Ants

Some people think they're creepy, some people get itchy when they talk about them, and some people, like me, find them totally captivating. Ants. The little skittery creatures with six legs, big black eyes, and large rear-ends. Ugh. That sounded freakishly like spiders. But they are not. They are far from. Ants are incredible little things (not to say that spiders aren't incredible too...they just...you know...). Anyway, at first glance, they're just thin legs and red/black abdomens, flitting around in groups. But when you look a little closer, like I did today, you discover that they, and their lives, are complex and fascinating. They follow patterns, rules, guidelines. They build intricate homes from practically nothing. When one needs help moving a bug, or, say, a bread crumb, another will come a'running to assist them. As they travel through their busy day-to-day schedules, they somehow find a chance to stop along the way and have a friendly little chat with their buddies, antenna to antenna. 

These creatures were the reason I left the house today, armed with my camera and a growing determination to capture them going about their business. I stayed out there on the porch for about twenty minutes, capturing thirty or forty pictures and leaving with only two or three reasonably good shots. Those ants are so FAST! It was a miracle that I managed to get a close-up of a few of them at all. What I'm really aiming for, however, is to capture an 'ant moment', as I call them. An ant moment is when two or more ants meet up along their path and talk to each other for a while, faces close together. I want a picture of an ant moment so bad! I'm going to do all I can this summer to get one. But for now, here's the shots I have so far. 

This photo I got last summer - this started off
with one ant who recruited three others to help
them; two at each end of the bug. Amazing! 

Jimbo

Over the past week, Jimbo has been an absolute nuisance. SHE WILL NOT STOP ESCAPING. Every time we turn our backs, in less than an hour, she's escaped the pen AGAIN! She doesn't go anywhere once she's escaped - just hovers around the perimeter of the pen, quacking anxiously to her sisters. Tell me this Jims - if you hate being out of the pen so much, why do you keep slithering under the fence?! Plus, it isn't like there isn't a completely psycho-for-eating-little-creatures dog nextdoor (which is only a few feet away from the duck pen). 
Anyway, this afternoon, we decided enough was enough. We dragged log after log to the pen, stapling them around the bottom of the fence. Finally, we were finished. I swear, I will be in complete shock this time if that ninja duck manages to slip under her fence. 

Wabble

Wabble is delusional. Extremely delusional. It isn't like this hasn't happened before, like the ducks haven't brooded on their unfertilized eggs. But this time, Wabble is the only one who's been laying on her 'babies' all day long. For days, before we get the eggs out of the Quack Inn', we'll find that Wabble is back in her house again, eyes glazed as she protects her little empty eggs. Poor thing. Last time this happened, Waffles ending up laying on top of Wabble, who was on top of the nest of eggs. Then Waffles actually dragged straw on top of Wabble until she was nearly completely masked underneath it! What weirdos. I swear, Jimbo is the only sane one left.
I am very ashamed that I forgot to mention the ducks' 2nd birthday on Sunday. How can you forget to do such a thing? Maybe the fact that it was Mother's Day distracted me. Anyway, the ducks had a cheerful day outside in their pond on their birthday - rambunctious little ducks as always. It's hard to believe that they're already two! 

Last July: Waffles
and Wabble smothering their
nest

Seriously?

Heat

I have come to realize that many of my blog posts have to do with sunshine. This time, not only is it sunny, but it's warm, too! Can you believe it? It was so warm in the sun today, I could feel my skin sizzling. I even went so far as to lather on some sunscreen (the oh-so-familiar smell of summer). We set up the trampoline, took the goats for a walk, and continued to do more work on the new deck. There wasn't even a cloud in the sky!


Yesterday, Smudge, much to her utter mortification, had a bath. Her absolute worst nightmare. She's been long since due for a bath, and her naturally greasy, smelly fur did not help with this matter. So Mum dragged her out onto the patio and bathed her under the warm spring sun. It must be something psychological, because bathing like that doesn't exactly seem too frightening. Especially since Smudge swims willingly all summer long! 

Springy Sunday

I took eighteen pictures today. I just couldn't resist! I wonder how people used to manage way back, taking pictures so sparingly the way they did. It was so beautiful outside, the air sweet and blossomy, the plants lush and sprouting...there was no way I could restrain myself from taking pictures. And I'm glad I did. I spotted so many things today!

I managed to snag a few pictures of deer. Actually, 'manage to snag' sounds like it was difficult. It was anything but. In fact, the deer were so friendly, they didn't even lift their heads as I stepped up to take pictures! 

