Sweet chicks

And not the kind you go to a bar to see.

 

 

 

We have new chicks! Two of them. Our lovely silkie hen has been taking very good care of them, and Rob speculates that we  have a male and a female.

Here is one of the two sweeties.

 

I saw this little bebe flap wee wings today, trying to keep balance. ADORABLE.

 

 

Big images, little sheep

My apologies for the hiatus. Things have been a little hectic. I’m in my final semester of computer science. Because I basically did my degree inside out, right now I’m taking the intro classes (which are mostly easy, thank goodness, though I might have to rekindle my love for Bucky, the computer genius YouTuber, to get past C++). I’ve also been making a lot of soap. My specialty seems to be grapefruit lavender, and it’s been going like gangbusters to the ladies at work. They, however, mostly seem to be buying it for their husbands. Funny, that, because that’s how I got into soapmaking: hubby wanted fancy-schmancy soaps, but we didn’t want to spend $5 a bar. And that price is from years ago. So…new hobby-turned-part-time-job.

I have a new camera! This means I can give you much nicer images of the lambs. They are getting large, let me assure you. When I show up out there, they do their creepy Japanese ghost thing in which they’re across the yard and then very suddenly in my face for green kibble. Here they are, watching me very intently. What is it with them giving me these album-cover poses? All we really lack to make a band is for the white one to be looking disinterestedly off to the left.

“Baaaand on the run.” …You’re welcome.

Come at me, bro!

But really, ladies and gents, there’s not much to tell. I can give you some lovely shots of the sheep and one of Shadow’s butt. He’s very good at showing me his south side, with a few notable exceptions. In this particular shot, I think he actually meant to attack my camera.  Yes, I’m giving you this shot in all its blurry glory just to show you what I go through to provide you with images. Chicken attacks are not to be taken lightly, friends. One in some number of people endures–or knows someone who has endured–rooster rage.

So, check out his little wattles and comb. What you’re seeing is his head tipped downward, and that red thing above his beak is his comb, though it’s still small and not fully formed. Shadow is a little under a foot tall now. Goldie, to the left, is considerably smaller. We’re still trying to look up under their little skirts to figure out who’s a rooster, but I think Shadow and Kuzco are our manly men.

This shot highlights the chaotic darkness and speed of chicken butt.

Here, we have Shadow against a backdrop of chickens, scratching for morning bugs. Note the frenzied background and lack of composition, which displays the juxtaposition of the–oh, I have no idea what I’m even making up right now. It’s blurry chicken butt.

At any rate, the new camera is so much better. It has a wide screen for viewing shots, so I can hold it down near the ground and get pics that I am otherwise not willing to get for you people. I mean, this morning my toes got wet. That’s a sacrifice! It was all dewy and brisk out there, and you gotta remember, I think the whole “outside” thing is highly overrated.

Below are the lambs. They’re beginning to get their winter hair. Remember, these don’t get woolly, they just grow longer fur, and then in the spring they’ll rub it off against trees or make the chain link fence look all gross and hairy. Shudder. That’s something to look forward to.

Well, anyway. Happy Saturday! If I were a real blogger I’d come up with some catchy little daily thing like “Snazzy Saturday” or “Super Sunday” or “Frowdown Friday.” I don’t know. Blame recovery from C++ homework.

Things 1 and 2 with green kibble.

 

Fine Upstanding Fluffies

Because you needed a chicken update today. I can tell.

These are the chicks. The one nearest POV is Goldie. The big black one is Shadow, whose name Priscilla came up with. Whose name with which Priscilla came up. (See why we subvert grammar? It’s just awkward sometimes.) He’s very protective of the one all the way at the back by the board; I haven’t decided what to call her yet. I’m looking for the name of a bird goddess, which might come off as a little heavy-handed and pretentious for a chicken, but given that she survived a predator attack, I think I’ll go with it.

I considered calling her Rhiannon, given that some historians view her as the goddess of birds and horses, but then others say she was merely the human mother of a great warrior, and I realized I don’t know anything about Rhiannon beyond the earworm I just gave you.

Ideas for names? I’m listening.

Shadow, appropriately, shadows her. He’s protective. If she wanders from the group, he follows. That little girl took many days to get to where she wasn’t too sore to extend her neck, so seeing her standing straight and tall makes me very happy.

Today’s a quick one. I need to be writing game code for a final project. I’ll be back at it when the semester ends. Thanks for reading!