Rain rain rain rain rain

Never let up yesterday and still raining this morning.  It is so gooshy out there.  I almost went down yesterday while walking from the barn.  Really gotta be careful with well-worn rubber clogs on slick mud.  So glad I had the gravel driveway put in last year.  I probably wouldn't be able to get out, let alone get back in.  The last heavy rain about a week ago was the first time since I put it in that there was standing water on the low spot, but it's no biggy now.  The gravel is solid and grippy under the tires.  I'm sure there will be even more water by the time this system moves on.

Finally got all the does bred!  Mano...every single one was frigid!  I admit I didn't try every day so I might have missed their receptive days if they had one during that time, but still pretty frustrating.  The exceptionally warm weather this week motivated me to make a sincere effort, and every doe responded.  Almost every doe.  Every doe I tried.  I'm keeping one just turned senior open for shows this month and next.  I'll get her the next round.  Also didn't breed Broken Dream because she's for sale.

The other day, I realized I hadn't seen Silky.  Searched the yard for evidence and found nothing.  I did find a skull and bones out back, but they're so clean and white, it couldn't be her.  She hadn't been missing that long.  I have no idea who that was.  It must have been there under summer growth and only just now became visible.  Tried to think when I last saw Silky but realized I hadn't counted heads for a few days.  Probably due to the weather, or the fact that I've been keeping feed in the hopper for the winter.  They don't mob me for food every time I go outside, and if it's crappy out, I don't spend much time looking for them.  They hunker down under big plants when it's like that.

The day after I missed her, there she was at the water bowl in the early morning when I looked out the window.  She had a long drink and looked extra fluffy and perky.  Then she dashed into the Summer House to grab a bite.  And then dashed out and around the backside (unpenned) part of the carport.  All signs she's broody!  I hurried out to see where she went but she had disappeared by the time I got there.  Still haven't caught her in the act, but I think she's under the tractor's mower deck.  There isn't any other place back there to hide a chicken.  I had raised the deck and chute when I parked it there for the winter and apparently that's just enough room for a broody little hen.  But I can't see her under there.  I've found a few eggs in the yard here and there pretty much all winter.  I replenished the nesting boxes with hay and placed some fake eggs in each one.  Hope that gets them using the boxes.  The only hen old enough to remember using the boxes is Buffy and I happened to catch the red roo mounting her the other day.  Hope she shows the others the way.

In nature, this happened.

This is unusual because while I might see the occasional Great Blue Heron flying in the distance, I've never seen one here, and certainly not perched.  This one apparently startled the neighbor's dogs.  I don't think they knew what they were carrying on about, maybe they heard the wing beats.  It's a BIG bird and would make a fair bit of noise in flight.  I looked out to see what was the fuss, and this bird was flying low circles over the yard near the creek.  Then it landed in the top of a tree above the creek and sat there long enough for me to grab the camera and attempt to capture it.  Again, love my new camera.  This was so far away, I could barely see it with my naked eye.  Most of the shots were too blurry but this one was good enough to share.

In other nature news, I think I've finally foiled the cat.  Abby is good!  She's an excellent ratter, and too good at bird hunting.  She launches straight up and snatches birds off the feeders.  Grrr.  I attached cage wire to the bottoms of bird feeders which did spoil her aim for a while, but she is really GOOD.  At this time, I'm only filling the one feeder in the front garden, and she has honed her skills to where the wire isn't stopping her as well.  When I found too much evidence that she was taking birds again, I tried something else.  I made a barrier with some cheapo folding garden fence I had on hand.  I set it out far enough from the pole that she can't get good aim from that angle.  Of course she can walk right through the fence to wait under the feeder.  I knew that and thought about attaching chicken netting to the fence to prevent her from doing that.  Figured she'd just jump over it (it's about 3' tall).  Laid some more wire across the top of the fence so she can't jump from inside, and I do believe that has put a stop to that.  The added benefit is that the ground feeders like cardinals and juncos seem to feel more secure with cover over head.  They are spending a lot more time under the feeder cleaning up dropped seed.  I love watching my birds so I'm glad I can continue to feed them without putting them at risk.

Been trying to deal with a mess.  Wicked windstorm just before Xmas blew off the entire tin roof of the old shed.  This is the barnwood-slat thing that was here when I moved here.  In its defense, the roof was hanging on by threads and it was just a matter of time.  Mostly I just stored junk in it.  A lot of junk that, you know, never know when you might need it.  I don't even like to go in there during summer.  Hornets and spiders and snakes, oh my.  It was sort of an annual ritual to go in and straighten it up after enough cold weather had removed the creepy crawlies.  The rest of the time, stuff just got thrown in any old where so I didn't have to go into it any farther than necessary.

Thankfully the wind didn't blow it where it could do more damage, like my house or rabbit barn.  It did land on the carport but the next gust blew it down to the ground.  I decided it wasn't worth fixing it.  Hoping I can find someone to tear it down for the salvage.  I can offer a lot of scrap metal for payment.  There's an old lean-to type of barn at the back of the property that has been coming down little by little in every wind storm.  That thing is like my own personal dump.  I throw stuff up there that I don't know if the community dump will take it.  A LOT of scrap metal back there.  Before I can have the shed torn down, I have to go through what's in there and decide what to keep and where to put it.  Trying to do that when weather permits.  It has to be warm enough for me to work outside and not raining because...well...no roof.

tnt

12.12.12

When I saw today's date, well, it looked very cool as a post title.  Photo dump follows the rambling.

Let me rave about my new camera.  I'm calling it my Xmas present to myself.  Been looking at them for a while as my little point & shoot just wasn't doing it for me anymore.  I knew what I wanted in a camera and looked for those features.  I needed/wanted (1) wide focal range; (2) viewfinder; (3) fast shutter speed; (4) easy battery; (5) video.  Pretty much in that order of importance.

The viewfinder is the one thing that can't be found on most cameras, other than DSLR.  But I really didn't need everything else a DSLR has, and couldn't justify the high price.  Why was I so hot for a viewfinder?  It's so much easier to take pictures in bright sunlight.  The usual screen just isn't very efficient that way.

