Journee's Critters

This Christmas was amazing; we got inches upon inches of snow. I was astounded---for all my life we've barely even gotten snow around the time of Christmas, but this year we got downfalls of it on Christmas Day!

My family, and Santa were good to us this year, and we all got lots of great presents. Me and Quinn, for instance, each got a tiny little laptop! Willow got this nice little karoke machine, which we all get a kick out of, though standing there singing into it makes you feel kind of silly, lol.

Rose got a new Nintendo DS, and Indy got a very nice new guitar, and the promise of lessons in about two weeks!

I also got a two new jackets, a very nice new cowboy hat, and a cute little owl ring; also, this dragon jigsaw thingy that when you put together will stand up...and a bunch of make-up...I took that as a hint that I should maybe start using it, lol. Though I haven't yet.

The snow was amazing, though and I took some pictures! --Which I will post later, but for this one photo that my grandmother took for us. :)

We made three snowmen, though one is out of the picture, lol. The face of the one I'm standing by was on the other-side, and fell off. Lol.

 

It was cold!

But a wonderful, wonderful Christmas. ^^

The baby chicks have been ordered! 59 birds total (I think including the free rare-breed chick, but it maybe not. It may be 60 chicks!)

 ~

I'll be getting 18 chicks all accounted for. All St, Rn. bants, too

The silkies, the frizzles, and the cochins.  I'm very excited. ^^

My mom's getting 25 assorted brown-egg layers, along with two standard-size buff cochin pullets. I'll have fun trying to figure out what all birds she got. Lol.

Also, Miss Elizabeth is ordering 16 birds. 8 black australorp pullets, and 8 cuckoo maran pullets.

And then, finally, David's getting one little white-crested black pullet chick, for sure; and I got one extra of that breed and gender---just in case something happened to his bird during shipment. Which would be just our luck. Lol.

So, lots and lots of birds coming in. To be received around Feb. 14th. I just wish it wasn't so long from now! :)

Happy Birthday Dad! :):):)

I love you soo much; and thank you for everything you do for us! <3

I'm having such indecision on the matter of what birds to order.

I know for sure I'm getting some blue silkie bantams, black frizzled cochin bantams, and some mottled cochin bantams. I was planning on getting some white-crested black polish bantams, but I'm not sure now. I also like the mille fleur bantams, and the silver sebright bantams.

Or, I reckon, I could just stick with the birds I'm sure I'm going to get. I may end up doing that, actually, and getting a few partridge cochin bantams on the way. ;)

I would just get a few of each, but since the bantams are St, Rn, I can't really do that; because I might get just a few roosters, or lose some during shipment. I would prefer to get more of fewer breeds, and know that I have enough to do something about them. Like breed them, or sell them all if needed.... I think I'll try and place a order today, or within the next few. I'm sort of waiting until I decide, and another reason.

It seems we might be getting a bird for a friend of mine, David, and so, I'm kind of waiting to see if he can actually get the chicken before ordering---because on Murray McMurray Hatchery you have to have a minimum of 25 birds---which isn't a problem, because my mom's buying 25 brown egg-layers.

David kindly likes the white-crested black polish birds---and he'd get a standard size one, so he could purposefully order a pullet. But first he has to get permission to get a bird, lol. So we'll see. If he ends up being able to get one, then I'll order two hens of that breed---just in case something happens to his during shipment.

It's really funny---he's my squadron's cadet commander, and so he's used to knowing more of what to do then the rest of us. Me, for example. Lol. But on the matter of chickens he's a total rookie. ^^ I'm enjoying my knowledge.

In other news, I was stunned to find that today Pirate's left eye is open! Back to normal, then, because his right eye has been sealed for quite some time, even before his other eye was injured. And so, this morning, I moved him back into his pen. His face is a little swollen, and I still have him on antibiotics, but unless it gets worse---then he'll be fine, and will stay out there. His period in my bedroom is over. Lol. 

Quinn was thrilled---the crowing was getting rather bad, and Pirate was a big fan of early mornings. Lol.

But it seems that he's on the rocky road to recovery. :) And for that, I am happy.
~

Stepping off-trail from the chickens, tonight is my CAP meeting; and tomorrow is my dad's birthday!

I have only three words to say about it:

"Birth-Day-Spank'ins." Lol.

