A rant and a rambling

Let's get my rant out of the way first.  This morning, I was very disgusted and angry when I learned, from some of my online Trisomy parent friends, that someone had created a seemingly informational website on Trisomy, and posted pictures of my Lilly and many other Trisomy children I know.  That was annoying but not the bad part.  The bad part was that if you clicked on the pictures for any of the children, to "get more information," you would be re-directed to a porn site.  YUCK!  I can not stand the thought of Lilly, or any of these innocent children, being linked to porn.  That makes me sick.

The internet has so many good uses but porn is NOT one of them.  The number of porn addicts is staggering and so sad.  People that repeatedly view porn are literally re-wiring their brains.  And countless lives being destroyed.  Whoever cooked up the idea to link these special needs kids to porn - well I haven't decided what punishment they deserve yet. 

We're working to get the photos off that site asap by writing letters of copyright claims.

OK. 

Yesterday Lilly's garden finally had a lily bloom - the first in over a year.  :)

Calla Lily

 

I mentioned recently that I had thought about trying to run some and had taken a few little runs to the mailbox and back.  My Dad (who is in his late 60s and is still running marathons and triathlons) encouraged me by saying to just try running "a little farther" each time.  I thought, "well I guess I could do that." 

I can't really explain it - I just have been feeling I need to do something hard.  Really hard for me.  I need a personal challenge to prove some things to myself.  I've never been a runner.  I used to play soccer when I was younger, and that of course required some running.  But not for distance. 

So I started running from the top of our driveway, to the road, and back up the driveway.  Two times the first night.  Since then I've added one or two laps each time.  Last night I made it 11 and a half laps.  And that equaled 1.09 miles.  I think that is the first time in my life I've ever run a mile!  And Tabby informed me that yesterday was Global Running Day.  Ha.

the slope coming up the driveway looks deceitfully easy

For the past month or so, the boys have been sleeping in a tent set up in their room.  A few days ago, Hunter finally was ready to sleep in his bed again.  And just a few minutes ago, Solomon told me he ready to go back to his own bed too.  Pretty nice camping though - inside the house means air conditioning and a lack of bugs!

Hunter likes to read before going to sleep now.  Here is his current book:

He raved that the chapter on induction motors was incredibly interesting.  I couldn't help but snicker.  On the inside. ;) I am impressed though, that he is reading books like this and understanding much of it as the reading level is way higher than a 7 year old level.  Motors are Hunter's current obsession and he has been collecting as many as he can.  He does all kinds of experiments with the ones that work.  I called him "Motorhead" but he didn't appreciate it.  I told him I once saw an old heavy metal band called Motorhead in concert.  He didn't understand what I meant at all.  ;)

The baby goats are doing well.  They nap a lot during the day and then are very playful in the late afternoon and evening.  They love to jump and bounce around.

In the second picture down, you can see new mama Sundrop in the back.  (The light golden brown goat behind the tree stump.)  I had intended to start milking her earlier this week.  However, she would have none of it.  We've never had a goat that wasn't willing to jump up on the milking stand and eat their breakfast while we milked.  Oh my. Sundrop would not jump all the way up on the milking stand and wouldn't stay up if we got her up there.  She finally got so upset she started butting with her head.  Ouch.

So I watched a few YouTube videos on how to milk goats that aren't interested in being milked.  Of course all those videos ended in success.  I have yet to have success yet.  I made some progress today though in that Sundrop allowed me to pet her back while she ate the first part of her breakfast.  But then she started headbutting.  Honestly I don't know how much patience I have for this.  On the one hand, I like the challenge.  But on the other, I've got enough other stuff to do like training, teaching, and helping my human kids. 

This "teenaged" chick cracked Tabby and I up the other day.  She was sitting on Lucia's bed, just chillin', like she owned it.

