duckies bathing......

in their water bucket
I got to get them a pond

they remind me of little japanese monks

they first plunge thier little heads deep in the bucket
then they take a bit of water and sprinkle it over their backs
I sat down to watch them
they do that a few times then beat the air with their wings

i think they are getting used to me

they love the wheelbarrow full of leaf mold/compost i gave them again today
they eat the bugs out of it
and the maple tree seedlings
as well as other sprouted seeds

they enjoy it so very much
i love to sit and watch them root around

when I go and get the wheelbarrow they run to the side of their pen and watch me fill it with leaf mold
then they rush to where i dump it


I wish my hens could do the same
this is just about killing me that my hens aren't safe out there as long as jackass is around

but the ladies do make a lot of noise

bernie said if jackass is gone
we will put the ladies in tractors for the day and they will come in at night
( i would miss them way too much if they were left out there)

i long for the day when my ladies can free range in our back yard.......hopefully on a farm
and my duckies can fly free
with the sheepies cutting the lawn and the goaties triming the underbrush
and maybe a nice little mini jersey cow and her calf happily grazing on fresh pasture

with jackass nothing but a distant memory
displaced by the lowing of my cows, the contented clucking and boop booping of the chickens.......
all the animal sounds

?

and with luck...... I get to put my stories in a book for folks to read all together
and getting back to being an artist

vi

jackass neighbor!!!

http://www.pahomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=17523

can we say........ fraud
money laundering
criminal activity
can we say district attorney
attorney general

yes i knew we all could

vi
ps: I sooooooooo wish I could have this clip
but i can't afford the 40.00 for this one

HERE there be DUCKIES

duckie have landed and names

justinius or justinian Cornelius
Octavius Honoria Hortensius
laetres Amalia Antigonus
Archidamus Cornelia Desdemona
Drucilla Eugenia Euphemia
Hortencia Lavinia Lucretia
Falstaff Lucetta Luella
Novella Octavia Odessa
Malvolio Olivia Ophelia
Pericles Proteus Rosaline
Sebastian Agamemnon Orsino
Clachas Deiphobus Diomedes
Menelaus Alarbus Lucius
Quintus barnabus


here are some of the names we been considering

I am leaning to falstaff for the boy
ha
that male duck
we got them home, opened the crates.....and he concernedly and what we thought was TENDERLY called her and went over into her crate

was it a concerned reunion of two lovers seperated for a day?????????????????????

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

it was a horny male duck who'd been interuppted in the midst of his nookie
and wanted to finish

( see what i mean about falstaff? and he is a bit.............ah......portly...unlike her)


oh man MEN!

now i am attempting to associate ME with treats
I want them thinking.........."OOHHHHHHHHHHH nice lady with big straw hat, what have you brought us today"

today it was apples
they apparently don't care for apples
they liked the whole grain bred though
I can't wait to start feeding them slugs


they make a weird sort of dog sniffing noise
like a dog on a scent trail.......and they wag thier TAILS
hahahahaha
no kidding
and they got BLUE eyes
way cool
they watch me
but really they aren't all that concerned that i may hurt them
they don't rush me when i got to give them water or food or something.........
I almost was afraid that i would need body armour but they are pretty good duckies
I hope to get pictures soon

oye

vi

sheepies sans fleece***

(baby sheepies don't get shorn)


baby goaties.......cause.......well you know!


gee I LOVE life on the farm


vi

no news from the sheepie front

it rained like crazy today so hopefully my babies are still 'clothed'
I hope to get out to the farm for the derobing such as it is
I was busy all day......
I had a LIST of stuff to do
one part of the list was to research cow breeds
hahahahaha
( we have to move first huh? )
well i discovered not only mini jersey but dexter.....
so that pretty much is where we are heading for milk cows
they are much smaller.... in some cases much less then half the size of a full grown cow
the mini jersey will give a LOT of milk however
and they will do it on half the feed
I am thinking I am not all that tall......so i shouldn't have too much trouble handling them
with bernie helping with the hard stuff?

with two cows......you get milk all year long
probably too much milk huh?
about 6 gallons a day on an average

and me.............I LIKE milk

ok so i also love cheese and yogurt

and of course ICECREAM............
ok let's see

I gave the hens a mix of cornbread and hard boiled eggs and some of the kitty glow vitamin powder
as henrietta still isn't as bright red in her comb as I like to see on the girls

I am also thinking of a high tunnel hoop house out back
for winter gardening....
we can make one pretty cheaply
even the BIG ones are only about 500.
I am thinking maybe 75. for the one I would like............
and the girls maybe able to go out there as well.....
jackass won't be able to see them..........or hurt them
the ducks can defend themselves............... the muscovy drakes can be quite a deterant
to a moron who is too stupid for words..........

I have decided that until we know what is going on with bernie's job...... we are going to get as much stuff going here as we can... the high tunnel hoop house is not only dismantelable.....
but it is so cheap we could even leave it and build a new on at the next place

ideally i would love to put a hoop house for raising broilers out on the back parcel of land
but of couse with jackass next door we can't
I would like to raise about 100 broilers and 4 turkeys
for the freezer

I been also researching microfarms
tiny farms that earn a living
it's pretty cool if you have a mind

anyway
I am waiting to hear about my bonnie and edmund

stay tuned

vi

Firsts...... and hopefully no seconds!

well my two sheepie babies are getting shorn
not my lamb arabella........she won't get shorn until august
but my bonnie and my edmund
I can't get there to see it
sniff
but I hope for pictures
Carole says this shearer is most excellant and there will be very little if any second cuts
my first fleeces from my beloved tunis sheepies

in other news
we are getting muscovy ducks (accent on the COVY)
a pair of white ones
they will be working ducks as well as pets......eatting slugs in the garden
the hens won't eat nearly as much as the ducks and the hens would gleefully EXCAVATE the garden.

so until we get the chicken palace finished for hens
the muscovy ducks will live in there until the domicile du caneton finished.....
hahahahaha
the home of the duckling........sounds better in french

anyway.....
we will need some names befitting a rather droll pair of ducks
I am thinking...... something out of dickens?
well I mined the romans for calpurrnia's name....... and thaddeaus......well.... you know

soooooooooooooo how about dickens for the ducks

any ideas?


vi
stay tuned for what I hope will be pictures of bonnie and edmund getting shorn

march 31, heritage day at kutztown