Squirrels
I Has Them!!
This is the view outside my dining room window. Rich has a bird feeding station in the front yard. It's not the best picture, but it is proof . . . I have a squirrel problem!
Just Wait . . . Hunting Season is Coming!
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Squirrels
This is the view outside my dining room window. Rich has a bird feeding station in the front yard. It's not the best picture, but it is proof . . . I have a squirrel problem!
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Shepherd on the Horizon
I am an ardent fan of the German Shepherd breed of dog. I have always loved the look of this breed, their courage, and their intelligence. I had a Big Boy many years ago, in my previous life. I have wanted to get another one "some day". But I have been well aware that a puppy takes time and work, and the way my career path has taken me has placed me firmly in a situation that keeps me away from my home for long hours. However, this previous May I was fortunate to be able to accept a new job at Saint Mary's Hospital in Rochester. Much of the world knows this place as "Mayo". I am employed on the night shift, and this change in my life has now made it possible for me to consider bringing a new dog into my life. Enter my friend, Brandon.
I made the acquaintance of Brandon several years ago, when I first returned to the Upper Midwest. He has an interest in Falconry, which he may pursue some day, however now in his life he is a father to four girls, and actively putting into place the details of his future career. He has been training to become a police officer, and hopes to combine that with his other passion . . . dog training. Brandon owns and works with high drive dogs, Malinois and German Shepherds, for police work. He knows people, and has good connections in the reputable dog breeding communities. He contacted me a little while ago with information about a litter of puppies he would acquire through a training arrangement with another breeder. He wanted to know if I was interested. The pieces of the puzzle seemed to be falling into place. "Some Day" had arrived!
This previous week I went to visit to see the puppies. They are about four and a half weeks old. There are seven in the litter, three boys, and four girls. The males are spoken for, and frankly, I'm not interested. I've had enough of boy dogs to suit me for a long time, with all their leg hiking and peeing all over everything. I'm ready for a girl dog again. Of the four girls, there is one that is top pup of the litter. She is also spoken for, as she is showing the courage and drive to be a strong working dog. Of the three remaining, one is more shy and submissive. In the middle are these two girls above. One of them will most likely be my new pup. Brandon will continue to assess their personalities and drive, and help me to select between them when the time comes. They still have a good month left in their natal pack. The next few weeks have many important socialization milestones they need to experience to grow into healthy, well-adjusted dogs. Sometime in August I will bring home a new baby.
This is their mother, Carter. She has a very pleasant temperament, and did not show any nervousness towards strangers near her pups. In fact, Brandon said she is already weaning them, as she's probably tired of being nipped by all those mouths with sprouting teeth. Brandon's children spend a lot of time in with the pups, holding them, picking them up, and touching and talking to them, so they are getting good experience of people, especially "little" people. It will be up to me to continue those lessons once my pup comes to live with me, and to continue to give her opportunities to experience things, and to learn to not be afraid.
I am seeking out training resources as well, so I will have a well adjusted and mannerly dog. Ultimately, it would be nice if I could get the new addition to the family to also become a falconry dog. Monty failed at this, because Sassy hates him, and Monty doesn't respect Sassy's authority. Sassy does seem to be better accepting of bigger dogs. We'll see.
Here is a video of the pups. Watch it in full screen for best viewing of the video.
I made the acquaintance of Brandon several years ago, when I first returned to the Upper Midwest. He has an interest in Falconry, which he may pursue some day, however now in his life he is a father to four girls, and actively putting into place the details of his future career. He has been training to become a police officer, and hopes to combine that with his other passion . . . dog training. Brandon owns and works with high drive dogs, Malinois and German Shepherds, for police work. He knows people, and has good connections in the reputable dog breeding communities. He contacted me a little while ago with information about a litter of puppies he would acquire through a training arrangement with another breeder. He wanted to know if I was interested. The pieces of the puzzle seemed to be falling into place. "Some Day" had arrived!
This previous week I went to visit to see the puppies. They are about four and a half weeks old. There are seven in the litter, three boys, and four girls. The males are spoken for, and frankly, I'm not interested. I've had enough of boy dogs to suit me for a long time, with all their leg hiking and peeing all over everything. I'm ready for a girl dog again. Of the four girls, there is one that is top pup of the litter. She is also spoken for, as she is showing the courage and drive to be a strong working dog. Of the three remaining, one is more shy and submissive. In the middle are these two girls above. One of them will most likely be my new pup. Brandon will continue to assess their personalities and drive, and help me to select between them when the time comes. They still have a good month left in their natal pack. The next few weeks have many important socialization milestones they need to experience to grow into healthy, well-adjusted dogs. Sometime in August I will bring home a new baby.
