got more chicks since the last post.  There's now 9.  First there was another Silky/Cochin and another patterned white.  I raised them alone until they were big enough to join the week older chicks in the big bin.  That went well.  The S/C is different than the 1st one, more gray than brown.  It's so cute!  There's just something about it.  It kinda reminds me of a dwarf.  Round fluffy head and big eyes.  I think it's the sweet eyes that are getting me.

Then I found another Silky/Cochin the same color yesterday.  Just one.  The poor little thing cried and cried all alone in its bin.  Hoping for more real soon so it can have clutch mates.  In the meantime, I moved the 2nd S/C back to keep it company.  It will teach the little one where the water and food is, and if there's more, that one can do the same.

The oldest S/C is now looking like it will have Cochin feathers, but with the head pouf.  That should be adorable!  Can't say for sure what color it or the others are, but I'm going with birchen for now.  The white patterned ones, I don't have a clue.  Their wings and tails are coming in dark and patterned.  Pretty sure about the buffs, but not so sure about the lightest one.  It could turn completely white.  It's a good thing showing birds is not my goal.  My goal was a pretty flock of varied colors and I got that.

I'm starting to guess gender based on comb and wings.  If that's correct I only see 1 or 2 roos.  Good ratio.  The silky things are probably going to throw a wrench in that.  I have no idea how silky combs develop since they are so unlike the cochin combs.  And there's that pouf to hide what's happening.

I've talked before about how I give does more chances.  Many breeders are strict in their "3 strikes and out" rule.  I'm not and it usually pays off.  Babe is the latest doe like this.  No, she hasn't yet given me a litter but she almost did this time.  It was her 4th attempt.  She had 3, one was alive, and I think another might have been at birth.  Since the singleton wasn't a color I wanted, I left it with her to practice her mother skills.  As expected, it died by the next day, most likely to cold.  I take this as a very good sign she'll get it right, and it should be warmer by the time her next litter arrives.  I'm not giving up yet.

Speaking of warmer.  Yeah, not so much.  Spring is so unsouthernly this year.  The cherries in my yard, and the Bradford pears elsewhere (I don't have any) are starting to bloom.  I don't know how these continued frosty mornings are going to affect that.

There's a weed I've come to appreciate.  I believe it's Hen's-bit.   It's a short groundcover that blooms now in reddish-purple.  It's very pretty in the lawn and gardens.  The nice thing about it and why I don't object to it in the gardens is that when it finishes setting seed, it disappears for the rest of the year.  It doesn't take over the garden and it helps suppress other spring weeds.

In the front yard just outside the boundaries of the Bird Garden, muscari (grape hyacinth) has escaped and joined the large swathe of hen's-bit.  There's lovely pops of bright blue scattered among the purple.  I like to plant muscari around the base of daffodils because they bloom at the same time and look wonderful together.  But muscari has a mind of its own and sends seeds wherever it wants.

There's quite a few Peewees flitting around the yard.  Actually, I'm not positive they're Peewees   They might be Phoebes.  According to my book, Peewees are smaller and have a prominent crest where Phoebe is shown with a smooth head.  These have a crest.  Without seeing and hearing (calls are similar) them both at the same time, it's hard for me to say.  I'll go with Peewee until proven otherwise.

Anyways, there's more Peewees than I've seen before.  They seem to be looking for a place to nest.  They're looking real hard at the wind-wrecked shed.  I hope they don't go there.  I've set up a guy to tear it down next week.  Oddly, they also seem to be looking somewhere under the gutter on the back of the house.  The only thing they could possibly build on there is the light fixture on the wall.

There were a couple Rufous-sided Towhees under the feeder a week ago.  That's always a pleasure because I hardly ever see them, but they sometimes appear for a short time in the spring.  Mockingbirds have been cleaning up the nandina berries.  I don't see any other birds eating these berries.  I love mockingbirds.  They're the quintessential southern bird to me, and their songs are wonderful.  They don't really stick around here all year.  I don't know why.  For a long time, I only saw them in the spring, but in town, they were more common than robins.  I guess they're city birds.  But the last few years, I see more for a longer period.

There was some grossness this week.  I noticed crows in the backyard and when I watched more closely, I saw them carry off what looked like red meat.  Went out to investigate and found some fur near the house.  Abby the cat often eats her kills in that area, and unfortunately, doesn't always finish it.  Going by the fur, and the size of the meat the crows were taking, it was a cottontail.  I don't know how it ended up scattered all over the yard far from the fur, but since the crows were cleaning it up, that worked for me.

Another gross thing.  I found some yuck on the porch.  It looked like cat food and snake.  Yeah, half of a little snake.  I wouldn't think there were snakes out and about this early, especially when it's been so cold, but that's what it was.  I've noticed Abby often pukes after eating her ration of cat food and then a kill.  Time to cut back on cat food.

Supposed to be real nice this weekend.  Hope it stays that way from now on.  I need to get stuff done outside, and it has to be warm enough.  I could handle the coolth for working outside, but my sinuses can't.  My nose runs like a faucet if it's less than 60.  That can turn into a full-blown sinus attack and I'll be down and miserable until it's over.  So I wimp out and only spend a short time outside until it's warmer.  So come on, Spring!  Get warmer!

tnt

This week at SCG

So this happened yesterday.

What is wrong with spring this year?!  I haven't seen such a crappy March since I've been here.  It's not even the snow, that's not a big deal here, it's the cold.  I'm tired of being cold, and I've got things to do outside.  This is what spring is like in Michigan, and I moved down here to get away from that.

My poor daffs have been frozen and snowed on so many times.  They've been blooming since the middle of February!

This is also the first time in 9 years I've had spring fever.  For me, the main symptoms of spring fever are depression and sometimes unreasonable pissed-offness.  In MI, you get teased and denied spring weather well into May, and it's rough on the mood.  Here, reliably good weather comes early enough that I don't have time to get depressed about it.  Or at least it did until this year.  I get through February by believing that March will be much better, but here it is the end of March and it still looks and feels like February.  I am not content these days.

In other news.

Buffy hatched these little pretties on Sunday.  At first, there was 5, and then I found another later that day.  I can take a guess about colors.  The solid blondies are probably buff and/or white.  The lightest patterned chick (top right) might be white, too, but I hope not.  One of Buffy's last year started out a lot like that and then became pure white.

