Chickens for Everyone

I do apologize for not blogging in the month of November. I've been very busy lately, and today is the first day in over a week that I can sit back, relax, and write without any cares in the world.

I know you've all been waiting to see the other doll clothes I made, and so you shall, just not today. Today I would rather write about a very unexpected friendship I made this fall. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of her yet, but I can describe her to you. Her name is Daisy. She's quite short with an average build, she has big, dark brown eyes, and she's covered in soft black feathers. Yes, Daisy is a chicken.

I'm not quite sure how we became such good friends. She's always been friendly, but I never treated her any better than the other chickens. In fact, Daisy and her sisters were always the ones I never really paid attention to. One day she asked to be picked up, so I did, and now every morning I must pick her up and pet her or she'll go about sulking all morning. She prefers to stay away from the other chickens when I let them out of their pen, and if she sees me she'll follow me till I acknowledge her. She's a very sweet chicken and she enjoys playing games. The next time I see her I'll see if she'll pose for some pictures. She does like lots of attention, so she'll probably consent.

I must go now, my dear friends. I'll be back in a while with pictures of Daisy and the dolls, but probably not together. Animals tend to knock over dolls without much effort.

The Loveliest Time of the Year

Hello, everyone. How's your day going? My day is going quite well. I have a wonderful idea for a story, and I plan on working on that today. I suppose you're wondering why I've written another blog post in one week. Crazy, I know. I've decided that today would be a good day to explain why I never blog.

 I like to think I spend my days frolicking with my pets, writing stories about wild, mysterious lands, and dressing my dolls in their wonderful handmade clothes. But the truth is, I'm just a boring, lazy teen who likes to procrastinate more than anything else in the world. At the moment my pets are sitting patiently as they watch me play around on my computer, lots of unfinished stories are waiting for their endings, and my dolls are lying around naked wondering what happened to that new shirt I've been working on for a month. It's tragic, I know, but that's why I'm here today. Perhaps if I keep up on my blog, I can slowly get better at not putting things off. I know you enjoy reading the things I write, and I enjoy writing them for people to read. I love people's responses to my posts, and I love putting a smile on someone's face. If I start blogging more, it will help me improve my writing skills, which I need, seeing as I'm in the middle of about ten different stories. I can show you all my doll clothes that I make, even if they're not the greatest, because you probably won't even see all the flaws. I can provide you with short stories to read (I have a few good ones that I've almost finished). I can even give you lots of pictures of my animals, including all my new chickens. I'm certainly not lacking ideas for new posts, I simply have to take the time to write them down and share them here. Once I get started on something, chances are I'll keep it going for a long time. Now that I've started blogging again, I think it's safe to promise many more posts in the future.

On a lighter note, it's currently my favorite season, and it feels like it. I love walking on the crunchy orange leaves and feeling the delightful crisp air on my face the moment I step outside. It's wonderful to be able to wear sweaters outside without being too hot or too cold. When I look outside it's obvious that it's fall, and that makes me smile. Fall makes me want to go outside and take pictures of my dolls, go for a bike ride with Rosey (fat old thing that she is), or just walk around and enjoy the beauty.

Well, I've been working on this post for about an hour, so I should probably end it now and work on something else. I'll be back soon!

Birthdays and Family

Good morning everyone! As you know, yesterday was my birthday. Yes, I am now 16 years old. Of course I would rather be 6 again. 6 was a wonderful year. But enough of that. I need to get on with the post that I promised a while ago.

Last May Matthew, Margaret, Walter, and Owen came from California to visit, and my other brother, Patrick, and his dog Lando came for a few days. On Saturday we had even more family members over and it was great fun. We had such a lovely time with everyone that, despite my darling mother's constant asking, I really didn't get many pictures. That's all right, though. There are certainly enough good ones to make a pleasantly long blog post.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures; I'll be back soon with lots more fun posts.

