Ducklings and dog tails.

I got my ducklings out of my office and into their duck house. I'm really pleased that they walk up and down the little ramp and don't try to hide under the duck house.


I made them feel at home by making them their favorite treat, a chopped lettuce drink.


They are quick learners and go into the duck house at night where I lock them in. When they are bigger they will be allowed out to go where they please.


We have a hen that was beaten up last year by the other hens. Poor thing was a bloody mess and her eye was damaged. She will not sleep with the other hens now and has been using the duck house to sleep in. Her mere presence scared the duckings and I was worried they would panic and get caught in the wire or hide, so I'm trying to train her to sleep in a dog kennel next to the duck run. Because this hen hasn't been locked up at night she is out and about from dawn till dusk. She waits at the back door every morning and follows me around when I garden. I've never told her this but she's a nuisance, she's raked my flower beds up and made a huge mess of things. I've called her Henrietta and she's a darling.

Henrietta looks at me with her good eye.


She walks in circles around little Blondie who acts nonchalant.


Muffin has more pride than to let herself be stalked by a bird and gets to high ground when Henrietta comes near her.


Blondie has something that has caught Henrietta's eye.



Here's a closer view of Blondie's face as she keeps an eye on Henrietta.


It turns out that Henrietta thought Blondie's tail looked like the worm every chicken dreams about.


No tails were lost or injured in the making of this blog....Blondie can run fast.

The big clean up.

Clean up on aisle 7!


This was just the tip of the iceberg. Echo's corrals haven't been cleaned out since last year and he's been piling up a mountain of poop in the corner of both corrals. Brad brought in the big guns to do a clean up. The equipment was too big to get into the other corral so he took some boards and a post down. To my surprise, Echo left his pile of hay and walked through the gap into the other corral. I put him in a small pen so he wouldn't step on the boards with nails in them.

Brad had to open the green gate into the pasture so he could drag Mount Poop out. Despite all the heavy equipment action, Wildairo ran in dodging around the tractor. I locked him up next to Echo.


It didn't take Wildairo long to realize he was missing his comfort cow.




Wildairo started whinnying in his ridiculous little filly whinny and of course Dandylyons ran the gauntlet to obey him, only stopping for a mouth full of Echo's abandoned hay pile.



The gangs all here.


Sparkle pulls on my coat through the fence. She wants to be a comfort cow as well.


The whole time Bobby has got herself trapped between the boards and some irrigation pipe. She gets herself into these pickles on a regular basis, almost daily, and has to be 'rescued'.


Suddenly it occurred to Dandylyons that the young thug who's been bossing her around is in jail.


We go off and have ourselves a good time with various hair brushes. Dandylyons had dirt embedded thick on her back where she's been pawing up dirt with her front hooves all winter. She loves a good brushing in the Spring. She hasn't had a calf since 1996 and won't ever again. She is a terrible mother and besides she fights with the bulls when they try something. Dandylyons is a good sized cow and the bulls we get every year are very young and she can easily beat them up. Dandylyons is not a normal cow and it's my fault for over-bonding with her as a baby.


Meanwhile the boys in pens have a bit of jailhouse fun. You can see Wildairo is almost a hand taller than Echo. They are standing on level ground.




Wildairo couldn't believe Echo was still wearing his halter, he'd pulled his off months ago so he grabbed on to Echo's halter and tried to pull it off.

Health care reform.

My youngest son, William is going to university in England and loves it there so much he has become a British citizen and plans to live there for the rest of his life. As you know I was born and raised in England and when I talk of home I'm referring to England. I really miss England and it's my dream to one day move home again.

A few weeks ago William called me at 4:30 am his time, to tell me he was very ill. I started to panic as I worried how he'd get to medical help. I don't think his housemates, all fellow students, had transportation. I went over his symptoms with him and was worried he may have appendicitis, maybe food poisoning or hopefully just a flu virus. Then I remembered my darling boy was in England and thankfully, he was in a country where they care about a persons health and well being no matter their income, age or nationality. I told him to call someone at the NHS. In Great Britain the National Health Service (NHS) is the 'single-payer publicly funded health care system everyone is entitled to no matter who they are.

William called the NHS and was informed by a nice lady that doctor would called him shortly. She also told him the doctor may come to his house if needed and if necessary drive him to a hospital. A short while later a doctor called him and listened carefully to him symptoms and informed him he had the nasty 24 hour flu that was dropping students like flies all over his university campus. He gave him advice on how to make himself more comfortable while he rode it out. It turned out most of the students he knew had it or were recovering from it.