The 2 darker patterned ones might not be Buffy's.  The hens share nests.  I think they're birchens.  There's 2 birchen hens and the only roos are birchen and red.  Red is the alpha roo, but I've seen Bert hit on a hen when Red wasn't looking.

This is Buffy and her last clutch last year.  Sadly, none survived to maturity.

The other hens are sharing the other boxes and there have been PILES of eggs since early February!  What happens to them all?  It's been so freezing cold, any eggs that I don't see hens sitting on for any length of time get tossed over the fence into the field for the crows.  Yeah, the crows eat them.  A friend mentioned that she tossed "bad" eggs out into the yard for the crows.  Shortly after that, I saw my crows carrying off the eggs they found over there.  I suppose I could eat some of those eggs, but again, they've probably been frozen.  I'll only eat eggs I find fresh and I can't tell which those are when several new eggs appear in each nest every day.  When it gets to be too many, I toss them.  How many is too many?  I have chucked close to 2 dozen at a time, leaving 4 or so to keep the hens laying in the box.  That's a PILE!

Buffy is still sitting on 6 eggs that haven't hatched yet.  I'm not sure if they're bad, or if they're younger.  I did move some from the pile in another box to her clutch.  I'm also thinking about moving some more that way since she's my proven broody.  At this time, there's always 2 hens hunkered down in that other box at the same time and they get quite pissed if I try to see what's going on under them.  Buffy doesn't get as angry about it.

I also learned another thing about hens.  They talk to their babies.  The day I discovered Buffy's had hatched, she was softly clucking.  A sound I hadn't heard any other time.  Sure enough, when I gently picked her up, there were chicks under her.  So now I know how to tell eggs have hatched.  I had also jotted a note about when I expected them to hatch based on when she went broody.  I was spot on, BTW.

In rabbit news, not much new.  I have to get pictures of Daydreamer's 2 little boys.  They are about 5 weeks old now.  The keeper is a nicely broken silver marten.  Not crazy about the fact that he's a silver marten, but I'll see how he grows up.  The other is an otter "hotot".  That's what I call it when they only have color on the eyes and ears.  He's the one with the type of course!  He's way too cute for something I really can't use.  I'm almost tempted to keep him for a pet, except that I can't justify keeping bunnies for that reason.  I'll see how I feel about it when someone hits me up for a pet when he's ready to go.  Been getting the usual Easter bunny inquiries, but I have nothing else available.

Baroquen's 3 are doing well and they are all nicely broken black otters.  The other doe that was due right after her failed, but she actually did pretty well for a 1st-timer.  The kits weren't mangled or stretched which is a good sign for success in the future.  Next litters are due in about 2 weeks.  Sure hope the weather gets better by then!

tnt

November

I have babies!  Yay.  It's been awhile since I had anything to talk about in the rabbitry, let alone litters.

Baroquen x Smith's Lou had 4 nicely broken blacks just an hour ago.  I was so pleased to see the entire litter is broken and all have very good pattern.  I was hoping there would be chocolate, but I'll take it.  I'm actually surprised there were no chocolates since she threw it in her last litter without trying.  I was trying this time...Lou is lilac.  Also pleased the litter is live and healthy.  It's been 4 months since I bred any does so I was prepared for failure.  Good girl, Baroquen!  I didn't look to see if they are otters or selfs.  Being broken, it might be a couple days before I can tell.  Would be very helpful if the Smith's bucks carry self.

It took a while to get the rest of the does bred so the next round isn't due for 2 weeks.  I still have one who will not lift.  I had to do a lot of shuffling around to get the others bred.  No one was cooperating, so I moved the does to a different cage everyday until they did.  It's not working on the frigid one so I'll take her for a ride the next time I go to town.

It was such a great year for daylilies.  Mild winter, plenty of rain and sunshine through spring and summer, and now still mild in November.  Best bloom I can remember in a long long time.  What really amazed me is that a couple varieties not known for reblooming did just that.

Like this one.  This is Golden Gate and it has never ever rebloomed.  It's been kicking out flowers for the last month.  It's usual bloom period is early in the season (May-June) and then it's done.  Even had 1st frost yesterday and the buds still opened today.  Oh yeah, didn't get 1st frost until yesterday.

There's a few other blooms as well.  The pink Knock-Out rose has some, and the white coneflower sent up more buds that started to open.  I think the frost stopped them which made for an interesting flower.  The petals look like toothpicks sticking out of the cone.  I tried to get it with the camera when I got the daylily but I think my camera is dying.  It gets harder and harder to get decent pictures.  Seriously considering a new one in the near future.  Other flowers are still coming but that frost should put a stop to that.

Didn't get the snow they went on about out of hurricane Sandy.  It spit some mixed with a fine misty rain that day but that's all it amounted to.  I guess the highest elevations got quite a bit.  How odd that I had snow before Michigan.

I finally sold the 3 odd breed hens at a TSC parking lot animal swap a few weeks ago.  Now I don't have to worry about cross-breeds in hatches next year.  That leaves me with 8 cochins (2 roos, 6 hens), and the Silky hen.  I'll probably bring in more next spring.  I have a line to a breeder who has Mille Fleur cochins (pretty!), and I might try a hatchery order to get the colors I want.

tnt

This & That 8.28.12

In the rabbitry:  The sell-down went well.  After the last of them are delivered, I'll have 7 broken black does and a solid chocolate doe.  That's right...no bucks right now....but I'll be getting 1 or 2 new ones very soon.  In the meantime, I'm cleaning out and rearranging the barn so I'm not in a big hurry to breed does.  Everybody is out in the Summer House so I don't even have to think about running a fan or leaving the door open in the barn.  Part of the plan is to keep the numbers low enough that every bunny will move outside for summers from now on.  Better for them, better for me.

The new program will be strictly brokens.  Most likely chocolate and dilute will be part of it since most of the does carry one or the other.  I have a handle on broken pattern, now I'll concentrate on type and for that, I'll need some seriously nice solid bucks.  Which I am getting.  I won't be going to very many shows while I work on this.

And now a short intermission to show off the current stars of the gardens.

