Here's a truism for you: technology does not stand still. Everyone knows this, of course, yet we still proceed under the assumption that aspects of it will stay reliably in place. Especially those aspects which are important to you. Let progress move everything forward at a steady clip, but please, leave my little world intact. Preferably forever.
I was thinking of this as I once again tried out the new blogging interface that is being launched by Blogger, the host for Ocean. And once again I'm finding that Flickr, where I store my photos and Blogger are not on friendly terms. This means that in the months ahead, Blogger is going to pull the rug from under me and I will wake up one morning to find that I can no longer load photos here seamlessly from my storage place. At least not in the way that I've been loading them for the past 15 years.
If this happens (and I am fairly sure it will happen), I will have to make radical changes to the way I include photos here. I can only hope that past links to Flickr photos will be preserved or else I can't look forward to granny years (when I'm even more old than I am now!), where I can put my false teeth in a glass with water, prop up pillows, and look nostalgically at my blog posts of yore.
We will see where all this is heading, but for now, I have come to appreciate this other truism: relish what's before you today. Who the heck can tell where we'll be tomorrow.
From the amorphous, let's jump right into the minutia of the everyday. For us, this day was full of chicken capers.
The morning unfolded a little differently: we kept the cheepers under lock until 8 since we were to have one more push back misting of mosquito repellent. If all goes well, the blood suckers will all have left to seek their fortunes elsewhere. So, a quick garden clean up...
And a quick breakfast inside...
And now Ed asks for my help: he has gotten fresh batteries for his tracking chips. The goal is to tie the chips to the chickens (who continue to lay their eggs in secret places). By tacking the hens, Ed thinks we can locate stashes of eggs. It's worked for one of the chickens. We're trying it on Peach and Java today. So, I catch each girl as she leaves the coop and Ed securely ties the tracking device to her neck.
This part sort of worked, if you ignore the fact that Peach pooped all over me during the procedure, forcing me to change clothes. But we did get the chips attached. And now the kids arrive and I'm off to be with them, while Ed more or less tracks the two chipped chickens. I say "more or less," because there is no way that Ed is going to run around the farmette lands all morning long keeping en eye out on two chickens. He takes pauses. Long pauses.
The kids and I play outside, which today means that Snowdrop is on a hunt for four leaf clovers. Never mind that I have yet to see a four leaf clover anywhere among the millions of clover plants I've pulled out on farmtter lands. She has youthful optimism. She hunts.
Sparrow, thinking we are on a leaf hunt, simply hunts for leaves. This is a much easier challenge.
(It's raining grass seeds)
(I would not let anyone step into any of my flower beds! Except for my grandchildren. They can go wherever they want...)
Eventually we go inside, but not for long. Ed is at the door asking Snowdrop to help him locate a chicken. She is so honored to be singled out for this assignment!
Sparrow and I follow, because the little guy cannot stand to have his sister leave the room, let alone leave the house without him.
And lo, with the help of the tracker, the two hunters find the chip! On the ground. Peach, who has a brain the size of a small pea, has managed to undo the string that held the chip around her neck. So, no Peach, no eggs. Just one chip, in some tall grasses.
They hunt for Java. We all hunt for Java.
And it's the same deal: the chip is found. Eventually, Java is found too, strutting around the courtyard. So much for our sleuthing efforts. Just goes to show you that even the newest technology may be of small use when you're up against chickens.
We will try again tomorrow.
There is an upside: I've been hoping the kids would spend more time outside. Today, we all spent a lot of time outside.
In the evening, Ed goes off on his bike ride. It's time for me to get moving too, but mine is an easy challenge -- a short walk down the road to the new development. If you look to the south, you can forget about the new streets, the construction, the neat and tidy houses. It's still prairie, scattered trees and the wetlands. Always with the big sky, especially on a day like today.
A quiet little corner of south central Wisconsin. Except when the rooster crows. We have a very loud rooster.
I was thinking of this as I once again tried out the new blogging interface that is being launched by Blogger, the host for Ocean. And once again I'm finding that Flickr, where I store my photos and Blogger are not on friendly terms. This means that in the months ahead, Blogger is going to pull the rug from under me and I will wake up one morning to find that I can no longer load photos here seamlessly from my storage place. At least not in the way that I've been loading them for the past 15 years.
If this happens (and I am fairly sure it will happen), I will have to make radical changes to the way I include photos here. I can only hope that past links to Flickr photos will be preserved or else I can't look forward to granny years (when I'm even more old than I am now!), where I can put my false teeth in a glass with water, prop up pillows, and look nostalgically at my blog posts of yore.
We will see where all this is heading, but for now, I have come to appreciate this other truism: relish what's before you today. Who the heck can tell where we'll be tomorrow.
From the amorphous, let's jump right into the minutia of the everyday. For us, this day was full of chicken capers.
The morning unfolded a little differently: we kept the cheepers under lock until 8 since we were to have one more push back misting of mosquito repellent. If all goes well, the blood suckers will all have left to seek their fortunes elsewhere. So, a quick garden clean up...
And a quick breakfast inside...
And now Ed asks for my help: he has gotten fresh batteries for his tracking chips. The goal is to tie the chips to the chickens (who continue to lay their eggs in secret places). By tacking the hens, Ed thinks we can locate stashes of eggs. It's worked for one of the chickens. We're trying it on Peach and Java today. So, I catch each girl as she leaves the coop and Ed securely ties the tracking device to her neck.
This part sort of worked, if you ignore the fact that Peach pooped all over me during the procedure, forcing me to change clothes. But we did get the chips attached. And now the kids arrive and I'm off to be with them, while Ed more or less tracks the two chipped chickens. I say "more or less," because there is no way that Ed is going to run around the farmette lands all morning long keeping en eye out on two chickens. He takes pauses. Long pauses.
The kids and I play outside, which today means that Snowdrop is on a hunt for four leaf clovers. Never mind that I have yet to see a four leaf clover anywhere among the millions of clover plants I've pulled out on farmtter lands. She has youthful optimism. She hunts.
Sparrow, thinking we are on a leaf hunt, simply hunts for leaves. This is a much easier challenge.
(It's raining grass seeds)
(I would not let anyone step into any of my flower beds! Except for my grandchildren. They can go wherever they want...)
Eventually we go inside, but not for long. Ed is at the door asking Snowdrop to help him locate a chicken. She is so honored to be singled out for this assignment!
Sparrow and I follow, because the little guy cannot stand to have his sister leave the room, let alone leave the house without him.
And lo, with the help of the tracker, the two hunters find the chip! On the ground. Peach, who has a brain the size of a small pea, has managed to undo the string that held the chip around her neck. So, no Peach, no eggs. Just one chip, in some tall grasses.
They hunt for Java. We all hunt for Java.
And it's the same deal: the chip is found. Eventually, Java is found too, strutting around the courtyard. So much for our sleuthing efforts. Just goes to show you that even the newest technology may be of small use when you're up against chickens.
We will try again tomorrow.
There is an upside: I've been hoping the kids would spend more time outside. Today, we all spent a lot of time outside.
In the evening, Ed goes off on his bike ride. It's time for me to get moving too, but mine is an easy challenge -- a short walk down the road to the new development. If you look to the south, you can forget about the new streets, the construction, the neat and tidy houses. It's still prairie, scattered trees and the wetlands. Always with the big sky, especially on a day like today.
A quiet little corner of south central Wisconsin. Except when the rooster crows. We have a very loud rooster.
