Sunday, May 28, 2017

On cloudy days

On cloudy days there is no benefit to sitting outside in his favorite chair, so the WoodMan is content to spend sometime inside on the porch chair. This is my favorite handmade Adirondack chair that I bought on Long Beach Island almost 40 years ago. Wow. That makes me feel old. (And getting older yet on Wednesday...)

Second pic is MonkeyCat sitting with us on the same porch watching a thunderstorm rolling through. This cat has no fear! Big Bad Cyrus, on the other hand, was hiding in the bathroom. And WillieCat in the basement. All my big tough guys!

Susan the Horse Lady came to pick up 2 of our chicks today. She needed some companions for her one lonely hen.

Going to Cousin Greg's tonight for a little Memorial Day eating and drinking. Still cloudy, might rain, but always a good time!

Monday, May 22, 2017

A fine time



The last time we had Buff Orpington hens, we sold them because they went broody. Their problem was that they weren't very good moms and didn't always sit on the same eggs, making it hard for us to remember which eggs we could sell or eat.

Not long after we sold them, a friend gave us 2 more Buff Orpington hens. 13 months passed and no egg-sitting, so I thought maybe these girls just weren't the mommy type.

So we bought 12 new chicks at the end of March figuring none were going to be hatched here. Now, just as those chicks are big enough to graduate from the garage to an outside pen, the remaining Buff goes broody. (We lost the second one to an illness.)

As of yesterday, Buffy Hen is sitting on 8 eggs. Since we kinda don't need 8 more chickens at this point, I can only hope they don't all hatch. Last year there were about that many and only 2 hatched, both roosters, so I don't think the survival rate is very good, but only time will tell. 21 days to hatch a chick. I think we are about a week into this.

These 3 photos of the grown up chicks are from Saturday when we moved them from their crowded box in the garage to an outside pen. They were still checking out their new surroundings when I took these pics. In the large photo: the 2 girls up front are the blue eggers. Mixed breed, so never sure what they will look like. The one on the right looks like one of our older blue eggers, the one on the left looks like a mix of the other 2 breeds that we bought. The black and white ones are Barred Rocks, the others are Golden Laced Wyandottes. This little redhead has the pattern of the Barred Rocks, and the coloring of the golden girls.

Keeping an eye on the BR behind the water bottle in the top photo. Bigger than the rest and already has the chin wattles. Hope you're not a rooster! We welcome all chickens here at Lester's Flat, but we already have 2 roosters, and only the well behaved ones get to stay forever.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Number 3 born today

Hard to get a good photo with an iPhone when walking a dog on a leash along the highway, but here is the third foal born at the Quartier Horse Farm this year.

Lightning Bolt from yesterday was right up at the fence nosing with Cyrus, but didn't have the phone with me for that cuteness...

Sunday, May 14, 2017

New foal season


White one was born May 3 (or thereabouts). Little brown one just today. I guess the horses wait until the apple blossoms finally open to bring their kids into the world.

Apple blossom photos to follow as soon as we get some sun to show them off. I think this is going to be a good apple year, as opposed to last year where I think we had a total of 2 apples from our many trees...

Friday, May 12, 2017

Willie and Monkey

The cat boys never get top billing, so in a quick post late at night, here are the 2 boys in the closet. Nothing like a pile of laundry to catch their interest... Willie left, MonkeyCat right. Their second best choice is when I am changing the sheets on the bed. Maybe pics will follow.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Chasing rainbows




Coming back from New Jersey last night I was chasing rainbows coming down Route 88. The temperature in Palmyra was 72° when I left in the afternoon, and 46° when I got back up here. Clear skies most of the way until just before Oneonta when I could see the black clouds ahead and bright sun behind me. Just one little chunk of rainbow in there would disappear and then reappear as a bigger chunk. It took over the whole sky as a double rainbow right before my exit. We get a lot of them up here, but they are always awesome.

At the old homestead I finished all my gardening, dead-tree-removal, lawn-mowing, room-painting, and ex-neighbor- and ex-mailman-hugging in just those few short days. Fingers are crossed for a good Open House on Sunday. If we don't sell this house soon I might just lose my mind...

Kept Charlie and PeeWee entertained for a night or 2. My boys were all thrilled that I came back to entertain them. At least that's what they told me. 2 of the big guys are insisting that I walk them RIGHT NOW even though it's cold and raining and I don't feel like it...
Charlie (back) PeeWee (front) hogging the bed
while I am trying to change the sheets
and get out of Dodge