The Final Countdown

My feelings are hurt.  Was it something I said?  Did I do something wrong?  I lost a follower over the weekend.  I had 62 on Friday, and today I am at 61 followers.  Okay, I know I haven't been posting as frequently as I should.  And certainly not as frequently as a good reader would like.  And I apologize for that.  I don't always post about chickens, but my life isn't just chickens.  I love my chickens.  I enjoy raising them.  They are a lot of fun.  In fact, two of my hens hatched out their littles broods yesterday.  And lately, I haven't had any good pics.  I, too, apologize for that.  I've been without camera for a few weeks.  I should have that remedied in another week or two.  With all that being said, I can see how my blog may have become boring.  I am sorry, and I hope you will come back.

Now, I have questions about being followed and following protocall.  Sixty-one blogs is a lot to keep up with.  I do try, however hard it may be.  No, I don't just read the chicken blogs.  Okay, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have favs to read, but I still enjoy all of the blogs I read.  Really, truly, and honestly, I do.  I don't just read other chicken blogs.  I read plant blogs, life blogs, garden blogs, local blogs, national blogs, international blogs.  In fact, I have tried to follow every blog that follows me.  It seems like the right thing to do.  Wouldn't it be rude otherwise?  Are you required to follow everyone who follows you?  But I have seen blogs with 200, 300, or even over 1,000 followers!  Not that I expect to have that many followers, but if I did, there's no way I could keep up with all of them.  I did make a list over at dobbies.com .  I am on the list of More Chicken Keeping Blogs We Love.  Some of my followers and ones I follow are on that list, too!  I think that is sooo cool!  Congrats to you if you made the list!  But I am sorry if I cause any of you to lose interest, get bored, or just tired of my ramblings.  I hope that over the next weeks or so that may change.

Work has kept me busy, as usual.  Sure there are good days and bad days.  Anyone who never has a bad day at work is disillusioned.  Even people who land dream jobs, like pro athletes, singing and movie stars, and CEO's still have bad days at work.  You think the CEO of BP isn't having any bad days lately?  But overall, I do enjoy my job.  And I am aspiring to upper management.  Yeah, I have goals.  I'd be a fool not to have them.  But starting today, I got my first raise in three years.  Between getting bought out and facing a bad economy we just got passed by.  No, it's not like my salary doubled or anything.  But these days you take what you can get!  I'm sure most of you know what I mean!

The weather has been AWFUL!!  I do love my summertime.  Our temps have been in the upper 90's F. (98F today) And that I can deal with....at least until I get older.  But we haven't gotten any rain.  And we really need it bad.  My squash is all gone.  I'm trying to save my butternut squash, but it's an up hill battle.  So far so good with my watermelons and tomatoes.  The corn is curled and the canteloupes and cucumbers and wilted.  I try to keep water on the maters and melons, hoping I can at least have a melon or two to take to the beach next week.  My Impatiens, Zinnias, and Morning Glories are well watered, but still wilt in the day with it being so hot.  Just send me some rain.  Poor Farmer.  He's hurt his back and is laid out flat.  His grandson and wife have been working the field and taking all the veggies to market.  But Dustin says they will probably have to till in most of what's left.  RAIN!!!!

I will post later this week on the chickens!  Have a great day everyone!  I am on the final countdown till vacation! 

This and That and a GIVEAWAY

What a week last week was!  A co-worker's daughter was in a bad car accident a week ago yesterday.  She was driving when she ran off the road.  She over-corrected and rolled the Suburban 4 or 5 times.  She was the only one badly injured.  She's in a neck brace for at least 8 weeks and cannot take it off, even to shower.  She shattered a vertebrae in her neck and was inches from paralysis.  She went home from the hospital on Friday.  She was qutie lucky, to say the least.  But that put her dad out of work for all of last week.  So I was doing my best to handle my job and his.  He is our inside salesman, so I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with customers and outside salesmen.  But we got through it.  It's always rough at work when anyone is out, as we are at our limit with personnel.

I entered a giveaway this morning! Pam and Farm Man over at A Southern Farm are doing another nest box giveaway.  I didn't enter the last couple cause I thought others deserved to get it.  But I am entering this time.  I may not win, but it's still fun, nonetheless.  Maybe you are interested?!  Go check it out!
http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com/2010/06/henpals-3-hole-chicken-nesting-box.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifeOnASouthernFarm+%28Life+on+a+Southern+Farm%29

 I spent the weekend doing things around the house.  We had a couple more chicks hatch this weekend.  There were three actually, but  I think the other hens got a hold of one.  It was missing the next morning, and I found just a small tuft of downy feathers.  I gathered the two remaining ones and put them in a brooder box.  We've still got four more hens sitting on eggs.  They should all start hatching soon, I think.  I didn't really keep up when they started sitting.  And sometimes it's hard to tell when they don't sit constantly.  I had a hen hatch some out at nearly four weeks once cause she wouldn't stay on the eggs.  I almost threw them out!

