Little Fishes

Well I bought me some more fish today. These are not for the chickens. I have a little fish pond and my fish I had died in early summer and I have no idea why. I had two shubunkins and comets and gold fish. I guess I didn't clean it out when I should have. I have doubts on that, though. They were probably at least four years old. I cleaned the ponds out last week and filled them back up. 

Anyway, today I bought four fish. I bought them at Wal Mart because the pet store where I was buying them closed. Not good selection. I hope I have three comets and I splurged and bought a little Oranda fantail. You have to look really hard to see them. They are only about an inch long. 

This is the Oranda fan fail. She is the largest. And that ain't big. 

You can just barely see them here; where the cloud shadow is by the plant holder. I let the pond dry up and all my plants are in very bad shape. I'm hoping they recover and soon. The holder in the bottom has the water lily. 

One of the things I was missing in the pond was water hyacinths. They really filter the pond well. I went kayaking in August and picked me up some. I only picked up four and now I have a bunch. 

Or I did!  The chickens are eating them up. I guess they see green; there is a drought. 

    

Hoping no snakes come tonight and get my fish because I don't have them protected yet. 

Mighta Gone Fishing

And I did! A couple of my friends (also they are family) and I went up to the pond for a few hours to catch a few fish. We are fishing for catfish. 

But this is what I'm catching. Thousands of these little suckers. We have just always thrown them up on the bank to get rid of a few. But, a few weeks ago I read that someone fed their chickens the remains of fish after cleaning them. Fish meal is really expensive and this is a cheaper way.  So I put all the little bream we caught in a buckle. 

I did catch a couple of catfish. 

Just not big enough to eat; so these get to go back in the pond for another day. Make that year!

When I got home, l chopped up all the little bream into bite size pieces for the chickens. 

They like them. I chopped up a few and then gave them some to see how that was going to fly. It soared. 

I'm at a table still chopping and a few are coming over for more. They hung around as long as I was chopping. I still have a little left in the refrigerator that I plan to give them tomorrow. Great protein. 

My Big Hunters

This was such a nice late afternoon so I think I'll just sit outside and listen to some music. I get everything set up, I hear Molly barking down in the woods, so I'm just chillin. Got my feet propped up on the table, singing with my music, and took a picture of Polly because she had jumped on the table to preen. Then it dawns on me about ten or fifteen minutes have gone by and I haven't seen the dogs. I go the edge of woods and call Gypsy. Nothing. I call for about thirty seconds, still nothing. I run in the house and put my tennis shoes on (I was in flip flops). Run back out and start calling Molly and Gypsy again. Since I don't know which way they are, I head the other way toward the barn and call again. Finally Molly comes running up behind me. I'm asking where is Gypsy and she runs back in the woods. I go busting after her and of course I haven't gone very far when I see them.

Calm down time. I go down to see what they are after; Molly has her head in a hole and Gypsy is digging in another hole. I'm casing the area to make sure no snakes are around; go figure! 

Molly is on a mission. Got to get it. 

By looking at the hole and location I'm guessing an armadillo hole. 

Close to that hole is another hole and Gypsy is trying to dig in that one. 

After I have confirmed all dogs are okay, I realize my leg is bleeding. I remember hitting something coming down the hill; little scrape. So I'm back up to the house. 

After a few minutes, here come the dogs. You talk about dirty. 

Time to get the water hose out. Too early for bath. We just need to get clean enough to go in and eat. They will be back out after supper. 

The Summer of Snakes

I have seen more snakes this year than I have seen in a long time. This is Molly after she got bit by a copperhead snake in June. I took her to the vet  

and she got a shot and antibiotics. 

She had swelling, but not too bad. By morning, all of the swelling was gone.  This wasn't the first snake of the summer. I had already killed three before this happened; although they weren't poisonous. 

Then in August, Gypsy, my Snorkie, got bit in the throat by a copperhead. Sorry about the picture, it's lopsided. Anyway this is her throat a couple of hours later. 

