Welcome To The Zoo – Page 4

Pisces

If you’ve been reading me for any length of time, you know how I love the water. Must be the Pisces in me. And perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to fish. Happily, my son shares this interest, and together we really enjoy our “hobby”. Currently he has two tanks in his bedroom.. a semi aggressive tank with gouramis, rainbows, tetra, a clown loach, some silver dollars. He’s also got the goldfish tank that started with the Fair Fish someone had discarded in it’s leaking plastic bag in the parking lot years ago. He brought it home in a paper cup and the big goldfish tank story began there.

I’ve had betta for years now in various places in the house.. but for a long time I have not had my own little space of aquatic beauty. We had a spare ten gallon that my son wasn’t using, and I finally decided to put it to good use in my office. I love the natural look and a healthy eco system.. and that’s what I’m trying to create with my new little tank. I cycled it for only two weeks before adding my fish… a specialist would tell you a new tank needs at least four weeks to cycle properly for the guaranteed health of new fish. I did have my tank water tested and it is a good way through the cycle process, but not 100 percent. I hope my impatience doesn’t kill my new fish.

“Cycling is the process of creating a biological bed consisting of
beneficial bacteria for a fish to live and prosper within. A fish would
normally live in millions of gallons of water. They are part of a great
cycle of biological changes that makes their environment viable to live
in. For fish to live in a man-made environment, a biological bed
must be made for them also. Fish produce waste which produces ammonia.
Ammonia breaks down into nitrites. Ammonia and nitrites are both harmful
to a fish. Without the beneficial bacteria of an established biological
bed to filter out the ammonia and nitrite, your fish are poisoned by
their own waste.“

Currently, I’ve got two platinum electric blue Jack Dempsey cichlids, an orange crayfish, a snail and two dwarf rainbow fish in there with plenty of live plants, some wood, artificial coral stone and a sandy bottom, which Dempseys like. That is plenty for a small tank. Any more fish and it would be over populated. Their water is heated to 78 degrees with a good filtration system and water flow. JD’s grow to a large size, and these will eventually need to be housed in a bigger tank. I LOVE their color! For now I will enjoy them here in the smaller office tank. Cichlids are shy fish by nature and need places to hide.. often doing so while you are nearby.

The Jack Dempsey gets it’s name from the 1930’s boxer –

an aggressive fish that has become more docile over the years and breeding programs.

Dwarf Rainbow..

orange crayfish

..and that’s your aquatics lesson for today 🙂

Come to my window….

Over the kitchen sink…

and this is what you’ll see…

Bluebirds.. who don’t normally frequent a bird feeder,

preferring insects and berries. The prolonged cold weather

has driven them to the feeders.

They are my favorite bird

Nuthatch

A woodpecker, not sure of the variety..

And atleast five or six of these.

*sigh*

All creatures great and small.. .I do love them all..

except when they wreck the feeder and scare the birds away.

Not cool. I’m thinking of vaseline-ing the feeder post, think it will work?

Brrrr…

Well, so much for all that bragging about awesome fall weather. The cold has descended… and it’s a chilly morn here at This Old House. Not that I’m complaining!.. Every day is a gift, right? When the New England chill sets in, there are a few things we layer up around here…

Pardon the crappy iphone pics.. it is what it is.

The minis grow a very thick coat –

The horses do not,

so they are blanketed.

I add extra bedding to the stalls –

The chickens get a red flood light to throw some heat –

(my chicken coop looks like a house of ill repute at night)

ROX anne…. you don’t have to put on the red light…..

those days are over… you don’t have to sell your body to the night..

ROX anne…

Sorry, couldn’t help myself…

… off topic but who knows the artist who made that song famous.

No googling.

You’re singing it now, aren’t ya.

And I throw some hay around the chicken yard so they can forage a little and burrow in it..

The basket of barn gloves and hats is now perched on the mud room bench for the season..

Don’t ever make the mistake of wearing barn gloves to the grocery store, however.

The scent is distinct 🙂

..and firewood rests on the porch, easy access on those cold nights.

Although I may gripe now and again about the cold grey New England winters…

I wouldn’t trade the season changes.

An opportunity for a week or two

in a warm sunny tropical place wouldn’t be scoffed at and turned away, however.

Just sayin.

Alfred Hitchcock would approve

Today is football Sunday here at This Old House….

where the men are men and the women are useless.

Unless they’re serving up a plate of cranberry meatballs

or crackers and cheese with pepperoni, please.

Now I like football, I watch it when my team is playing

(Go Patriots!!)

but hour after hour gets a bit redundant and what’s left of my hearing

is in jeapardy with all the hooting and hollering that goes on in that cave.

So a walk with the dog(s) it shall be…

and a little admiration of the one thousand common grackles that have decended

at the feeder outside my kitchen window.

I’m guessing this kind of encounter inspired good ole Alfred Hitchcock for

his movie, THE BIRDS.

Did you see Anthony Hopkins in the movie..Hitchcock?

He’s one of my favorites, but in this movie he was particularly wonderful.

Amazing, no?

I personally believe the common grackle is one of the most beautious birds around.