A Little Medley in Time for Spring

As I was sitting here browsing Facebook and sipping tea, there was only one thing on my mind: I should probably blog. For the past few days I've been thinking about how many interesting topics I have to write about, some happy, some sad. I suppose I ought to start with the sad part, since no one wants to end anything on a sad note, and the happier part is much longer than the sad part.

Well, you know how I live in a house surrounded by tall, beautiful trees? Heh. Not anymore. Our new neighbors clear-cut their property and now all that's left are stumps and slash piles. It makes me very sad to see the woods I used to walk past almost every day gone. To make matters worse, though, another neighbor is logging now too. Now, these woods were the ones I used to play in all the time. I went over there yesterday evening and looked at all the trees that had been cut down. I have many memories of those trees, and it pains me to think that I'll never be able to make more.

Now that the terribly sad, frustrating part of my life is out of the way, we can get on to the happier parts.

First, we have some wonderful newish chicks. We actually got them a few months ago, but they're still just as cute as they were when they fit into my hand. I have two very special ones in the group. At first I had planned on picking out one special chick to be my pet and naming her Barrow after one of my favorite "Downton Abbey" characters (yes, I still love that show), but then the smallest chick of the group, an Ameraucauna, was acting awfully sick. Daddy noticed her, and Mother and I held her and fed her and gave her water until we went to bed that night. In the morning we expected her to be dead, but she was fine! I was a bit funny, though, because I had named her Sybil after "Downton Abbey," and then she happened to be the chick who almost died. It was all rather appropriate for the poor thing. Anyway, Sybbie became very close to people because we held her so long and took care of her, so now she and Barrow are my two pet chickens and they always stick together like the best of chick friends. I'm afraid I don't have any recent pictures of the two at the moment, so here's a picture of when they were much smaller.

Sybil is now white with black instead of yellow and black, but Barrow has basically the same coloring (Barrow's a Buff Orpington). When they were little I had lots of fun setting them up with the dollhouse furniture. I do love to play with my little chicks.

You might remember that this time last year, my brother, his wonderful wife, and, of course, my nephew Walter came up here from California and we had a family reunion. Well, they're coming on Wednesday to stay for a few days. This time, though, I have two nephews to play with and take on walks down the (treeless) driveway. The last time they came, Margaret was pregnant with Owen, who's now eight months old. We saw him when we went to California in the fall, but of course he's completely different now. I'm sure you'll be waiting for me to blog all about their stay here and how much fun we all had, which I shall certainly do.

I'll be quite busy in the next few days, as one of my other brothers, Patrick, is coming home on Sunday, and Sunday happens to be Mother's Day. I must also do a great deal of cleaning this week. My room's just a bit of a mess at the moment.

I'll talk to you all in a few weeks!

Lovely Little Chicks

About a week ago, Mother and I went to the farm store to buy four black sex-links to add to our jolly bunch of chickens.  They're eleven-days-old already, and they have grown a good deal, but they are still so small and cute.  They live in my room where it's warm and there is Scarlet's light, and I have named all of them and can tell them apart without trouble now.  At first it was a bit difficult, but they each have markings by which I identify them.

This is what they looked like several days ago. 

The top left chick is Little Lady.  I named her that because she was the largest and the clumsiest.  She is the same size as the others and quite graceful now.

The chick below Lady is The Adventurer, because what is chick without a Rainbowlandian name?  Certainly not a Rainbowlandian chick!

The chick across from Lady is No Name.  She was the last to (not) be named, so I called her No Name and now that's her name.

The final chick, the one across from The Adventurer, is Vespera.  She is a very special chick: very special indeed.

A Little Medley

Yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, was a very special day at our house.  You see, I love Ireland and I am partly Irish, so St. Patrick's Day is my favorite miniature holiday.  And I love corned beef.

Here is what we had:

Soda bread, corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.

