Death Comes for us All Eventually

{This is another post that I had written a long time ago and never posted. I don't know why}

The last photo of my little guineas. 

We started with 24 eggs. 18 keets hatched. Very quickly that number dwindled to 13 then 12.... and finally nine. 

At nine keets I was able to corral them all- and their parents into the secure coop in the barn. It's the coop that Aaron built for the last batch of baby guinea fowl. I kept them there for a month. I fed them, gave them lots of weeds and Aaron made an awesome perch for them. After a month, they were fully feathered and able to fly. So I decided to open the door and let them out. I left the door open so they could come back to roost if they wanted to. And they did a few times, but eventually they roosted in the big oak tree with the other guineas. 

After a while we were counting just eight young guineas. Then it dropped down to five in one day. And for a while the five were doing well. Then suddenly there were only three... and shortly after that we found the second to last guinea dead over by the chicken coop. We thought it was a hawk that got it and then one of the dogs (most likely Atticus) scared off the hawk and found the guinea's remains and brought it back to the chicken coop. 

For a good long time there was just the one. It was like that last year too- there is only one survivor from the last batch of guineas born in the "wild". I've named him Swifty. And the funny thing is that Swifty seemed to pair up with this last lone young guinea. They went everywhere together. And then I didn't see the little one for a whole day. I looked all week, but never saw it again and never found a body. 

It's unfortunate for the guineas, of which only eight adults are left. But look at it from the predator's point of view- here it is trying to survive and live and thrive and feed it's young. And those baby guineas are a good size dinner for most of the predators around here. They lived a happy and free life while they were alive. Many humans live longer yet cannot say the same thing. 

I Got a Puppy and Other Excuses

{This is a post that I had written a while ago but never posted. I have no idea why.}


Yes it's true! I have a new puppy. Don't worry, Wiley is still around and grumpy as ever. The new puppy's name is Luke and he's a Golden Retriever.

Now, some of you might be saying, "Hey Sarah, ya hypocrite! Why didn't you adopt from the shelter system?!" Well, I'll tell you Captain Judgy Pants... I adopted a puppy instead of a dog from the shelter because of Wiley. With a dog like him, many issues, high anxiety, and reactive; I need some guarantees, or at least good bets, with the new dog. I knew it would be enough of a challenge just bringing a second dog into my home.

So I did a ton a research and with the help of my awesome aunt Rebecca, I decided on a short list of breeds that would do well as a therapy dog, do well on the farm, and deal with Wiley's fascist ways without it scarring him. Go ahead and go gaga over these photos:

So Much Time Slipping Slipping Slipping

For months I have been saying the same thing, "Oh I'm so overdue for an update to the blog! It's been so long! I'll get right on it." And then you know what happened? Nothing. Nothing happened. I mean, technically things did happen. Many things happened!

For example: I adopted a Golden Retriever puppy and named him Luke after Luke Skywalker, sweet Carl the cat of the Goon Squad passed away, most of the ducks moved away to live with someone else, a few guineas died, we found what Aaron dubbed a "rat egg" in the chicken coop, learned that the himalayan cat is a girl and finally gave her a name (Hermione), and shut the greenhouse up for the winter after a huge tomato and jalapeño pepper harvest.

Oh AND Mrs. Ticklefeather (my buff duck) was hit by a car but survived, we found a game shop in town that hosts RPGs, Aaron built me a table, I took a needlepoint class, Aaron's dear friend Bil came for New Year's, our Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Dan came for a visit, I had Thanksgiving in Florida, I had to kill a mouse in Aaron's house, Atticus stole a rabbit fur from a neighbor and some animal chewed a hole in the side of the greenhouse.

We also, sadly, lost our Grandma Jan. She went in her sleep. She had a long and wonderful life. We should all be so lucky to have a life like that and a death so peaceful. I miss her a lot and often forget she's gone.