This is their mother, Carter. She has a very pleasant temperament, and did not show any nervousness towards strangers near her pups. In fact, Brandon said she is already weaning them, as she's probably tired of being nipped by all those mouths with sprouting teeth. Brandon's children spend a lot of time in with the pups, holding them, picking them up, and touching and talking to them, so they are getting good experience of people, especially "little" people. It will be up to me to continue those lessons once my pup comes to live with me, and to continue to give her opportunities to experience things, and to learn to not be afraid.
I am seeking out training resources as well, so I will have a well adjusted and mannerly dog. Ultimately, it would be nice if I could get the new addition to the family to also become a falconry dog. Monty failed at this, because Sassy hates him, and Monty doesn't respect Sassy's authority. Sassy does seem to be better accepting of bigger dogs. We'll see.
Here is a video of the pups. Watch it in full screen for best viewing of the video.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Lazy Days of Summer
Independence Day has just past. So far, we have had a pretty nice summer. It hasn't been too hot, and the bugs have been very minimal. That being said, I've not posted much here as I've not had a whole lot going on, hawk wise. Still, there are some things going on. Today I got the camera out and took some pictures for a quick blog post.
Flowers are blooming! Currently, my Clematis is looking pretty dramatic.
My Hydrangea is getting bigger!
To Rich and My complete surprise, we had "volunteer" Hollyhocks this year. Neither of us have ever planted any seeds, yet they came up this year. They are very pretty!
This year I'm growing our tomatoes in big pots. The farm has lots of "lick tubs", previously filled with yummy, sticky, sugar type stuff the cattle love. We picked up several of those, Rich put a few quick holes in the bottom, and Voila . . . instant planters. It keeps the weeds down.
OK, enough on the plant side of things. How about critters?
Clawdette is one year old now . . . and just as annoying as the day she arrived. Her and Monty are buds, for the most part, until it is time for Monty to have a bath, and then she doesn't recognize him for about 10 days.
I did set up a fish tank this Spring . . . but I think I'll devote a separate blog post for it.
Two of the most recent arrivals are more goats.
Rich and I went up to the Sales Barn in Lanesboro on this past Friday, because Rich was off on a rare Friday. There were several sheep and goat lots at the start of the auction, and these two were the last lot. I immediately motioned to place a bid . . . I didn't even know what sex they were. It turns out, they are wethers, which is a castrated male. That is just fine, as I am needing extra mouths to chomp down my pasture. They are quite cute, and friendly (the goats from last year don't like to be touched). I have not yet decided names for them.
Between last summer and this one I did acquire a fourth goat. He is also a wether. His name is Cole. He came with that name. He's a very nice, friendly goat.
I acquired him to be a buddy to Biscotti, my young doeling from last year, as I separated her from my little herd when a stinky buck came to visit and get my two older goats pregnant. I didn't want her to get pregnant just yet. That seems to have worked, as both Oreo and Macaroon are showing signs that there are little kids in the oven. So, if all goes well, I'm going to have anywhere from two to four, or possibly even more little kids hopping around I figure sometime in August. Once the buck did his job, I sent him back home, and let Cole and Biscotti back out into our fenced pasture. I've still got an awful lot of overgrowth. I think my goats are too well fed with sweet grain. They browse the field, but it is still brushy.
Macaroon is the roundish goat on the bottom. Biscotti is her daughter from last year. She does this a lot, stepping up on top of her mother so she can reach up and nibble leaves that are otherwise out of reach. Macaroon doesn't seem to mind. As she and Oreo get close to time to have their babies, I will be separating them, each to their own enclosure in our pole barn, to more carefully monitor their progress, and to make sure mother and kid(s) bond.
Oreo spends a lot of time resting in the goat shelter. She is looking pretty wide as well. Being pregnant may be very exhausting!
The only other major animal activity this spring and summer is our raising of replacement hens. There are 10 of them. We will keep 3, and I'm going to send 7 to the farm . . . soon!
How is the molt going? Sassy has dropped 9 tail feathers. Three more to go!
Flint has dropped 8 tail feathers, so he has 4 more to go. And unless I lost it somewhere, I only count one deck feather! He's a bit odd, so maybe his molt is not even.
