100 and counting

This marks the 100th post on this blog. And sadly , it is going to be pretty boring. I know it has been quiet around here for  a long time . That should come as no surprise now to my loyal reader(s) (haha... yeah.. you know who you are...) . I (Annabelle) have been sick for the past two weeks and I'm on strict orders from my doctor to "rest" ... which I feel like I've been doing for an eternity already. I don't like being run off my feet to the point of exhaustion anymore than the next person but also I don't like enforced resting for what seems to be eternal periods of time. To get the most enjoyment out of rest .... you have to have done something first. Hopefully something meaningful and productive. Anyway.... life doesn't happen the way you hope or plan ... not in the "real quotidian world " anyway.
                  Elly May has been kind enough to  take care of the ducks for me when I couldn't drag myself out of bed in a timely fashion. They didn't take to a stranger coming in at first. They are big on routine.... I understand that. I like my routines too and to have them majorly disrupted is always rather unsettling.... but they did enjoy eating whether I was there or not.
                          In garden news, cover crop is up and growing in the top bed .. as well as various salad greens. Only .. those aren't up yet, they were just planted.  We had soil testing done and the results were rather discouraging. We have high levels of arsenic of all things and we are now unable to grow root crops as they pick up too much of the toxic metal.....You try to do something good and healthy in the city and yet you are living in a toxic soup.... I'm assuming it comes from the power poles right behind our house that are treated heavily with arsenic and they come and spray them off each year to clean the transformers and the spray falls all over the garden. Nice huh?   The toxins were even showing up in the onions and squash that grew back there. Humph.
                
                    I was going through my picture stash and realized I didn't post any pictures from the photo spree I had last year with my cousin's camera. So here are a few shots ...

Happy Fall everyone!!

Heat Stroke..

It is HOT here today.... In fact, it broke the record . It was 113 F  (45 C for those of you outside the US) . That is pretty darn warm.  And Elly May made leek and onion soup. Go figure. We ate it cold.  The ducks did fine with frequent water changes but I went up to check on the chickens , who don't seem to handle the heat as well .... and noticed our White Rock laying limp under the feeder (it hangs) . I ran over and scooped her up . She was still alive and I cradled her in my arms and rushed up to the house... I was thinking of trying to cool her off in some way... she was sooo warm.... but she died in my arms on the way to the house. I wasn't completely sure at the time so I still put her in the sink and ran water over her neck but then I realized it was all too late and she was gone . ..... I felt sorry for her. She was one of the ones on the very bottom of the pecking order and she got picked on a lot. I'd actually thought of culling her earlier as she didn't look the greatest (all the stress of being the lowest of the low can get to one..) but she was still laying and seemed okay despite having feathers pulled out. Well, now I don't have to do that.... Poor girl. 
                The ducks are 5 weeks old today.... Where did the time go? They shall be completely feathered out soon. And they shall be gorgeous.
                  The winter greens I started a couple weeks ago when it was cool are getting fried in this heat... We shall see if they survive. I hope so. The top bed is completely empty (except for a squash plant) and ready for planting. I had a soil test done and found I needed to add gypsum so that has been done. We'll see if that changes anything in the coming growing season. Or it may do nothing and those darn bagrada bugs (imported somehow from Africa two years ago.. they look like small harlequin bugs) will eat everything as they seem to be trying to do already. I wonder if cool weather affects them at all?? I guess we'll find that out too.

4 weeks old...

It has hard to believe that it has been 4 weeks since these little guys came into our lives. They have grown so much! And they are starting to have distinct personalities ....

Little Zooey... (like Zoe..) .. is the smallest , has the darkest bill... and is always behind. She loves to stuff her face though and is the best eater of grubs and other pest critters.

Marny there next to her is going to be quite the looker and already has a honk/quack thing going on . Don't you love her fat cheeks?

Ondine there in the middle with the really dark head and brown breast feathers loves the water. She'll just sit there... How fitting considering her name.

She is going to be so beautiful....

Vesper.. very stately.

After a bath we like to preen!

Penelope closest to my thumb there.. ..Comfrey.. yumm!!.. Who am I missing? Oh.. Jemima is in there somewhere.. They are becoming quite grown up don't you think? They should be fully feathered out soon. And much easier to tell apart. ;-)

Because they grow so fast...

Yet MORE duckling photos.... You don't mind really, do you? Today I had them out for then sunshine and swim , reading a book (me , not them) and watching the skies when a hawk showed up. It just perched on the transmission wires looking down .... I quickly scooped the girls out of the water, much to their dismay , and packed them off to their gravel yard which is completely covered with chicken wire (so hawks can't get in..) . Not as fun as the upper garden bed , but so much safer and better for my peace of mind. Stinkin' hawk.
Now we are three weeks old.