I wanted the wide focal range so I can get good closeups and zoomed shots.  Closeups of nature has always been one of my favorite things to do with a camera.  Fast shutter for moving targets.  Easy battery means AAs for me.  Fairly cheap and easily obtained.   I use rechargeables in the camera, but I like that I can carry a set of regular ones for quick backup.   Video was an afterthought as I don't know how much I'll use it.  Not having an outstanding internet connection makes it hard for me to watch videos online, let alone upload them myself.  But it's nice to have it if ever I wish I had it.  I've never had a camcorder before, except for the rinkydink thing in my cell phone.

The Pentax X-5 ticked all my boxes and I'm so pleased with it.  So far, it has done everything I've asked of it, and for half the price of the cheapest DSLR.  The battery life is excellent, too.  That was a thing for which all the reviews gave good marks.  I've had it for about a month now, and I'm still running the batteries that came with it, and you know factory-included batteries are not of the highest quality.  In fact, the battery meter is just now beginning to run down.  I'm very impressed with the quality of the 26x zoom.  It has an anti-shake feature and I've seen very little blurring at maximum zoom even when I knew my hand jiggled when I pressed the shutter button.  It's also very comfortable and light in the hand, and there isn't that long bulky lens that you'd have on DSLR.  Or the need to switch out highly expensive lenses.  The screen display is actually very good, too.  I can see right away whether a shot turned out too blurry.  The only extra thing I bought for it was a bigger memory card, and I found that at a good price at Big Lots (8gb for $8).  Oh and there's a nifty little lens cap strap.  It's designed to be attached to the neck strap but I rarely use that (too bulky and in the way).  I just zip-tied the tiny cap strap to the neck strap's ring.  I like that as I don't always have a pocket to hold it.  For a bit of insurance against clumsiness, I attached the wrist strap from my old camera to the other ring.

I posted a few pix on Facebook, but here's some of my favorites.

Close up detail on a clematis.

Red Admiral on pansy closeup.  Yes, that date is correct...butterflies in Dec.  I love the south!

Song Sparrow in birdbath at maximum zoom.

Mid-range zoom.

Birchen roo.

Something no other camera I've ever had could do well...aquarium.

In case you're wondering, these are assorted African Cichlids in a 45 gal. bowfront tank.  I believe most of the distortion is due to the curved glass.

Oh yeah, and my current crop of babies.  Baroquen x Smith's Lou.  4 weeks in these pix.  There's another broken buck but he's a bubba so I'll be petting him out.

I created the triptychs  to show the pattern from all sides.  Doe #1 is my fav of the 3 but I like the others, too.  That doe is also the 1st time Baroquen has thrown her excellent bold pattern.  I call it "color block".  She usually throws lighter like the others.  And yes, all otters.  The pattern is feathery right now but Baroquen's get always matures with very clean and crisp markings.  These will be just big enough for Spartanburg at the end of January.  That's probably my 1st show next year.

Happy Holidays

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.

Chix Pix

Just a few new photos of the birds.

The broody girls.  One of the cochin's hatched yesterday.  It's under all that fluff somewhere.  I'm leaving it with her to see how it goes.  I don't want any more black chicks so I'll only take them if they aren't black.  BTW, that's the menacing "mama bear" pose.  They puff up as big as they can and growl.  More bark than bite.  That cochin hen has never let me touch her but I can when she's on the nest.  She's even accepted (under protest) my picking her up to see what's going on under her.  I noticed she talks to her chick.  A soft chuckling sound that she doesn't make any other time.  Probably the bonding process what will help the chicks when they come out of the nest.

Partridge and buff pullets.  One of the buff hens has a definite pet personality!  I can't tell which one it is until she perches near me.  She lets me pet her, looks like she enjoys it, and even seems to ask for it.  I love friendly chickens!

The partridges are getting so pretty!

Colorful lawn ornaments!

I need a new camera.  I don't know what's going on, but it's just not cutting it lately.  Maybe it's me, but I don't think so.  That shot of the free rangers should have come out better (Blogger didn't help by downsizing it), they were right there near me in good natural light.  Heck, all of them should have come out better.  I had to put quite a bit of editing on them to get them to look this good.  I think the problem is the focus and shutter speed.  It might be slowing due to wear or age, I don't know.  Maybe it's also the resolution.  I'll be researching new ones.  I know I can take better pix than this!

I was wrong about Dreamspinner's litter.  Those are not broken torts.  Still not sure what they are but it's sure looking like siamese sables.  Oh well, at least they are nicely broken.

 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

2.18.12

Lots to talk about!  With pictures!

In Nestbox News:

Dreamspinner finally gave me a nice broken litter!  This doe has been giving me fits.  She raised a litter of 2 her 2nd try but I didn't keep either of them.  They were both bucks, and the solid (I hardly ever keep solid blacks) got the type I wanted on the broken.  She's failed every time since then, and this was her 6th attempt.  All with Smith's BL4 in hopes I'd get a better outcome than that earlier litter.  I finally got it!

Look at all that beautiful pattern!  I'm very pleased and guarding this litter with my life.  It comes in the house each night.  This is why I don't have a strict "3 strikes and out" policy.  I'm usually rewarded for my patience.  Hopefully, with this many to choose from, the type got to one or two of them.  Some does would be real nice, too.

The heavier marked kit on the far left is looking suspiciously lighter, but I'm pretty sure it's just another black.  There's a remote chance the parents carry dilute, but I haven't seen it from BL4 even when he was bred to blue does.

There's 2 more due this weekend.  The PP's broken blue was building her nest yesterday but I don't have my hopes up.  She's pissing me off.  She took everything out of the box to nest on the wire, and when I moved the box like I usually do (and which usually works), she moved the box out of her way!  She's not of my breeding, and she is coming up on the last strike.  If she'd give me a sign she will eventually be successful, I'd probably keep trying, but I haven't seen it yet.

Chevette is due on Sunday.  I have more confidence in her, she's pretty reliable.  She's bred to Sugardaddy.  I don't recommend breeding himi x broken, but I want something blue and this should give it.