Her memorial was earlier this month in Vancouver. It was the first time Aaron and I left the farm at the same time for more than an overnight. Everyone survived our absence but the cats were furious. The dogs, who got to go to an overnight boarding facility, were just happy we came back. The cats, on the other hand, held grudges against us that took weeks for them to get over. Except for Chairman Meow. I'm not sure he even noticed we were gone. He likes to range far and wide and only comes home on occasion. I'm not happy about that, but he's his own cat and at least checks in with us every few weeks. All I can do is keep him up to date on his shots and make sure there's food out for him if he hasn't been a successful hunter. Lucy and Hermione took a long time to forgive us for leaving them.

So I won't go into detail about every single thing. You get the gist- weirdness, farm life, dogs... blah blah blah.

Here are a few photos I happen to have already downloaded. Of course they are all dog photos. I'll post more non-dog photos. Eventually.

Once upon a time Luke and Callie were the same size.

Baby Luke.

Wiley so happy hiding in the weeds.

Atticus, Luke and Wiley at my parent's house. 

Atticus and Luke are best friends.

Dogs love car rides.

The Summer Flood aka The Day Everything Broke

When I say that this was the day that everything broke, I'm only mildly exaggerating.

It started on a Thursday night a few weeks ago. I remember because it was the first night I was raiding with a potential new guild in World of Warcraft and during every fight I could barely hear the leaders call out instructions over the thunder and lightning. And between being dropped by the server, the non-stop lag, and the power outages- I was intensely frustrated. Here I was, trying to do my best and gain entry into a raiding guild and every 10 minutes mother nature was all, "Nah- you... you suck and I'm gonna mess with your head for two hours. Muahahahaha!" Luckily the guild is full of lovely and understanding people and they welcomed me back. Yes, back- I was a member a few years ago but..... blah blah blah, this isn't about my WoW guild history so I'll just move on.... after a share a few selfies! (Yes, our characters in WoW can take selfies now)

Here I am in my Garrison's cave. 

My character's race is Troll and she's a hunter. I named her Jinnee.

I think she's adorable!

Here I am during a pause in raiding. I about to take down that big monster dude in the background with my new guild mates. 

In any case, the night before the lightning and thunder was so intense and the rain was coming down so hard and heavy that if you went outside, it would have bruised you. Wiley was wild-eyed and panting and I was getting a wee bit drunk because I was angry! Angry Sarah! Grr! Rawr! Drunk Sarah want to play video games! Drunk Sarah shakes her fists at the sky and curses the Gods! How dare they interrupt my assault against the evil Iron Horde!!


Hehehe...


The next morning I (and my hangover) ventured out to start my morning chores. It was clear skies and swampy lands. The barn was flooded. The chicken coop had flooded too. Both annoying, but nothing new for the morning after a storm. After I did my chores, Aaron and HIS hangover went out to do his chores. Then I get a text from him. Something like, "The pool pump shorted out" Then a few minutes later, "Did you see the cistern?!"

That last text surprised me and actually made me get up from my breakfast and look out the window. It's nothing new for the pool pump to short out in bad weather. It happens during EVERY storm. But the cistern... that's a 550 gallon round tank that is buried in the ground. How am I going to see it?!

Turns out it popped RIGHT out of the ground and was tilting at about a 45 degree angle. As I walked down the hill, jaw trailing behind me, I saw Aaron standing ankle deep in mud next to it and just staring. It was not anything we had ever thought would ever happen. Looking back, it makes sense, but right then we were aghast and on the verge of going, "Woahhhhh.... cool."

The cistern popping out of the ground started a domino effect for the whole aquaponics system. Once that went down, (or up and out as it were) everything else ground to a halt. Except for the fish- they kept swimming and eating and pooping and needing oxygen. Here's what it looked like:

This is how we found it. 

As a reminder, this system is a loop. So the pump that was taking water from the cistern and putting it into the fish tank, pumped as much water as it could till it ran dry- which is terrible for the pump. So the fish tank wasn't getting oxygenated water, or any water at all. And the grow beds, where the water flows from the fish tank at one end to the cistern at the other, lost all their water and whatever was left in them just sat there. The reason they grow beds were not draining is because we use gravity to get the water from the grow beds to the cistern. That's why it's in the ground.

