Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[scottcaddy]

Tara I see that you have a new Avatar, who is the dog playing with?
Scott

 

[drumstick diva]

Tara do you wear that shirt on the bus, for the kids? I bet it's a big hit

 

[CanuckBock]

Dec 21, day of the Winter solstice...with a Chinook arch.


​

Dec 18th, first of the pullet eggs from the Standard sized Chanteclers hatched this year--photographed next to the bantam project Chant hen eggers...not bad for five month olds, eh?


Food...

​

Simple meal last night...just home fries and burgers...too tired to do a bun, no worries...

Christmas platters to be made...and enjoyed with a glass of egg nog... ​

Quote:
Originally Posted by bamadude

I skipped that last post

Skipped? Like skipping class my Dear Man!

Not at all like skipping rocks...not fun...but then again, I can be bad too if you skip some of my posts...'cause then I won't get caught being badder...and you being gooder!

Oh man, I think I'm really going to like it in here Tara. Haven't seen the corner gas movie yet, but I will see it soon.
Way to bait Bama into good Behavior

And yeah there aren't very many active Canadians and here are there?
AnyWho glad to chat with another Canuck...
( go Canucks go!... Boo flames and oilers

jk )

Yup, you'll like the visit at Dogriver...eat popcorn whilst viewing but have a beverage too...so you can SPIT on que over Wollerton...<<spit!>> as there are even some scenes of that town...quite hilarious!

Not too much baiting of Bama...very much like Fixins...they BITE quite often before they BARK and I have enough scars thanks!

Yeh, sorta like Bama...I don't quite get your last line...not a spectator, always been somewhat of a participant (basketball, volleyball, swimming, lotsa track and field like both my parents' in their younger careers). Since I don't DO sports no more (no time or energies reserved for it!), I could not tell you if you are talking about hockey, or our national sport of la crosse or even football or basketball. Nyuck nyuck nyuck!

How's that for breaking the traditional Canuck mould all to pieces...someone illiterate in being a sports fan!

Now if you had said Maple Leafs, I'd think you were talking about vintage trucks...another of our infatuated hobbies.

​

As in Chev Maple Leafs...bwa ha ha...​

Three of six in the 1936's plus we have two of the 1928 Chev one tons


​

with Brantford cabs

​

We DO like the Canadian vehicles - cut the grass and might find another one lurking on the land! LOL

For our combined Christmas presents this year, I rousted up an original 1936 Chev Maple Leaf sales brochure PLUS another original on the Truxmore demo they conducted our in Eastern Canada in 1936 in regards to the fuel efficiency of that year's Leaf...even back then, cost to run the big rigs was a concern.

​

Rick pulls the wrenches and orders the parts...I keep track of the parts ordered and do the research into what is more or less authentic to the year and models. It is a combined hobby we both get to play at; sorta like this hobby in the birds.

I do Thank You Tara!!!

I have been keeping a trio of Golden's for my DD for 2 years now. She lost several birds and wondered if I could build a safe enough pen for them. I did get it done using heavy duty bird netting and heavy duty 6 foot tall chain link, with a foyer type entrance (2 linked doors 3 foot apart fully netted) and yes they have a roof over 2/3 Rd's of their pen, they can stay dry if they want. I was just wondering if they had to deal with only 2 colors like my Chickens? I learned more then I thought I would and still have several links to follow up on!
Thanks again!!
Scott

Glad I could help...a few more items of interest for you then.

I think the safest label for pheasants is to call them game birds, but you will catch me calling them poultry...

There are four recognized varieties in the Golden Pheasants as per the Standards for them.

The Golden Pheasant is called Chrysolophus pictus, and is considered wild type (what we have and refer to as RED Golden). The next three are mutations from this...there is the Yellow Golden which is called Chrysolophyus pictus luteus with general differences listed in the SOP as:

The Goldens do become quite tame...I can touch toes and feet, often grab tails on them just because I can!

See my hand is right there by the feed bowl; acknowledged but don't stop them from eating!​

If I quit bothering them, then most of them can get some eats at the bowl...got six in this pen, one is missing from the round about the feed bowl grouping. Probably knows I bother them if I linger...so off I go...then all six can have a meal.