Baroquen's broken litter is about 4 wks old now and of course very cute.  I'm having trouble identifying one's color. This is the one with the most showable pattern, what I would call 50% or maybe 55%.  It's much lighter than the black tort kit.  I hoped it might be blue tort (possible), but the brown eyes are now showing it's not dilute.  I have a sinking suspicion it's a chocolate tort.  That would be a drag.  I looked back in the parents' pedigrees and yes indeedy, there's chocolate on both sides in the 4th and 5th generations.  With the super heavy patterns on the other 2, this litter is not looking as promising.  One of those others better be a doe.

In Chicken News:

I'm starting to get eggs almost everyday and have started collecting them to hatch.  I finally got the nestbox finished and hope they will start using it.  Currently, the eggs are found on the ground near the gate.  I hope I don't have to move the box over there.  I don't want it there.

This started out as a home judging coop that I acquired in a trade.  30" long x 15" deep.  It's been kicking around for a couple years because I couldn't decide where to use it.  My grooming table isn't big enough for it, and I didn't have any place to hang it.  The holes looked big enough for bantams so I pulled it out and studied it for a bit to figure out the best way to modify it.  This is what I came up with.  It had no bottom and I had to buy a board for that.  Everything else I had on hand.  The legs are leftovers from the metal rails I used for the rabbit cages.  I knew those short pieces would come in handy someday!  I added the 1x3 board across the front to make the holes deeper and to serve as a landing for the hens when they enter the box.  Here's hoping they like it and use it.

The eggs are various shades of white, beige and brown and I still don't know who's laying.  I think I've learned how to tell when an egg has been laid.  Hens announce it!  Loudly.  So now when I hear that distinctive cackling, I go out and look for an egg.

In Other News:

I have a driveway!  I didn't have a driveway at all.  I've lived here for going on 8 years without it.  I was finally able to handle the expense, and it was built in about 4 hours this week.  My favorite contractors are great for just about anything I need them to do.  It's the same company that put in the public water for me a few years ago.  The fact that I just paid off that hefty bill made this new project possible.

I probably could have gone on without this, but there is a seasonal issue that made it necessary.  As you can see, the yard goes down to a low spot just before the road.  Run-off collected there and it got real soggy after heavy rains.  The water comes down from the higher ground to the east (left) and off the road itself.  I needed a running start to get my car through the water and up the incline and the low spot became rutted.  My place is the mail carrier's last stop on this road and she turns around by my box.  Last year, after extra heavy spring rains, she left a note in my box asking for some gravel there.  That made me feel bad.

The estimate for the job called for 2 loads of gravel and we figured it would only go just to the incline.  After the guys got into cutting and laying it, they thought there was enough gravel to go all the way up and there was.  I never thought I'd get a complete driveway out of what I had to spend.  Now even my car is parked on gravel!  It got pretty muddy under the car because of the grass dying underneath it.  And I don't have to move the car to cut the grass.

For more flood control, we decided a catch basin might help.  So the guys dug this small water hole to the left of the drive.  It will also serve as wildlife habitat.  I had a seasonal water hole in MI and loved it for the wildlife it attracted.  It was amazing to see robins and mockingbirds descend on the freshly bared dirt almost as soon as the guys left with their equipment.  

I also called the road commission to dig out the ditch across the road.  It was blocked and greatly responsible for the bad flooding last spring.  The water came out of the ditch and directly across the road to my low spot.  I was a little worried they would come out while my contractor was here, and they'd get in each other's way, but it worked out perfectly.  They came out later that afternoon after my guys were long gone.

I shouldn't have to worry about heavy rain anymore.  Got a little rain the next day and the hole caught some.

Weather is still really good.  Had a brief cold snap and a little snow earlier this week but it was over before the litters were due.  Daffodils drooped from the snow and cold, but they are raising their heads again.

30 days until Spring!

tnt

December

I've been feeling the urge to be creative so I decked the halls. I also created a new logo and theme for the main pages. The piece above was the inspiration for the holiday theme. I created this a few years ago as a forum siggy. I love it, and don't think I can top it so I just keep using it. A light bulb went off above my head and the idea to decorate the homepage for the holidays was born. I'll save this page for each December. I'll return to the regularly scheduled homepage after the new year.

Hmmm. For some reason, the piece above isn't displaying right. Blogger limitation? You can see the true display on the site.

Not much happening in the rabbitry. Several does failed in the last few weeks. I have 1 measly litter of 4 himis out of Chevette, now going on 3 weeks. It's too early to tell if there's any keepers. I don't see anything as promising as Chevette was at this age, so not terribly optimistic about this litter. It was also supposed to give some color, but that didn't happen.

So I have several open does and no one will breed! Grrr. The Smith's buck who wouldn't actually wants to now, but now the does don't wanna. Same for the other 2 bucks I'm using (or trying to).

I've been trying to repeat Dreamspinner x Smith's BL4 that gave the 2 jr bucks I really like, but that's been a bust. She missed the 2nd time and dumped a DOA litter this week. 2 were peanuts and 1 of those was the only broken. It also took forever to get her bred because of unstudly BL4.

So feeling kinda discouraged right now, and I'm not sure what to do about it. The plan to get more color in the barn isn't working out very well either. The most colorful litters were the failures. I'll keep trying to get these stubborn does bred, but I find myself not all that fired up about it or shows or anything. I've already cut shows to the closest ones, and even then, I opted out of going to the last one. At this time, Spartanburg is the only concrete date (I'm obligated), but I know I won't be excited about that either. I only have a few jr bucks who will be sr by then. No, I'm not getting out, but I'm not really in right now.

It's been really mild so far this winter, and I hope it's finally going to be the winter I moved down here for...like the 1st 2 years I was here. I'm trying something different this year since it's been so mild. I'm leaving some bucks outside in the Summer House. There's 4 out there now, and I might move the other jr bucks out as well. I can easily keep up with frozen water bottles this way. I'm keeping extras for them in a pail in the barn, and when theirs are frozen, I can just switch them out. We'll see how this goes. It might get tiresome. One reason is that I have the 2 himi bucks out there who don't have great color. I know it's mostly due to their sire, but they are coming back from the summer heat. Keeping them cold might help, and maybe they'll be presentable by Spartanburg. And I have to go out there everyday for the chickens anyways.

