Tuesday was another gorgeous day of Spring Break. Thunder storms were predicted to hit about 1pm, so I was out in the morning getting the yucky 60 gal stock tank drained and cleaned in preparation for our expected visitors... new baby ducks. Britney chose to stay inside and clean house in preparation for a family visitor... my twin sister Carol. I also made a point to ride Amiga before it got nasty, but just hopped on her bareback. The rains didn't come until evening, but we had thunderstorms off and on all night.
drank and drank
They are so cute.
We got them all set up in the stock tank on the front porch. The heat lamp was especially helpful due to the cold. We tried various feed dishes, some too small, others too slippery, and the current card board box gets too wet.
I had roasted some of Chuck for dinner and we watched Survivor a little later. It got very windy and the temperature really dropped. The cold front had moved in.
In this video we are discussing the markings we had put on the three duckings we are allowed to hold and tame. Carol wants her 6 ducks to be "wild" so they will herd away from her according to how she directs the dogs.
I got up extra early Thursday morning because I was worried about the ducks being warm enough. They were huddled under the heat lamp sleeping happily, until I woke them up. Then they all started running all over the cage. Carol and I ran into school to get the incubator for the chicken eggs she had brought. We had to grab a few more groceries because LeRoy did not have all I needed. It was very cold and windy, so Carol, Britney and I sat at the dinning room table, each on our own lap top working, gaming, researching, and entertaining ourselves and each other.
Britney moving Amiga to the front pasture for me. Ike watching for Carol who is in the house.
After lunch we went out to let Norman out into the paddock for some fresh air and grass. We had "locked" Sir Loin in the corn crib so he would not run over the baby calf. Norman looked around, visited with us, tried a little bit of grass and jumped around playfully.
Then Sir Loin broke the board the gate was chained to and came running over to see Norman, who immediately took to Sir Loin. They sniffed and licked each other. Then Norman tried to nurse. They got along fairly well.
Notice the turkey by the tracks? The chickens were all back there too.
We used the bottle to lure Norman back into the barn. After his bottle, he was shaking, we think from getting cold. So I rigged a heat lamp in the stall for him.
Later Thursday afternoon, we three girls ran into town to rent a video and take the dogs for a walk. Coming home, as I was driving up the drive, I noticed a cow out in the fields over at Becks. It was Sir Loin! So Britney ran into the house to get Joe. I got Amiga's bridle and hopped on her.
Carol opened the gate and we were off after Sir Loin. He came running up to Joe who had the bucket with some grain....but then he ran right past Joe and on towards Amiga and I. I turned her around and headed for home. Sir Loin kind of followed, but ran past us and in the wrong direction a few times.
We finally managed to get him corralled into the paddock. I rode Amiga around looking for where he had gotten out. No evidence of where he escaped. During dinner preparations, we spotted Sir Loin out again. We went through the same procedures to get him back in, only this time he was not near as interested in the grain bucket. How appropriate that today is Houdini's 137th birthday. Maybe Sir Loin has been celebrating that.
After closer inspection, we discovered that the circuit for the electric fence had flipped off. What had confused us, was that the solar power source was clicking. We aren't sure why or who had flipped it on because it wasn't even hooked up to the fence. With the fence working again, Sirloin was not going anywhere. Courtney joined us for dinner which was grilled Teriyaki chicken and other good eats. And then we settled in for our movie, "The Bucket List". (I could now cross off cow wrangling from my list.)
None of us girls could stay awake to finish it so we went to bed.
worked, instead of played. I cleaned
In the photo below I am half way done with cleaning last year's dead growth from the rock garden.
By the time I went back in, I was shocked to find the incubator 2 degrees hotter than it should have been. Ugh... I hoped I didn't just kill all the potential embryos. I'll not know until 3 weeks. Double ugh. When I fed Norman his evening bottle, I noticed he was shaking/shivering again and his tail was wet. I have been concerned about him being warm enough and getting scours.
The ducks have also kept me busy with cleaning their water and feeding them. They like fresh grass picked from outside in addition to starter chick feed. I keep checking on them too.
The front porch was quite cold Saturday morning with the temperature at 24 degrees and strong winds out of the NE. The baby ducks were all huddled together under the heat lamp.
Norman's diarrhea looked worse with the back of his legs and tail being wet and nasty. He also had one eye that was runny. We have not been able to get him to eat any solids, which I have read might help. He did take a big drink of warm water from the bucket which is the first time I have seen him drink water out of a bucket. I guess he doesn't like it cold. I was hoping this was progress. Joe went into Farm and Fleet and talked with the very knowledgeable and helpful equine/bovine lady that works there. He bought the necessary meds. (Pepto-Bismol equivalent, Calf Electrolyte and Vetericyn for eye infections) all to help little Norman get better. We are going to cut back on the milk some and offer fresh alfalfa hay that Joe also
bought. We added more straw/hay to
his bedding and put in a heated water bucket. We also added a second heat lamp. 
Here Norman is eating his first little bit of alfalfa.
Because it was way too cold on the front porch, we moved the duck tank into Daniel's room Saturday evening. Now he has 9 girls for room mates,
plus one more counting Abbey. 
I worked hard all day and into the night on school work with animal monitoring and special care giving to break up the monotony.
I coughed a lot last night and woke up with a sore throat and headache this morning. Hope it doesn't amount to anything. I went out at 5:30 am to check on and feed Norman. His other eye and nose were a bit runny, but his stool was a little better. The ducks empty their water about ever 8 hours, so are on the same schedule as Norman. Yesterday morning I added 2 more fresh laid eggs to the incubator, not knowing if the first 18 were viable after getting over heated. This way, at least we should get two chicks out of the process... to make it worth our effort over the next three weeks. At least the incubator has been holding a good temperature now. Missy was missing last night and again this morning, but after a quick search, I found her closed into the garden shed.
There is never a dull moment around here, but maybe I need a little bit of doldrums.... although what fun would that be? Speaking of dull....I worked on school work all day again today. I did manage to get two little naps, hold ducks and cats, and brush Amiga and Norman for distractions. I also finished up this Blog.Life is good, although busy and with some struggles, but I am thankful for breath of life, little baby ducks, barn kitties, calves and horses and a wonderful husband who supports and helps in all of these endeavors.
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