My animals have been doing very well.  A few days ago I thought Salieri (one of my ducks) had been stolen by an animal.  When I found her under an old rabbit hutch in the ducks' pen, I thought she was dead, so I poked her with a stick and she shifted and quacked a half-quack.  I discovered that she was simply laying eggs under the hutch.  Good old Sally.

Sara has been reveling in eating all the nightcrawlers Mother and I have been digging up in the garden, and Scarlet cares about her crickets just as much as she always has: she loves them.

Well, it's getting late, so I should probably stop writing and finish my Latin before I go to bed.  You may expect me to blog again soon: I forgot how delightful it is.

  

My Plucky Duckies

Before I write anything about my wonderful ducks, I wish you all a delightful Thanksgiving.  In Rainbowland they have what is called "Day of Thanks," which is their Thanksgiving.  It is always on the 30th of November.

Now for the ducks.  In April I got two ducks whom I named Salieri and Victor.  Now they are grown up and Sally lays eggs for us.

Here is the picture I took of them when they were a few days old.  Victor is on the right and Sally is on the left.

And here they are now.  Very beautiful ducks, if I do say so myself.  They are a bit dirty and messy looking now, but this summer their feathers were sleek and gorgeous and their beaks weren't caked in mud.

This is Victor:

This is Salieri:

They love each other (and me) very much and are definitely inseparable.

I decided to show you a picture of Feisty (outside that cage) and Patrick (inside the cage).  Feisty and the two ducks are very good friends: after all, they do live together.

Well, that is all I have to say about my ducks.  Again, I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving.  We shall be driving off to Shedd, Oregon for Thanksgiving in a very short while, so I must hurry up and end this post, as much as I should like to continue writing.

Oh, Hello!

I decided I had to write something again, seeing as it's been almost a month!  I promise I will write at least once a week, even if all I write is a single paragraph.  I'm still alive and perfectly capable of writing, so why not take advantage of these lovely days and put my frenzied mind to work?

Here are two recent photos of my turtle and me after two different turtle baths:

A New Friend

Yesterday, while Mother and Daddy were getting dirt for the garden and I was at home doing math, I happened to look out the window and I saw something big and pretty: a barred owl!  Mr. Owl scared me at first, but once I recovered from the shock I knew I had to get some pictures of him to show Mother and Daddy and everyone else.  Last night Mother and I got to see Mr. and Mrs. Owl again; they were kissing each other.  We've had them around since last spring.

Now for some pictures:

The owl looking in my general direction.  He's definitely very friendly.

He would slowly turn his head in different directions.

Once he looked up because of some Steller's Jays.

Maybe he looked up twice.  Nonetheless, he was awfully cute when he lifted his head all the way up.

This was my point of view.

Salieri and Victor

I decided I should go into detail about my newest little pets, Salieri and Victor.  They're much bigger than the picture below.  They were only about three days old then, and now they're about a week old.  Ducks grow very quickly.

You might be wondering which is which by now.  Easy problem to solve.  Victor is the left duckling in the picture; Sally is the duckling on right.

I got to take them to class yesterday and the kids loved them.  It's hard not to love those little ducklings with their long beaks, their oily down and their intelligence.

One of the things I debated after all the deaths was if I should continue the Intriguing Animal Act (the only day I ever actually did it was April tenth, 2012 - a year ago Wednesday...).  With two of the most amazing pets in the world gone from the act it seemed impossible.  Henna was the biggest part of the act, but Obviously since she's dead she can't perform anymore, although the Duck Twins might just be able to learn some adorable things.  I'm already teaching them how to come when I call their names.  I still have to see how things work out with Rosey and Sara.  Sara's the most harmless creature ever.  The worst thing she's capable of doing is getting angry.  Rosey, on the other hand, is much more dangerous.  When she sees anything the first thing that come into her head is "food!"  Especially when it comes to ducks, no doubt.

