What To Do, What To Do?

     Life is full of decisions.  Some easier than others.  When I try to 

"go it alone" I get into trouble.  I wish I had a direct line to God....

                                                                                 

...to get the much needed answers.  God will reveal His answers through the wisdom of others, in Biblical readings, and during dreams and meditations.  Unfortunately, as Joe will attest,
I do not always listen to or follow directions. 

     Sunday, the first of May....May Day!  May Day!  We had an escaped chick. A few days earlier we had noticed some chicks able to get up on the edge of the tub we have them in.  Well today, while Britney and I were both at our computers, we heard a chick yelling.  But the noise was coming from the dinning room not the front porch.  We went running in and sure enough, there was a baby chick, under the dinner table.  Kaysha, who had been  napping near by, had just woke up and stood up.  Abbey on the other hand was several feet away, but in hunting mode.  Evidence (chick poop) showed that the little one had been on the porch for awhile and proceeded through
the living room to

the dinning room were it had also left two more deposits.  Abbey must have just spotted it and tried to catch it, causing it to yell, kind of a loud squawk.  Hum...what to do to keep the chicks contained?
     We hold the brown chicks regularly because I am planning to keep two of them and want them tame.  I also want them to be females for the eggs, but am not sure of the sex.  In this photo, I am thinking the one on the left with the larger comb is going to be a rooster.

       During the day I tried to get school work done, but did not have much success.  I kept getting distracted.  It was just too nice out.  Here the apple tree is full of blossoms.  Like last Saturday, I took several breaks moving and messing with the barn yard animals.  I also got the chick cage set up so that they can't get out.






Abbey pretended she was not interested.
But I knew better.


One of the large black chicks was quick to figure out how to hop/fly up to the wooden dowel rod to perch.







And it wasn't long before my favorite little
black one got up on top of the water jar.






 I emptied, cleaned, moved and refilled the 100 gal stock tank with Joe's help.



He also worked on cleaning out the corn crib.  There were several months worth of pile up out there along with a lot of hay stems that are like straw.

     Monday I awoke to the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad, but I was bothered by the way some were cheering and joking.  I am glad to see justice done.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."    -  Martin Luther King Jr

     Tuesday I was at school until 7pm typing and setting up a bone and muscle lab with 7 different stations the students will rotate through. 
     Once home, I hung the feeder in the chick tank so that they can't poop in it or scratch in it sending food every where and wasting some.  As you can see in the video, the 16 of them can barely fit around the feeder.

 

     With only 10 hours of sleep the past two nights, I really struggled to concentrate and focus Wednesday, but still had to push to get more school work done. Luckily I am fairly awake during classes, but on the drive home I have had to fight the need for sleep.  I skipped my riding lesson to give

                                                      Amiga time to fully recover. 

      Norman headed out to pasture after his noon bottle, to join up with his buddy Sir Loin.  Britney has been tending to the noon chores and helping lots around here.

                      
      We are infested with ground squirrels  and like caddy shack, the pursuit of catching the little buggers becomes obsessive.  I have picked up two dead ones out in the yard that the cats caught and killed.   I have picked up several dead birds as well, but feel pretty bad about them.

     The cats enjoy relaxing on the back of Joe's truck.  Britney can't help but give them some lovin'.
     The ducks continue to grow, fill out with more feathers, and enjoy their little yard.





     Thursday I was up at 3:30.  Got my needed 6 hours of sleep, having gone to bed at 9:30.  I worked fast and furious and got a ton done.  In fact, I had plans and all paper work and Power Points completed through next Monday.  I was intending to move the chicks out to the chicken coop when I got home from school....but just didn't have the energy to tackle the job.  The residual lack of sleep and stress had me worn out.  I puttered around, worked on last  weeks blog and took a nap.
                                                                                    I worked Amiga
in the round pen for 5 minutes to see how she was moving.  She seemed a little stiff, but I wasn't sure if she was still limping on her back left leg.  I let her graze out there, but it was mostly weeds, so she was not very interested.    

     Friday was a beautiful day.  Mental (brain thinking) work flew by at school.  I arrived home ready to tackle physical work around the farm. Joe bought a new trailer....three horse, slant load, that we are hoping will be much easier (and safer) to work with when loading Zorro and Amiga. Hercules saw it as another stranger and was trying to warn it to beware.

