Ducks

Last spring I bought 2 ducklings.  I wanted a male and a female, so I googled to find out all I could about how to sex a duckling.  What I read was that the female would be noisy; always quacking.  The male would be quiet, but moving around a lot.  So off to the Tractor Supply Store.  All they had were Peking and that was fine.  So as I observed them, I did notice the 2 very different types of behaviors.  I got one completely yellow one that was making a lot of noise; therefore a presumed female and one black and yellow one that was quietly running all over the place; my presumed male.  Without a lot of thought, I named them Daisy and Donald. 

About four months or so later my designation of each one's gender was confirmed by their behavior in their little pool.

This year Daisy is sitting on 5 eggs.  I had read that Peking ducks don't go broody, so I marked the first 4 eggs in her nest and began collecting the new one each day to dye for Easter.  I also gave 11 eggs to the Pre-K teacher to see if they would hatch.  Daisy laid one final egg and has decided to hatch them.  I don't believe the 4 I marked will hatch because we had several days below freezing and she was not on them.  But for the past 15 days, she rarely moves from her nest.  Let's hope that at least that one egg hatches after all her dedication.   

You can see the x I marked on the eggs.  I do feel guilty about that now.

Daisy looks so sweet taking care of her eggs.

And what is Donald doing while his mate is no longer running around quaking at him all day?  

Mostly he quietly stands guard very close to Daisy.

When I open the door he runs up and attacks me.  It is very painful to be bitten on the ankle by a duck.

You Knew I Was a Snake

I know most people have heard the story of the monk who met a snake going up a mountain that was freezing to death.  The shivering snaked begged the monk to carry it up the mountain so it could warm itself in the monastery. The monk argued that it could be deadly to be bitten by a poisonous snake.  But the pleading snake promised not to bite him, if he would just be so kind as to save his life. Of course as soon as they were at the monastery and getting all warm; the snake promptly bit the monk.  To the shocked monk, the snake replied, "But you knew I was a snake when you picked me up."

Well as a School Board, we choose to "work" with a charter school and its board of directors, who are members of our community.  But like most people who are trying to make a profit off of public education; ethics and perhaps laws are rarely a top concern. As I read the following article in yesterday's local paper I could not help but think about the monk and the snake story.  We know Charter Schools are the poisonous snakes in "public" education.

Governor Jindal: Killing public education one school at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coates Bluff Wright Island files suit against city, charter school

Shreverport Times picture.

 http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130326058&nclick_check=1
. . .  Coates Bluff Wright Island — developed by U.L. Coleman — filed suit against Shreveport Charter Foundation and the city of Shreveport, saying the city illegally allowed the foundation to construct Magnolia on River Parkway Boulevard right of way.  . . .

This final statement speaks of the confidence the Charter's Board of Directors have that they are above the law. “We have every intention to open Magnolia at the beginning of August just as was the plan,” Rozeman said. “This suit doesn’t change that for us.”   

I hope that my shaky faith will be restored in Louisiana's judicial system.  But politics, not honesty, often prevails here.  And for the record, I did not vote to play with these snakes.

Easter Cold Snap

Yes, it's wisdom handed down from our grandparents, don't plant the vegetable garden until Good Friday and look out for the Easter Snap.  I just googled "How often is there an Easter snap" and found no meteorological data. Anyway for the past 2 weeks the weather has been very spring like.  We planted the tomatoes, squash, tender herbs and peppers. 

The peach tree is blooming.

The dogwood tree is in full bloom.

 

The azaleas are in full bloom.

 Then the forecast for 6 a.m. Monday was a low of 31, Tuesday, 28 and Wednesday, 31 degrees.  So the entire area was under a freeze warning.  Of course down here we can't really complain, many places just a little north got a blanket of snow.

I have always planted after Easter, but for the past 2 years the temperature hits the 90's and even 100 degrees before the tomatoes have time to develop.  So I decided not to wait.  I want a good crop of tomatoes this year. With that decision comes the extra work of covering all the vegetables when the Easter Snap attacks.

Yes they are warm under here!

Tomorrow and this weekend it will be back to the 70's, that's degrees not ugly clothes. 

Gardening is a Family Affair

My parents raised 6 children in the country.  We raised just about everything we ate.  My parents planted the garden, but the children picked the beans and such.  I have had a vegetable garden now for about 15 years with varying degrees of success and I've managed to involve the grandchildren. In an effort to cut down on weeding, last year my husband built raised beds. A co-worker of Don's raised a fantastic garden last year and he used cotton seed compost from the Gilliam Cotton Gin. So a couple of months ago we went there and for $25 got a truck load.  

At the end of February we planted potatoes, onions and spinach.  Last weekend we planted 12 tomato plants.  Almost all were a different type.  I'll list them later as they begin to produce.  Usually Celebrity produces best here, but they don't taste the best. Planted 4 bell pepper plants, but a chicken ate one of them, 3 eggplants, and sowed some Royal Burgundy Bush Beans.  We also planted 2 crooked neck squash plants and sowed a few butternut squash seeds.

A couple of chickens helped mix up the soil.

Connor and Kennedy have always worked well with us.

Working in the garden has never been Chase's thing.

Egg-gate or My Rooster Shoots Blanks

In February I took 10 eggs to a Pre-K class to incubate.  24 days later I got a sad call that none of them hatched.  So I took 10 more eggs to them.  Well this past Tuesday I received the following text message.
"Try to find a fertile rooster.  Your rooster is definitely shooting blanks.  I'm going to the farm store to get some chicks to place in the incubator.  Time for a big cover up.  No roosters.  I got 6 chicks.  Leaving 4 unhatched.  Not sure if this lesson is process or product. One thing's for sure...things aren't always what they seem?"

The next day she sent this picture with the caption 






                                       "Mission Accomplished!"

She said I'm not doing what?

The students were very excited when they opened the incubator and found 6 little chicks.  Four eggs had not hatched.  When the students asked why they did not hatch, their teacher told them that the rooster had not done his job.

Well as Big Foot's human, I have seen him performing his only duty rather diligently, but I can't explain the failure of 20 eggs to hatch.  A couple of years ago his sister went broody and she hatched 5 of 9 eggs.  

 Anyway, Friday after school I received 6 very cute little chicks; 2 Plymouth Barred Rocks, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Buff Orpington.  I have to say that Mrs. Flint was extremely determined to give her students a great experience.