William also has walked in off the street when he needed to see a doctor there and the wait for an appointment was 10 Minutes. No one is ever billed.

Meanwhile back in America; the anti-reform protesters, who formally called themselves Teabaggers now calling themselves Teapartiers, spat on Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver and called Democratic Representative John Lewis a nigger...fifteen times. Both Reps are black and John Lewis was a friend of Martin Luther King. They yelled sexual slurs at Democratic Rep Barney Frank, calling him a homo communist, just because these wonderful men voted for health care reform. These same anti reformers threw dollar bills and yelled 'get a job' and worse to a man with Parkinson's disease. This man they tormented and mocked is a former nuclear engineer with a doctorate from Cornell University who has had Parkinson's disease for fifteen years.

I am first reminded of the grown men and women who yelled nigger and spat at the little black girls who were being escorted into a formally all white school and I'm reminded of centuries ugliness I had always hoped was part of America's past but no, evil still walks among us.

I have lived in a country which has what the teabaggers like to called 'socialized medicine' and I have lived for many years here and so I am qualified to judge the two systems and I think even with insurance coverage, America's health care is awful. My family and I have received shoddy careless treatment. (With a few exceptions including my surgeon who fought for me against the greedy insurance company, Blue Cross, and gave me back the ability to walk again).

I cannot talk to my doctor on the phone. I've tried. I have a rare form of sarcoidosis and when I needed help between my 3-4 month apart appointments I asked my doctor for help and all I got was a call from a girl in the office who talked about my RA!!!! I don't have rheumatoid arthritis, I never had it...ever. I was not allowed to talk to my doctor on the phone. Why do I always feel like I have to fight to get the help I need in America despite having insurance.

This step towards some kind of reform is a pathetic one, but at least it's a step in the right direction. It has also exposed the thousands of people in America who are willfully ignorant and can be whipped up into a angry mob by the Republican leaders who tell them lies to scare them..... forced euthanasia being one of them.

Not one Republican Congressman voted for reform. All of you animal lovers who cry 'animal neglect' because someone is not seeking veterinary treatment for a sick or injured animal like you think they should, why don't you ask if the humans in that household are able to pay for a physician for themselves when they are ill. How about crying about human neglect as well! Oftentimes in America getting medical treatment means going bankrupt or ending up homeless.

My sons and granddaughter and daughter in law will be okay. My parents and other family members are well taken care of because they are in England. Thank goodness for Socialized heath care.

By the way. In our district we have a very evil hearted, dumb as a rock, Republican congresswoman called Cathy McMorris Rodgers. A few years ago she gave birth to a baby boy with severe health problems including Down's Syndrome. He needed surgery immediately in order to live. The little boy is getting the best health care, surgery and on going therapy American has to offer. McMorris Rodgers has bragged in her press releases how proud she is that she can carefully choose his treatments and she wants all Americans to have those choices. WHAT! We are paying for her little boy to have the best health care treatment because she has the same government health care she votes to deprive us of. The kind of treatment her son has received and will receive for the rest of his life would bankrupt many if not most American families.

Well I had to get that off my chest. I feel better now. Tomorrow find out why Dandylyons has this smug look on her face.

Happy Ducks

My ducklings are really growing. I had to put them in a bigger container so I borrowed Echo's hay tub. I put it in my office so I can sit next to them and talk to them, they answer back. They really peep like crazy when I leave and try to follow so I leave them with fresh water to play in.


The tub is raised at one end to keep their bedding dry. Ducks are very messy. They love to play in water and quickly make a mess. They love it when I chop some lettuce and put it in their water. They are like children with ice cream and cake at a birthday party! But unlike (most) human children, one of them has to jump right in the middle of the fun and poop.




One of them has a pink spot on the end of it's bill and I think that one is a girl because the other seems protective of her.

When they get tired they walk 'uphill' and take a nap.

Levin's big day.

I had a surprise when I went to see the cows Sunday morning. Our boss cow, Levin had twins.


She's never had twins before. I called for Brad to come and check them out. They hadn't stood up yet and I was worried because we had a twin last year that had something wrong with her and she never did manage to stand.

I picked grass for Levin and put it in my sweater. Levin was born tame and has always eaten out of our hands.