During this, the rain lessened, but didn't stop. Aaron had to find a place where he could not only rent a backhoe but a place that would deliver it right away. He had to re-dig the hold for the cistern and get that water moving to save the fish and vegetables. Luckily he did and was able to scoop out a new hole and get the cistern back in it.

That's the rain water level that we had to work with.

A new trench had to be dug for the pipes from the grow beds.

Aaron in the backhoe.

As Aaron was digging this hole, I was elsewhere and found out later that the ground was so soft that he and the machine started tipping over into the hole. He saved himself with some quick thinking and maneuvers. I'm glad he's ok! And that was only his second almost trip to the emergency room. Earlier, he had to cut the pipes that attached the cistern to the grow beds and almost cut his thumb off. That I WAS around for and screamed accordingly. 

The list of bad things that happened on this day, if you want to keep track is:

1. Cistern pops out of the ground

2. Pool pump shorts out

3. Aaron almost cuts his thumb off

4. Aaron almost falls into a big hole he's digging while he's in a backhoe

I suppose we could include the flooding of the barn- even if the ducks didn't care and the cats didn't seem to notice. Oh and I forgot to mention that a portion of the driveway (we have a gravel driveway) got washed downhill. AND the lower field was converted into a big pond. Also, the tractor's hydraulic something or other broke and the ATV died. Hmmm. I think that's about it. 

At least there weren't leeches.

The last time the green bean plants looked lush. 

We ended up loosing the green beans but the tomatoes did well. Luckily, our green beans were on their last legs so it wasn't too much of a loss. There were a few fish deaths, small fish, but it's debatable if that was due to the flood or if it was that they didn't grow big quick enough to compete for food. 

The effects of this flood lasted for weeks and really, we are still dealing with them some of them. One of the things that happened is that mud got into the cistern as Aaron was wrestling it back into it's hole. (Why he didn't ask me to help him, I don't know. Was I injured? I did have a back injury for a while this summer but I can't remember and that's why I have to stop putting off updating the blog. I forget stuff!) So with mud in the cistern, it means that there was mud in the system. It clouded the fish tank, got into the grow beds and did a few rounds like that till most of it settled into the grow beds. It clogs the pipes and makes a mess that we are still dealing with. 

We decided to convert the float based grow bed to a media based one. So here are a few photos of the cleaning process.

This is after we scooped out all the muck and mud that had settled at the bottom of the bed.

Here I am using the wetvac to get the last bits of water and grime.

We used river rocks for the base of this bed and the clay balls on top.

All done and ready for new plants!

We will be planting a variety of hot peppers and bell peppers.

The boys making sure the job is done correctly. 

Eventually the fish tank cleared up.

Look how big the Tilapia got!

And that is that. We are just now getting the peppers in the system and hopefully they'll be happy and productive. 

Atticus the Hero

I know I promised an aquaponics update days ago. Well, an in-depth one will have to be tabled for now. A quick summery is that the plants in the media bed are doing beautifully. The green beans are giving us a big harvest every other day and the tomatoes are just starting to ripen. So all is going well,  no worries.

The fun story- and the one I would rather tell- is about Atticus. Who wouldn't want to hear about Atticus? Just look at this face:

"Hi friend! I'm so happy! Heh heh heh! Derp de derp!"

Two days ago Aaron and Atticus went out in the morning to do their chores. Wiley and I had already gotten up and done ours, so we were inside and having breakfast and coffee. To be clear, I was having the coffee, not Wiley. Although that makes for a very cute image- me and my dog sitting on the sofa together having a cup o' joe after an early morning of work. But I must be truthful because I don't want you to think that I let my already high-anxiety, super intense dog drink caffeinated beverages. Can you imagine?! He'd be so wound up that he would transcend time and space!

Anyway, the point is that this whole account is second hand from Aaron, so I'll do my best to tell it correctly.