​

Boys sure are pretty...

Quote:
Originally Posted by drumstick diva

Tara my memory falters but, I seem to recall the dogs are doing to get decked out full blast- and also farm animals. Must say I love that t-shirt, haven't seen anything like it.

Not sure I dress up the animals quite as often...I know I do the dogs on occasion, but I kinda keep the ropes on me over dressing other creatures. I kinda wince at that because it can be border line cruel on some beasts and birds. I dressed Dale because I know he is so laid back (huge boy for a heritage turkey) and calm, he don't seem to kick up much of a fuss and likes the attention. If the creature don't mind, I'll consider it, if they do mind, I don't dare torment them. Let them be happy animals and birds, not glazed over and just tolerating the stunned human. LOL


Yes, I bought the T some years ago...probably if remember on sale at a Western Store in like May or something...hee hee...

​

I like it and would like to find a few more...sure there are a bazillion on line but I don't really shop online. Want a green one with a Christmas tree on it...just to spice it up a bit since I have had this one for quite a while...oh well...maybe next year... One has to realize you only really wear it for about two or three times in a whole year...so really kinda a luxury!

Tara I see that you have a new Avatar, who is the dog playing with?
Scott

I did post it above and mention who it was because I knew it would throw people that I don't have my usual Chant chook up.

That's my boy (some boy at over 30) and my other boy (HyBlade)...it was EVER so cute to see them boys playing together. That was from a few Christmases ago... I never worried about my son when he was with the dogs outside...well OK...Makins was kinda the matriarch and being the first of our Cattle Dogs, she tormented him ceaselessly. I would hear a scream and out would run Makins with a very important piece of Lego (nfi) clenched in her teeth. She just wanted him outside tossing toys for the dog, not amusing himself in his room building Lego worlds. LOL

Tara do you wear that shirt on the bus, for the kids? I bet it's a big hit

Yes indeedy...funny shirts and silly hats...why be normal and boring when you can be seen to be strictly off yer rocker, eh?

Fudd hat with twinkle lights on the antlers... ​

Hats are safe alternatives to dressing up for the kids...

Yeh...have a read off my website if you wanna know how this mess ended...

Article 5 - WARNING: When Feathers and Operating Heavy Machinery Don't Mix​

Rick took me shopping yesterday afternoon...thirty percent off sale at the local Co-Op...they have the neatest of Christmas gear.

So these are the new additions to join the four I have now...hope they last a long time and amuse the kids. Well they certainly DO amuse me...and Fixins...for the first time I set them off...she sniffs them and then shrugs...she likes plushies but not ones with hard internals. Good thing too as she could easily mulch them and then where would I be for next year on the bus?? LOL

Whistling Moose, spinning giggling Santa hat, and a puppy dog...oh my the dog sings a buncha bow WOW songs, crouches, leaps and dances...yeh...can I wait till next Christmas for the bus kid reactions...HARDLY!

The t-shirt is only part of the get up...the lighted antlered Fudd hat is worn in the morning, much to the kid's delights...and the elfin red and green one in the afternoon... Who has more fun at this--probably a tie between lil' kids and moi!

Snow faced Fixins, doing what she loves.​

​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[hennible]

Lol glad the hockey joke wasn't offensive
Love the trucks by the way. I can't get over how beautiful those pheasants are! Lovely.

 

[drumstick diva]

My son came in from Washington(state) for the holidays, so my off and on all day backyard chickens browsing will be limited till after New Years. Had to catch up on all your do-ins Tara, if you really wanted to freak out the kids on the bus, I could send you my cone head.

 

[CanuckBock]

Eleven toms a strutting...can you find the one LADY turkey strutting her stuff...yeh, Girl turks may have beards, may strut...the only thingmajig a girl turkey don't do is gobble. Well OK, OK...on a technicality...girl turks don't make gobble calls. They can still be found to gobble gobble their food.

Come on now...give the ladies a break here...breakfast break!