My Garden is looking okay.  My corn is growing cobs now.  I have watermelons I'm hoping will be ready for my vacation in two weeks.  My crookneck squash is all dying, though.  Same thing happened last year.  These stuid little beetles eat holes in the base of the stalk, climb in, and eat my plants from the inside out!  Makes me so mad I could spit! 

Our baby pigeon is out and about now.  He's still a bit ugly with his oversized beak, but I'm sure he will grow into it.  The white pair keep laying eggs, but none ever hatch.  She sits for maybe two weeks, then abandons the egg.  I put a pigeon egg under a chicken yesterday, but I'm not sure how that will work.  She may crush the poor thing. 

Sorry I haven't posted much lately.  It just seems I always have more to do than I really have time for!  I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks.  My family is driving up from Beeville, Texas.  They have rented a large house out at Rodanthe (Yes, the same place as the movie Nights in Rodanthe) for a week.  So I will probably be out there with them.  They rented the house a couple of years ago, but I didn't go then.  I couldn't get off work.  I hear it has a private in-ground pool, and is only a block from the beach!  It will just be nice to see them all again.

Pigeons? Or Rats With Wings?

I like our pigeons.  We've lost more than we've kept.  Quite a few flew off and never came back.  I truly believe that they went right back to the man we bought them from.  Of course, we asked.  He said he'd keep an eye out for them, but we heard nothing back.  Now, I'm convinced he's gotten my money and the birds.  I only paid $5 USD a piece for them.  Some I got for free.  So I really shouldn't complain too much.  But we were down to five birds.  We had two females and three males.  After being cooped up all winter and most of the spring, Mike thought it was time to let them fly.  I knew that extra male wouldn't return.  He would scrap with the other males on occasion, though nothing serious.  He was more of a picked-on loner, really.  I can't say I blame him for not coming back.  On my drives to and from work I often see the power lines by the overpasses holding the weight of 20, 30, or more pigeons.  There are even a few that hang around my work.  I've I were a lone bachelor like him, I'd have done the same thing.  Why hang around, when you can find the life you really want is out there waiting for you. 

That left us with two pairs;  one dark pair and one light pair.  I haven't really named them, though I'm sure they will not end up on a dinner plate.  I have flirted with a few names, but I haven't really stuck with anything.  Somehow, I don't think they really care.  As long as I keep giving them cracked grains and pellets. 

I guess you are wondering if I've had any babies?  Well, we have.  The light pair started laying first.

This is the white pair.  That's the female on the perch.  The male is behind her in the nest box.  He's more gray with brown bars on his wings.  She's layed eggs three times.  The first time she layed three.  One got broken, one was pea sized, and the other she sat on, but nothing came of it.  I thought it was still a bit early in the year, but then I thought of the pigeons in New York.  The second set she sat on for a bit, but those two didn't hatch either.  She is currently sitting on her third set of two eggs.  I'm hoping it works out for her, as they are both dilligent parents.  They take turns sitting on the eggs.  You can tell from here, as the male is sitting on the eggs. 

Then I have the dark pair.  She sat on two eggs, and hatched out two babies.  But one of them died.  We had a few cool nights with rain early in the spring.  I think the poor thing got too cold. 

This is moma sitting on her baby.  She puffed all up when I got too close.  The baby  was the ugliest little baby bird I had ever seen!  At one point I thought something was wrong with it.  It's neck was all puffed out.  But it turned out his moma was just feeding him quite well.  (I'm assuming it's a him.  I can't tell them apart except for their cooing).  Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the baby.  I just never got any.  He's most grown up now, except for a few scraggly feathers on top of his heard.  She and the male, both look pretty much the same, also take turns with the eggs. 

They are in a new coop then last year.  This one is sturdier.  Some of you may remember, last year I lost a couple of pigeons to an owl attack.  It was a very large owl with a four feet wing span.  We built a stronger coop with a better area for nesting.  Just before we did we had a Cooper's Hawk try to attack, but it was just about the time I was leaving for work.  A shot from the .22 rifle sent him flying, and we haven't seen him since.  The owl will never be returning. 

Here's the five before our lone ranger left.  That's him in the front.

What Do You Say?

My birthday came and went.  And another week is gone.  Nothing special is happening.  My dad had an appointment at the VA clinic this morning about his leg.  Mike was supposed to watch my nephews and nieces, as they were staying with Grandma and Buddy.  I haven't talked to any of them yet.  I'm sure the kids went straight for the pool when they got there.  William, our inside sales guy, and a friend, helped me process vendor invoices yesterday.  We processed over $46,000.00 total.  I'm hoping that's a good sign that we're having a good fiscal month. 

The garden is coming along.  I've already been picking squash, bush green beans, and cucumbers.  I've got a few watermelons that are about baseball sized right now.  Some of my corn is just starting to tassel out.  I'm hoping to get some canteloupes, and I've got butternut squash growing this year.  I've never grown that before.  My okra all died, except 3 plants, and they are still only about 6 inches tall.  My sweet potatoes are vining like crazy, but I've never grown them before, either. 

