Deogratias

Google Name Game

Here's one from Facebook.  I'm not tagging, but anyone who decides to try it please let me know in my comments.  It's kind of funny.

1: Type in "[your name] needs" in Google search:
"Vicki needs help with the operation and needs bandages."
Uh oh!


2: Type in "[your name] looks" in Google search:
"Vicki looks for him."
I guess I'm looking for the guy whose supposed to help with the operation.


3: Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search:
"Vicki hates with the heat of 1,000 suns."
Wow, that's a lot of hate - that guy probably didn't show up to save me!

4: Type in "[your name] goes" or "[your name] has gone" in Google search:
"Vicki has gone from a woman who lived with constant pain .... usually couldn't walk."
My pain is gone?! I guess I didn't need that operation after all.

5: Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search:
"Vicki loves travel agents."
Funny.  My mom was a travel agent.

6: Type in "[your name] eats" in Google search:
"Vicki's eats and sinful treats."
Yum - not too sinful I hope!

7: Type in "[your name] has" in Google search:
"Vicki has been reading for individuals and groups since 1981."
Good for me!

8: Type in "[your name] works" in Google search:
"Vicki works mainly in acrylics and oils."
I'm so artistic, aren't I?

9: Type in"[your name] lives" in Google search:
"Vicki lives in Baton Rouge, LA with her husband Troy."
I thought I lived in Georgia and my husband's name was Lee.

10: Type in "[your name] died" in Google search:
"Vicki was almost gored to death.... Vicki died as a result of a routine operation.... Vicki died when she was only 44."
Those three were listed together and are pretty scary. I will only be 44 for less than 3 more months. I'd better stay away from horned animals and routine operations.

11: Type in "[your name] will" in Google search:
"Vicki will always be your friend."
Lucky you - haha!

12: Type in "[your name] buys" in Google search:
"Vicki buys a brass idol."
I guess that's ok as long as I don't worship it.

 

Shadow got shot...

Lately our male cat has been disappearing for large blocks of time and we have had no idea where he has been going.   We know that he did kill a bird once, and we know that he doesn't mind staying out all night as long as the temperatures aren't too low.  We wonder -1)  has he found a female cat out there? 2) is he stalking prey? or 3) has he been adopted by another family out there. 

We're pretty sure #3 is not true because he always seems to come home hungry.  Probably the truth is a combination of 1 and 2.  As an un-neutered male cat, he just likes to prowl.

Yesterday we discovered that he has been a nuisance to somoeone in the area.  He came home in the morning after another all-night outing, and the boys discovered a strange object impaled in his body.  While waiting for me to get a pair of tweezers, Alex just pulled it out. 

Upon showing it to one of our neighbors, we learned that it was this which was probably shot from one of these.  Our neighbor told us that the shooter probably didn't intend to harm the cat badly, otherwise the injury would have been worse.  It was probably intended as a warning.

So needless to say, our little Shadow will be sleeping at home from now on.  He can go out during the day, but we're making a great effort to keep him home at night.

  

We also have to let Omar's owners know that Shadow might be a rival in the dangerous living competition.  While he hasn't been bit by a venomous snake, carried off by an owl or hit by a car like Omar has, Shadow has been shot.  I guess this stuff just goes with the territory with male cats. 

Our Visit to Rome

The old saying is true.  All roads do lead to Rome - Rome, Georgia that is!  Yesterday we headed there without a map or directions, and we found it quite easily.  Later when a map was found, we discovered that there were many, many routes we could have taken.

Our destination was State Mutual Stadium to watch the Rome Braves play the Augusta Green Jackets.  The Green Jackets won  despite a Brave's rally in the bottom of the 9th, but we all had fun anyway.  Jacob was consoled by the fact that a Georgia team won the game after all.  We didn't really know any of the players on either side though.

Some of the fans knew all the players.  They were girls who sat on the front row on the first base side just over the visitor's dugout.  They cheered every player by name and between innings they primped and preened.  I'm thinking the girls  were hoping to meet some of the guys later on.  Thank God I'm not that age anymore!

A cool thing about the stadium is that its size.    We're used to  Turner Field where the Atlanta Braves play, which is HUGE of course.  Compared to Turner Field, this place is TINY.  You walk through the front door, and boom - you're staring at home plate.  You can really get an upfront view of the game even in the upper seats. 

Fly balls were hit all around us, and while I was scrambling to get out of the way, others were scrambling to catch them.  We saw some tremendous bleacher catches.  One boy caught a ball barehanded just before it was heading out of the park. 

Our boys enjoyed sitting up front with their friends, except for Andrew who got into a fight with one of his friends, and another boy he didn't even know.  Andrew can become  aggressive when he's tired, and the long nap on the way home definitely did him good.

 

 

Afterwards we all agreed to go to an Atlanta Braves game soon, but for sure it would be a night game.  No more roasting in the sun for us!  No more paying a fortune for drinks to help keep us cool!  Maybe we'll hit one of the Friday Night Fireworks games.

Our Birds

 

Don't the newborn guinea keets look kinda like rats?  Can you believe there are 60 of them in there?  When they arrived yesterday we had to place every little beak in the water to let them know where it is.   

 

No, we're not keeping all 60 of them - only 6.  Our neighbor is getting six, friends are getting four and the rest are being sold to folks via Craig's List. 

Here are some shots of our older birds.

 

Mr. Hancock our rooster.

 

Buffy, one of our first and our very favorite hen.