The birds are doing fine. So far, I don't think the waterer has frozen, or at least not solid. It's been open by the time I get out there. So that might be ok. I haven't figured out a better way to give them water if it turns out it will freeze too much.

2 of the free range roos went gone. I assume the resident fox got them or maybe a hawk. That leaves Spiffy and REW Roo the Japanese. REW stays in the backyard fence (probably why he's still around) but Spiffy comes and goes as he pleases. That's why the others disappeared...they stayed outside the fence.

Tanner is gone. I couldn't take it anymore. He was just too destructive. The last straw was when he ripped the lattice skirting off the shed. I don't understand why he did these things. He couldn't be bored, he had Whipper who likes to play, lots of room to run, toys of his own, lots of interesting things going on, and plenty of attention from me. He didn't want his toys, just my stuff, and I couldn't break him of it. I'm also positive he was responsible for many of the bird and bunny deaths earlier this year, and I knew they'd never be safe. I tried to get through what I hoped was just his puppy phase, but at over a year and a half old and neutered, saw no sign he'd outgrow it. Whipper was never like this. I literally couldn't take my eyes off him for a minute, and I couldn't take being so pissed all the time any longer. I found him a nice new home, and have been so relieved and serene since he left. I can actually enjoy my porch again. It was a chaos of blocked-off spaces in a futile attempt to keep him out of things, but now it's nice and neat again. I even planted some pansies in a porch pot. I usually have several pots of flowers on the porch which makes it that much more enjoyable, but I couldn't do that with him here. Many things out in the yard had to be blocked, too. Yes, a huge sigh of relief when he left.

Well, this blog is kinda depressing, isn't it? Sorry bout that, but sometimes it feels good to get it out.

Happy Holidays

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

Summer's End

NICE days! I'm not sure if Hurricane Irene is responsible or what, but I'm so glad for the coolth. Although, it's only supposed to last for a few days and then heat up again. Hopefully not as bad as it's been. The only thing missing is some rain. I was hoping Irene would bring some, but not. It was a huge storm stretching all the way to here as it went up the coast, but all we got was the dry outer clouds. We can use some rain.

The media is having a field day, and the Weather Channel is happier than flies on cow pies to have something to go on and on about. I'm glad the hurricane turned out to be less dangerous than expected, but it's funny to watch the media milk it.

I'm addicted to AC now. I'm good until 85 degrees, and then I'm too uncomfortable. We've hardly seen below 85 all summer. The heat ran me inside well before noon, so the yard and gardens got minimal attention. It was too hot to stay outside for long or to do anything much. Saturday, I was able to open up the house and turn off the AC for the first time in I don't know how long. There was a lovely breeze to sweep out the stale air. I spent a good part of the day outside, playing catch up in the yard. I didn't have to turn on the fan for the buns.

It really improved my mood. I love outside. Right now, it's the season of the saw flies. You know, those things that sound like a buzz saw. They're annual cicadas, BTW. Dog Day Harvest Flies to be exact. Their name says it. They buzz during the dog days of summer and the harvest. And the birds...there's always bird song. My point is that I love hearing the outside and I can't if the house is closed up for AC. I like the outside inside.

In my less than content state of mind while avoiding the outside, I'd been attempting to make some decisions. Not the best thing to do when in an unhappy mood. More about some of that later.

I haven't attempted to release the rest of the chickens for daily free-range yet. There's a few problems in the yard and I don't want to risk the few hens I have. One being the roosters out there. I don't want to give them access to the pen again since they won't be part of any breeding program. Training the birds to return to their current roost at night means those other birds will get in, too. Then there's the guineas. They've become very territorial about the chickens and since they are so much bigger, they hurt them. It might be why some went missing. I also don't want the guineas in that pen and keeping them out will be just as hard.

It might be hard to keep some of them inside the fence. I clipped the roos' wings when I turned them out, but a few still managed to get over the fence. Spiffy is one who comes and goes as he pleases. He's such a light-weight bird, he learned to fly without full wing feathers. I'm afraid he would teach the light-bodied hens how it's done. I'm sure he taught the other roos that got out.

Another problem is Abby the cat. She stalks the birds out there and might be responsible for a few of the deaths. The guineas are big enough to stay out of her reach, but the little chickens are more vulnerable. I've begun feeding her a little more so her predator instinct isn't so driven by hunger. I still want her to hunt rodents.

I'm seeing the first signs of fall around here. Leaves are turning and thinning out. We also need some rain for a full fall color show.

tnt

Earthquake?

No, didn't feel it here, and I was bummed I didn't. There was an earthquake here a few years ago, and I definitely felt it. Just a little rattle and I wasn't sure if I imagined it. I actually tested the item that rattled to see if I bumped it. Earthquakes in TN? Turns out it was real and centered in NC just the other side of the mountains.

I have felt 3 other earthquakes in my life, and there was another that I didn't feel because of where I was at the time. All of them in Michigan while in the same house. Earthquakes in MI? Yep.

A little setup. It was sometime in the early 80s and I was living in a single-wide in a park. My place was at the back of a cul-de-sac with a wetland area behind it. The edge of the lot dropped off into this wetland depression. I began to think of that place is being on a "nerve line", maybe partially related to the lay of the land.

The 1st one, a friend was with me. I was doing something in the hallway and she was in the living room. I felt the shake which felt very strange, and came out to see if she felt it. She did and said my dog went on alert at the same time. I said, "Wouldn't that be weird if that was an earthquake?". A few minutes later they announced it on the radio. Wow.

I can't remember the time frame, maybe a few years later, but a friend was also with me for the 2nd. We were standing on either side of the kitchen bar talking. There was a large aquarium on the living room wall to his side. The water began to slosh around. We both looked at it in surprise. Again, the radio confirmed an earthquake.