I'v visited a few other blogs, and it seems all are busy.  Some are going away, some need to go away (as in a trip, I mean).  Some are like me, with bloggers block. What do you say, when you don't know what to say? 

Mike's picking my up in a couple of hours, and we're going to my parent's again for the weekend.  It seems to be the gathering spot for family.  So, with that being said, I'll leave you with a good ENDING for the week while I spend the weekend searching for new blog ideas.  Have a good weekend!!

Back to the Mines

It was a lovely four-day weekend, though.  Mike picked me up from work on Friday, and had my nephew and niece with him.  I got home, did my afternoon chores...you know, feeding the chickens, gathering veggies....all the regular stuff.  The kids were in the pool, and I joined them late evening.  Saturday, and old friend came over to visit.  My nephew and niece were there, so she called her daughter to bring over her grandson to play with them in the pool.  The neighbor's son came over as well.  Then another friend showed up as we getting all the grilling going.  Mike had a couple of pork shoulders on the grill over oak wood since 8 a.m. that morning.  So he brought his daughter over.  Before long, it was a bit of a party.  Sunday, another friend, who has a house in Chocowinity, on the Pamlico River invited us to join him.  So we packed up a lunch of sandwiches and such and went fishing, swimming, and boating on the river.  Monday I did odd things around the house, worked in the garden, played with the chickens.  Our lady friend came over again, and we grilled again.  Then, my acutal birthday, Tuesday, I spent a good part of the day chopping weeds in the garden.  Oh, I also cleaned the big fish tank.  The smaller one only had one fish in it, so I put it in a large jar with some plants rooting in it.  I'm gonna clean the smaller one, and maybe put salt water fish in it.  Or a lizard or spider or something.  Mike and I had some smoked sausages for dinner and watch X-Men Origins-Wolverine.  Just a relaxing evening at home.  It was a busy weekend.  Oh, I do have some pics of the river we went to.  Mike took them a couple of weeks ago when he was there to help with some work.

Joel and Cheyanne in the pool

My other niece is at my parent's house (Grandma and Buddy) and called today to tell me happy birthday.  Mom got on the phone and said they did think about me, but just didn't get around to calling.  But they want to take Mike and I out to dinner Friday evening.  All in all it was a nice birthday weekend.  I need a few more of those....long weekends, not birthdays.  I so hate getting older.  But for now, it's back to work.

Birthday Break

I'll be on the road this afternoon.  I've gotta go to our Edenton store, pick up a truck and bring it back for servicing. Then I'll be away for a few days.  My birthday is Tuesday, so I will be missing a few days from work....well deserved I might say, too.  Wednesday's pick is of a sting ray that Mike and my nephew caught at my parent's house last weekend.  Yes, that's what killed Steve Irwin, but it was much larger and still in the water.  She had a baby come out when we pulled it out of the water.  The baby was set free.  The moma was cut up and used from blue crab bait in the crab pots.  Hope you all have a pleasant weekend.  See you next week!

Sky Watch Friday...Notice the Osprey (Sea Hawk nest on the channel marker!)

Wordless Wednesday

Back for an Award

I've had to be away for a while.  I didn't go anywhere.  I just wasn't able to be here.  Well, I did go visit my parents' for Memorial Day weekend.  There was fishing and barbecueing and swimming...all that good stuff.  My birthday is next Tuesday, and I'm trying to get some of them to come to my house for my birthday.  My brother couldn't believe I was planning my own birthday party.  Of course, I asked who else was gonna do it?  No volunteers.  So I told everyone to bring their own meat for the grill.  I'll set up a volley ball net.  I have a pool.  We might play some horse shoes.  And we will grill out!  I'm just not sure if I should buy my birthday cake, or make it myself.  I haven't been using my camera lately.  So I have no new pics to share.  But I did get an award while I was away. My dear pole dancing friend Penny over at The Hen House gave me the versatile blog award.  Thank you so much Penny!

That means I have to share about myself...again!  Hmmm....let me think. 

*I love to sing, but I sound like a dying mule.

*My biggest regret in life is not going to med school.  I was a biology/pre-med major when I first started college.

*I have two brothers, and all three of us served in the military, but are no longer in.  Me and one brother went to Iraq.  My other brother went to Afghanistan.

*I'm growing tobacco in my garden by accident.  A friend brought over a tray of seedlings he thought was collards, so I planted them.  He found them on the side of the road.  I soon found out that it was really toabacco. 

*My driver license has an address I haven't lived at in four years.

*I recently got two fortunes from Chinese fortune cookies.  One said, "God will give you everything you want."  The other said, "Your income will increase."  Neither one has happened.

Sometimes I pass these awards on, but I really hate to do that.  How can I pick a few out of the blogs I read?  I read them cause I enjoy them!  So I am sending this award to all of you who read my blog and have not received it yet.  Have a great day, and see ya around!