Well, Christmas is on its way, and the weather is turning very cold!
Our land frosts over each night, and in the morning I have to defrost all the water bottles and bowls. Ice, ice, and more ice!
We had some snow a few days ago. We don't often get snow, so it was a lot of fun. We got wet, cold, and wet again! We had snowball fights; we built tiny little snow people; and then came inside to drink hot cider. It was great!
We've been decorating the Christmas tree, hanging stockings, and listening to Christmas songs.
I have Wreaths Across America (WAA) this Saturday. And for those who don't know: it's a thing my squadron in C.A.P do. We buy a bunch of wreaths (when I say 'we' I mean, we buy a wreath or two each, then we hand out forms so
other people can buy wreaths). Then we place them on graves. Its a great way of honoring the soldiers that have fallen protecting our freedom. we salute each grave also, in respect and thanks.
My family has been faced with a bad head-cold this month, and we are all trying to get better. I'm feeling pretty sick, so we will probably be staying home for the rest of the week. (Doing school, then watching movies!)
The cat drawing you see above... I drew that a few moments ago, then Photo-shopped it.
Her name is Tsinga. I'm not real happy with the markings and color-job. So I may redo it soon....
My sisters have set up some small Christmas trees in their bedrooms. And my dog, is already trying to chase the shiny little balls we use to decorate them, across the room!
My two baby chicks: Sparky and Thunder, are doing very good out in the cold with their mama. I'm thinking about moving them into the big coop soon, so they can start getting used to sleeping with my goats and other chickens!
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Nope, I've been trying out other forms of drawing. And the one I am practicing right now is wolves. Magic wolves.
The wolf above is named Nertu.
He is a the first wolf I have drawn. Of course I Photo-shopped him, and since I don't have a tablet for Photo-shop, and I absolutely no idea how to do layers, the shading is a bit rough.
This wolf's shading is also a bit bad.
Her name is Solaara. I really like her nose! Her right ear was torn in a dogfight... dunno where I got that idea!
The blue wolf you see above is Floot. He's a younger wolf. And I guess I really should of drawn a shoulder bone or something.... His tail looks like a fox's. (And I just HAD to make snowflakes!)
This is my newest one. Raevyn. She kinda has a Mohawk style going on.... The area of her chest, to the shoulder is a bit wide. And her ears are just slightly in the wrong places.
What do you think? Eh? I still need practice. But I'm working on it!
The basic info on these wolves: (because I wanted too)
(Wolf number 1)
Name: Nertu.
Gender: Male.
Pack: Evergreen.
Status: Average.
Family: Sister is Midnyte, from the Windrusher Pack. Mate is named Moony.
Magic: None.
Type: Night.
Notes: Is fair, well reasoned, and calm at heart. Prefers not to fight.
(Wolf number 2)
Name: Solaara.
Gender: Female.
Pack: Evergreen.
Status: Healer.
Family: Mother is Ryne, and two brothers are Hawke and Zix.
Magic: Can sense the feelings of others.
Type: Sun.
Notes: She can be a little skittish. Lost part of her ear in a dogfight with a rival Pack; she lost, and gave up fighting.
(Wolf number 3)
Name: Floot.
Gender: Male.
Pack: Windrusher.
Status: Apprentice.
Family: Icesha, his mother, is the Pack Leader. Father is a warrior named Flaze.
Magic: Fangs can cause frostbite.
Type: Ice.
Notes: Hates hot weather. Loves to play in the snow, and is a good swimmer.
(Wolf number 4)
Name: Raevyn.
Gender: Female.
Pack: Night-Spirit.
Status: Warrior.
Family: Has two sisters, Falke and Hazorro.
Magic: Can cause temporary darkness.
Type: Night.
Notes: Is a bit of a daydreamer. Hates the rival Pack, Flame-Walkers, for the death of her father.
Welllllllllllll....
I hope everybody had a GREAT Thanksgiving. Tomorrow my family is going up to my grandparents' house to have dinner and play with our cousins. It will be soooo much fun!
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November 3rd is a big day for us. It's mine and my youngest sister's birthday.
We celebrated a bit late, because me and Quinn were out of town.
But yesterday: all my grandparents, my uncle Phil, my Aunt Amy, and cousins Sierra, and Garrett, all came to sing happy birthday, play, and eat Death by Chocolate. Yum.
I had the Death by Chocolate, it was made by my mom, and was absolutely awesome.
Rosie had a real yummy cake with sprinkles and My Little Pony toys on top.
And just in case you can't figure this out by yourself, I turned 14, and Rose turned 4. but hopefully you knew that!
Rose got a lot of cool gifts and games. Some pretty little clothes, and some birthday money.
I got some completely awesome books. Some really nice clothes. I got a DS game, and some birthday money. And! What may just be the awesome-est gift yet, some dragon figure-thingies, breakable and very cool! I will get some pictures of them to post!
