Worlds away - the Silversong Farm blog

[DeniseJP]

JimD wrote:

:brown-bunny

I'm so glad that BB is adjusting so well.

BB (Buckley)is an awesome rabbit... and very talkative to me... I had some hay for her this morning and she was very specific about where I needed to put it. She growls and boxes but I think that is more her getting used to me and she is establishing her boundaries... once I had the hay in her spot and petted her she was OK and settled down.

Grass time is a favorite time in the mornings... Jared opened the day with several binkies when I approached his cage and his message was "Please, greens and not hay today..." Buckley got a little share but she was plump when she arrived and I am trying to get her to a normal weight. Wish someone did that for me!

Although I have many buns now, each gets special time and I try to listen to their requests. Turnout time is my favorite... the ducks are getting more tolerant of sharing their lush space with the rabbits and the rabbits like the sense of freedom they get, albeit controlled from predators (inlcuding my dog Bridget, who thinks hunting is a way of life... her breed is programmed to think that way) and monitored by me to make sure it is a good experience.

Buckley gets special privileges... she has earned them and I want her experience to be good for her.

Denise

 

[hartleybun]

when graduations are over, do you get a long holiday until the next term? glad to read BB is settling in. she sounds as if she's gaining confidence every day

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Congrats on Benn's upcoming graduation! Do you have any new bunny pictures to share?

 

[Pipp]

LOL! I missed the gender fairy visiting Buckley! What a hoot -- after all this time!

Love to hear the original owner's reaction to that. :biggrin2:

Love yer Blog!


sas :bunnydance:

 

[DeniseJP]

Pipp wrote:

LOL! I missed the gender fairy visiting Buckley! What a hoot -- after all this time!

Love to hear the original owner's reaction to that. :biggrin2:

Love yer Blog!


sas :bunnydance:

Thanks!

Baby geese arrived this week... a small box filled with downy babies. They love the weeds I have been feeding them and their crumbles... two were weak on arrival but a solution of sugar water got their blood sugar back up and everyone is doing well.

Andy has the camera - just have to find the connector to upload the photos and I can do pics again. I miss my camera with the card... hope the idiot who stole it in Aruba is enjoying it...ssd:

Lenka's kits were visited by their new owners, the new owner's mom and their nanny (all my neighbors). Their mom was fascinated by the softness of each of the rabbits and asked lots of questions - I sent them home with magazines and books... will print off HRS articles for them when they pick them up tomorrow. I said when they need nail trims to bring them back or I can come up to do it at their home... I like when I find a good home for the bunnies and the kids might want to try showing them!

Off for some pampering on my own... nail appointment!:wink

Denise

 

[hartleybun]

nice to read you are pampering yourself!

 

[JimD]

Pipp wrote:

Love to hear the original owner's reaction to that. :biggrin2:

sas :bunnydance:

I'll see if I can get their thoughts on this. :biggrin:

I always had a suspicion about "Buckley's" gender.

I wonder if that had anything to do with the way she acted when she stayed at my place? ....
I'd call her "Big Guy", and she'd give me such a look ... " :grumpy"

 

[DeniseJP]

JimD wrote:

Pipp wrote:

Love to hear the original owner's reaction to that. :biggrin2:

sas :bunnydance:

I'll see if I can get their thoughts on this. :biggrin:

I always had a suspicion about "Buckley's" gender.

I wonder if that had anything to do with the way she acted when she stayed at my place? ....
I'd call her "Big Guy", and she'd give me such a look ... " :grumpy"

She did the same thing to her when I called her Buckley in the car and I suddenly had a sense that she wanted to be called BB... she has a look that she gives that lets you know what she is thinking... and her powers of observation are pretty intense... I never had a rabbit look at me that intently before.



Denise

 

[DeniseJP]

When BG, Pudding and Cookiedough's new owners came to look at them with their mom and nanny, mom asked me to make sure all were does... and they were. Then we sexed the Andy Rautins x Juno litter and played "guess the gender." Farm life is just that, the facts of life. Tacos and donuts prevail!

Then it was time to tattoo the does, especially since Pudding and BG (stands for brown and grey) look very similar... the kids watched intently and the kits were still...no pain for them with the Inkinator, no new scratches on my arms and easy to read tattoos in their ears - everyone is happy.

The gardens here are benefitting from humid, warm air...my hostas that were shredded last year in a hailstorm are full and lush... the hollyhocks have come back and are taller than me... coneflowers and bee balm are getting ready to bloom...columbines are done blooming and day lilies are just getting their buds.

