From Dinosaurs To Birds

New study suggests that 

birds evolved from dinosaurs by reaching sexual maturity 

earlier and remaining juveniles which allowed 

them to retain juvenile characteristics. 

National Park Service

If your are interested 

click here 

to go to an article about the Harvard University study. 

I believe it! 

My very own idea about the whole thing 

is that some little dinosaur found a really good food source 

that allowed them to grow very quickly/reach sexual maturity 

and the food source even enabled them to survive when the dinosaurs didn't.

I'm just glad our little chicken/dinosaurs 

aren't any bigger.

 ~:>

Smiles

Astaire And Powell - National Tap Dance Day

In celebration of...

I still love the old movies the best!
Waiting for it to rain ...
good excuse to look at videos.

~:>

Smiles

Shadows, Morgan, Cat And Chickens In The Garden

Kristine brought a plant downstairs to put on the table to cast some shadows.
We didn't want to go outside and battle the mosquitos.
There were extra shadows, but no circles.
We had partial eclipse.

The chickens were confused and ran to their coop
This photo was taken in the morning.
They might want Morgan to come out
but I think they just want cabbage.

This is our new cat!
It's a toy.
Looks real though!

Chickens in the Garden 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smc1_jPsVAw 

When first I came down Yorkshire, 

Many years ago. 

I met with a little Yorkshire girl, 

And I'll have youse all to know, 

She was so blithe, so buxom, 

So beautiful and gay, 

Now listen while I tell you, 

What her Daddy used to say... chorus 

Chorus:

 "Oh treat me daughter decent, 

     Don't do her any harm. 

     And when I die I'll leave you both, 

     Me tiny little farm. 

     Me cow, me pigs, me sheep, me goats, 

     Me stock, me fields and barn. 

     And all the little chickens in the garden." 

When first I went to court the girl, 

She was so awful shy. 

She never said a blooming word, 

When other folks was by. 

But as soon as we were on our own, 

She made me name the day, 

Now listen while I tell you, 

What her Daddy used to say... chorus 

And so I wed the Yorkshire girl, 

So pleasing to me mind, 

And I always did prove true to her, 

And she proved true in kind. 

We have three bairns, they're grown up now. 

There's a granbairn on the way. 

And when I look into their eyes, 

I can hear their grandad say... chorus 


I was searching on YouTube 
for videos about chickens and gardens 
and found this song... 


I have always enjoyed folk songs. 


3 eggs today 


~:> 
Smiles 

Chickens Under Glass, Solar Eclipse Video, And Lots Of Other Stuff

Do you think she will give us any cabbage? 

Could be... let's stare at her... 

Well, the hens are behind glass if not exactly under it... 

I gave them cabbage and some kale. 

That Wyandotte was sleeping against the glass next to Morgan. 

She jumped up when I got close with the camera. 

These chickens are hard to sneak up on! 

This is an auspicious occasion! 

Morgan's first time getting vacuumed! 

I thought I was going to have to spend a lot of time acclimating her 

to the noise and feel of the suction 

but she enjoyed the experience and on her own turned from side to side 

to make sure I did a good job. 

I had the vacuum turned down to the lowest setting 

and plan to gradually turn it up a notch every few days or so. 

Kristine took this photo. 

I didn't want to document my error... 

I forgot to replace the vacuum bag... sigh... 

See the white rectangle filter under the little plastic circles? 

Works great! 

It trapped all the dust and dog hair inside the vacuum 

instead of blowing it all over the house. 

Night time... 

This little bird (Junco) kept flying into the window. 

Kristine and Tom thought it was a huge moth and went outside 

only to find out it was a very confused bird. 

Something chasing it? 

 A one day collection of oak tree pollen... 

All this pollen is responsible for Kristine's allergies, sore throat... 

Rain? Rain would be good. 

NASA

"Kristine, 

The new private resupply shuttle 

that was suppose to take off for the international space station 

was cancelled at the last moment," 

I called as I walked down the hall... 

Whoa! 

