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. ;)

Post Class Jitters...

Granted I lied a little. My internship doesn't end until this Friday, but my other classes are done, and I'm already signed up for a class in the spring. The least favorite classes are yet to come. Speech has never been a favorite, but that's one I will have to take, and a bunch of English courses if I decide to do a BA in English. Although I'm not entirely sure I want to do that. I'm also looking at a BA in Liberal Arts, which is generally taken for teachers and librarians. Who knows. This will take some looking into I suspect, and there is still time as I need to take pre-reqs for any college I want to get into ... assuming that is that they'll have me. I'm starting to wonder if I didn't miss out in waiting this long before going after a BA and a Masters.

Somewhere I missed out on the college experience. Being able to just concentrate on the classes and not worry about anything else would've been nice. Looking back on that area of time when that could've happened though, I wasn't ready for that. Now though, I think I would be. At the root of this is the fact that I'm slow to do anything. Everyone else went racing through this period in their life already and I'm just now thinking about it. Heh. ;) Typical me. I like to think all these things through before I do something. Maybe its too late to do it now. I'm already buried in a job and other responsibilities. Not that I couldn't just walk away from it all. I could, but I don't want to.

Here it is 6 days before Christmas... and I'm starting to get tired of the entire season already. Heh. Christmas carols were dropping from my mouth at work while I wasn't paying much attention. So, maybe I'm not totally out of the loop yet. Its been a totally crappy year so far, but what I'm hoping for is a better new year. Just two more weeks or so and then things will get better. Please.... get better. I wonder if that's a possible new years resolution... Anyway, I'm just babbling at this point. If I don't get around to posting before Christmas, *crosses fingers*Merry Christmas to everyone who bothers looking at this. Night. :)

Pre-Christmas Parking Lot Fights...

When I was little I used to love the feel of Christmas. Everything was warm, and bright and everything smelled so good. As I got older I guess I got more jaded and some of the magic left the holiday. No longer do I wonder what I'm getting for Christmas, because a list is extracted from me every year which basically ensures that I know what I'm getting. That's good and bad at the same time in that there are generally no mad rushes to a certain store so I can exchange or return things, but there's also no ... How do I put this without sounding like one the poutey children who isn't happy unless they're the one opening the presents, and throwing a fit when what they open isn't what they wanted. That's not it at all. When someone gets you something for Christmas that you didn't ask for, but absolutely love it sort of shows that there is at least one person out there who goes through the trouble to know what you like and dislike. What you'll love and what you'll hate. I miss that. It doesn't really happen anymore and that makes it sad.

And then of course there's the other side of it. I love getting to know someone well enough to walk through a mall and see something that I know they'll like. There's not wondering what to get, no stress about that at all. Biggest reward is seeing them light up when they open the box and I know I guessed right. However, I've become one of those people who hates going out around the most wonderful time of the year. Why? Take the parking lot outside Gottschalks where two drivers got into a screaming, shrieking, hate filled altercation over a parking space. Inside I got elbowed by little old ladies with the gleam of greed in their eyes and glared at by people who nearly mowed me down because I was in their way. Shopping really sucks to begin with, but when its compounded by frustrated, angry, hell-bent, irrational individuals, it's difficult to tell the difference between an anchor store and the 7th ring of a fiery pit we all know and love. Where exactly did this become about grab the best gift or they won't love you anymore?

So, I guess I still like the holiday, but I certainly don't appreciate the reception I get when out and about. Therefore I make good use of the internet and shop a lot more online that I used to. Its quieter and more peaceful and sometimes I can feel what it used to be like when I was little. Sure, I still have to venture into the thick of the shopping mosh pit, but tend to retreat straight back to my humble abode. Its nice here.

This concludes my thoughts on Christmas and its ability to bring forth everyone's inner green-eyed creature. So, I'm not all that fond of the human species during certain times of the year. Yes, there are generous individuals out there, unless you're in a shopping mall... Just be prepared to do battle. I'm off to watch tv, and enjoy the fact that I have no more homework to do for a while. YAY!! Night. :)

And Now a Last Ha-rah...

And so it was that we came to the last class assigned blog posting in which I am to give "Words of Wisdom" as well as to whether or not this class would be beneficial to someone in the Library Certificate program. With all I've learned in this class I have to give it a thumbs up. While the class may not deal directly with working a library, librarians themselves deal with information 24-7. In short his class had us not only learning to find, examine, and dissect vessels of information, but it taught us the vehicles for that information. In a day and age when there are so many ways to gain information be it true or not, it gives you a leg up on where and how to look online. We were introduced to blogs (an online journals of sorts), Wiki Space (in which you can have a chat), and many other forms of communication. Ah, you say, but what do those have to do with getting a Library Certificate? Almost every day I get a question that I can't answer with the books I have in my branch, therefore I turn to the net with all its twists and turns and hop to extract an answer. It greatly helps to understand how these sites work, what information is probably going to be there, and whether or not you can expect it to be skewed to support an add. Understanding how information is presented and why is also a key element of searching through information. This class basically tells you how to do all of it, and has you work and explore those areas or at the least gives you the basics.

This is the class I wish I had taken before I ever took an online course, because I know so much more now about what to expect of an online course teacher as well as the class itself. As for the Words of Wisdom aspect, I'm honestly not sure what to say, except to relax and have fun with all the new things you'll do! :) And keep in mind that if you ARE going for the Library Tech Certificate really pay attention, but the knowledge you gain in here is going to help you in information searches. Its also going to teach you how to present knowledge you have gained in whatever specialty you have to the public. Everything I learned had practical uses which is a huge plus in my book. Okay, I think I've gone on and on enough. ;) I'll stop.

Hah! You thought I'd gone! Well, you're half right. Dinner is ready, and I'm hungry, so while I'd like to stay and blab more at everyone I'm going to get food and try and watch a movie with Dad. I managed to get myself a copy of Wild Hogs from the library, and I figured Dad would like it. So, I'll talk later. Hopefully I wasn't too annoying with the post. Night. :)