You know how I try to find an image to fit my title each post? Well, while roaming around the web trying to find a hole image, I ran across some interesting information that led me down the rabbit hole (no pun intended, but definitely appreciated) for a while. Did you know that trypophobia is commonly known as the “fear of holes”? These various phobias that I find out about are just fascinating to me. Trypophobia is really a fear or disgust of clusters of small holes, which could manifest for some people because, “clusters of holes may be evolutionarily indicative of contamination and disease—visual cues for rotten or moldy food or skin marred by an infection, the researchers theorize.” You can read the entire article I found, if you are so inclined, here; however, I would caution you against searching for images using the phobia’s term, some of the photos are ghastly! Why are we talking about holes? Let’s move on…. Continue reading
holes
25 Friday Jan 2019
Posted in Co-workers, Projects
Don’t you just wonder that sometimes? You stand back and look at things, the focus is sometimes fuzzy, and you wonder…what’s happening? Maybe it’s the wind that was supposed to start at 11 this morning, but actually began in the dark hours of the day – wind always makes things seem… odd. Maybe it’s just that weird ‘Monday’ effect. You know, the one that makes you immediately nostalgic for the weekend. Whatever the cause, there were just some things this weekend,and today, that made me ask, quietly, to myself, mostly out of earshot of the chickens, goats, dogs and cats, “what’s happening?”. 
Every once in a while there are days where things just take a turn down the wrong lane. I’m not exactly sure, but I think our Monday may have started way back on Saturday… in the technical difficulties arena anyway. Several things kinda didn’t quite work out, culminating in a total Monday type of day today. 
As a somewhat taller female, I understand what it’s like to feel too big. I’m 5’9″ and I rarely, if ever, wear heels because I always feel like I tower over people. Yes, something can be too big. Right now, we have a rooster who is way too big, and he just doesn’t realize it. I think they may be a bit like dogs and they don’t really understand size so much as attitude. Olaf, the rooster, is pretty gentle, he doesn’t fight much with the other roosters, he just tries to get his time with the ladies at the most opportune moments for him, which aren’t always to the liking of the ladies, or the other roosters for that matter. We’re not sure what to do with him, and we may be running into some difficulties. 
One of our long term goals is to give the oldies more free run of the “yard”. That area right around the house that is fenced in. Yes, it’s fenced in, but the fencing is 4×4 wire, which is fine for dogs, but the chickens could get through it if they tried hard enough. Before we start introducing them to a larger area, Sue has been adding this smaller squared pvc fencing to the original fence. We use is a lot when we first let littles outside of the brooder in a small outside area. It holds up really well, and it doesn’t look bad either. As a matter of fact, I had to do the close-up shot because it virtually disappears when you get a few feet away. In the next couple of days we’ll move their existing fence so it goes across the upper north west corner of the property, giving them a large triangle of open space to roam. They should like it. If they handle that well, we’ll make it bigger and bigger. Then, maybe by grasshopper season, they can be completely free! That would be amazing. 
Last Saturday was the day we had set aside to move the RCW. I had mentioned this was an interesting, if difficult, process and I’d take some photos of the more interesting segments. You know, when you have plans they never really go the way you think they should. I didn’t take any video, and I kept forgetting to take photos until after the fact; but I still have a fun fact to share with you. It’s about the most difficult way to thread the needle. 
It was a moving day again today. You know, our chickens travel around quite a lot – I’ve just been thinking about that. The layers out in the RCW are moved- as a unite – maybe once a month, less if there is more grass, more if the there’s less grass (now there’s a sentence for you). We’re always shuffling the others around to take care of behavioral issues, and the like. Lately we’ve been talking about how to consolidate. We completed a big step in that process tonight. 
I don’t know how you felt when you were a teenager and had just received your driver’s license, but when that happened for me, I was scared. I think I may have been an odd kid, but I really didn’t want to get my license. Yes, it was going to be good to be able to drive myself to choir, and youth group, and play rehearsals so my folks wouldn’t have to schlep me around all the time, but I was honestly afraid of driving. Don’t get me wrong, I was a fine driver, my dad taught me well and I had driven many things on the farm – drove a Caterpillar tractor starting at 9 – but not on public roads! You can hurt people!!!! Driving is a form of freedom, but it is also a major responsibility. I was scared, but I did have the courage to use my newly given freedom. I think maybe that fear made me a better driver; I certainly wasn’t cavalier about it —- until much later. Freedom is scary. 
The days are getting shorter and shorter as we get closer to the winter solstice. For those of you outside of Arizona, you may not know that we do not observe Daylight Savings Time, so we never change our clocks. That also means that for 1/2 of the year we have the same time as my folks, and our friends, in California. This November, California will be voting on whether to continue to adhere to Daylight Savings or not. If that passes, then we will always be an hour ahead of California. Interesting times. 
It has been a wicked long week and we are so glad it’s finally Friday! It seems like Monday was about a month ago. Rather than pick one thing to write on, like I did earlier this week, I thought I’d do one of those general run down things that we sometimes do to catch you up on what’s been happening around the farm. Shall we get started then? 
Wing and a Prayer 