Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

I was relating how my Dad gave me advice some 20+ years ago.  He said, "Brenda, not everything needs to be a fight. Sometimes it's just better if you'd shut up." Interesting advice, but it has an interesting story behind it. (The picture has noting to do with the story, but I have to add them because I like pictures.  This is Tigger, my kitty) Back some 20 years ago, I was on welfare, getting Section 8 housing after that SOB of a Father to my son left us high and dry before I was even showing.  What do you do when 1/2 of the parental units bails on you? You go on welfare and work your ass out of that situation.  Well, Alex was less than 1 year old, and Section 8 will not allow you to be living in a 1 bedroom apartment with a child. You need 2 bedrooms, so I needed to move. I found an apartment on the other side of town in an 8 unit building; upstairs and to the right.  It'll do and Section 8 approved it. Only after that did I find out that the Landlord o...

Ducks and geese do this thing after they've been resting for a while.  They stand up, extend one wing and then lift the corresponding leg.  It's a ballet move if I've ever saw one!   

"   Man it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot." - Eugene in 'Biloxi Blues' It's going to be another hot week here.   Anything that can hold enough water + a duck or goose is used to keep them cool.  Here we have Molly's babies in a Tupperware cake carrier and a heated dog bowl.  Don't worry, it's not like cake ever makes it out of the pan, even.  12 hours and it's all gone.  There's never a need for cake carrier. I needed to keep the big pool out of commission until these little blighters can get out of it safely, but I still needed to keep everyone cool. So I am using litter pans, dog bowls and even the plastic drawers out of one of those cheap plastic dressers as mini pools.  Eh, Dave's gotta clean that one out anyways.  It was the back end of the duck pen when they were inside in the laundry room.  Now they are big enough to be outside.  I finally had to suck it up and clean up and ...

We have our worries about Sissy, center in the photo.  She's been acting oddly lately; standing in corners just zoned and walking aimlessly not with her flock. Her bad eye has been looking worse lately, and I suspect she's lost more sight in it.  Her depth perception is worse: I see her trying to lap up water about 1/2" from the actual water. If it is true, and she's lost all sight in that eye, she WILL eventually adjust. We'll need to adjust as well.  Before I walk over to pick her up, I talk to her and make sure to touch her side so she knows I am there. She had an injury to the area below her chin. With the hot, muggy weather lately, it was important to keep it bug-free.  I slathered triple antibiotic ointment on it twice daily to keep it from blood sucking bugs. It's healed over now, so that's another thing that will make her feel better. I've been working on a redesign of the banana squash head pillow.  I discovered that it is a great th...

No, they are just so cute! Molly hatched out 6 babies day before yesterday. Like Sissy, she's a first-time Mom and doing a LOT of hissing.  A leaf blows by too close to her and she hisses.  Yesterday was the first time the kids got to go outside. At first, all the goose girls came up to her nest to see the wee little ones.  Mary is very interested  in those girls.  She'll make a great Mom next year, I think. We've compared these goslings to Sissy's since these will be a Toulouse/African cross. Well, we were not sure until they hatched.  If Daddy was Buddy, they'd be straight Toulouse.  The kids would have a grayish beak. These are all black beaks but the chicks themselves are more yellow than Sissy's which are straight Africans.  I've seen pics of the Toulouse/African cross: Big bodies, with that tuft-y neck, dark streak down the back with brown instead of gray coloration. Hey, we're diverse here. Sissy, here in the front of the group, ...