Despite coming out of the womb at 9 lbs, I blossomed into well, a runt.

My parents coped with this by feeding “Skinny Mini” and “Bony Maroni” (my dad’s nicknames for my younger sister and I) an arteries clogging diet.

Everybody wanted to come to our house because they knew we had a huge stash of Little Debbie cakes, brownies, chips, french fries (that we “hid” in our spare oven) and that dinner would likely be pizza and cheesy bread or “Extra Value Meals” washed down with cake and ice cream.

Somehow I managed to make it out of the negative percentile in weight but still eschewed vegetables until college.

Presently, I am a vegetarian and while not militant to carnivores, I noticed a major difference in my eating habits compared to my fellow vegetarians.

Namely, I like EVERY SINGLE VEGETABLE, with the exception of pickles, which I personally don’t think counts as a vegetable ( since they are so heavily modified in the brining process).

In fact, I would go as far as to choose vegetables over fruit 9 times out of 10. Don’t get me wrong, I like fruit just fine, but there’s something about vegetables that induces an inner symphony in me.

Because of my equal opportunity attitude towards vegetables (again, we are not viewing pickles as a vegetable), I have coined myself a polygo-matarian.

So since I have made the bold assertion that I would choose veggies over fruit 9 times out of 10, tell me about your likelihood of choosing veggies over fruit and which veggies would cause you to make the leap!

Little amazings of the day:

I cant wait to make amazing gingerbread houses again. Last year I completely forgot about them, and the year before that I made them out of custard cream biscuits all stuck together with icing it was so adorable. I have just been trying to find a photo of it for about an hour… but nothing

I know I dont smoke, but if I did, it would be for these sexy pink cancer sticks! Oh yes…

I just love bright colours all mixed together. I cant seem to get enough!

And this is possibly the cutest little man I have seen in ages! Gotta get me one of these!

These are just pretty cute. Now I know what to do with all the left over champagne corks at work!

I made yet another fishfinger sandwich for lunch today, along with some extra fish fingers. I took a photo because the sandwich just looked really yummy with the sun on it, and so I could also show off my new mugs from Next. That was some good eating!

I have just purchased Snow Leopard for my Macbook Pro. Currently I am waiting for it to arrive (between 9am-5pm it says on the website) and it is in transit as I write this. It therefore has half an hour left to arrive or this has been a day sitting in waiting for something that will never show up. I know there is a postal strike, but this is coming with UPS, and only from Dartford which isnt that far away. Lets hope that it shows up by the end of this post, like Apple say it will…

If you have read my previous posts you will have noticed that I am becoming increasingly excited about certain plastic rocking chairs I keep finding in photos of peoples homes. And today… I FOUND THEM! For sale in England… Hooray! I am so excited and now I ache because I dont really have the money to afford one right now, but they are just teasing me on the website. Im not sure what the difference in quality these two chairs would be; the cheaper is made of ABS resin, and the more expensive is made of fibreglass. I would go for the cheaper option, obviously, seeing as they look the same! BUT, the cheaper version doesnt come in pink, which would be my ideal colour for this chair. So… do I lump it and get the cheaper one in a different colour, or splash out and get the pink one. Why am I even choosing when I dont have the money laying around for either! Rather annoying really… (left-cheaper/right-expense much)

Look the same to me….

I have also found out how to do finger-knitting. Its so easy! I made a metre and a half in about half an hour today, and I have it hanging over my mirror in the living room. I think I might crochet some blue/green/purple droplet shapes to hang off of it so it makes it look a bit more interesting. Pictures to come.

Yesterday I promised a photo of Pew Pew Pew, our teeny runt hamster, and here she is eating in my hand, and sleeping next to mum (so cute!) :

Well… Its nearly 5pm and no sign of my Snow Leopard delivery; I am not impressed. Just hope it comes tomorrow really! The website says it is in transit for delivery today, so I dont understand it never mind.

This evening I am going to drop off two of the baby boy hamsters with Ryan, to our mates Vawn and Lauren. I hope they have fun in their new home!

Ok time is up on this delivery! Damn them…

Jenn x

*EDIT* 5.26pm…. Snow Leopard arrives!

For once I won something!!! Im rather excited that I won a copy of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising on the Xbox 360 from the Xboxer360 forum. It also comes with a t-shirt and a torch!!! EEEeeeeEeeee…. I never win anything. I cant wait to get it and play it, as I have heard good things.

I also found some amazing fabric designs by a company called Alexander Henry. Some of them are not to my liking, but a few are amazing!

I just wish they were readily available in England

I have also been looking up some Sailor Jerry Rum merchandise… and I have to say, some of it is seriously good. It is one of my favourite drinks, and I would be so happy to own some of this. These are a few of my favourites:

The shoes are my favourite by far, but they dont have them in my size and I am gutted! I love the hip-flask so much its beautiful!