Aaron walks outside with Atticus and their routine is usually Aaron feeding the Tilapia, checking on the system and making any adjustments in the aquaponics system that are needed. While he does that, Atticus runs around and smells things, rediscovers toys he's hidden in the yard, pees on things and poops in his special secret spots. He also runs. A LOT. His love for running is only second to his love of chewing. He is FAST and he's got serious stamina. Huge lungs, long legs, and boundless energy. Whatever his mix is, it's good for go go GOING!

So they walk out of the house together and Aaron sees Atticus get super alert. He picked his head up and started stiffing the air. And like a bolt of lightning he races off to the back barn. Aaron says he didn't hear any barking or growling, but shortly after Atticus goes into the barn, two coyotes come running out and Atticus is right behind them. Now, as a side note, Atticus probably outweighs the coyotes by about 40 pounds. He's also a good head and a half taller than they are. Aaron says they were about Wiley's height. They're probably thinner than Wiley because Wiley's waistline is getting as bad as his human's... what I'm trying to say here is that we're both getting older and a bit wider... ahem...

In any case, Atticus chases/follows them into the lower field. At this point Aaron jumps into his jeep (the ATV has long since died on us) and goes after them. He finds Atticus and before Aaron can corral him into the jeep, the coyotes make another appearance at the other end of the field. Atticus races to them and rams one of them. (Still no barking or growling from Atticus) They all start running toward the tree line at the west end of the lower field. Aaron calls Atticus back and discovers Atticus has busted his front top mini teeth in. You know- the small teeth dogs have between their canines? I call them the nibbler teeth. Bloodied and bent backwards! Poor Atticus.

During this time, Wiley is barking out the window and I'm telling him to stop. I don't even look around because I'm reading the news and because I think he's barking at the ducks. They like to come to the window and taunt him and he barks and barks and I tell him to stop without looking because at this point...... c'mon! Ducks. Just bastard ducks. Get over it.

So Aaron comes up to my place all breathless and serious and tells me this story. Atticus is obviously out of sorts. It's 7am and our vet is not yet open. I called the emergency vet office on the other side of town and described Atticus' injury. The vet I spoke with said not to panic and that the teeth might have to be removed but that it would be ok to wait till we could see our usual vet. As it turns out, Aaron did end up taking Atticus to that emergency vet after seeing our regular vet. There, they pushed the teeth back into place and now our fingers are crossed that they will fully re-attach and he won't loose them. So far, they seem to be doing well!

Atticus having a sun nap.

Wiley and Atticus on my bed. Atticus is a snuggle bunny. Wiley... not so much.

Duckling, My Duckling

It really has been quite a while since I've really done a good update, which is why I'm doing a back to back post. Tomorrow I'll try to post about the greenhouse and all the great progress that we are seeing there.

But for now: ducklings!

In late April, I decided to add to the general chaos of the farm and buy 11 newly hatched ducklings. It took them a few weeks to hatch and then be delivered to me. You might be thinking, "Wait- I thought she got her birds from a local poultry farm." And indeed, you would be correct. But not this time. This time I wanted to know for sure that I was getting only girls and not a single boy. The reason I have 3 males and a transexual female is because that poultry farm doesn't do a very good job of sexing their ducklings. So this time I got my ducklings through the mail from a poultry farm that does vent sexing. That means they check out the duckling's junk (called a vent) to see what shape it is. One shape is boy, one is girl.

It was nerve-wracking once I knew they were hatched and on their way. I had to go to the post office to pick them up. All the old-timers at the post office were delighted to see them and had many exclamations of, "We had ducks when we were kids!" and "I haven't seen ducklings come through the mail in a long time!" As soon as I got the girls I secured them in the cab of my truck and gave them some water. They were all healthy looking, which was a relief. This is how they arrived (Covered, of course):

I had picked a mix of breeds because I am not interested in breeding them and only interested in them as pets and for egg production. But because I already have 3 drakes, I wanted to make sure I picked breeds that would be around the same size. So, as much as I wanted Indian Runner ducks, they would be at risk for injury by the much bigger Swedish Blue drakes.

