CHECK IT OUT...

It may look as though I haven't posted anything since last year but that just isn't so. I created another blog for myself titled Almosta Farm. I wanted to separate general farm stuff from the goings on at Almosta Farm so things wouldn't be so cluttered. This took up much more of my time than I had anticipated.

After creating the new blog site I spent quite a lot of time moving posts around so they would appear in the appropriate blog. I ran into a some obstacles and discovered some drawbacks with this whole process.

One obstacle I encountered is that I am not all that savvy when it comes to computer stuff. My son is the computer expert who got me started with Farm Fancy several years ago. Since he doesn't live close anymore I am kind of on my own. I had trouble figuring out how to move the posts from one site to the other and I have lost the comments people made in the past blogs. I am sure there is probably a way to move the comments along with the blogs but I couldn't figure it out.

One drawback I discovered is that not all the links in the old posts work. As I went through and tried to fix this I realized that some of the links just didn't exist anymore so I have just had to eliminate some. I am not yet finished with this project either. I still have some old posts to review.

Sooo... with these changes I am kind of starting fresh. If you have suggestions for post topics feel free leave comments here at Farm Fancy. I welcome you to visit Almosta Farm as well.

TTFN :)

Bird brain ...

Back toward the end of June through the beginning of July I witnessed an odd ritual by a tiny little bird. I would see this pretty little bird on the side of the road each day as I went to work. After the third time I saw her I slowed down to take a closer look. When I did she puffed herself up beyond recognition and started spinning around in circles. I was certain that this little bird had some sort of neurological disorder. I stopped the car and started to get out and she immediately took flight. I thought it odd but shrugged it off and went about my business. The very next day I saw her again at the same place at the side of the road. I slowed again and this time she started flapping and falling over as if her wing was broken. "That does it" I thought to myself. "Something is wrong with this bird and she must be helped!" I stopped the car and started tracking her down the side of the road. I was almost within striking distance when she stood up, looked over her shoulder (as if to say 'so long sucker') and flew away... again! I was totally perplexed and just a little irritated. The next day I saw her again at the side of the road, just sitting there. I thought to myself, "This time I am not going to get involved". So, although I was watching her, I didn't slow down... and she didn't budge! Hmmm... then the thought came to me... "I wonder if that crazy bird has a nest at the side of the road!" I investigated on my way home and sure enough she had a nest with 4 speckled eggs in it. The next picture is of the area where I found her nest. If you can see it, the blurr to the left of my side view mirror was the bird flying off.
here is a close up although not a good picture you can see the blurr I spoke of in the right upper corner...
Well, I could hardly believe my eyes when, right there... right on the side of the road... I saw a little gravel nest with well camouflaged eggs in it. Just one car or tractor swerving just a little would have put an abrupt end to the whole thing. CRAZY! Can you see the eggs in the next pictures? Still not good pictures but it was the best I could do at the time (from a slow moving car).
































After talking with some of the locals I learned that the crazy little bird was a Killdeer. I also found it very interesting that it was the Killdeers' nature to build nests in open areas, preferably in gravel (heaven only knows why). The farmers are used to this and keep a look out and try to protect these goofy little birds. We all watched attentively for the eggs to hatch. I so wanted to see the little babies. But, once the babies hatched they all headed into the brush. We stopped hearing the beautiful song of the Killdeer and never saw her or her babies again. If she returns next year I am going to try to get some better pictures :)

Color vs Breed

There are two things to consider when talking about chickens. Color and breed.

A commonly known chicken is the Barred Rock. Everyone thinks that Barred Rock is the breed. Actually, barred refers to the color. The breed in this example is Plymouth Rock. There are actually many different colored Plymouth Rock chickens... Barred, White, Buff, Silver Penciled, Partridge, Columbian, and Blue. This is true with most chicken breeds... that there are many different colors found in various breeds which include even more colors than I have mentioned.

Just an FYI :)

Did I mention that ...

I HATE DIAL UP!!!

Just so you know...

I HATE DIAL UP!!!

Special Guests

With as much snow as we have had it has pushed some of the wildlife down from the highlands into the valleys in search of food and I would imagine a little warmer temperatures. from February 14th to February 18 we were visited by an elk herd out on Weiser Flats where I live. They appeared, what seemed like, out of no where and disappeared just as quickly, (don't underestimate their sneakiness).

I was lucky enough to be able to get some pictures the very last day of their visit. These are just 2 of the 5 or 6 pictures I took of them, each picture depicting one section of the herd. My friend and I counted 5 or 6 bulls in the bunch of about 80 or 90 head.

I took these pictures from the side of the road. I wish I had a better camera so I could have gotten some close up shots of these gorgeous animals. That way I could have better shown you the bulls and you could have seen that some of those cows were pregnant. As it is these pictures can only show some of the numbers.


I don't know how this is going to work out but I thought I would try and post the short video I did of the herd so you could get a better idea of how big it actually is... so here goes...

... NOT...

Blogger says, "Could not connect to Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail." So, your guess is as good as mine whether or not the video will ever get posted. For now I will just cancel the upload so I can publish what I have written so far. I will keep trying though.

TTFN :

A Special Driver

President Hinckley was returning to Salt Lake City from a trip to South America. As usual, a limousine was waiting for him at the airport.

After getting all of President Hinckley's luggage loaded into the limo the chauffeur held the passenger door open and waited for President Hinckley to get in. As the chauffeur waited he realized that the Prophet was just standing at the curb. The chauffeur asked, "Excuse me President, would you please take your seat now so we can be on our way"?

President Hinckley replied, "You know, they won't let me drive since I became the prophet. To tell you the truth I'd really like to drive today".

The chauffeur protested, "I'm sorry, President, but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! What if something should happen"? Just about now the chauffeur was wishing he'd never gone to work that morning. President Hinckley just stood there smiling with a twinkle in his eye.

Reluctantly, the chauffeur got into the back seat as President Hinckley climbed in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regretted his decision when, after exiting the airport, the prophet floored it, accelerating to 105 mph.

The chauffeur pleaded, "PLEASE slow down President!", but President Hinckley kept the pedal to the metal until they heard sirens. "Oh, dear, I'm going to lose my job AND my license" moaned the remorseful chauffeur.

President Hinckley pulled over and rolled down the window as the officer approached. The officer took a good, long look at President Hinckley. Then, without a word, went back to his motorcycle, and got on the radio.

The officer told the dispatcher "I need to talk to the Chief". The Chief got on the radio and the officer told him that he had stopped a limo going 105 mph.

"So BUST him" said the Chief.

The officer tried to explain, "I don't think we want to do that, he's really important".

The Chief exclaimed "All the more reason"!

"No", said the officer, "I mean REALLY important".

The Chief then asked, "Who do you have there, the mayor"?

Officer: "Bigger".

Chief: "A senator"?

Officer: "BIGGER".

Chief: "President Bush"?

Officer: "B I G G E R"!

"GOOD GRIEF MAN", exclaimed the Chief, "who IS it"?

The officer reverently revealed, "I think it's God".

The Chief hesitantly asked, "What makes you think it's God"?

The officer replied, "His chauffeur is President Hinckley".

(hee~hee~hee...)