I have also been discussing tattoos with my younger sister. It makes me ache to get more whenever I look for tattoo images, even if they are not for myself. During my search I found a whole load of inspiration from sewing tattoo images. Everything about them makes me melt slightly with envy. I think I might have to encorporate a similar idea into my second sleeve design, or maybe a ’sock’ piece! (I do not know where I found most of these, if anyone has a problem with them being on here please let me know and they will be removed):

They are all so lovely!!! Argh I cant wait to get more tattoos!

Today I have been creating some blackboard calendars for myself and Ryan, I shall take photos of them when they are complete. I have also had a substantial amount of red wine tonight, along with a chicken kiev…mmmm.

On a sad note, the daughter of the first litter of Roborovski hamsters that I bred, died last night. I am unsure why this is. She wasnt miss-treated, dropped or sickly. She was actually the strongest of the three, yet she went downhill within two days. She will be sadly missed. RIP Cube3… I am wearing my Companion Cube t-shirt in memory of my dear hamster.

Ryan seems to be interacting with the new hamsters more than he ever has done I think this is due to me saying that the teeny runt baby can be his. He is always handling her now, and it is really cute to see! He has named her ‘Pew Pew Pew’… I shall take a photo of her also.

Enough for now, more tomorrow no doubt.

Jenn xxx

]]> http://quicksnaps.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/forgetfulness-shall-be-the-end-of-me/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:41:49 +0000 silvaer http://quicksnaps.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/forgetfulness-shall-be-the-end-of-me/

It can, but not this particular moment. But I really can’t believe I actually forgot to post the pictures from my camping trip! This post will be extremely long – you can scroll down as see what I mean.

So glowy...

I have enhanced pics too, but I think the first one is pretty good.

Photo Taken: August 14th, 2009.

Nice mix of colours, don't you think?

I think I should send this one to photoshop. Anyone care to fiddle with it? I may have CS4 now, but I certainly don’t know how to use it. xDD

Photo Taken: August 15th, 2009.

That, and plenty of daddy-long-legs. -laughs-

Interesting….

Photo Taken: August 15th, 2009.

Got home and it made acquaintance with the long quill nib I have.

‘Course, now I have a wood quill, and two feather quills. And a random swan feather, if you look below.

Photo Taken: August 16th, 2009.

Please read actual description below.

Okay. Vanilla with random chocolate chips, varying between actual chocolate chips and chunks of swiss chocolate. Double layered, and if you can see it, between the two layers is a filling of vanilla icing. The sides of the bottom layer is coated with the same icing. The top layer is decorated with a base of chocolate icing, and then using Sparkle’s decorator icing bag thing. xDD Ignore the random knife.

Photo Taken: August 24th, 2009.

Total of two adult swans and five cygnets.

There was one runt cygnet, and it was smaller than the others, but already had white down and feathers. I got a short, molt-feather that was damaged. Fairly clean, though.

Photo Taken: August 29th, 2009.

The hole gives it character. Nothing's perfect.

There’s plenty where that came from.

Photo Taken: August 29th, 2009.

Inspiration, you know?

Dunno what species.

Photo Taken: August 29th, 2009.

—

Blog Post:

Getting my schedule tomorrow. Going to bike there – anyone for a play date? I’m terrifically bored. Still need to go buy a few things too. Otherwise, I’m practically prepared until Grade 11. Eww. XD I forgot the rest of the things I was planning to say (the end of me, you know?), so I’ll end this 8 photo post here.

I sat around the other day, and I watched you and your friends mingle and laugh and taunt eachother in a half-joking manner and I looked at every one of their faces and I realized, they are probably the only good people left in this world.

I felt scarred.

I felt like the runt of the litter. As if I was being slighted something great because of my flaws.

I saw no flaws in them.

And I can’t help but wonder…

Why are you so lucky?

Who am I to envy? I shouldn’y be jealous, but I should take them as an example and try to look up to their actions.

But can I? Can I try to be good after the wrong I’ve done?

Why do I feel this way? I have you back, life is getting easier and more normal… what’s the problem?

The problem is… I have yet to find closure, and I’m not sure what I can do to find it. If I at least knew that, then things would be easy. You saw how persistent I was, if I found what I needed…

Why do I feel so bad? I’m not a malicious person, I’ve done more good deeds than you and I have half the time under my belt.

To fully understand that you must not sin, you have to do as many sinful things as possible.

Maybe that’s why they have confession.

Via hemfeber hittade jag det här härligt runda och miljövänliga huset som en Roger Dean har designat. Husen är drömlika och liknar hobbitarnas hus i Sagan om ringen. Hans dröm är att bygga en hel by av dem i England och han vet redan vad den ska heta … Willowater. Kan nog bli mysigt om det blir verklighet någon gång.

