Smazy Days of the Blast Furnace

Its so wonderful to wake up in the morning, stretch, yawn, and then look out into the bright lovely new day. Sun is shining under bright blue skies and you can hear the chickens clucking to be let out. Birds are singing, and the tractor addicted neighbor is outside ripping something to pieces. Sounds nice right? Well forget it. This will be week three of smoke, heat, and the disturbing feeling of sunburned lungs for me. Outside the window next to me is a swirling mass of malignant noxious yellow grey smoke (Thanks to you 10,000 acre fire. I raise my inhaler to you), full of fine particles that would make even the most brave hearted flee the scene. There is no night breeze to cool things down. There is only 100 degree dry heat out there, and it was worse at work. 10 degrees hotter. Imagine cranking up a walk in oven to 300 degrees, leaving all those burnt left overs in there. Now walk in... It literally feels like a blast furnace and smells like a baking experiment gone horribly wrong. So, what you do in fact wake up to are the clouds of Venus, yellow and deadly, swirling the air. Birds choking instead of singing... and my tractor addicted neighbor is still out there ripping something to pieces. Absolutely no worries about his own health I suppose... Eh.

Since its freaking hot, and we have no air conditioning in the house, I've been cooking the dogs given that I can't let them outside in all the smoke for too long. Otherwise they come in coughing and choking just like the birds. To show them just how much I appreciate their dedicated drive to melt, I got them these weird little mats that supposedly give off the feeling of being cool. I may just shove them off those mats and use it myself tonight given my sleep deprived state and my total devotion to being greedy. I jest. Stop eyeballing my blog like that.

I wonder if those mats would work for chickens? Hmm, its a thought. We'll see how well they work.

Speaking of chickens, I finally have pictures of the feather balls. Specifically the chicks with all their feathers in, and looking mighty fine. Except for Super Peeper who appears to have acquired the ire of a fellow chick. Make a wild guess who is denuding said SP? That's right. The insane Cochin, who we call curly. For a while there we thought she was a frizzle because her feathers were curly/twisted. Curly follows SP around and plucks his tail feathers while he's not paying attention. Its like watching siblings. "Hey, pay attention to me. Me! Here! Stop looking for bugs damn it! Look at ME!" Suspicions run high as to whether or not this is the reason for SP's total and complete lack of spine. Hmmm. More things to ponder.

One last note of no particular interest, but my Dad found a little visitor in one of the plastic garbage cans we use to store the chicken feed. Cute as a button. .. To me at least. WARNING: If mice scare you until you are unable to do anything but shriek, drool, and mumble incoherently DO NOT SCROLL DOWN FURTHER. If you must scroll down, please do so quickly to avoid permanent damage to the psyche.

And now... a Deer Mouse for your viewing pleasure. ;)

Hope your lungs all have a better day than mine. :)

PS. The chicken is a Dark Brahma. LOVE the color pattern!

Drawing a Blank...

Have you ever been assigned to write a paper and sit for hours trying to figure out where to begin? For me diaries and journals are like that. This blog is something like a journal, or diary to me... something which I shunned pretty much all my life. Which means I am just not used to sitting down every day and trying to figure out what to say. Sharing my inner thoughts with even a book just isn't in my nature. So, when people ask me if I have a blog and I say yes, I sort of cringe, because I just don't update it often.

Which is why I'm writing an entry even though I am drawing a total blank. I supposed I could mumble about my incredibly mediocre day. Or how I suspect that I'm getting senile before my time. There's always the possibility of a rant about a subject I really don't care about, such as my hair going grey. But that just sounds like whining. I hate whining.

So, I guess I will say that my dog is doing well, the chickens are all still alive and kicking, and the 27+ year old cat is still attempting suicide by walking directly into your path. On the other hand she might not be able to see us. She's already deaf, and rather out to lunch in the mental faculty department. Its not all that far of a reach. The only reason she knows something is close to her is by the vibrations. People ask me why I haven't put her down, and the simple answer is that she still enjoys a good sun bath, still catches and eats birds, still swats you a good one if you ignore her for too long. I consider that good quality of life. Sure she looks like crap, but she's still doing pretty good.

Here I sit watching Johnny Quest, and before that I watched Thundar the Barbarian.. and before that I was watching Smallville episodes on DVD. You could say I've got peculiar tastes, and that's fine, because most of the world is going to agree with you. I know more about super heroes and cartoons than just about everyone I know... Some of us never grow out of it I guess. Its just annoying that no one I know shares the interest. Okay, let me revise that, no one I want to spend any time around shares the interest. For the most part that whole stereo-type of comic nut is unfortunately true. *sighs*

I think I've rambled about absolutely nothing long enough and should crawl into bed. Not exactly a big day tomorrow, but I'm falling asleep. Maybe tomorrow I will have something less mind numbing to talk about. Night all.

