Wednesday, July 31, 2013

To all you machinists .....

out there ... this is a great gift to make!

                                                                           
Now how cool is THAT!!!!  :0)




Today's funny :0)




                                                             Dogs dragging each other around (via http://aka.ms/pullin)       







Update ...



Ethel made it through the night. When I opened the ramp door at 6:15 she came out and just stood over her feed dish. She didn't eat anything though. Looks like her butt got messy again. I'll take her out of the pen soon, check her crop and clean her up. She'll spend the rest of the day on the deck where I can keep a close eye on her.  If she did poop in the coop during the night, I'll have to disinfect again and put in fresh hay. All the other chickens are fine and frisky.  Poor Ethel ....

                                 



     
                   

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

It Ain't Always Fun and Games....

 Warning: Some nasty, poopy pictures...

Yesterday morning (Monday) when I let the chickens out, one was missing. Evil Ethel was still in the coop. I shooed her out into the pen. I noticed that during the day she was just not her nasty old self. She was being very quiet. In the evening when I let them run around in the yard for an hour or so, she didn't join the rest but went back into the coop. OK, she's having an off day I thought.

This morning when I let them out she was missing again. Opened the door to the coop and she was just sitting there. Ding-ding-ding! Stupid, stupid me - she's in trouble! Run back to the house and get a box and fill it with hay. Up on the deck we go and as I pick her up, notice that her crop is like a water filled balloon. Crop bound! It can be fatal if the junk can't  pass through or be thrown up.
                                                         
Poor Ethel - see  how swollen her crop is?
          
I fill a small cup with water add add olive oil to it. Grab a towel and an eyedropper. Ethel is wrapped in the towel so she can't try to get away. I turn her on her side and massage the crop to see if anything comes up. Nope. I spread her beak open and give her a couple good squirts of the water and olive oil mix and work it into the crop. She starts to throw up all over me, but this is good because what ever was stuck in there is starting to come out. The smell is awful.
                                                            
Had two piles of this - yuck!

 I let her drink just some plain water and massage the crop again. Nothing comes out. Another dose of the oil and water, some more massage and she upchucks again. The crop bulge is getting smaller. While I am holding and petting her, I check her over and notice her vent is clogged with a crust of yellow/brown gunk. I slowly clean it away and out shoots a liquid of yellow/brown gunk. That smelled horrible, too. Poor thing was plugged up at both ends!

At least that end is is finally working
                                                               
 Another dose of water/oil is given again. She throws up but passes out and goes limp. I thought she died. She really IS my favorite and I just can't let that happen, so I blow into her beak and she comes to. (It is NOT disgusting. I want to save her). She takes a sip of water and falls asleep while I am holding her. I place her in the box and she stays there for about l5 minutes.
When she wakes up and gets out and starts walking, she lets go of another runny mess that includes the oil. This means her plumbing is working again! Right now she is resting on the deck,  pecking at some yogurt and drinking plain water. Will update later. Gotta go and disinfect the deck. Again.
                                                                 

Today's funny :0)


                                                                                      

 


          









Trouble in Paradise



Ethel, Lucy and Oscar just HATE the newborn chicks! Nina spent the night defending her babies. She cannot stay in the coop another day with them.

                                               TekSupply 110493 Chick-n-hutch
                                               
 So (yup, you guessed it) I have to drag that chick hutch back into the pen. I should have put wheels on that darn thing.

Nina will have to stay in there with the chicks for a while until I can figure out what to do. I'll cover the chick hutch at night with a small blanket - that should keep them nice and cozy.





Monday, July 29, 2013

New Biker Alert.....

                                                  
   
....    Borepatch:  This is a no-no.....



                                             Sitting on bike
                                                                                     

Today's funny :0)


                                                                        

                
(For Irish)   :0)



                                                                                      














                                                                    

Yikes !!!

Let's give a big, warm welcome to ..............  Goldie!