A number of our hens prefer to lay their eggs in a crate of hay in our woodshed.  The couple that owned the house before us warned us to be careful in their in the summer, because the snakes liked it.  Such as copperheads.  So once the weather is hot, I proceed very very carefully into the woodshed.  And I often pray "God please don't let there be any snakes in here but if there are, let me see where they are!"  Yesterday I took a cautious step inside, was surprised to see that there were not any eggs in the crate, and then saw the reason why. Very close to the crate was a long rat snake.  Yikes!  I just know that snake must have eaten the days worth of eggs that were laid there.  I halfheartedly though I needed to be the one to kill the snake but then saw that even if I were feeling gung-ho about it, it would be very difficult to do because of how the snake was weaved in and out of the logs.  Thankfully I didn't see it today, and the pile of eggs were back.  Ick ick ick.

The surprise kids

Early this morning when I walked into the goat pen to do the milking, I heard a tiny little goat noise.  A little "maaahhhhh!"  I thought "Oh how cute.  It sounds like a baby goat."  Then I walked around the corner and I was shocked to see a baby goat!  SHOCKED!

Ummmm - I didn't know that our goat Pippi was even pregnant!

I stood staring and said "Oh God - show me what I need to do!"  We've had goat kids before but I was always ready for those.  This morning I just felt totally confused.

Pippi was cleaning up her new baby, so I decided to milk Christa while I thought about it.

By the time I was done milking, I had my wits about me.  I hurried to get fresh hay and then spread that in one of the stalls.  I put in a bucket of fresh water and a bowl of goat feed.  Then I ran to the house for iodine and scissors (to cut the hanging umbilical cord which the nanny goat bites it but it never is very short), my camera, and a child to hold the kid.

Hunter and I ran back out.  He was laughing and surprised too.  He held the little goat as I cut the cord, then poured iodine over the area to sterilize it.  We saw that it was a little boy.  (This is Pippi's 4th kid and all have been boys.)  We got mama and baby into the fresh stall and got a cute (blurry!) picture:

Now - what to name the little guy?  "Odysseus" came to my mind for some reason.

So how did Pippi get pregnant in the first place?  Well she must have gotten pregnant by the last boy goat that we sold, right before we sold him this past winter.  I hadn't suspected a thing!  My eyes narrowed in suspicion as I looked at our other three goats.  Hmmm ... could they be pregnant too?

When goats eat a lot extra, their stomachs get huge.  I jokingly call them "wide loads."  Well lately three of our goats have been "wide loads" but I thought they must have just been eating lots of extra leaves off the trees because, well, it's springtime and the leaves are growing like crazy.

Ooops.

Later in the morning, I picked up one of my goat books, and reviewed the "signs of coming labor" section.

Oh my.  Three of our goats have been acting weird this week.  And there were several of the signs listed right there on the page.  Now remember - I already knew about these things.  But ... I was not expecting any of our goats to be pregnant.

I thought more about these things this afternoon while I was working in the kitchen.  I started having a strong feeling that I needed to stop, and go outside, and get the other goat stall prepped with fresh hay.

Solomon and I went out into the goat pen and there he was.  ANOTHER goat kid!  Sundrop was a proud little mama and was busy licking him clean.  This was the strangest one to me because Sundrop is not quite a year old and she is still nursing occasionally on her own mama!

So.  Back to the house.  Iodine, scissors, camera, and Hunter to hold the goat still while I cut the cord.  Sundrop and baby then go into the fresh stall.  Add water and feed, and leave them alone to bond.

Since Sundrop was named after a yellow wildflower, Solomon thought "Dandelion" would be a good name for her new baby.

Now as I finish this post up, it is time for Solomon and I to go back outside and take care of regular afternoon animal chores.  I'm almost afraid to.  Will Christa be standing out there with her new baby this time?!

This scripture makes me chuckle:

"There are three things that are stately in their stride,
    four that move with stately bearing:
³⁰ a lion, mighty among beasts,
    who retreats before nothing;
³¹ a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt^." Proverbs 30:29-31

Don't tread on my poultry ...

First some good news, then bad news, then rather worrisome news ...

This morning, when Tabby went out to milk the goats, she was just in time to see Christa give birth to a cute little female kid!  She said Christa handled the birth like a pro. 

 
Christa cleaned up her baby, I cut the hanging umbilical cord and treated the area with iodine, the Christa posed with Tabby for a photo.

