The Cock Doth Crow

This morning I woke up hearing a very strange sound. At first, it sounded like a macaw,... but I don't have any macaws right now! I heard it again. It sounded like one of my chickens, but something was terribly wrong with it! I ran to the kitchen and looked into the dog kennel. Both of the chickens were standing there looking at me. Then Daisy (the millie) looked at me, held her head in the air,... and crowed? It still sounded like a macaw- sort of a hoarse squawk. But it looked like crowing. So I guess she's a he? I'm so sad! I can't keep a rooster! Not here in town! And certainly NOT in my kitchen!!!! I haven't heard another peep out of either of them since this morning. The millies are known for being quiet... does that apply to the roosters? If she... er... he crows 3 times every day at mid-morning... I could totally live with that. But I doubt very seriously this boy could really stay that quiet. I'll wait a few days and see what happens. Maybe I can work a trade with a local breeder or something? Or maybe I'll take them back to the pet shop and wait till spring like I originally intended.

First Snow! WOW! Winter Wonderland!!!

Our first snow!! We had 3 maybe 4 inches! Dori was so cute in her red sweater that she loves to wear so much! We need to get her some littel boots to wear out in the snow. We let her stay out for a little while, but I just had to make her come in before her paws got too cold. The second picture is (left to right) Nef, me in back; Dori, the one with paws; Bianka, Nef's friend next door; and Skylar, a long-time friend of Bianka's and a new friend/ interest of Nef! EEEK! We all had a blast playing in the snow. I got a couple of video clips you'll see in a composition a bit later.

This morning when we got up everything was a winter wonderland. The sun was shining, the sky was that deep winter blue, and everything glittered and sparked in wintery- crowned glory! It has been a BEAUTIFUL day! :) --And more snow on the way tomorrow!!! YAY!!

MALLEE!!!!

Remember a while back I mentioned the local pet shop where I saw a pair of Mallee Ringnecks? They were listed "not for sale" and had a cockatiel-size nest box sitting on the floor of their dark enclosure. I knew they would never breed for their owner in those conditions. I had asked the pet department manager (who personally owned them) if he ever decided to sell them, I would be interested in buying them. Well, not long ago he called me and asked me if I still wanted them. I of course said "you bet!" He said he was moving, and couldn't take the birds with him. He gave me an unbelievable deal on them! I brought them home and have them in a large parrot cage in the office until spring. We'll be building the indoor/ outdoor flights, and these active little emeralds are gonna LOVE it!! :) The male (the one that's a tad bigger and brighter) we named Sprite, and the female is Fern.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving and a huge meal with all the trimmings. Hickory smoked turkey! If you've never had smoked turkey, oh you simply MUST give it a try! We are absolutely spoiled for smoked turkey. I think this is the 7th or 8th year we have had it. Next year though, we will have our own smoker and we can smoke our very own! I wonder.... can we keep a turkey in town? Hmmm.... maybe I should stick to buying one from one of our local farms.
I'm so proud! I made the most perfect pumpkin pie ever! The recipe I use is from The Spice Hunter, their Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend. Just a sniff from the jar is enough to send you to memory lane and thoughts of the holiday season. The pie was so pretty I had Don take a picture for me while it was cooling on the counter. Unfortunately, we were having such a good time that that was the ONLY picture we took all day! So I have no more pictures for the blog. Sorry :( I'll try to do better through the rest of the holiday season. :)
That's my mom's home canned pears and bread and butter pickles there on the counter with the pie. :) Better than anything you could ever hope to buy from a store!!! :P

Our first chickens!

Meet Daisy and Zeeba, our first chickens. We don't know much about them, unfortunately. We found them at a local pet shop and the owner wasn't very helpful. What we were told is that a lady brought them in, they should begin laying in a couple of months, and they are bantams, (duh) the blond one is a "Millie" and the zebra one is a "cochin". Hmmm... So I hit the internet and did a bit of research. It looks to me like Daisy, the blond feathered girl is indeed a "Millie", short for "Millie Fleur", French for "thousand flower." But this is actually the name of her color pattern. The name of her variety is called the Belgian d'Uccle. Her color and markings are just amazing. I've never seen anything like it! Don's eye was captured by our other newcomer, Zeeba. This little hen is apparently a Silver Sebright. Both of these little girls are super sweet and very quiet. A good thing since they are spending their nights in our kitchen in a large dog kennel! We had planned to get chickens in the spring, after we built a small coop in the corner of the back yard, but when we saw these,... surprisingly, even Don didn't want to let them get away! We built a run for them to spend the day until they get used to the backyard. I want to give them free range of the whole yard, but I don't know if that's going to be possible with our neighbors' 3 mean dogs. They said they will put up a privacy fence this spring. I hope they do! Another possibility is clipping their wings. (the chickens, not the neighbors) I may just do that anyway to be sure they stay safe and in our yard.