What are you looking at?

Heading up the plank for a swim.

And you all thought my garden was so beautiful . Ha!! All the tomatoes were ripped out. They were at the end of the line and hand mites. The peppers are still there and producing a bit. I'm leaving them for cover at the moment.. the ducks like them. And the squash is still there at the end. We already harvested the big beautiful one. I'll have pictures of that eventually (nearly all 20lbs of it!) . A cover crop and salad greens will be going in here soon. But then where will they play???

We have the ability to dirty any water in 10 seconds. Quite the talent..

Some hide out in the peppers... stripping leaves here and there the little dears.

So big!

Cuddle time... but we really don't like that camera thing.... We'll stay down here until you put that contraption away!

Well, as long as you are going to keep poking that thing at us we will go over here..

What beauties!

Cuddle Time

There are 6 ... really... they are just buried.

We're so sleeeeepy.

But not too sleepy to bomb arms with tomato poo....

We love our salsa.. yes we do..

New Babies

I know , it has been ages. I've had pictures ready to go for other posts... ... like chicken butchering (which I know you are all just dying to see..) and more canning and stuff... but I'm going to forget about those for now and give you a post full of nice scenery instead to make up for my absenteeism . We've been planning on getting ducks for a long time now. We cleared the other coop of chickens (later post... if you really do want to see..) ... filled the freezer. Brought two tons (yes... four thousand pounds!!) of pea gravel in and unloaded it all by hand (luckily I was having a brief run of energy... it soon faded... I think it was crushed under all the gravel...) and put it into the new duck run so it wouldn't get all muddy and soggy. Cleaned out the old chicken house.. removed roosts (ducks don't roost) ... disinfected the whole thing... then ordered ducklings. They didn't arrive for about 3 weeks so we had plenty of time to get things ready. Though I was still dashing around at the last minute... as usual. But... they are here now and they are so cute. All six of them . They are Welsh Harlequins ... a breed very closely related to the Khaki Campbell (thus excellent egg layers) but much prettier ... in my opinion. And supposedly a bit calmer... but we'll see about that.
When the post office called we dashed out of the house so fast I didn't take any ID . I wasn't driving anyway so figured why bother? But when I got in there and asked for the ducks they wanted to see my ID.. as if random people come into the post office and ask for ducklings. Like they'd know they were there ! Ha... yeah.. well.. I told him my name ... where they were from... "JUST GIVE THEM TOO ME!!! " I wanted to yell... But they were nice about it and got them for me anyway. Anyway.. . without further ado... pictures.

Sorry about the blur.. but isn't she cute??

On the ride home from the post office.

I tried hard to convince them that shavings were not an primary or alternative food source. They were not convinced and I was afraid they were going to make themselves sick so we had to cover the shavings with newspaper to begin with. That made them slip and slide a bit on their awkward legs but they eventually decided that food tasted a big better than that dry stuff.... but not much... (they continue to eat the stuff occasionally. Maybe they consider it fiber?? ) and I was able to remove the paper.

They were sooo tiny!!

Ahh.. now we are growing .. and looking wise.

Bath time! Taking care to have warm water (and a very warm day) so they didn't get chilled (because they don't have oil from their mother to protect them like wild ducks or ducks raised with a mother), they got their first bath. And they loved it . I like the punk spiked hair look we are going for here.

Looking on.... I don't trust him at all. He had to be removed from the premises immediately because he was a tad too interested in having a snack.

Who is that up there?

Now we get to run around in one of the garden beds so mama duck can air out her room! They've been in a large Rubbermaid in my room (next to my bed) for the past week and a half and I think we are ready to move to the duck house. Then I won't have to have a light burning all night long and have to get up several times a night to refill their water. Or be hit with that .... shall we say... fragrant aroma every time I walk into my room (despite daily cleaning) . I've enjoyed having them so close and being able to cuddle with them whenever I want but it is time.

Punker Man looks on. I don't really trust him either but he is fine if I'm out there with him. He listens ... enough to leave them alone when I threaten his life if he so much as drools in their direction.

Drying off afer a bath. Chillin with the pepper plants.

And now... today... they are about twice ... or three times the size as a week and a half ago when they got here. But still fluffy... still peeping.. and still cute.

Until I was putting together the pictures for this post I didn't realize how much they'd grown . And so fast. Well... they are putting away enough food. We'll see how they like sleeping out in the new duck house tonight. I think I shall worry about them a bit.... but only a bit . I think I'll be enjoying the opportunity to sleep without having to refill waters at 3 am.