Carter's Birthday BLT's

Now that I've learned how to add pictures, whether they're perfect or not, a bunch of stuff I've wanted to put on here will work. My grandson watches a lot of food network with his mom & dad. I saw a crochet pattern for a sandwich, modified to suit myself. My son spent a week with them, says I need to make more. Carter evidently likes playing with the bacon, lettuce, tomato, and bread - but he wants them to be BIG sandwiches, with lots of bacon.

Firewood

There's a saying that wood is a fuel that warms you twice: once while you're cutting and splitting, the second time when you burn it. Since both families heat with wood, cutting and stacking wood is an ongoing task.

Speckeldy Hens

Found some info on omlet.com about Speckledy hens. They're the result of a Marans/Rhode Island Red cross. I will have to look up more info, but I seem to remember that the chicks are sex-linked; that is, different colors or patterns at hatching, so it's easy to tell pullets from roosters. Yeah, if you know what you're looking for. Obviously, I will have to do more research on this. I do have a few more weeks before eggs hatch. If they're different, I guess I will just figure out how to separate or band the chicks, or both. Speckeldy hens lay chestnut, speckled eggs. Evidently they're darker than Rhode Island Reds, lighter than Marans, and speckled rather than plain. It'll be 5-8 months before we'll see. I am rather reassured that omlet says they're prolific egg layers, so evidently I can expect that trait to follow through from the Rhode Island Reds. This picture is of a commercial white egg, light brown Rhode Island Red eggs, and Speckledy eggs.

Rhode Island Reds

The hens we have are Rhode Island Reds. We think we have 22. On an off day, we get 16-17 eggs. Most days, we get 19, sometimes more. They lay brown eggs. One of the things I've learned in reading about these chickens is that they have laying cycles and the color varies within that cycle. We have one broody hen that we decided to leave be, and another that wants to be, but I frustrated her yesterday.

My dad's mother raised hundreds of Rhode Island Reds. My dad says she got them from another old-time breeder. He doesn't know how she persuaded him to sell her some, but they were not what we know now as Rhode Island Reds. I think they must've looked like what are now called New Hampshire Reds. When she was done with them as laying hens, she would call a kosher butcher in California's Bay Area; he would bring his truck, delighted to be able to buy all the chickens she'd sell him.

Marans, Part 2

Cuckoo Marans lay dark Mahogany eggs. They're known in England, barely known here, although I've seen pictures of them in a Seattle newspaper blog. There are chicken breeders in the US who have 4 different varieties of the Marans.

Cuckoo Marans Rooster, part 1

My not exactly computer savvy self is trying to learn all by myself how to add pictures and play with fonts, etc. Easier said than done.

I didn't plan to have a rooster with the chickens, but since this is a joint venture, sometimes things happen that weren't what I had in mind. So far, that hasn't been a bad thing, just different that I'd thought. D was given a rooster. He looks very much like a Dominique, which is an old, rare breed. But he isn't a Dominicker. I honestly thought someone was making up "cuckamaran" at first, but it is a real breed of chicken. He's a Cuckoo Marans. From what I've read online so far, they were developed in Marans, France in the mid 1800's. Marans is about 10 miles northeast of the port of La Rochelle in Southwestern France. There are 4 varieties, all rare -from my viewpoint, all rather expensive. So even though I could find it desirable to have hens like him, that's not going to be an immediate thing.

D calls him Mister. He's a big bird, easily 18" tall, maybe 15 lbs. He's pretty mellow; very easy to handle, and gentle with the hens. I hadn't heard him crow before last Saturday, and that was a territorial thing in response to a small hawk. It's maybe 2/3 the size of a crow; I doubt it's much threat to the big chickens, but Mister has the right idea. He doesn't much like it when I do things like separate his hens to clip wings, or do his, but all he does is turn his back on me and grumble. Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a way to translate chicken into English or French - he's probably cussing under his breath, and I'd understand.

Jersey Wooly rabbit

I wasn't looking for a pet rabbit for myself, but we went to a rabbit show Saturday, and I came home with one. He's definitely not a meat rabbit. Breed standards would disqualify him for weighing over 3 pounds - way too much effort for a little snack! He's a ruby-eyed pointed Jersey Wooly, which means that he has a black nose, dark grey ears like a Siamese, and eyes that look like an albino. They were developed by crossing Angoras and Netherland Dwarf rabbits. His former owner is in poor health, couldn't keep up with the rabbits he had.

The cats are still evaluating this. He doesn't smell or look like a mouse. He does follow the etiquette of touching/smelling noses and licking front paws to wash his face. The youngest cat licks his face, and tried to get him by the scruff of the neck. I think he means to be playing; he likes to play with kittens about this size. Rabbits aren't playful the same way; Satsu'd get hurt. Tark cuddled up with the Siamese who's only a little darker than himself. She put up with it for a little while. Falcon just watches him. Cashmere, true to her nature, hisses and practices avoiding the thing. But she thinks Satsu, the lone male, who wants to play with the rabbit, is a 'thing', too.

I have never owned a 4-footed animal this small. He's 16 months old, so he's full grown. My only experience with things this small has been toy dogs, and I detest them. Since he's a pet, a name makes sense. Ben said something about naming this critter, which reminded me of an old PBS show called Krat's Kritters and a later spin-off in which the Krat brothers had a cartoon alter-ego named Tark. So his name is Tark. He's MUCH cuter than the cartoon kritter. I've probably spent 4 hours over the last 3 days clipping out mats, teasing out clumps, brushing, and brushing, and brushing. If necessary, I could have completely sheared him. Angora owners shear theirs. But I didn't want to do that in the middle of winter. I brought him home because I wasn't sure how much hair he'd have to lose; didn't want him to take a chill. Next step in grooming is a bath.

O-o-o-oh.... well, I knew he needed a bath, since his rear end was encrusted. Now I get to eliminate more bedraggled fuzz. How much of it I'll add to the pile he's sitting beside in the picture....I'll see.