Listen to me... I grew up in the 1940's reading 

about Dick Tracy and his TV wristwatch 

and watching Flash Gordon shorts at the movies. 

And here I am talking nonchalantly about 

space shuttles and stations. 

Next... soon... ? 

makes you think...

This is a great video from NASA! 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBtZ54cKj3o&feature=plcp

Holly sent me info about the solar eclipse tomorrow. 

We are supposed to be able to see a partial eclipse in our location 

and should see the sun dwindling to a crescent. 

But I must admit I won't be out looking at the sun or lack of.

But I will try out looking at the shadows of trees and my crossed fingers.
I remember making a pinhole viewer in the 1940's.
I'll try to take a photo without looking through the viewer.
That should be interesting.

Hope you enjoy the eclipse!

~:> 

Smiles 

Stuff I Didn't Post

Here are a bunch of photos that I was going to post last week, 

but then I didn't because there wasn't that much to say 

and I haven't been doing much lately. 

Nothing interesting... 

 

More dead chickens? 

No! 

Kristine called my attention to the hens sunning themselves on the porch. 

They do look bad. 

Especially since I took the photo through the window. 

Fingernails! 

For awhile... until I break them... 

usually I don't have much in the way of nails. 

Really can't do any work around here without breakage. 

Evidence that I've been goofing off... 

No ring... lost that in the earthquake. 

Oh, phooey! iPhoto is acting up again. 

The cooktop is not really on the wall... 

Spring onions, broccoli, sweet peppers, tomatoes with scrambled egg. 

Yum! 

The new oak leaves! 

Yellow green... so pretty. 

The oak pollen is not so pretty to deal with... allergy time. 

Tails... 

4 wooden eggs and 1 real egg! 

Another photo through the window of Screamer... 

Crowing! 

Well, she is doing her best. 

The only constructive thing I have been doing is working 

on some old quilts that needed more quilting and watching lectures about mythology 

and some about ancient Rome while I try to make little stitches. 

I hold the quilt in my lap... no hoops for me. 

1 egg today 

~:> 

Smiles 

Super Moon 2012

The moon will be at Perigee tonight...? tomorrow... this week... soon...

It will appear 14% larger.

I love these old classic movies!
I used to watch them with delight in the 1940's
at the Saturday and Sunday matinees.

Strange things are supposed to happen...

I wonder if our chickens will start to lay?

It is so cloudy and rainy that I'm sure I won't be able to see the Super Moon.

But maybe the extra gravity pull will affect the chickens?

More eggs?

It's raining again.

I'm not good at taking photos in the rain...

I'm always worried my camera will get wet.

That limb is ready to crack and fall down.

It will smash the fence when it goes.

The chickens don't seem to mind the rain as long as it is not pouring.

4 eggs yesterday

~:>
Smiles

Sitting Pretty

This little Buff Orpington has picked the top of a hay bale as a 

favored place to lay her eggs. 

She seemed more puzzled than upset 

when I removed the three eggs she was sitting on.

I have seen an Australorp there laying eggs also.

I've been quilting and listening to 

Sherlock Holmes stories.

Really not much of anything going on so nothing to blog about.

I like my life nice and boring.

Suits me.

Earthquakes, mudslides and fires might make for interesting posts 

but are sure no fun living through.

Been there, done that. 

I'll stick with boring!

3 eggs

~:>

Smiles

May Day 2012

Happy May Day! 

Hope you enjoy this video as much as I do...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVRXg92Cg10

I could so live there!

Love the rooster...

Here are some of our chickens this May 1st morning.

I scatter a line of scratch for the hens instead of putting it in a pile.
The hens still squabble but less than if the feed was all in one spot.
The rest of the chickens didn't stop for the feed
they headed straight out to the woods.

Have a very happy day!
Enjoy!

2 eggs yesterday

~:>
Smiles 

Chicken, Chicken, Where's The Chickens?

It was raining again last night and today 

and even though I usually always keep the hens in their coop and pen 

when the weather is bad 

I decided to let them out this morning. 

