This is Abbie the very next day after having her pups. She's taking a break for a few minutes but was right back to work in no time. She's a great pooch mommy.
Here's our gang of fangs. It would appear that the little guy in the back left is camera shy.
Wonder how long it will take to teach them to hunt or to herd?
Look at the fur face! It has a built-in bandit mask.
This is the cool chicken roost that our contractor, Rob Sanford, built for us. It's rarely without an occupant.
This was taken during "coop cleaning day". With all the roosts available, they wanted to take over my wheelbarrow.
Here you can see the rabbit hutch that we use for quarantine purposes. We've since removed it as it became a "fertilizer acquisition depot" and, therefore, way too much trouble to contend with.
This is a shot showing one of the other roosts that Rob built for us. There's another one like this but smaller inside the coop in the background.
There is much breed diversity in our bunch of hens. When you open a carton of eggs, it's like Easter because of the different colors!
Another shot of the roost. It's covered in feathers at night time.
Well! Squeeze my "Charmin" if it isn't
March already!! Feel old yet?
Our March blew in like a roaring koala
bear and the (super) El Niño, capable of monumental
rain and flooding, let loose of a few ounces of its precious precipitation on
our dear rancho. I'm not sure the gophers even noticed (but, this isn't an
election year for them so who cares what they think, eh?).
Never ones to
complain, we "Spring-villains" (near kin to the Porter-villains) are
thankful for each drop that falls. That's
because each splash received represents about half of last season's
total rainfall amount. We would "high-five" the clouds if we could
reach them.
"Stuck Duck
Pond" (the rather ineloquent-but-accurate sobriquet given our nearby sort-of-a-lake,
"Success Lake"), is now showing signs of normalcy. The snow runoff
along with the metering of the outflow has at least allowed the water level to
drown the spillway. Methinks the fishermen can now scoot across the lake
without dragging the bottom of their boats. The water level was so low
("How low was it, brother Ran?") that the bass were polishing each
other's scales do to overcrowding (baddah boom). Thaaaaat's pretty low.
Our beloved procreating post-partum princess pooch (alliteration is my friend) has turned out to be a terrific mother. She blessed us with seven "coolers" (a cross between a Coon Hound and an Australian Heeler) and has made sure that they are all fat and healthy and all black and white. With that kind of camouflage they would certainly blend in with a dirty snow bank somewhere. Abbie could hide them there and the Gypsies would never find them.
Talk about piles of smiles! These little cuties take
the cake! They just recently opened their eyes and ears so they can now see and
hear whoever is "oohing and awwwing" over them. Connie was oohing and
awwing over one while it was pee'ing over her. Looks like housebreaking will start
early around here. Connie is pretty good at such things. After all.....just
look at me! No spots on the carpet for me for at least 8 years!
Anyhoooooo.....all seriousness aside......three are spoken for so far and we
may keep one as a "Chicken Dog" to guard our hens. That's our reasoning
for now given the fact that Abbie has abdicated her position of said commission
and turned into a chicken chaser.
But, what can you expect of hunting dog? Silly us for confusing her with a guard dog. So, we'll keep the little yapper in and around them so they are fast friends instead of a quick lunch. I may appear that the shepherding instinct of the heeler will kick in and it'll be a great chicken sitter. That or a rather confused dog will be tracking itself down all of the time so it can herd itself. Cross breading is an interesting thing.
It is advisable to
check with her if you feel a need to examine one of her pups as she is quite
adamant that you do so (supposing that you don't like doggy fangs clamped onto
your forearm for a couple of hours while you digest her message). Once
permission is granted, you still get the evil eye and must mind your P's and
Q's.
Speaking of chickens......I truly didn't know that chickens were cross bred with pigs. It becomes very evident when you see just how much these feathery piglets eat....every single day! They are walking, squawking, eating machines!! If we weren't getting the produce tailings from a local supermarket, our eggs would have to sell for 9 dollars per dozen just to break even on the food bill! You should see them empty the "chicken scratch" feeder! 25lbs....shot in a day! That's on top of the damage they do to the "lay pellets" and warming up on the produce! Sheeese!