I was at work in the factory for another shortly after that one. It would have been impossible to feel a tremor there. It was reported that it shook the stands at Tiger Stadium (Detroit) during a ball game. I have no doubt I would have felt it had I been home.

I was alone for the 3rd and that one was the eeriest. I was literally shaken awake at about 2 am. The bed shook that hard. I jumped up and the hairs on my arms stood straight up. I looked out windows to see if maybe there were kids messing around or something. I couldn't go back to sleep and turned on the TV to see if there was anything. There wasn't. I couldn't stand it and called the local police station to see if they had reports of an earthquake. They didn't and said it would have come over the ticker tape. I'm not sure if they thought I was a nutjob calling like that. I asked at work the next day if anyone had heard anything about an earthquake. Everyone teased me for dreaming things. A couple days later, there it was in the paper! It was centered in Ohio and I felt it all the way up in mid-MI. I knew I wasn't crazy!

Of course, if you live in an area in danger from a strong quake, it's reason to panic. I understand there was quite a bit of property damage in the vicinity of the VA quake because of its strength. But if you're in an area not known for it, a small tremor is kind of exciting and fun. So yeah, a little bummed I missed it this time.

I discovered a cool site shortly after the TN quake. Recent Earthquakes in Central US. You'd be surprised where and how many earthquakes are happening all the time. They're actually pretty common in TN.

tnt

Website vs Facebook

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Facebook is not an effective substitute for a website. In fact, it's a downright lousy substitute for a website. It's so sad that breeders spend more time on Facebook at the expense of their websites. I might want to see what's for sale, but the site appears to be dead because it's been so long since it was updated. Sale lists are posted to FB instead, but if I'm not a "friend", I won't see it.

FB is not static. Anything that was posted 2 days ago is off my feed page...forgotten. On a busy FB day, I might not see it because it went off the page so fast.

Websites are static...they stay put. They get added to my bookmarks and I can easily visit the site at any time to see what's new. The first thing I do is go to a FB info page to find their website. Guess what? When I go there, it's usually dead. This might affect my decision on whether or not to accept a friend request. I won't have current info available anytime I want it, so what's the point?

Most FB photo albums are so disorganized. Thanks to mobile uploads from phones, things go up willynilly, and the FBer doesn't bother going back to organize it. You can do that, you know! It also annoys me when FBers don't caption photos so I know what the hell I'm looking at.

Points in your favor: I especially enjoy captions that tell the story of what is happening in that string of related photos. Points against: 5 photos of 1 rabbit in the same pose. What does this shot show that that one doesn't? Just pick one good shot for each view. That's all we need. If it's not telling a story, it's just wasting time.

Websites organize photos and info for easy and quick navigation. Or at least they do if the site owner has any sense.

What a FBer can do is coordinate website updates with Facebook. Just post that the site was updated and the link to it, and you'll get a lot of visitors, even some new ones who didn't know your site existed.

Warning. Here comes a new FB rant.

What is the deal with all the "repost this if you agree" things? Didn't have anything else to post that day so you thought you'd fill up friends' feed pages with pointless stuff that you picked up from someone else? And since the FB sheep will follow, my feed is cluttered over and over again with the same useless thing. If you don't have anything real to say, why say anything? What, you say? This raises awareness. You know what, most of us are already aware of these things. The thing that really irks me about this kind of posting is that the only entity that benefits from the constant reposting is Facebook itself.

What kind of status posting do I enjoy? Interesting. Amusing. Informative. Useful. Social. And website updates! You will have my attention and respect. Post junk and you lose it.

Oh yeah, and let's talk about "friends" for a minute. I'm selective about who I accept as friends. I will visit your profile to find out a few things about you first. You have to be a rabbit breeder, and it helps if I know your name in the rabbit world. Your state or country is a good thing to include. I will look at your wall to see what you do on FB. If I see mostly junk, you probably won't be accepted. I will look for your website to see how that rates. Lastly, I note how many friends you have and who we have in common. 2,983 friends (mostly having nothing to do with rabbits) is a very good reason to be wary of accepting the request. To me, that means you don't have enough sense to discriminate. Someone in this large collection of friends may damage my account or computer. This is how hackers and virus-runners do their thing. They also do it when you repost links and stuff, and your sheep friends repost, and so on and so on. Eventually it finds its way to a vulnerable computer.

Facebook has its uses, but it has to be used effectively and wisely. Otherwise, it's just junk. An up-to-date website is still the best way to get your name out there. Everyone, friend or not, will have access to it.

tnt

Procrastinating....

...can come back and bite ya.

I had to run errands yesterday. So I just fed the animals and watered as needed from jugs that I keep filled. I'll do a full watering when I get back, I said to self.

The road commission has been cleaning up the storm debris at the end of the road. All the downed trees, etc. They had a big rig and hauled the wood away in a dump truck. They were at it for several days. The road is so narrow, we had to wait until the rig could maneuver and give us room to get by. I'm surprised they got to it this soon since this dead-end road isn't really a priority. I guess they were caught up with the more important damage.

When I came back yesterday afternoon, there was a fast stream of water running down the road. Oh no. Was the creek diverted by their digging? Or was it the water main? Then I saw the water utility pickup at the beginning of the stream. Yep...water main. The road commish broke it while digging out the stumps. They were nowhere around, but had left the backhoe. The utility guy wasn't happy because they hadn't called it in. I wasn't happy...that's my water. All I could think was how long will this take and do I have enough water in jugs to wait it out? Not really. The full watering would have included refilling all the jugs, and there were only 2 full ones and a couple mostly empty. The rest were empty. I did have a couple in the house so I could wash hands, brush teeth, and make a pot of coffee.

I keep quite a few gallon jugs in both the shed and Summer House, and the ones in the house. I can fill water bottles that empty faster and still have plenty left for emergency (or procrastinating). Also a large 5 gallon jug on the porch so I can fill the bowls scattered around the yard for the dogs and guineas. I usually drag the hose out every couple days to top off everything. But this day, I had let it go too long. The utility company is good! They had it fixed in within 4 hours. Yay!