And yes, just in case you were wondering - it IS a rooster. (but adorable)


                                                                  




Here's the rundown:

1 rooster from Evil Ethel's egg
2 roosters from Nina's eggs
1 rooster from Lucy's egg

1 very unhappy Hubby

Me thinks I is in deep do-do..... (sigh)



Sunday, July 28, 2013

Today's funny :0)




                                                                  

Pouring rain outside.......

.....housework is done.... I'm bored......very bored......

                                                                         

A dud...

Only two eggs left. Nina has so far hatched three healthy, adorable fluff balls! As I reach under her  for a look-see at the remaining eggs, one cracks in my hand.  Expletive, expletive!!!!



                                               



Doesn't matter - it was empty; no baby chick. The other egg is fine - she (oh please, let it be a hen!) has made a tiny hole in the shell - it won't be long!





Saturday, July 27, 2013

Perseid Fireballs

Perseid Fireballs


Pin it

July 26, 2013:  In astronomy, there's nothing quite like a bright meteor streaking across the glittering canopy of a moonless night sky.  The unexpected flash of light adds a dash of magic to an ordinary walk under the stars.
New research by NASA has just identified the most magical nights of all.
"We have found that one meteor shower produces more fireballs than any other," explains Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.  "It's the Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on August 12th and 13th."


A new ScienceCast video previews the 2013 Perseid meteor shower. Play it
Using a network of meteor cameras distributed across the southern USA, Cooke's team has been tracking fireball activity since 2008, and they have built up a database of hundreds of events to analyze. The data point to the Perseids as the 'fireball champion' of annual meteor showers.
A fireball is a very bright meteor, at least as bright as the planets Jupiter or Venus.  They can be seen on any given night as random meteoroids strike Earth's upper atmosphere. One fireball every few hours is not unusual.  Fireballs become more numerous, however, when Earth is passing through the debris stream of a comet.  That’s what will happen this August.

The Perseid meteor shower comes from Comet Swift-Tuttle.  Every year in early- to mid-August, Earth passes through a cloud of dust sputtered off the comet as it approaches the sun.  Perseid meteoroids hitting our atmosphere at 132,000 mph produce an annual light show that is a favorite of many backyard sky watchers.

Cooke thinks the Perseids are rich in fireballs because of the size of the parent comet.
"Comet Swift-Tuttle has a huge nucleus--about 26 km in diameter," comments Cooke. "Most other comets are much smaller, with nuclei only a few kilometers across. As a result, Comet Swift-Tuttle produces a large number of meteoroids, many of which are large enough to produce fireballs."
Since 2008, the Perseids have produced more fireballs than any other annual meteor shower. The Geminids are a close second, but they are not as bright as the Perseids. "The average peak magnitude for a Perseid observed by our cameras is -2.7; for the Geminids, it is -2," explains Bill Cooke. "So on average, Geminid fireballs are about a magnitude fainter than those in the Perseids."
Cooke recommends looking on the nights of August 12th and 13th between the hours of 10:30 PM to 4:30 AM local time. Before midnight the meteor rate will start out low, then increase as the night wears on, peaking before sunrise when the constellation Perseus is high in the sky.

For every fireball that streaks out of Perseus, there will be dozens more ordinary meteors.
"Get away from city lights," advises Cooke.  "While fireballs can be seen from urban areas, the much greater number of faint Perseids is visible only from the countryside."
In total, the Perseid meteor rate from dark-sky sites could top 100 per hour.

That’s a lot of magic. Enjoy the show.
Credits:
Author:Dr. Tony PhillipsProduction editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
More information:
NASA's All Sky Fireball Network

Today's funny :0)




                                                       

I copied this article from Coffee with the Hermit's blog today:

 I think this is animal abuse - it is done for only one reason and that is to save money.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is Hermit Jim's article:


That's One UGLY Chicken...!

For some unknown reason, man can't stop messing with Mother Nature! I really think she doesn't like it much!

I find myself waiting for the day Nature decides to haul off and kick our butts! I know that it ain't going to be pretty, folks!

