Monday, May 27, 2019

No More Turkeys


In my efforts to downsize and do better at the things that I do I decided to give my turkeys - the adults and babies - away to a young man whom I know to be very good with animals.  The turkey pen had become a muddy mess and I thought hard about the time and effort it would take me to get it into a nice living environment and decided I didn't want to put in the time.  

The turkeys were cool as could be and I'll miss listening to their gobbling and watching them strut.  But it's time.  

I have a dear family, horses, beekeeping, an enormous vegetable garden and yard, fruit trees, chickens, swimming pool, cats, dogs, maple syrup production, community involvement, and running a house to keep me very busy.    

The husband and I have become empty nesters and would also like the opportunity to do a bit more traveling! 



Hence the decision to downsize one more thing. 









Tuesday, May 21, 2019

This And That


Lots of odds and ends to talk about.

I've been working with Lochlin (Loch) with desensitization training and part of that is taking him for walks.  We were going through a forest and suddenly his head went up and he snorted.  I never realized how much this log looks like it has mean eyes.  



We looked at it and walked gradually closer until he realized it was nothing scary - just a log.  But it sure does look kind of like a scary monster eyeballing you. 

My turkey hen has been laying eggs and I've been gathering them.  I gathered six eggs before one of the other turkeys decided to bust the rest.  Very frustrating.  Out of the six, I was able to hatch two little ones.  I didn't expect any because there had been a problem with the heat source to the incubator.  It was a surprise when one of the eggs started cheeping.  Here is a picture of turkey chick number two hatching.  I apologize in advance that you have to turn your head sideways.  The tricky part is raising these little (I hope) girls to adulthood.  Turkey chicks can be very delicate.   

 

We have now added our second Viszla to our family.  Our adult (almost two-year-old) is named LadyBird and our second girl is named Anna Belle.  She's as sweet and mischievous as can be.  I've heard Viszlas called "Velcro dogs" because they always want to be with you and that is definitely true!





We've gone through horse shedding season.  Bandit is a furball any time of year.  But at the end of the season, one could stuff a mattress with the amount of hair that comes from him. 




Maple season is over now and garden work and mowing has begun.  Sometimes I feel like my nose is just barely above the water.

I was looking at my description on the right of the blog page and realized that it's a bit obsolete.  My children have grown up and are both members of the U.S. Air Force - stationed in Washington state and Germany.  I'm so very proud of them.  

Go Air Force!