I Love Little Baby Ducks

    "I Love Little Baby Ducks, ole pick up trucks, slow moving trains, and rain."  Well, maybe not the rain.

     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.

     Wednesday I ran into LeRoy for groceries mid morning and Carol was here by the time I got home.  Because it was predicted to get cold and windy we three girls headed out for a nice long (2 1/2 mile) walk with the 3 dogs.  We ran into Marj who was riding Vinnie towards us on Brian's road.  As soon as I got home I had to rush to get ready to take Amiga to a mid day riding lesson.  It was a really good lesson, figuring out some techniques that will help me keep Amiga vertically flexed for better collection.  I got the phone call from the post office while I was driving home from Marj's.  The baby ducks had arrived.  So I quickly unloaded Amiga and then Carol and I took off for the Downs Post Office.  Carol had to peek into the well taped up box on our way home to be sure there were no fatalities.  All 9 female, Khaki Cambell ducklings were alive.  As soon as we got them home we offered water, which they drank, and
                                                                                   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.

     The old mason jar chick water dispenser works great.  But boy do they make a mess of it.  They drink, garb a bite of food, and run back and drink.  They also flip the water all over the place as they drink. 

     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.

     Friday morning we finished our movie while eating breakfast.  The temperature was still in the 30s but the wind had died down so we went for a mid morning walk, only going a couple of miles. Britney left for Greenville before lunch and Carol headed home to Indiana after lunch.   I cleaned the wet bedding from the duck "cage" and decided the incubator was holding a steady temperature, so put in the 18 chicken eggs Carol had gathered.  I was then going to take a nap, but the sun came out, beckoning me to "come out and play".  So out I went, only I
                                                      worked, instead of played.  I cleaned

 rock our of the grass, grass and leaves out of the drive,  and burned our pile of sticks.  


 





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.
.

Sold To The Highest Bidder!

        Guess what?
        Turkey Butt!
      He he he he he.

     I don't know if it is the taste of spring weather we have had, or being crazed by cabin fever, but I just had to start this post with Hercules' rear end.  He does this display when he is trying to warn others off. He never scares me, I just think he is big and beautiful, in addition to being silly, so I take pictures of him.

     Wednesday morning I trudged off to work as usual, but a little later in the morning Joe and Britney went on a new adventure.  They went to the farm auction in Congerville with the hopes of buying a baby calf.  I had equipped them with on-line instructions on how to go about doing this.  Not having been there I do not have first hand information, but I did pump both for highlights of the day and Britney took lots of pictures. 
                                                            Joe in the pen going through the
In a nut shell, they bought a                    check list with the prospective
Normande/Holstein/Angus cross            calves while Britney took notes.

who was a week to ten days old and weighed in at 90lbs.  Joe has since named him Norman after his breed sake.  I have given him the last name Wellington, a friends suggestion that I liked.  So he's AKA Beef Wellington. Ha, ha ha ha.  Norman, #3965, was the healthiest one of the lot, and Britney and Joe's first pick. 

     When the bidding began, he was in with another calf. Joe was aggressive in his bidding, not hesitating to go up the next bid level.  He felt reluctance would show indecision and he wanted to make it clear to the other bidder, that he wanted the winning bid, which he got at $200 (a bit high)  Since he only wanted one of the two, he got first pick, and the other guy got the second calf for $195 (his last bid).  

Norman had to have a vet check, and Joe paid a little extra to have the vet give our new calf some injections... we think vitamins and de-wormer.  Once that was all done, they easily loaded Norman into our horse trailer.  He
                                                      follows people around like a big

puppy.  Once home, we unloaded Norman into Zorro's stall, let him look around as we got him settled in, and then brought him a bottle of "milk" (calf starter formula). 









He needed a minute to figure out the bottle (different nipple than he was used to) but soon had it sucking good.  Once done, he kept nudging us looking for more...and followed us all around the stall.            Such a cute little calf.

     I took Amiga over to Marj's to ride during Courtney's lesson.  I had missed mine due to no trailer, and taking care of Norman.  I listened to Marj's instructions to Courtney using them as reminders as to what I should focus on with Amiga.  I tried to keep Amiga out of the way as best I could, but both us girls are working on steering refinement with our horses (turning with our seats and not the reins so as not to pull them off balance) but this enabled the two sibling horses to gravitate towards each other quite often.

     
     The kids at school Thursday were really wound up. We had a pep assembly because the basketball team had made the final four and were headed to State.  Soon after I got home I drove over to Marj's to meet Dr. Carlson who was going to look at Courtney's horse.  Zorro continues to make good progress, but still needs to get stronger.  Later in the afternoon, Amiga and I meet Marj (who was riding Vinnie) at the Bridge on Brian's road.  We rode together in the fields and along the road for awhile. The wind was blowing cold and it was getting late, so we each headed home with our trusty steeds.   Norman continues to do well and be vigorous about his feeding.  We get a real workout holding the bottle, with him tugging and pushing on it the whole time he sucks.