Moral of the story: Don't put it off, and always keep enough emergency water to get through a few days.

Oh yeah, and the road is much better, too. It's narrow to begin with and all the debris made it even narrower. Sure did make it brighter! The woods came right up to the road. Now the 1/4 mile or so at the end is open to the sky. Still looks strange to me when I go through there. I was used to it being so shady.

tnt

Getting back to normal.

The cleanup continues and things have calmed down a bit around here. There is still much to do, but it's amazing what they've accomplished. Power has been restored to almost everywhere that can get service. They got it done so fast with a lot of help from outside utility companies. The good weather we've had since then helped a lot, too. Phone lines are still out, but that's not as important in this age of wireless communication.

The mail was finally able to get back here yesterday. I had to go to the post office a few days ago to send some things out, and the postmaster explained that the restrictions on who belongs in the areas included the mail carriers. I could have signed a form to hold my mail to pick up myself, but I didn't have anything important coming (that I know of) so I could wait it out.

I found another odd bit of damage the other day. There's 5' chainlink around the backyard, and wild honeysuckle is growing thickly on the back corner. So thick, I didn't notice until I was close that the fence is copping a 25-30 degree lean outward for about 20' from the corner. The honeysuckle must have caught the blast like a wall. Again amazed at the persnickety nature of tornadoes, and that my house and outbuildings were spared! That corner is only about 50 feet from the Summer House carport and rabbit shed! There's some loose stuff under the carport and most of it wasn't even moved!

What else?

I've been working in the Summer House setting up for the chickens. All the chicks are still in transition cages, and the oldest batch is in a sort of pen so I can control them until I'm ready to turn them loose in there. I'm also doing a bit of culling now that I know what I have in the chicks. Tomorrow, I'm going to a Small Animal Swap in Kingsport (about an hour away) and hope to sell the culls. That's the other reason they are still caged...to make it easier to load them up in the morning.

As of now, it looks like I have:

3 Dark Cornish - not sure on sex, but they still have no combs to speak of so I'm saying pullets. Culling.

2 Black Old English - cockerel and pullet. Culling.

4 Self Blue OE - Looks like 3 cockerels and 1 pullet, but I'm not sure on one of the smaller ones. That's a drag. Would have liked to keep all that pretty color. I should only keep 1 roo for that color, so I'm culling at least 1, maybe 2 if I decide there is in fact 3 roos.

1 Spangled OE roo and 1 Black Breasted Red OE pullet. Trying to decide whether to cull the BBR since she doesn't really fit in my "pretty bird" plan. Hens of that variety are dull. Although she does seem like a rather sweet bird which could go in her favor.

1 White Japanese roo. Keeping to see how Japanese handle my winters.

3 Partridge Wynadottes. These were question marks because they didn't develop like any of the others. Much slower feather and comb development. I realized the round body and small curled tail was similar to the Cochins, and the lack of comb means the Wyandotte's rose comb. I knew I really liked these chicks for a reason! That was a breed I was interested in.

2 Buff Amercaunas - cockerel and pullet.

13 Cochins. Lots of variety here! I couldn't resist when I went to TSC last week for feed, and the latest bantam shipment was ALL cochins! So I brought home 6 more.
* edited to add 5 more bought at the sale.

5 Mottled Black
3 (possible) Gold Laced
1 (possible) Silver Laced
2 Buff
1 Barred
1 Red

Yes, it's been a lot of fun learning how to ID these chicks.

I'm also taking bunny culls to the swap. I was going to take them to the next rabbit show (the birds, too) but hopefully this swap will eliminate the need for that.

Nothing much happening in the rabbitry right now. Don't have any litters due until around the 18th. Playing with the current litters a lot to start picking my keepers. Looks like there's a lot of does! Honeycomb's 2 torts are does and ready to be weaned out. Probably keeping both of them. One is a show bunny, and the other looks like BUD but should be showable for a while. Honeycomb is also due on the 18th (Dot.com) and I'll probably sell her after that litter since I have several daughters to replace her. The rest are about 4 weeks and we're working on posing.

Oh and I'm pretty excited. I saw an ad for "color" guineas, and got my name on a wait list for hatchlings. Just got word today, they are hatching and it looks like colors I wanted will be available. Cool! Blue (or some variation of blue or lavender), royal purple (I think this is a dark brownish) for sure, and I hope for buff.

Speaking of guineas. I have the 10 eggs I salvaged from the fox-killed hen's nest in the incubator. I was worried the power outage for 3 nights would kill them. The 3rd night, it got pretty cool in the house and incubator. I was told to continue incubating and hope for the best, so that's what I'm doing. I'll sell most of those (if any hatch) to turn my flock over to colors. I'll definitely clip wings to try to keep them in the fence.

tnt

The aftermath.

It's been a rough week! My heart goes out to all the victims of the recent chain of tornadoes. There were 2 twisters here the night of Wed. 4/27, one right after the other. The 1st one smacked a community just SW of here. The 2nd less than a half hour later hit my area.

We were so lucky back here! The house at the end of the road is gone. That's less than 1/2 mile away! The destruction actually began about 1/4 mile down the road and blocked the road with downed trees. The forest comes right up to the narrow road all the way up. I heard and felt the blast when it went by, and I dreaded daylight showing me the damage. Was so surprised there was none. At least not to anything that mattered.

The power went out a good hour before it hit so we didn't know what was happening. Early the following morning, patrolmen came back here on motorcycles to see if we were ok. They had to come in through the fields behind me. Said the road was completely blocked (it's a dead end) and asked if we needed anything. Said there wasn't a power pole standing down there so it could be a while before we had power. Other than electric, I had what I needed. I have public water and there was plenty of food for me and the animals. My neighbors were self-sufficient as well.

I'm thanking the forest for sparing us back here. The path was over open ground and just swiped the forest edge when it went by. They worked fast and had the road open for us by late afternoon. I went out the next day to get some things and see what it looked like. I have never been this close to so much destruction! After the smashed house on the end, it just got worse. Red Cross came back here several times to see if we needed anything and to inform us where we could go for help if we needed it. My road is even narrower right now as there isn't much room for the downed wood.