Jag vet inte varför jag satte mig i soffan när jag kom hem, jag vet ju att det är som att be om att bli trött. Jag hade tänkt gå direkt till gymmet men så blev jag törstig och så ledde det ena till det andra. Så nu måste jag tvinga mig själv att gå och träna trots att jag hade lust från början. Dumt det där. 

Vem kom egentligen på att man skulle börja jobba klockan sju på morgonen? Jag vet fan ingen som trivs med att börja då. Om jag bara fick börja åtta eller nio, vilken dröm. Fast då skulle jag i och för sig inte få sluta klockan tre. 

Jag hade ett pass denna vecka, sedan visade jag mig på jobbet och nu har jag tre till. Hur bra som helst för jag och T ska spara ihop pengar och dra från den här hålan. Det är planen. Jorden runt så att säga och efter det får vi se vart vi hamnar. Jag går under om det inte händer något spännande i mitt liv snart, det har T också insett så nu ska vi verkligen fixa det här.

Jag tror att det är tristessen som gör mig så deppig. Det är bättre nu när jag jobbar och gör något om dagarna, men så fort jag har för många lediga dagar så är det kört. Då sjunker jag djupt ner. Så nu ska vi göra något åt tristessen och när vi har rest så ska jag göra något åt mitt vardagsliv. Kanske gå till en sådan där coach som kan berätta för mig om alla möjliga knasiga karriärer jag skulle kunna välja. Jag älskar mitt jobb, men jag känner att jag vill lära mig mer. Jag vill veta mer om människor och hur de fungerar. Jag funderar starkt på att bli sjukgymnast, men att jag kompletterar den utbildningen med extra psykologi så jag liksom kan ta hand om hela människan. Jag får se hur jag gör. Det finns så mycket jag kan bli. Jag tröttnar aldrig på att lära mig, jag önskar bara att man fick välja vilka dagar man pluggar, så att man alltid orkade göra sitt bästa. 

Nu ska jag försöka ta mig till gymmet.

Tommy Dreamer

# Legenda rosteru ECW Tommy Dreamer wypowiedział się ostatnio dla jednej z gazet między innymi na temat TNA. Sam zainteresowany wypowiedział się bardzo ciepło o pracy Jeffa Jarett’a i Dixie Carter jako głównych zarządców i dodał że reguralnie ogląda gale TNA Impact. Czy to może oznaczać iż Tommy który póki co nie przedłużył kontraktu z WWE może wylądować w sześciokątnym ringu? Nie wykluczone, gdyż rok temu wielu fanów widziało Dreamera, na backstage’u house showu w Nowym Jorku. Więcej informacji wkrótce.

# Pojawiły się pogłoski iż wokół Samoa Joe zostanie utworzona stajnia o nazwie która Samoańczyk sam promuje czyli “Naton Of violence” i w jej skład wejdą Balls Mahoney, Brother Runt oraz… Boby Lashley

# TNA potwierdziło poprzez swoją komórkową subskrypcje dla fanów, iż Shane Sewell nie jest już częścią rosteru TNA. Kanadajczyk został również wykreślony z listy sędziów.

# SoCal Val poprowadzi Pre Show przed dzisiejszym PPV Sacrifice. Ma to być wprowadznie do nowej roli jaką będzie pełnić czyli przeprowadzania wywiadów na backstage’u tak jak jej koleżanka Lauren.

# Traci Brooks obchodzi dzisiaj 34 urodziny (choć jej profil Myspace mówi że 29). Nie ważne ile – życzymy wszystkiego najlepszego.

# Według nie oficjalnych informacji Rhaka Khan mimo szans powrotu do TNA TV – odeszła na dobre z federacji.

# Bardzo ciekawą taktykę obrało TNA co do House Show’u które ma się odbyć w najbliższym czasie w Colorado. Według oficjalnej informacji, każdy fan WWE który przyjdzie z nowym biltetem WWE do budynku gdzie odbędzie się gala TNA, dostanie $10 i bilet na show.

Oto Oficjalna karta na dzisiejsze Sacrifice PPV:

Singles match
Amazing Red vs. Kiyoshi

Singles match
Kevin Nash vs. Samoa Joe

TNA Knockout Monster’s Ball match
Daffney (with Abyss) vs. Taylor Wilde

Singles match for the TNA Women’s Knockout Championship
Angelina Love (c) vs. Awesome Kong

Tag Team match; finals in the Team 3D Invitational Tag Team Tournament
Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) vs. The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams)

Singles match for the TNA X Division Championship
Suicide (c) vs. Christopher Daniels

“I Quit” match for the TNA Legends Championship
A.J. Styles (c) vs. Booker T

Four Way Ultimate Sacrifice match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Mick Foley (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett

# Zapraszam również na odrodzone forum Polish Wrestling Zone – następce PWB. Link można odnaleść po prawej stronie bloga.

I thought that instead of my normal, extra-wordy self, I’d just upload a bunch of pictures and give them a small caption.  Sound good?  Well then, here is ”Puppies, Week One.”