Cattails!

If you have never popped a cattail, releasing the millions of seeds into an autumn breeze, then you have missed one of the finer points of life! But who knew cattails were so versatile? I've read that cattails are highly nutritious and are a wonderful survival food. They are an excellent source of starch, containing ten times the amount of an equal number of potatoes. Virtually every part of cattails is edible, and they have a wide variety of uses. In spring, the new shoots can be eaten raw or cooked. The young flower heads can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob. The pollen can be collected in the summer and mixed with flour to provide nutrients and protein. The winter rootstock can be boiled and mashed much like potatoes, or can be dried and ground into flour. I've never tried any of these folk remedies, but according to tradition, the fresh root of cattails can be pounded and used as a poultice for infections, blisters and stings. The sap from the green leaves can be used as a topical antiseptic, coagulant and mild pain reliever. The boiled leaves can be used as a wash for irritated skin. The root flour or young flowers can be eaten to relieve diarrhea. The fuzz from mature female flower heads can be used to relieve scalds, burns, diaper rash and weeping sores. The pollen is homeostatic and astringent. Take It internally for internal bleeding, menstrual pain, chest pains and blood stagnation. So the next time you're picking cattails, you might try taking a nibble!

Merry Maybon!

Maybon, or Second Harvest, is an ancient holiday feast from Northern Europe held on the Autumn Equinox. Since we just moved, and aren't even finished unpacking, we don't really have much to harvest. :( But that didn't stop us today!!! :)
Don suggested we go to Steptoe Butte. We had a super fantastic day! And what a harvest! :)
First we came across the wild apple trees growing in the ditch along the east side of the road along the edge of the wheat fields. They were LOADED with small, plum-size apples! We all picked handfuls and loaded Grif's backpack. I'll use them to make apple jelly! Then on the opposite side of the road we picked some cattails and wild oats to make a fall wreath for the door. Nef decided to pick some fresh mullein leaves to dry for the medicine cabinet. On our way up the butte, we stopped to have a look at the rose hips. The bushes are absolutely covered! They are still orange and hard, not quite ripe yet. They won't be ready until after we have a good hard freeze. That's when they get really sweet! YUM! And we'll make tons of rose-hip jam! -A great source of vitamin C during the winter!
We saw more apple trees, more mullein, lots of butter-n-eggs, and Grif (always prepared ;)) used his handy pocket snips to cut some teasel heads for more decorations... probably that wreath! But the best part of the whole day was V THIS GUY V we saw on the way home!

Cloncurry vs Mallee

I was reading up on the Mallee or Barnards parakeet, the latest addition to my favorite birds list. I had seen pictures of this bird before, but not a single one has ever come close to showing what this bird looks like! Our local pet shop has a pair, and that's where I first saw them. WOW! such brilliant green! I knew I had seen pictures, so I went home to look it up. I indeed found the picture, but it was dull and subdued compared to the brilliance of the real thing. In my book, it gives the name Cloncurry as another name for the Mallee. But this is incorrect according to this article I found while looking for a better picture. I did find a pic that was pretty good, You'll see it below. I think this is a bird I'll be looking for to breed here at Qwatra! :)

http://www.birdkeepinginaustralia.com/articles/article22.html

"The Mallee ringneck parrot is also known as the Mallee parrot, Ringneck parrot, Barnard's parrakeet or buln buln. It is often confused with its close relative, the Cloncurry parrot. Both the Mallee ringneck and the Cloncurry are the same size but their body colourings are different and more distinct than the Twenty-eight and Port Lincoln.

They are approximately 34cm in length including 17.5cm of tail.

The male Mallee ringneck has an overall blue-green body plumage, a red frontal band above the beak and blue cheeks. They have a V-shaped brown-blue band extending from the eyes, back around the head, to meet a narrow yellow collar at the nape. There is an irregular band of orange-yellow across the belly, with the back and mantle a deep blue-black. The shoulders are yellow; the outer webs of the flight feathers blue, the underwing coverts also blue. The central tail feathers are blue with a faint edging of white. The eye is dark brown; bill is pale grey; feet and legs are grey.

The female is very similar to the male, but the back and mantle are a dark grey-green. The hen is slightly smaller, especially in its head size. Immature birds are duller than the female. The normal call sounds something like 'Kwink-Kwink-Kwink' and, when disturbed, the alarm call is a harsh metallic shriek."