The vet had said she would be okay, but I can tell you, late that night I thought she was going to die. Her little heart was racing and she wouldn't lie down. For about five or ten minutes she would just stand with her head hanging down. After a couple of days she was well. 

This is the snake that bit her.  It was only between twelve and eighteen inches long, but it did cause a lot of sickness. I don't think size matters much. 

This is my brother's dog Buddy.  He got bit by a cottonmouth moccasin last Wednesday. He was at the vet until yesterday morning and he still had a little swelling in his chest. He is still taking medication also. The vet said he would have some tissue loss. 

I had no idea this is what she meant. He is walking around and acts like he feels okay, but it looks awful. I have never seen this happen before.  Thank goodness he lived though. I have probably seen at least six or seven snakes this summer. Buddy had been bit two times before, but not like this. I believe I'm ready for winter!

Trekking Through the Woods Again

We went through the woods again today to leave some fresh scent and see what's happening. You know, just checking everything out. 

This photo is actually from last week. One morning when we went to let the chickens out and feed them, Molly went busting down the woods. When I got there, this is what I see. She was after an armadillo. It went in a hole, so she thought she would just sit on the back side and wait for it to come out. No, we don't have that much time. 

Molly is off checking something out, but miracles upon miracles, Gypsy is here close. Of course, I had just called her. They do love to go in the woods. Molly can go by herself, but I try to keep Gypsy from going to far by herself. She thinks she can do anything Molly can do.  

We had just started down in the woods when I came upon the little dead possum.  I guess the stupid little possum came back after he got a second chance. When I let them out for their last potty break, sometimes Molly doesn't always come back in; which is okay for her. Anyway, she was gone for about an hour last night. I'm sure that is what happened to it.  

Night Time UNWELCOME Visitor

Monday night about nine o'clock I hear Molly and Gypsy doing a lot of barking. You can tell by the barking, something is out there. I get my flash light and go looking. They are under the shed and you could hear bumping and dust flying out. 

This possum was what was causing the ruckus.

The bumping was probably Molly because she was having to belly crawl. 

I didn't realize Gypsy was on the other side of the rail when I took this shot; it was later when I was looking at the pictures that I noticed her there. 

She moved around to see if she couldn't get it. You know, Mom is right there to protect me. It was just a young small possum, but it still has mighty sharp teeth. 

It took some doing to make them get out from under there and come in the house. Well, it took some doing to get Gypsy out.  Molly minds really well. You talk about dirty!

These were some dirty little dogs. I let the possum go away this time. Hopefully it will realize this is not the place for it to be. My chickens were already locked up for the night, so they were safe. 

RAIN; Finally

You came out here and didn't bring apple, really?

Oops, a little shadow on the nose. You can tell Poppet is mellowing in her old age. She used to jump and wheel around when you tried to get a close up. 

This past week we had a couple of days of about a quarter of an inch of rain. And then yesterday we got seven tenths. You can see all the brown spots. 

The whole pasture was brown before the rain. We went for over two months with very little rain. Now we have a little green. I started feeding hay about three weeks ago. Hopefully we will have a little more grass before winter. 

Cone of Shame

Now that is not funny!  Here I am hurt and Tony is making fun of me. Actually, I don't think she is in pain; she just has to wear it to keep from scratching the tube out. 

She had a hematoma on the tip of her ear. The vet make a couple of slits and put a tube in it last Friday. We go today at 2:00pm to remove it. YAY from both of us. 

This is Little Britches going through the woods. Every three or four days we go through the woods spraying scent (cheap perfume of something) trying to keep the fox and coyotes away. We have had a horrible time with foxes eating my chickens this summer. Usually she gets further away from me. At least she is smart enough to know she needs to stay close with that cone on. 

The Little Bitty Bed

What?

I most certainly can fit in this bed 

Nighty Night Time

I practice yoga so I can sleep comfortably at night. This is a really comfy pose.