A Little Medley

I shall begin this post by saying that I am sorry for not blogging, and when I did, the posts were dull and short.  At first I was too sick with the flu to write.  Then I was catching up in life.  Then I was busy lazy.  Then Easter came (more on that in a moment).  Now I'm back!

As I said, there would be more on Easter in a moment, so here's how my Easter went...

"It all began on Friday, March 29th.  The day was lovely with all its sunniness and greenness.  'Twas indeed the day Matthew, Margaret and Walter were coming.
"On Saturday, Patrick and Sara came home and Chris and Kari came for quite a while with Beyonca, their friends' two-year-old daughter.  We went to our neighbors' house, then came back to our house to have dinner with Mom and Don.
"Sunday was, of course, Easter.  We had some very special guests, Meghan, Rob and Joshua.  Meghan is my cousin, Rob is her husband and Joshua is their child.  We ate, did some archery and chatted.  Of course different people did different things, but it would take too long to list all the activities.
"Monday was the day Mother and I took the little Newhall family to the car rental place.  We said goodbye and then left them to drive to Margaret's family's house.
"Walter was the most amazing, wonderful baby ever, and I'm very excited to see him again!"

...and that was how my Easter (and visit with Walt) turned out.

Today Mother and Daddy went to the farm store and got some chicken feed for our chickens.  They brought me home a wonderful surprise: two ducklings!  They're black and yellow and their names are Salieri (hopefully a female) and Victor (hopefully a male).  I plan on raising them into show ducks, like what I did with Henna, only she was a show chicken.  After Henna died, it seemed pointless to try to train any more chickens, but I'm excited to see how smart and cute my little ducks become.

Sir Raphael

After I blogged about Raphael, I was basically done.  Now that it's been some time since I got him, I thought you'd enjoy some random pictures.

Quite a recent photo of Raffi, maybe taken about a week ago.

This one is from today, actually.

I probably took this one a about a month ago.

This was taken around the time I first got him.

This picture is also from early December.

This photo was probably taken a few weeks ago.

This one was taken a little longer than a week ago.

This photo was taken some time in the last month.

A Few Abstract Thoughts

What if dogs didn't exist?  Where would we be without them?  Would we feel like a part of our lives was missing, even if we didn't know about dogs?  I can't remember what life outside was like before I got Rosey, though I fancy it was quite drab and lonely.  Of course, even back then I had Rainbowland, so it couldn't have been too drab and lonely.

Rainbowland!  The very mention of that word makes me excited to tell you all about what's happening there.  My mind has a vast as large as the Sahara Desert, metaphorically speaking, and I must use at least some of my memory and space up, thus I have Rainbbowland.  Oh, I was going to tell you all the exciting things happening there, wasn't I?  Very well.  There was a big battle with the foolish Americans, and obviously the Rainbowlandians won.  Americans aren't allowed to bring guns into Rainbowland.  You know, just because they're Americans doesn't mean they don't abide by the Rainbowlandian King's laws.  Now, if I speak any more of Rainbowland, I might have to change the title from "A Few Abstract Thoughts" to "Rainbowland and a Few Abstract Thoughts," so I think I should just quit thinking about Rainbowland and start thinking about other things (I don't know what yet).

Am I boring?  I hope not.  If my writing is ever boring, annoying or stupid, please tell me and I will try to make it better.  Don't worry about hurting my feelings; you won't.  I just want to make my blog a pleasurable thing to read.