After yesterday's experience 

I'm a bit paranoid about them picking on each other... 

so I let them out. 

I came back later with cabbage and carrot peelings 

and found the coop and pen empty. 

No chickens! 

Oops! 

All of a sudden there were 6 chickens behind me, 

then underfoot tripping me and then in front of me 

eating cabbage and carrot peels. 

They almost knocked me down! 

I went back outside and I found their hiding spots... 

under the car and under the house. 

Nice dry places! 

The 6 had spotted me walking to the coop 

and surprised me. 

The rest of the chickens are busy doing something. 

They didn't come when I called. 

I didn't crawl under the house to find out what they were up to. 

They are on their own. 

Somehow, I don't feel very charitable toward them today. 

6 eggs today

~:> 

Smiles 

Unpleasant Post

Warning! 

Don't read this post unless you want to learn about 

a very distressing feature of chicken behavior. 

I knew the chickens were bulling the Cochin 

but I was shocked this morning to see 

what had been done. 

We have had chickens for over five years 

and there have been instances of them pecking at each other, 

pulling feathers, 

but nothing like this. 

In times past, they would arrive at a new pecking order and settled down. 

But, from now on if a chicken is getting pecked on 

the chicken will be removed 

from the flock. 

I debated about whether or not to write this post. 

I finally decided to post about this incident because 

you might want to know 

it can be important to remove a picked on hen from the flock. 

The question is when? 

I thought that the pecking was normal behavior. 

Something? pushed the hens into a new behavior for this flock. 

Sadly... 

I had to put down a chicken today. 

The hens pecked out Curly's eyes. 

She was fine yesterday. 

So, was Curly sick... 

did she pose a danger to the health of the flock? 

She didn't act sick.

This is an aspect of raising chickens 

that is very unpleasant. 

Chickens can be scary! 

6 eggs today. 

~:> 

Chicken Socks And Rakes

My leaf rake is broken. 

I added the broken pieces to the rest of the fence decorations. 

The metal rake with the round teeth is still useable 

and adjustable even though the 

plastic adjuster lever snapped in half. 

I would like to get the largest and strongest leaf rake I can find. 

I have tried the large plastic rakes and they break... 

so do the metal ones. 

3 acres of leaves are hard on a rake.

Kristine bought me some chicken socks a while back.

They are cute!

Thank you, Kristine!

5 eggs today.

~:>

Smiles

Tiny Egg, Myrtle and Morgan

The small egg was a surprise this afternoon. 

I thought little eggs were laid by young hens when they first started laying. 

Maybe one of the hens that hasn't laid for awhile 

is going to start laying eggs again? 

Morgan found a rock that didn't grow much moss this year. 

I wanted to take a photo of the flowering myrtle and Morgan. 

I got a photo of myrtle, Morgan and a rock. 

No flower. 

Here is a flower, but not not enough of Morgan. 

This photo is better, but not enough flowers. 

Oh, well.

Had a migraine most of the day. 

2 and a half eggs today 

~:> 

Smiles 

April Moss

The mossy rocks and trees are so beautiful. 

I have never seen the chickens eat any of the moss. 

The chickens like to sit on the rocks but they don't peck at them. 

I let the chickens out early this morning 

and Curly came out with the other hens and ate 

cabbage on the porch. 

Really hard for me to figure out chicken dynamics. 

3 eggs today 

~:> 

Smiles 

Bossy Australorp

This Australorp may be small, 

but she chases Morgan around in circles. 

Evidently, size is not the only factor in what makes for a boss hen.

11 hens came out of the coop this morning

so I went looking for Curly

and found her still sitting on a roost.

She seems fine...

just still not being accepted by the whole flock.

I hope she is not sick... she doesn't act sick.

Some of the hens like to gather here in the morning sunshine and warm up

 by the side of the green house.

Kristine brought home Chinese food for dinner!

Thanks, Kristine!

5 eggs today.

I broke one.

~:>

Smiles