As I was walking the goats down the road today, in the ditch (of all the places - at least it was a wide ditch) I spied a mother duck and her babies! The mum was quacking anxiously, and her babies tore away from us the instant we came into sight. Their peeping noises reminded me of Waffles and Wabs and Jimbo when they were little ducklings. Aww...

At the beach we saw some amusing seagulls and a very unphotogenic eagle. I kept trying to take pictures of it, but it was turning its head away. Eventually, it flew off into the distance. The little creep! 

Why did the robin cross the driveway?

To get away from scary Coko,
of course!

Whatever this bush is called,
I love it!

Dogwood: I <3 B.C.! 

What is that seagull doing?!

Party on the rooftop!

Distant eagle

How can you not adore deer? They are the cutest animals! (although, that's what I say about nearly every animal...) 

Escapee

It's always Jimbo. Always, Jimbo is the one duck who decides to take a rebellious (and foolish) mission through the chicken wire. This little dilemma only started happening last weekend, and it hasn't stopped since! Last night, when I went out to close the ducks into the Quack Inn' for the night, Jimbo just happened to be in the little fenced-off space inside of the pen (there is a square of fencing inside of their pen fenced off so that the grass can regrow). She was flipping out, anxiously quacking away in the hopes that her sisters would come and assist her (but they didn't - they decided to stay in their duckhouse like ducks with actual common sense do). I climbed over the fence and cornered her, much to her mortification. She was flapping wildly and pressing herself into the fence. Poor thing. I got her into the Quack Inn' without a trouble. She must have found a gap in the chicken wire. 

The next morning, however, just minutes after they were released from their house, I found Jimbo in the little pen again! She was freaking out, desperately trying to escape when she saw me getting closer (since when did my face become so scary?). I got her over the fence, found the little gap, and pulled the wire over it. GOSH. What a dunce of a duck. 

Last weekend, though, she was even more of a dunce, and found her way out of the whole outer pen, and into the forest! What shall we ever do with that rascal?!

Aside from Jimbo's crazy adventures, I'd like to announce that it's MAY! It never really feels much like actual spring until May comes around. Everything is popping out - the flowers, the leaves, the frogs (who have been out for ages already). I'm sure the silly billies will be very happy when they can start gnawing down on some fresh maple leaves! 

Rain, rain, go away

...come back another day.
Not.
I'd rather you just not come back. All week, it's been unpleasantly damp around here. Not too rainy. Just...soggy. Everything is mossy, green, and wet outside. Except for the near-bone dry snail I discovered slinking around in the woodshed yesterday. I didn't get any pictures of the animals or Mr. Snail or anything today, sadly.
Waffles was acting absolutely insane yesterday! She was quacking like a hawk was preying on her, or something. I kept going to check on her, but she would only quack louder as soon as I came into sight! What a silly goose. Or duck, I should say.
I'm very much hoping that tomorrow will be sunny again, as the weather foresees. I'm thinking of starting a spring to summer project, where I take a picture every day (or maybe every week) at the same time in the evening, to see how things brighten up between spring and summer...

Happy Earth Day!

'Tis Earth Day! I am very ashamed to say that I did little on this lovely spring day to honour such an occasion. Environmentally, that is. I did create a video just now to raise awareness about how beautiful (and cute, if you include our pets) Mother Nature is. All around our yard, I took pictures and videos and, amateur as I am, threw together what I hope is a reasonably clear video clip. I hope it shows up on here! I'm worried that it'll be too pixilated...Nothing I can do about that, I guess! 

Aside from the video, we've had a pretty interesting weekend here at Huckleberry Plunks. We finally finished the expansion of the duck pen, leaving them with land aplenty to roam around on, and tons and tons of greens to munch on. Also, we actually hung up their gate, which, pitifully, had been lying on its side as a barricade for two years now. <:D That's a little sad. 
Anyway, already, the ducks have ventured to the far reaches of their expanded pen. They were so excited to have so much room to run around on! I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted from the 'Stress' section of my head because of it. We fenced off the little section they've had in the corner of their pen for the past week or so, to let it recover and dry out from their ruthless, muddy drilling. Gosh, they are such mucky creatures! They've been laying three eggs every day now that the temperature has been reaching the late teens and 20 degrees. Actually, they've laid so much that we're desperate for someone to buy a carton! 

Expanded pen (there is also more room
out of cameraview)

Life in a Head Cone

"What happened to Smudge?!" you ask? Or maybe you don't, if you didn't know that the dog above is Smudge. Even so, I can assure you that Smudge is perfectly fine. Well, besides the daze she's in right now.