On the other hand, that's probably why we get so many eggs per day. They are good at it. But, the eggs are an adjunct to their vocation which is to devour anything and everything in their path. They undoubtedly spring from the original chicken, the "Hoover Bird", noted for its voracious appetite and large eggs.
The Ol' Ran the Rancher and his side-cook, Connie the Canner, are hale and hardy (though a bit tasked for energy at times). Effort is taken to insure we have our daily dose of Veeta-Vita-Vegemine (assuming that we don't ...forget to take it. *SIGH*). It's good stuff. Our next door neighbor, Lucy Ricardo, turned us on to it.
We had also thought
that perhaps the old "three squares a day" eating regimen we learned
about in the 1950's would help. But, we're ending up with "two
rounds" instead. Being a life-ling "meat and potatoes" man, I
had to re-examine the matter and may become a "beet and tomatoes" guy
for awhile. Being referred to as “His Rotundity”
absolutely does not have a ring to it
(although "Randy the Roundal" does and may work at a side show. I
could use the extra income, don'tcha know).
We actually do get
a lot done considering that our work schedule occasionally includes a nice nap
(naps are our friends). I don't even mind hard work and lifting heavy loads but
truly do mind hauling heavy things somewhere to be parked. If you see my good friend,
Maynard G. Krebbs, around, please advise him that I could use a bit of help
with the... work.
The other day, I took my new Echo 266 weedeater out for a stroll after riding my lawn tractor for awhile. The first thought that entered into the Ol' Rancher's mind was, " Man! Wouldn't it be nice if it had a seat like the tractor?!". You know you're tired when........
There was quite a bit of whacking left to be done but Ol' Ran shut down the Echo and took a nap. He had completely run out of spizzerinctum and needed to reload. A ton was needed but, sadly, only a few pounds showed up. The Echo took the rest of the day off. Connie had also ran of gas so she joined me. Usually, the "Rancho Twins" work really hard so that we can have a day off so that we have the time to get some work done around here. We deserved a bit of repose, I suppose.
Thankfully, today was a "rainy day" schedule so that means that it was a "computer day" for the Computer Dude. Other than heading out to the cluck stop to feed "the girls", fill the egg basket, and a trip to the compost pile, the Dude played with broken computers until late.
That, of course, didn't account for the bulletins for church that had to be completed. Thankfully, it doesn't take all that long since "Side-Cook Connie" is also the head proofreader and folder. And, the four big stout printers make it much much easier than before when we had to fight with the printers to force them to obey (still not sure why they were so recalcitrant but they are gonzo now).
You would think that we have enough to do to keep our "Kumhos" rolling. But, spring cleaning (that would be last spring's cleaning) is upon us. Our winter cleaning isn't even done! In fact, we didn't even have a winter, for corn flakes!! My vines are supposed to have some sleep time but they barely got a nap out of the deal! The compost pile needs to be turned; the burn pile needs to be burned; trees need to be trimmed; wind-torn carport tarps need to be hemmed; weeds need to be eaten; rugs need to be beaten; gophers need to be dead; bees need to be fed; the list goes on and on....and on. Too many nap-free days is not good for ranchers they say.
When I was just a young boy, standing to my pappy's
knee.....my pappy said, "Son....all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".
I'm not sure why I didn't heed his wisdom but so far, I don't seem to be too
much the worse off.
Of course, Connie's wisdom also keeps me sharp and
from getting too dull around here. She's always trying to make me a swell'er
feller. For instance, she'll suggest, "We need to blow this pop stand and
go have some fun somewhere". Or, "It's prime time for nap time".
I mean....how can anyone disagree with that?! That also means that we're
overdue for a trip to "yonder". Not sure where that is but it's a
good bet that there'll be some fish and chips waiting for us when we get there.
That's the latest news from Rancho Relaxo. Don't
touch that monitor; things could get interesting.
