To Dads

Don't call him father, unless in jest.  Call him Dad or Pop or even Daddo.  Something that automatically assigns affection.  Call him the man who fixes things.  Call him the man who plays catch with you.  Call him the man who taught you how to change your car's oil.  Just call him with love.

To the Dad who changed diapers without complaint, walked a colicky baby that would only liked being held facing forward, and when defecated on, simply shrugged and stepped into the shower with the baby in arms.

To the Dad who put a crib in the garage to be near his little girl.  Who when asked what the letters on the tailgate of the truck spelled, didn't correct his daughter when she said, "truck" and not "ford".

To the Dad who didn't lose his patience when trying to teach her how to drive and stick, and knew when it was time to let someone else teach her.

And to the Dad who loves his daughter like she was the little girl in pigtails still.

Love you Dad!

bunnies

The bunnies are growing bigger and fatter and a few are opening their eyes today.  The runt is starting to get bigger too so I think he will survive.  Maybe I will sell him for a pet to one of the people from Rob's work since they asked about one.

Working on the new chicken tractors, and I will hopefully have them done soon.

I cleaned out the brooder in the garage, now I just need to add the fresh chipped wood.

Been thinking about writing again, fixing the first school story, and it always makes me think of Ter.  He helped me come up with an idea to make the main character more interesting and I have yet to write it.  I know I will eventually, but even 2 months after his death I find myself hesitating.

pee and the hand that feeds

So everyday I check on the baby rabbits, sometimes several times a day, because I am thrilled to have them.  Today Mama rabbit didn't want to get out of the way of the door of her cage and made her displeasure known, all over my hand with her urine.
Ok...
After wiping off my hand in the dewy grass I gathered a peace offering for the new mother.  She seemed satisfied with the paltry offering of weeds and grasses and chewed on them while I pulled the nest box to the opening of her cage.

Inside all six babies are fat and squirming with abuse from the removal of their mother's plucked fur.  They appear to be well fed and happy in the nest until I disturb them.  Also they are getting louder with their protests.  In the few days they have been alive they have gone from small grunts to higher pitched grunts that are louder.  I think these will be great, strong babies.

And yes I washed my hands before I blogged.

RIP White Hen

I went to check on the white hen this morning where she was brooding the two eggs and there was nothing left of her but a bunch of feathers.  I'm not sure what got her.  There wasn't much of a trail.  I just know no to let the chickens and turkeys stay outside of where the dogs are anymore.

Because she liked that spot in the front yard she was away from the rooster and the scent of the dogs.  I can only hope the rest of them will be safe in the backyard.

Also this morning I had to chase down the male rabbit.  Somehow he had gotten out.  So I put him in one of the full metal cages until I figure out how to fix up the larger tractor cage so that he can't get out.  Or I might put the young rabbits in it once they are weaned.

so much, so little.

So much can happen in so little time.  It was a good thing I had fixed the goat shelter yesterday cause there was a big storm this morning.  I woke at 6am to find the power was out and the goat shelter had blown over and the goats trying to find a place to hide from the driving rain.  In the time it took me to go out and right the shelter and come back in, I was completely drenched.  Like I had jumped into a swimming pool drenched.  I dripped my way to the bathroom and shed the soaking clothes and then went about getting dressed.


In the backyard an oak split off half of its top and it landed across the clothes line, thankfully nothing landed on the turkey or chicken shelters.

Even the chicken tractor was pushed back several feet from the wind.  The fence is where the edge of the tractor was yesterday.

The rain was slacking off and so I went out to look around and called my parents to let them know we were all ok.  And then I saw my female rabbit loose in the yard.  Thankfully I have good dogs that herded her back behind a piece of plywood and I got her caught (on the second try as she left the cage the first time before I could latch it.

Then the neighbor's dog came over and so I caught her and the boy came and got her fairly quickly.  Good deed for the day done.

I got to check the baby bunnies and she had six.  They look great.  I am very pleased.

So other than the storm things are going great.  It is 12 pm now and the power came back on.

destructive goats

So this morning I discovered the goats had completely dismantled their shelter.  Not entirely sure how they pulled it all down (not a single piece was upright).  But I had to reassemble it today for them.

While mowing the grass I ran over an egg one of the hens decided to lay in the middle of the yard

And when I put a second egg in with the white hen for her to hatch she got up and left to go dust bathe.

Ugh.

In other news I think my new female rabbit might actually kindle.  I put in the nest box with her.  I hope something on this farm reproduces.

Broodiness

So they white hen is in a brood faze, unfortunately I only had one egg available to put under her since she stopped laying.  The other chickens' combs are pink and not red so I think they are going through their molt and not laying as much.  The one egg I saw today had fallen from the nest box and was broken.  I wish I had been more aware and gathered more of the white hens eggs and didn't put them in the fridge so she could try and hatch them.  As it is I am not sure the one egg I have her is fertile.  I will try and collect more in the next few days to give her but I don't want to spread out their hatching time too much.

The chickens and turkeys have slacked off on eating the fallen mulberries but I am not sure if that is a blessing or a curse.  Their poop turns black because of the berries and it is everywhere.  I need to take the time to collect some berries and attempt making jelly.