In Christa's family, kids are given flower names.  So we carried on the tradition and named the little one "Sundrop" after the many sundrop wildflowers we had in our yard this spring.

Here are two pictures I took this evening of Sundrop.  Don't believe the second photo - she has normal eyes, I promise!

In bad/sad news, Tribulation, our last little guinea keet, has died.  A rather horrific death too.  Frank was leaving for work and found the keet's headless body.  Tabby, who has learned about poultry death in her chicken magazines, examined Tribulation's body and declared that a bird of prey had gotten it.  (The way the head was snipped off.)  Since it seemed to have happened overnight, we assume an owl got it.  I know it was just a guinea keet, but I was soooooo disappointed.

Then Leah Rose, Tribulation's mama, disappeared.  We haven't seen her in about a week.  We assume she was killed, though are hoping that she is hiding somewhere on a nest, and will show up in a few weeks.  Sigh.

Here's the last picture of I have Leah Rose (the white guinea) and Tribulation:

Finally, in worrisome news, North Carolina's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services  "is requiring all poultry owners, regardless of the number of birds, to register with NCFarmID."  (see link here: http://www.ncagr.gov/avianflu/  )  Why?  They say it is so they can alert poultry owners of an avian flu outbreak on a farm near them.

Tabby tells me that from her reading, she learned avian flu is a terrible, devastating disease to chickens.  And we do love our feathered friends and want them to be healthy.  So this new requirement is for our good - and our chickens good - right?

Well I don't know.  I am not a big government person.  I'm not sure how the Department of Agriculture was able to implement this without going through the official legislative process.  Of course because they didn't, then I assume they can't enforce it. 

And I don't understand why we "need" this - there has not even been one case of avian flu among poultry in North Carolina.  Will registering our chickens keep this disease out of the state?  Of course not.  Yes I understand the officials are saying it's all being done to protect our birds.  But ... do I really want my freedom/privacy/rights infringed upon even if it can "save the life of just one chicken?"

Hopefully my wild imagination is over reacting.  But I just don't like the idea of registering anything.  I don't like being on government officials lists.  I don't like the idea of someone in power deciding one day that "the common person" may not own poultry anymore.  Then they consult that handy list and make the rounds confiscating chickens.

Think things like that don't happen?  Maybe not in the U.S. with chickens ... yet.  But history sure shows us it has happened with plenty of other things.  (If you want to read about how Hitler used gun registration lists - in the countries he invaded - to disarm the people, just read my dad's book (which I helped him research) entitled Gun Control in the Third Reich by Stephen P. Halbrook.)

I know guns and chickens are not the same thing.  But I'm suspicious all the same. 

Yesterday's animal antics

Animals are like children.  There's always something going on!  Though unlike children, you can leave them unattended for awhile.  ;)

Yesterday I woke up to the sounds of pouring rain and thundering.  I was just sure the rain would would wipe out the last 3 guinea keets we had.

But later that morning ... I was delighted to see that they had survived.  Yay!  These three are almost two weeks old - so I am hoping they will make it.  (I've read that once keets hit 2 weeks - they are pretty hardy.  They will be 2 weeks old on Sunday.)

Leah Rose and Rayford are ever watchful parents

the keets appearance is starting to really change

 Later in the evening, I glanced out the window and Pippi and her kids looked an awful lot closer than normal.  Ooops!  Someone did not close the gate all the way and the goats had all made their great escape!

The kids and I pulled on our boots and ran out.  Thankfully Christa, Nutmeg, Pippi, and all 4 babies were nearby and didn't protest too much about going back into their pen.  They're probably still talking about what the world is like on the other side of the fence.

"Hello!  We just came for a visit!"

 

This past Sunday night, we moved the Bloods and the Crips (aka the youngest chickens) into the coop with the older hens.  The two young gangs have united and stick together for the most part now, which is great.  They are doing well and enjoying free ranging.  However, there is a learning curve in getting them to go into the coop at night.