......*snip*......

"The Cloncurry is of similar size and stature as the Mallee with the sexes alike. The Cloncurry has a general plumage of pale green; no red frontal band; a wide pale yellow band across the belly; the wing coverts are green; and the tail feathers get darker as they go down the tail, almost to a blue. The feet and legs are grey-brown. The female is paler than the male and slightly smaller. Immatures are duller than the adult birds and may posses a russet frontal band which disappears after a few months.

They have a call, courtship and mating habits very similar to a Mallee. They seem to be a quieter bird and more docile among my collection of ringnecks. The male Cloncurry is the clown of my collection, as he usually hangs upside down on the aviary roof and moves from one side to the other. He is usually seen to roost this way too."

Bayberries!!

This bayberry candle comes from a friend
so on Christmas eve burn it down to the end.
For a bayberry candle burned to the socket,
will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite books was The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane. Ever since, I've always loved the thought of making my own bayberry candles. Now that I'm home and am putting down some roots, I can finally make that little dream come true! On our south fence I'm going to put a row of bayberry bushes. They'll make a beautiful hedge, and with any luck, I'll have a ton of bayberries to make a few candles! To make the candles is pretty easy. Just boil the berries and the waxy coating floats to the top. Pick up the wax when it cools, remelt it with 20% beeswax (Bayberry wax alone is too brittle and will crack), then pour into candle molds or dip tapers. Voila'!
Northern Bayberry is native to the East Coast, but it is hardy and adaptable to a wide range of conditions, so I should be able to grow it here without much effort. There is a high demand for real bayberry candles, and they are quite expensive, so maybe I can even make a few dollars!
Here's the bayberry in Summer dress and decked in Winter silver! Such a beautiful bush! I can't wait!

Lunar Eclipse!

How cool! We had a total lunar eclipse last night. Don took this wonderful picture in our front yard at 3:12am. The moon and its habits are so fascinating and beautiful! And I adore the magical glow it sheds on the garden at night. Oh! I need to make a moon garden. (click here too) This is a very special spot in the garden especially for nighttime flowers and creatures. It is a quiet place to sit on summer evenings, with fragrent flowers like moon flowers and jasmine. Nighttime visitors include frogs, crickets, bats, moths....and the neighbor's cat...
Here's a couple more links with some cool facts and folklore about the moon and its phases: Click here or click here
Oh here's a neat gadget for the moon garden: Solar Flowers

HOME AT LAST!!! Much to Do!

We've been home now for a week and a half. Oh it feels so good! Yesterday we went to Riverside State Park and saw an osprey and a bald eagle! What a nice welcome home! These are two pictures Don took on that hike. The day before we went up to Mount Spokane to look for huckleberries, but the bushes were very small and bare. Not enough rain this year. (sorry, I couldn't find a good link on the huckleberry. Ours is the Vaccinium Membranacem. I'll have to take some pictures and post some info on these)
The yard was a bit of a mess to our dismay. Our property management people left the automatic sprinkler system on for us, but no one mowed the yard for the month our house was vacant. The grass grew up over the sprinkler heads, so they were blocked. So we had this dead brown yard with brilliant green spots all over it!!!! I should of taken a picture! 'Didn't think about that till just now. Sorry. Anyway, now its mowed and starting to recover. We used the thick clippings from the green spots to start a compost pile. Grif made a quick frame with a 10 by 3 foot piece of hardware cloth from the hardware store on the corner.
We also had to trim up our box elder tree. We want to remove this tree because it's a fast-growing, and very brittle tree. NOT a good tree in a climate where the limbs break under heavy snow and ice in winter (as in the ice storm of 1992!). It's gonna take a lot of work to get this tree in decent shape before winter sets in.
When I left before, I had a nice hedge of black currents along the southern fence. All but 3 frail bushes are dead and gone. So I think I'll put in a row of bayberry. They may be a bit hard to find, but it will be worth the effort! On the other side of the yard I want to put in a row of high bush blueberries and maybe bilberries underneath.
I need to build a home for our allowed 3 chickens. Our yard is covered in maple bugs! But a week of chicken-grazing should take care of that! We have also found several hobo spiders around the yard and have killed 4 in the basement. Yikes! But again, I think our chickens will gobble them up.
Much to do! Much to do! :) I better get to work!

MAIN MOVING DAY!!!

So now we are up to our ears in movers! Not much time to say anything. Oh how glad I will be when this is done!!! We are about half finished I would say, and we only had ONE packer yesterday! But for the first time, WE could pack too! And wow what a difference that makes! It was tiring, but we get a LOT of packing done! They are supposed to send 3 guys today to help us, so we should get most of the rest done today. YAY! Well,... off to the boxes!

