Farm News 02-05-06
Sunday morning, after chores
The Pond
The pond is quite pretty now, although the dam is a ruin. The downstream side of the dam is all gullied and eroded from the ten inch rain last year. The pond, though, is a pretty sea green color with pale green moss growing on all the weed stalks and sticks remaining in the water. The water is clear enough to see four feet or more down through it.
A friend who has a small pond stocked it some years ago with grass carp to control the moss. Now he has very little moss and seven grass carp that are each about 30 inches long. He calls them his submarine fleet. I think this pond might benefit from a submarine fleet, also.
No fish have shown themselves but there are probably a few in there. The storm that damaged the dam probably washed some fish down from the next pond upstream. The head of the stream is about a quarter mile north where a good spring feeds a nice pond. All of the watershed for the stream is pasture so the stream stays relatively clean. In addition, there is a marshy area with lots of cattails and willows between the two ponds that cleans the water.
I need to come up with a small boat, a little duck boat or something that a kid can row around the pond. Maybe I could handle that. There isn't room for anything much larger. The pond is long and narrow and, at the upper end, choked with fallen trees.
Which will I see first this spring: a fish, a tadpole, or a turtle? One of the minnow huggers might know. The last time I filled the pond it filled with an incredibly dense population of bullfrog tadpoles the first spring. Perhaps it is time to delve into limnology. Googling the expression “new pond”, in quotes, produced 73,000 hits.
Ducks Hear Joke, Quack Up
Adult male ducks have deep, fairly quiet, voices. Adult female ducks, especially in the spring, have loud voices that sound like crazy laughing. Four of the young ducks in the barn are females and have started their laughing. If I time it right I can sometimes tell them a joke and then they all laugh. Makes me feel like a great comedian.
What do you get when you cross a duck and a kettle? A quackpot!
Why do ducks hate to get mail? They always have bills.
And, they love this one:
What do you call a person who keeps ducks? A bill collector.
Why do ducks dislike sidewalks? They're afraid they'll step on a quack.
Rabbit Pregnancies (?)
Twice I have put the black doe in with the buck and both times she refused to stand, i.e. mate, with him. The other doe, a bit spotted one, looks like a buck. She has a square, short nose that looks like it belongs on a buck. Today I tried the acid test and put her in with the buck. She stood for him and they mated. I cannot remember the gestation period for rabbits.
So, I googled it, (actually, I used Ask, which gave me the answer on the second line), and found that the period is 29 to 35 days. If I count correctly, a brave assumption, then she will be due the week of March 4th.
This is all very important to me because I have two appointments scheduled with the cardiologist, one for an echo cardiogram, whatever the hell that is, and the other for an annual followup. The echo appointment is for 2/23 and the followup for 3/7. Anyone with experience knows that cardiologists are dangerous and that one should take a rabbit along for protection whenever making a visit to a cardiologist's office.
The question is, “when will the bunnies be born?” The spotted doe will kindle (have bunnies) after March 4. The bunnies will be ready to travel to town 11 days later: they will have their eyes open and be moving around and friendly. Actually, they can travel to town at about 8 days of age, but their eyes are still closed and all they do is lie there, mostly.
The black doe came here on January 7, supposedly pregnant. That means that she should kindle within the next 6 days at the latest. If she has bunnies then they will be old enough for the 2/23 echo date, but too old by 3/7. It looks to me like I need to find a doe who was bred last week in order to have bunnies for the 3/7 appointment.
On March 7 I meet with the great man himself, the cardiologist. The echo cardiogram will be much more fun because it will be done by a lot of younger, more interesting, people, most of them pretty females, probably. Bunnies know how to handle these sorts of people.
Defending against physicians is difficult. A real person, looking at a 10 day old bunny, will say, “Ahh,” and immediately want to pick it up. A physician, in the same situation, will say, “Careful,” seeing not a bunny but a lump of potential bacterial and fungal infections. They put a special spray on the air filters in teaching hospitals to produce this type of response.
Because it is late winter there is little of interest to write about in the country, so I will be keeping you informed of what happens with the cardiologist for a while. Bear with me, please.
GrandNephew
Let's see, by proper genealogical reckoning, Jeff is my cousin's grandson, thus making him my first cousin twice removed. I prefer to consider him a GrandNephew, it just feels right. Anyway, he is about 14 and he has an opportunity to take a tour group to Europe. I am a fervent believer in the proposition that all 14 year old kids should have an opportunity to travel to a foreign country, preferably one on another continent. Jeff has been 'selected to be a member of a People to People tour of England and France', an opportunity which, for only $5,000, will allow him to go to Europe. I'd like to see him go, he's a good kid and I think it will help him be a better citizen. But I think that he could go for a lot less money, have more fun, and have a better story when he gets home.
For a 14 year old, the primary factor in the cost of a trip to Europe is the intelligence of the traveler. The early-teen traveler who understands the basics of personal security and knows enough not to get drunk in a foreign country can usually get by with minimal adult supervision, which can save some money; the big savings, though, come to the traveler who knows how to plan a trip. If you can build your itinerary here, complete with reservations for lodging when needed, and you are a teenager, you can go to Europe, have fun, and come back without regrets for less than $3,000.