The breeds I picked are Buff, Swedish Blue, Rouen and Cayuga. Here they are the first day in their coop:

Just a few days old and ready to explore!

I don't understand the need to stand IN the food, but then again, I am not a duck. Maybe it feels nice on their feet.

They also are fans of standing in their water- which makes more sense to me. 

I love this photo so much! That little buff duckling is looking at me and just so relaxed.

This is a Swedish Blue duckling having a drink.

The center duck is one of the Rouen ducklings.  The Cayuga ducklings are all black. Until they grow their feather, and then in the sun they are a shiny black with shimmery green all over!

That was the cleanest the coop ever was while they have lived there. As you might remember me mentioning before- ducks are serious mess-makers. If you need a mess to be made, find a duck! A lot of that is due to the way ducks eat and drink. They just can't help it. 

Every day for three weeks I went into their coop a few times a day and read my book and talked to them. I wanted them to feel comfortable around me. Ducks are naturally skittish (except for Peter... the freak!) so it was important to me that they got used to me. Well, it was all for nothing because they panic when I feed them. It happens twice a day and I don't understand why they aren't used to it. I do the same thing every time. I scoop the food, I put it in the pan. That's it. 

So ducks grow very quickly and since they are also very hearty, I didn't have to worry much about them once the first week was over. They were all eating and drinking and running around getting a ton of exercise. Other animals would come and peer at them from time to time. The dogs found them to be very fascinating. I even found Chairman Meow watching them from above..

This is looking into the coop from the boy's side. There is a fence that separates them and the ducklings are actually in the nursery- which is a fully fenced cage for extra protection. The ducklings did not notice The Chairman, which is exactly how he wanted it, I am sure. 

From inside the coop. I'm glad we decided to put chicken wire for the roof. Otherwise, he totally would have feasted on the babies below.

Now he's just showing off to be cute. 

The adult ducks- I refer to them as the boys even thought technically Penelope is a female. But she feels like a male on the inside and so that's cool by me. My ducks are totally part of the duck version of the LGBT community. Actually, I think all ducks are... along with being into BDSM but that's... that's not really.... appropriate for this PG 13 blog. So let's move on!

Here are some photos of the progression of growth:

Two Weeks Old

Three Weeks Old

Taking a nap along the door. The red light is their heat lamp. 

First foray outdoors. 

Note how lush and green their yard is. It won't stay that way for very long.

So adorable! Yes?

They like to take rests together in the shade.

Oo! First time in direct sun!

What you can't see here, is that there is a bowl with some water in it. They are ALL trying to get into it at once.

Here you can see three of the ducklings lined up in the bowl.

One Month

I got them a bigger container (thanks to my parents) for them to splash around in. You can see it peeking from behind the weeds in the background next to the ramp. Aaron made them a lovely ramp.

Feathers are starting to come in!

Six Weeks

Ducks LOVE mud puddles.

Two Months (NOW)

It took them a few days to get up the courage to wander outside of their yard.

You can see how the feathers have come in and on the Rouen there are some very pretty teal details on the wing tips.

I got them a baby pool that they adore!

Ducks are amazing foragers. So as they get older, I won't have to spend as much on food for them. What I give them will only be supplemental to what they find in the fields. They eat all kinds of weeds and grasses in addition to bugs, mosquito larva, slugs and grubs. So they are very welcome in my (established) garden. I wouldn't let them forage around seedlings. 

Sometime I give them treats of chopped apples and watermelon. They love it when I toss it in the water and they have to go bobbing for treats. It's the duck way.

Ducks talk a lot and it's been interesting to hear how the girl's quacks have evolved from tiny "cheep cheep" sounds to full-on quacking. Their quacks are different that the boy's and much more pleasant. Aaron says they sound like a kazoo band.

So far the boys and girls have not mingled. It's like a middle school dance out there.... but eventually they will when they are ready to. Ducks may grow quickly, but they adapt to change slowly. 

Remember to check back tomorrow for the greenhouse update! Thanks for reading and for all your comments!