Succumbing to roosters…

I don’t know how to explain this, but lately wherever I go I see roosters.  I don’t mean real roosters, I mean tchotchke and knickknacks and random rooster items.

Do you remember when you were thinking about having a baby and everywhere you went you saw infants and pregnant women?  Well, it’s like that.  I am not sure when it started exactly, but I can not go into a store without noticing them.

Maybe it’s a new trend and they really are everywhere?  I can’t help feel like they are stalking me.  Even to the point of second-guessing my sub-conscience.  “Maybe I really do want to buy a rooster”…  “No!  Really I don’t!”…  Honestly, I have enough poultry in my life right now thank you very much.

Just yesterday, a good friend forwarded a blog post from a woman who purchased a giant metal rooster to spite her husband.  It’s quite funny and of course involves a rooster:  http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/

I did actually break down and buy a rooster yesterday.  It is a copper rooster weathervane for T’s shed (ok pile of lumber) that I though I could live with and maybe just maybe will help relieve the rooster pressure…  ??

coming soon to a shed near you...

The half bath!

So I talked the man into doing some more demo work.  It’s really gross, sweaty and smelly work.  We figured that we needed to get it done before the heat of the summer intensified.  I am happy to report that demo phase one (i.e living room , hallway, half-bath and playroom are complete).  I am sure I will be cleaning dust up for a long time…  T did find some nice nests, lots of mice droppings and mouse pee-soaked insulation.  He also found a skeleton way under the stairs about a foot long (another squirrel??)…  Nope, no treasure.

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Duck Update

I know it’s been awhile and probably the first question on your mind is, “how are the ducks?”.  No?  Well, I am going to tell you anyway!

The ducks are huge.  They are about nine weeks old and according to Jack ready to start laying eggs any day now.  We still aren’t quite sure, but think we have two drakes and two females.  Apparently if you do not want to tip them over and look for signs to identify the boys (sorry nope no takers on that particular project) you can catch them and try to identify their gender by the sound of their quack.  I caught Jack in the duck house chasing them around and scooping them up in his arms to listen.  Apparently the females have a louder harsher quack that the males.  Shocking.

As far as pets go, they are pretty easy.  They love their new pen and their kiddie pool.  When it rains they will waddle down to the stream in the back and swim around and eat mud.  They never go far and stay within range of their pen.  They do enjoy sitting under the gutter downspout in the pouring rain.  Tristan was trying to water the new grass seed but couldn’t keep the ducks away from the water spray from the hose.  We let them out of the pen whenever we are home and they are happy to eat grass and bugs, swim and nap.  They do everything together in a group.  We basically herd them into the pen when it’s getting dark.

When your children start begging you to get some ducks we really think you should listen.  I highly recommend all my friends get one (well, three or four).  Honestly they aren’t as bad as we thought.  We bought an automatic-fill water dish that keeps fresh water in their pen.  When Jack gets up in the morning (he is an early riser – maybe he should be a duck farmer) he checks their food, freshens up their water and adds fresh bedding.  He lets them out to graze and puts them in at night.  He is doing a great job!

Here are some pictures to catch you up:

Snowball (formerly Sunny), Ducky and Nibbles enjoy the pool

Finished duck house and pen

>The Tulip Tree…

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The tulip tree getting ready to burst into bloom.  It certainly survived the winter.