I made that myself--anyone like it? :)

Just a few pictures I took just a few moments ago of our tree, and some of its decor. :)

 Our tree; (not a very good picture, I'm afraid.) We had to move Cortana's cage down to the basement in order to fit the tree. That's Duke, sleeping by it. We find Cricket and Smokey under the tree all the time, sleeping. It's very warm, because of the bubble-lights.

 I picked out that ornament, you know. Lol. I thought it was great.

 It's true, this will be Fletch's first-ever Christmas. He's very excited, I can tell.

 I think of Winnie the Pooh every time I see this fish ornament. A mackerel in a tree. Finally, Pooh was right.

So far, we haven't had much snow this year--not enough to play in, anyways. I don't know how this little guy managed to trap so much inside that little bulb....

I've been trying to learn a little more about genetics--besides what I learned in this year's biology. I'm mostly using chickens as a example, and focusing more or less on color genetics.

I've learned some so far, but it will be a proud day when I learn what all of this means:

It looks a awful like a color, and then a whole bunch of squiggles.

And letters of various, uneven sizes. It all means something about the genetic make-up of the chicken; but so far what it means has totally escaped me.

I'll get there.

Someday.

~

Journee

Yeah; so, it's been a while since I did a proper blog-post, lol.

So, not long ago our Civil Air Patrol squadron participated in the program called Wreaths Across America. Anybody remember that?

They recently completed a very nice little video about it, which I will post right...now....

It all went very well, and we had a good turn-up, along with a good amount of wreaths to place on the graves of the cemetery.

Our squadron also performed Color Guard for the ceremony. I was one of the rifle bearers, and the other was our squad's firth sergeant, Robert. The two flag bearers were our cadet commander, David, and also Andrew, who, like me, is a flight sergeant.

~

Besides that, I now have a rooster in my room.

One of my frizzle-mix bantams, named Pirate. He was one of my special-needs chickens, having gotten into a fight with the menacing smooth-feathered frizzle-mix bantam Obi-wan. Pirate had taken a injury to his left (I think) eye, and the skin grew over it; blinding him in that eye.

Quite sometime after his last fight, I started letting Pirate out of his pen to roam around. He was doing fine, until one day he disappeared for a few hours in the woods.

He came back, his face bloody, and purple. Both eyes sealed completely shut. Apparently he'd been fighting with Obi again, and I just hadn't known it.

So now I've got this blind rooster biding his time in my bedroom in a small dog kennel. He's doing great, and is taking antibiotics in his water to keep him healthy.

I don't think he will be able to see again, and he'll probably end up staying in a separate cage, and getting out in a pen in the mornings through the evening until bedtime. But for now, he gets to sleep in my room, and get pampered. He eats if you show him where the food is by tapping it, or letting the scratch/pellets fall and making that clacking noise. He'll drink if you touch the back of his neck, and encourage him to lower his head. Once you show him, he'll keep eating or drinking until he's full.

Lately, the past two mornings, he's started crowing. And keep in mind that his kennel is right next to my bed.

It woke me up right away the first morning, and Quinn too, who promptly yelled, "KFC!"

She threatened him repeatedly.

This morning he wouldn't stop crowing, so I put a towel on my bed and put him under the covers with me. I rolled over, and put my arm over him, which made him very happy. He snuggled up next to me and laid his neck across my and put his beak in my hair.

Then he clucked for a bit and fell asleep. You see, he likes to cuddle, and be petted when I'm sitting on my bed reading.

Surprisingly enough, my room doesn't smell like chicken poo. Which is a plus, because that would have really mixed with the smell of my two buck-rats, my lizard, and my dog. And Quinn's doe-rat, for that matter. Lol.

I've been keeping my room very clean, and Pirate's bedding, so, long as nothing weird happens. I can probably keep him inside until the spring, when it's warmer, and I won't be freezing my butt off outside trying to feed and water him. Lol.

~

Also, on the subject of chickens, I'm planning to get some more bantam chickens in February. Crossing my fingers over here, hoping I can!
~

 All the best,

Journee.

Psych.

Yeah--I'm a nerd.

Yup, I did it. I called them to the fence and jumped in the ditch--crawled through the barbwire, and was surrounded. Mobbed. Kidnapped. 

By those horses.

It had been so long since I was able to go right up to them like that.

|

 Several years, actually.

I mean, I'd petted them a few times, and fed them some apples and carrots. But it'd been a very long time since I was surrounded--and got to hug one.

Horses smell nice--don't you know?

Very nice.