Crape Myrtle and Althea (aka Rose of Sharon).  This is the view from my computer desk and I also see it from the window over the kitchen sink.  The pink thing in the foreground is a dwarf Joe Pye Weed.  The native species grows wild all along the road but it has never transplanted successfully.  So I bought this smaller domesticated version several years ago.  Butterflies love it.  I'm going to dig up some splits to add to the Porch View Garden.

This is the Porch View Garden that I've been revamping all summer.  Everything came from somewhere else in the yard.  You might remember when I posted it in progress in the spring, there were a couple more overgrown miscanthus (the large dark green grass behind the pink althea on the right).  They were removed (not easily!) to make room for more diversity and butterfly flowers.  I still want to transplant some groundcovers, but mostly it's finished for now.  I say for now because perennial gardens are never really finished.

This scene was so tranquil and pretty.  That's the Summer House on the right.  The yellow in the middle is an enormous perennial sunflower but I can't remember just which one it is except that its cultivar name is "Lemon Queen".  I have to move it (I want that box it's in for something else) but have no idea where to put it.  I'll think of something.  Everything else in that box needs to go elsewhere, too.

In chicken news:  Sadly, too many more losses.  Poochy, my favorite mottled roo disappeared.  It was very mysterious.  He was there in the morning at least until noon.  In the late afternoon he was gone.  I found a few mottled feathers over beside the fence where they often root around, but not enough to be evidence of foul play.  In fact, he and the other older roos are molting which could explain the few feathers I found.   I think I may have solved the mystery.

About a week ago, I caught my littlest red hen outside the back gate.  A very dangerous place for a small critter to be (resident fox!).  She was just poking around back there in the undergrowth as though it was perfectly normal.  I realized she could fit through the gap at the bottom of the gate, and must have been doing it for a while.  I used to have a piece of wire there but it had got bent back by the mower.  So I put it back and then she got out again!  So I watched all day to see what she was doing and finally caught her at it.  She was squeezing through the even smaller gap on the hinge side.  So I added wire there as well and that seems to have stopped it.  I now think Poochy followed her out there before I discovered what they were doing.  He was small enough to fit through the first gap.  It never occurred to me at the time he went missing to look back there.  She knew how to get back in quickly but maybe he didn't and was out there all night, and then he was gone.

I also lost the mottled blue cockerel that I was excited about and all 3 of the partridges.  They just up and died of unknown causes.  I was pretty heartbroken by all of these losses.  All that's left of Poochy and Buffy's last hatch is 2 pullets (white and black).

It's been really beautiful for weeks.  Almost too nice, it hasn't rained in over 2 weeks.  A bit too hot in the high afternoon but mornings and late afternoons are just right.

tnt

Something new

When one of the buyers came to pick up her rabbits, she brought me something else.  She had read here on the blog that I lost my little Silky pullet.  So she brought me one!  Thanks, Clarissa!

I never got a good pic of the other one but she wasn't anything like this!  This looks and feels like thick fur!  I had no idea they could be so soft.  This is another example of the difference between hatchery quality and breeder quality, like my cochins.   I'm not sure how to integrate her into the free rangers.  I was told Silkies are prone to predators, especially hawks, because they can't see past their topknot unless you trim it.  I can hardly see her eyes.  That pouf is half her charm so I kinda hate to cut it off.  She may just live in the Summer House permanently.  As I was trying to get a good shot, I realized a Silky might have been the inspiration for Sesame Street's Big Bird.  You see it, too, right?

I put the partridge trio in with her the first night.  I was hoping she would bond with them so she could go out.  Didn't see any sign that she would.  I imagine the cochins don't know what to think about this odd lookin critter.  My other silky seemed to be an outsider as well.  The next day, I found a teeny tiny egg, the smallest I've seen from any of my birds, in the nestbox.  It might have been one of the cochins, but I don't know for sure.  I was told Silky (yeah, that's probably her name) is about 5 months old, which is about what my hens are, and first eggs usually aren't full sized.

This is what greets me when I walk out on the porch in the evening.  Even though I was ready with camera in hand, I still couldn't get all of them in one shot.  They mob me that fast!  You see, they usually get their bird seed in the evening and they come running.  I can barely walk out to the pen where I keep it without stepping on them.  I feel like Richard Dreyfess in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when he was being escorted by the little aliens into the space ship.  Yeah, I know, weird thing to think of, but that's the picture in my head when I look down at all these little beings milling around my feet.

The birchens weren't in that shot because they were right at my feet already.  That roo is going to be so beautiful!

Hardy Hibiscus in all it's glory.  Those flowers are about 8" across.  This is seen from the window by the computer desk.  Nice view, huh?

tnt

101

That was the high yesterday according to the remote digital thermometer on the porch (the readout part is in the house) which is in the shade.  It's the one I look at for the most accurate temperature.  That's the record for me since I've been here (8 years).  I don't believe I've had 100 before now.  Yesterday was supposed to be the peak of this heat wave.  If it gets no hotter than that we're good here.

I don't know what it was in the barn.  I didn't want to know as there was nothing else I could do for them.  But the gals handled it with just the fan.  There's only 8 does in the barn, and only 4 have litters 4-5 weeks old.  No losses.  I think it really helps that the cherry tree and crape myrtle on the west side are mature and providing a lot of shade on the wall and roof.  The does are all on that wall.  The rest are outside in the Summer House and I wasn't worried about them.  I've said it before, it's also the breed.  Dwarfs are so small and hardy, they can take a lot of heat as long as they have good ventilation.

I thought of some tips to help cope with heat in an enclosed rabbit barn if AC isn't an option.  You know several already.  Frozen water bottles or tiles, misters, and of course ventilation and fans.  I can't do frozen bottles.  Just don't have the freezer space.  I could maybe do cold tiles.  A mister isn't an option due to the wooden floor in the barn.  Fans is the best I can do.

1. If at all possible, reduce the herd going into summer.  Less body heat, and less waste that generates heat.

2. If you reduce the herd, you should have empty holes.  Hot air rises you know.  Move as many as possible to the lowest tiers.  I also suggest putting the most valuable players in the very bottom tiers.  You know, the ones you couldn't bear to lose.  Also put as many as possible on the coolest walls.  North and east or the shaded walls.

3.  Clean more often to control the radiated heat from the pans.

4. An outside option for a good part of the herd if you can.  A shade structure like a porch or carport is about as cool as you can get outside on a scorching day.  It provides free air flow without the need for fans.  Even a cheap portable canopy will do.  Just make sure it's big enough to shade the cages all day.  Attach shade cloth to the sides that allow the sun to shine on any cages.