This is an old video from last week.  It was taken just after the last puppy was born.  He’s the one on the left.  I don’t know if it will be clear enough, but he’s still wet.  The oldest puppy in the video is three hours old.

So far, there hasn’t really been much of a change; their eyes are still closed, ears too, and none have really started to walk yet although the puppies are getting stronger in their crawling.  About the only change is the weight gain they are undergoing.  This is the biggest guy – he seems a week ahead of everybody else – weighing in at 2lbs, 1oz.  Then there is the big female, at 1lb, 8oz, the small female at 1lb, 5oz and then the runt, the other male, at 1lb, 2oz.  We didn’t have a scale in the beginning to measure the puppies weights, so it’s difficult to quantify their growth, but it’s not hard to see.  It’s even difficult to tell which is the runt anymore, by size alone.

Speaking of runts, here he is, doing what they do best at this stage: sleeping.  But, really, if your eyes couldn’t open and you couldn’t walk, either, what would you be doing?  At first we wondered if he’d survive or not.  He seemed sort of weak and slow to feed, but now he’s pushing his way in and seems to be doing just fine.  Of the two males, I expect this is the one we’ll keep as our friend will be choosing between the two males.  I don’t mind keeping Runtley, anyway, since I bet the big male will eat a bag of food a day, if current patterns persist.

This is the big female.  She isn’t as big as the other big male, but she’s certainly bigger than the other two puppies.  Her pads and nose were pink when she was born, but already they have turned black.  It’s said that black feet are tough feet and after this winter, we could use a few dogs with tough feet.  Leedia, the mother, has nice tight black feet, so I’m hoping she’s passed it along; I never checked the father’s feet.  Coincidentally, both big puppies are kind of cream and white in colour, while the two smallest are both white. 

Hunter can’t keep her hands off the little gaffers.  She’s spent more time with them than their mother, I think.  Don’t mind Hunter’s hair: it was <<Journee Chevaux Fous>> at her school when this picture was taken.   

Here she is with Runtley, again.  We haven’t actually named them yet because we are not completely sure which male will go and we don’t want to name just two, so they are Puppies 1, 2, 3 and Runtley, unofficially.  I’m not sure what kind of names we are going to give them, but with three left, it seems sort of logical to each name a puppy.  I’m still a bit concerned we’re going to get another Triangle or Princess Milkshake from the kid.  She needs an editor, I think.

At this stage, puppies always kind of remind me of bear cubs.  They don’t really look like dogs, at least in the face.

This is the mother, Leedia.  She’s been absolutely fantastic, not just in raising her puppies, but in adjusting to being inside, too.  I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get her back outside in the dogrun when this is over, much less get her to pull a sled.  She’s had a taste of beds, couches and food on the floor.  Leedia isn’t an overly fussy mother like some dogs I’ve known.  She’ll feed her puppies and then she’ll leave them to sleep, or she’ll clean them, but she wanders around the house now and then and curls up beside us on the couch or the floor or the bed.  She’s immediately at the puppies when she hears one of them make a noise, though, and both cats and Gilligan know to stay out of the room where her puppies are or risk the consequences.

Chart Position: 20

• Todd Rundgren recorded this song as ‘Runt’ with brothers Hunt and Davey Sales
• Written by Rundgren
• Rundgren is from Upper Darby PA
• Rundgren is a former member of Nazz
• The Sales brothers are sons of comedian Soupy Sales

Har haft vår presentation och det gick bra…fick hemtentan också. Jag känner mig helt glad Den känns inte alls svår…lite klurig, typ som jag väntat mig men inte alls svår *yeey*

Sitter just nu med Malin på tåget och surrar om den…kollar lite i boken och så. Funderar på om jag ska skriva en fråga ikväll så har jag påbörjat arbetet. Sen har jag hela morgondagen på mig så då ska jag skriva minst två frågor…
Sen blir det plugg till andra tentan som är på tisdag och på onsdag ska jag skriva ytterligare två frågor. Nu ska jag bara hålla min fina planering..men det är det ju klart jag gör *pratar med mig själv*

Ska fortsätta att prata med Malin.
Känner mig inspirerad att plugga *ovanligt men härligt*

Denna helg har varit relativt lugn faktist.. Så det har varit skönt på sitt sett också ..

Fredag: Var i plugget till 11.10, då vi slutade.. Tog mig hem o tog det lugnt under eftermiddagen.. Senare vid sextiden mötte jag Marre o Danne på stan.. Det var lite olika arrangemang inför melodifestivalen.. Just för att andra chansen skulle sändas här i Linköping (Lördag).. Sen när vi kollat runt på stan tog vi oss hem till Marre o Danne för att se på “Så ska det låta”.. Olle Jönsson från Lasse Stefanz var ju med , så det kunde jag bara inte missa *ler*.. När vi sett klart på det, så vart det lite singstar karaoke med Marre o Danne.. Vid ca halv elva tiden gick jag o Marre över till Micha o var där o festade lite.. Två av hans klasskompisar Fadi o Yusim, sen även Saga var där.. Var en rätt så trevlig kväll, men jag var lite väl trött bara .. Sen satt jag o tänkte på annat som tyvärr gjorde mig lite nedstämde, men det var inte meningen att det skulle bli så.. Men det var en trevlig kväll för övrigt ..

