Sights from around Crooked Acres.
I finally got a shot of one of the Chickadees. They’re so hard to get a picture of, because they’re always flitting, flitting, flitting.
Female Cardinal and a little brown bird. Those seed cakes are very popular with the birds right now.
Getting some birdy attitude. Birdy-tude.
Another female Cardinal. This is the first time I’ve ever noticed the orangey-red “eyebrows.” How cool!
I swear it looks like that squirrel is using the feeder as a periscope.
No squirrel tongue for you this time around, but not for lack of trying on my part!
Lovin’ the bird seed.
Duck action in the back forty.
Or, A tale of four duckies.
Or, Why does Fred never listen to me?
So, the ducks.
“C’mon, Mildred, move over.”
“There’s not enough room!”
“There’s always enough room.”
::sigh::
So, we attempted to herd them out to the pond, and they were so not having it that when I stopped paying attention for a moment on the way out to the pond, they zigged instead of zagged, and went running up Dirt Hill to avoid going all the way out to the dreaded pond.
“Ha ha! No pond for us!”
We had to round them up and get them out to the pond again. This time I was paying attention the whole way.
“We’ll swim in the pond. But we won’t like it!”
We’d brought a baggie of Cheerios out with us, and in an attempt to convince them that the pond was a cool place to hang out, we tossed Cheerios on the water. A couple of the ducks tried the Cheerios, but weren’t impressed. They swam back and forth, looking for a way out, and as soon as we backed off, out they ran.
And they rinsed off in their pool to get that nasty pond water off of them. Ingrates.
(No flying this time.)
So then I made a suggestion I’d made at least 100 times before.
“Let’s take a scoop of chicken scratch out to the pond with us,” I said. “And toss it on the water and see if they’ll stay in the water for that.”
And like he’d said 100 times before, Fred said “But it’s heavy and it’ll sink and they won’t get to it before it sinks to the bottom of the pond.”
I countered with “Let’s TRY IT.” I went and got a scoop of chicken scratch (which is comprised of cracked corn, among other things, and is the best thing on earth to the chickens and especially to the ducks), and we herded them back out to the pond.
And lo and behold, when I tossed scratch onto the water, the ducks were THRILLED. Yes, scratch does not float. But guess what ducks like to do?
They like to stick their heads under the water and get the food that is sinking to the bottom of the pond. Because they’re water birds, and they LIKE water, especially when there’s food involved.
This time when we backed off, they stayed in the water for a while, and then they came out and stood around the pond and then they WENT BACK IN for a brief period of time. Eventually they headed back to home base, but they weren’t frantic about it.
So to summarize: I was right and Fred never listens to me, even though I am ALWAYS right. The end.
This is my least favorite part of fostering, right now. Charlie and Patty are under the impression that they ARE home, but come Friday morning I’m going to bundle them up and take them to Petsmart, and they’ll be all “Wha?” So I’ve been picking them up and kissing and hugging them a lot – maybe come Friday they’ll be all “Thank god that lady isn’t here. That kissing and hugging was getting on my NERVES.”
I do hope they go to a home together, but I think that even if they don’t, as long as there are other cats there, they’ll be okay.
(But of course I love it when siblings get to stay together.)
I will, of course, keep you all informed as to their adoption status!
Would you believe that when we first got Charlie, Fred thought he was “boring”? He’s not as captivated by the smaller kittens as I am. He prefers them when they’re older, I think they really capture his heart when they’re five or six months old.
These days, Fred can wax poetic about how awesome Charlie is. We love Charlie’s silly overbite and fangy ways.
Miss Patty is awesome in a less demanding, less “OH MY GOD I AM STARVING” way than her brother. She loves the big cats, especially Jake and Elwood.
And she is one sweet girl.
(Pretty, too.)
In response to a comment from yesterday, the Sons will start their foray into the world of Gen Pop this weekend. First they’ll get the run of the upstairs (the bathroom and my room in addition to their own room) for a few days, and assuming that that goes well, we’ll let them have short periods of access to the rest of the house, and eventually they’ll have all-day access. I think it’ll probably go well, and most likely by this time next week they’ll have daytime access to the rest of the house, and at night they’ll go back into their room.
“Hey! Stop taking pictures! Get over here and snuggle with me!”
I love when they lay in the sun and you can see their very faint stripes.
Pretty boy Jax.
Pretty boy Clay. Clay and Jax are the friendliest of the four, though Opie’s not far behind. Tig was slow to come around, but now even he will climb into my lap as soon as I sit down.
Jax with droplets of water on his chin.
Clay, going after Jax’s tail.
Smilin’ Joe.
They sure do love that scratcher.
“MY scratcher! Y’all stay away!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2011: The Bradys meet Alice.
2010: “Okay, right. Funny. HILARIOUS. Now PUT ME DOWN.”
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Your bird pictures are simply stunning!! Great job…as always.
I don’t want to think about Charlie and Patty leaving, though I know it’s the first step to their forever home… But will you be bringing Lucy, Everett and Sally back for a break? You just can’t leave us Pepperless after all this time!
Can you request that Charlie & Patty be adopted together? My very best friend just rescued two of the most beautiful kitties I’ve seen in a long time and the shelter had a request that they be adopted together. They were days away from being euthanized when my friend and her daughter went to the shelter with her public service project. Belle and Precious are now two very pampered kitties in my friends’ household! They even get along with the doggie big brother Hunter! And both of them remind me of Miz Poo and Stinkerbelle! I am in my glory when I visit, I have two new kitty nieces to snuggle with!
Godspeed, Peppers 2.0, and may you and your half-sib Peppers find homes soonest — your humans will be lucky ducks (as lucky as the ones quacking about the place at Crooked Acres). Glad to see Joe Bob exhibiting the territorial imperative, though something tells me he was really just yawning.
Hahaha!!! Ok, that is so funny about the ducks and the sinking scratch and you being right — always!! Now… do you think a certain someone will listen to you next time?? 🙂
Btw, I’ve been struggling with insomnia lately, and last night I spent a good long time looking at ALL the pictures and videos of Kara’s babies, right from the beginning!!! That was so fun… and it definitely helped keep me sane despite the lack of sleep 🙂 🙂 🙂
“smilin’ ” Joe? In that last picture he looks like he’s laughing maniacally! Does he have evil intentions??
I love how the sun shows off things you dont normally see in the furs. My solid gray Star has a brownish back in the sun, go figure.
I either said it or thought it before.. when those Sons get access to the rest of the house and allllllll those kitty tails, they’re going to go flipping nuts! There wont be a safe tail in the place! Can’t wait to see the mahem!
It’s probably a good thing I don’t live closer to you — I just love Charlie and Patty, and really don’t want them to leave! Not sure why I’m so attached to them!
And I love the picture of the two ducks sharing the very small pan! The ducks in the pond behind my house seem to spend a lot of time with their heads underwater and their butts in the air, so that must be a position ducks enjoy….
I think that when your pond gets “seasoned” the ducks will enjoy it and stay there a lot of the time. Currently, I think they view it as an dirt hole with nothing of interest. Once it has small fish, plant life (algae), etc…it will become home.