Quick update from busy Seven Trees

Mark the evil parrot, AKA the worst pet in the world. He likes to march back & forth across his cage top, muttering and yiping. Today one of us dared to touch the potato chip bag, which set off an extremely loud shouting spree, until his treat dish was properly filled.
Magnus, showing off his master sleeping skills. No box goes un-filled on his watch.

It's been a very busy week here. One of us had a minor surgery which involved a trip to Seattle, having a critter-sitter, lots of house cleaning and shopping, etc. That went well, so spring should have us back in the mad project mode.
We finally retired the 10 year old Dell and got a spiffy new one. Of course that means I am struggling with Vista, plus trying to figure out how to reload all the stuff from the old computer. Craigslist provided us with a nice oak table to put all the electronics on, and it actually matches some of our furniture!
Also, we decided to take a bit of a loss on Ryder and swap him for a Dexter steer. He's going to the breeder who we rented bulls from, and his bloodline will carry on. We were going to steer him for ourselves, but it just didn't seem right to waste all that potential. So Sunday we'll say goodbye to Ryder and hello to a nice red Dexter steer.

The garden still has lettuce, chard, beets, carrots and broccoli, but not for long. Even though I can't seem to find a free moment, it's time to get the beets pickled, chard blanched & frozen, and so on. The lettuce was planted in September and is under a plastic sheet. It sure is nice to go out and pick a salad in November. We also have some chard starts in the greenhouse.

We're hoping to have our 2nd annual Apple-Tree Wassail on December 20th. More info as the time draws near....

The fun is swarming at Seven Trees

A swarm of honeybees made its way through the neighborhood today. I went outside to check on the dogs and heard a loud buzzing above the garage. Hovering overhead was a huge swarm. They slowly moved south over the house, and then over the pasture and on to a tree in the neighbors' front yard. We missed seeing them form into a compact mass to rest, and they soon disappeared somewhere over the raspberry fields.

Where Newt is cute - she came to visit with us in the shade of the front yard trees this afternoon, and for once happily posed for the camera.
We replanted the cukes this evening, and Mark supervised from the greenhouse. He was a little camera-shy about waving though.

Uh oh! Vacation leaves lots of time for experiments...Bacon Salt!!

On a more laborious note, we did bring home a trailer-load of lumber to start building the new range shelter for Ryder tomorrow, our new herd sire. We'll post updates, if the current heatwave permits.

Yard birds & house bird

Yesterday we set up an elaborate configuration of the electronet so the chickens could roam a little near the greenhouse. They've been booted from the barnyard because they tend to head straight for Stella's stall and scratch the bedding into canyons and hills. In the summer it doesn't matter as much, because Stella is plenty warm. But in winter we practice what is called the deep bedding method. We lay down straw (and cedar chips) over her stall floor, pick up poops every day, and add to the bedding layers periodically. Eventually it gets deep enough, and the composting process gets underway. As long as we keep it fairly clean, the heat generated by the bedding pack keeps Stella warm and comfortable all winter. In the spring we muck the stall out down to dirt level and put a lighter layer of bedding down. The winter bedding goes into the compost bins and turns into lovely soil to put the garden to bed with in the fall.

Where do these Yard Birds enter the picture? Well, after being lured back to their pen with scratch, they somehow bumped the gate open and were performing pest removal services in the front yard when I pulled up to the gate. After shooing them back in, we realized there really isn't much they can hurt plantwise this time of year, and their eggs are so much nicer when they are busy all day. So we've been letting them out in the yard for a few hours a day. It's so fun and pastoral to see the happy chickens scratching around and finding goodies in the grass. And the dogs enjoy following the flock to do poop patrol. Ew!

Here's a picture of Mark in a former job as Darth Vader's trained attack parrot. Well, actually it's from a really cool website about Quaker parrots that made a page for Mark 12 long years ago when the internet was still a fairly new thing to me. It's called Quakerville & if you look around hard enough, you can find more ancient pictures of Mark, and even one of me c.1995! Mark, now being a middle-aged parrot, got his first taste of sherry last night. Not a popular beverage, judging by the rapid head shake which sent sherry spraying and his blinking, watering eyes. Mark does enjoy red wine (never white!) an occasional sip of beer, and loves coffee with cream & sugar in the morning. All in moderation of course. A parrot the size of a large robin can't indulge too much in such conviviality. He also loves cheese and will take savage bites from a piece, leaving a U-shape divot like a miniature shark wound. He loves pizza crust, but no toppings. Beans, but only if you make sure there is no offending broth or sauce left on them. Pasta, as long as he can put it in his treat dish and nibble it without having to get his feet messy by holding it. And he loves ice cream so much that he'll gobble it down fast enough to get brain freeze. Or at least that's how I interpret the brief pause in intake for headshaking and watery eye-blinks.

Chicks, lawn ornament & evil parrot

Chickies in the bathroom! Here's Peeps (named after my first baby zebra finch) and PoopButt, hanging out under a heat lamp next to the toilet. You can se how much smaller Peeps is.

The flock, reunited. Peeps is on the far right and PoopButt is in the center, closest to the front. We were worried the other chicks would pick on Peeps, but not only did PoopButt run interference for her, she also pecks and scolds the bigger chicks at will.

Stella the lawn mower! We hooked two lead ropes to her halter so we could each be on a side, in case she made a break for it, and took her out in the front yard. But once she figured out she could just walk around and eat fresh green grass, she did great!

And Mark doing his avian barnacle impression. If you try to pick him up off his cage, he immediately grabs on to a wire with his beak and grips as tight as he can. D actually slid him up & down the cage wire like that and all he does is grind his beak down tighter. If he's on top of his cage when you try to pick him up, he hunkers down and grips with his feet. You can just about pick up the whole cage using him for a handle. Then he'll just let go and enjoy being held, so I think it's some kind of stubborn parrot game.