Lördag: Sov över hos Micha tills idag.. Tog mig hemåt vid ca halv ett tiden.. Vart bara att byta om hemma innan jag begav mig hem till morsan.. Sen var jag hemma hos morsan fram till sjutiden på kvällen innan jag tog mig hem.. Sen vart det en lugn kväll.. Hela dagen var för övrigt lugn, vilket var rätt så skönt ..

Söndag: Idag har det inte hänt så mycket, har varit rätt så lugnt.. Har bara haft tvättstugan idag.. Kommer inte hända så mycket idag vad jag vet, men det är sånt som märks..

Another response to the wonderful Jacks (The Thoughtful Spaz). She has gone into the minds of her cats (not in a Silar-Heroes way) and put together an on-line dating type thing for them. It’s all in fun mind you – she’s not gone fruit loop… she does know they are not human….

I was going to answer one of her cat-ads with one from one of our lot (pics HERE and HERE for starters)- but thinking about it, none of ours would do on-line dating (I can’t believe I am even writing this entry….).

For starters, “Trouble” is far to involved in honing his Kung-Fu skills to even bother with dating.

He’s only a little thing, but one time I saw a big old crow attacking our back door cat flap… until I realised that the little kitty runt of the litter had managed to get hold of the said crows leg and was trying to pull it into the house. The bird was easily twice his size – but that’s “Trouble” for you.

I won’t even go into the time we found a roast chicken in our kitchen that wasn’t ours…..

On to “Miew“. He’s a giant of a cat. From the distance he looks sleek and normal… until he gets close. He’s still sleek, but weighs in at around 16lbs… He is a mini panther with a heavy punch!

He was totally silent when I got him as a kitten. Several hours of silence and I asked him “So what shall we call you….” to which he cocked his head and looked at me….”MIEW!“

He wouldn’t do on-line dating because it would mean doing something other than sleeping. It’s his skill…. well, that and being the cat equivalent of being a faithful Labrador!

That just leaves “Spice“. She’s way too neurotic to even think about on-line dating. Out of all of the cats, she is the most cat like though. She’s a keen huntress though – whether it is plate food or live capture – she’ll get it if she sees it. We still have no idea whose Portsmouth Goldfish this was…

So, sorry Jacks, these kitties are too wrapped up in themselves to be bothered about any other kitty! It might mean interrupting the stuff they like doing!!!

]]> http://arcadianadvocate.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/and-then-there-were-ten/ Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:33:42 +0000 arcadianadvocate http://arcadianadvocate.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/and-then-there-were-ten/

Well it is certainly time I updated the blog. 

I can hardly believe it is so long since I last wrote on here but family illness, and the all consuming world of running large farming business in the 21st Century have somehow dramatically eaten up a good few weeks without me realising.

I had a lovely few days away, unfortunately cut short by a family emergency. Since then it has been very very busy.

Yesterday, one of the gilts had her piglets, 12 were born alive, one was a runt and died leaving 11, then in the night a strong one climbed up a mini mountain of straw rucked up by the gilt and sadly fell into the water bucket. So now there are 10 and they are now doing well but are not out of the woods yet as they are so tiny and she is so large and does rather plop down in a heap every so often. They are learning to run under the heat lamp, which is behind bars, to keep them safe. It is really amusing to watch as the mother starts to get restless and tries to get up. This causes a procession of squeaky piglets, each no longer than a pencil, to turn away from their mother and start to walk in single file unsteadily to the safety of the creche. A second gilt is due to farrow at the end of the week.

It is currently very busy on the livestock side of the farm: the rams will be turned out with the ewes this week so that we lamb mid-April when the grass is good. The first batch of cattle has come into the yards and are already tucking into our home grown silage. Soon we will wean some of this year’s older calves and they will join the other young-stock in the shed.

Jethro is doing lots of calculations to work out the total stock numbers and the total feed stocks to ensure we have enough fodder to last right through to mid April. As an arable farm we are able to easily supplement the hay and silage we feed to the cattle with home grown rolled barley and straw. However, Jethro does this scientifically and weighs the animals regularly. Our beef is slow matured so we are only looking for continuous growth and gradual weight gain in the winter so the animals are ready to grow on well with next year’s grass.

Emmett’s hands, and the new babies.