My friend's sturdy brick house is destroyed. He's about a mile away as the crow flies. I finally hooked up with him later that day and was so relieved he's ok. He was definitely shell-shocked. He said they were in the basement at the 1st warning, and came up when they thought it was clear. That's when the 2nd twister hit, so it's amazing they weren't hurt. Buildings all around him were smashed as well. I heard at least one of the reported deaths was in his area.

On the way home, the people who lived in the place at the end of my road were there so I stopped to talk and see if they needed anything. They were thrown out of their beds over 300 yards and amazingly, only suffered bruises. Debris from their house went a lot farther. Oddly, a little single-wide and small barn just behind them on the property were still standing, although they had a lot of damage. The next place down is another single-wide and it was barely touched. In fact, debris from the house caused the most damage in broken windows. An old single-wide had been abandoned at the back of that property and it was rolled over against the woods behind it.

Tornadoes are strange that way. It wasn't until coming home that I noticed the tin roof on the little pump house is gone. It's a lot lower than the house and other outbuildings and somewhat sheltered by trees. I would have thought if anything the tall old shed near the house would have lost its tin roof but it didn't. It already had some wind damage from the "normal" high winds I get back here, but nothing much from this storm. We thought we were fairly safe close to the mountains. Tornadoes are very rare here. Goes to show, no one is ever completely safe from nature's wrath.

I went to a FEMA meeting in the other community yesterday. They were very well organized with command centers set up in both areas. They had tons of donations and told everyone to take what they need. The destruction was just as bad there, and I think more people died. Senators and other officials are on hand, and I heard that one of the helicopters that flew over the area several times might be President Obama. He was supposed to have been in GA/AL for the disasters earlier this week down there, and might have flown over here as well.

Patrol cars are stationed at the in-roads to the areas to control lookyloos and looters. Yeah, there was already that going on. Sometimes, I really don't like the human race.

The little Netbook got a lot of use. I had internet. I had to conserve the charge, but I was able to check in. One of the things I went out for that 1st day was a special device so I could charge it off the car.

We got power back here Saturday afternoon. I really didn't expect it so soon. Was told that since there was no line damage back here, they started here. I guess it's practical to take care of the easiest issues first and work out to the worst. Was without for 3 nights and part of the day. I did a lot of reading by booklight! The power went off for a bit later that evening. I assume so they could work on connecting lines.

In fact, it just went out again while writing this! Thank you, Blogger, for saving it! I expect this will go on for a while so I better shut down the puter for now.

tnt

This & That

Attended the Taylorsville show yesterday. A lot of dwarf breeders were missing because they're gearing up for Nationals next week. Best of luck, fun, and safe travels to all who are going.

Because of the lack of entries, legs were hard to come by. Even otters couldn't pull a variety leg. Group and breed legs were all that could be earned. Chevette got the AOV BOG leg in Show A. Actually if I'm not mistaken, I believe AOV was the only group that could get a leg. I've seen that before at small entry shows where tan patterns weren't strongly represented. Oh wait, maybe Self as well, but since I didn't have any selfs, wasn't really paying attention to that group.

It was still a fun show. I like the T-ville shows. Everyone I talked to had the same reasons for liking these shows. Easy to get to because of uncomplicated directions, nice facility on the fairgrounds, usually pretty good organization, and good home-cooked breakfast and lunch from the best chef in the south.

Oh and yay. Cogburn is gone. I took him to the show and hung a "Free" tag on his carrier. Had 3 people who wanted him. The 1st's wife said no, so he went to the 2nd. He was crowing all day long which was strange to hear there when I've heard it for so long here. I'm happy and I'm sure he'll be happy. The new owner is getting him some hens. My baby birds will be safe from him.

It was a very violent day weatherwise in the south and surrounding states. I woke up to a bit of a light show which made me change my show day routine a little. Usually, I drink some coffee and do the internet for a few, then allow enough time to load up the rabbits and myself, and hit the road by the deadline. The lightening made me run out and load the animals first so I didn't get caught doing it in the rain. Turns out the lightening was actually not headed this way and the drive was dry.

Just a few miles from home, I was racing a storm. Got home in time to unload the rabbits before it hit. And it hit hard! There was pea and gum ball size hail that littered the ground like snow. I don't remember ever seeing that much hail on the ground, even up north. It was like stones falling on the roof, and it went on for quite a while. I don't know how much rain I got here. The rain gauge only goes to 5" and it's topped off! Serious runoff is flooding the bottom of the yard again. I think I'll have to call the road commission and ask them to dig out the ditch across the road that was taking the runoff down to the creek. It must be blocked as now it's coming across the road to me. Bad.

In the nestbox:

Chevelle x Stoneybrook's Jackson (himi buck on loan) has 4 fat healthy kits. Himis, I'm sure. His owner says there's REW in his background, but I have no reason to believe Chevelle carries REW. At least I hope not. On the other hand...

Anaba x Jackson has 3. It's possible she carries REW so I'll have to wait to see if the kits are himi or REW. Keeping my fingers crossed for himi.

Nyx x Sugardaddy - 1 nicely broken black fostered to Anaba, and a black. I don't trust Nyx. So far, she hasn't built a good nest and if she has live kits, they die if left with her. She did pull plenty of fur this time, but most of the other nest material had been kicked out. Good thing it was warm enough. I left her the black to see if she raises it.

Dreamcatcher x Ford's Roc - 1 nicely broken black. I might foster it as well, although Dreamcatcher is really good about raising a singleton. I've left singles with her before and they always thrive. Since I don't know if or to whom I'll breed her again, I might as well let her raise it. I could give her 1 or 2 of the himis.

Cirocco x Ford's Roc - 2 nicely broken blacks. Yay...they're not otters! This is her 1st litter and she did it perfectly. Can't wait to see how this match turns out.

So letsee. 5 new litters - 7 himis, 4 brokens, and every doe was successful. I'm very pleased with this round.

In the older litters:

Shadowland Honeycomb x Sugardaddy has 2 torts (almost 3 weeks), and I think one of them got his little ears. That would be cool!