And what is defiantly one of the best birthday gifts I've ever had is: my braces got taken of earlier that day! Yup, my teeth are very straight now! And my mouth has never felt so weird! Slimy is about the right word for how my mouth felt after I got the bands and brackets of metal (or whatever braces are made of) out my mouth after two years.
I didn't hate my braces, mind you. But it still feels good to get them gone! Thank you mom and dad for paying for that! But, y'all still have to pay for my retainer, sorry!
My other gift, from my Aunt Amy and cousins was some really cool bandannas that you can slip a dogs' collar through.
Here's Zelda, wearing a John Deere bandanna.
She didn't really like it at first; and today she is wearing a brown one with wolves. Because Duke tore her John Deere one when he was playing with her this morning!
It was a great party, and a thousand thanks to all my family for all the gifts and love!
P.S
Sorry about me not posting lately!
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Guess what? One of Cottontail's bantam eggs hatched!
This is Thunder: the newest hatchling of Cottontail's clutch.
This little chick is just as tiny as Sparky, and I'm thinking it's a frizzle cross.
So so cute!
Thunder has amazing marking, and beautiful feathered-feet; and Thunder also seems to have a bit of a beard.
But who can forget Sparky? Who is growing fast, and is just getting some of his "big" feathers.
Here's a picture of him and Cottontail; I think he inherited his mom's face-feathers, eh? You think?
The bad news is that the other bantam egg of Cottontail's was kicked out, and was very cold when I'm put it back under her. Hopefully it will still hatch, but you really can't tell....
Her bigger egg, however, seems to be doing fine, and is due to hatch tomorrow.
I shall keep you updated!
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Yesterday:
One of Cottontail's eggs hatched! Yeah!
I named this little chick Sparky.
He, or she, is really soft, and has solid black feathers, with some brown markings around the face and beak.
Sparky is so so tiny! He (or she) is a silkie bantam cross, and has cute feathered feet!
Cottontail still has three eggs, and hopefully they will hatch soon also!
I have not posted in awhile, I know, shame on me.
So I decided to post a pretty picture of our hound dog Arwen.
And tell you what has been going on with our animals.
OK? Here goes:
- Our chickens are refusing to lay more then 10 eggs a day. Must be the cold weather...hmmm.
- My bantam hen, Cottontail, is sitting on 4 eggs, that are due to hatch just before Halloween.
- Zelda, my bulldog pup, is going to get spayed soon, but is currently sitting by the fireplace, the warmest spot in the whole house.
- We have lost 2 of our 3 bunny rabbits. One got loose and ran away, and one died of a mystery sickness. Bless their little souls.
- Duke has found a new enemy: the new "jumping stick" in the backyard. He loves sitting out there and barking at it.
- Norbert, my bearded dragon lizard, is trying to hibernate, or at least sleep all day, and then wake up and try to eat all the crickets I have!
That's what has been going on.
And we've been planing for Halloween of course! And my mom's birthday! And mine and Rose's birthday! Yeah!
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These two little roosters are up next!
Little Dude and Tonks.
We are going to start with Little Dude.
Here he is. He is a sweet little thing; his brother, Obi-Wan, torn of the bottom part of his beak in a fight. He can't eat right, so he is in the chicken nursery, at least until his beak gets clipped.
But the real problem is, he's been in the chicken nursery for a long time. And Obi-wan HATES him! Every time I put Little Dude in a pen, Obi-wan comes up and tries to fight him through the wire!
So I will have to try to move him back into the chicken lot slowly.
Little Dude's past has been rough. He was hatched in the chicken coop, by his foster mother Cottontail. His sister was pecked to death by the full grown hens. And Little Dude was ALMOST killed, until I brought him inside. Sound familiar? Yup, Little Dude, is Helga. I changed his name when he started crowing, which I normally don't do.
This is Tonks, as a baby. you see how cute he was?
Tonks has a really long name, and I'm not going to post it here. (Actually, all of my chickens I have hatched have long names)
Tonks was the handsomest rooster other then Holly (girl name, I know, didn't change it!)
He was ruler of the small coop until a battle with the big-boy roosters. (I wasn't home, you see, or I could have probably stopped it)
Tonks is beaten looking, and very skittish. He still lives in the chicken lot, because he now stays out of the way of all the other roosters. He can still get his own food, but....
During one of the few scuffles he's been in. Some rooster pecked his eye. Causing him to be COMPLETELY blind in his left eye.
It just breaks my heart to see him waddling around with his little head cocked so he can get his food.
But, if I take him to the nursery, I most likely won't be able to put him back in the lot.
He wouldn't be able to stick up for himself AT ALL, unlike Frizz, who DOES have spurs almost two inches long.
Just goes to show, how bad having too many roosters can be.
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This is Bunny, my black silky bantam rooster.
When I first got bantams, Bunny was my favorite.
He was the runt of the clutch. And (of course) I thought he was a hen, until he went through a major growth spurt, and started crowing.
I named him Bunny, because of how fluffy he was, and how he 'hopped' instead of walking.
He's just not a posing rooster either, I just can't get a good picture of him!
I don't have any pictures in the computer of him as a baby, because our computer crashed sometime last year.
Here is a picture of Bunny and Frizz, if you read my last post then you should know that this was last year, before spring time. Before Bunny started trying to kill Frizz.
Bunny is the sweetest rooster I have ever had. He has NEVER attacked a person. Or pecked at one!
He has NEVER been mean to a chick, or young bird. Even if their not his, he has helped protect EVERY chick that has been hatched in the lot. And he is one of the few roosters that Cottontail or even Harry Potter (yes, I know that's a boy name) lets near their young chicks. Even through Bunny wasn't able to protect Helga or the other chick, of Cottontail's, he has always been nice to the others. (Like Jellybean; Eragon; Albus, who is his son. Hagrid, who we no longer have. And all of the frizzle chicks, at least, until they grew up)
Bunny is a great rooster, and he still crows funny! Because when roosters start crows it's really harsh, quiet, squeaky, etc. And poor Bunny still crows kinda funny.
He's a good boy, other then beatin' up Frizz and his young ones!
*Sigh*
This post isn't as long as Frizz's, but, Frizz's post had some stuff on his chicks in there too!
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This is Frizz, my white frizzle bantam rooster.
He has been recovering in a 'pigeon' cage for over a year, (being taken out and put on grass in a movable pen) ever since...well, a long time.
Yes, poor little Frizz got beaten up, and taken to the chicken nursery, (the old pigeon coop) where one of his sons is also recovering.
Frizz has had a hard life.
Before his sons were hatched, I always had to keep Frizz, and Bunny (my silky bantam rooster, I will do a post on him next) separate, or they would attack each other.
It wasn't always like that. But when spring came for the first time since they had been crowing, Bunny almost killed poor little Frizz. Me and my mom saved him, we put some medicine in his water, put cream on his wounds, and put the almost featherless rooster in the chicken nursery.
After a couple of months, he was healed. Still missing all of his tail feathers, but he was healed,
or so I thought.
I moved him to the chicken lot, and my mom's bantam rooster, Snickers (which we don't have anymore) beat him up again.
And he was moved back to the nursery.
Frizz is NOT a good fighter. He cannot keep his balance, and if he jumps, he falls backwards. This, my friends, is a rooster that can't even get on the roost!
Snickers was sold to somebody who was going to use him for breeding purposes, and Frizz recovered, very, very slowly.
But after awhile, I gradually moved Frizz back to the chicken lot. And he did fine. Bunny didn't bother him or anything.
Then, I wanted to breed him with my two frizzle hens. Which, I did.
I hatched the seven+ chicks in the house, in an incubator. excluding two, which were hatched under one of my bantam hens in the chicken coop.
So, darn, adorable!
A few didn't make it, including one of the chicks that was hatched by it's 'real' mom. My hen, (Cottontail) didn't take care of it for some reason, and it got pecked to death by the other hens. (Poor thing!) I took the other chick inside, because I was afraid it would get killed also. (It had been pecked, just not as badly) I named the survivor chick Helga, it was a runty thing, and for a long time I thought it was a hen....
The chicks all grew up well, thinking I was their mom, I could hold them under my shirt and they would fall asleep instantly.
I thought I had a bunch of hens. But, I only had one! the rest, were all roosters! Even Helga!
The one hen I did have, was crazy. (Bless her) She walked like Jack Sparrow from that pirate movie.
Weirdly enough, I thought the hen was a rooster (it's very hard to tell with young bantams) I named 'him' Roran. I really loved her, but sadly, she didn't make it. I babied her for a long time though.
The other roosters all got along fine. For awhile that is.
Spring came, and a war broke out in the chicken lot. For a long time, the nursery was FULL!
A couple of roosters were killed, one by another rooster, and two by a hawk?
I sold one rooster (Moony was his name)
And poor little Frizz got beat up by his straight-feathered son, Obi-wan. And after he was weakened, the other roosters started picking on him.
Frizz has been recovering ever since.
On a happier note. Frizz is looking great!
His tail feathers are finally back! He is strutting around his little pen, and crowing his little heart out.
I'm not going to move him to the chicken lot yet. I'm going to wait until our rooster population has gone down (I still have Bunny, Holly, Tonks, Obi-wan, Albus, Snowy, Eragon, M&Ms, in the chicken lot, and those are just
my roosters)I think Frizz is sweet. he never pecks me or anything, but he does tries to tear the skin off of my mom's and Quinn's hands. (Really sweet, NOT!)
He is doing better though! He is also starting to look really handsome again!
Good ol' Frizz.
Wow...this is a long post....
I'll do one with Bunny next!
I hope y'all have a great weekend!
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