It's a dreary day today, and as I write this my family is downstairs watching the Waltons, and finishing up a nice; relaxed--after we put Zeb down for a nap--lunch. (Which was very good, fyi.)

~

I've decided to do a little update on some of what's been going on. So recently, I bought eight new books. Three books to the Ranger's Apprentice series, a Pendragon book, a book called Reckless, which is written by the lady who authored the Inkworld books. I also got a book called The Fire Within (which wasn't very good,) and that was written by a fella named Chris d'Lacey. I also got a book called Among The Hidden, and also a book called Airman. 

So far I've finished Among The Hidden, and The Fire Within. I'm almost done with Reckless, and I've just started the Pendragon book. (Seventh in the series, titled The Quillan Games.) That's a lot of money in book, lol. 

And soon I'm also hoping to get the books: The Demon King (by Cinda Williams Chima,) and Incarceron, (by Catherine Fisher.) They look interesting, so I'm eager to try them out.
~

I've also been working on rewriting my dragon story (yah hear that, Lightclaw?) and so far I've got about 4930 words...not so bad, though I'd like more done by now. I hope to get quite a bit done today--I just have to wait for the moment of writing inspiration to spark...which is nearly always guaranteed to happen when I'm supposed to be sleeping, or when Quinn's on the computer. Lol; go figure. My mom says to write on paper with a pencil, which I try--but it's not the same! I can only write under certain circumstances. Lol. I can't take that argument to court, though. Nobody gets it. ;) *Dramatic sigh.*

~

Besides all of that--I've been having some real trouble with my birds, lately. All of my banty hens (that's Snowflake, Jellybean, Cottontail, and Sparky,) have been killed by hawks in the past two-ish weeks, along, also, with a couple of unidentified birds, and Sparky's chick Spencer. Bantam-wise, I just have four roosters now. Pirate, Remus, Obi-wan, and Bunny. I don't understand it! What's so bad is that I haven't seen the hawks attack...

 ~

The last day of the year-long drought had finally come to a simmering end.
Across the wide deserts a black thundercloud grew in size; mounting on itself until it towered over the dry, dusty landscape like a monster.
A gale of wind rose in a howl, picking up great sweeps of sand and small stones and tossing them for miles around: caught up in the searing crosswind. Lightning flashed, and deep, gravelly rumbles of thunder bubbled in the chest of the brewing storm. The sun was hidden behind a dark stretch of whip-lashed clouds: and a thick blanket of menacing shadows fell over the cracked earth.
All over the sparse desert, its residents sought shelter: grateful for the incoming rain, but frightened by the size of the expanding clouds, and by the striking talons of lightning which raked the air with a smoky, burning scent and seemed so close it made the ground sizzle.
For miles east, north, west, and south: sand and stone was flung in a wave of wind--a sandstorm of great proportions. With no trees, and with the land being so flat: nothing stopped the wind from racing with a fierce pleasure across the dry-lands.
And then, in the cradle of the monumental stormcloud: the first bowel of rain began to leak towards earth--the first taste of liquid the desert had drank in a long while. At first it was a calm shower, and the creatures of the desert rejoiced in the rain, feeling it fall onto their backs and faces: cool, and sweet. A heavy contrast to the hot, burning, unforgiving sun that had beat down upon them for the last year.
But then the storm turned nasty. Lightning flashed, and scoured the ground into deep black rents. The rainfall strengthened until it felt more like ice shards hissing down from the heavens in furious torrents.
Heavy, dart-hearted thunder rolled through the bellies of the fat, shadowy clouds--they hung like dark, misshaped stones stacked on top of each other throughout the air, hovering. And with the thick gray sheets of rain falling from their insides they seemed practically ready to cave in towards the earth.
The sand which had been formerly blowing outwards was sucked in towards the main cloud formation in a whirl; mud splattered, and the ground was quickly flooded by syrupy, grimy puddles and sinking quicksand’s that made the ground move, and slide until it seemed unsafe.
This master-storm wasn’t stagnate, either. Born on the most powerful winds of the past two centuries it progressed towards the east-lands, leaving a wreckage of land and floodwaters behind it. By the time it passed over them: the deserts were no longer there; instead, a good mass of the west had become a barren, muddy lake.

~

So today Quinn made some smallish people. Gnomes, to be exact.

 Observe. 

The blue and green, bearded one on the left is named Dumblydoor. And the brown and dark green one is named Will.

Quinn already likes them better then me. Lol.

 ~

Also today, we cleaned out the chicken coops, and on the way to put up the tools, I ran into my little buddy Remus Lupin. So naturally me and Quinn had to take pictures.

 He's one my--shhhh---favorite roosters.

 And he's a good boy, too. He doesn't ever get in to any fights. Though he almost had a scuffle with our oatmeal cake today...it was a near miss, lol.

~

One of the funniest Psych clips I've ever seen in my life, lol. Call me a nerd, but I think it's hilarious.

There is a small ad at the beginning, but just watch it and listen to what they are saying. Lol. :) It cracks me up--though maybe it's just me?

~
Psych starts again tomorrow!

I just had to post this photo taken at the CAP TN Wing Encampment I went to.

It was at a water 'survival' course, and they had us wearing our BDUs--over our bathing-suits--to do it.

A little bit into the course the Lifeguard dude had us tie our pants around our necks so that way we could splash air into them and us them are floats.

It was absolutely hilarious. It clicked in my mind what the Lifeguard fella wanted us to do--but you should have seen the looks on some of the other cadets' faces!

It was all quite fun, and in the picture above is two of my roommates, and a few other flight members--along with a few girls from the Foxtrot Flight. (I was in Alpha Flight.)

The funniest part of it all was when one of the cadet staff members of the Encampment was doing a uniform class, and was explaining how to wear the CAP uniform(s) and how to iron them, etc. It was really funny when he was pacing back and forth in front of us all and asked, "How do you wear your pants?"

It took all of my willpower not to shout out:

"Around your neck, sir!"

Hahah, I have successfully gotten my mom watching Psych! And she likes it!

Mission accomplished.

And just before the next Psych season starts--next Wednesday!

I am shamelessly excited.

~

Journee.

Guess what? I'm fifteen today! And my youngest sister--Rose--is five! (Officially, lol.)

I found some old pictures of Papa's horses!

Only three of them are still out there; Daisy, the paint mare was sold to a trainer a few years back.

I look so small. How old was I then? I have no idea.

Jake was the baby of the group. Such a playful boy, he was.

 Daisy: she was kind of the lead mare of the group, though Sugarfoot was the grumpy one.

 Sugarfoot! Such pretty colors on her.

Sugarfoot was kind of fat, lol; but she was always my favorite.

And there's Mom standing with Sandy, and trying to get Jake to shoo. I remember Mom trying to ride her...it didn't make Sandy real happy, lol.

 Okay, first off: My mental note sort of failed, and I didn't take any pictures.

I am a total failure, I know.

-

Now that we all recognize that--time to do a update on the past two days.

Alrighty--so Saturday. That was Rose's birthday party, and our Halloween party. Both things went great, and we all had a great time.

The biggest surprise of the day was me walking downstairs in all my cowgirl gear to see my parents. Dressed up. As Mario and Luigi.

 All that fuzz--gone!

 Poof--just like that. I was very surprised. It'd been a long time since I'd seen my dad's face. All of it, for that matter. Even my dog was surprised. She barked at him for about the whole day.

 My mom made a pretty good Mario; if only she played the games and knew those little dances he does after defeating a Boss. Lol!

They ended up trimming the fake mustaches to a shorter length.

It was all very amusing.

Not just my parents dressed up. I was a cowgirl (I know, what's the difference?) and Quinn was a ninja. She teamed up with Kayleigh Broach and melted gummy candy in the fire outside.

They were quite the dangerous pair. (Note: that in the picture posted above Kayleigh does not have her ninja mask on, nor is she holding her ninja stars: which she had hidden somewhere the whole evening--ready to strike if necessary, I guess. Lol. And Quinn wore sunglasses--which made her seem very dramatic.)

Kayleigh's brother, David, was also there and dressed up. (Though I have no pictures of him, nor me, for that matter.) He was mouseketeer--uh, I mean-- a musketeer. My bad. ;)

(Next time David, you must really work on the real-feathers, thing. Lol.)

 Zeb was just...Zeb. In all his Zebbiness.

 Willow was a vampire lady, I think. She had some fake fangs (not shown in the picture,) and as you can see she was also treated to the purple-hair thing.

Indy was a bounty-huntress. Using a mock sniper-rifle that she made out of her lightsaber, plastic tubes, and a lot of duct-tape. It even had a scope on it.

It was a pretty impressive contraption, really. :)

We also had my cousins and grandparents from up at the Lake come down' along with my cousins' mom, Aunt Amy.

 That's Sierra and Quinn--smiling at the camera. They very rudely managed to fit themselves in the chair and let Kayleigh sit on the floor. Lol.

The Dotsons and the Graysons also came by a little bit later. When they all arrived out collection of dressed-up person grew. We had a transformer (Noah) a Hulk, and a Snow White, among others.

We all had a great time visiting and playing. The food and snacks (and the punch!) was all very good. :) And the candy: the candy was very good.

Me, Kayleigh, David, Quinn and Sierra all went and played on the haybales for a bit. (We still have a few out in the front pasture.) Sierra and Kayleigh couln't quite jump up on them, so I was graciously used as a step-stool for them to climb up on. It worked, for the record.

We also went to the Barefoot Castle for a little while, and I awesomely used a broom as a weapon against imaginary evil--because that's just how I roll. Lol.

Quinn stole some of my candy.

I stole it back.

*Evil cackle*

After it got dark we all bedded down and chose chairs to sit in with blankets or Snuggies. (Is that how you spell that? Lol. Anyways--you know what I mean.) We first watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. (I got a rock.) And then we watched the first Indiana Jones, in which during my cousin Sierra made the stunning discovery that Indiana Jones is Han Solo!

It got really cold really fast and I found Tim Grayson running around in my jacket. I was really confused at first, then realized it was mine. I was sure it looked similar! Lol.

I ended up sitting by the fire with Quinn and Kayleigh. David joined us after a while.

It was warm, and I burnt some stuff--which was entertaining. Lol.

Dolly--who I've been dog-sitting--had a blast. Man, she ran around and got petted and played with and ran around some more. :) When it got dark I put her in my room with Zelda. Zelda, the little buggar, had to stay inside nearly the whole time because she barked. And barked. And barked. Turns out she doesn't like David, and we already knew she didn't really care for my dad's knew style, or Jason Dotson, who was also there. she acted quite skittish and vicious, and ended up in her crate with a nice pig-ear.

Duke on the otherhand, didn't have a problem with anybody. Naw--he jumped up on and licked every single person there. Lol.

 -

Rose got lots of nice birthday presents. She even got a new kitchen set, which meant I got to burn the old one yesterday! Woot!

 Noah was very excited about everything, and he kept a very close watch on what Rose was doing. Lol.

Beef jerky! What's a birthday without it, eh?

Even I got a few gifts Saturday. My grandparents from the Lake went ahead and gave me mine from them. I got a very nice pair of boots. :) Thank again for those! I really do like them, I just need to break them in a bit. Lol.

And on top of that the Broachs were kind enough to get me a card and gift card to Books-A-Million. (Even though I told them not too. Lol. But stubbornness prevailed: in a nice way.) Lol: thanks again guys!

-

Speaking again about birthdays--my Mom's was yesterday. :) I meant to do a blog post telling her happy birthday, but it slipped my mind, and a I did tell her in person.

So, once more: Happy Birthday Mom! (Cha-cha-cha!) I love you. <3

-

All in all it has been a very nice couple of days. :) We got to get back to school today after a busy weekend, and tomorrow is my weekly Civil Air Patrol meeting. Though I've missed the last few due to one getting canceled and me not being able to attend the one before because of me having my wisdom teeth taken out. It should be a busy meeting. I get to go there early so I can attend the cadet staff-meeting beforehand, and we also have Safety Down day, and promotions.

This morning I finished reading a book called Knighthawke, which David lent me on Saturday. It was pretty good, and the cool thing about it is that I know the author! He's our chaplain at Civil Air Patrol. Tomorrow I'm going to return David's book, and I think I might look into buying the book for myself....

But first I need to buy the next Pendragon book, and the next Ranger's Apprentice book. I dearly want both of them, lol. They are both such good series, doncha know.

-

November 5th will be my birthday party, and also sometime during this week my cousins will be coming in town! I can't wait for them to get here, and am very excited that they will actually be able to come to a birthday party of mine. In my memory that hasn't ever happened before. :)

-

And while I'm at it, I must also say this: (My cousin) Jordan. You have done something to me over here. Lol. I have successfully watched every single Psych episode to date--and whenever I see a pineapple at a restaurant or in a picture or something I go--"OOO!"--and point.

Also, Jordan, I have nailed Quinn with several invisible ninja stars and have a roleplay character named Clicker. Just so you know, bud. ;)

-

Wishing everybody the best of the best

~

Journee.