5. Plant shading plants on the south and west facing walls.  I love my cherry tree.  It grew fast.  Other fast growing plants are crape myrtles, bamboo, hybrid willows, and vines.  Native wisteria or grape vine grows very fast and would cover a tall trellis structure in front of the wall in no time.  While you wait for it to take off, you can grow annual vines like morning glory or hyacinth bean.  If using wisteria or grapes, make sure the trellis is very sturdy.  These are hefty vines when mature.  Another good shade vine is called Silver Lace Vine.  It's a very robust perennial that grows very thick quickly.  It's covered in tiny white flowers like a bridal veil for a long bloom period in late summer.  It also needs a sturdy structure.  If attaching the trellis directly to the barn wall, add shims or brackets to hold it away from the wall.  The cooling comes from the air space between the plant and wall, and the more air space the better.  Of course, planting now won't help much this year, but doing it now will help next year, so make those plans.  Be sure and keep those new plants well watered through the heat and lack of rain.


The chicks are doing good.  I close off the back bedrooms when I'm running AC and it's gets pretty toasty back there.  They don't need the heat lamp unless it goes below 60 outside at night, and I don't think that will happen before they're big enough to handle it.  I'll move them out to the barn in another week or so when they are acclimated to lower night time temps.


I do believe that one is a mottled blue!  Cool!  Maybe what they call splash.  I don't know what the difference would be, maybe just the name of the color.  The 2 light ones are looking like they will be white.  I hope they are actually mottled buff because that would be pretty, but the wing feathers starting to come in are white so we'll see.


Sadly, I lost the partridge silky girl out in the pen last week.  I don't know what happened.  When I went out there in the morning she was dead.  Bummer.  I really liked her.  She was one of the reasons I hadn't turned the rest of the birds out to free range yet.  I think I'll try now.  They need to learn to forage and there isn't anything to forage on in the pen.  My plan is to separately pen up breeding groups next year.  Got a couple ideas for that which I'll work on before next spring.


Keep cool as best you can.


tnt 

6.11.12

All the litters from Smith's HD (himi) came in.  Final total in 5 litters - 11 kits.  5 himis, 5 blacks, and a siamese sable. Got 3 does bred and might breed another, but there won't be much more than rebreeds (for failures) for at least the summer.

I was worried about the poor color of the Stoneybrook's himi buck that was here on loan last year causing problems.  His offspring all had poor color.  Pale and blotchy.  Got a couple from Bruin who is that one's son and also has poor color.  These 2nd generation babies' color came up quick and dark!  I'm pleased.  The older one is a broody doe, but the next litter gave me a very promising little buck who is about 6 weeks old now.  Breeding himi to well-colored himi works.  Both are out of Chevette who only had 1 live in each of those 2 litters.  She's on HD's litter of 3 himis now.

I really want to turn the rest of the birds out to free range soon, but a couple are still pretty small and valuable to me.  One is the partridge silky that I don't want to lose.  As a friend put it, she's a future brooding machine, and she's just so darn cute!  The others are the cochin birchen/silver penciled roo and pullet, and the partridge roo.  Yeah, I think I got that partridge roo I wanted so much.  I can't tell if the roo is a birchen or a silver pencil.  His back plumage was very slow to come out and just now covering his back.  I compared my pullets to photos I found online and they do look like birchen so since the roo came from the same batch, maybe that means that's what he is.  I was trying to find pix that would show me the difference but they all look the same to me.  I'm calling them birchens.

I might set the silky up in a tractor so I can turn the others out sooner.  I wanted to just open the gate on the pen and let them come and go as they please during the day.  I've been working on converting an old 4' dog crate into a sort of chick tractor.  This would just be for young birds.  I'll take pix when I get it finished.  It will give them full access to scratching ground, and I'm including a way to confine them in one end of the crate for moving the rig around.  I'll be able to pick it up without them falling out.

The brahma who went broody under daylilies abandoned her eggs a few days ago.  I noticed Whipper nosing around her nest which I hadn't seen him do before.  Went over to see what he was about, and found one of her eggs had exploded.  Yuck!  I held my breath and disposed of it.  Watched the hen to see if she was going to the nest and she didn't all that day.  So I disposed of the rest of the eggs before they blew up, too.  The buff cochin hen is brooding in a nestbox and I estimate hers to hatch in about a week and half.  At least I'll know these are purebred cochins.

I came up with an idea for keeping track of what daylilies are where.  We had our Rendevous at the Smith's this weekend, and their daylilies are even more beautiful than mine this year and that's saying a lot.  I don't know why they are so happy this year, maybe it's the plentiful rain and finally recovering from the drought 2 years ago.  Water, especially rain, is the best fertilizer for daylilies.

The Smith's are more organized collectors and keep their daylilies in ordered and tagged beds.  Mine are part of the gardens and scattered all over.  My daylilies are part of the skeleton of my gardens.  The big bones are the shrubs and large ornamental grasses.  Daylilies are the small bones.  Everything else is specimens for diversity and filler plants.  I try tagging them, but the tags always disappear over time.

So I'm taking pix of the gardens while they are blooming.  Then I'll label them in my graphics software and file in a special folder along with pix of individual flowers.  I'm also drawing rough "maps" of each garden so I can label their locations.  These rough maps will be recreated in my new landscaping 'ware to make more detailed maps.  This way I won't have to wait until they bloom (or try to remember) to know what/where they are if I want to split one right now.  I keep the daylily catalogs that I've ordered from as reference as well.

Oh almost forgot.  I did bring home a new daylily from the Smith's this weekend.  I wasn't planning to, I have plenty of daylily transplanting of my own to do.  As I was walking around the beds and chatting with Gary, I said I didn't need anything that looked like something I already had even if it wasn't exactly the same.  And it just jumped out at me.  So he real quick dug up a plantlet off it.  It's called "Moonlight Sail" and unlike anything I have.  It's big and heavy, purple with yellow ruffles, very exotic.  The small split has some buds so I'll get a shot when it blooms.  In the meantime, here's a link to a photo.     I haven't placed it yet, it's biding time in a pot.