A Little Medley

I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately, but as you know, four of my pets died recently.  Now, when I wake up in the morning, I check to see if Sara and Scarlet are alive and well.  Whenever I go to throw something in the garbage I expect to hear a piercing squeal.  At first I have to admit it was nice, but now I'm getting used to it.  Two or three days ago I thought I heard Bobby clawing at the window, and on Saturday Mother put his old bed in the laundry room for Raf.  It's much more lonely going down to feed the chickens without seeing a bald head and a chicken who doesn't squat for me to pick her up.  The wagon and crate and pole we used for games and training are being used for other things or are just lying around.  I only have to fill up the pet spray bottle about every other day, even when I spray Sara.  I never knew my life was so full of annoying animals until they went and died on me like that.  I never knew how important it was to tell a little black guinea pig to shut up and dump food in his bowl.  I never knew how important it was to tuck a cat in bed with a towel and sing the Winnie the Pooh theme song to him.  I never knew how important this was...Someday, when Henna is too old to perform, Hoppy will take the stage herself, but until then, the two will be working together... I never knew how important it was to stand by a dark cage and spray, spray, spray.  I especially miss my Bobby though.  He was a big part of my life.  Now, because of him, I can't listen to the Toad song "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted."  Don't worry, though.  I'll continue to get animals throughout my life, as long as it's possible.

Let's now move on to a lighter subject, shall we?  Rainbowland is a fairly light subject... usually.
I've added a new character, Rafael le Marre (from a book, though he's nothing like the man in the book), to my stories.  As you may have guessed, he's a Black Rider.  He has dark brown, slightly wavy hair, bright green eyes and is 6'4".  There is a slight pattern with the Black Rider Masters I've civilized. Benedict Jones, 27, caramel brown hair, soft green eyes, 6'2", Toby Williams, 27, black hair, black eyes, 6'6", and Rafael le Marre, 27 (almost 28), dark brown hair, bright green eyes, 6'4" are all 27, go from brown hair and green eyes to black hair and black eyes and then back to brown and green and their height increases and decreases by 2 inches.  Oh, and they each get injured twice.  Once to get them caught and the other to increase their friendship and trust with Daisy.  Mostly I do that to keep it simple and easy to remember.  Lately I've also brought out the soldiers a little more.  There's a wounded one in the hospital now, instead of Deuce being hurt, but Deuce still hasn't left the stories.  If you know Deuce well - meaning you've read most or all my Rainbowland posts - you might be wondering if that's good or not.  It is, because Deuce is quite a crucial part of the stories.
I must go now.  Writing about Rainbowland has made me want to play it.

Those Silly Animals

Rocky died a little while ago.  I'm not too sad; I've been expecting it for quite a long time.  First Henna, then Bobby, then Pinkie and now Rocky.  I dearly hope and pray that the other four don't die for some time yet.  If Rosey were to die now - or any time - I don't know what would happen to me.

Remember these?  That was back when I had seven pets.  Back then I didn't expect to lose four and gain one.  Now when I read The Annual Awards Ceremony post,  I just want delete it.  Of course Rocky won the Mellow Award, and of course I loved - and still love - him.  Of course Pinkie won the Speedy Award, and of course he rocked.  Of course Henna won the Personable award, and of course she did it again.  And of course... of course Bobby won the Cool Award, and of course he did nice work!  They still are the greatest pets in the world, too.

Bobby "Mr. Bubbles" Newhall

To start this off, I'd like to say two things: I did not forget about my blog, and Bobby really is dead.  It wasn't just some really morbid, really idiotic attention-getter - he died three weeks ago, January 14th.  Pinkie also died, I'm sorry to say, and Rocky's getting so old, it's amazing he lived through the stroke he had about two months ago.  (I was going to write about about that, but I decided not to.)  Now here's a little "Intriguing Animal Act" story:

Last October, when the weather was still surprisingly warm and sunny, I took the Lightning out for some exercise.  I ended up putting her in a box outside and taking Henna out of her pen.  Bobby wandered up, and of course Rosey was right next to me the whole time.  We practiced and laughed and I got mad at nosy Rosey for interrupting Henna's training session and chasing Bobby away once.  We all had a great time.

Well, that was the story, and now here's my cat:

I decided to show a bonus picture of Pinkie.

That's Mother's coat he's lying on.

One of my favorite adventures.  Someday I'll tell a story about the excursion, maybe tomorrow.