Now the great dilemma is clean the barn and cages... or take Weatherly for a much needed walk outside her pen. Forget about laundry... I am about doing outside stuff today.

Denise

Denise



Juno's kits are - solid black male, solid blue tort male, broken tort male and the opal is a doe so her name will definitely be... Opal! She is a keeper.

 

[DeniseJP]

Opted to relax and read - I owe Weatherly a walk and a grooming today...

It was warm here yesterday and I had rabbits lounging in their cages, stretched out and flopped on their sides to stay cool. It was amazing to see how long Jared actually is in stretch mode! For a Checkered Giant, he is quite friendly and likes getting noserubs...he just does not like getting picked up but cannot say I blame him! He is HUGE!

Cleaned most of the cages... that is done every few days... have to run and get more shavings for the big CG cages.

Trying to find the download cord for the camera - it is an older digital model...

I have been moving the "box of quackers" (aka French Toulouse geese but I have not found as cute a term for a box of goslings) to the barn during the day where they go in a bigger pen, then back to their transport box (a large crate) for nighttime, in the house. They have a spot in my kitchen where I can watch and listen to them peeping. Two of them got dirty (as in pooped on) in the transport so the sink was filled with warmish water and they swam and washed themselves off, then I dried their downy bodies and returned them to the big pen. If I call to them "Oh babies!" I get all sorts of chatter.

The older Indian Runner ducks (they are about two months older than the geese) and getting a bit more tame... they are funny to listen to as they always seem to have something to comment on.

I have had ducks before but never geese so this should be fun to go through... I have a couple of books on goose behavior coming in tomorrow.

Twenty some odd years ago or more I was able to sit on the beach and have wild mute swans and their cygnets come within 10 feet of me... I was reading and they figured I was not a threat. The male watched me cautiously from a further distance...as he obviously had some run ins with idiot humans. Mom and her babies were eating things on the beach, shaking their down and feathers and we were all enjoying the warm late afternoon sunshine.

Some tweens of the idiot variety came running down the beach behind me and chased them away before I could tell them to leave the swans alone... they were not harming anyone and were actually minding their own business... and I was selfishly enjoying the face that I never got that close to a pair of swans and their cygnets until that afternoon... some people just don't have a clue.:X

A friend teased and said that I have "attack" geese now... I am sure they will be fine if people just don't get in their faces and mess with their stuff... kind of like Checkered Giant rabbits.

Even horses are the same way... mine are respectful but I know when they are letting me know they are not happy (like Weatherly's vaccinations or a fighting the bit or Freedom having to endure the NG tube to get oiled for her colic two weeks ago or Mercy complaining that being on a diet stinks... or Saoirse's adolescent display of disrespect to me -she pinned her ears, whirled and kicked at me and was scolded. She kicked again at me and I scolded her... the third time I gave her backside a swat and scolded and she has not kicked at me again (she now follows me respectfully at the moment)- Mercy disciplined her the same way - she would pin her ears and give Saoirse a look... then finally when the bratty baby tried to mount Mercy's neck and bite her Mercy let her have it. Saoirse displayed the "mouthing the air" submissive baby horse display and all was OK with the world).

The older I get the more I find that if I turn the static of life off and listen, our animal friends do communicate. My hubby would say I am a few sandwiches short of a picnic or a few fries short of a Happy Meal but that is OK... I am OK being able to enjoy animal conversation... at least it is not catty or mean.

Denise

 

[LuvaBun]

I love the term 'Box of Quackers'

I absolutely love swans - I miss seeing them here. In the UK there was a Wildfowl Park we used to go to and the swans would come and eat out of your hand - so long as you stayed still and let them come to you. (BTW - they loved grapes too - and potatoes!)

I think animals do communicate to us in their own way, and can understand us, in their own way too

Jan

 

[hartleybun]

DeniseJP wrote:

The older I get the more I find that if I turn the static of life off and listen, our animal friends do communicate. My hubby would say I am a few sandwiches short of a picnic or a few fries short of a Happy Meal but that is OK... I am OK being able to enjoy animal conversation... at least it is not catty or mean.

Denise

:hugsquish::highfive:everyone hears, but so few of us listen go with it

 

[DeniseJP]

It works for me!

Progress with Weatherly over the past two days... I took her back to ground work and Sunday was a bad day... three steps, squeal... three steps then squeal and try to run... three steps and squeal and half rear... I told her she was being totally inappropriate on the walk so we would go play on the lunge line if she could just be a lady and walk to the house. I guess that is what she wanted as she bucked, galloped, squealed and had herself a good old time once we got back to the barn area.