Featherless Chicken And Bird-Flu Resistant Chicken



What you are looking at is man’s cruel joke on nature. In the name of economy and KFC-loving humans, scientists in Israel have created a prototype of a breed of featherless chickens that can save time on plucking, are more environmentally friendly, and in general significantly reduce the cost of raising them. The scientists claimed that featherless chickens are extremely safe because they are created by breeding a regular broiler chicken with a Naked Neck.

Despite the number of benefits featherless chickens will provide, there are some serious drawbacks to consider. Mother Nature wouldn’t give chickens feathers if she thought they were useless. The feathers on the chicken are there to protect chickens from parasites, harsh weather conditions, and overzealous cocks that can hurt the hen’s skin when mating.

In case you haven't been over to Listverse.com yet, you should hop on over and check out some other ways we are messing with Mother Nature!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I have a box of Raspberry filled Bismarks I'll bring out.

Number 3 ...

Here is Nina with chick # 3 -  She is the Mom for this one too!




It turned out to be a rooster.

Now I have a total of FOUR roosters (and only THREE hens).


Two more eggs to go..........

Friday, July 26, 2013

Friday Night Steam !!!!


Grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy this one - it's almost 30 minutes long, but you'll learn a lot of very interesting facts!

Sorry someone removed the video





Told 'ya it was a good one!

Today's funny :0)

 Ah .... nothing deters true love!




                                           Climb for love                           

Another one.....

The second baby chick!  This time Nina is the proud mom!

                                                                        

ANOTHER rooster - but soooo cute and he looked just like Oscar! Now I have three 'boys'!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Computer humor....

                                                             
                                                           

Tech Support:"What kind of computer do you have"? 

 Customer: A White One. 

******
Tech Support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on the left side of the screen. 
 Customer:  Your left or my left?
******
Customer:  Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print.  Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it.
******
Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am? 
 Customer:  A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me @ 7-11.
******
Customer:  I can't get on the internet. 
Tech Support:  Are you sure you used the right password?
 Customer:  Yes, I'm sure.  I saw my colleague do it. 
Tech Support:  Can you tell me what the password was? 
 Customer:  Five dots.

Today's funny :0)





                                                            
                                      
                                                                   



Introducing.........

.... drum roll, please.......... Charlie!


                                                                 
Isn't he just adorable???

He hatched right in my hand and what a thrill it was! Judging from the size of the egg, Evil Ethel is his mom.

Nina was very upset so I had to tuck him under her to quiet her down.

Four more to go!





Wednesday, July 24, 2013

I bet you really didn't want to know......


Why your body jerks before you fall asleep

       (Scheesh - and I always thought I was running in the Olympics) :0)  


Why your body jerks before you fall asleep
(Copyright: Science Photo Library)
If you have ever wondered why people’s arms and legs twitch suddenly as they are drifting off to sleep, our resident psychologist Tom Stafford has the answer.