Hiatus

The statistics class was less forgiving that I had anticipated. Basically it sucked out part of my brain. Those portions of grey matter that I had accused of jumping ship, were actually lost in battle with this form of insidious math. Their little corpses are a continual issue as my normal thought processes attempt to fill in for those that are gone, and tripping over the casualties in due course. Eventually I trust I will have my functional brain back... I cross my fingers every night and hope I wake up normal. All in all it went better than I hoped. In other words I did not sink beneath the waves of numerical gibberish in a flaming wreck, but limped home with a solid 'C'. Currently I'm in dry dock while repairs are made. It was nice having a 4.0 for a while, but now that that's blown all to ribbons, I don't have to worry about it. Wooo Hooo!

What else have I been doing since March 1st? Well, basically work. Isn't that exciting? I did manage to cobble together a list of Anime for Assistant Director, because it is she who orders our DVDs. At some point I also wrote up a list of Sci-Fi movies and TV shows that would be a boon to the library system. That also went over fairly well, but I haven't seen any of the ones I suggested come through. Yet. I trust they will trickle in eventually. And.... wow, my life has been exceedingly uneventful. Which is a good thing. Eventful has almost always come with the unpleasant moniker of "MY GOD, THAT SUCKED!" and then continues on that particular path of listing madness until my mental inner ear adjusts for the distortion. Given my track record with this phenomenon, I no longer panic, just roll with it and get back up after its over, and keep walking.

A case in point. My second day back from a two week vacation (yes, I '*me*' took a vacation. Before you ask, no, I am not sick. I just wanted to visit a very good friend I hadn't seen in a while) started uneventfully (always a good sign), until I arrived at work... which was difficult in and of itself. Why? Well, there was this thick cloud of smoke obscuring a good portion of the town. Think pea soup... Burned pea soup. Visibility was not an option, so I guessed where to park for the most part. Fifteen seconds later I found I'd guessed correctly as the wind shifted, and the smoke went elsewhere. That was the good news. The bad news was that the wind was gusting up to 60mph in any given direction at any given time. While calling in to the main office to let them know that the 12 libraries they started out with that morning might have dwindled to 11 by closing time, I noted that I could see flames leaping merrily from behind nearby houses. My bosses were much more concerned than I was with this set of circumstances. They wanted to know if we'd been contacted by fire personal yet, which we hadn't. I had the impression that they thought I wanted to go home... In reality I was just calling them to make them aware of the situation, and was fully intending to open the branch. Which I did. We had a really busy day too... They called back later to see how things were going. They were fine. Fire was out... etc. This really didn't phase me all that much. Been through worse things I guess.

How are the animals? Pretty good. Those chicks I got in March? They're all grown up for the most part. As I suspected, "Super Peeper" is a rooster. For a while there I was convinced that they were ALL roosters... Ah, did I mention I ended up going back the next day and got three more chicks? Two I paid for, and they thru in a runt free.. mainly before they didn't think it'd live. IT LIVES! Granted she's not very big, but I still have hope she'll catch up. All in all, I ended up with two roosters and 5 hens. 3 Dark Brahmas, 3 Buff Brahmas and 1 Buff Cochin... and like all the Cochins I've met before, she's something of a wild hare. Pick her up, and she makes sounds like you're killing her, then lays there in your hands like she is in fact dead. Little Drama Queen.. eeesh. I suspect her of going for a chicken emmy.

My clock is telling me the time went by way faster than I thought it would, and I need to get some sleep. Midnight approaches, and I was falling asleep in my chair at around 9pm. Not a good sign, so I bid you all a good night. I'm also crossing my fingers that I actually get back to this blog before another 4 months whiz by on rocket powered rollar skates. Night.

Super Peeper

The week before last I stopped by the local feed store to ask if it was possible to order some Dark Brahma chicks, because they're not a usual request. The lady took my name and number and said she'd see about doing that. Now to be completely clear here, I only inquired as to availability on the chicks, not order them. Guess what. She ordered them. So, here I sit in the kitchen at the sudo-bar listening to the chicks I picked up today. Normally I would be having fun with this, but it was rushed. I hate rushed. Plus it took something like twenty minutes for two girls who worked there, two chicken aficionados and myself to figure out which ones were the Dark Brahmas. Once we had them singled out we weren't sure they were the right ones because they were mixed in with Cochins, Buff Brahmas and Patridge Brahmas.

They ALL LOOK THE SAME!!! This means that I brought home two chicks which we were reasonably sure are the correct ones... and another which looks like something else entirely... and one that we're reasonably sure is a Buff Brahma. The Buff was on purpose, because the 4th maybe-Brahma was.... extremely aggressive for a Brahma, let alone a chick. So I asked to switch it out. Of the two Dark 'for-sure' Brahmas, they're on the small side, and one of them stumbles a lot when it tries to walk, as well as displays saggy wings. NOT A GOOD SIGN! This chick might as well be waving red flags. If its still that messed up tomorrow morning, I'm taking it back and just getting something else.