It's gray and drizzly today so I can spend some time on the pix I took today.

tnt

Gardening Chickens

No, I don't mean incorporating chickens into gardens.  I mean chickens that garden.  Currently there are 5 free rangers.  A mottled cochin roo, the Jap roo, the 2 rhodie hens, and the brahma hen.  The brahma surprised me.  I missed her but then I would see her once or twice during the day.  After a couple days I was able to figure out where she went.  She went broody on a large clutch of eggs under some daylilies in a holding bed.  She hadn't gone broody before.  I had planned on getting those plants out of that bed but now I have to wait until she's finished.  I'm curious to see how a free range hen raises chicks so I'm letting her have at it.  I suspect some of those eggs are the rhodies.

Oh yeah, I was talking about gardening chickens.  That would be the rhodies, the tamest birds in my flock.  They discovered if they hang close by when I'm working in a garden, there are goodies to be had.  Fat worms and scurrying beetles.  Now they are underfoot when I'm in a garden.  My gardening buddies.  Literally underfoot, I've almost stepped on them several times.  Pretty soon the others come to investigate, and everyone goes to work tilling the area.  If I sow seeds, I'll have to put up some sort of barrier.  So far they haven't tried to dig up any of the perennial transplants, but they do scratch all around them.  This could be real helpful if they can keep the weeds down.  Dumping rabbit manure in a garden usually entices them to scratch.

Oh and they decided daylily flowers are real tasty!  Grrrr.  At least they only go after the dwarfs they can reach. Most of those can flower enough to cover it and aren't my special daylilies.  They also like impatiens.  Another grrrr.  I had to put a barrier on the pots they can reach.  It's just a simple cage made of cheap garden fence that doesn't detract from the plants too much.

Sadly, I lost the buff cochin ranger.  I found him dead near the back of the yard.  Don't know what happened but it might have been a hawk.  His head was gone (yuck).  Backyard Poultry magazine had a good article about predators in the latest issue and listed the MO's of the most common ones.  Hawks and weasels are the most likely to take the head.  Since a weasel isn't likely to kill during the day (I've never seen one) and the body was far from his night roost, I'm going with hawk.

I've often mentioned that I have a view out the window beside my computer desk.  This is it, taken through that window.

I call this the Bird Garden.  It was designed around the bird feeders and can be seen from 3 windows at the front of the house.  The orange daylily is called "Golden Gate" and has to be seen in person, this picture doesn't do it justice.  Orange is my least favorite color and this is one of only 2 orange flowers in my gardens.  The other is a daylily, too.  What's so special about Golden Gate is that it glows.  Really.  It stands out in the low light of early morning or late evening like it's lit from within.  You'd think a pale yellow or pink would glow more, but this orange beats all of them.

This is "Barbara Mitchell", one of my favorite pinks.  That's it in the previous photo to the right of the feeder. It's an old variety and along with Golden Gate is part of my "heritage" collection.  I call them heritage plants because they've moved with me for many years.

The weather turned quite cool but I'm loving it!  I try to get out to garden work early but never as early as I should.  Then the heat runs me in by early afternoon so I'm lucky if I spend a few hours at it.  I had some out of control gardens that badly needed attention and the cool day allowed me to get a lot done.  There were thorny brambles and wild roses that had invaded a garden and I really needed to be able to go at it in heavy gloves and long thick sleeves.  It was cool enough to do that and get it done.  Looks like I'll have more of the same for a few days.

I splurged on new software.  I have a garden I can't make up my mind what to do next.  I got it all cleaned up and now I'm looking at it.  I know what I have in other gardens to move there but not how to do it.  So I thought about landscape design software.  I have a really old and limited landscaping 'ware, but I needed more features.  I found a great one online.  It's highly advanced, nearly professional grade, and the plans turn out really lifelike.  It's also a toy for me.  I can play with it and design fantasy gardens.  One of the things it can do is design right onto a photo.  So I took some of the garden in question.

I call this garden Porch View.  It was designed to give me something to look at from my roofed porch where I sit and daydream a lot.  After cleaning it out, removing some things for transplanting elsewhere, and expanding the edge, it left me with a lot of design possibilities.  I took several shots and kept this one that Abby decided to be in.

Well, off to check on a couple of litters that are due.

I'll be in the garden if you need me.

tnt.

5.23.12

The daylilies are firing up.  It kicked off with "Stella D'Oro" about 2 weeks ago and those are going full blast now.  Stella is the workhorse of the gardens, reliably blooming early and heavily, and reblooming later.   Below is the first of the stars.

"Mrs. Peacock" comes from the daylily collection at Naturesnook.  When I first came to know the Smiths at rabbit shows, I learned they also share my love for the "perfect perennial".  They have an extensive collection and they do a little hybridizing of their own.  And they love to share!  If you join us at the Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Rendevous on June 9, bring some pots and get some of your own.  This form with the long narrow petals is called a spider .  I haven't measured her but I'm sure she's around 8" across.

Here she is in context with the blue spiderworts and the small yellow homegrown daylily.  I dabbled in hybridizing myself many years ago and "Lemontime" was one of the successes.  It's "Stella D'Oro" x "Ice Carnival".  Ice Carnival is the oldest of my "whites" and crossed to gold Stella gave me a dwarf in the light lemon yellow I like so much.  It reblooms like Stella although not as reliably.  All 3 came with me from Michigan.  I brought a lot of daylilies with me!

Mrs. Peacock isn't the biggest one in my garden.  I think that title is still held undefeated by "Big Bird" which will bloom later.  This was its first year, fully 9" wide!  It would be even wider if the petals were straight.  It's also quite tall so it commands the garden during its time.

Oh BTW.  I figured out that it was the resolution that needed adjusting on the little camera.  It was set too low.  Can't get as much on the memory card with bigger shots, but at least they aren't terrible.  I'm pretty good about keeping the card cleaned out so it's always available.  So all is well there.  For now.  I'm starting to itch for an upgrade.

I'm revamping some gardens (always!) and now is the time to move daylilies.  You wouldn't think so during their bloom season but they take it like no other plant.  I said it was the perfect perennial!  Now is the time to make plans to divide or move because you'll know what color they are.  I have so many, I forget.

