Yearly Archives: 2014

Vintage Cat Photo

In a blatant attempt to get more traffic to my website, I am posting a cat photo.

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What? You say this isn’t an over-the-top adorable kitten doing something ridiculous to make you laugh? You say that this cat won’t go viral?

I know.

But I must remain true to what this blog is about. I respect animals for their innate natures – I don’t want them to be people in fur – and this cat surely knows who she is and her place in the world. She has gravitas. (Isn’t that a wonderful word! It should be applied to animals more often.)

Take a moment to note the details in the background. Those old-fashioned tulips just past their prime! The crocheted table cover! How pretty the curtains with the simple borders are. This cat in this hundred-year-old  photograph might not be as adorable as a trending kitten video, but I swear that I can hear her purr.

Listen to the Night

It’s mid-September in New England. The leaves are hinting at the spectacular show to come.

maple

clethra

 

At this point in time, though, the real drama is at night when you can’t see a thing. There’s a chorus so complex that I have no idea which sounds come from the frogs, the insects, or the birds. I’m sure there are naturalists out there who can parse this orchestra into it’s components. (Leave a comment and let me know what you hear!) But, before analyzing it, simply listen to it as a whole. It’s a full-throttled concert throbbing lustily with life.

Having gone from deafness back to hearing thanks to science and cochlear implants, this nightly chorus is a miraculous thing to immerse myself in. Read more about CIs here.

A Northern Coop

It gets cold here in New England, but it’s even colder up in Ontario bordering a Great Lake. Last year, my friend Lisa, who lives up there, had issues with frostbite in her flock. The solution wasn’t heat, rather it was ventilation. Lisa’s partner is an architect, and so their new coop is very well designed – and beautiful!

Lisa's coop

 

The sloping roofs shed snow, and provide for ample ventilation via the eaves. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ll know how important I think that height and air flow is. This example is ideal.

coop ventilation

 

There are large windows to let in the low winter light. Under the windows are screens for additional ventilation. During inclement weather, these are covered with a board that swings down and latches. There are nesting boxes accessible to the outside, a pop door going into a covered run, and a convenient full-sized door for people.

You can imagine how cozy and yet filled with fresh air, this coop will be in the winter.

inside coop

 

I’ll be talking at length about coop design at the Chicken Keeping Workshops this Sunday at my home in Carlisle, MA. Spaces remain. Sign up here!

Scooter Works Hard

This past week Scooter and I went to a two-day workshop for my KPA class. Most of the course is on-line, but we get together four times to learn from each other and show off newly learned behaviors. Scooter was a star! He did everything that I asked of him. A secret to his success? Knowing when to rest.

When I cue “cone,” Scooter trots over and touches it with his nose. The training facility was chilly and after that work he earned a cozy cuddle in his blankie.

Scooter and cone

 

Scooter also showed off how he knows exactly what “go to mat” means.

mat

 

On the second day, he tried some agility equipment, demonstrated how he can do a chain of behaviors (under my knee, cone and back up) and we worked on extending the duration of his sit. Scooter does his “go crate” perfectly.

crate

 

If this was another dog, curled up and staring balefully, I’d worry that he was stressed out. But I know Scooter. You know Scooter. Almost every photo of Scooter that I’ve taken looks like this and this. Yes, by the end of the day, Scooter was more than ready to go home. But, this dog knows how to handle an intense day – cuddle up in a favorite blanket and take a nap. Not a bad way to deal with life’s demands.

A Bumpy Egg

Each hen lays an egg unique to herself. Shape and color vary not only by breed but also by individual. Consumers of supermarket eggs don’t know this because only uniform eggs are put into cartons. But even those of us who expect to see variation in the eggs from our backyard flocks, once in awhile see a totally odd egg. This was one.

egg

 

It was a tad smaller than usual. It had bumps.

egg with bumpsI

No matter. I cracked it into the frying pan for breakfast. It didn’t have a yolk (which explains the smaller size.) I cracked in another egg which did have a yolk. Breakfast was delicious.

Those lumps are made of the same material as the rest of the eggshell, it just wasn’t put down smoothly. We’re at the end of the laying season. The hens are beginning to molt. Their systems are tired. I’ve noticed that the brown eggs are paler in color; the hens are running out of dye. Such eggs, and those with bumpy shells, and even eggs without yolks. are still fine for consumption. I appreciate them because I know that in another two months I won’t have a full egg basket, and I’ll be eating oatmeal for breakfast. Meanwhile, my hens will be resting and rejuvenating in preparation for another season of laying.

What unusual eggs have you been collecting lately?