As always we have been to busy around here. I got a new little dog.... and that takes time but she is pretty cute! It always amazes me why people dump dogs. I started the bator up and am looking forward to getting hatching out of the way. I am ready to move on and handle business issues and wait for the fall season.
 Yes I have heard the latest news about others but it makes no difference to me or people that care about the non soap opera side of the Poultry World. Things always have a way of taking care of those others that have less than  honest practices. To many people have worked hard their entire life to sit back and let those doing the screwing get away with it . It all makes a full circle in time.
  I did get many of my things caught up this past week or so! I was not sure that was going to happen. The wagon is road ready with new rubber for travels! I have to stain two more show boxes and get those ready . My new room is only halfway there but won't take long to get it completed. We need to finish Rods new shop first. The weather and rain has not been a big help.... speaking of weather and rain I crashed the new building! They were calling for a rapid moving storm to hit us. I grabbed the tractor keys and was moving the tractor so I could fit the Volvo under the carport. Our tractor has a front loader and I was backing straight out when I looked over my right shoulder and watched lighting strike pretty close. It made me jump...my scalp crawl.... and when I jumped I moved the wheel causing the front loader to hit on of my support poles! It is usually Rod that does the crashing around here but it was my turn! Hehehehe.
   I hope the others in the line of those storms are safe now. It just seems out weather patterns repeat every several years so maybe this year will be the last of the weather drama for awhile? I hope so because drama and BS to deal with is so hard on everyone out there.
   I am so glad spring is here and I hope others get a nice spring also. I do wish I had a garden this year but really it is best I get many other things taken care of before I consider a garden. We still have more chicken pens to build .... now that we know what we are doing? Sorta?  It is always a live and learn. The chickens are doing well though... Oh Oh I have a new pet pigeon. He can hang around until he gains weight and moves on I guess.
I had to make a MAYDAY what do I do call the George Mihalik! I was a little shocked to see this bird perched on my pens and when I walked towards it .... it walked towards me? I threw it some grains and it gobbled them right up. A few minutes later Rod shut the garage door because of the storm and I thought the bird flew off. I went to feed the birds and was shocked to see the cold bird cuddled with the rooster. I was able to pick him right up with no problems and called George. The birds feather condition is wonderful as if he was taken care of well at one point but right now he needs to regain his weight and energy. Super friendly and that just baffles me. I guess they know a sucker when they see one right?

  It has been wild as always. I realize if you want to live a boring life do not stop by here. Yesterday AM the storms were pretty wild to watch and we were lucky. They went right around us but were pretty fierce a couple of miles NE of us. The alarms woke us bright and early and the day went on from there. 
   Rod has his tool room about 60% plus completed! This is exciting and it is all HIS... no more fighting with me over tools. If his room gets messy well I know I did not do it! I will help load the heavy items but the rest is his option so I do not get in the way. Soon I will have another chicken room for babies and prep area. This will work out great. It's hard to believe the amount of junk I can collect in a year? Where is all this stuff coming from?
  Ok I should fess up .... I brought home another dog. I will take a few pictures of her later . To even add to the craziness I bought the darn thing a foo foo coat to wear home! It was actually pretty funny. Yes I am a sucker.
  I hope everyone is having a great hatch season and things go well .

  The weather has been incredible! I know it seems some of us disappeared but this is not the case. I have spent many hours outside the past week! We have big plans out here again. Our weekend will be filled with heavy labor...wahoo. I  finally started to set eggs for now and things are being cleaned up around here. It seems like we had a very long winter but that is not the case. 
   Spring show season is coming up again and looks like this year who knows where I will pop up! In all honesty I cannot wait until chicks are growing and all that part is taken care of. I want back on my horses and there is nothing stopping me this year short of an injury!
  It seems never ending with work but I doubt we would have it any other way.

  I hope this holiday brings a lot of happy times! Things have been busy and I have spent more and more time away from home than I have expected. The weather is nice and we are going to tear down the destroyed carport today! Easter fun. No hunting eggs for us but I do believe some are going into the incubator!
   This past week or so has been crazy. We have friends that have been bit by the chicken bug. They are working on their buildings this week and have hopes of getting great polish to start! I now see what I looked like when I got Silkie fever.
 I almost adopted another dog that I have been watching for a couple of months. I knew by his picture that little chihuahua was biting people! It actually cracks me up. After a back and forth email and wrong instruction I made it to see the little guy. He was old and needed a place to rest. I came home without him and sent Rod an email on the dogs behalf. Yes I went so far to sign it with the dogs name. Rod said .... go get the poor little guy! I emailed the adoptions director and said to give him a bath I was coming in the next AM to get him. I received an email stating after I left the day before the fellow was in good spirits and an older couple came in and adopted him! I was happy-shocked- sad all at the same time. They can do him tons more good than I can. I was shocked after several months in shelters that the right family came along and than I got a little sad because I thought hummm I wanted to love him? I am over the ending part and know it is best for him to be with an older couple. I just knew the fellow was hurting and needed to get out of jail.
  It all works out the way it is suppose to and there are always hundreds more than need to be adopted.
  Takota fell at the Zoo and her little arm is in a sling but there is nothing wrong with her legs so she will be getting on her feet today and getting some things done also. Back to school for these kids tomorrow and that is always a job!
   I have noticed the new bio-diesel thing going on in Tulsa and I should convert the Mercedes to biodiesel. It might be much cheaper for Cody to drive !