Garden Tip:  Save the little plastic clips that come on bread bags.  These are perfect for tagging the varieties.  Just write it with a sharpie and slip it on the flower stalk.  It will last until you are ready to move it.  Put the clip on upside down so rain and sun won't wear off the ink too soon.  Even permanent sharpie ink wears off eventually out in the elements.  They're also real handy for identifying cords on electronics.

I decided to wait until a soaking rain to do any more transplanting.  Got that since last night...a good slow inch so far.  After a day of soaking it up, the plants will be primed for moving, not to mention being easier to dig up.

In the rabbitry:  Have the first litter from the new himi buck, Smith's HD.  Kachina (tort) gave 3 fat healthy blacks yesterday.  Not that I wanted black but I expected it.  Now I know HD doesn't carry any goodies.  Apparently Kachina doesn't either which surprises me since her sire is Sugardaddy who threw Sable Pts.  She also just gave Tort when bred to Sable Pt but there was only 2 in that litter so I didn't consider it a good sampling.  I probably can now.  I'll keep the best of these for the himi, sable pt/tort, and broken programs.

Kachina is such a pet!  Right up until kindling she was begging for head rubs.  She was a wild child, extremely spastic and hard to handle as a jr.  She settled into her current personality after her first litter.  She grumbled a little when I went to check the new litter, but after giving her attention first, she calmed down.  I'm not planning on breeding her again after this litter, but not so sure I want to sell her.  Not very common to come across a doe with such a fantastic pet personality. 

More about HD.  As anyone who has Smith's rabbits knows, their ear # system involves 2 or 3 letters that usually spells something.  HD came to me without a name or number and I wanted to stay with their system.  His sire is HY and his dam DO and so HD for his ear #.  It also stands for HyDef.  He has really good color definition.

In the chicken pen:  The youngest birds are integrating nicely, and the older ones aren't persecuting them as much.  They still have the transition cage, but aren't using it as much now.  I'll take it away pretty soon.  Probably when I run out of chick starter feed as that's the main reason it's still there.  The older birds can't get to it in the cage.  There's 2 distinct flocks in there based on age.  The 2 adults (buff hen, mottled roo) are the overseers.  It's always interesting to see how the chickens work out their hierarchy.

tnt

Natureschild Gardenworks

I had a separate blog for gardening but have decided since I don't blog about gardening as much as I used to, I'll just do it here.  It fits with everything else that happens here at Spring Creek.  So occasionally I'll post garden tips and photos.

Garden Tip #1 - Make a shrub or small tree bloom out of season.  Yes you can, if you know this simple trick.

Plant a clematis at the base of the plant.  Clematis is the perfect perennial vine in my opinion.  It's hardy and easy to grow, with gorgeous flowers in every shade of pink, purple, blue and white.  And it's civilized!  That means it won't choke any plant it's growing on, and it's easy to control.  Check out these clematis that are blooming right now in my yard.

This one is growing on an Althea (Rose of Sharon) which doesn't bloom until late summer.  The althea took a bad hit from a late freeze and all the tender new leaves were killed.  It's just coming back as you can see here.  However, the clematis not only wasn't bothered by the freeze, it bloomed!  This is actually the 1st year for this particular clematis.  I had forgotten I put it here a couple years ago and it's just now taking off.  I'm sure it would have done better sooner if I had taken more care after I stuck it in the ground, but I didn't.  Clematis don't care, they will do their thing in their own time.

Close-up of the flower.

This one really hit its stride this year.  It's growing on the "Little Gem" magnolia that shades the barns.  I believe this is C."Nelly Moser" but don't quote me on that.  This pink variety is one of the most prolific bloomers and often reblooms throughout the year.

Tips for growing Clematis.  Some clematis bloom on new growth, some on last year's wood.  You usually have to figure it out for yourself if the variety doesn't specify on the tag.  Most named cultivars (developed hybrids), I think, bloom on new growth.  That means pruning won't affect the bloom much.  If your clematis looked weak last year, cut it to the ground in the fall and it will send up stronger vines the next year.  These hybrids often bloom all season as well.  There's always some flowers.  To get the best from your clematis, feed it.  I've found rose food works very well, but "Bunny Power" works too.  Clematis like their heads in the sun and their feet in the shade.  You can shade the roots with large perennials or dense shrubs planted nearby.

I have several different clematis and can't remember all of their names.  I stick them in the ground anywhere there's something for them to climb on.  I even have some dwarfs with small dainty flowers that look lovely on a small trellis.  Yes, it's the perfect perennial vine!

You can try this trick with some annual vines, too.  Hyacinth Bean is one that comes to mind.  I wouldn't try Morning Glories unless the tree is larger as glories can engulf a smaller plant.

And lastly, one of my favorite iris, "Edith Wolford", in front of "Morning Light" Maiden Grass.  My iris have suffered my neglect and I'll be moving them to other places better suited to show them off this year.  After they finish blooming.

A while back, I posted on Facebook about seeing a guinea in the yard after I had sold the last 2.  I can see the front yard from the computer desk.  I was surprised because I was sure there were no other guineas around and the 2 I sold were a long ways from here.  No way they came back.  When I put my glasses on I saw it was a wild turkey.  The forest around me is full of turkeys but they don't come out in the open very often.  We just hear them.  This lady likes to take a stroll around the yard sometimes.  I was lucky to get this good shot through the window.  Turkeys are very wary and will move off if I try to come outside for the shot.  I usually can't get such a clear snapshot from the window.

If you're wondering how I could have mistaken this for a guinea even without my glasses, that other time, she was facing me with her head down and the shape was very guinea-like.

In Chicken News:  Chicks are doing well.  I have quite a few new ones.  Some cochins from a friend have integrated with the flock in the pen.  I hit TSC's Chick Days and found more cochins.  I got 3 from my eggs in the incubator, but these are mixed breeds.  One is sebright x cochin for sure.  It came from a white egg and now has a rose comb like sebright.  The other 2 I'm not sure.  I think Rhode Island Red x cochin.  They're black mottled or maybe solid black.  Then 3 hatched under the broody hens in the pen.  I stole those to protect them even though I kind of wanted to see if the hens could raise them out there.  Again, not sure what they are but 2 came from under the RIR, and 1 from under the cochin.

I decided to cull all the odd breeds from the pen so that only cochins will be doing any breeding.  The 2 RIR laying hens and 2 RIR chicks are for sale.  One chick came from my hen, the other from TSC.

I also kicked 2 more out to free range.  One of the mottled cochin roos and the brahma hen.  They were too mean to the smaller birds.  There's now only 1 mottled roo in there.  The oldest chicks are 5 pullets and a buff cockeral.  Of the younger chicks, it looks like most of those are pullets, too.  One TSC chick that I thought was gold-laced cochin is now a buff brahma.  I'll kick her out too when she's big enough.  She already has too much attitude toward her smaller brooder-mates.

In Bunny News:  Yeah, I know, I don't talk about the bunnies much these days.  Well, there's not much happening there.  I've been evaluating and culling jrs and am now down to a broken litter that might be old enough to show in May.  There's some 4 week old litters.  A few kindles this week but it didn't amount to much.  2 kits altogether out of those.  Another is due today.  Got a new himi jr buck from the Smith's 2 weeks ago, and he's already been breeding.  He's about 5 months.  Got a few more does in line for him.  I'm rearranging buns to move more out to the Summer House.

Weather is great now, and I guess we are in full "summer".  It feels like summer.  Just enough rain.

tnt

Spring has sprung

Officially, there's still 5 days until spring but as far as I'm concerned, it's spring.  Weather has been perfect.  My only complaint is stupid Daylight Savings Time was moved up.  I'm a morning person, and just when the sun was coming up early, it's now an hour later.

A friend gave me some peach tree seedlings a couple years ago.  There's a plain green one and a dark purplish one.  The leaves I mean.  The poor things sat all that time in the small pots they came in.  I finally decided where they should go late last year.  When I went to get them from the holding place in a garden near the porch, the roots had grown thick and deep out the bottom of the pots and there was only about 6" of dirt left in the pots.  I had to pry them out.  I didn't know if they would make it.  Luckily, winter was very mild with plenty of rain which I think is what got them through it.  The green one is only about a foot tall, the purple about twice that.  I did not know peach trees bloomed in an intense coral color!  Yeah, the little green one is blooming at 1 foot tall!  The purple one has buds.  So yay, they made it.

The animal swap last weekend went very well, and I actually made decent money!  I took 2 roosters, 2 guineas, 3 cochin chicks, and 7 rabbits.  I sold all but 2 of the chicks and 1 rabbit.  I had to give away the Rhode Island Red roo, but Spiffy the Spangled OE was sold first thing.

I wasn't thinking when I set up cages for transport the night before.  I have a carrier without dividers that has pretty much become strictly for transporting or holding chickens.  I figured the 2 roos would be so uncomfortable in it and riding in the car, they would be ok together.  Not.  About half way there (it's about an hour one way) they started fighting.  I couldn't see what they were doing.  I had thrown a rug over them and the cage the guineas were in to keep them quiet.  That carrier was bouncing all over the back of the car!  It went on for a good half hour, and only stopped just before I got to the sale.  I was afraid to see what they looked like when I lifted the rug.  It wasn't as bad as I feared.  There was blood that I think came from their combs.  They were both bloody, but at least there weren't chunks of flesh missing.  So now I know.  Roosters will fight no matter what!

Oh how peaceful it's been without those 4 birds!  Not only was Spiffy much too aggressive, he was much too noisy.  He crowed all the time!  The RIR was in with the penned birds and he got aggressive with me, too.  Since I decided I only want Cochin roos doing any breeding, it was time for him to go.  Very happy the guineas are gone.  Now I can start letting all the birds range during the day.  Currently that leaves me with 2 mottled cochin roos and the 2 free-rangers (Japanese and buff cochin).  It should be ok when I start letting the others out.  And whatever I get in the chicks.

My friend who sold me the cochin chicks from her hatchery order is setting up another order for us to split.  We decided to spend the extra money to get what we want and specified the order.  I'm getting more cochins - 4 partridge, 4 silver lace, and 4 red frizzle.  Yeah red frizzle!   I'm fascinated by the frizzles so I'm going for a few.  I guess it's a tricky set of genes and all chicks from a frizzle hatch might not be frizzled, but that's ok, they will be red which I also like, and carry the genes for it.  By the time I get them, the current batch will be transitioned to a cage in the pen.  I moved their bin out to the rabbit shed today to acclimate them to cooler night temps.  That worked well last year.  After a week or so if it stays spring-like, I'll move them into the transition cage in the pen.

Started collecting eggs to incubate again.  Didn't take long to fill up the egg crate I hold them in.  Got 13 since Sunday.  I'm running the incubator to get it stabilized by the time I have about 18-20 eggs.  No hens have gone broody yet.  They lay and that's it.  It's funny that one of the cochin roos seems broody sometimes.  He gets in the box and sits and shuffles shavings around as though he had an egg under him.  Silly roo.

This is one of the treats the birds have fun with.  You can't really see it very well as they've got it spinning pretty good.  It's a thing I made out of scrap wire to hold corn cobs.  It also holds greens as here.  The nice thing about the south, there is always something green all year round.  I stuff it with chickweed, hensbit, and grass, and it entertains them for quite a while.  Chickweed and hensbit.  What a coincidence that 2 wildflowers that grow in late winter just happened to be named for poultry. 

Sexed Dreamspinner's litter of brokens today.  Very good.  2 does and a buck.  The biggest and smallest kits are the does so doubly good.  Maybe I got that beefy typey broken buck I needed.

The other 2 litters are also doing good.  Got quite a few due around the 25th.

5 days until Spring
tnt

11.6.11

The fall colors peaked here in the last couple weeks. They're starting to fade now as leaves fall off. My computer desk is next to a living room window, and I have a great view of the front Bird Garden. Right now a crape myrtle and nandina are strutting their stuff. The myrtles give a lovely varigated show. The colors on one shrub range from bronze to gold with hints of red. The nandina is covered in bright red berries and dark green leaves all winter. I heard a local refer to it as Christmas decorations, and that's just what it looks like. The grasses took a beating from some heavy rains, but most are still upright. They add gold and buff to the palette. And freezing mornings have highlighted it all with heavy frost.

In Bunny News:

Not much. Himi doe had 4. Died cold. She's usually one I can count on, but she didn't build a good nest, and only put 1 kit in the box. The rest on the wire. Oh well.

The new broken blue BUD x Sugardaddy had 4 DOA on the wire. Happily, some were blue and all were nicely marked brokens. Unhappily, (besides being DOA), there were 2 hippos and 1 even odder that looked like a hippo peanut, but that wouldn't be possible so I guess it was just smaller than the others. Only 1 was normal and it was probably BU. That's not good. I'll try this again in hopes it was just a bad roll of the dice. This doe came to me at about 8 mos old and as far as I know she hadn't been bred before. I thought she was a miss, but turns out her instincts didn't kicked in. No nest building or anything.

It's good to confirm Sugardaddy carries dilute. Since he also carries for tort, there could be blue torts in my future sooner.

Sugardaddy wasn't my 1st choice for that doe. The borrowed black buck still won't breed. Grrrr. I repeated the pairing that produced 2 keepers, but she missed. I know he got her, but apparently not well enough for her to take. After many frustrating attempts, he finally got her again this week. Oh and many times, when he IS up for it, she isn't. #$&*!!!

So litters haven't happened a lot lately. I have a couple due next week.

Not many weanlings, either. I just weaned out a batch of 5. Broken buck and doe from one litter, and 3 himi-carrying blacks from the other. The broken doe is my only keeper. The blacks are all bucks, and I have another black jr buck I like more.

Kachina's litter is so cute now at going on 4 wks. Broken (80%) Black buck and solid black doe. I'll see how they develop but I'm calling them keepers for now since they look promising and carry non-extension. Oh and what a sweety she has become since becoming a mom! This little doe was a spaz! She raced around the cage when I tried to touch her, and catching her was even harder. Now she begs for attention and likes being petted. I'll rebreed her with the others this week. Maybe I'll have better luck getting a round of does bred since I'm not planning on the unstudly black for any of them this time.

In Show News:

Convention has come and gone, and the excitement has died down. Congrats to all the winners and high placers. I've enjoyed all the pix people who attended have posted. I didn't have anything new brought in. I shopped a little but didn't really know what I wanted. Didn't see anything I was willing to pre-buy based on a photo.

Blue Torts finally passed and will be officially showable in Feb. I'm so happy for Donelle Bomben as I know she put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and years into getting them passed. Now she can relax and enjoy their new status. I'll get them eventually, but I'm not in a big crank to have them. It's just good to know they aren't automatically culls when they show up in the nestbox. I've got them before but never kept any.

There's a show in Taylorsville this weekend, but I think I'm sitting this one out. I usually do T-ville since it's one of the closer shows and I just like it. I looked at what I had for entries yesterday, and decided no one was worth the trip or fees right now. My young srs are out of coat. Even my favorite jr buck is looking rough. I don't have anything to sell or deliver or pick up...another reason to go to a show. Soooo....

In Bird News:

Nothing new really. The birds seem to be handling the cold mornings OK. I feed them poultry pellets and cheap cracked corn mixed bird seed. They also get the seed bells, and I think I'll give them suet cakes when it's cold more often than warm. I can sometimes find those at Big Lots for cheap. My wild birds don't really eat the suet. A few will visit it but more often than not, the cake hangs there all winter. The chickens might as well enjoy it. I'm sure they will.

One thing I'm worried about is water. I'm using a gravity waterer. This is much better than an open bowl. The water isn't fouled as much. I had to rinse out bowls twice a day. Pain in the arse! Why do chickens have to stick their feet in EVERYTHING? So anyways, I'm not sure how the plastic waterer will stand up to freezing, or even if it will still work as it's supposed to. We'll see.

At least the days have been real nice. It's been sunny and mild after the cold starts. I'm really hoping for a mild winter this year. I say that every year because I expect (want) it here in the south.

Happy Daylight Savings Time.

tnt

Day 1

So I decided it was time to get on the blogger bandwagon. As anyone who knows me and my rather long-winded articles and forum posts, I like to write.I'll mostly be blogging news from the rabbitry, but will probably be including a lot of other things as they happen around the garden.

I'll bring the blog up to speed.

A lot of SC bunnies are now making their homes around the country. I didn't make ARBA convention in KY due to financial setbacks. I did relay some buns that way. 5 to Colorado, 1 to Georgia, and 2 to Pennsilvania. In Dec I relayed 7 more to PA. A few more recently made their way to mid-TN and GA.

Many of these buns were the last of the chocolates. I decided choc and lilac didn't mix very well with the rest of the herd and have moved them all out. I'll still get choc sometimes because most the brokens carry it, but I won't be keeping or breeding for choc.

I've been working on a major remodel in the barn. Old cages were completely reworked into a new pan-less system. See it here... Barn. I'm finishing the final unit which should be done this week. When finished, I'll have a total of 82 holes. 46 in the shed, 36 in the Summer House with no pans at all. Boy will that take a lot of work off me! As a result, breeding had been on hold until now.

I don't plan on ever filling every single hole. I like to keep the head count around 40. Everyone has to fit in the shed for the winter. Hard cull sales happen often to keep numbers down. I currently have 41 jrs and srs, plus the new litters.

As soon as I finished the brood units, I began breeding again. All but a couple does are bred. First litter came in Jan 13.

Nahani (sable pt) x Axl (sable pt) had 3, but only 1 live. It's sable pt of course. Nahani is a tiny 2 lb girl but such a good little doe. Her last litter only gave 1 live, and she took on 2 fosterlings as well.

Jean Geni (sable pt) x Axl had 4...3 live sable pts the next day.

Painted Lady and Iron Maiden are both 1st timer failures....DOA. I think there's some misses, too. 3 does due this week are not nesting. Black Dahlia, who I thought wasn't bred, asked for her nestbox, built a nest for a day or two, and now I'm not so sure she is pregnant as nothing more from her. Since I didn't think she was bred (she didn't lift), I have no idea when she is actually due if she is. She's a good doe, so a false pregnancy would be rather odd from her.

I'm hoping someone of a different color has live kits so I can give Nahani more than 1 to raise. Nestboxes are coming in the house after they've been nursed, but it's still hard to keep a singleton alive.

We are in the midst of an arctic blast. It was a nice 50s last week, this week we'll be lucky to see the freezing mark. Grrr...fine timing for litters.

In the garden: The birds must be aware of the extreme weather coming at us. The bird feeders are very active this morning. The temps have been dropping steadily since before sunup. We've probably seen the high for the day of 25. Brrrr, it's gonna be a rough week.