It has been a challenging week with the chickens. Quick update on the survivors: Hope’s doing really well. She’s now sufficiently recovered so as to utterly hate spending time in her “infirmary,” a little cardboard box with food, a hot pad, and medicated water (i.e., water with antibiotics dissolved into it.) She spent the first twenty-four hours in there, but after that had perked up enough to spend nights with her sisters — which helped keep her warm, and also kept her spirits up. Now I only keep her in the infirmary (to drink a little antibiotics, to prevent infection) in the mornings. She’s clearly ready to be done with the hospital: As soon as I walk into the room, she starts cheeping to get out, and the moment I open the roof she flies out of the little box.

The other survivor, a Rhode Island Red, hasn’t missed a beat. She scrabbles and fights for her share of the treats — current favorites are wormy sweet corn and melon rinds — with the rest of the flock. At the moment, she, Hope, and the rest of the older ladies are outside on the lawn in a makeshift run — a dresser that has been partially taken apart and placed on its side with a screen on top. (We got the dresser for $5 at the dump, to make farmer’s market display boxes out of the drawers — so our $5 has really gone a long way.) The chicks are within my eyesight, and they’ll come in before dark. They really enjoy scratching in the grass and sunning themselves, and I really enjoy the fact that they’re pooping in the grass (and not the litter that I have to constantly change.)
And now, the new chicks. Apparently we got lucky the first time around — absolutely zero problems with any of the chicks (until, of course, the final catastrophe). This time, after the very first night, I found one fluffy little yellow Leghorn dead in the morning. We have NO idea why — I had woken up in the middle of the night, and checked on them: everybody seemed fine, not too huddled together, some sleeping and some eating, as usual.

Still, we wondered if maybe the temperature wasn’t 100% right — it was a month later than our last batch, after all, and the ambient air temperature had decreased twenty degrees in that time. Perhaps the lamp wasn’t warm enough to combat that additional cold? So we moved them inside, into their own little room, away from Jasper the cat and in a warm, draft-free spot.

I thought that would be enough chicken-trauma for one week. But then, two nights ago, one tiny little bird broke her leg. I’m not sure if it was a stampede that broke her leg, or if her leg was broken beforehand, and that weakened her, causing her to flip on her back — all I know is, all of the chicks were huddled on one end of the brooder (avoiding the scary poop-cleaning hand), and I noticed that one was on her back with her feet up in the air, jammed inbetween all the other chicks.

I shooed them away; the little ruddy Rhode Island Red chick got up and limped across the brooder towards me, breaking my heart a little with each pathetic step.

Now, in this group of birds, we have two obvious runts. Broke-leg is one; another, who seems to be doing fine, came to us with one side completely… well, pasted. As in, one side of her body was fluffy, and one side wasn’t — like her yolk sac had perhaps ruptured onto her, which would explain both her stuck-together feathers and her small size.

That was the one I was worried about. And then this one went and broke her leg. Which means there are two worrisome chicks, and I do not feel like losing anybody else this week!

Broke-leg (aka “Gimpy” — if you have a more PC/sweeter-sounding name for this little girl, do comment and let me know, because I feel sort of bad referring to her as Gimpy) is now in a tissue box. She has to be inside the brooder, because we only have one heat lamp — but she can’t be in contact with the rest of the chicks, because they’ll mow right over her. (Since she suffered her injury on day two, her growth seems to have slowed dramatically; she was small to begin with, and she remains about two-thirds the size of most of the chicks — and she’s not very mobile, either.)

And so it came to pass that we put her in a tissue box, inside the brooder, with bottlecaps for food and water. The water has to be refilled constantly, since the small liquid volume evaporates out fairly quickly beneath the heat lamp’s warm glow. Stumbling into the chick-room at 3 a.m. this morning to refill her water, I felt like the overseer of some strange dollhouse infirmary — how big my fingers seem, and how clumsy when I try to place the water in the bottom of the tissue box without spilling any.

The final miniaturized touch: this morning, after finally identifying the location of the break (we think), I held Gimpy upside down while Emmett put a splint on the hurt leg. First, he wrapped an infinitesimally tiny piece of gauze around the leg, so tape wouldn’t stick to it. Then, he placed half a toothpick on either side of the leg, and wrapped medical tape around the gauze/toothpick combo. Finally, we trimmed the toothpick a bit more so that it wouldn’t press into her toes. She can still hobble around with the splint on, but hopefully this will keep some of the pressure off the break so that it can heal more quickly.

To sum up: when it comes to chickens, it seems that anything can go wrong, at any time — and if you’re a softie like me, it means you’d better be prepared for a bit of an emotional rollercoaster…

Below: the “pasty” runt chick, who has gotten a bit better and less pasty-looking each day.

Tipsy

Tipsy has a drinking problem. It’s getting better now, but when we first noticed it (at about 2 days of age), we were a little concerned. Would she survive with such a severe behavioral defect? Would it compromise her ability to function like a normal chicken, especially in stressful situations where quick reflexes are needed?

I’m not giving my chickens beer, I promise… Tipsy just appears to be a little bit “special.” While all the other chicks quickly learned to sip a bit of water and tilt their heads back just a smidge to swallow, Tipsy would take a sip, sit back on her haunches (do chickens have haunches?), tip her head WAAAAY back over her back until she was looking backwards, and swallow that way. Except that half the time she lost her balance and fell over onto her back, causing a big commotion because she’d have to scramble and flap wildly to get herself upright again, inevitably disturbing some other chick’s peaceful moment.

At first we laughed heartily at this, thinking she’d figure it out in an hour or two. Then a day or two. She didn’t. This went on for days, and when I tried to gauge the normalcy of this behavior by asking more experienced “chicken people” about it, they frowned and said “that doesn’t sound right.” Great. It so happened that Tipsy was also significantly smaller than the other chicks. I decided she was a runt, and instantly felt something between despair for her and anger at the hatchery that would pick out a runt and ship it to me. Conventional wisdom dictates that runts won’t make it, and it’s better to put them out of their misery right away than let them suffer the overwhelming cruelties of life.

But after a bit of thought, I realized that if someone had to inherit a runt, it may as well be me. Here in her spacious run, with only 4 other chickens to contend with and plenty of daily personal attention (not to mention food), she could be as special as she wanted or needed to be, truthfully. And she is just too cute. Besides, I was a runt of sorts when I was younger. I know what it means to be smaller and skinnier than the other kids, and to be picked on endlessly because of it. I turned out ok. So I resigned myself to the fact that I have a runt, and resolved to pay special attention to her.

Well, she doesn’t really need it. Tipsy is tipping less, though I still catch her doing it once in a while. She’s still smaller than the others, with lots of fluff left and not much of a tail while the others are practically 100% feathered out by now. But this is one quick, tenacious little chicken. She chases down bugs with total precision, and often is the first to jump up and snatch a treat out of my fingers and take off with it (though her ensuing high-decibel, excited cheeping gets her in trouble immediately and she usually loses the prize). She protests vocally when pushed around, so I can’t be convinced that she’s on the bottom of any emerging pecking order. I think this girl is a survivor.

Tipsy is a Buckeye, a ‘critically endangered’ rare breed of chicken developed in Ohio (where else) long ago by an enterprising woman who wanted a docile, cold tolerant egg laying breed. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy describes Buckeyes as having “a personality all their own. They are a very active fowl and are noted for being especially vigilant in the pursuit of mice, some breeders comparing them to cats in regard to this ability. They tend to have very little fear of humans and are possibly too friendly.” Well, little Tipsy is quite fearful at this stage in her life. Perhaps she’ll grow out of it, but she screams bloody murder when I try to turn the light out, so the girls are still sleeping with a lamp on at night which I guess is normal for now. She’s flighty and the least easy to handle, screaming bloody murder (again) when caught. But as with all chicks, her personality is evolving quickly. She is eyeing my lap more curiously, and she steps readily into an open hand – just fights like a banshee when grabbed. It’s truly impossible to contain her and I end up carrying her perched on my hand and flapping rather than ensconced in any secure way. Her agility when chasing bugs makes me think that the bit about catching mice may yet turn out to be true, and quite handy too because we have those now, after the resident cats moved out a few months ago. The only thing I doubt is that she will be six and a half pounds. But we shall see. She’s certainly proved herself to be a unique and uniquely keep-able girl.

Tipsy at one week of age; a tiny, dainty little thing.

Tipsy is the smaller yellow chick with the brown spot on her head.

Miss Tipsy at 4 weeks of age, about a week ago. She's getting browner.

Årets Siljan Runt fick ett tråkigt slut för min del, en punktering i Mora förstörde dagen. Blev att cykla “själv” i ca 10 mil. Inte direkt vad jag hoppats på. Ska man försöka hitta något positivt med dagen så var det att benen var pigga och hade inga problem i det höga tempot. I början pendlade hastigheten på mellan 40 och 50 km/h mest hela tiden och det var en rejäl klunga som ville åka fort idag.

Det hade varit kul och se om jag hade hängt med hela vägen in i mål, de snabbaste körde på en tid av 3.53 vilket hade varit trevligt att klara av. Målet var 4 timmar och hade varit möjligt utan punktering(körde ner i ett stort hål med framhjulet, tack för att ni varnar för hål i vägen!). Måste bara tacka Björn E’s föräldrar som langade vätska och hade extrahjul med sig i bilen. Enda problemet med extrahjulen var att det saknade en hel del luft så det var lite svampigt att cykla. Men men, det gjorde inte så mycket då jag redan var avhängd.

Nu är det bara att ladda inför Solleröloppet om två veckor där jag hoppas kunna hänga med uppför backarna i Skeer. Eftersom backar inte är min starka sida så gäller det att ha en riktigt bra dag för att det ska gå vägen!