Lady Blaque x Shadowland Whiskey Mac has 2 torts and 1 broken (75%) tort (almost 5 weeks). Their color is off so I'm not sure what I'll do with them. They're too light and not charcoal where tort is supposed to be charcoal (belly, etc). It's a creamy color. Strange. I even thought they might be blue tort, but I've got those before and know what blue tort kits look like. This is not that.

I recently chatted with Donelle Bomben, and she gave me lots of good information and theories on the cause. She said it might be due to Sable Points. There's no Sable Point in Mac's pedigree, although that doesn't mean it's not there somewhere. I believe he does not carry shaded, or I would have seen it by now, especially when he was bred to himis. Lady Blaque probably does carry shaded so it might have come from her. Another theory Donelle had was that the wideband gene from Red had been mixed into that line of torts. That makes more sense to me than the Sable Point theory. I have got properly dark torts from Mac with his other does, and lots of breeders do Tort and Sable Pt together without bad results. It might explain the odd extension (for lack of a better word) of the undercolor. I don't really know how the wideband gene works or why it would show up in Lady's litter. Research time, I guess.

In the chick brooders:

I got a 3rd batch of TSC chicks this week. Got even luckier than the 2nd batch. Picked up 3 more blues, another red, and 2 striking black & white chicks. I didn't realize until I got them home that they had feathered legs. Hopped onto The Feathersite and discovered they are Black Mottled Cochins! That was exciting because for feather legs, I like Cochins the most. Such an attractive bird, like a ball of feathers. And they're the only chicks I've been able to ID for sure.

It was all I could do to restrain myself from running back up there to get a couple more. No no no. I now have a total of 19 chicks and that's enough to start.

Not to mention a guinea is laying, and I'll be incubating those. I found a nest under a big grass in the garden inside the fence. One by one, eggs are appearing in it, but I never catch the hen on the nest. Since guineas lay large clutches of 20 or more and that's how I found the nest, I just assumed they laid all at once. I now realize it's that they lay the entire clutch before they begin brooding. Usually, I don't find the nest until the hen goes missing because she sitting all the time. Probably nature's way of making sure the eggs hatch at the same time.

It always amazes me that the day after a violent storm is beautiful...clear and sunny. It's like Mother Nature gave us the day to clean up the mess. I'm off to survey the damage and hopefully enjoy it.

tnt

Facebook

I seem to be in a ranty sort of mood these days. Can't help it, some things just plain bother me. So today, the topic is Facebook and rabbit breeders. I think I might have talked about this before, but since it's recently annoyed me, here it is again.

First, is no one concerned that FB (and the guy who owns it) seems to be taking over the world? Or at least the internet. It's looking like most people now get their internet via their phones, and every phone company offers FB apps. Fewer and fewer use websites, forums, or even email. Are computers becoming obsolete? How sad that would be.

Yeah, I have a FB account (Spring Creek Gems if you want to look me up). I don't really use it all that much, but since everyone else does, I have it. It's mostly to socialize with friends. I recently set up a D6 FB page and that was a great idea if I do say so myself. It's seems to be something members will use. It's linked to the D6 Website and I can announce that the site has been updated.

I don't have a very fancy phone. I use it to make PHONE CALLS. If I wanted I could use it for internet, but I don't. I'd have to pay more and it's not in my budget. I don't text either. Also costs more, and to make sure people who live to text don't try to send me anything (extra for even receiving texts), that feature is blocked on both my phone and computer.

I love my desktop computer! It's fairly new, sleek and powerful, and I can do anything with it. Including seeing all the internet has to offer on a 19" widescreen. I have a full-size keyboard where I can type as I was taught in school, and I can type pretty fast. I have email accounts and that's how I prefer to communicate, especially for bunny biz. I do not need internet everywhere I go. I can wait until I get home. I do have a little Netbook that I can take with me if I'll be gone for more than a day. It's come in very handy when the power went out.

I recently used FB to get the word out about rabbits I wanted to sell. That didn't go well. I had people messaging or posting on FB even though I clearly stated more than once that inquiries be via email. One person said, "FB is easier for me." Awww, too bad. It's not easier for me. My email account keeps everything nice and organized where I can quickly read, review, and reply. If you want to do business with me, you're just going to have to learn how to use email. I won't be posting sale rabbits on FB anymore. You'll have to check my website.

BTW, the person who bought one of those rabbits is not on FB. Yep, he knows to watch my sale page, just as I know to watch his. The other buyer didn't "friend" me until after they bought the rabbit, so they also found it on my website.

I also detest inquiries in "texting" form. I write full sentences with caps (where correct), punctuation, and the grammer I learned in school. Texters are so used to abbreviations (that not everyone knows), short non-sentences without punctuation or caps, or worse...all caps, they just automatically write this way all the time. I know this has a lot to do with the tiny keyboards on phones, but that's no excuse. When I get a "texted" email, I immediately have less respect for the person writing to me. For that, they will get less from me. I won't bother going into detail about anything. I'll just answer the questions as shortly as they were given to me. I really appreciate a well-written email, and I'll respond in kind.

Ok, I'm done. What else is going on?

Had a couple litters due this week, but they're busts. I was surprised to see a Max Factor in one of them. It's been so long since I got one, I didn't know if MF was still running in my lines, but apparently it is. These things tend to show up from new rabbits. In this case, the tort buck Whiskey Mac. The MF kit had open eyes, but legs looked ok. It had an odd-shaped head, looked more like a puppy with narrow snout and high forehead. The only decent broken was a peanut. There's a few more due the 2nd week of March.

Earlier this week I saw a fox! That was very cool. I figured they were around but I'd never seen one until now. It was just after sunup and it was after the guineas that were out front under the birdfeeders. They raised a big ruckus so it was only there for a minute or so. Wish I had got to the camera quicker. I was just so surprised I didn't think until it was too late. It was a beautiful animal in full winter coat, and close enough to the window for a good shot.

Weather is still real nice. It's frosty this morning, but should get in the 50s. I can live with that in February.

24 days until Spring!

tnt