With a little help from my ...

Goats...

ALSwaterbucket

The hens

The two hens from the original flock are both laying eggs.  The black hen had been laying fairly consisting for the past month.  But she will occasionally break an egg because she lays it from where she is roosting and it might hit a 2x4 at the bottom of the chicken tractor.
The past week I found an egg behind the rabbit cages under the deck.  I was pretty sure it is from the scarred back chicken (who escaped the last attack).  But this morning I confirmed it, as they had both laid eggs in the tractor last night.  I am so glad she started laying again.  I didn't want to cull her since she had survived the attack and she had healed up.
I also moved the broken legged chick back to the egg wagon.  It seems she is at the bottom of the pecking order but I like her out with the other chickens and in the fresh air with bugs and grass to eat.  I can tell she is smaller than the others even with just a little over a week inside to heal.

My back is well on its way to a full mend, finally.  I am pleased to say I have almost completely taken over the care of the critters again.  The past few days I only made Rob move the goat pen.

Robin Williams

Everyone is posting about him, and I don't have much to add.

People are talking about the loss of such an incredible person, his acting and support of the troops were just a small part of his personality and life.  His battles with addiction and depression were well documented.  The sorrow and anger over him taking his own life is raw.

Lets move on to something else.  Remember the man, perhaps learn something from it, but move on with life.  Don't let the death of one man, unrelated to you, consume your thoughts.

What new things can we learn today?  What is one thing we can share with others that will make them laugh, or maybe cry.  Can that laugh be turned into a snort and a flashing moment of humiliation.

Why is a snort from laughing so funny, so embarrassing.  One sharp intake of breath through the nostrils that makes a loud noise can change your whole thought process for the next five seconds, and perhaps those around you.

Let us explore the science of the snort, dissect it, and examine its pieces.

Let us just enjoy the sound of a snort, the humor that induces it, and the abashed face of the one who made it.

Perhaps you enjoy the snort.  I do.  I enjoy being made to laugh so hard that I momentarily forget how to breath and produce this funny little sound that adds to the humor of the moment.

May you snort sometime soon in your future.

Mr. B

Mr. B's actual name is Buster.  And he went home today.  I finally got some information via facebook that led me to his owners and he recognized his family right away.  They were very happy to see him and he was ecstatic to see them.  It was a great reunion and I was glad to be a part of it.

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that can brighten it up.

Pain in my

Back.

For the last week my back has been out of sorts.  It makes it difficult to walk, move, sit, lie down.  Pretty much everything.  Walking Mr. B (what the found beagle is being called until we turn him over to the humane society) can be a terrible chore if he pulls.  Thankfully he isn't too big and doesn't do it a lot.

Rob has had to take over critter chores, and when Camo gets out during the day he gets to stay out unless he comes to me to be put back in where the water is.

Basically it sucks.

This isn't the first time my back has gone out, but it had been awhile since it had.  This is only the second time it is in the lower back though, usually it is higher up, just below my shoulder blades.

So I am having trouble sleeping, because there is no comfortable position to be in, and I stay up late watching youtube on my phone.

I wanted to watch chill out be ZeFrank, but instead cruised through a lot of his videos that I hadn't watched in the last year or so.  He has a wonderful way of thinking and it makes my creative juices flow with existential questions and observations.

Maybe I should have wrote last night while it was in my head because it is gone now.  But pain has a way of making you just want to sit and be not in pain.

Time to take some asprin.

Rain!

Praise to Mother Nature!  She finally decided to let it rain here.  I think we went almost a month without rain.  And with the low humidity it dried everything up to a pasty yellow.  I watered the garden consistently enough that the tomatoes and new plants are still coming in, but the yard it close to a dessert.  I haven't had to mow in three weeks.
With the goats help that is...

I found a lost dog yesterday.  A beagle.  Someone owned him, he has a collar, but no tags.  I wish people would at least invest in tags.  But it does look like he might have had a name plate riveted on but there is nothing there now.  I hope I hear from someone soon.  I will be taking him to the humane society Saturday.  If he is lucky he will have a chip.  I posted on craigslist and a few lost and found facebook pages about him.  My printer is broken and hand-made signs would have come apart with the rain today.

He is a really nice dog, didn't bother with the birds or the cats.  He just needs to be neutered.  From his teeth he looks pretty young, maybe a year or two old.

Freezer Flock

The meat birds were dispatched this weekend and are on their way to their new freezer homes.  They came out 4 lbs up to 5 lbs, pretty nice birds really.  I may do it again when things get settled.

The barred rock hen's feathers are coming back.  She still isn't laying eggs though so I will probably cull her once the other laying hens are big enough to socialize with the black hen.  I don't want to leave the black hen without another chicken.  Although she seems ok with hanging out with the turkeys.

Unfortunately I broke one of the laying hen chick's legs.  I was moving the egg wagon and she got caught under the back board.  I got it off of her but the damage was done.  Usually they walk away from the movement but she was just to dumb to get out of the way.  She isn't the first to get caught under it, but she is the first to break her leg.  So she gets two weeks in the house, kept in the cat carrier.  I splinted and taped up her leg.  It has been close to a week already and she is using it a little more to get around already.

And finally a cute picture of Spot with her dog Khain.