Dec 21, 2014 - LoREDa...old Lilac gal hatched June 2008...and her BEARD!
​

Black Bart on left (boy) and Louise on right (girl) - Strutting their stuff.​

Now that the 12 days are officially done, that still don't jinx that I am gonna take MORE Christmassy themed pics...Diva will wanna see bright holiday cheerful tinselly adornments on dem dawgs.

​

Scott...this is Nine Oh's building and run...see the house on the end on the right? That use to be a small dog house, insulated and this now provides a nice darkened area for them Red Golden pheasant boys to retire into in the midday brightness.


Scottish Proverb:

Love this time of the day...sunrise! Promise of an even better day than the last...here in Pear-A-Dice!
​

The pinks, the blues...the reds of dog time play time! ​

There is no more perfection that this vision of peace, harmony, viciousness, and expelling energies. That's me girl, bite the bally...BITE IT! CARPE DIEM--Seize the day Fixins!

George Bernard Shaw:

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself. ​

​

This is how Fixins views the life expectancy of the sum of all her parts...going for it all, with all you got!

Dog din...

Hot beef broth on the boil, so divied in some nice broth with some chicken bits...added frozen peas to cool it down before the dancing dog Fixins stomped too many times on my toes!

Leftovers from roast beef and baked potatoes--​

I like to make more roast beef, gravy and extra bakers then we will eat at one sit down meal. Take the leftover beef sliced up, gravy, dash of parmesan cheese and fry up some onions; after onions done, stir fry up beef and gravy mix and meanwhile in another pan, slice up extra baked potatoes into pan fries... Yummy meal of leftovers....that don't taste much like leftovers!

​

So the trip we did on the day of Winter Solstice was to make sure we had a few provisions we needed on hand...

​

Case of romaine is a given.

And then given out with much glee!!

GOOSE GOODIES...hear the shrieks?? ​

I hope everyone here eats, drinks (happily moderate if you are so inclined!), and is merry with all the joy of the season and for ALL of the rest of the new upcoming year of 2015!

Friend sent me this one to me today and I did laugh in a very sic way...

How very ironic...all these time saving devices to simplify living and still those that can spare no time to be enjoying it.

So busy, too busy to make a proper ginger bread house...really, how sad is all that then?
​

I "get" that we are busy, but may we slow down enough to breath in the wonders of these moments?


Jean de La Bruyère:

​

Luv the view...grain elevators...not common at all now and very much appreciated by us. A very large visual monument to back in the day, eh. Grain elevators and water towers...tearing them down like our history they hold jest don't matter.

Hey, anyone wanna solve a mystery of ours...why oh why do they build barns like this one?

​

So have seen this a few times here in Alberta...the scrunched in side ones. Gonna make a guess, probably totally wrong but is this so a manger to hold feed can be made easily against the outside walls? I have never really asked anyone that has one of these barns as buildings. I find the shape interesting and would love to know the purpose of this building technique...anyone know the scoop? Sure would be neat to solve this one!

Quote:
Originally Posted by hennible

Lol glad the hockey joke wasn't offensive

Love the trucks by the way. I can't get over how beautiful those pheasants are! Lovely.

OK...hockey teams <<wink wink, nudge nudge>>...got yah!

Yes, farmy vintage trucks...that can hold and transport a load. I never EVER wanted a diamond ring or useless expensive jewellery--like critter jewellery but we are not talking hordes of $ to acquire that. All I ever wanted me, was always a TRAILER to haul my stock and stuff about. So of course, only had eyes for men with TRUCKS--trucks that could haul a payload of crapola of mine. Boys with toys are the very bestest of men!

Got the postal notification that the 1936 brochures are sitting in town at the main post office...sent Rick off to work today with the card and he's already picked them up.

​

One brochure, original on our 1936 Chev Maple Leafs.

​

The Truxmore...a 1936 Leaf with a load on her to test her carrying capacity (safety & economy run) versus costs to run in oil and gas. Already have a small black and white brochure on this campaign from a few years prior...this bigger one is pretty nifty.

Got a set of original postcards coming in from Florida too, vintage postcards of Oka Chanteclers from the 1920's along with some of Bro W's dogs he bred (Yes, the creator of the Canadian chicken also delved into dog breeding, Shepherds I believe). Very kewl.