If I could convince one to stay as a pet, I’d be tickled all the irridescent

colors these birds show off – they literally glimmer –

why they got such a common name is beyond me.

Seriously looking dude..

Here’s looking at you, kid

We had a visitor in the perennial garden this afternoon…

The praying mantis is the only insect that can swivel its head 180 degrees.
If you come across one, you might notice it turns it head to look directly at you.

Did you know that the female praying mantis sometimes rips her mates head off during or right

after mating? Apparently the males are full of protein and it’s a good way to

get a jump start on nutrition needed to lay all those eggs.

I’m thinking prenatal vitamins would be easier…

who’s gonna help pay all those child rearing bills??

My husband, by the way… has been telling me for many years that
I look like a praying mantis. I kid you not.
Perhaps thou shalt not close both eyes in thy sleep
should my mantis self decide to behave like one too….

Just sayin.

She’s the Boss

It’s all about the Eggs

Cleo and Marc are the proud parents of five eggs.

Now residing over our kitchen porch sliding doors,

lets hope they can contend with the traffic I so sternly warned them about.

Note the chicken feathers and horse tail hair they’ve used

in the construction of their nest. Our farm is a regular birdie home depot, apparently.

No wonder they’re so persistent about this location.

In other egg news…

I collected eggs a few mornings ago

and discovered this tiny mini egg amongst the others.

We all wondered if it would be intact.. tiny yolk and all…

Oops.. a shell, hate when that happens.

But as you can see, there is indeed a tiny yolk. About the size of a pencil eraser.

This morning’s breakfast… I bought commercial eggs to demonstrate.

and here’s an example of a commercial egg versus one of mine.

Top – home grown

bottom – commercial egg.

See the difference in the color of the yoke?

There are several reasons.

1. my egg is much fresher.. you could be eating a month old egg

bought from the store. The yoke starts to lose it’s nutritional value..

and rich color, after two weeks time.

2. What the chickens are being fed.

Mine eat a healthy chicken layer mash,

along with their free range bugs and grass…

and whatever good stuff we have left over, like tomatoes, grapes, raisins,

oatmeal, watermelon, yogurt, shredded cheese.

A happy heathy chicken makes a happy healthy egg.

If you are in an area where you can by local eggs, give them a whirl,

you won’t be disappointed.

I feed the chickens before I walk up to the barn in the morning.

If there are eggs to collect, I gather them and set them on the wall

until I walk back down to the house.

It’s a good thing horses don’t like eggs.

It’s a new day all – make it a good one 🙂

They’re back!

Last year we had barn swallows make a nest on our kitchen side porch.

It was great to see their progress,

but oooh the mess on the porch.

you’re welcome.

This year they returned and we tried to discourage them.

I knocked their beginnings of a nest down with a hose.

Several times.

After a week of this nonsense, it looked like we had gotten the message across.

No new nest material.

Until the husband spied some fluttering in the other corner of the porch.

This little beauty of a nest went up in just two days while we weren’t looking.

Notice the horse tail hair used in the nest.

No eggs yet, but I just can’t bring myself to knock this work down.. again.

Old nest site on the right…

New nest on the upper left corner behind the geranium.

Even though we have a barn up on the hill they could nest in,

for some reason they love this high traffic area best..

I think because it’s sheltered from the wind and rain

and they can swoop out over the fields easily

in search of bugs.

Their view this morning.

So… I introduce to you

Marc Anthony and Cleopatra.

(from here on, referred to as Marc and Cleo)

Hey, with determination and tenacity such as this,

they’re worthy of such names, don’t ya think?

Floating teeth

Only my horse owning blog readers will understand that post title… for the rest of you who might be interested, explanation below:

Horses, unlike some other species who can digest their food even if swallowed whole, must chew their food well in order to digest it. If a horse’s teeth don’t have a flat surface they can’t chew their food properly and digestion is seriously affected. Weight loss, discomfort and poor nutrition can result.

The rub lies in the fact that a horses upper jaw is wider than its lower jaw, which results in a wear pattern that causes the edges of the teeth on the upper jaw to be longer on the outside of the mouth where they overhang the lower jaw. The opposite is true on the lower jaw. In addition to this, a horse’s teeth continuously grow throughout their adult life. Sometimes, razor sharp edges develop that can cut the inside of the horses mouth.

“Floating” a horse’s teeth is a necessary part of domestic horse care to insure proper nutrition and comfort, especially when you’re placing a bit in their mouth to ride. My horse, Opie, lets me know when he is in need of floating. He begins to toss his head when I’m riding him due to the discomfort in his mouth. Typically, at each annual exam, my horses are given their spring shots and their mouths are examined to determine if they need to be done. “floating” is actually refers to a method of filing the teeth down to a flat surface.

Today was that day! I have used Salem Valley Veterinary Clinic of Salem, CT for over 25 years to care for our equine veterinary needs. Dr. Robert Baratt is an expert in the field of equine and small animal dentistry and we’re lucky to have him in this neck of the woods –

Dr. Baratt and assistant Jessica sedate mini Coady,

nestled in their traveling dental “shoot”.

This equipment is towed behind their truck and they bring it along

whenever they know they will be floating teeth.