The first skill necessary for planning is writing. The traveler needs to know how to write thank you notes to the people who sent money to help with the trip. A thank you note improves the chances or your getting another donation for another trip. You need to be able to use the Web to plan your transportation, find lodging, make reservations, and then write ahead for confirmations. You look like you know what you are doing if everyone expects you when you show up.
Traveling alone is possible but it's a lot more fun if you are with a friend or two. Purchase a Eurail pass, live out of your backpacks, sleep on the trains, and eat bread and cheese. Before you go learn how to say yes, no, thank you, please, and, where is the bathroom in French and German. That will probably keep you out of serious trouble. Learn the exchange rates before you go so you know how much you are paying for things.
When on the train try to attach yourselves to families with younger kids. Read to the kids, play with them, and generally make yourselves useful. Their parents will help you find your way and stay out of trouble.
If no one else jumps in to add helpful hints for teen travelers, I'll try to add more soon. Dear daughter, you went to Europe at age 14, what do you think?2-05 -
Ting's Elevator
Ting and 'Fro, the two Polish Crested chickens, are astonishingly stupid at first view, but seem to succeed quite well in a complex world. 'Fro is the chicken house rooster: the big tough guy who stays with the layer flock and protects them from predators. In other words, he's a 'good' pimp. Ting is a barn resident, overly endowed with Dodo genes.
Ting likes to roost on a step ladder, fourth step up from the bottom, that hangs by the place where I feed the ducks. She has figured out that she can jump onto my arm as I come up to feed the ducks and then ride down to the ground, landing right beside the duck feed, which she likes. On the way down she has an opportunity to poop on my arm, or down the front of my coat, or on my shoe.
Ting's Doctor
Ting's favorite veterinarian, Dr. M., has passed her boards. She has a bit of internship time left, and graduation ceremonies, and then she will be a fully-fledged veterinarian, capable of flying on her own. Ting sends her congratulations and a peck on the ankle.
Book Review
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke, ended about halfway down page 782, leaving Drusilla no wiser than she was when I began reading it to her. The woman who recommended the book, a middle-aged relative, is apparently influenced by spiritualism and magical claptrap, but Drusilla is entirely too practical to care about such things. Eating bugs and laying eggs are more interesting to Drusilla. As for me, I prefer cowboy stories, unless the cowboys start acting like queers.
The Pond
The pond is quite pretty now, although the dam is a ruin. The downstream side of the dam is all gullied and eroded from the ten inch rain last year. The pond, though, is a pretty sea green color with pale green moss growing on all the weed stalks and sticks remaining in the water. The water is clear enough to see four feet or more down through it.
A friend who has a small pond stocked it some years ago with grass carp to control the moss. Now he has very little moss and seven grass carp that are each about 30 inches long. He calls them his submarine fleet. I think this pond might benefit from a submarine fleet, also.
No fish have shown themselves but there are probably a few in there. The storm that damaged the dam probably washed some fish down from the next pond upstream. The head of the stream is about a quarter mile north where a good spring feeds a nice pond. All of the watershed for the stream is pasture so the stream stays relatively clean. In addition, there is a marshy area with lots of cattails and willows between the two ponds that cleans the water.
I need to come up with a small boat, a little duck boat or something that a kid can row around the pond. Maybe I could handle that. There isn't room for anything much larger. The pond is long and narrow and, at the upper end, choked with fallen trees.
Which will I see first this spring: a fish, a tadpole, or a turtle? One of the minnow huggers might know. The last time I filled the pond it filled with an incredibly dense population of bullfrog tadpoles the first spring. Perhaps it is time to delve into limnology. Googling the expression “new pond”, in quotes, produced 73,000 hits.
Ducks Hear Joke, Quack Up
Adult male ducks have deep, fairly quiet, voices. Adult female ducks, especially in the spring, have loud voices that sound like crazy laughing. Four of the young ducks in the barn are females and have started their laughing. If I time it right I can sometimes tell them a joke and then they all laugh. Makes me feel like a great comedian.
What do you get when you cross a duck and a kettle? A quackpot!
Why do ducks hate to get mail? They always have bills.
And, they love this one:
What do you call a person who keeps ducks? A bill collector.
Why do ducks dislike sidewalks? They're afraid they'll step on a quack.
Rabbit Pregnancies (?)
Twice I have put the black doe in with the buck and both times she refused to stand, i.e. mate, with him. The other doe, a bit spotted one, looks like a buck. She has a square, short nose that looks like it belongs on a buck. Today I tried the acid test and put her in with the buck. She stood for him and they mated. I cannot remember the gestation period for rabbits.
So, I googled it, (actually, I used Ask, which gave me the answer on the second line), and found that the period is 29 to 35 days. If I count correctly, a brave assumption, then she will be due the week of March 4th.
This is all very important to me because I have two appointments scheduled with the cardiologist, one for an echo cardiogram, whatever the hell that is, and the other for an annual followup. The echo appointment is for 2/23 and the followup for 3/7. Anyone with experience knows that cardiologists are dangerous and that one should take a rabbit along for protection whenever making a visit to a cardiologist's office.
The question is, “when will the bunnies be born?” The spotted doe will kindle (have bunnies) after March 4. The bunnies will be ready to travel to town 11 days later: they will have their eyes open and be moving around and friendly. Actually, they can travel to town at about 8 days of age, but their eyes are still closed and all they do is lie there, mostly.
The black doe came here on January 7, supposedly pregnant. That means that she should kindle within the next 6 days at the latest. If she has bunnies then they will be old enough for the 2/23 echo date, but too old by 3/7. It looks to me like I need to find a doe who was bred last week in order to have bunnies for the 3/7 appointment.
On March 7 I meet with the great man himself, the cardiologist. The echo cardiogram will be much more fun because it will be done by a lot of younger, more interesting, people, most of them pretty females, probably. Bunnies know how to handle these sorts of people.
Defending against physicians is difficult. A real person, looking at a 10 day old bunny, will say, “Ahh,” and immediately want to pick it up. A physician, in the same situation, will say, “Careful,” seeing not a bunny but a lump of potential bacterial and fungal infections. They put a special spray on the air filters in teaching hospitals to produce this type of response.
Because it is late winter there is little of interest to write about in the country, so I will be keeping you informed of what happens with the cardiologist for a while. Bear with me, please.
GrandNephew
Let's see, by proper genealogical reckoning, Jeff is my cousin's grandson, thus making him my first cousin twice removed. I prefer to consider him a GrandNephew, it just feels right. Anyway, he is about 14 and he has an opportunity to take a tour group to Europe. I am a fervent believer in the proposition that all 14 year old kids should have an opportunity to travel to a foreign country, preferably one on another continent. Jeff has been 'selected to be a member of a People to People tour of England and France', an opportunity which, for only $5,000, will allow him to go to Europe. I'd like to see him go, he's a good kid and I think it will help him be a better citizen. But I think that he could go for a lot less money, have more fun, and have a better story when he gets home.
For a 14 year old, the primary factor in the cost of a trip to Europe is the intelligence of the traveler. The early-teen traveler who understands the basics of personal security and knows enough not to get drunk in a foreign country can usually get by with minimal adult supervision, which can save some money; the big savings, though, come to the traveler who knows how to plan a trip. If you can build your itinerary here, complete with reservations for lodging when needed, and you are a teenager, you can go to Europe, have fun, and come back without regrets for less than $3,000.
The first skill necessary for planning is writing. The traveler needs to know how to write thank you notes to the people who sent money to help with the trip. A thank you note improves the chances or your getting another donation for another trip. You need to be able to use the Web to plan your transportation, find lodging, make reservations, and then write ahead for confirmations. You look like you know what you are doing if everyone expects you when you show up.
Traveling alone is possible but it's a lot more fun if you are with a friend or two. Purchase a Eurail pass, live out of your backpacks, sleep on the trains, and eat bread and cheese. Before you go learn how to say yes, no, thank you, please, and, where is the bathroom in French and German. That will probably keep you out of serious trouble. Learn the exchange rates before you go so you know how much you are paying for things.
When on the train try to attach yourselves to families with younger kids. Read to the kids, play with them, and generally make yourselves useful. Their parents will help you find your way and stay out of trouble.
If no one else jumps in to add helpful hints for teen travelers, I'll try to add more soon. Dear daughter, you went to Europe at age 14, what do you think?2-05 -
Ting's Elevator
Ting and 'Fro, the two Polish Crested chickens, are astonishingly stupid at first view, but seem to succeed quite well in a complex world. 'Fro is the chicken house rooster: the big tough guy who stays with the layer flock and protects them from predators. In other words, he's a 'good' pimp. Ting is a barn resident, overly endowed with Dodo genes.
Ting likes to roost on a step ladder, fourth step up from the bottom, that hangs by the place where I feed the ducks. She has figured out that she can jump onto my arm as I come up to feed the ducks and then ride down to the ground, landing right beside the duck feed, which she likes. On the way down she has an opportunity to poop on my arm, or down the front of my coat, or on my shoe.
Ting's Doctor
Ting's favorite veterinarian, Dr. M., has passed her boards. She has a bit of internship time left, and graduation ceremonies, and then she will be a fully-fledged veterinarian, capable of flying on her own. Ting sends her congratulations and a peck on the ankle.
Book Review
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke, ended about halfway down page 782, leaving Drusilla no wiser than she was when I began reading it to her. The woman who recommended the book, a middle-aged relative, is apparently influenced by spiritualism and magical claptrap, but Drusilla is entirely too practical to care about such things. Eating bugs and laying eggs are more interesting to Drusilla. As for me, I prefer cowboy stories, unless the cowboys start acting like queers.
posted by The Geezer at 10:22 AM
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