Sunday, August 16, 2015

Working on it...



I am still waiting to see how much has been recovered from my dead computer. At first they told me they would not be able to save the old one, but could save most of the "user" files—meaning documents and photos and such. Then they told me for $150 they could put in a new hard drive in it, although that wouldn't bring back the rest of the files. Now they left a message saying that might not happen either.


At least I was able to get all of my important software running again, and only had to pay for an upgrade to Quark, which needed to be replaced soon anyway.

Since I am still missing most of my photos other than the ones I was able to pull from the OLD, old iMac, I will have to make do with some very new ones. (which means the cheese update is on hold)

Working on it...

Cyrus is making improvements in his obsession with deer. He still watches out the windows constantly hoping to find one, but he is getting better about not barking and has not tried to jump through the windows (that I know of) for several weeks.

Working on it...

He has also made improvements in walking off the leash. He is perfectly well behaved up on the hill at Don's, probably due to the constant lure of treats. And he is making progress on his off-leash walks down at the creek here on our property. He has taken off a few times, but returned after a half-hour of panicked searching and hollering (the first time), and after just a few minutes of hollering (the second). Didn't run off at all yesterday!

Working on it...

Bad news on the peeing in the house though. He did this a few times in the first week or 2 that we had him. I thought it was just him getting used to a new house and marking his territory. Then he didn't do it for a few months. Then he just recently started again, including a few poops in the house as well. I cannot trace the reason, other than maybe we have not been watching him as closely.

Working on it...

And the last update is on baby chicks. The 2 that were born here are getting big, catching up to the ones that we got from a friend. The one still with his surrogate Momma is looking like he could be a rooster, but I am still not sure. His second Momma has all but given up on him, other Momma (red hen with him in the photo) still keeping an eye on the boy. The other 3 babies, including the one rejected by those 2 bad Mommas, are still in a protected space out by the garage.

The 6 Black Australorps are almost full size and have been free-ranging with the others during the day. As soon as we convince them that they need to sleep in the coop with the big girls, we will move the babies into the teenage fenced area. We just started placing them in the coop last night. Could take a few days, or even a few weeks.

Working on it...

Everyone is learning how to be an adult, including me, I guess!

Working on it...

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Lots of news plus 3 new pigs!



All kinds of things happening around here including the death of my iMac. Pic above is the MonkeyCat sleeping on what's left of my precious computer. It's in computer hospital right now to see if they can retrieve my files. They are making some progress, but Computer Doc says TP's files were easy to grab, but the near-dead hard drive "doesn't like KP".


I decided it was time to buy a new iMac, although I would have put it off a whole lot longer if the other one hadn't died. Now I am having to upgrade some of my arty farty software, although I was able to pull the ridiculously expensive Creative Suite off the original discs...but not until after I bought a disc drive, because new iMac doesn't come with old-fashioned disc drive. (insert here the photo of me pulling out my hair!)

Still struggling to get everything up and running, but making progress.
Also had B&E visiting for the week. A good time was had by all!

So the good news for today is that we picked up 3 new pigs from B&B Ranch (again). Initial thought is that their names are Peter, Paul and Mary, but that could change when we have had more time to think about it.

They are a Berkshire cross—Momma is a big pink pig (Hampshire cross) and Papa the black Berkshire variety that is supposedly the best pork. We wanted all black ones just because I like pigs of color. I didn't even know until we picked them up today that even the ones that looked all black have orange stripes on their backs. Very arty!

Boy piggies are the spotted one and the chubby black one in the back of the crate. Girl piggy is the black one first to come out and explore.

They were all too afraid at first to come out of the dog crate to have their photos taken. This was only minutes after we introduced them to their new home. They eventually made it outside the crate, but not quite out of the shed. It won't be long before they are tearing around the pig pen ripping out all of the weeds and sunflowers.