I know, I know, it's all so puzzling. What is going on? I'll tell you what: Smudge had eye surgery. Not because her vision's getting foggy in her old age. Because of that goopy eye thingy she had going on for weeks. Turned out, it wasn't just a plain old goopy eye. We brought her to the vet, and it turns out that goop was actually non-cancerous tumours! Freaky!

So, this morning, it was off to surgery for her. She wasn't too thrilled about this little adventure. I wasn't there to witness this - I was asleep in bed, recovering from a particularly nasty flu. 

Anyway, apparently, she was trembling from head to toe. Poor little sensitive thing! At about 3:20, we came to pick her up after her recovery in the...recovery room. Usually, seeing us after  hours of being in an unfamiliar building with unfamiliar people, she would flip at the sight of her owners. I'm sure she was very pleased to see us...underneath all of that tired glaze of anaesthetic. She had a difficult time climbing stairs - to even get her in the car in the first place, Mum had to lift her up. She had the tumours removed, plus had human, clear contact lenses put in her eyes for protection from the ragged stitches. Isn't that weird? 

Anyway, I took her for a walk around the yard. She seemed a little more than perplexed at the scenery around her. I think things must have smelled and sounded differently for her through her head cone outside, because she would stop in spots and just sniff and perk her ears at her surroundings. 

Right now, she's inside, bumping into objects with her cumbersome head as she attempts to walk around.  

Spiders spiders EVERYWHERE

I'm sure that post title just put you off reading, didn't it? Well, for an arachnaphobic person like me, it sure did. The reason it's 'spiders spiders everywhere' is because I encountered several of them today. Actually, several is quite an understatement. I encountered TONS of them today. Thankfully, they weren't the creepy, long-legged, huge ones (like wolf spiders and such) - rather, they were little black ones, scuttling around at the speed of light. And thankfully, they were NOT indoors. They were outdoors. In piles of goat/duck waste straw. I came across them while venturing across the heaps of straw, dumped there from years ago to let slowly decompose - wormwise. You may be wondering why I would intentionally be digging through nearly 5 years' worth of waste straw. I was planting potatoes, that's why. Mum thought potatoes would grow exceptionally well under the rotting layers of worm-riddled straw. I agreed, and so it was my duty to bury them. Burying them wasn't actually that difficult. But walking through the thick, deep grass of the lawn, next to the straw, added a certain unwanted mystery to the already disturbing idea of digging through spider-infested straw. The unpleasant thing about those spiders is that they're everywhere, and then, all of the sudden...nowhere. They move so fast, you have no idea where they are. 

Okay, thinking about it is making me itch all over, so let's change topic, okay? 

I know this sounds kind of random, but have you ever heard of the proper way of adding a new chicken to your flock?: Never put Mr. New Chicken in the same pen as your flock in the daytime. The chickens will unleash their full viciousness on it. Instead, put Mr. New Chicken into their coop at night. This way, the flock will wake up with Mr. New Chicken right beside them in the morning, and go about their regular business, thinking nothing even happened since the night before. (Gosh, chickens are daft little creatures, I tell you). 

Well, that's exactly what happened with the ducks and their new extension of grass today. This morning, they got up, and all of the sudden, when I went out to visit them, they were all over the new extension! Eating the grass, walking on it...they were nearly completely used to it, just like with Mr. New Chicken and the unknowing flock. Here they are excitedly combing the new landscape for greens. 

Exploring time!

Smudge lazes in the 20 degree sunshine
(finally, it was actually WARM today!)

Sunflower Season

I'm wondering when my favicon is going to show up. If you don't know, a favicon (as I just figured out yesterday) is short for Favourite Icon. It's the icon you see beside a website on your Bookmarked Sites list, or Favourites List. I designed my own, to replace the Blogger.com one (the orange box with the white inside of it), but it isn't showing up! It looks like this:

Isn't it a cute? I just wonder when it'll ever show up...


Anyway, at Huckleberry Plunks, we had a gloriously sunshiny day, much to my surprise. The reason I was surprised was because this morning, it was pouring rain while we were attempting to clip branches and pound fencing posts into the ground. Eventually, since it was so rainy, we decided to simply go back inside and have lunch. Then, typical wet coast weather, it stopped raining, soon followed by sun! Why is it that every time you're outside, the weather's miserable, and then every time you're inside, the weather's wonderful? Especially in September. Mother Nature enjoys being cruel to us students when we're trapped indoors. 
Okay, I'm going off track again! 
So we decided to make the best of the weather, because we didn't know exactly how long it would hold off its beastliness for us. I got around to planting some sunflower seeds in Cedar's and Buddy's graves, and outside the back door. I'm hoping they'll turn out as beautifully as I picture them! 