Baggage Away!

Well the move has officially started! Our unaccompanied baggage was picked up today, and that went very well! Don and one of the packers talked non-stop the whole time about military history and crash sites on the island. As it turns out, this guy knows the guy that owns the land where this crash site is that Don has been hoping to get access to. (Did that make sense?) Packer-guy is going to set it up for Don and call this weekend and probably hike with him to the site. Don was stoked!
So only 3 weeks until the main pack starts. I have much I want to get done, so I'll be quite the busy bee! I have sewing projects I need to finish, I have more computer files I need to sort and get backed up, I need to get the yard sale together for not this weekend, but next (the 7th), and we still need to get the bushes in the backyard whacked back down to a reasonable size. I swear, whoever thought it was a good idea to plant bougainvilleas as a hedge obviously never had to maintain them!!!! They can be beautiful, but What a pain!! LITERALLY! The thorns are horrible! But at least this is the last time I have to deal with them! YAY!!

Less then 60 Days!!!!

The countdown has passed the 60 day mark!!! Woo Hoo!!! Less than 60 days to go!!! YAY!!!
It's time to start getting ready for our garage/ houseplant sale. And it's time to start packing our fragile things that I don't trust the movers to pack, -like Don's airplane models, and my glass hummingbirds, our wedding cake top, ...oh, yes, I have to get that big amethyst geode packed in its crate.
OH! the packing/ moving dates are finalized, by the way.
The movers will pack/ pick up our unaccompanied baggage on 26 June.
Our household goods are to be packed 16, 17, and 18 July and picked up on the 19th.

Dragon Fruit

This is one of the neatest, coolest fruits ever! :)
I first experienced a dragon fruit when my hubby brought one home from our local grocery about a year ago. I had never seen one before, and I had no idea what to do with it. So it sat in my refrigerator for, gosh, it must have been 3 months! Finally, when I was cleaning out the fridge, I decided to cut this strange fruit open and see what it was like. What a surprise!! The inside was translucent white, scattered with tiny black seeds. I smelled it, poked at it, and finally decided it had not gone bad. So I tasted it. Again a surprise! It tasted like,... well... dragon fruit! -Very delicate, light, and tropical. We bought several more, but again, they sat around. We just didn't know what to do with them. It's funny how we humans can be such creatures of habit! But, even though we haven't adopted these fruits into our diets yet, they have been in the back of my mind. So I finally decided to bring them to the front of my mind and do a bit of research on them. I found quite a few recipes; blended in smoothies and sorbet, balled in fruit salad, or just sliced and served! The first thing I learned to my complete and total shock was that my mother had a rather large dragon fruit plant as a houseplant when I was a kid! I just never knew what it was! It never made any fruit, as dragon fruit needs 2 or more plants in order to set fruit. But I do remember the stunning flowers! I also remember how easy it was to grow. I've read, too, how this plant is easily grown from cuttings or from seed simply collected from the pulp of the ripe fruit. So add dragon fruit to the list of plants we will be growing in our greenhouse!
Just look at all the varieties at this link!
Pine Island Nursery
Guess what! dragon fruit grows wild here in Hawaii! I've seen them on several hikes in misty areas of the island, though I've not seen any with fruit. If I had known what they were, I'd have brought home a few cuttings! Here's an article in our local paper about growing dragon fruit here in Hawaii:
Honolulu Advertiser, Island Life

Yikes! New Vaccine --Problems!

http://www.newswithviews.com/Tenpenny/sherri14.htm

"Problems with the cervical cancer vaccine starting to emerge.

"Five schoolgirls at Sacred Heart Girls' College in suburban Melbourne, Australia, were confirmed to have taken ill after receiving an injection of Gardasil, the newest vaccine to be mandated for young girls. Soon after the vaccination, twenty-six girls were seen at the campus medical clinic; five were admitted to the hospital after being injected. Two of the girls kept in overnight in observation for dizziness; one had temporary paralysis and loss of speech.[1]
*snip*

"Histidine, an amino acid, readily converts into another amino acid, histamine, when it enters the body. When released, histamine causes redness, swelling, itching and allergic reactions leading to widening of capillaries, decreased blood pressure… people can faint. The vaccine also contains Polysorbate 80, an agent used in creams, ointments, lotions, and multiple medical preparations including vitamin oils, and anticancer agents. Polysorbate 80 is a can cause potentially fatal reactions in including anaphylaxis, characterized by a sharp drop in blood pressure, hives, and breathing difficulties… people can faint."

There are better ways to prevent cancer than poisoning your body!