Then there's the Buff Brahma. This chick will live out its foreseeable future with the monicur "Super Peeper". This chick has the lungs and vocal cords of an opera singer. I had to make one stop before heading home at the pet store to get vitamins for my dog. As I stepped out of the shop on my way to the car, I could hear Super Peeper from the doorway of the store. This means that this tiny chick has the ability to pierce the walls of a 1981 Oldsmobile tank, fling its voice across 50 to 60 yards of parking lot, and through two glass doors of a noisy pet shop, because I heard it well before I opened the doors to exit the premises. Currently Super Peeper is residing with its 3 new buddies in a make shift brooder, and I am praying it eventually falls asleep because if it doesn't I'm looking at a very long sleepless night. *mumble mumble mumble*

On a brighter note, the feed store had a ton of chickens of all sizes and breeds, so it was fun to see all the different fuzzies. I have to say that the Polish chicks were really cute with their little fuzzy pompom on their heads, representing the afro they will have later in life. The little BB Reds were also extremely cute. I will not be getting small breeds even though I like them, since they have a hard time with cold climate. Finding birds frozen to perches is just not an enjoyable experience. Ugh. I have nightmares. *shudder*

R. I. P.

Knowing the luck I normally have when I actually state my plans, and having 20/20 hindsight views, I can see now that saying I would spend time with my chickens over the weekend was foolish indeed. There is some truth to me having some time to spend with the chickens, but not in the way I would have wished. Sunday morning, the day I was planning on sitting outside for a while and feeding the silly birds, we had a visitor of the four legged variety. There is still some confusion as to whether it was a fox or a coyote (the neighbors say it was a fox, and what I saw looked like a coyote to me) that got into the yard and ended the lives of one unnamed Buff Orpington, and then later in the day... Brutus. My poor goofy rooster. I miss him and I am heartily tired of losing one person or pet after another. Needless to say what's left of the girls have been 'cooped' up for their own good. How often do YOU get to use a saying in its original context? I couldn't resist.

In the meantime, I am looking into getting some Dark Brahma chickens this year, and maybe few pairs of Pilgrim Geese, but I'm not sure about the geese yet. The webby foot creatures need more research before I go getting them. I'll put some pictures of the Dark Brahmas and the Pilgrim Geese. Dark Brahma chickens are just like the ones I have, except they have extensive penciling (see picture) and have almost no white on them at all. All the better for hiding from the big bad wolf's smaller sneakier cousins. The geese were something I wanted to get as an early warning alarm since we've had trouble with bears before and now the canids. These particular geese are one of the oldest breeds of geese in the states and originated here as an all around type of bird. The results were calm friendly birds, with quiet natures unless startled and the added bonus of auto-sexing. That means you can tell if they're boys or girls just by the color or color patterns. Males are white, or mostly white, while their female counterparts are grey with a little white here and there. I may or may not get them. We'll have to see.

Turning our attention to the work front, this has been an amazingly busy week! Tuesday was insane, but Wednesday really took the cake with a total of 23 people showing up for storytime. We had a blast. I'm not sure if this is going to become a regular event, or if this was a one time deal. If this becomes a regular step in their day, then I sure hope they give me some warning like they did this last time. Apparently a local preschool was doing some remodeling, and the power was being shut off for the day. Alice the Camel was a big hit, as was a book by Marc Brown called Pickle Things. They loved that too. I'll have to read that again, or find other books along those lines. It was all good... I hope. I didn't hear anyone complain about anything I did. The wait and see game again comes into play. My stomach is grumbling, so I'd better go eat something. Talk to you later. :)

Where Did I Leave My Waders....

It took longer than I thought to get back to my blog! I've been hip deep in Statistics for what seems like forever. In reality I've only got about 8 more weeks of the class. Color me shocked. Never has math or anything to do with numerical devices been a friend to me, and this is no exception. I find myself dredging up long forgotten habits learned in algebra class many moons ago. That I am remembering these things at all is a testament to the teachers from my last college (a huge thank you to them by the way, not that they're ever going to read this since they have no idea this exists) and their prowess at beating equations into my thick skull until I got it... and still remember it. Again... shocking! The first homework and test have passed me by and somehow I survived, although I am still awaiting replies from certain portions of my gray matter. I suspect those respective groups of jumping ship. The traitors.