 Wow what a roller coaster the past few days have been! Friday at 4 PM I received the call they wanted to install the new building. I thought hummmm... They arrived and 4 hours later it was complete! I was floored! I have spent most of the week on and off dealing with a rescue dog and now I hope he gets a home . Yesterday I had to take time from the ranch to take him to a dog event of some type. The weather was not good to get dogs adopted.Yesterday he was forced to go to the shelter on a fresh neuter because the lady taking care of him did not want to hear him bark. I will have to spend more time back and forth there to make sure he is ok. So much for rescue huh?Unreal. I hope he does not end up with either Parvo or have to return to the vets office to have his surgery site dealt with. When I arrived home last night extremely tired Rod called me from the barn we had a horse down. She was another one that someone just left here several years ago . I had to call the vet and have her put down. It is what it is. She was suppose to be one age and a few months ago I was having her teeth worked on and realized she was about 5-7 years older than her papers stated. She was her mother not her. I know how things were screwed up but GEEZE.... I am not sure how many foals she had but they were all registered to another mare because that owner was not able to get her paper work fixed. So who knows what and where right? Does it really make a difference because these horses have no real value to most people now a days. The mare came to live with us 6-7 years ago. It was suppose to be short term because of a divorce. You see where she is buried? Never ends ... She is in a better place now and at peace. Neat old fart of a horse. I know she had a good life at the end and was taken care of and that is what is important. The odd part was she was a Cushings horse recently dropped weight fast. She went to a low carb diet and was just ok. The odd part is last night while feeding and I was giving her a shot of Pen G I noticed her eye color. She gets uterine infections because of the amount of foals she had and her uterus is way out of tone. With her pot belly it is hard to maintain tone so it is what it is. I checked out her gums last night while she was eating and noticed she was a little off color with a hint of yellow. I knew than hummmm. At dinner I made the comment and Rod said we should make pre arrangements. Ugh I hate that part. When we got home I went to the coop and Rod went to the barns to let the horses out and I got a call from him. I knew trouble was happening if he calls from the barn. She was down and appeared to have had a stroke. I just loaded her with dope and called one of our vets. Today we will get her buried.
   Now after some serious ugly stuff yesterday there is something just wonderful that happened locally! At the new shelter in town. They received their new chip scanner and scanned their dogs. One of the dogs that has been there from 2-11-08 had a chip. They made contact with Home Again and the owner made contact with the shelter! It was enough to make you cry when you watch the two reunite! He was in College or something and had to give his girl to a good home. ( He thought ) That was a year and a half ago and nothing was transferred . Her chip information was not transfered either. So much for that loving and caring home for her? She is back home with her owner that always loved her. We are going to try to get as much media play as possible off this story because people really need to understand the importance of their pets and where they go. They need to be held accountable for the well being of them instead of letting the burden fall on others.Maybe when you cannot keep them you need to put them down yourself so they do not get exposed to god only knows what. I guess when you have a society that dumps their own children you cannot expect them to care for their animals? Oh well we are just glad we know the difference between right and wrong.
   We will be outside most of the day today and pictures of the new building will be coming. This thing is pretty cool and I do hope we can get things done and it can be completed with out to much more outside drama. I still have to get a back hoe out here and tear down the side of the barn to get the mare buried. Maybe after that I can work on my chickens again? Yeah right.

  Well today is the big day! We are suppose to have the new building installed this afternoon. This means a lot to us!I hope everything works out with it. It looks like this weekend is busy from working our rear end off to trying to find another rescue dog a home. No more dogs I tell yah!Although I did find out yesterday the older Chihuahua is still in the shelter North of us.....
 To the birds! I am still waiting for my clippers to arrive so I can clip more birds. I use a set of horse clippers and give them hair cuts. From top to bottom and it works out well. I do not mind them chopped up as long as they look clean cut! They are pretty happy about it also because they can see.
   It looks like we are going to try one more thing for an old mare out here that seems to have Cushings now. It never fails ... it is always something . Sometimes I feel like a geriatric farm. Oh wait I am.
  I have been meeting more and more great poultry people and what a thrill. Once again I should stop being amazed at how far people will go to be mean but at least I do not have to walk in their shoes of life. I would hate to have to constantly look over my shoulder physically but also mentally as I am sure so many do. On a local level I see and hear so much stuff nothing should suprise me but it always does.Maybe some of us hold hope there are good people that do not freak out about competition. Maybe more people need to get off the dope and booze and that might help matters? Who knows what their personal issues are and honestly it will get to the point that the rest of society will not care until those with the problems stop blaming others and start being accountable. Nahhhh never mind ..... it honestly makes great sources of amusement for so many others. 
   Listening to the wise people of life is an asset that we all need to take advantage of. A saying always rings in my head a friend said to me.
  " If you keep doing what you have always done than you will keep getting what you always get"
The statement goes a long way ...... there are so few real victims in this world because you have choices. Because so many play the victim card sucking off others the real victims that need help cannot get to it ... nor can it get to them. 