Then we went back behind the duck pen again and started clearing out the area back there. We ended up clearing tons of branches, ferns, and twiggy plants (mainly because the ducks are very unskilled at venturing across bumpy terrain). Because we didn't have enough fencing for today, we fenced off a small, temporary extension to their pen. So far, the crazy things are too chicken to even walk on it! Waffles especially. It's funny, because when the ducks didn't have that extension on their pen, they were constantly reaching for the plants outside of it through the fence. Now that they have access to it, they won't go near it at all!

Cleared forest for future pen

Extension (it's kind of hard to see)

Green part is extension!

Tomorrow, it's fence-shopping time!

A little Scare and some Renovations

Mr. Sun

Sun

Mr. Golden Sun

Thanks for shinin' down on me! 

Woke up to brilliant sunshine this morning, hence the somewhat random song above.  It was the ideal day for getting started on our next project - renovations to the duck pen. You see, the ducks' pen is a little too small for them, especially since they're much bigger now than they were when they were ducklings. In the past few months, they've been drilling down the edges of their pond, bringing it closer and closer to the fencing. Now, it's so close that they hardly have any land to run around on! Gosh, they are so naughty. 

We decided enough was enough - our little rubber duckies needed some more space to run around in. They're called Indian Runner ducks for a reason, after all. 

So anyway, at about noon, I gathered up some tools and set off behind their pen. Behind the  ducks' pen is a huge forest, so I figured that it would be the perfect place to fence off. I started trimming branches and twigs and such, and then didn't like the idea of wasps' or bees' nests out there in the forest, so I tried calling for Smudge. You see, I have a strong aversion to the creatures. Mostly wasps. Bees are nicer. Wasps are evil little demons. I swear, they're set out to kill you. 

The whole time I was cutting and trimming, the ducks were quacking up a storm at me. Waffles would not shut her cakehole, no matter how many times I quacked back at her. Don't look at me like that. Ducks like it when you quack, okay?

Finally, I got so tired of trimming, and I felt a little guilty at killing all those plants. So I hauled the goats over on their lead lines - literally hauled, because Coko was being a stubborn nuisance - and bound them around some trees. This was only successful after much yanking and pulling on Coko's leash. He can't seem to quite grasp the physics of a leash. Anyway, after much exhaustion over tying him up to a tree so that he could pig out on the forest, I went to feed the ducks dandelions through the fence. After a few minutes, Onyx started maawing his sweet little maaw. I turned around...and, I'm sorry to say, freaked out when I saw Coko in a writhing heap in the undergrowth. I tried to stay calm as I attempted to rid him of his hog-tied mess, but it was no use. He looked like a turtle on its back, laying like that as he struggled to choke out a frightened maaw (the collar was pretty  tight around his neck from the strain). So I frantically went in  search of Mum. She came out and freed him quite easily. It wasn't the first time this has happened to him - he always seems to get himself caught up in his leash, the little rascal. Anyway, I guess the ducks had been very shaken by this unexpected event, because when we turned around, they were nowhere to be seen in their pen! I then went into their pen in search of them, and found that they were all huddled behind the Quack Inn'. Hiding. The poor things! 

Whew. What a crazy day. 

Spring?

What a shocking first day of Spring Break. Weatherwise, that is. This morning, it was cloudy and damp, a pretty much average spring day. That was what made us decide to go for a walk at the dam with Smudge. We thought it might rain tomorrow, so we went today. What we didn't know was that it was going to snow. 
Anyway, Smudge was thrilled, to say the least, at the prospect of "going for run!" We walked for a few minutes before it started to snaine (snow+rain) a little. Then, about half an hour later, the snow was coming down in buckets! Spring Break? Surrrrre... Still, it didn't bother us too much. It didn't bother Princess Smudgaline at all. She was having a great time, running back and forth and back and forth between us every two seconds, checking to make sure we were still coming.  We even spied three or so red squirrels along the way, those of which Smudge hastily pursued until Mum called her back. One of the squirrels bounded up a tree and watched her teasingly from above. The other two booked it into the ferns. 
By the time we reached the car again, Smudge was still jittery with excitement. Do dogs ever lose their enthusiasm?  
Anyway, back at the house, the goats had a gloomy day. Like every other day when it snows, they get pretty moody pretty fast. The only thing that managed to cheer them up was when I brought them an armload of hay and dumped it in their barn. 
The ducks, like usual, were happy to be outside, rain or shine or...snaine. When I went outside to check on them, there they were, partying it up in their pond. They were more shy than usual around my camera, for some strange reason, but I managed to snag a few pictures when their heads were turned in the other direction. And I mean, the other direction. 

This is what ducks do when they want to
reach the bottom of a pond with
their bills...

...they tilt themselves up in the air!

Wabble was much more photogenic
than the others!

Tomorrow is April Fools! Uh-oh.   

 

Drilling

This morning, our forest was like a rainforest. Well, it is a rainforest, I suppose, but it was even more of a rainforest this morning. A haze of mist shrouded the forest, the sunlight streaming through it and glistening off of the pouring raindrops. In the trees, morning birds were chirping and shrieking. The whole effect actually made me feel like I was walking in a majestic rainforest. 
Anyway, moving on. I did some drilling in the dirt and woodchips with the ducks today. They were so excited when I came into their pen, picked up a little stick, and started pushing at the dirt with it. They all came running over to come drill their bills into the dirt with me. After a few minutes, while still drilling, they hesitantly allowed me to brush my hand against their heads. That's the thing about ducks - you don't just pick them up and start petting them and 'awwwing' at their silky feathers. They are very cautious creatures. Even if you've lived with them their whole lives, you have to earn their trust and acceptance every time you enter their pen, all over again! It's an honour to have one accept you enough to let you that close to them. 
So anyway, after I dug with them for a while, I went out of the pen. Waffles begged me not to go - she was running up on my heels and quacking in her attempts to get me to stay. It's so hard to resist her! So I plucked some dandelions from the lawn and fed them through the fence before going  to tend to the goats. They really are adorable ducks! 

Drizzly

It was a wet day at Huckleberry Plunks today, the sky a mass of thick clouds above our heads. Coko and Onyx were not in the slightest impressed by the sudden change in weather. They absolutely despise even the smallest amount of rain. Coko lay curled in a ball in the nest of alfalfa under the tarp this afternoon, and Onyx milled about the pen, fur puffed out in goosebumps. It's funny, because whenever the weather gets bad, the minute a person sets foot in the goats' pen, they'll come wandering up to you, this upset expression on their face. And if the weather worsens while you're in the pen, they'll look from you to the rain, you to the rain, you to the rain with this accusing glower on their faces. It's like they think that people are the ones warping the weather! 

Coko glowers out from beneath the tarp

Smudge, also, was rather unhappy with the weather today. She remained curled up in her doghouse for the afternoon, looking drained. Also, her goopy-eye-sickness doesn't seem to be clearing up much in the past few weeks. We're thinking of taking her to the vet for a checkup. 

                                                     

However, like usual, the ducks were completely unruffled by the change of spring weather. If anything, they were happy that it was a wet day! They love splashing around in the fresh rainwater and 'billing' around in the rain-softened dirt with their bills. Wabble was having a great time searching for worms and plants in the woodchips today. Waffles and Jimbo, predictably, were celebrating the return of rain in the pond. 

Wabble billing

At least we have someone to cheer us up in this dank weather, though! Our yellow narcissus', warm and cheerful in the early spring, flowers bursted from the soil this weekend. All around the property; on the deck, by the goatpen, and in the pots on the porch, they have spread. They are our makeshift sun on this drab day! 

Adventuresome Day

I'm doing two posts today, simply because some peculiar things went on at Huckleberry Plunks today. First of all, I took Coko and Onyx for a sprightly walk in the fresh new spring air (it is wonderfully sunny out today). They quite enjoyed it at first, but then they started going absolutely crazy, darting from side to side and pulling the leash out of my hands. How naughty of them! 
Secondly, Coko went absolutely insane for salty chips! He was actually tackling my brother to the ground in his attempts to snatch the Salt and Vinegar chips from his hands! Here he is jumping for the chips (what a talent!). Don't worry, the chips are totally natural and don't contain any of those creepy, unknown substances with their fancy scientific names. 

This is Coko after eating them. He looks so hilarious with his tongue sticking out from between his teeth - half the time, he wasn't even licking his lips, just letting his tongue hang out of his mouth! I guess that salt really got to him. 

And for the weirdest one of all...

Can you believe that right after eating those chips, he went and started furiously licking away at their salt brick!