For The Birds

I haven't posted any garden or bird pictures in a while. There won't be any garden pictures this year. Our garden has not done well. About all we are getting are small, knotty tomatoes. They taste good but it takes two for a single sandwich. I guess all the rain in May had something to do with it.

The birds, however, are thriving. I haven't lost a single one this year to sickness or predator. Since late May we have been allowing them to free range during the day. They go back in the chicken/duck/goose house when the sun goes down. I love to sit and watch them when I have time. They are highly amusing and add bright spots of color to the yard.

The big red hens and the barred rock hen will be laying any day now. I can't wait for some farm fresh eggs. The geese are awesome. They are equivalent to two-legged cows and graze from sun up to sun down. The goose in the first picture is very sweet-natured. She will get very close to you and settle down and sleep. She occasionally gets close enough to be petted and picked up.

Here are some recent pictures.

Updates

I've taken a small break from blogging while I get adjusted to school and to spend time with my family while my son is home for the summer. It sure is just patently wonderful to have my whole crew assembled under one roof for a while. Yesterday afternoon we cut a huge watermelon and sat outside and ate nearly the entire thing. I can't remember when I have enjoyed something so simple so much.

School is going well. Math class still makes me feel as though I am mentally challenged but English class is awesome. We do a lot of writing and, as you all know, I love to write. The instructor is also very good, which makes things run smoothly. That is the class I have this morning. I am so glad I don't have math class first thing Monday morning. That is no way to start off a week.

The dogs are doing well. No, let me rephrase that. Saul, my number one admirer and best buddy is awesome as always. However, I am almost to the point where I hate Sadie. She has to be the worst dog ever and I've considered getting rid of her. I can't though. Saul loves her. I am really surprised by how things have turned out with her. When I got her I observed her very closely for temperament. I did not want an aggressive partner for Saul. He was plenty aggressive enough....or so I thought at the time. Sadie's parents were on premises and both were very sweet dogs. Neither of them barked at me or showed any signs of aggression whatsoever. I watched and played with all four puppies and all seemed well balanced. I chose Sadie because her markings, although not blue, were a closer match to Saul's than her siblings and because she was large for a seven week old puppy. Apparently I missed something in my observations because what I ended up with in Sadie is an extremely dominant, aggressive female.

She won't let Saul eat or drink water when she is out in the house. If he gets near her during feeding time, she attacks. I have to feed them separately. She is not food aggressive to humans....just Saul. When she is in her crate in the house and he gets near it she lunges and snaps. When they are outside in the fence together Sadie rides Saul like she is the male. I wish Saul would turn around and smack the bitch or bite her head or something...but he just takes it. When I go to get them out of the pen she starts a huge barking, growling, snarling, biting commotion with Saul. And he takes it. For a while I thought it was just her being a puppy and that he was only tolerating it because of that. But, now I am convinced that she will be the dominant one in their relationship and it truly hurts me to see my precious Saul submit in such a fashion. Ever since I got him nearly three years ago I thought he was aggressive and self-confident. What I see now is that he is an aggressive/submissive dog. So, I've got a real situation on my hands with Sadie and Saul. I've got to break Sadie from all her antics. I am the leader of this pack and eventually she will submit to me and learn that she is the Omega dog. I hope that happens soon.

The birds and goats are doing fabulous. Ervine has not gotten even an inch taller since we got him. At his tallest point which is his rear end he is less than a foot tall. He is the sweetest critter I've ever come across. He loves nothing more than to sit in a lap and nibble at your chin, investigate your pockets and receive affection. Fig, his female is a little more standoffish. What's hysterical is that she is a little taller than Ervine and he can't yet mate with her. He doesn't let that discourage him though.

My chickens are growing and I expect the hens to start laying in a few weeks. I am looking forward to farm fresh eggs.

The geese are meaner than hell....just as geese should be. I am convinced that they are direct descendants of the T-Rex or the raptor. They terrorize my chickens. I will separate them as soon as they are big enough to fend off the cats. Right now they are not quite big enough to do that, although they have grown a tremendous amount in three weeks. Once large enough to prevent being eaten by a cat they will patrol the yard and I'd bet money that even Sadie won't be bad enough to fool with a grown one...much less four, because when a flock of geese get on your ass it's like being in Jurassic Park. They lower their heads, honk and hiss (not kidding), stick out their necks, beat you with their huge wings and pinch plugs with their serrated bills. They are simply put...NO JOKE. And quite hysterical when they get after somebody. Some people I know are more scared of geese than they are of big dogs like Saul and Sadie. All one has to do to stop a goose is to pick it up and hold it's neck. However, most folks would never dream of picking up a 35 pound feathered dinosaur....they generally just run like hell in the opposite direction. Man I love geese! I'll try and post some pictures later today when I get back from school.

That's about all I have this morning.

What is everyone else doing?

Geese!

I finally found some geese the other day and am now the proud owner of four White Embden's. They currently look like furry lemons with webbed feet! CUTE!

I used to own an African Grey gander named Rowdy who was an absolute terror! I absolutely loved him and so did the rest of the family. He would follow us around the yard, bite us on the ass when we turned our back to him and honk with every word we said when trying to have a conversation. He was obnoxious, rude, mean, hateful and he by god ran this yard, which was full of chickens, goats and a really big Great Pyrenees dog named Goliath. Rowdy had a distinctive honk when someone would pull up in the yard. He also chased meter readers unmercifully and anyone else he didn't recognize. To this day people who haven't visited in a while will honk the horn because they think we still have him. They won't get out til we come out.

Rowdy's greatest moment came when the cops arrested me for writing a letter to the editor calling for legalization of marijuana. See, geese leave large, green splats of shit all over the yard and on the day the cops kicked in my door looking for weed Rowdy had left a nice package in the front walk way. As I was being led away in hand cuffs four suited detectives were down on their hands and knees examining, with great intensity, the large, green splat of goose shit. According to the false statement they had made up and attributed to my then 5 year-old daughter, I had thrown some weed out the back door that morning. They were apparently considering confiscating some goose shit for forensic analysis. I wish they had. That would have made the whole ordeal even more hysterical than it wound up being.

Rowdy was a free range goose, never penned up and I had him for about four years. Nothing bothered him because he was a mean bastard and it really does hurt when they pinch you. One weekend me and the family took off for Atlanta to one of my speaking gigs. When we returned home he was gone. Not a feather anywhere. Just simply gone. The whole family was brokenhearted. I've missed him every day since then and had thought about getting more but never did.

Then I got a call a few days ago that a lady had some for sale. I went to check them out and came home with four instead of two. They look like door steps in size. There is one big one who is going to run things. The other three follow that one's lead. One is teeny tiny. They all live in the pen with the chickens and ducks and the minute I put them in there they took over....even though they are much smaller in size than the rest of my birds. The little bitty one toddled off away from the others a couple days ago and the chickens got after it. Soon the whole heard of geese were surrounding the chickens and pinching them to get their little one back. It was hilarious. Now the chickens and ducks RUN from the geese.

I am very glad to have the marvelous barnyard fowl back in my yard. If any of you ever pull up out here after they are grown this is what you are most likely to encounter, so blow the horn first.