  I hope everyone gets the wonderful weather we are having! The temps are pushing 70 and delightful. I have spent most of my time outdoors with the horses or the chickens. Soon everyone should be able to ship and receive birds and that will help matters. I am sure people are waiting for their new birds for hatching season. I am going to get out the incubator today.I have chicks but I did not hatch them so they are running around the coops with their family. I have a few eggs I want to put in and I can wait for the rest. It should give me about three weeks until I have to have my other chicken room ready for birds. I can handle that. There is not rush for me this year to be honest. I went way over board last year and I mean way over what I needed to hatch but it did give me a lot of young birds to select from. This year and the years to come I would prefer to run this place like a smooth operation. We have been in this home for over a year and I finally feel like we are here to stay and nothing is pending. I like this place so I would like to consider the long term for the entire little ranch. Nothing temporary will stay up. My new coops have been just wonderful and we cannot wait until we finish the other side of the coop. It is like a dream to feed and care for the birds in there. They really like it also. There is nothing better than having a supportive family that you can be not only proud of but you can also stand proud of your acomplishments.
  Tomorrow the new building arrives!!!! It should be up by tomorrow evening and I will take pictures. This is very exciting for us. I am still in awe because we do not have to install this one! This means this weekend will be a big building weekend for Rod's new building. A lot will be involved but it will all be worth it. He finally gets his own tool room that I will not invade or take over.
 

 Well yesterday in my spare time I took another picture. I have decided to start taking great pictures and cutting crests! I also need to get my log book back out and get ready to hatch for this fall. This should be fun. We have added several birds to the flock and things should move right along. Today it is suppose to be a little warmer again! I am going to try to finish the first show box and get over and pick the other one up. They still have to be stained. Oh fun. Well this is the picture of my new retired Mihalik hen moments before her crest was cut off. She is actaully in half feather in this picture.
                                 

 Well it has been a incredible busy couple of weeks.My pens are halfway done and look wonderful. Feeding is taking half the amount of time! I can spend more time checking on my birds now instead of feeding! I sold several birds over the weekend and numbers are going down. I need to focus on that but I have better space now. Here is the new coop in process.
               
 Now for the rest of our time... where  has it gone. We have had incredible weather the past couple of weeks and now it is blowing so cold and hard with snow I get cold just looking at it. I feel all of us were extremely lucky about the great weather we had at the show in Pryor , Oklahoma over the weekend. If others have not attended its a great little poultry show! I should had to this Congrats Gavin Livingston and Bren from Cozy Silkies! Takota's white cock did pretty darn well also! I added his picture to the white section on my website. I also have added the Porcelain bird that belongs to George Mihalik to my website.
   You know life never stops living but sometimes things never stop amazing me! It is so shocking to see and hear how far others will go and what levels that will take things to in order to win. I was talking this weekend and its amazing what other people already know and what some of the judges have to say about situations that have happened in the past with poultry people that come and go. We should all feel lucky we have our seniors to point these things out to us and share the wisdom they have learned!Without them I think we would be in a world of hurt. I learned tons again over this weekend and hope to have helped a few others also. I believe that is what is all about. Now to start getting ready for the next show because I will be taking some open birds and Takota won't be the only one showing.
  Oh yeah I think I mentioned in a prior post regarding Rod having being bit with a little show bug!Well Thursday AM he mentioned how he thought I had a show over the weekend and how I should be already working on the birds? I thought hummm. Next thing I know I was changing vehicles again and Rod was coming along. He had a lot of fun also. It is amazing what you learn from others! From logging to oil rigs ...... we would all learn a little something from visiting at these shows.
  

  The cages are in!!! Wahoo! We worked until late last night and I was so excited I could not sleep! We will get pictures later today. I have a lot of work to get done out there today. Weather is not going to be good today so there is time to work on them indoors. Now the sooner the carport gets here the better! I will have a little room to spread out... hehe
   I bid on eggbid last night for the first time!We did not win but I am glad to see Myron Turk did so well on his great birds. I hope they go to a great home. IWe are  fond of his birds considering a bird of his breeding spent several months with me trying to get over some respiratory stuff she came here with. She went back to the owner because they decided they did not want to sell. Like I said I hope the new person bidding on all these eggbid birds does super well because the young lady Mallory Henninger has purchased super birds in the past week. Well.. I can say Myron's birds are going to be the birds that are  in the picture but I do hope she does well with all  her other purchases. It's a lot of money to spend in a week or so buying birds and I hope everything holds out well for the new buyer. The weather has been hard on everyone in this country and it seems Nebraska and the areas surrounding have been hit in strange ways... very similiar to us. I hope all goes well for all her new birds. Good luck with all your new purchases !!
   Well its going to be another long day today and I should make a crockpot full of chili to go with this ugly weather! Stay safe everyone and I will get pictures ASAP of the new cages.