Some folks have already started counting the number of school days left for this year. I know it is just over 6 weeks, but don't have the exact count of the days. One of the days last week when I collected eggs, I came back with 7. I think I am getting an average of 6 a day, but I usually collect some early in the day and then more after I get home from school so I don't usually have a very good count.
I think our barn Kitty Bro only has 8 lives left, if I were to be counting. One morning during chores he went straight up the outside wall of the corn crib. Sis was quick to follow, but half way up decided it was a bad idea and backed on down. Bro on the other hand went up to the eves. He tried to get in to the inside of the corn crib, but the space was too small. Then he tried to back down but it was too tricky, and maybe slippery with the painted boards. After I took several pictures of his dilemma, seen here with Bro way up under the eve and Sis starting up after him,
I decided he needed help. So I tried to talk him down. Well, eventually he ended up falling all the way down (probably 20 feet). He did land on his feet, but his big head had such momentum, that it smashed into the ground on the side of his face. It knocked him silly....but it wasn't funny. I immediately scooped him up because the horses were coming over to investigate, and he was clearly hurt. I think he suffered a concussion. His eyes were very dilated and he acted very confused. I took him to the tack room. Nothing was bleeding, and his heart rate was slowing down, and as I pet him he started purring. Because departure time for school was nearing, I left him, saying a little prayer as I headed back to the house.
Another answered prayer, more than I can count, when I got home Bro was just fine (only minus 1 life). He came trotting up to greet me as usual, with Sis tagging along after him.
Asian beetles....too many to count...have invaded our house. They are worse out on the front porch as seen in this picture. Joe has been spraying "Spectracide", an indoor household bug spray. And then he vacuums up the carnage. He commented that the vacuum bag is getting full. It wasn't empty to begin with, but it does contain a LOT of bugs.
I have been counting the days until Britney gets home from her semester abroad in Costa Rica. I have really missed her because she is unable to communicate via e-mail except once every two or three weeks. She is having a great time, seeing and learning more than one could every imagine, and totally loving and embracing the whole experience. At the moment she is living in a remote village somewhere with an indigenous tribe. She will also be traveling to Cuba before returning home in 18 more days.I am not going to count the number of days I am sick. Thursday morning I woke up with a bad cold. I don't know if it was a relapse from Tuesday's flu like virus, or different microbes attacking me this time. Wonder if I got it from Zorro...he had been coughing with green snot coming
Friday morning I woke up still feeling rotten and cold. It was only 32 degrees out and there was a pretty good frost but the sun came up early and started warming things up. It has been warm and windy all this week. So everything is growing. Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, birds are sitting on nests. I have one Plymouth Rock chicken that keeps sitting on a nest, in an old oat feeder in the barn. I first realized this when I was
counting chickens roosting in the coop
a few nights ago, and came up short. I eventually found her nesting in the barn. I proceeded to bring her back to the coop and have continued doing this the last 4 nights. I have been trying to convince her to not do this. It doesn't matter if there are eggs in the nest or not. I swipe them when she is off of the nest. A few other hens will sometimes lay eggs in that same nest. There was a golf ball in it, so I took that out. She sat there still. I put a basketball in the nest....she moved down to the next feeder. I don’t need or want any more hens, so don’t want to let any of them raise a brood. Besides, with the barn kitties and dog running around everywhere, I don’t think they would be very safe. They would all be sitting ducks....I mean chicks. Yesterday I got up feeling worse than ever, and not even able to talk at all. Joe probably loved the peace and quiet. I was so frustrated because I had a lot of physical work I wanted to get done, but no energy and was too dizzy to exert myself much. And I couldn’t yell at the dog, call my kitties, talk to my horses, or communicate with Joe. I decided to stay at my desk and complete my blog post of last year’s moving day.
Kaysha was dead tired Saturday morning, because she had pulled an "all nighter". She ran off Friday night at 8pm when following me around to do chores. I went into the coop to count chickens and fill their water bowl and feeder. When I came out she was no where to be seen. And I could barely yell for her. I had Joe yell for her several times before we turned in for the night. Going to sleep, I said a little prayer for her safety. I haven't kept count of how many times she has run off....she is usually gone a few hours, and comes home fitly dirty.
Here is a picture of her panting and resting shortly after her return home from one of these adventures. See how wet and dirty she is? I would love to know where she goes and what she is up to while gone. Although, I do not like or encourage this behavior. In fact, because of it, we have been tying her to the back deck more often than not. Saturday morning she was curled up in a ball on the back deck door mat, sound asleep. (The barn kitties have been sleeping in her dog house so that was not available.) After eating her breakfast she slept in her bed on the pack porch all morning.Mid afternoon yesterday, I offered to help Joe put up more ceiling in the tack room. And next thing you know, it is almost 5pm....but the ceiling is done! These sections were smaller and easier to hold up, but needed lots of measuring and cutting. It felt good to finally have it all done....well, we still need to put up some hooks, brackets and hangers for all the tack to go on. You can see in one of these pictures we have the saddle racks in. I also want to put a shelf in front of the window instead of the ladder and plank we use for kitties to go up and sit in the window.
Sunday I actually felt worse because I had not slept well. I kept waking up to cough, clear my throat, blow by nose and drink some water. I still ached all over, especially my head and joints. I am hoping this can't last much longer.
Again I spent quite a bit of time here at the computer. Things kept catching my eye, so I would hop up and take pictures, like of our "guardian" turkey Hercules. I have noticed that it appears he does a lot of "counting". He is always watching over the flock. Today when I spotted two huge birds of prey, bigger and darker than red tail hawk, soaring over our farm yard, I watched in amazement as they hardly ever flapped, but just rode the air currents. They were definitely searching for something....and then it dawned on me....the kittens or chickens. Well, I knew the kittens and one chicken were fine because I had just left them in the barn. I did a quick visual search for the chickens but didn't spot a single one. So I headed for the chicken coop. None to be found. When I came out I yelled "chickens... where are you?" About this time the large, soaring birds headed northwest and then I see, coming out from under the back deck, the chickens....with Hercules half sticking out because he is too big to fit all the way. He scooted out and followed the rest towards me and the chicken coop.
Here are some pictures taken different days, of Hercules on guard.
He will ward off dog or cat,
cow or horse....he doesn't care. But it's strange, he isn't mean, he just looks threatening. When someone he is not familiar with pulls up in back, he will come strutting out all puffed up. Good ole Hercules.
Even though I didn't feel up to it, Joe and I tackled the vines in the tree by the garage. There is poison ivy mixed in with the English ivy. So we decided to tare off much of it. The English ivy was growing over the top of the poison ivy. Almost two hours later it is all done and cleaned up. We bagged the poison ivy and anything questionable. It goes to the dump next weekend. The dog was no help, I just put her in the picture to make it more interesting. There were vines all over this side of the tree. Also, notice to the right of the dog, the Peonies are coming up and the grass is really green, and freshly mowed. Other than work on this tree, the day was not very productive. I did my normal chores, and messed with or played with most of my animals, but mostly I just rested, watched them or worked at my computer.
Well, I guess I do count things regularly....but only those that are important to me. As the song says.... each night before I sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep.
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