My hens are all laying well now and producing some great eggs.
I decided I wanted to get a rooster and hopefully get some chicks the natural way, rather than by using an incubator.
I wanted to keep my flock 'pure' so wanted a rooster the same breed as my hens.
At the last goat association meeting I mentioned that I was looking for a "Isa Brown' rooster. I was looked at like I had two heads or something.
One lady said she had a 'Rhode Island Red" rooster that I could have. "Thanks but I am looking for a 'Isa Brown' I said.
"You want a white rooster?" said another member. "No, my hens are brown" I said.
You can have my 'Rhode Island' said the lady.
"If you want a Isa Brown Rooster it will be white" said someone else.
Anyway, someone finally caught on that I knew next to nothing about chicken breeds and told me Isa Browns are Hybrids. They are produced for eggs production...., from Rhode Island Reds!
It would be rare for a Isa Brown to sit her eggs to full term and produce chicks.
Feeling just a bit silly I told the lady with the Rhode Island Red I would love to have him join my girls.
I will be bringing the incubator out in the spring and with luck producing my own 'Isa Browns'

The monthly Vancouver Island goat association met last weekend for the AGM.
Officers were elected and the years monthly meetings planned out in rough form.
I was asked if I would be willing to talk one month about Angora goats in general and their fibre and spinning in particular.
A scary thought to say the least, especially as I am still very much a novice at all this myself. However, as I am the only one who attends the meetings that has angora goats and the only one who spins I said I would do it as a means to promote the breed.








One member at the meeting wanted to find homes for a pair of geese and a rooster.
Guess where there ended up...Yep, I now have my first ever pair of geese and a new rooster. The geese I have named Andy and Lucy and the rooster is Mr. Bo Jangles.

Do any of you use a 'Site meter' on your blog and if so is it working? Site meter is not recording anything past Jan 12th on my blog. Any suggestions?

Found a dead chicken this morning.
I was physically going out each evening and catching all the hens and placing them in the chicken coop trying to get them to roost and lay their eggs in there.
I even kept then locked in for a few days, they stopped laying altogether when I did that, even though I left a low wattage bulb burning in there to give them the required amount of light needed to lay eggs.
I let them out the day before yesterday. They all went back to their various places to lay their eggs and returned to the goat shelter to roost.
I have the live trap set and now we wait for the chicken killer.

Well must say I am not doing so great putting my goals into practice.
Trying to get oneself organized takes a lot of ...well...organizing!
I am also in bit of a slump at the moment and that is the pits at the best of times.
I see a lot of area's that need attention and in my mind I can see the well organised end result, however, putting the required effort into doing the work is more than I want to deal with right now.

On a brighter note, I am doing OK with my cutting down on my food portions. The scale tells me I have only lost one lbs but I am not discouraged by that.
My clothes seem to be fitting a bit better and I feel better, not so bloated.
When I first weighed my self, if, I had used a tape measure as well as the scale, I like to think I would be seeing an inch or two being lost.

I changed my template. What do you think. Better than the green one I was using?

We are one chicken short since last count. Now down to 15.
Not a feather in sight and I have no idea when she went missing.
I only missed her after I started going out and physically putting them in the chicken house at night.
They just are not catching on that that is where they are supposed to sleep and also where they are supposed to lay their eggs.
I go on an egg hunt daily.

I find eggs,
On top of the the bales of hay









In tree roots









In the empty rabbit cage








and sometimes in the nest box in the chicken house










sometimes all I find is empty shells

Ben, our Greyhound had his oral surgery on Tuesday.
I dropped him off at the vet at 8 00 that morning and picked him up at 4 00 in the afternoon.

When he first left the race track he needed to have 3 teeth out. After a visit to our own vet shortly after that, he had 17 more teeth removed. We were told then that the rest of his teeth were not in the best shape and would need attention in the future.
Tuesday he had 9 more teeth pulled.
He was understandably a bit groggy when I picked him up. We were told to expect bit of a bloody saliva that evening.
When the blood tinged saliva turned into all blood we knew something was wrong.
We called the vet and she told us to meet her at the clinic.
His blood wasn't clotting properly and he was hemorrhaging.
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to stop the bleeding the vet reluctantly gave him a gas anesthetic so that she could cauterize inside his mouth.
Even after that he continued to bleed through the night, thankfully by morning his blood started to clot and he is now on the road to recovery.
He has his 4 'Fangs' and 3 small teeth left. One fang will probably need pulling in the future.

Blogger seems to be having problems again. Old Blogger, New Blogger, Beta? Anyone know what is going on.?

I was having problems with my car a few months back. I swayed back and forth about fixing 'Her' or selling 'Her'.
I really liked my car and decided to put money into fixing 'Her'. I was with out my car for a couple of month. The job turned into a nightmare for the mechanic friend that was doing the work. Finally, with the help of another mechanic, my 'Girl' had a new transmission and new engine. (Well reconditioned anyway.)
Long story shortened, after a couple of days on the road 'She' started making new noises. Something was now going on with the wheels or something to do with what ever it is that makes the wheels turn. (What do I know)
So 'She' had bled me dry and with a tear in my eye she had to go.

I counted my loses and bought a small truck.
I thought it was just what I wanted. Until I took the dogs for a drive. They have a hard time getting in and out of the back. I didn't realize how much I like having them in the car with me until they had to ride alone in the back of the truck.
I have always had a car with front wheel drive, this is rear wheel and is absolutely useless in any adverse weather.
I am on the look out for another car again. This time I will try to get one similar to the one I had.

Ben is the first Greyhound that we got.
He is a rescued racer from a track in Connecticut. He is a very Handsome brindle.

When we got him he had been vet checked and had 3 teeth pulled.
His teeth were still in bad shape so we took him to our own vet who ended up pulling another 17 teeth from the poor boy.!!!
Our vet said there were a couple more teeth that would need attention in the future.
The future is now the present.
We had at the vet yesterday. His remaining teeth are looking very bad. The root is exposed on one of them and another has what looks to be an abscess. Blood work shows he has an infection in his body, almost a certainty that it would be from the abscessed tooth.
We start him on antibiotics Saturday and he goes in for surgery on Tuesday.
The cost will be close to but hopfully not more than $500.
I am glad Sam, our second rescued hound has good dental health!

JANUARY 1st 2007.

Wow. I was a child of the 60ies. How do the years fly by so fast.
I barely remember what happened in the 70ies, 80ies, and 90ies. Decades are passing in a blur. Scary!

Well, starting today I am going to make a conscious effort to monitor everything I eat.

I am not a big junk food eater so I don't have to worry about having to deprive myself of candy or cake or potato chips etc.
I just eat more than I need to, so I am going to have smaller portions on my plate and skip desert every couple of nights.
I am thinking it will be easier to cut back on how much I eat rather than cut out things that I eat.
I am not expecting to see the lbs fall off fast.
I am thinking it will work the same as gaining weight, only in reverse.
My weight gain was slow and subtle. One day I got up and my clothes had all shrank!
This time I want to wake up one day to find my clothes are all a bit big on me!

I am starting today and my weight is: 146lbs