Now to see about framing some of this up (got four of the set of six of the Nash 1910 Chantecler postcards too) so I can SEE it to enjoy it instead of keeping them hidden away from view!

​

Got this one too...original Rare Breeds International conference folder...the featured bird was none other than the Chantecler.

​

Sweet pheasants...mild mannered, sometimes a bit noisy when showing off, but really...it does surprise me that more bird lovers don't have them. Very easy to keep, mind you gotta have really good containment facilities first, but after that...easy peasy, hardly eat much, crap is very dry (like a popcorn fart) and tres beau!

My son came in from Washington(state) for the holidays, so my off and on all day backyard chickens browsing will be limited till after New Years. Had to catch up on all your do-ins Tara, if you really wanted to freak out the kids on the bus, I could send you my cone head.

"WHAT? You have family that you love more than your BYC family? Well, well, HARUMPH...maybe we all are not as important as ... <<harrumph>> family!"

Seriously Woman, DO give that boy of yours (who is a MAN but will always be a boy to his Mah) a great big squeezy hug from us. And make sure and lick a Kleenex to wipe the turkey gravy off his chin when he digs into dinner...I know my boy JUST loves when his mother does that. In fact, ALL kids love when their mothers do that, especially in Public or mixed company...

Right...I said RIGHT???

Ruth Ann Schabacker:
The conehead get up would likely never make it out the gates. I am quite sure if I marched outta the house, bus bound, the geese would freak, the sheep would bust loose to charge the intruder to hoof them into oblivion ... Nope, best you keep that coner...hee hee...

I do love how yer cone in your avatar is decorated so nice for the season! LOL



When the hurry and scurry of the current "holidays" comes to an end...keep these wise words of wisdom foremost in the planning of your upcoming new year...living life to the fullest, eh!

Mike Hammar :

ReTIREment...jest really potentially TIRED and worn up.

Memento mori - may you all receive the gifts of love, health, joy, contentment, peace, kindness and forgiveness...in our pursuits of eternal happiness. May this season bring you true blessings; one and all of us.

Japanese Proverb:

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[bamadude]

Thats 1 big ole slingshot. I need 1 of those aiming at my neighbor's house

 

[CanuckBock]

Thats 1 big ole slingshot. I need 1 of those aiming at my neighbor's house

Hee hee...Rick discussed getting some used rubber belting off a large conveyer to use to make it ever more slingy!

​

I guess the cedar burl I carved does look like a formidable weapon as a potential projectile...

April 9th of last year...lotta snow ​

​

Ah yes, the big ol' pine Yolk (pun intended) has been a fun item indeed!

​

Rick wanted to leave the chain on this burl log at the back gate...his idea of putting out the WELCOME mat?? Something mumbled about a pulley system hooked up to a release at his armchair. If he looked over at the back gates and saw someone he did NOT like, release the mechanism, end the interuption!!!

​

Thankfully common goodness (sense perhaps?) prevailed and he sunk major bolts into the burl and removed the chain...until the chain was gone, I was never quite sure his intentions...

​

Bad boys...bad boys...what you gonna do...

Hee hee...

Tara

 

[hennible]

You carved that? Nice... No amazing job.... But next time how about a catapult?

 

[CanuckBock]

You carved that? Nice... No amazing job.... But next time how about a catapult?

Yeh, drove Rickie nutso. I wanted it done nicely...and if you carve wood, well you go so far and then you just have to do that one more slice and then a chip comes up...agh! Then wanna smooth it on out...

​

He was getting impatient with me and finally exclaimed..."It is going to be up over 15 feet in the air! Be done with it already!"

​

I like wood...no, better said, I LOVE wood...I have several deep scars on my hands from carving...like the time I was doing up a small cedar boat for racing in the rivers--using an exacto knife which is not good, not a good precise tool for a young kid to be using! I have been told that is a sign of a wood carver...one guy had an agent that use to walk up and grab his hand, look to see if there was any wounds in his hands to see how productive he was.

