AL - Recording baby steps: Newest Addition

[AL]

*It's raining
It's pouring
The old man
Is out in the yard stomping in the mud and dancing a jig*

Grass is actually green and stuff... it's crazy!

My little Tuffy chick is hanging in there out with the big kids. At night I put the cochin pullets in with Tuff, but otherwise I just turn them out in the backyard. The chick has imprinted on me and follows me all over the yard, but the funny thing is if I am not around it follows my dark Brahma, Crazy Agnes - his mom! She, of course, being Crazy Agnes, will allow it around for a while, and then it dawns on her there is a tiny intruder and she runs it off.
Crazy bird.


No other news. The pitiful garden is still pitiful.... lots of 'maters and that's about it. My cucumbers started little tiny cukes and now they are turning black? I don't know what that's about... but I have accepted Murphy's Law for the garden this year and what will be will be.

Had to have a giant old pecan tree taken down. Between Ivan splitting it in '04 and then the bad storm we had back in March the tree was beginning to be a threat to buildings (garage, feedshed). It was a great shade tree even on the non-producing years so I hate to see it go.

 

[glenolam]

I bet that's a site to see...the mother hen pecking around...suddently, she looks back at this, this thing near her. Then scwabbles it away thinking 'what on earth would bring that tiny creature onto this earth?'

 

[AL]

Poor Agnes, when the good Lord said "Get in lines for a brain" she thought he said "Get in line for a train", so she totally missed out.

My poor pathetic garden has taken another extreme hit - of the equine version this time. The big lot of the garden is fenced, but I have a 10'x40 strip where I had planted my english peas and it just has a cable stretched across the front, fenced on the other 3 sides. I had 3 potato baskets - 2 of which now hold tomatoes (my wonderful, full, huge plant of grape tomatoes ). Where I scraped the ground digging up my compost pile I planted a tomato and a bell pepper - that tomato plant had 3 stakes and was still bending from green tomatoes!
Anyway - horses took down the cable. Buddy ate the high grass and oats where the peas had been, but Skye destroyed the section with the tomatoes. She trampled the bell pepper plant, bulldozed the big tomato plant and knocked over the cage with my wonderful, full huge plant of grape tomatoes. 105* and I am refencing my garden, swearing at my horses and trying to find ways to salvage my broken, squished tomato plants. Not a good start to the day.

I went to church and we had a guest speaker (very funny guy - Dr. Charles Lowery, formerly in the business of psychology). When I came home Poppy the rooster has shredded one of my buff orpington hens. I am going to build him a bachelor pad and stick him in it for a while. He is good to watch out for hawks, but it ticks me off to have him so rough with the hens when 1) I didn't want a roo to begin with 2) I have 3 beautiful young roos who can replace him.


We had that inch of rain last week and it has done wonders - the grass is green! We are still in a severe drought, but at least it isn't an "exceptional" one yet!!

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/record-exceptional-drought_2011-06-17

edited for spelling

 

[Denim Deb]

Sorry to hear about your garden. At least when mine got out, they only got into a different field.

 

[Farmfresh]

You need to change this thread title lady. It is WAY too much of a personal put down. I think you accomplish lots of great things SS, especially considering you work an outside of the house job.

Baby steps are fine. Far better baby steps in the right direction than those that do nothing.

 

[AL]

Deb - looks like it was ok timing though. Other than the grape tomatoes Skye squashed everything else is just cooking in this hot weather. Today I picked a couple dozen tomatoes and threw another 5-6 to the chickens.
Do you use a fly mask for your horses? I never have but the vet recommended one for Buddy because he has pink sclera and she said in the long run sun can cause tumors for him. I bought one for him and one for my old mare. Of course, I can't get it on Buddy because he has never had any training at ALL. Skye took to it fine but even with it being mesh material she sweats like crazy? Do you leave it on all day? at night?

FF - hehehe thanks. I have accepted that short of TEOTWAWKI there are just some SS things I can't do voluntarily - like butchering the extra roos that I hatched from the incubator and raised. Overall I like the progress I make, just gotta figure out how to beat back mother nature when it comes to the garden!

 

[Denim Deb]

I haven't used a fly mask in years! I had one for my first horse, but never put it on Misty. I doubt that I would have been able to get one on her when I first got her. Last year, we didn't have much of a problem w/flies, and I think that was due to the muscovies and chickens. And this year, I haven't had much of a problem w/flies, even though the dogs killed the majority of the ducks. (I do plan on getting some for my area though.) I try to keep the manure cleaned up, and I've noticed a big difference in my area as compared to CL's. In fact, I sometimes refer to my area as Goshen, and other areas of the farm as Egypt. (For those that don't get it, when Egypt suffered the 10 plagues, for some of them, God showed His power by not allowing the area of Goshen (where the Israelites lived) to be affected.)

 

[AL]

LOL awesome

I don't have much problem with flies, but the vet wanted me to put something on Buddy for his eyes, so she recommended a fly mask with UV protection. I haven't been tough enough to get his on, and I left Skye's off today because she sweats so much under it (she tends to lose hair where she gets that hot too).

Oh well at least I can say I tried

 

[Denim Deb]

Just so long as you don't get anyone complaining about how cruel you are to your poor horse to put a blindfold on it! (And yes, I have heard of people who think that!)

 

[Farmfresh]

I bought one fly mask years ago to see how they would work and now we have them for all of our horses. I love them!

We put them on in the mornings when we feed and take them off at the evening feeding. After removing them we always dunk them in the horse tank and give them a spin to rinse them out. Before putting them on we wipe the horses face and eyes with a damp cloth. They must like it because they stand in line for their mask!

The best thing about the fly mask is that it allows me to only use fly spray on their body, legs and ears and not around their eyes.

BTW do you make you fly spray or buy it? We have made an ACV fly spray recipe for years.