Yesterday on the walk she was better - no squealing and when she would pull back and question me I could tell her to get over it and continue on.

We will see what today brings.

Denise

 

[DeniseJP]

Buckley B Bunny enjoying turnout today... she even came over when I called her...

Quinn and Buckley contemplating each other...

"I am beautiful!":biggrin2:

The Indian Runner ducks (hatched 04-05-10)... Rory (hen), Gleam (hen), Bentley (drake)and Clark (drake - might be a Mallard x Runner cross). Rory and Gleam have crests.

And found a picture of Dad and I from Thanksgiving... Happy Father's Day Dad!!!

A close up of my opal doe...

This shows her color better...

Blue tort buck.... these kits are Juno and Andy's.

Ran out of room on the camera so more pictures to follow later.



Denise

 

[hartleybun]

what a great set of pics. that one of you and your dad is lovely - you look soo alike i hope quinn supervises bb better than whiskey supervised roxy last night. chris had put the sun lounger over her 'scrape' luckily alexlooked out and saw her giving it a piece of her mind:biggrin:

 

[DeniseJP]

Dad is actually my stepdad but we are alike in spirit. I miss him a lot... especially since Father's Day is this weekend.

Quinn was good with Buckley but when I put the geese out in the duck pen to test their imprinting (the ducks were in their duck house), he and Bridget were frantic... "Oh my, you mean they squeak AND they can run?!" The running setthe dogsoff but the geese quickly retreated to "Mother Goose" - aka me! I just call them "Oh babies!" and they high tail it over to me. Some are not 100% there but we can work on it.

Then Bridget saw a red winged blackbird in the field and was pointing at it. I told her to forget about it but she gave me a lesson for today - aim high! The blackbird goot away by a mile but Bridget gave it a good effort - leaped into the air about four feet.

Weatherly was OK last night... still pulling so I am going to try a Dually halter on her to see if that helps realign her brain. No squealing so that was good... at least she gives a warning before she does something inappropriate.

Off to work...

Denise

 

[LuvaBun]

Lovely pictures - how very precious that one is of you and your Dad!

I can just imagine the ducks running and squeaking

Jan

 

[DeniseJP]

The box of geese are a riot - I can hand feed them now.

The Runner ducks are more shy but I am hoping the geese will help rectify that since they think I am great! The response I get from them is a mood uplifter!

Jared is my other barn greeter... he sees me and in uncharacteristic Checkered Giant style, he is welcoming, doesn't growl when I clean his cage and loves his noserubs.

Off to the barn, then off to work.

Denise

 

[DeniseJP]

Today, since the geese are imprinted on me (what an ego boost that is to be "Mother Goose!"), we took a walk to the pond. I took my time as they are almost 3 week old babies... they trip on their big flappy feet and hold their wings out like they might get some lift as they stay within close proximity to me. My sundress was worthy of being goosed by curious beaks and when I sat in the grass for a rest, I was explored by the babies. Truly, sometimes it is the simplest things in life that get my attention and make life worth living.

The horses were pretty interested in these new critters... and by the time we made it to the pond, some were warm enough to just jump in the algae area... and they could not swim well so I had to assist as best I could. I called them back out and we walked to my Adirondack chair by the pond's west end and I sat and they grazed and some sat in the shade under my chair.

It was hot and after a brief break, I went to the pond's edge where there was no algae and a few brave souls waddled in to do some weeding and drink before we made the trek back to the barn.

If anyone was watching, I am sure they are thinking I have lost my mind but having 8 wonderful babies who are dependent on me is kind of fulfilling. Not even my rabbits - other than Buckley - show that devotion. Buckley does as I know she feels that she was going to be released and she always makes sure I am close by during our turnout time... just in case.

Benn graduates in less than a week - this coming Friday... and my "kids" at the school I work at graduate a week from tomorrow. Sadly, this has been a tough spring for me personally... between losing Dad and trying to stay focused while I have teachers asking me what I am doing for the summer and when I say "Working!" they are apologetic.

I think I need to find work where I can have a 10 or 11 month position... I function at such a high level of energy that without a break of some sort, I am beginning to "break down." The school year makes sense to me but being stuck in my cubicle without a window is getting to me this year and being trapped doing "busy work" is not how I want to be paid for my productivity - I'd rather they not pay me and I can take a summer course or two or explore other summer options and resume a strong surge of productivity in September.

Just my ramblings as I am sitting by a window, enjoying the sunshine.

Denise

 

[hartleybun]

i think your ramblings make perfect sense! you've been given the chance to re-evaluate things! go for itray: