I've Been Off Adventuring!!

I've Been Off Adventuring!!

Even though I've been slacking off in the blogging department, life has not been lax nor laid back here on the ranch.

First, I must confess that even though farm life can be overwhelming, that's not the whole reason behind my long departure from the internet-realm. *ahem* Recently, I watched the movie "The Last of The Mohicans", and absolutely adored it...even though I may or may not have cried through the majority of the movie. *attempts to wipe away tears* Usually when I find a new movie or some such thing I get a little bit obsessed with it and must research it thoroughly, buy every single book associated with it, and so forth. That is exactly what happened in this situation, so don't blame my for my long absence, blame "The Last of The Mohican's" book that I've been reading every spare moment..since it arrived in the mail. So whilst I've been away, I have been having some (heartbreaking) adventures with Hawkeye and his Mohican companions, running through the forest in hot pursuit of the Huron Indians. I've been somewhat restless for days, the intensity of the story and the bond I have for some of the characters made my heart beat all the faster whenever we found ourselves in a dangerous situation. I finished the lovely volume today, and admit that I had tears flowing quite freely when I read the last few stanzas.  So, there you have it, my beloved readers, the truth issues forth and you now know the whole of it!

Now, on to some farm happenings....

Our dear little Coconut is expecting (as in having babies!!!) around the end of this month (August). She was bred to a registered Yorkie male, so her puppies will be "Shorkies". I can already see this mayhemous scene playing out...there will be black and white puppies scampering all over the house and Gypsy will be in hysterics because there will be half a dozen Coconuts in the house, and one is enough to drive her batty as it is! However, I cannot WAIT to have sweet little puppies running around in the house and driving us all bonkers. It's been such a long time since I've been around puppies. And even though it's likely we won't be able to keep any of the precious babies (*insert sob*) I know for positive sure that I will fall deeply in-love with each of them. Please be praying that Coconut delivers them all in good health, and that there will be no difficulties that transact along the way, and she will be not worse for wear. As of right now, the mother-to-be has gained some decent weight and sleeps even more than she used to...if that's even fathomable! 

Pip, sadly, has lost his left eye. We're unsure what occurred, but we suspect he jabbed it on something or perhaps it just got infected and we didn't catch it in time. Carolina, my dear sister, is now the owner of two one-eyed-pets. I sure hope this doesn't keep up!!

It's shocking behavior on my part that I haven't related this on my blog yet, but the turkeys have  l o n g  since left my room and now reside in a chainlink pen built by my dear cousin and I, when the latter was here for her annual visit. Thanks sweetie for the help! Couldn't have done it without ya! The turkeys are enjoying the open space, but I still need to furnish them with a coop, currently they are sleeping in a much-to-small-wire cage. Poor things!

Izzie, Teddy, and Stockton's nameless-chicken had been living with them this entire time, but I soon removed them from the turkey pen, as Izzie had developed a swelled eye by being in contact with the turkey's droppings. Long story short, but I've dealt with this sinus infection before and it's terrible and in the past years has claimed the lives of many beloved birds. I brought Izzie and her buddies up to the yard and doctored her using herbs and all natural medicine. She improved, but she still has a little swelling on one eye. Otherwise, she seems to be fine.

We butchered almost all of the Meaties last weekend. Post on that coming soon. I say almost all because I spared one sweet hen, who I've dubbed Emma, who is a complete angel. She is so sweet! One evening I was outside and all the Meaties were swarming around me and Emma came up and stood on my barefeet and looked up at me and gave me the sweetest puppy-eyes you ever did see. She now resides with Izzie and her buds. :)

Sadly, I have some deaths to report. Dear sweet Alora, Carolina's bunny passed away about a week and a half ago. We believe he had worms, he was really skinny and no matter how much we fed him, he never got any fatter. Does anybody know of an all natural dewormer, for small rodents?

Winston Churchill, my top Sussex rooster who I've had for many years has also left us. He and his son William The Conqueror had been fighting all week long and I couldn't seem to make them stop, William obviously lived up to his name and killed his father one afternoon.

Two of Little Man's (the Serama roo) girls, Honey and Truffles both passed away. From old age and stress I think. It was during some cold rainy weather we'd been having. Their old bones and the extreme weather was just too much for them.

