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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Poultry update~


One of the Golden Comet Hens.


A group of them together. The two lighter ones are Roosters.


This is Red, one of two serving Hens from that ill fated shipment.  She is super sweet, loves attention, sitting on you and being petted.
Which makes it nearly impossible to get a good shot of her.



One of the three roosters, of course I like his coloring the best. He also has nice muff's under his eyes and chin.  
Did not do anything with the photo, he really is that bright!





This rooster seems to be very sweet so far. Very gentle, loves attention and sitting on your arm. As long as he stays sweet, he can stay.


DS has spent a lot of time taming them down, to which I am grateful.  Gentle easy going chickens are just a lot easier to deal with.


They are nearly big enough, to be able to finally run around the house and eat bugs for us.
Granted, will have to deal with chicken manure in places but worth it to have less bugs.








Lamb's Pasture~


Caspian and Charming, spend the day time, in the new sheep pasture.  At night they are in with the horses and goats.
Their shelter is just there for some shade, simple, but it works.


Another part of the lamb's pasture.  Down towards the bottom area, where the ground stays fairly wet, I have planted a Willow tree. In time this will become big enough to offer more shade.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A new Water Tank and it's so hot out you can.....


Yup, today is hot, really hot. 100* and 100% humidity, which makes it feel even hotter.
Even the wee wild birds are  having issues. This is one of the Swallow's that is nesting over one of our light,s on the side of the house. He/She is panting to beat the band and has their wing and tail feather's fanned in hopes of cooling off.
I really need to buy a water bath for the birds.

We had the Hot water tank we bought a couple of days ago, put in yesterday. Didn't go as smoothly as I would of liked but it is done.
Will be nice to have 80 gallons of hot water when we need it!
The old tank, was starting to leak, as I thought. So while I hate spending money, this was a good thing to do and cheaper in the long run.

The family will be staying in the A/C, except, for feeding and caring for the animals.  It will be a longggg summer to be sure.

Dyfra's Flea Bites~


Every year Dyfra gets more flea bites. At the rate she is going, she will be chestnut again in a few years. LOL
Have always loved clean grey horses, however, mine likes dirt so much, she has to grow it.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Well,, Well... oh bother.....


At some point unknown to us, the Well pump decided to give up the ghost last weekend.
We had been running on what little water the tiny pressure tank and hot water tank had.
On the most hot day to date. Not good. 
DH crawled under the house to see if we had any leaking pipes, but everything was fine under there.
Put a call in to the contractor we have been using to fix the myriad of problems this place has.
We finally touched base last night and they came over to pull up the Pump.
Needless to say it was broken.  
So off DH and I went to two different stores to find a new Well Pump. 
They got it fixed up and running for us. 
What a relief if was to have running water again. 
Specially for the horses.
And me... I smiled like a loon, when I could flush the toilet. 


We have a couple of more problems... the Hot Water tank needs to be replaced, as it is only 50 gallons, and I see some issues with it.


Another big problem is, the pressure tank.
Have been told it is only about 25 gallons, and basically only good for a 1 bath house. 
This place has 3 1/2 baths and we use a lot of water.
With that small of a pressure tank.... it is going to make the Well pump work all the time, which will cause it to fail.
There is a bit of a logistical problem in getting a bigger pressure tank...
It is under the house, because of the addition the crawl space is more like a rat maze. The door to the crawl space is small.
Who thought ever it was a good idea to put a pressure tank under the house.. sure wasn't thinking.
DH will have to measure and see if we can get a bigger tank in...
Other wise... we will need to build a small bump out against the house, to house the pressure tank in. Which means more cost and time.


I have to say, I have never, ever been in a house with such poor construction......
By the time we are done, will just about have a new house.









Rainy day photos of Nari


Nari's bored... the rain the News said would arrive... finally arrived.  She is either yawning,  showing me her pretty fangs.... or saying... can you hear me now.. fix the (blank) weather already! LOL



Took a couple more photos to show you she is not all fangs. ;O)
Played with photoshop a little bit.... which one do you like?




Mia and the cube~~


Mia decided dissecting her cube would be a fun game today.  Above we have the sniff..


 Here we have the grab and chomp...



Making sure Sadie would not join in.....


Fruition.... a new peep hole.  That way she can Bop Sadie when she goes by.... LOL



Bird nests, Trees, Bugs and stuff...


I really need to take a close up of the leaves on this tree. They are huge, hand size and larger. Have no idea what species tree it is, will have to look it up some time. 
Is rather a pretty tree.



Swallow nest and just around the corner, there is a Purple finch nest on yet another light.  Looks like we will be baby bird central soon.



One of the many types of bug traps we have on the place. Amount of bugs here, is impressive.



The slow feeder hay bags I finally picked up.  Dyfra is a horse version of a vacuum cleaner.
She will eat her food and just about everyone else's, before anyone else has a chance to have their share. 
So where it would take her about a 1/2 hour to eat one meal, now it takes 4 hours and everyone else can get their fill too.