She got her nose in my sweater and ate it all. As I was bending over picking up the spilled grass and she wrapped her tongue around my hair and tried to eat it. Later on when I was bent down talking to our heifer Sparkle, she also got her tongue around my hair and tasted it. Personally I think when cattle start eating your hair it's time for a new hair conditioner.


Brad checked to see if the calves could stand. Levin told him he was doing it all wrong.


And so she showed him how it's done.


Levin showed how you're supposed to kiss them and talk in quiet little moos.


"There, that's how the pros do it", Levin said.


Brad gave the twins some shots and put Levin in the chute so both calves could get an equal amount of colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk a mother has. It's a natural immune system enhancer and is essential.


If you look closely you can see the little calf.


A little door is removed and the calf can get to the udder. Levin acts like she does this everyday and is very calm. I gave her some more grass which she enjoyed.


Then Levin was let out so the other calf could suck on the other side.


The first calf fell fast asleep after his first meal.


Success! Wildairo was eyeballing them through the boards.


Brad had to carry this sleepy little fellow out to catch up with his brother and mum. And it looks like Brad is putting his animal science degree from WSU to good use....haha.

Bath time for duckies.

When I'm not out annoying the cattle and horses I always seem to manage to find other pets to bother indoors.

Bath time for my darling ducks.


Tips for bathing baby ducks; make sure the water is not cold. No matter how much fun they are having don't let them stay in the bath too long because they get water logged after awhile.


Dry them off a bit with paper towels and then let them finish the job.




Keep them somewhere warm till they start to grow feathers and they'll love you for it.

My ducks are mallards and later this year they will be flying. I love ducks and and bought my first ducks almost 30 years. These two are the sweetest I've ever known and have really bonded with me. When I let them on my desk they will both run up one of my arms then go peep peep peep for each other. They meet up at the back of my neck tangled in my hair, lol.

I gave them a little bowl of water to play in and they had a jolly time taking turns leaping out of the water and right onto my keyboard. That game was soon brought to an stop and a safer game was found for the little darlings.

A bit of a fight and much progress.

Echo and I made big progress Sunday and it was fun. First of all I have to go back to the day before. I'd been working with Echo all week on standing still and letting me touch him. I finally stopped him from trying to hold me off with his nose. Saturday I wanted to show off to Brad. We did our routine where he stands still (not held) as I go from one side to the other rubbing his neck and Echo stands staring straight ahead. Brad thought it was impressed that every time he started to look at me I'd say, "Eyes front"! and he'd snap back to attention. Then Brad asked why he was looking so weird and he did look weird. His neck was vertical and his nose was up. I remembered where I'd seen that face before.......it was his fighting face.


Silly boy thought he couldn't go wrong if he kept his nose higher than mine. I fixed him though. I'd rub his neck and withers then walk backwards away from him which threw him off guard. He'd perk his ears forwards and follow me then I'd go back to touching him. After awhile he forgot about putting his fighting face on and started to relax and enjoy himself.

Sunday I asked Brad to help me get Echo over his refusal to be lead through gates problem.

Here they are eagerly awaiting orders.


I had him lead Echo through the gates as I walked behind. Echo is great as long as someone is somewhere behind him.






After we did it lots of times I took over leading him and Brad walked behind. He was doing so well I asked Brad to go outside the corrals and when I tried to lead Echo alone through the gate he put his brakes on and I got mad. Every time I get mad we make huge progress. I made him back up fast and the lead rope touched him...yes, it just touched him and he spun around and took off. I hung on as long as I could and I was catapulted into the boards. I went after him with my fighting face on and he knew he was in trouble. I picked up his lead rope and tossed it at his legs and boy it was like he was getting the beating of his life the way he acted. I tossed the rope at him several times and he became unglued. He ran out of the corral as fast as he could and skidded sideways into the boards. Good job they are sturdy and flat. In the big corral I tried to make him move around dragging the rope. He's scared of the rope and kept coming to me wanting me to take control of it. He was so scared that I cuddled him and calmed him down. We had a long talk and then attempted the dreaded gateways again.

This time we did it different. I led Echo through the gates I held him very close with my arm under his head and we had no refusals. Clear round every time!

After we'd been though lots of times he got lots of praise and I put my arm over his back for the first time and touched him beyond his hips. He was loving the attention and praise after our big fight. One day soon he's going to be a very solid little horse.