On other fronts, work is good. I've been having fun with flannel boards during storytime and the kids love it. A real favorite seems to be Alice the Camel, in which a tale is told of a camel with three humps instead of one or two. Of course the validity of her actually belonging to the family Camelidae is called into question as she runs from town to town, and in each case, loses a hump along the way. Its great fun. My next project is going to be a flannel story for Russell the Sheep. Comical storyline with an equally amusing set of illustrations make for a fun flannel board. We'll see how that goes as it took me an extremely long time to get Alice up and running... no pun intended.

In a continuing project, the search for Anime to add to the system goes on, however this is drawing up a bit short since in order to suggest Anime, I have to watch it. Which means I have to buy it, watch it, and then suggest it, if it seems like something that would go over well. The same goes for the Manga list. There seems to be some sort of stall with quality Manga for some reason. I know what's going on with the Anime field, but am not sure if the same reasons pertain to Manga as well. Given the close linkage between the two fields, its entirely possible. Anyway, Anime is on the expensive side, so I tend to go straight for the boxed sets. I've also found a surprisingly large amount of series available for sale by episode on iTunes. Who knew?! Eventually I will get these lists done and hopefully they can be used as guides for what to get over the next few years. I cross my fingers in hopes that that will be the case.

Pet wise everyone is doing alright to my knowledge. The chickens are laying an astonishingly high number of eggs even though its snowing , and cold. On every site I've looked at, and every book I've looked in, they say that hens will slow down in that department during the winter. I guess someone forgot to tell my girls that. Either that or Brutus secretly stands over them all day cracking the whip. Seriously doubt that. He's a very kind, if klutzy rooster. We also gained a little friend. More specifically a little black and white friend with body odor issues. I've seen the little fellow as he waddles quickly along out buildings at night. Its a nervous little skunk for some reason.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. I didn't get to say it yesterday for reasons of being cranky and busy. Ah yes, and I'm still getting over a really nasty head cold, which is trying to survive by heading into my lungs. Its going to meet with some resistance since I am not terribly welcoming of broncitis. It can go get its sticky self all over someone else's lungs this year. So, anyway, hope everyone had a nice Valentine's day. It stopped snowing and its been nice, and hopefully tomorrow it will stay that way, so I can spend some time with my chickens. I've missed sitting with them and feeding them. Dad has been doing that while I've been at work and school. I'd better call it a night for now. Hopefully I'll get back here with some pictures at some point before the end of the month. Heh, we'll see how that goes. Bye for now! :)

Just Inside the New Year...

Alright. I'm back. I got a little side tracked with a couple of nasty storms, the death of another cat, and a chicken. Then there was the running around necessary to make sure all my grades were right, and logs of my internship was turned in on time. Oh yes, then there was the signing up for a class and coming to the conclusion that I really have no idea what to get a BA in. I'm very tempted to go for Anthropology since I really like the field. I.E. I enjoy learning about the field. Actually working in it is another story. After all of that I was exhausted, and just didn't have the energy to work on the blog... which is going to keep going although probably less frequently. Honestly I'm sort of shocked that I'm still working on it. But I've got a couple of people who like to check in and see what I've got going. And thank you to those who made comments. :)

So, first up, Happy New Year! Thank god '07 is behind me considering it was the year from hell. Thank you for days yet unused. To kick off the new year, mother nature gave us a doozy of a storm, and then watched in glee as most of us lost power, trees and other things. Quite frankly I don't blame her. I don't have pictures of the actual storm, because I was one of those fools who went to work instead of staying home where it was if not safe, at least warm and dry and the percentages on my death were greatly lowered. After the storm? Another storm came in and snowed on us. Now that I do have pictures of and I'll stick them on here in no particular order. Also have pictures of the sky the day before the storm. Not the best picture quality, but you can still see some of the cloud formation that looks like canyon walls along parts of the Grand Canyon. The camera doesn't do them justice.

Lastly we have chickens in the snow. My were they confused. They didn't get to go out on the storm day, but I let them out the next day. I've got pictures of them before the storm standing on our picnic table, and then after... standing in snow looking for interesting things to eat. I can say that nearly a week later with the sun out they're very happy, running up and down the driveway flapping their wings and clucking loudly. Freaks out Brutus something fierce when they do that. He always thinks there's something chasing them. Poor Brutus. Nicest, friendliest rooster I've ever met, with the added bonus of a goofy nature. If you pick him up and walk, he bobs his head as if he's the one walking. *laughs* Cracks me up every time.

So, enjoy the pictures and have a good day. I'll post again at some point. I'm aiming at twice a week, but we'll see what happens. Maybe more, maybe less... I'm taking a statistics class. We'll see if I survive it. Ugh. I'll write later. :)

PS. The orange colored hens are called Buff Orpingtons, and the black hen is an Austrolorpe.
I figured there might be some chicken buffs out there who'd like to know. The buffs are great for kids and anyone who wants a friendly group of little ladies. ;)