~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[Chick N Haus]

There is plenty of room in Montana. We can have all of the critters we want. Wish you could all come here. We'd give you a Big Sky welcome.

 

[hemet dennis]

There is plenty of room in Montana. We can have all of the critters we want. Wish you could all come here. We'd give you a Big Sky welcome.

Are there enough bathrooms in Montana for all of us ?

 

[Kansaseq]

Are there enough bathrooms in Montana for all of us ?

Yup. I've been there several times,and they DO have bathrooms!

 

[hemet dennis]

Yup. I've been there several times,and they DO have bathrooms!

Inside ones or outside ones ?

 

[Kansaseq]

Inside ones or outside ones ?

 

[Chick N Haus]

There are both and you have plenty of room to air your assets.

 

[gryeyes]

Okay, I'm back on-line again. I have to organize a bunch of photos to upload and a zillion little stories to share. That will take a few days - just wanted to reassure y'all I have NOT stopped writing nor have I vacated this "retirement blog."

Let me say this right away though: 28 ducks are a significant mass of quackers. The 14 ducklings are nearly the size of the adult ducks now. They CAN still fit into the stock tank together but they don't have much room to swim about freely, play "bottoms up," dive to submarine swim around the tank, or stand up and flap their wings whilst swimming together. I can almost hear them complain about the lack of swimming space, and about bumping into each other during water play. "Bwak. BWAK!" Yup, I can tell there are some girls in the group. I can't tell any of them apart by sight, though - no drake feathers curling up yet.

When John is through painting for the day, he cleans the brush in the side yard so he can spray the ducks with water. (The really hot days - and there have been far too many of those! - he also cools down the chickens, geese and turkeys with a fine spray.) Several of the ducks will march right into direct spray, enjoying themselves immensely. Some even try to drink from the spray, billing at water on the fly. John particularly gets a kick out of the sound of multiple ducks thwapping across wet ground with their webbed feet.

Dylan, one of the two White Crested Black Polish roos, took ill and died a week or so ago. Pippa and Jack remain; today, Jack was looking very "not right" so I scrambled an egg just for him. I took the plate to the spot where he was resting in the sun and was gratified when he gobbled it with gusto in short order. He appeared to gain strength afterwards, although he still kinda tottered when he walked. I can certainly scramble an egg a day for him - he's become one of my favorites (shhhh! don't tell the rest of the flock) and John really, really likes him.

Samantha is the first of the flock to start visibly looking like heck in this year's molt, although both geese have recently lost feathers and replaced them without any tattered appearances. The yard looks like there have been quite a few pillow fights, though.

Some very resourceful flock members have managed to get into the garden a few times. I lost two lemon cucumbers on the vine and both the cantaloupe and a watermelon vines, plus the miniature roses have been stripped of leaves and blooms at least twice. The tomato plants are raised so only some dangly bits were devoured; I will still be able to eat vine-ripened tomatoes for a while. There are PEACHES ripening on the tree; they may be fairly small, but there are a whole LOT of them!

I'll work on adding photos over the next few days.

 

[Kansaseq]

Good to have you back, Linda! As you can see, we tried to entertain ourselves in your absence, but it's just not the same without you here. Can't wait to see your pics and read your stories.

 

[Wisher1000]

Good to have you back, Linda! As you can see, we tried to entertain ourselves in your absence, but it's just not the same without you here. Can't wait to see your pics and read your stories.

Yea, what she said........

 

[1muttsfan]

Mmm-mhh! Glad to see you have been keeping busy. Would love to grow peaches but it is not to be up here.