As we give up our bodies to sleep, sudden twitches escape our brains, causing our arms and legs to jerk. Some people are startled by them, others are embarrassed. Me, I am fascinated by these twitches, known as hypnic jerks. Nobody knows for sure what causes them, but to me they represent the side effects of a hidden battle for control in the brain that happens each night on the cusp between wakefulness and dreams.
Normally we are paralysed while we sleep. Even during the most vivid dreams our muscles stay relaxed and still, showing little sign of our internal excitement. Events in the outside world usually get ignored: not that I’d recommend doing this but experiments have shown that even if you sleep with your eyes taped open and someone flashes a light at you it is unlikely that it will affect your dreams.
But the door between the dreamer and the outside world is not completely closed. Two kinds of movements escape the dreaming brain, and they each have a different story to tell.
Brain battle
The most common movements we make while asleep are rapid eye-movements. When we dream, our eyes move according to what we are dreaming about. If, for example, we dream we are watching a game of tennis our eyes will move from left to right with each volley. These movements generated in the dream world escape from normal sleep paralysis and leak into the real world. Seeing a sleeping persons' eyes move is the strongest sign that they are dreaming.
Hypnic jerks aren't like this. They are most common in children, when our dreams are most simple and they do not reflect what is happening in the dream world - if you dream of riding a bike you do not move your legs in circles. Instead, hypnic jerks seem to be a sign that the motor system can still exert some control over the body as sleep paralysis begins to take over. Rather than having a single “sleep-wake” switch in the brain for controlling our sleep (i.e. ON at night, OFF during the day), we have two opposing systems balanced against each other that go through a daily dance, where each has to wrest control from the other.
Deep in the brain, below the cortex (the most evolved part of the human brain) lies one of them: a network of nerve cells called the reticular activating system. This is nestled among the parts of the brain that govern basic physiological processes, such as breathing. When the reticular activating system is in full force we feel alert and restless - that is, we are awake.
Opposing this system is the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus: 'ventrolateral' means it is on the underside and towards the edge in the brain, 'preoptic' means it is just before the point where the nerves from the eyes cross. We call it the VLPO. The VLPO drives sleepiness, and its location near the optic nerve is presumably so that it can collect information about the beginning and end of daylight hours, and so influence our sleep cycles.
As the mind gives in to its normal task of interpreting the external world, and starts to generate its own entertainment, the struggle between the reticular activating system and VLPO tilts in favour of the latter. Sleep paralysis sets in. What happens next is not fully clear, but it seems that part of the story is that the struggle for control of the motor system is not quite over yet. Few battles are won completely in a single moment. As sleep paralysis sets in remaining daytime energy kindles and bursts out in seemingly random movements. In other words, hypnic jerks are the last gasps of normal daytime motor control.
Some people report that hypnic jerks happen as they dream they are falling or tripping up. This is an example of the rare phenomenon known as dream incorporation, where something external, such as an alarm clock, is built into your dreams. When this does happen, it illustrates our mind's amazing capacity to generate plausible stories. In dreams, the planning and foresight areas of the brain are suppressed, allowing the mind to react creatively to wherever it wanders - much like a jazz improviser responds to fellow musicians to inspire what they play.
As hypnic jerks escape during the struggle between wake and sleep, the mind is undergoing its own transition. In the waking world we must make sense of external events. In dreams the mind tries to make sense of its own activity, resulting in dreams. Whilst a veil is drawn over most of the external world as we fall asleep, hypnic jerks are obviously close enough to home - being movements of our own bodies - to attract the attention of sleeping consciousness. Along with the hallucinated night-time world they get incorporated into our dreams.
So there is a pleasing symmetry between the two kinds of movements we make when asleep. Rapid eye movements are the traces of dreams that can be seen in the waking world. Hypnic jerks seem to be the traces of waking life that intrude on the dream world.

Just received an e-mail

on this procedure. It could save the life of someone you love. Please pass it along.


Today's funny :0)







                                                 Poultry Slam

Poor wittle Nina.....

She must hear her babies peeping!

She bites me really hard when I pick her up and squawks all the way to the pen. You would think I was getting her ready for the stew pot!

Out of the five left, I can only hear peeping from four. Maybe that one is just a little more quiet than the others?

                                               



 This is just too much excitement for me. I let Nina back in the coop and try to keep the others from bothering her.

We wait......                          

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I want one....

...... or two!


                                                                            

Today's funny :0)

                                                   

                                                        No, this is NOT me. Honest...


                           

What IS that noise?

I heard it! I heard it!  Yippie - faint peeps coming from three eggs!!!!

When I lifted Nina up to put her in the pen to eat, (she bit me) I picked up the eggs and they were
saying: "Grandma!" Yes they were - honest!

                                                 
                                                           
                                       


I am so excited I call hubby and the neighbors to come over and listen. All this work has been worth it. I'm gonna have new fluff balls! I'm gonna have new fluff balls!



I just LOVE all my chickens...even the Evil One!



Monday, July 22, 2013

Remember using.........

straight pens?



These are just a few of the pens that I still use:


                                                                   



Sadly, the only place children will see them in the future is if they visit a museum.