Last, but certainly not least, my darling Daffy died. It was also during the cold rainy weather we'd had, that and we think he also had worms. He is greatly missed, although I think most of all by Taffy, who called for him for a solid week after his dead. It was absolutely heart-breaking!

Rest in peace, sweet animals!

 On a happier note, about two or three weeks after Daffy's sudden death, the Call ducks started laying again after taking a long break. I set some of their eggs in the incubator, in hopes that maybe..on a 100 to 1% chance..that some of them might still be sired by Daffy. Well four weeks later I was blessed with 2 white Call ducklings! We named them Daffy the 2nd, and Daisy, after another deceased white Call duck who was siblings with Daffy and Taffy. I also had several other beautifully colored Call ducklings hatch out. I will be keeping a few of them and rehoming the rest. Anybody need a Call duckling?

As well as the sweet Call ducklings, I had a single Serama chick hatch out! I'm so excited! I'd been trying for months to hatch some of their eggs out, but they would always develop to about day 18 and then die in the egg.

I'm in the process of culling my critters way down. I'm only going to keep my "pet feathered-dinosaurs", who will also provide us with a few eggs. 

I dearly want to pursue my writing. I take great enjoyment in scribbling down anything and everything that pops into my head. Most of the things I think up are more fantasy based, but I'm thinking about writing a book on all the many farm adventures I've had over the years. But we shall see! First I need my workload to decrease! ;)

Some of the most exciting news!! Oh, I'm so excited!! I've only waited...three years for the day! I'm very proud to announce that Prince and his girls are parents! They started laying around the end of March, I gathered no more than a dozen eggs from them, all of which I set. About three or four of those were fertile, two of them died at about week #2, one hatched this week, and one more is in the incubator still, but I need to candle it and see if it's still thriving or not. 

I've named the sweet peachick, Precious. Post coming up on her soon! I promise!

The Parrotlets are doing grand! They've become quite friendly, with the help of lots of handling, treats, and so forth.

Belle, is still giving about 3/4s a gallon to a gallon of milk daily. I've thought about including Bessie in the milking routine, but I'm not sure if my hands can handle another cow...what am I saying...??..I'm tough..just a bit too lazy to do it, as we don't need that much milk for just our family. No idea if either of the girlies are pregnant or not? I hope so, but I have no clue. For awhile Belle was so fat that she barely fit in the cattle chute, and I was positive that she was due anytime..but it turns out that she is just a pig-hog when it comes to food and was gorging herself. *sigh* 

I can't believe it! My incubator has less than a dozen eggs in it currently! I'm very excited, because that means no more little peeps for awhile. I know that sounds awful, but if you kept having batches of fluffies hatch out that you had to keep in your room for a period of time, and who proceeded to stink up your room so badly that you dreaded to even go in your room, well you would think differently on the subject, methinks! I must confess, I am ready for a long break in incubating eggs. I'm having serious thoughts about not even turning it on next spring. Lots and lots of work is involved in getting those baby chicks here, don't get me wrong, it's totally worth it to see new babies come into the earth..but it's also very time and money consuming.

Besides my incubators, who just recently were hatching out chicks right and left, my Muscovy girls have been not been idle this spring and presented me with about 20 ducklings between the three of them. Yep...and then two of my Rouen females (who recently went to a new home) sat on a nest of about 8 eggs, and several of those babies hatched out. *sigh* Baby ducklings were everywhere! I had pen after pen, full to the brim with mommas and babies. Thankfully, a sweet lady came by today and releaved me of about 7 of them, as well as a troublesome rooster and some guinea keets. I don't miss them. ;) I feel like such a terrible mother saying that, but oh well. 

The garden is producing well, thanks to all the lovely rain the LORD sent us! We've had fresh tomatoes, yellow squash out the wazoo, green beans, cucumbers, bell peppers, and I know not what. Such a blessing. :)

Well, I've ran out of things to catch you up on, although I feel like I'm leaving some important stuff out. I have several elaborate posts that I plan on doing, but besides those my plan is to try (no promises) and post daily on the random happenings of that day.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

Blessings - 

~ Aspen

p.s. You just got blessed twice! What a blessed person you are!