Joe and Britney worked on painting the old trailer.
She also picked up all the paint chips flung around during the metal sanding.
And then she got distracted by Brother.

  

     We also cleaned out the duck's pool again.  It sure gets dirty fast. Kaysha keeps watch while the pool is filling.











     Britney then worked on setting up the duck run with chicken wire to keep the chicks in.  Once again Brother has to "help".  Anytime he sees anything moving (especially one's working hands) he has to move in for the "kill".












     I worked in the coop getting it chick proof.  It was late afternoon by the time I was ready for the little ones.  Britney brought them out in 2 buckets. 

                     An 8 piece chicken dinner.









 

      I shut the ducks out in their yard to let the chicks have the inside area to themselves to get adjusted.

      Early evening the chickens started coming in to roost for the night.  Hercules knew something was not right... and was very leery. 

     At dark when the chicks were all lying down in a corner, I moved the ducks into the coop.  They quickly settled into a corner for the night as well.

     I got up early Saturday to let the ducks out so that there would not be any chance of them hurting the baby chicks.  It was very windy and blowing straight in through the pop door hole, so the chicks were not interested in going out.  I worked on school work and then last week's blog all morning.

     It was supposed to be rainy so I had intended to get a bunch of work done at my desk.  Well, it ended up being fairly nice out all day.   Joe mowed....and had discovered the "lawn job" I had made in the water-way last week when I got stuck.

     I had let Amiga out in the paddock to see how she would do.  In just a few minutes she went running off, and right away I could see her back left leg was still bothering her.  This really frustrates and saddens me.  I don't really feel we have the resources, nor do I want to spend the kind of money needed to have a thorough evaluation of Amiga by the U of I vet. It seems stall rest is always the solution to lameness anyway. But then I feel guilty about not having her checked.  What if something else needs to be done?  Our regular vet is coming May 19th, so I will have her look at Amiga then.  When walking, Amiga seems fine.  It's when she canters off and gaits that it looks like she is lame. What to do, What to do?

     Britney and I set up the big pool out in the garden for the ducks.  It is much deeper and bigger around for them. We carried them out and put them in the water.  They loved it.  It was still fairly windy.... so you might want to turn your volume off if you watch the video.

           Splish Splash
       I was taken' a bath

   I then shooed the chicks out of the coop into the duck/chick yard, but they quickly scurried back in because it was too windy (and maybe too scary) for them.  Off and on I worked at my desk, going outside to check on: Britney and the ducks, the baby chicks, Joe painting the trailer, and Amiga and the cows. 
 
      Jason's kids kept driving by in Becks 4-wheeler, so I invited them into the yard to see all the "babies". 

     We took Britney and Courtney out to dinner and then came home and went for a walk to work off a few extra calories. 

     Today I considered sleeping in for Mother's Day, but chores were nagging at my conscious, so I got up as usual and fed and watered everybody, let out chickens, ducks and calf, and cleaned stalls.  It was very foggy and the ground was wet so I kept Amiga in.  I will continue turn out in the little grazing pens with her but do not want her slipping even in those.

      These flowers I had in the green house all winter and had brought home Friday.   Rather than flowers for Mother's Day, Joe ordered me a picture story book of our farm. 
 





     I was hoping to hear from Daniel.  He had asked earlier for me to mail his tool box and some DVDs once he has a mailing address.  Abbey was quick to join the "to mail" pile.  As it turns out, Dan was on an intensive 4 day training session and had no phone capabilities.

     When we came out of Church after the late service, the sun was shining and it was beautiful out. Because this was Britney's last weekend, there was no question about what to do, we planned to hang out and have fun much of the day.  We put the ducks back out in their big pool, sat in the sun and ate lunch watching them swim.  They like to have grass clippings thrown in the water that they
scoop up with their bills and eat. 













     We watched the baby chicks who delighted in being outside in the warm sun with the gentle breeze and lush green grass.  They enjoyed sun bathing
                                            and taking dust baths.  They knew to hide
in the bushes and would run there or into the coop when we approached.

 

     I was caught up with school work but did a bit more in the evening after our walk so I wouldn't get behind.  Britney did last minute packing.

     The decision of what to do for Amiga and the thought of Britney leaving for a long time lingered, but it was still a great Mothers Day.
.