Three of the young chickens checking out some freshly cut cedar wood

 Hunter has proved to be a valuable assistant in the round up.  He plays the extremely important job of bouncer.  He stands very still right inside the coop door and once a hen comes in, he does not let her leave.  I go around in the yard and herd the young chicks to the coop.  That can take awhile!  Still though, they are learning pretty fast.

However, last night was a problem.  I kept hearing lots of thrashing in the coop and Hunter finally called out that one of the hens was bullying the young ones.  I went in to see who the culprit was.  It was Beru!  My eyes narrowed as I glared at this murderous hen.  (She is our one chicken that I wouldn't mind if someone else (not me!) killed and plucked and I cooked her for dinner.)  I finally picked her up and tossed her over the fence into the area where Tabby's chickens are.  Within minutes, Tabby's roosters were ganging up on Beru pecking her and basically giving her a taste of her own medicine.  That was some satisfying, feathered justice to see.

Bullying Beru is broody again

On a sad note, Tabby's pretty white Silkie Bantam hen, Marshmallow, drowned yesterday, in the children's pool.  Tabby was disappointed, of course.  She'd rather decrease her rooster population, rather than the hen population.

On the topic of flowers, Lilly's garden continues to look dismal.  I was surprised, the other day, to find two lily bulbs that had been dug up and were laying on top of the dirt.  What?!!  I thought they were all gone.  I buried them and am hoping there are more in there.  I hope to plant more lily bulbs this fall (in a way to protect them), so her memorial garden will be beautiful in the spring.

The day lilies, in other parts of the yard, are doing well:

Finally, here is a picture of a dragonfly that I took this afternoon and was completely surprised with how well it turned out:

I love looking at the world around me.  It's an amazing little break for my busy/worried/over- analyzing mind.

"But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸ or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹ Which of all these does not know    that the hand of the Lord has done this?" - Job 12:7-9

A "Christmas" walk around the yard

Sometimes on Sundays, when life slows down a little, I like to take a walk around our yard and look for new things blooming.  This is our third summer at this house and each year has had new surprises.  It's sort of like Christmas.  :)
 
So if you have a minute, come along with me ....

More day lilies have bloomed!  The old ones (that were here when we moved in) still have had only one bloom.  (It's a very thick cluster - I wonder if I need to thin them?  Would that encourage them to bloom?)

An Easter lily has finally bloomed!  We had a bunch planted outside of Lilly's garden.  BUT ... that wretched thief that stole ALL of my lily bulbs from Lilly's garden has now stolen ALL of my Easter lily bulbs except two!  WHAT IN THE WORLD??!!  Being attacked from underground is no fun.  In fact it makes me mad.  (It's like being attacked by Satan - can't see him and he strikes when you aren't always expecting it.  And he just never seems to go away, does he?)

Peppermint is growing!

I thought this might be lamb's ear because the leaves are so incredibly soft.  But after studying Google Images, I think it is rose campion:

Day lilies with Tabby's flock of chickens behind them:

Things in our garden are growing nicely:

I don't know what these flowers are - first year I've seen them bloom.  They grow out of a rather tropical looking plant:

The puppies love to leave random bones around the yard that they find in the woods. Wish I had a animal bones identification book!  Jawbone anyone?

Exhaust Pipe sniffing a patch of wild daisies:

Pears growing on an old tree:

Tadpoles!

Old bottles we've collected  on the property.  (If you want old bottles - contact me!):

The woodshed - Frank stays busy cutting wood and stacking it in preparation for the next winter.  (We have a wood stove in our living room.)  Lots of cedar wood in there - it smells wonderful!

Stalker the chicken (a Barred Rock) is never far away:

Padme is a wonderful mother to Leia:

Precious continues to do a great job with these three biddies:

Greetings from the goat herd:

"Hello!" from Fred and George (the two babies that are bottle fed):

Finally, the Bloods and Crips seem to have finally worked out their differences.  (Their "Berlin Wall" came down last week.)  They still seem to segregate themselves much of the time.  (Birds of a feather ...)  But I haven't seen any evidence of brutal pecking, thank goodness!:

OK - enough picture overload for today.  :)