Blue Sky

Saturday was THE day. The day we, up here in the north, wait for all year. It's just a memory now, but I was actually outside without a coat digging up a few allium bulbs and lily tubers to take with me to Alabama.This goose was talking to the guineas at the pond but decided to steal away before they got too close.

Hopefully there will be a few more days like that to come soon.

Willows

Something Special

A little something special I found out yesterday. First I want to say that the home we will be moving to next month is on a road that is a little unique in my terms. It starts off the main road heading south for almost a mile, it then turns east for about a mile, and then turns north, right back to the main road for almost a mile. There are a few roads off our new road but they are all dead ends with just a house or two on them. So I'm thinking it will be a very quiet safe road. My husband went there yesterday for the house inspection and called me when he got into the driveway heading for the house. He said to me..."a quarter mile before I got to the driveway, I was met in the road by..." A GANG OF GUINEA FOWL!!!

Ok he didn't scream that...but I AM!!!

This just is too good to be true!I went outside to visit my "kids" and of course Buddy came to sit with me and we had a nice little discussion about how I was leaving him with the big responsibility of winning over his new care takers. He was pretty confident that he was up for the job.

If only....

...packing guineas was this easy.

Is this really happening?

Well I have to say I hope I'm not jinxing myself because we have a ways to go yet, but we've found new owners for our house. I don't want to get into too much detail but I'm very excited that our Guinea Fowl kids get to stay at their old digs as the new owners welcomed them with (nervous) but open arms. The lady of the house is a veterinary technician who loves animals so it couldn't have been a better match! In the mean time we have made an offer on a house in the woods in Alabama and it was accepted! It sits in the woods on 11.9 acres at the top of a mountain and if you can believe it there are gardens and trees galore!

It has a very long driveway.Mind you I have yet to see it but my husband says I will love it.

I trust him.

I really was worried about posting this yet because anything could happen but I feel pretty confident we will be here late next month. I've a lot of work and worry ahead, so hang in there gang. This will be a real adventure!

Cold Days...

...beautiful to look at......not so much fun to go out in.

I've been very busy lately gang. I will be mentioning news about our move soon.

PS. My camera lens is not dirty in this picture...that is a dirty cloud in the sky!!

Ha Ha!!

Yesterday's Tidbits

Guinea Manners

Well Gimpy is doing better each day, I'm still not too sure about her long term life but we are doing everything we can to keep her warm at night, and happy during the day. For a couple nights all I had to do was put her in the bucket turn out the light and "see you in the morning", but last night we heard a scuffle and looked in and...well...she decided she liked the sink as a roost. Now maybe if we were lucky she would sit facing out or only aim for the green bucket but I didn't want to take the chance. So I covered her with the towel. Of course I woke up early this morning thinking the worst...what if she suffocated in the night, what if she got all tangled up in the towel, what if, what if, what if. All for not...the towel was in place...Gimpy was fine...

and Daisy Lu was pleased to see her friend safe and sound.

Poor Gimpy

First let me say that Gimpy is doing ok. She's not out of the woods so to speak but she is actually doing well.

Believe it or not I never heard a thing until we spotted this very bad hawk diving around into the bushes. I ran outside, heard the racket, but the hawk had no guinea.Then I saw my sweet guinea feathers all over the place...on one side of the path and on the other side in the bushes where I found two scared guineas running to me for safety. I still had to battle off the hawk, chasing him to find that she just lead me to another group of screaming guineas.

There was no time to count but I couldn't find an injured bird...until I turned and looked back home. There was Ole, laying next to a poor guinea hen with her little legs sticking up in the air actually "kicking" almost like a cartoon character.

It was Gimpy. Poor Gimpy, who had a leg issue that laid her up for weeks in the coop. And who already had been saved from Ole's jaws after her recovery. But this time, it was Ole that saved her.

From what I've pieced together the hawk tried desperately to kill and eat Gimpy, but before it could accomplish the job, Ole stepped in and "saved" her. Now I'm not saying that Ole didn't "save" her for himself...but I'm not NOT saying that either.

I ran to her aid, found she was still alive. I took her in the house and went out to coax the remaining 12 kids back into their coop.

Gimpy is badly injured from the hawk, and I am doing everything to help her heal.

Believe it or not after just a couple days, she is now spending her afternoons back out with the gang...the place she loves to be.

This is Gimpy in the foreground with her injured back.

I think Ole deserves a good belly rub for this one.

Forgot my Blog Birthday!

I started my blog on March 10 2008!

I'm putting up my original header for a little nostalgia!

Wind Power

I know you've heard me talk about the wind here where I live and yesterdays post showed the Kids lined up to take it head on, but when I say it's windy around here you can bet I'm not joking around. Wednesday the winds were so strong that even the ice on Lake Ontario couldn't withstand it. I'm taking pictures from the south end of Point Peninsula near Dexter NY. As we drive around the tip you can see the beginning of a problem.The wind just pushed the ice right into the shore. Heading toward the road. Thank goodness the wind died down before it got too far in. Looking back. Whoops. I think the view is not great this time of year anyway but...this is really pushing it. Oh Dear! I hope no one was having a cocktail!! Mountain view in the flatlands? WOW! And as you can see...

Parts of the lake are now ice free!

Spring?

I finally get a Red-winged Blackbird in my back yard......he spots the seed under the feeder......takes the dive......and then the kids spot him!!!"Turn boys turn!!!""That's OUR bird seed!!!""Oh that darn wind again!!""Maybe if we line up...

...we can fight off the blackbirds and the wind!"

That Was SO Close!!

I watched a volcano blow it's top yesterday!Those two crows almost didn't make it!

Luckily it was far enough away that we suffered no damage from the blast!

WHEW!

Almost Forgotten Photos...

I took these picture on Feb 2 after another one of our lovely snow storms. The driveway had filled in and I decided to get a little exercise...rather than pay the plow man. The wind had been blowing...as usual...and because of all the bright white landscape, it took me some time to notice that mother nature was having a little fun building snowballs!

At first I jumped in fear thinking that these were little critters from outer space in my yard.

Then I realized just what I was looking at. The more I looked the more I found......and the field that had big hay rolls, had mini rolls of snow! I had to do some work on these pictures just so you could see the white on white balls. The pictures are not good but, I thought you would like to see them anyway.
Clicking on the pictures will give you a little better view.