on baby chicks and lawn mowers....separately, of course!
Let's see, i wrote last on Tuesday.
This is Saturday.
Is it Saturday? Yes, i think that's right.
Somehow, someone pushed the fast forward button on this week, and it was suddenly over.
I'm sure a lot more stuff happened, and i wrote a lot of it to you in my head. Since you missed out on all those bits, i'll share one of the highlights in a form you can read.
Yesterday (i think it was yesterday), my darling and i spent most of the day in Houston with family. We arrived home very late at night after it had been storming for several hours.
On days like that (days when we're gone until after dark), i come home and make sure all the chickens are in their assigned positions and lock them up for safety and go to bed.
That's when i found my 3 youngest chicks, without their mother hen, completely unsheltered, and apparently drowned.
These chicks are only about 3 weeks old, and they were completely soaked to the bone, cold, and unresponsive. One, i was sure, was already dead.
~~Educational note: As chickens grow older and get all of their feathers, they are able to stay nice and warm and toasty even though they generally lack the sense to go in out of the rain. But before they get all their feathers, wetness is a major enemy of a young chick since they don't have the water repellent feathers to protect their skin.~~
I scooped the limp baby chick bodies up, tucked them in my shirt, and rushed them in the house. My husband got the heat lamp down for me, and we rigged a very impromptu baby chick hospital in the living room. I sat with them, dipping their tiny beaks in vitamin water every couple of minutes while they dried under the heat lamp.
Slowly, even the weakest of the three started to stand on her own and drink and eat and poop.
I am very happy to report that the little scoundrels happily roamed my yard today like they hadn't had any recent run-ins with death ever in their short little lives. Happy and healthy as little chicks should be.
It was like a little miracle. Even though i'm exhausted, i'm very relieved and happy to have them safe and sound.
~After re-reading this story, i can tell that i'm still too tired to do a very good job expounding on the drama of this harrowing life and death tale. I hope you'll help me by reading between the lines and catching your breath a lot. Thanks.~
In other news, today, after living on this property for one year, eight months and maybe 3 or so days, we finally bought our own lawn mower. I'm not sure what the hold up was, but we finally did it. I'm kind of pleased. It's like i'm a real home owner now. I can mow my own yard with my own mower. You'll notice i called it a yard. We don't have a lawn. We do have a yard with overgrown vegetation. Maybe that's why my lawnmower has the words "weed eater" printed on it.
This is Saturday.
Is it Saturday? Yes, i think that's right.
Somehow, someone pushed the fast forward button on this week, and it was suddenly over.
I'm sure a lot more stuff happened, and i wrote a lot of it to you in my head. Since you missed out on all those bits, i'll share one of the highlights in a form you can read.
Yesterday (i think it was yesterday), my darling and i spent most of the day in Houston with family. We arrived home very late at night after it had been storming for several hours.
On days like that (days when we're gone until after dark), i come home and make sure all the chickens are in their assigned positions and lock them up for safety and go to bed.
That's when i found my 3 youngest chicks, without their mother hen, completely unsheltered, and apparently drowned.
These chicks are only about 3 weeks old, and they were completely soaked to the bone, cold, and unresponsive. One, i was sure, was already dead.
~~Educational note: As chickens grow older and get all of their feathers, they are able to stay nice and warm and toasty even though they generally lack the sense to go in out of the rain. But before they get all their feathers, wetness is a major enemy of a young chick since they don't have the water repellent feathers to protect their skin.~~
I scooped the limp baby chick bodies up, tucked them in my shirt, and rushed them in the house. My husband got the heat lamp down for me, and we rigged a very impromptu baby chick hospital in the living room. I sat with them, dipping their tiny beaks in vitamin water every couple of minutes while they dried under the heat lamp.
Slowly, even the weakest of the three started to stand on her own and drink and eat and poop.
I am very happy to report that the little scoundrels happily roamed my yard today like they hadn't had any recent run-ins with death ever in their short little lives. Happy and healthy as little chicks should be.
It was like a little miracle. Even though i'm exhausted, i'm very relieved and happy to have them safe and sound.
~After re-reading this story, i can tell that i'm still too tired to do a very good job expounding on the drama of this harrowing life and death tale. I hope you'll help me by reading between the lines and catching your breath a lot. Thanks.~
In other news, today, after living on this property for one year, eight months and maybe 3 or so days, we finally bought our own lawn mower. I'm not sure what the hold up was, but we finally did it. I'm kind of pleased. It's like i'm a real home owner now. I can mow my own yard with my own mower. You'll notice i called it a yard. We don't have a lawn. We do have a yard with overgrown vegetation. Maybe that's why my lawnmower has the words "weed eater" printed on it.
awesome!!!!!!! a lawnmower!!!!!!!! jere said he saw ya'll in town yesterday and was excited1!!! yiiiippppppppppeeeeeeee a real working lawnmower!!!!!! i love you!!!
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