Sights from around Crooked Acres (and elsewhere!)
On Saturday, we went up to Ardmore, Tennessee to go to the Dog Days Flea Market. It’s an outdoor flea market that’s held every Sunday and Monday, except for Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, when it’s held Friday through Monday. We usually go up there on Sundays when we have nothing to do around the house and Fred is bored and just wants to go out and do something. We got, I think, our second set of pigs there, and when we had turkeys, that’s where they came from. Oh, and we’ve gotten a few chickens there, too.
(Please note that these aren’t the best pictures on earth, because I was taking pictures in a sneaky hold-the-camera-out-and-hope-I-get-the-pic fashion.)
I cannot believe I left without making Fred buy this thing for me. Wouldn’t it look fabulous on the front porch?
I’d love to have some of those old blue Ball ( ::snicker:: )(I am 14 years old) canning jars, but the last time I checked the price on one, it was $8, and I don’t know if that’s a good price or not, but I have plenty of non-old canning jars I’m just as happy to use.
I would not recommend buying your Muscle Milk or batteries at the flea market, but I did buy six bottles of Sunsilk hair gel there once and it worked just fine.
I should have bought this sign for the chicken coop. Who doesn’t want some Funk-y corn?
Most of the people who sell their wares at the flea market have campers or tents to stay in. This person apparently just plopped their cot down in the middle of the grass. Looks kind of comfy, but I don’t know how they handled the nighttime creepy crawlies.
Old tins.
More junk. (Someone needs to get that boy statue to the doctor. He’s GRAY.)
Acupuncture at the flea market! Free demo!
We always have to stop and look through the videos, even though the only VCR we own is out in the garage.
I have informed everyone I’m related to and who might have a say in the matter that if I end up in a cemetery with one of these fake arrangements on my grave, I’ll be coming back to haunt them ALL.
Knockoff purses.
Rifles everywhere at the flea market.
Isn’t this the neatest thing? HOW did I leave without buying that thing? It’s so cool and would have looked perfect on the side of the coop!
Metal chicken! (But not giant one.)
This is probably my least favorite part of the flea market, the selling of puppies. Actually, no. My least favorite part is the part where the puppies are hundreds of dollars, but the cages of kittens who occasionally show up are free. (This time around, there were no kittens at all.)
Did you need a fire hydrant? I bet George and Gracie would have loved to have their very own!
Lots of people selling home-canned goods, too.
We didn’t buy any of that stuff – honestly, we rarely buy anything at Dog Days that isn’t living – but we did buy something to make Fred happy. On the drive up there, we were talking about ducks (because we weren’t even pretending that we were going up there for anything OTHER than ducks at this point) and Fred was talking about how many ducks we should get. I told him I’d prefer to have an even number of them, two or four (not that he doesn’t know what an even number is, but I didn’t want him to think I meant twelve or fourteen!), and he thought that was funny. When we found a booth with little ducks, there was a cage of about ten itty bitty ducks, but we didn’t want the tiny ones. In the next cage over? Four ducks who were maybe not teenage ducks, but somewhere between toddlers and teenagers (tweens?). We snatched ’em up and got out of there.
Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Bob. (I’m joking. They all look the same to me. And no, we don’t know what sex they are yet. I’m hoping for three girls and a boy, but four girls would be fine with me. With our luck, though, they’re all boys. I think girl Rouens are prettier than the males.)
Manna from heaven! (Or scratch from Fred. One or the other!)
Underwater duck!
Smilin’ duck.
Bob bobs.
“Hey, guys, what’s THAT? That’s a BIG pool! We can really go swimmin’ in that one!”
Note that Bob’s over there in the Rubbermaid pool.
But then he saw the attraction of a bigger pool.
These ducks will get in any water they see. Katherine was visiting yesterday, and we looked over and there were two ducks in the dogs’ water dish. Fred told me he was out there the other day, and one of the ducks sat down in a tiny little puddle of water. So cute, these ducks. I hope they don’t grow up obnoxious.
(The ducks are not future food, by the way. They’re purely for entertainment purposes. If any of them are girls, and they lay eggs, we’ll use their eggs to bake with, but as far as eating duck? I’m not interested. Not that I’ve had any experience with eating duck, but I also don’t eat goat, and I’m okay with that!)
Randomness:
Morning Glories are so very pretty.
That’s right, Sam’s Club. Lecture me on sensible eating when there was a display of Little Debbie snack cakes behind me when I snapped this picture. (But I DID buy those apple straws and they ARE way too good and I will NEVER buy any more because they’re TOO good!)
The Peppers Gang have been spayed and neutered! They were very unhappy with me on the ride up to the vet. And then poor Molly actually HISSED at me when I picked up their carriers. But they did well (they hissed at the vet tech, but weren’t mean about it, she told me) and now THAT’s done and over with, and we get to just enjoy having them around ’til it’s time for them to go off to Petsmart. In a few days, we’ll give them more room to roam, and then if that goes well, we’ll see how they do in Gen Pop. Jake’s going to be in hog heaven, because he sure loves watching the little ones run around and play!
Would you look at that bratty teenage attitude?
Lucy in motion.
“What doin’, lady?”
Lucy tellin’ secrets.
Got it!
Everett’s face, though blurry, cracks me UP.
Everett gets a snuggle from Fred.
No pictures of Charlie and Patty today (it was a busy day yesterday), but they did get baths last night, and definitely look better. They also look a lot more bright-eyed than they did just two days ago, and in fact last night Fred had Charlie rolling around on his back purring and kneading the air. I just wish their big, swollen, worm-filled bellies would go down some (I’m seeing worms in the litter box, so the medication is starting to work!) and if I saw them play just a tiny bit, that would make me happy, too.
I saw Charlie grooming Patty last night, and I pretty much died from the cute.
Poor Tommy – everyone just loves him so very much, he can’t get a moment to himself. (That’s Loony Jake laying on top of him.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2010: Voices
2009, part 1: (Trick sentence! Nothing will stop me from worrying!)
2009, part 2: Ike (just passing through)
2008: I have no idea what Kaylee does with herself at night, maybe she sneaks downstairs and snuggles with Spanky, who knows?
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Ye GODS does that hurt, to have a kitten climbing up your back.
Team Everett!
It really broke our hearts to read about poor Barbara and dear sweet Tabby Dabby. We hope and purr that what’s best will happen.
Hey Robyn! My grandmother had ducks when I was little (a mallard pair that she named Donald and Daisy). For the life of me I can’t remember how she kept those ducks from flying away. Do you have to do something to prevent that from happening?
Good wishes to Barbara and her family. I adopted two cats several years ago and, once in the home setting, the male just savaged the female one day. Luckily, I was able to save the female and she still lives with me. The shelter decided to offer the boy as a barn cat.
It is really hard to see things go wrong when all you intended to do was share a little family love.
Love the new duckies!!!! I too liked the license plate rooster!
You can’t help but love Tommy!
And you know, if you go back to the flea market and the metal pig or rooster is still there, it’s meant for you to buy them. (That’s my rule, anyway.)
Glad all the Peppers are well and hope Charlie and Patty poor tum tums continue to improve!
Duckies! And they have their own pool! Complete with a set of stairs leading up to it!
I love tacky flea markets. LOVE. Except we don’t have the rifles for sale up here. And I don’t know if I ever noticed any puppies/kittens for sale, although I wouldn’t doubt it.
I’m so glad that Charlie and Patty are getting better everyday! C’mon dewormer!
My dad always dragged me to flea markets (before flea markets were cool) and it seems my husband is afflicted with the same disease. Do you remember how much that license plate rooster was by chance? I would love, love, love to find something like that near me.
My boyfriends’ mom always has ducks in her garden,and every year has about 8 littles that she ends up giving away to farms around town or other people as pets.She absolutely adores ducks,and each one has a name and even though I can’t tell any of them apart,she can tell you precisely who is who.
PS.The picture of Tommy and Jake is so freaking sweet,I nearly got a toothache looking at (tacky line,I know,but still very true).
I love ducks! They are so cute.
I want a duckling. OK, I want more than one. OMG.
That little boy stature looks like he’s trying to “hold it”; can’t make it to a bathroom. And that Funk’s G sign? My ex-husband had a GIANT one in his art studio. I, too, love the license plate rooster. License to crow!
The poor new Peppers. I hope their worms all get the ### out so those two can get on with being happy, healthy, shiny, playful babies.
That is so sad the dog injured their cat. My mother’s dog is a stinker around small children, too. I hope the dog and kitten find new owners soon.
I laughed about your fake flower arrangement comment. Many years ago I had a co-worker who informed her family that her casket was to remain closed because no one could do her makeup and hair to suit her. She vowed to come back and haunt them, too. I have no doubt that she would…
We had ducks for a while when I was a kid. The only memory I have is one pooping on my friend’s leg and I thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Ducks are so goofy I don’t know how anyone eats them. (With a nice Chianti is the obvious smart-ass answer.)
The ducks are very cute. Do they need a permanent sort of lake or something in order to thrive? Do you have something like that? What do the chickens and pigs think of the ducks? OK, enough questions.
P.S. In the future ideal world, no one will ever again sell animals–only adopt out–and no one will do backyard breeding or puppy or kitten mills. If only that world would come to pass.
SAD at Barbara’s situtation. It must bite rocks to have an animal you love hurt another animal you love. HOPEFUL about Gail’s situation. That little guy looks like a keeper! LOVE the flea market photo-essay except for the puppies bit. And the ducks are hilarious! Was it Fred who build the little stairs up the to big pool for them? LOVE and HOPE the Peppers recover quickly and get adopted even more quickly! HOPE Charlie & Patty poop out all those parasites and get growing!
Thanks again for a great post! Your blog is the best!
You know what, I got such a kick out of the STAIRS (in AND out of pool!) for those little ducklettes!! That’s just so cool I can’t stand it! 🙂
As for Gail’s gorgeous white alley boy with the sweet orange head markings… oh man I’m just hoping for the best for him, he sounds like such a love bug!! Somebody please snatch him up, please oh please…
And my heart is breaking over Barbara’s situation… hoping for the best there too, that must be SO tough.
One more thing… Everett looks so small in Fred’s hands! Good to get perspective… sometimes I think these babies are bigger than they really are, I think!
Oh my gosh, I would SO have to buy that license plate chicken for my mother! She has always had chickens and ducks. They don’t eat the ducks either, but the eggs are good, strong, but good. I kind of like them as plain ol’ fried eggs, with peanut butter on the toast used for dipping the yolks.. Ok, it’s been ages, but I may have to go steal a duck egg or two! I do hope you have more girl duckies than boys. Just a warning, if all you have are boy ducks, they will go after your chickens. Boy ducks are very… um, amorous. Once when my mother had too many roosters and only male ducks, she had to lock the boys up in the coop so the girl chickens could recover the feathers on their backs. Not pretty. Anyway, your duckies are adorable! Your pool pond is almost exactly what my mother had, also an old dingy boat with a board ramp. They loved it.
Love those little Peppers! And the look on the face of the one Fred is cuddling.. He’s all “go away, this does not concern you. Continue the belly rub bub.” I love it!
How much did I love the fact that you linked to The Bloggess? My two favorite blogs in one place! Yay!
Excellent post today! Can male ducks (drakes, yes?) and chickens mate? what’s the result, “chucks?” “Dickens”? ha-ha-ha. sorry, just amusing myself.
Bad Aus. shep/collie dog! Behave yourself you silly bugger! Fair dinkum, mate, you are representing your country and your species! ‘struth, dog, stop muckin’ around!
Oh Loony Jake is not a cat, I’m telling you!
The ducklings are gorgeous! Do cats ever attack chickens or ducks? Well, you know if the mighty George and Gracie weren’t around. Did the chickens react to the ducklings suddenly in their midst?
there’s and excellent video on youtube about this guy and his duck…made me cry…what was it called again…
I love flea markets, too. Do you have garage sales on weekends too? lots of treasure waiting to be found. I mean I doubt I own anything that would get the Antiques Roadshow team excited but with flea markets/garage sales, you just never know…
PS: you can put food grade DE into the kittens wet food, too. that’s helps get rid of internal parasites, too. just mix a teaspoon full into their food.
Oh, and that little boy with a hole where his pee-pee is supposed to be? I’m pretty sure he’s supposed to be a little black boy (negro american? um…sorry, I don’t know the current PC term) holding a fishing rod. see?
I think ducks for “entertainment purposes” are awesome 🙂 they are so cute and little comics.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! YOU GOT DUCKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *ahem* Can’t wait to see more pics of them! (PS — i’m the one that asked you if you had ducks months ago)
Poor sad Molly Peppers — you’ll be back to playing in no time!
love the ducks! and don’t worry about not having eaten duck, you’re not missing much. SUPER greasy. not something i’d bother trying again.