Sassy's wing feathers are coming along nicely. Of course, that right wing is short a couple primaries on the end, so her molt is a little mismatched, but she is making good progress and should be done in August, hopefully!
Flint's wing feathers are also mismatched, although some of those right sided feathers may not be primaries, but instead secondaries. His feathers are much smaller than Sassy's, which you would expect since he is smaller than her. Hopefully he too will be done in August. He needs some rather intense manning, but for the molt I've just been leaving him completely alone, only tossing him food and changing out his water.
The only other hawk-related thing to quickly share is a picture of Justin's new baby. This has been a couple weeks ago, so she's much bigger now and probably has lots more feathers.
I will need to get updated pictures, and find out if she has a name yet.
It's the lazy days of summer. A nice time to get other things done.
Flowers are blooming! Currently, my Clematis is looking pretty dramatic.
My Hydrangea is getting bigger!
To Rich and My complete surprise, we had "volunteer" Hollyhocks this year. Neither of us have ever planted any seeds, yet they came up this year. They are very pretty!
This year I'm growing our tomatoes in big pots. The farm has lots of "lick tubs", previously filled with yummy, sticky, sugar type stuff the cattle love. We picked up several of those, Rich put a few quick holes in the bottom, and Voila . . . instant planters. It keeps the weeds down.
OK, enough on the plant side of things. How about critters?
Clawdette is one year old now . . . and just as annoying as the day she arrived. Her and Monty are buds, for the most part, until it is time for Monty to have a bath, and then she doesn't recognize him for about 10 days.
I did set up a fish tank this Spring . . . but I think I'll devote a separate blog post for it.
Two of the most recent arrivals are more goats.
Rich and I went up to the Sales Barn in Lanesboro on this past Friday, because Rich was off on a rare Friday. There were several sheep and goat lots at the start of the auction, and these two were the last lot. I immediately motioned to place a bid . . . I didn't even know what sex they were. It turns out, they are wethers, which is a castrated male. That is just fine, as I am needing extra mouths to chomp down my pasture. They are quite cute, and friendly (the goats from last year don't like to be touched). I have not yet decided names for them.
Between last summer and this one I did acquire a fourth goat. He is also a wether. His name is Cole. He came with that name. He's a very nice, friendly goat.
I acquired him to be a buddy to Biscotti, my young doeling from last year, as I separated her from my little herd when a stinky buck came to visit and get my two older goats pregnant. I didn't want her to get pregnant just yet. That seems to have worked, as both Oreo and Macaroon are showing signs that there are little kids in the oven. So, if all goes well, I'm going to have anywhere from two to four, or possibly even more little kids hopping around I figure sometime in August. Once the buck did his job, I sent him back home, and let Cole and Biscotti back out into our fenced pasture. I've still got an awful lot of overgrowth. I think my goats are too well fed with sweet grain. They browse the field, but it is still brushy.
Macaroon is the roundish goat on the bottom. Biscotti is her daughter from last year. She does this a lot, stepping up on top of her mother so she can reach up and nibble leaves that are otherwise out of reach. Macaroon doesn't seem to mind. As she and Oreo get close to time to have their babies, I will be separating them, each to their own enclosure in our pole barn, to more carefully monitor their progress, and to make sure mother and kid(s) bond.
Oreo spends a lot of time resting in the goat shelter. She is looking pretty wide as well. Being pregnant may be very exhausting!
The only other major animal activity this spring and summer is our raising of replacement hens. There are 10 of them. We will keep 3, and I'm going to send 7 to the farm . . . soon!
How is the molt going? Sassy has dropped 9 tail feathers. Three more to go!
Flint has dropped 8 tail feathers, so he has 4 more to go. And unless I lost it somewhere, I only count one deck feather! He's a bit odd, so maybe his molt is not even.
Sassy's wing feathers are coming along nicely. Of course, that right wing is short a couple primaries on the end, so her molt is a little mismatched, but she is making good progress and should be done in August, hopefully!
Flint's wing feathers are also mismatched, although some of those right sided feathers may not be primaries, but instead secondaries. His feathers are much smaller than Sassy's, which you would expect since he is smaller than her. Hopefully he too will be done in August. He needs some rather intense manning, but for the molt I've just been leaving him completely alone, only tossing him food and changing out his water.
The only other hawk-related thing to quickly share is a picture of Justin's new baby. This has been a couple weeks ago, so she's much bigger now and probably has lots more feathers.
I will need to get updated pictures, and find out if she has a name yet.
It's the lazy days of summer. A nice time to get other things done.
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