 

 

One of our almost-3-week-old chickens

 

The nursery box is coming along.  Lee and Nicholas are attaching the chicken wire.

 

 

Finally, our predators.  We're doing our best to train them to leave the birds alone.

Guinea Fowl

In a couple of days we will be  the proud owners of 60 day old guinea keets.  We'll be raising about 6 ourselves, and have about 35- 40 of them reserved for purchase by friends, neighbors and readers of Craig's List.   We hope to sell the rest or perhaps we'll raise them for meat which we should be able to enjoy in about 14-16 weeks.

This afternoon Lee, with a little  help from me, Nicholas, Alex and Jacob, built a very attractive nursery box for the keets as well as for our 2 week old chickens.  He used wood leftover from our hardwood flooring and all it lacks now is some welded wire or chicken wire that Lee will pick up tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

So why do we want to own some of these loud and active little birds you might wonder.  It's because we live on 4 acres of mostly woodland with a spring and standing water right in the middle.  And we like to garden.  In case you didn't know, guineas love to eat ticks, mosquitos, grubs and weed seeds.  They run around and eat all the yucky things you don't want and leave all of your flowers, veggies (for the most part) and bushes alone. 

Last summer it was so bad around here that I spent most of my time inside, as did the kids most of the time.  Everytime we went outside the mosquitos which we were raising against our will were attacking us.  Hopefully this year they will be eaten by our guineas.

Our next door neighbor has a huge pasture which is infested by grubs, soon to become Junebugs.  Hopefully the guineas will devour the grubs and save her pasture so she doesn't have to use pesticide.

I've been reading Gardening with Guineas and I've learned a good deal about these fowl which are native to Africa.  For example, if we handle them properly every day we should be able to have them eating out of our hands and greeting us when we arrive home just like a dog.  Guineas are also great watch animals and will alert us whenever someone who doesn't belong arrives on our property.  They also lay eggs during the summer which we can hatch or eat just like chicken eggs.

Needless to say, there will be further posts about guineas which tell of our adventures together.  Hopefully we'll have the dogs trained to leave them alone before we set the guineas free to forage  at about 6-8 weeks of age.

Today is the day.....

to begin A Journey with St. Paul at the CHS Catholic Homeschool Conference.

There will be tons of wonderful speakers, vendors and even a Catholic College Fair. 

The event begins today, commences tomorrow morning and concludes with a vigil mass Saturday at 6.  I can't wait! 

It's Tea Party Day

My husband is planning on taking the boys to Atlanta today to protest high taxes and wasteful spending of our tax money.  The event is The Atlanta Tea Party.  Here are the details.

 Atlanta Tax Day Tea Party!!!

Where: Georgia State Capitol Building Downtown Atlanta

When: 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Who's Invited: You & Everyone You Know

It's all a part of the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party and there are events happening all over the country.  Come and join us.   Help us become the silent majority no more! 

My New Cheat Sheet

I'm borrowing the term Cheat Sheet from The Angry Chicken which is a fun blog full of cool recipes and sewing stuff.   It's such a great idea to make a cheat sheet of some of your favorite and most frequently made recipes.  Here's mine:

 

These recipes come from others, of course.  Pancakes recipe from the Angry Chicken, Pumpkin Bars from Cooks.com and and Pizza Dough the Food Network.  The cornbread recipe is from Celia, my mother-in-law, whose cornbread is the rage of the family.  She got the recipe from her grandmother.

An Ostrich, Emu and more

Last Saturday Nicholas, Andrew and I made the trek almost to the South Carolina border to pick up some hens and a rooster we had ordered, and as a bonus we got to tour an emu farm.  My timekeeper tells me it took 1 hour and 50 minutes to get there, but it was well worth the trip.  We got to see and touch numerous feathered creatures, as well as a few mammals.

Upon arrival we were greeted by the farmers, their dogs and a little cockatiel in a cage.  Inside the enclosed garage we saw eggs, feathers and lots of emu products on shelves.  We learned that emu make nutritious food and valuable oils. 

 

This is the actual color of the emu egg. 

 

It's cousin the ostrich lays the largest egg on earth.

After passing the chicken coop and seeing some Araucana hens which lay green-blue eggs, we entered the pasture. 

 

This emu normally stays in a pen, but his neighbor the ostrich has been kicking the fence and frightening him so the owners are letting him roam around.

 

 

I wish I could capture the cuteness of  the ostrich's face.

 

This is a  Rhea  and I sure wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley, or anywhere except a well secured fence.  He's protecting his lady and the egg she layed.  Apparently his weapon of choice is to take you're loose skin and twist it.  The white color is pretty rare.

 

I'm thinking about buying some of this Muscovy Duck's offspring.  They're quackless ducks and they love to eat all sorts of pesky insects.

  

Donkey

 

Steer

 

and goats.

Nicholas took some photos on the way to and from the farm.     

   

Then, at home we let the our nine new hens and new rooster forage for a while.  It started getting late though and they had to find a place to sleep.

 

This ladder will do for some, while others found a roosting spot on the sawhorses in the corner.  After they fell asleep we picked them up one at a time and placed them on the roosts in the chicken house, and in the morning when they woke they were friends with the others.  Chickens are so fun!

Recent Sights Around Here

 

A Lizard

 

Some gardening

 

A new chicken fence

 

Two shy chickens

 

The top of the pecking order

Different sized eggs

 

Two strange creatures atop the chicken house.

I hope to update tomorrow with pics of today's visit to an emu farm and shooting range.