• eat a healthy diet of fresh RAW fruit, nuts, seeds, and vegetables
• exercise EVERY day for at least half an hour-- more is better
• do not smoke
• do not drink alcohol in excess (more than 6-8 oz per day- depending on body weight)
• get 10 to 30 minutes of sunshine on as much bare skin as possible EVERY day (unless it's raining!) double that in winter- triple for winter in northern climates
  
• drink filtered tap water or bottled water
• And this one may surprise you-- practice a religion or spirituality- The act of seeking God/Higher Power is VERY health-promoting!*

* Caution- Negative religious ideas such as unworthiness, self-sacrifice, fear, and death are detrimental to health. Avoid these pitfalls at all costs! Keep it positive! Ideas such as oneness, unity, love, abundance, sharing, life, and resurrection; these concepts are life-enriching and health-promoting.

Red Capped Parakeets

For certain, I want to have a couple of pairs of red-capped, or pileated, parakeets in our Avian Garden. I have kept this species before, and I adore them! I have been turning over every stone on the internet and I can find very little information on this, one of my most favorite of all aviary birds! I did manage to find ONE breeder. I sent an e-mail and hope to hear back soon. I also found ONE good article about them, here.
I can't believe there is not more about them on the internet! These birds are so pretty with their purple chest, dark red head and vent, greenish yellow cheeks,.... I just love their colors! :) Their song is quite pleasant and quiet. Even rosellas are noisier. And they are quite tame and curious! They have a bad reputation according to the article I mentioned, saying they tend to be "flighty and timid". Indeed, those must have been wild-caught birds, because the two breeding pairs I had several years ago were friendly even when they were on eggs! I hope I can find a pair! If there is anybody out there who knows of any breeders of red capped parakeets, please let me know!!!! Just post a reply here or send me an e-mail!

Sunny Sunflowers!

One for me, two for the birds! *giggle*
...and healthy for us both!

Every garden needs a few sunflowers! They attract birds, squirrels, bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects, they add huge splashes of warm color, and they are packed with nutrition!
It would take a bit to list all the species of garden birds that love to eat sunflower seeds. If you leave a few heads standing overwinter, you are sure to have lots of feathered company on those chilly days! Some of my favorite sunflower-eating birds are cardinals, chickadees, orioles, and blue jays (east) and mountain jays (west). Oh and don't forget the furry company of fluffy-tailed squirrels and chipmunks!
Isn't he cute! ->

Which variety to plant? There are so many to pick from! They come in every shade of white, yellow, orange and red. With flowers as big as a turkey platter or as small as a button. Some grow on huge stalks that would make Jack's bean stalk jealous, while others spread out and grow on short branching bushy-like plants.
Hear are just a couple varieties. From left to right, moonshadow, the joker, and velvet queen.
Sunflowers are nutritional powerhouses! Just a quarter-cup of seeds has over 90% of the US RDA of vitamin E!! Have a look at this link and read all the benefits of adding raw sunflower seeds to your diet! No wonder the birds eat them! (Check out this link)
Here's a question I haven't been able to answer. In my bird raising studies, I have always heard that black- oil sunflower seeds are better for birds because of higher protein content than other varieties. I cannot find any information on differences between seeds when I look up nutrition facts for humans. But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that eating black-oil sunflower may be a tad healthier than eating regular sunflower seeds. The birds seem to think so. I think I will listen to them!
(See that image of the white sunflower above? Notice the whorl the seeds make? Isn't that a nice fractal?)

Want even more nutrition out of your sunflower seeds? Sprout them! This is a quote from here:

"One can think of the sprouts as pre-digested seeds. Unsprouted sunflower seeds are high in fat and protein. However, sprouting activates the seed, with many changes as it sprouts: dramatic increase in enzyme levels, seed fats are converted to essential fatty acids and carbohydrates, proteins are converted to essential amino acids and/or sugars, and vitamin levels (on a dry basis) increase substantially. Due to their activate enzymes, sprouts are much easier to digest than dry seeds. Further, as the seed sprouts its flavor is enhanced - sunflower sprouts have an earthy flavor and are very popular.

"While the sprouts are pre-digested seeds, the greens [sprouts that are allowed to grow a few days] are a tender baby vegetable, high in chlorophyll, and a substitute for lettuce. Sunflower greens have a slightly salty taste that some compare to watercress. They are rich in chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins, proteins, and the most important "nutrient", the life force. Some writers report the greens are a rich source of lecithin and Vitamin D. Additionally, unlike most expensive freeze-dried supplements such as spirulina and algae, sunflower greens that you grow are alive up to the time you eat them."