Today's funny :0)


                                                                    

   Summertime fun!!!

                            
                                                                                 Slip'n'slide alley oop trick shot

Now you know.......


                                                         

......... where supermarket eggs come from:



                                                                      
                                                                           

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Cool.....




                                                         



Set upon the hills near the village Laxey rests a giant. Lady Isabella named after former Lieutenant Governor Hope's wife is also know as the Laxey Wheel. Built in 1854 by Robert Casement, a Laxey native and talented engineer. The Laxey Wheel remains the largest working waterwheel in the world. The wheel has a diameter of 72ft and a circumference of 227ft. It was used to pump 250 gallons of water a minute from the Laxey mines some 200 yards away and 1500ft below ground. The mines employed over 600 miners at its peak producing lead, copper, silver and zinc till the mines closed in 1929. In 1965 the government bought the wheel and site. Restoration occurred and in 1989 it was put under the control of Manx National Heritage. Tourists had long come to see the wheel, even when the mines were still in use and they continue to come to this day.









Today's funny :0)

                                                          

                     
                                                                         



Day 18 ....



All is well in Coopville. Cowboy Oscar is ALWAYS busy with Ethel and Lucy and they have no time to bother Mama.
                                                                        
Even Nina lets me lift her off the nest and place her in the pen to eat. She didn't even bite me this time.

While she is eating, I lift each egg to my ear but still don't hear any little peeps yet. Now I am wondering if they are fertile at all. The broken one wasn't.

                                                            
                                                              
 There should be at least ONE chick ready to meet this glorious world!  




                                                  

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Where were you......

                 .... on July 20th, 1969?                                                              




Sorry -someone removed the picture
                                                             prgrsvimg/th?id=H.4597119327865991&w=207&h=207&c=8&pid=3.1&qlt=90&rm=2



Remember how proud we were to be an American?                                                           

This really DOES work....

Two essentials for your B.O.B.  (just make sure you clear an area first - make a circle with rocks to contain the fire)


Today's funny :0)

Don't know why,  but these little critters fascinate me! Maybe it's their eyes?

                                                                   


                                                        

While surfing the web.......

I found this video of a fun treat for your chickens. It's a head of cabbage on a string just hanging down into the pen. I had heard of doing this but this is the first time I've seen a video.
                                           
                                                                                  


They really seem to like this! The next time I go to the store I'll get a couple of small ones for them to play with!



Friday, July 19, 2013

Wish I had one.....


                                        

Today's funny :0)


                                                                         

 

                              

Uh-oh....

Going out to the coop, I hear a horrible racket. I run as fast as these short legs can get me there.

I open the nest box and pick up Nina. One egg is broken. It stinks. Wheewwww!

                                                                        prgrsvimg/th?id=H.5003242816012983&w=103&h=103&c=8&pid=3.1&qlt=90&rm=2

Just crushed shells and a stinky yolk. There is no baby chick.

 A dud.

I don't know if Lucy, Ethel and Oscar were fighting with Nina or they were being nosey and broke the egg or if Nina did it herself.

I put Nina in the pen to eat. The hatch door is closed so she can't get in while I clean the nest box, being so, so careful not to break the remaining eggs.  When I open the door, she runs in and makes the nest the way she wants it.

At least the broken egg wasn't fertile. I'll know in a few days if the rest are.


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Thursday's Ear-worm

This is one of my favorites.................................(sigh)


                                                                    

Today's funny :0)


Counting the days...

The days pass and the waiting seems almost unbearable. Nina is content. Lucy, Ethel and Oscar are in their own little world, too. In a few days there will be weak little peeps coming from the eggs. I wonder if all six are going to hatch.


   
                                                    



I also wonder how the others are going to treat the baby chicks. Will Evil Ethel and Lucy attack them? Will I have to drag that darn chick hutch back in the pen?  What will Oscar do? What will I do?

                                            

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Stone monsters

Sorry - someone removed the pictures

Imagine one on your roof - Pretty cool!

  
                
Chrysler Building, NYC
                                                                 
260 W 73rd St, NYC

Helsinki Owl
Helsinki, Finland
crouching green gargoyle
The United Kingdom
And of course, Notre Dame



Gargoyles are traditionally thought to be created during the medieval period, but examples have been found in ancient civilizations as well. Gargoyles were placed on the roofs of Egyptian temples where their mouths served as a spout for water. Similar pieces were also seen on Greek temples, though the figures were often carved into the shape of lions and other ferocious animals.
The name gargoyle is often attributed to St. Romanus, or Romain. According to legend, he saved his country from a monster by the name of Goji, sometimes called Gargouille. Supposedly the monster was so scary looking that it frightened off evil spirits. This led to some calling the monster a protector and placing similar carved pieces on churches and other important buildings.
Throughout history gargoyles have been created in a number of different images and figures. Some images have even included people in the figures, such as a monk. They occasionally continued to serve as water spouts and rain spouts, but were often more ornamental, meaning they didn’t provide a function. As these spouts became less popular, so too did the use of gargoyles.
Starting in the 19th century, gargoyles became more of a decoration than anything else. Some of the more famous gargoyles from history are those used on Notre Dame de Paris. Even in the United States, gargoyles were used on more modern buildings as a form of decoration, such as the stainless steel versions used on the Chrysler Building in New York City. The Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C. also used gargoyles. The popularity of the Gothic Revival movement in the United States helped encourage the use of gargoyles, and can be found at Princeton University, University of Chicago and Duke University.
                                                 .  

It's hot out there!


Today's funny :0)

Worst cat EVER!!!

                                                         
                                                   http://legacy-cdn.smosh.com/smosh-pit/092010/worst-cat-ever.gif

Heat wave!

The weather here is horrible - hot and humid. The chickens are really feeling under the weather, so I asked Hubby to get a few bucket loads of our crummy clay soil to put in the pen and the run.
                                                                              


Hubby with his favorite toy and yup, that's my big clothesline!


This is Evil Ethel - look at that beady eye!  Lucy is in the back.
                       
A nice big pile of dirt in the run. Laverne up front and Shirley in the back. More about them later

 

The clay holds so much water that they have little swimming pools to play in!



Please be sure your flock has a way to cool down. Even leaving them a bucket of ice cubes to scratch around in will help.

And make sure you change their water often during the day.

Keep cool out there!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Today's funny (# 2) :0)

These guys are just timeless......
(speakers on)


                                                                             
                         

Today's funny :0)


In thirty years, this is how YOU will be dancing to the "oldies".........



               In 50 Years This is How Old People Will All Dance

Just another day.....

Nothing new going on. Nina is still sitting on her six eggs. She gets very annoyed when Evil One's and Lucy's  eggs are removed.

 Did you know chickens can give you a 'dirty' look?
                                                                     
                                                               
                                                
                                                                 
                                                    

Waiting to see if any will hatch is the boring part of all this. The neighbors come over to check out the mom-to-be. Even Hubby seems a little bit interested.

Only Nina seems content.                                           

Monday, July 15, 2013

One heck of a cool boid......


Crax daubentoni

Yellow-knobbed Curassow

  • Order: Galliformes
  • Family: Cracidae

Like other Crax, the male Yellow-knobbed Curassow’s plumage is predominantly black, with a white ventral region and a broad tip to the tail, while the female differs solely in lacking the yellow cere of the male, and in having a barred breast and upper belly. The crest feathers curl forward over the bill. The species frequents lowland deciduous and evergreen forest, especially in gallery woodland, and has been recorded at elevations up to 1500 m, although it is usually found at much lower altitudes. The Yellow-knobbed Curassow is found only in northern Venezuela and in northeast Colombia, where its populations are in serious decline through hunting and agricultural development and expansion. Losses in Venezuela, which formerly supported the vast majority of the species’ overall population, have been especially severe.

                                                       

Today's funny :0)