Idag var jag rätt sliten hade lite känningar i halsen och allmänt trött, så idag fick det bli vila och rengörning av cykeln inför helgens Siljan Runt. Får se om det blir lite lugn cykling imorgon för att ha så pigga ben som möjligt på lördag.

Målet med Siljan Runt blir givetvis att köra under 4 timmar på de 16 milen. Förra året hade vi runt 4.15 på nästan 1 mil längre så 4 timmar borde gå att fixa i år! Får se till att hålla lite tempo i början där det ofta kan gå relativt långsamt. Sen gäller det att vara så pigg som möjligt de sista milen från Leksand till Sollerön. Av någon konstig anledning går det jävligt fort den biten. Det i kombination med att man stoppat i sig för lite käk och druckit för lite brukar innebära rätt mycke pest och pina. Förra året krampade båda benen helt och hållet i sista backen upp mot Sollerön. Det var inte så bekvämt, så i år är målet att dricka så mycket och ofta jag bara kan. Skulle vara kul att känna sig fräsch hela vägen!

Satyricon – K.I.N.G

I was driving towards Ashland in northwestern Wisconsin on highway 112.  Just over the white river dam I was surprised to see a large black bear cross the road, followed by two large cubs. Then out of the brush, about 20 seconds behind came a third cub, about half the size of the first two, but running as hard as it could to catch up with the rest.

I was a teacher at Ashland High School and one of my fellow teachers had a bear club. He taught science and would take students in his Bear club out to monitor bear dens in the late winter. They would take out the mother bear and cubs and weigh them. Then they would collect other data on them. I asked about bears and three cubs. He said it wasn’t to rare for a bear to have three cubs, but that seldom did all three survive. The common number was two; or one cub to make it to yearling status. I told him about the three I has seen and where. He said he remember checking a den near there and that there were three cubs. Two had been right by the mother nursing, and the third; kind of pushed off in the corner. But when they went to weigh it, it showed a lot of life and toughness. It was a female and he had named her after his daughter; Emily. When they finished tagging and weighing the bears, they put them back in the den. The teacher watched for awhile to make sure all the bears came to alright. As they did come to, they adjusted rapidly and the last he saw; Emily was pushing her way right in there between her two brothers to nurse.

Well the members of the club and the teacher kept an ear open for any reports on a mother bear and three cubs around the white river. In late June a trout fisherman told of watching a mother bear and three cubs crossing the river. There had been a lot of rain and the river was flowing fast. The mother swam right across and the two larger cubs jumped right in and made it across with only slight problems with the current. The runt dove in and was swept down stream. He watched it bounce off rocks and even go under for a short bit of time. Finally, with great effort, it made it across the river. Then shaking it self off; come running back up stream along the bank. The mother and bigger cubs were eating on a road killed dear. Emily arrived and muscled her way right in there to get her share of food.

That fall some bear hunter reported an encounter with a large mother bear and three cubs. The bear hounds had pursued then out of the woods and across a large field. Once across the mother sent the cubs up a tree. The larger cubs went right up but as usual Emily was behind. The hounds were right on her trail so as she came up to her mother the big bear took one swat with her paw and rolled Emily right over to the nearest tree. Emil regained her senses and scrambled up the tree. Them mother took care of the dogs until the hunters came and collected the dogs. They didn’t want to mess with a mother bear and three cubs.

In late fall a hiker reported seeing a mother bear and three cubs. The cubs were all playing in a small meadow. The bigger two were rough on the runt, but Emily had learned to use her quickness and was holding her own in the scuffles of life. That winter the bigger two cubs had to den on their own; but Emily stayed one more winter with her mother. No reports came in the next summer and it was one year later and the club was checking dens again in the White River area. They came on a den with one mother bear and one small cub. The mother had the cub right up next to her with one leg around the cub. Upon further examination they found her old tag and it was Emily. She was making sure her cub got all the attention that she had missed when she was born.

With bear cubs and in life, many things are not fair or just. The ones that make it are not always the bigger, stronger,or faster ones. Sometimes the ones with the most determination and heart; like Emily, are the one that go on and do well. For you see Emily never gave up or felt sorry for herself. She just kept giving it all she had and faced life with determination and the will power to never accept defeat. A lesson from a little runt bear cub that should give hope and inspiration to all of us.

Har snöat in på tester… Tester av alla de slag. Det hela började med att jag blev tipsad av en kompis som också bloggar om testportalen en sida med en massa roliga test. Och sen har jag suttit och gjort alla de testen och sen googlat mig runt till andra testsidor och gjort de testen.

Pust!

Det är verkligen jobbgit, särskilt som jag har en ovana att lätt snöa in på saker som ni som känner mig kanske vet…

Jaja, ska nog dra något mera test. Kanske ett emo test? Jo det får det bli!