​

As an adult that can supply proper items to do their hobbies with...I have a set of Kevlar gloves, a greyish chain mail one too (think it is composed of some sort of metal screen or some such thing). I use the same gloves when I shear the sheep...bwah ha ha...there is always blood, sweat, and tears but never from the animals being sheared...jest moi!

​

For the swan building...Eden to go with the two geese buildings that are Pair A Dice...maple wood moulding scraps.

​

I did one too this year, for the log cabin...not quite finished that one...a fruit tree wood, crabapple Dolgo from our place I trimmed. Shape of the original piece of wood is like a clenched bird claw! Thinking of seeing if I can size up a glitzy glass ball for it too. Talk about tacky eh?

​

Again it is all in the matter of the beholder...is it completed...is it quite finished. Should Fixins give it a gentle gnawing or three??

​

I also do stainglass; since early in the 80's. My own design here above for our bathroom window...whenever we get to that bathroom...LOL Pink glass has gold used to colour it...so I was thrilled to be able to afford to add PINK WILD ROSES to my project. I formed the roses in the front of the mock four paned window in the shape of a long horn steer's head. Cream etched the faces of the three people and the horses. In the right light, the globe in the clouds can look like the sun or the moon, pending the time of day. Yeh, I like making things...indepth artsy fartsy hobbish things.

​

Cream etching is rather kewl and can be combined with the truck hobby nicely. My BIL did the design on one of Rick's guitar cases and I asked him if it was alright to do a stylized version for Rick's red Chev on his canopy windows.

​

Firewood is another bane of our wood addiction...21 walls of wood and I still figure we need more. Helps that Rick is prone to collecting this too.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/920148/the-firewood-thread

Heh heh heh...gold, like gold in storage, banked! LOL

Rick is a cabinet maker...so we have completed lotsa projects together...stainglass in wooden lights, quite a few cream etched glass cabinet fronts, entrance doors etched, etc. Alot of the photos of that work are in actual photographs...he has binders of his work. One day will have to do a bit of scanning of it. His talents are plum remarkable when it comes to working with wood. Kitchen and bathroom cabinetry...tables, picture frames (ouch...ever help out making picture frames...truly incredible the amount of work done to make a wooden frame--yikes!), book cases, lamps, all sorts of cabinets like filing, ones for fish tanks...he's even done up wooden shutters and outfitted boats--lotsa cabinetry in boats!

In BC, we use to drive down the back wood gravel roads, both of us sticking our heads outa the windows (like ill cared for dogs!) looking for exotic woods like Yew and burls. The burl we air dried for the Higgins yoke...that one was hilarious because it had been left behind on a cut block...parked the old bush truck at the bottom of the hill, and winched and winched it till it toppled on down the hill...landing with a humongous BANG in the truck bed. Pretty happy they built trucks back then with real amounts of metal to take abuse like that! What I never liked was that Rick had me sit and balance the burl on the tail gate where it had first landed and then threw it in reverse to bang the burl further into the bed by hitting the embankment. He never told me ALL the plan, so I ended up screaming like a banshee that he was in "reverse instead of forward"...argh...he got the job done alright and says later that I probably would not have helped him do that, if I had known the WHOLE plan included me being the ballast...What a guy! There are certainly daze...

My private stash of air drying carving wood...birch, yew, plum...

​

All sorts of trouble one can get into...crouching Heeler ACDog for a weather vane. Had a guy scan my design and use his plasma cutter...weathervane sits on the Sheep Dip Inn.

​

Yeh, always something neato to contemplate doing...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catapult:

Imagine the size of the catapult if the slingshot we have is that big already...you know you gotta have a size for reference and the yolk IS suppose to be "HAND" held...nyuck, nyuck.

...


Yeh the term medieval siege engines is a kinda attractant...LOL! Hurling items over the fence line in magnificent style...yeh...and people wonder how Punkin Chunkin gets going.

Bizarre really, eh?

Buy hey, if Bama wants one--we jest ALL gotta have one too!

Even a small version of the catapult might come in handy with the excessive eggs one gets plagued with during certain times of the year...

Cackleberry BOMBS away!​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada