Sights from around Crooked Acres.
The chickens come over to see if we’ve got anything good for them.
The Rock Star shows off her fancy ‘do. Yes, it’s lopsided. Good thing I don’t cut hair (feathers) for a living!
“Girrrrrrrrl, she gave you a mullet!”
At least she can see around her, and that’s what’s important! Right?
Slurpin’ George.
Head-shakin’ George.
Little chick. I love her leg feathers.
Last picture of Arnold. I’m sorry to tell y’all that Arnold passed away unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago. I’ve told Fred that I’ll have no more hatchery chicks in this household – we had terrible luck with them this year, but the chickens we bought at the flea market are happy and healthy and have given us no problems at all.
Another chick (we’ve got five of them at the moment, all belonging to one hen.)
Check out the comb on that rooster! This guy came from the batch of chicks we got at the aforementioned flea market. He’s big and healthy, not aggressive toward us, and most importantly, he’s good with the hens. He’ll be staying around.
Uh oh. I don’t know what you did wrong, but George is NOT amused. Look at that serious face!
Ducks on the pond, where they spend 95% of their time.
Happy George.
WARNING: this next section is what I’m calling the creepy-crawly section. Click here to jump past it to the kittens.
Putting in some space so no one who doesn’t want to has to see the creepies.
Or the crawlies.
Or the creeping crawlies.
Or the crawling creepies.
Space.
Space.
Annnnnd space.
I have no idea what this is, but it’s pretty! Anyone know what it is?
“I vant to be alone,” Mrs. Brown said reclusively.
Another shot of that spider. I don’t know that it’s a Brown Recluse, and asking Google only gets me pictures of people with their faces half rotted off from Brown Recluse bites, so I’m just going to say that it might be. And it was in my shower. And now it’s dead.
Last year, we had a spider exactly like this one in the exact same location (front flower bed). I called her Dolores. Thus, we call this one Dolores, too. She’s an Orb Weaver, and she minds her own beeswax, so we just leave her alone, although we do go look at her from time to time to see if she’s doing anything interesting (she’s never doing anything interesting, FYI.)
Dolores in her wet web after it rained. Dolores ain’t skeered of no rain.
Putting in some space so that the people who clicked to jump past the creepy crawlies won’t accidentally see that picture of Dolores.
A little more space.
More? Just a little.
Annnd… just a bit more.
Okay, that should do it.
Right?
Right!
Space.
Space.
Space.
(Just to be safe.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sweet, sleepy Hodor.
Fred put in these shelves because a couple of times recently Stinkerbelle has been trapped on top of the bookcase with no way down, since there were kittens on the cat tree (that she usually uses to get down). So he put some shelves on one side, and more on the other, and voila! Of course, the kittens had to be the quality inspectors for the shelves, just to be safe.
This shelf gets the Inspector Brandon Whiskers Up award.
Kittens on the cat tree.
The cat tree also gets the Whiskers Up award!
Brandon in the sun.
Always has something to say, that Jon Snow. I’m sure I wasn’t quick enough to pet him or pick him up or kiss him or SOMEthing. Pardon ME.
Arya laying there with her tongue stuck out for no apparent reason.
Hodor, having Hodor thoughts.
Norbie checks out the ceiling fan.
It’s really quite amazing!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jake gets his loon on.
He is just such a silly boy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2012: Sweet Petey Pickle in the sun.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: Did I mention they’re busy racing around like wild things?
2008: “Is this such a good idea, hanging out here under the bird feeders, with that cat RIGHT THERE?” he wonders.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Aloha –
Love all the critters, including the creepy crawlies. We have quite a selection who have hitchhiked to the islands from all over the world. So I’m always working to figure out who’s from where.
Ms Dolores the spider is in the argiope family. We have some of her cousins over here.
As to the lovely bug with the pink spots on the wings, it is an Antlion. Here’s a site with a recent submission to them from Florida with your bug. http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2013/08/20/antlion-glenurus-gratus-3/
You can submit your images of the brown spider to WhatsThatBug. If they have time to look at your bug, it will be a short ID in response. They have helped me with several IDs for Maui.
Happy Hump Day!
Good job! Here is some more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion
I found it interesting that all the submissions on the Antlion at WhatsThatBug were from Florida! 🙂
Maybe this one hitched a ride North and stopped by to visit us. 🙂
Thanks, Eliza – I’ve never seen an Antlion before, they’re so pretty! 🙂
Most welcome Robyn – as to Ms Dolores, know that her boyfriend will be on the opposite side of the web. He’ll snack from that side when she catches a meal. If their egg case is anything like the argiope appensa (the cousins here), it will be an interesting white/gray bundle off to one side of the web. Yes, they certainly don’t mind rains. Happy arachnid watching to you !
Thank you for the creepy-crawly jump! Love the pictures at top and bottom, and very glad to skip the middle. Though I am curious…
Ha – I wonder how many people initially took the jump and then had to scroll back ’cause they were curious. 🙂
R.I.P. sweet Arnold. You had many adoring fans.
That first pic of Jake is fabulously looney!
Love the bugs. Not sure what that “fly” sort of one is. If you like Orb Weavers, you should Google Banana Spiders (Golden Silk Orb Weavers…bigger).
Thank you for the Crooked Acres photos. Missed those! Yes, Mr. Rooster has a lovely comb! Poor Rock Star! You know the other chickens are talking about her behind her back! Poor dear….
The Rock Star reckons her ‘do is fabulously asymmetric. Let’s celebrate the fine time Arnold had at Crooked Acres thanks to Robyn and Fred (nice new steps for Stinkerbelle, Fred!) and George and Gracie. So many other things to enjoy in today’s post — not least the increasingly handsome and dignified — at least in still shots — Brandon.
Love the pictures and captions Robyn.
Remember the days when the ducks wouldn’t go anywhere near the pond and if you brought them there they just ran back to their water dishes? Silly ducks!
Every time I go out there and see them in the pond, I remember having to chase them out there! 🙂
JAKE! We love your loons…
RIP Arnold.
I haven’t the faintest idea what the creepy-crawlies are, but then, I don’t think we get those kind up here in western Canada, either. 🙂
Love me some George….bet you don’t have many intruders with that face coming at them. 🙂
I was thinking about Jake the other night when the gray “blue brothers” were getting nutty around the house here – even funnier that the smaller of the pair is named Jake (which was entirely unintentional).
So, because Princess Stinkerbelle can’t be expected to touch kittens, Fred put more holes in your walls?
… And that, my friends, is probably the dumbest question I’ve ever asked anyone…
Well, DUH. 😛
The latest trend – decorating with cats! I would take the knick-knacks off of my shelves, if my cats would pose as prettily on them as Brandon is. Now I want to see a picture with a kitten on each shelf, please! 🙂
I’ll see what I can do! 🙂
Creepy Crawlie’s alert here too…
My sister awoke recently in the middle of the night, said she felt something on her face. Brother-in-law as all, “It was your hair, you dreamed it, etc.”
Well, they were about to settle down, go back to sleep when my sister seen a huge spider about midway of the bed. You can imagine the wild scene that took place then! Said she couldn’t sleep in the bed the rest of the night, since she was SURE that spider had been crawling on her face!
They don’t live in the country, but in a nice subdivision there in Huntsville and have never had a “spider issue.” But it IS spider season….
Oh LORD!!!
Just saying…you make my day! Every day. Kittens and ducks and chickens and George and Looney Jake. My browser comes up on Crooked Acres every morning at work. Makes getting out of bed worth it.
RIP Arnold.
Remember when you despaired of the ducks ever taking to the pond.
Arya’s tongue. I have an adult cat who does that, and I tell her she forgot to put her tongue away. Makes me laugh!
Do you try to touch the tongue? Because I always poke it and tell them to put their tongue away. 🙂
Jake is mesmerizing.
Lovely pics of all the creatures. Even the creepy crawly ones weren’t too bad. I found this info to help you distinguish the brown creatures. SCROLL PAST IF YOU DON’T EVEN LIKE READING ABOUT THOSE “S” THINGS THAT CREEP AND CRAWL>>>>>
Brown recluse spiders are notable for their characteristic violin pattern on the back of the cephalothorax-the body part to which the legs attach. The violin pattern is seen with the base of the violin at the head of the spider and the neck of the violin pointing to the rear. These small non-hairy spiders are yellowish-tan to dark brown in color with darker legs. Their legs are approximately one inch in length. The name of the genus, Loxosceles, means “six eyes.” Most other spiders have eight eyes. Yet this unique feature of the brown recluse is lost on the casual observer because the eyes are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
So-it very well COULD have been a Brown Recluse.
I suspect it was – it’s unfortunately not the first one we’ve seen in the house, and I’m sure we’ll see more! At least they’re shy and not aggressive!
That is so odd. I was going to call my wee little one Arnold after your chicken for some reason.. I had already got to the point where I was calling him Arnold in my head (even though I was resisting because I wanted a group of kittens with out human names) when Smivick died and Rene suggested Issac for a name..
I wonder if I’ll call him Issac Arnold..
Awww, Isaac Arnold. I like it!
(Also, I ADORE the name Smivick.)
You know there’s several songs out there that sing about rockstars – and I always hear one of them in my head whenever you mention her, but now that I tried to look it up and see who does it, I ran into the Smash Mouth one and can only hear it!
Hey now you’re an All Star, get your game on – go play
Hey now you’re a Rock Star, get the show on – get paid
That’s the song I always think of when I see her!
Brown spider – I thought that was just a daddy long legs. ??