     I gave a test on Friday (I know, I'm an evil teacher).  The students were still rowdy, but got quiet and focused during the test.  I let them talk once all were done with the test.  I hit Farm and Fleet after I left school, and once home, I started preparations for our trip to southern Illinois....Joe had recently reserved a cabin down there.  Because Marj was out of town, I later went with Amiga to ride with and keep Courtney company while she rode Zorro.  I didn't get home from that until 9:15.  Poor Joe had to come fix a flat trailer tire while we were over there.  Thankfully it occurred when it did and not during our trip.    

     Joe, Amiga and I were on the road heading to Shawnee National Forest by 7am Saturday. It was a long drive (4 1/2 hours) but went well and we were thankful the spare trailer tired held up okay.  I was also glad to get a bunch of my lab reports graded during the trip.  Once checked in at Hayes Canyon Campground, we got Amiga unloaded and settled in to her outdoor covered pen.  Then we got unpacked and settled into our little cabin as well.

     After looking at the trail map and planning our course, I saddled up and Joe put on his hiking boats and we headed out.  We had a beautiful 3 hour ride/hike.  It was hilly and rocky in a number of places but Amiga did superb.  She crossed creeks, concrete and wooden bridges, stepped over logs and went wherever directed with little or no hesitation.  She was great....and I am so proud of her.  At one point we tied her to a picket line and we hiked down to see a waterfall.  Joe took a tougher trail on the way home while Amiga and I stayed on the easier route because I knew she was getting tired.  I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

          Once back to our cabin, I put Amiga in her pen to let her relax.  I went in and brushed her well and picked her hooves.  Then I lounged out in the grass and let Amiga graze.  (Joe ran
into town to get some supplies.) 

 

     While Joe watched some basketball before dinner, I rode Amiga bareback around the camp grounds.  I thought she might like to stretch her tired legs out a little.  It was fairly empty, yet many vacated campers had been left there for the winter I guess.

     We roasted hot dogs over a fire, enjoyed some cold beverages and
sat and talked.  Amiga never showed any anxiety about her temporary accommodations, but munched on hay and sipped on her water.

     Early Sunday Joe had to run up to the camp office where he could get an internet connection and do a bit of work.  I sipped my tea, fed and brushed Amiga, did some dishes and straightened up inside the cabin.  Joe wasn't long and we hit the trail...this time going in a completely different direction. 

Joe led the way part of the time, while Amiga and I took the lead at other times.  Notice the daffodils in the photo to the right.   Spring is earlier down in southern Illinois.

     We rode/hiked for a little over two hours.  There was a lot more pretty scenery...and I can just imagine how
nice it will look when it greens up.

 

     Joe and Amiga both fatigued quicker than yesterday so we did not finish a loop we were on.  We found a tack shop at a different camp ground, but it was closed.  I decided to walk Amiga a few minutes to give her a rest and my legs a break and to stretch them out.  Back at the cabin for more relaxation... Joe napped and Amiga ate while I worked on this blog post. 






We rode/hiked to Eddyville for lunch. Both Joe and Amiga were not as energetic as earlier.  I untacked and tied Amiga at the hitching post.  We sat where I could keep an eye on her. 

     On the way back, from the restaurant, I continued with Amiga going back to the trail from yesterday.  I just wanted to get a little more riding in.  In short time I could tell Amiga was getting too tired.  The temperatures hit the mid 70's so she was also hot I'm sure.  She did stop to drink at a few of the several creeks we waded through, but she was willing to keep going.  Knowing she was hot and tired, I turned back after 15 minutes.  She started tripping  and miss-stepping a lot on the way home.   I hoped I hadn't pushed her too much.

      We struck camp and hit the road for home about 2pm.  I worked hard on school work most the way home, getting all of my grading done.  At a gas fill-up, we discovered that the spare trailer tire had gone flat, but there was no air available so we continued on, not knowing how long we had been driving with it that way.  The other tire on that side was managing all the weight, and at least it wasn't the side of the trailer Amiga was on.  We made it safely home around 7pm.  Amiga hesitated going into her stall because Norman had been in there and she is still not too sure about him.  
                                                                                    I brushed her

while Norman drank his 10pm bottle.  I bought a bottle holder (great investment) that slips onto the gate and really saves time along with our arms and back.  Amiga seemed relaxed and content.  I think she had enjoyed our weekend trip.

 
      Monday was a beautiful day of  partial sunshine and 70 degree weather.  I did a bunch of laundry and hung the big stuff out on the clothes line.   Missy was not much help with her dirty little paws.

 










     Amiga rested out on the front pasture, recovering from her big weekend, while the cats and dog relaxed with Britney.

     I had put chicken wire around these Day Lilies to keep the fowl from trampling them while digging around, but Missy didn't get the memo to
"Keep Out!"


     Later I had to go to town for a Dr. Apt.   It was past time for an annual check up considering I haven't seen a doctor since 2008.  I also ran into school to feed and water everything. 

     When I got home, there was more sunshine, continued basking and an air of contentment and relaxation.   We had a pot luck for Linda's birthday at Growth Group Monday evening.

     The day ended with another peaceful feeding of Norman while I brushed Amiga before bed.