This past Sunday was a little bittersweet as we sent four of our ducklings off to their new home. On the plus side, we know the couple who adopted them, so we'll still get to say hi to them every now and then.
These are the three we kept to eventually incorporate in with our existing magpie flock.
Left to Right: Yellowfoot, Clothespin, and Seven
Yellowfoot got her name because her feet had the most orange on them. Seven got her name because I think she was hatched last. And Clothespin got her name because she is very exploratory with her bill and likes to clamp down on everything.
Here she is trying to nibble on my fingers:
My Google Assistant made this cool "color pop" version of my original photo.
Of course, at this point we are still just hoping they are all girls, as their gender isn't clear to us yet. Eventually males will get a curlicue feather in their tale. Females will develop the distinctive QUACK sound we all tend to associate with ducks; whereas, males actually have a more muffled sound. I'm not sure if this is absolutely uniform across all duck breeds. This is just what I've learned since owning magpies and I know it's not just limited to their breed.
Ducklings are A LOT of work (at least for us it was, as we raised them indoors in a brooder), but the adorableness factor helps make it worthwhile! This past weekend I tried to capture as much of the cuteness as possible before four of them went off to their newly crafted duck habitat down the road.
Hope you enjoy the video. You can view this and other videos on our YouTube channel.
This past weekend our alpaca, Mole', received his annual haircut. Our shearer had a cancellation which allotted enough time for at least one of our camelids to get sheared. We opted for Mole' since he is dark brown and also has a different type of hair than our llamas. We thought he would benefit the most by getting sheared first.
Here are some "before" shots of Mole' with his original Chia pet hairdo.
Unfortunately, our camelids are not halter trained. Mole' came to us as a rescue and had already been passed around a bit in his short life. He is the most skiddish of the three. Though, he will eat pellets from your hand, so that is sweet.
Sam and I got our workout in as we chased Mole' around the pen for a while trying to corner and capture him. He is fast! (And I was not wearing the correct shoes for being able to reverse directions as quickly as I needed to.) The llama halter was too big for him, so we ended up needing to use the goat halter. We were worried about stressing him out too much since we usually don't push him when he's feeling skiddish.
We had selected a nice soft grassy area in the shade for the location for the shearing. (We also had to find a place close to a power source, since we don't have power in our barn.) However, now that we had the halter on Mole', we were going to have to somehow get him from Point A to Point B.
It took the three of us to get Mole' from the pen to the shearing station in our front yard. He is deceptively strong! And of course one of our llamas also got out while we were trying to get Mole' out of the pen. Here's a little video snippet of us leading Mole' across the driveway, with Lomi the Lookie-Loo close at hand.
To shear Mole' safely without risk of injuring him with the blades, he was properly restrained while lying on the ground on his side. He quickly calmed down and did very well throughout the entire process. Good boy! One person also holds his neck down just so he does not try to struggle to get up. Even after the whole process was done and we were able to let him back up, he did not immediately rush off, so I like to think that means it wasn't a terrible ordeal for him.
We relished in the opportunity to actually be able to pet Mole' and feel how soft he is, since usually he does not allow us that close to him. He likes control of his personal space. (Doesn't everyone?)
Ohmygosh he is so soft! And the fiber that came off of him is so lush and luxurious! Well, minus the dust, dirt, bits of hay and straw, and other organic particles... It looks like a giant bear rug.
It also looks like a band of ewoks met a grave ending during an epic and fateful battle on our front lawn.
Wicket, is that you?
We couldn't believe the volume of fiber that he shed. He easily had to have lost at least a few pounds with his shearing. He definitely must feel a lot cooler, too. Lomi and Paisley, our two llamas, also have their shearing coming up soon, but they seem to tolerate the heat a bit better. Mole' is the one always standing in the pool! Or a bucket.
I thought it would be fun to learn about the process of preparing raw fiber for use and actually make something with it. Ideally, it would be cool to watch someone first hand who knows what they are doing as they go through their normal process, but I've been watching a few YouTube videos in the meantime and picked up a few of the basics on how you can work with it manually to clean the fiber and start preparing it for spinning. There are more steps than you might think!
There are tools and equipment that make the process a whole lot easier and less labor intensive, but since I don't have any of those I can at least start with baby steps and use my own two hands to get familiar with the process. There is also something called a drop spindle that is much more affordable than an actual spinning wheel--as in $10 - $20 vs hundreds of dollars. I also think needle felting would be cool and I'm not sure if that requires any actual spinning. I will have to stay tuned, as I haven't advanced that far in my YouTube search yet to know!
Of course, if I end up making yarn, then I'm also going to have to learn how to make something WITH the yarn. I'll need a little crocheting or knitting 101. I have crocheted before, but probably not since I was a kid. A refresher is definitely in order!
Anyway, back to Mole'. Here he is sporting his new haircut. He always looks a bit like an alien deer when he first gets sheared.
He also looks tiny, now that he lost about 7"-10" in extra height from his hair. He looks like one person could scoop him up in their arms and carry him across the yard. It's hard to believe it took three of us to manage moving him. Looks can be deceiving in so many ways!
Jax loves to play in the bathroom. It seems to be "the" social place to be, if you are a cat--even Casper tends to forget she is shy whenever she hangs out in the bathroom.
A couple of months ago, I was working in my office and heard a loud crash coming from the bathroom.
No doubt, the door had been left open and Jax was--apparently--having a field day.
If I stroll away nonchalantly, I can pretend that wasn't kinda scary...
True confession time: I've taken way too many photos of my cat in the bathroom. But, really, the color scheme blends awesomely with Jax's blue eyes and the hues of his coat. I'll spare you by sticking with just the shower curtain shots today. We can save the "Jax in the sink" collection for another day... 😄
This is one of my favorites of young Jax playing hide and seek in the curtain.
Ready or not, here I come!
Here is Jax outside the tub:
And here is Jax inside the tub:
Here is Jax inside the tub DURING a shower!
And here is Jax fighting with the curtain.
Take that, you silly paisley drapery.
Previously, I had assumed the shower curtain must have fallen down when Jax tried to CLIMB it. But then: last night we saw THIS!
Jax!
This is totally normal; and, I can't hear you...
It never occurred to me that Jax might have been walking ON TOP OF the shower curtain!
Hey, [looking in the mirror] who is that fine looking cat over there?
No matter how long I'm gone, I can always count on Denali to keep watch for my return. After a long work day, it's heartwarming to see her little face in the front window as I drive up the driveway.
She then keeps her eyes on me as I'm getting out of the car and watches for me to head to the front porch. This photo was taken last December, when it gets dark VERY early.
I always feel like...Denali's watching me...
She watches until she sees me start to head up the front porch steps--which is her cue to then jump over to wait for me at the top of the inside stairwell.
Here's a clip from this past Friday, as I'm coming up the stairs to her welcome home greeting.
When we first brought Casper home, she was just a few months old and predominantly feral. She escaped into the brush in our backyard and we would catch sightings of her as she regularly crept out from behind the wood pile to watch what was going on from a safe distance.
She got the nickname Casper because she was like a little ghost hiding behind the wood pile, who would sometimes make a visual appearance. A friendly ghost cat.
As Jax got big enough to start spending some time outside, he became the lure that encouraged Casper to start venturing further out in to the open yard and up closer to the house.
Jax and Casper both came from the same place, so maybe Casper recognized her baby cousin. In any case, her curiosity or intrigue eventually gave her enough confidence to come in for a closer look. And even as much as Jax sometimes torments her, she is the sweetest thing who never bites or scratches. (Unless you count when she grabs your hand back because she is not quite ready for you to stop petting her: "More, please!")
Here's a photo of baby Jax and Casper playing in the front yard with their chicken gang. We always have to be very careful because Casper especially likes to hide in the underside of vehicles. Here she is examining the wheel well for a possible hideout source.
For many months Casper picked the John Deere mower as her safe spot (Aslan was much smaller then!). Jax would sometimes join her--the two are definitely quite bonded!
Somewhat ironically, once we finally got Casper indoors, she quickly became a homebody. Jax is practically bursting at the seams to get outside every moment of the day. Casper, on the other hand, LOVES her safe warm place in the house and is quite content to have most of her needs met there.
She is not strictly an indoor cat, but also enjoys some time outdoors. The other day I caught her checking out the new ducklings while they were sunbathing in the pool. I think she's completely mesmerized by them!
I also snapped a little video of her watching them. If you watch to the end you'll notice her typical shyness as she suddenly recognizes she's being observed.
Casper and Jax have remarkably different personalities, but their bond is inseparable. It is so heartwarming to see. ❤️
Sometimes animals can be quite uncooperative when you're trying to capture a good photo. We see adorable, funny, crazy, humorous, endearing, beautiful, bizarre, and other picturesque things all the time -- but having the camera out and ready for it all at all times is a bit of a challenge!
We affectionately refer to these guys as "the pasture animals": Paisley and Lomi are llamas, Mole' is an alpaca, and Loki and Thor are Nigerian Dwarf goats. If I'm lucky I may capture half of them in one shot, with maybe 1 or 2 of them looking in the direction of the camera. Yesterday when I got home they were all hanging out together in a nice huddle. Quick: grab the camera!! Time for a family portrait:
It turns out herding dogs really can herd! We had three border collies visiting for the afternoon. They were lounging in a pen not far outside their pasture. Since I didn't witness their earlier interaction during the day, I'm not sure if these guys were just being reserved and semi-cautious by huddling together and keeping an eye on the new visitors (usually everyone is a Curious George around here about whatever is going on!), or if they instinctively knew they were supposed to stand together as a herd by whatever communication they received from the visiting working dogs. It is so fascinating to watch different animals interact and communicate with one another!
I also happened to catch Lomi stealing a kiss from Paisley!
Although bald eagles are without question a strikingly majestic and beautiful bird, they are also a very real predatory threat to many of our residents. Ducks, chickens, our cats...even some of our dogs are unsafe left unattended outdoors! That is why we got Aslan. Our Livestock Guardian Dog, Azzie, has proven his life-saving skills on more than several occasions!
Just this morning one of our security cameras alerted me that an eagle had just swooped in and landed in our tall oak trees that overlook the chicken and duck pens. What a relief to see Aslan immediately burst into the scene from the side yard! Barking and barking and barking and barking! He made it clear the eagle needed to take a hike.
Here's the footage:
If you have the sound turned on you might hear the cacophony of barking dogs, hollering ducks and chickens, and even our inside parrots calling out. Everyone finds it quite unsettling when an eagle is on the premises!
I edited out the middle stretch of Aslan's relentless barking. Here's the end of the footage when Aslan finally convinced the eagle his efforts were going to be futile and he might as well move along:
Good boy, Azzie! Good boy! (He LOVES to hear what a good boy he is!!)
Now that our little magpie ducklings are getting bigger we are trying to get them some more time outside in the sun. Vitamin D is healthy for everyone!
During yesterday's field trip excursion to the backyard pool, we also let Aslan out to meet his newest little charges. We had him on a leash just to be on the safe side, since we weren't entirely sure how he might react to them. I'm so proud to report he did GREAT!! Although we are still a little cautious until he proves himself...he seems to be quite enamored with the baby ducks and eager to keep watch over them. We are elated, because we can definitely use an extra babysitter around here!
Here are some video clips and photos from yesterday's introduction. After some pool time fun, we then put them in a clean tub in the sun so they could preen and dry off before going back inside.
Baby poultry are A LOT of work, but the cuteness factor sure helps make it all worthwhile!!
This year we decided to try to enter Aslan's photos in a contest for inclusion in the National Anatolian Shepherd Rescue Network's (NASRN) 2019 Calendar. Here are some of the photos I selected for submission:
We'll be sure to post an update if Aslan makes it into the calendar! You can see a sample of last year's calendar at this link. Proceeds for the calendar are used by this nonprofit organization to help support the rescue of Anatolian Shepherd Dogs and mixes from possible euthanasia in animal shelters.
Aslan is a livestock guardian dog -- a mix of two Turkish breeds with a long history of protecting livestock: Anatolian Shepherd and Akbash. Here's a little bit of history about the Anatolian Shepherd, and some history about the Akbash breed. Also, here is a cool Jack Hanna/David Letterman video clip that includes an Anatolian Shepherd Dog (ASD). In Namibia there is a Livestock Guardian Dog Program being used in conservation efforts to protect cheetahs. In this clip the ASD and cheetah have been raised together so they can be used for educational efforts to help get the word out about this important program. In the wild, the ASD's are used by farmers to protect their livestock FROM the cheetah and other predators. These efforts help to preserve the cheetah because it helps them to better coexist with humans as they are not killed for threatening flocks and herds.
It has been pretty amazing watching the genetics at work in Aslan as we raised him from a puppy. He always notices when something is out of place or something new has entered the "territory" and has to check it out (inanimate objects included!). He grows accustomed to things he deems not to be a threat (for example the wild ducks usually get a "pass" unless there seems to be some distress signal), but keeps his eyes to the sky to chase off the larger herons and eagles that may enter the airspace. He has also treed and chased off a racoon (that was fun at 2am in the morning in our pajamas!), and cornered a young possum in our yard.
Aslan is a great guardian dog, especially now as he approaches his 2nd birthday and is maturing from some of his earlier puppy antics. He also makes a pretty fantastic guard dog for the entire property (us included!), as we don't have to worry about anyone trying to break in our gate with him standing at the helm. Don't let the glamour photos fool you--what a ferocious sounding bark he has when he means business!