I am very very impressed and jealous of the cat trees.
And I’m sorry in advance for talking about this because I don’t wanna make u sad, but I thought Jake was the precious grey kitty that passed away and the one alive was Elroy.
🙂
It’s definitely not a daddy long legs, the body isn’t right. We do have plenty of those around here, though! They cluster on the front porch and they’re just…so… LEGGY. Gah.
Elwood’s the gray kitty who passed away of FIP in December. Jake is still very much with us. 🙂
Jake’s loons make me happy.
Our tuxie cat is obsessed with ceiling fans. He’s skeered of them when they’re off, and will freak the frick out if you turn one on. Which, luckily for him, we almost never do. But it’s tempting sometimes… 🙂
A) I am decidedly sad about Arnold and I can’t figure out why. I was never this engaged about chickens before.
B) I thank you for answering my completely-out-of-context, completely-not-all-aww-Norbie-et-al question yesterday! I was in a meeting (yeah, reading L&H – LIKE A BOSS!) and I just had to ask the question with as few keystrokes as possible.
I caught Ray taking a few tentative slurps off the fountain today, but then he gave it the stink eye and walked away. Wonder if perhaps I turn down the ‘burbling’ he’ll be more interested. I swear, I even bought a gallon of ‘spring water’ for the fountain because ours has so many icky minerals in it. The boy’s got freaking PERRIER by the bedside, but he’s being pissy about it.
Thanks for the suggestion, will move it soon if he doesn’t get the stink eye off it. Just need to find a place not easily reached by the Golden Retriever. 🙂
Hey, has been awhile since I checked in (was a BPoo reader for years)! Glad to hear the ducks have taken to the pond 🙂
I need someone to help me out with some answers and/or advice. I took Flynn in for his yearly check up today. I actually sent Robyn a update a couple hours ago about both boys but since then I have noticed that since Flynn has woke up from his evening nap he looks a little bloated or swollen and will NOT let me pick him up. He won’t eat or touch his water. Someone please tell me that is just a normal side affect from his shots! He tolerates Puff laying beside him but does not want him touching him. He gets up and moves to a different place if he tries to lay on him. Which is kinda sad because Puff knows he doesn’t feel good and just wants to be close I think. I thought I would ask advice from you guys before I go kitty mom crazy and call the vet over something that is really probably nothing. I don’t remember any of my other cats doing that with shots. Thank you!!
When children have a reaction to a shot they will sometimes get swelling. It also is sore for like a day or two. How is he feeling now? I might call the vet just to be on the safe side.
Thanks! I did call the vet first thing this morning because it didn’t look like it had gone down over night and he wasn’t eating or drinking and would scream at me and Puff if we touched him at all. The vet looked him over. He did have a fever which was probably the cause of him not eating. She said that’s normal but his temp was a little higher than what it normally would’ve been. She gave him some fluids and some meds to help pep him up and make him feel better. I could tell within a couple of hours that he was already feeling much better and the soreness seemed much better. She made a note on his chart so next year they will know to go ahead and give him that medicine on the day of his shots so the reaction isn’t so bad.
This exact same thing happened to my kitten Mewlan, after her first round of shots. She took a nap when she got home, but when she woke up she was screaming. I freaked out and we ran her back to the vet, they gave her fluids and a painkiller, also some Benadryl. The vet said some kittens are sensitive to the shots, and next time they will give her some Benadryl before. She also had the fever-but by the next day she was much better. It was scary!
for what it is worth, several days after the fact and you might not see this unless you happen to be following this post (or Robyn points it out)
There are a lot of vets who believe that shots are a one and done prospect for kitties.
Since your kitty has already shown signs of reacting to the vaccine, I would be VERY leary of giving them in the future. You need to weigh the risk (lethargy, fever, illness, vaccinosis, vaccine induced sarcoma to mention a few) vs the reward (possible warding off of illness that you vaccinate for)
If your kitty’s risk of disease (going out and meeting kitties of unknown history and other animals vs staying indoors and never seeing another kitty) is minimal, you might consider avoiding future vaccinations. It really boils down to what you can live with, giving the vaccine and possibly having a reaction of one kind or another or not giving it and risk getting the disease.
I would never say ‘do not give shots’ and expect anyone to listen to me. I can only say I have currently decided to forgo vaccines for my cats even with fosters coming into the house. Everyone has been vaccinated at least once (Skippy my youngest didn’t get his first adult booster after kitten shots – everyone else has) and many have gotten a dozen or more injections. My previous vet (I’m currently looking for a new one) and I had several reasonable discussions about vaccines and despite the risks of bringing kittens into my home I’m forgoing vaccines. (kittens in my house are separated from my resident cats due to past problems and I fear introducing my cats to so many kittens)
Oh Jake, your loons are so in tune, I love you!
Rock Star with a mullet! LOL