jmgoyder

wings and things

Dec 10

Perspective and falling into the pond

by jmgoyder

This is ridiculous and I’ve done it twice now.

The first time was the evening after we got the pond for the ducks and geese; I went out to make sure the gates to their yards were locked and completely forgot that the new pond was on my usual route (which I have now altered). Yes, I fell in and I mean totally, up to my neck in slime and shock. I tried to creep back into the house unnoticed but Son saw me and said, “Why are you so wet?” When I told him he couldn’t stop laughing (well, that’s better than being reprimanded!)

The second time was just a few moments ago. I went to check our new emus and to leave a torch on inside their yard (fox deterrent hopefully). On my way out, torchless now, I completely forgot that I had filled one of those shell pools for them and left it at the door to the yard. Yes, slip, slide and in I go again! And this time I banged my nose up a bit; there was even a bit of blood.  I’ve just crept into the house in the hope Son won’t notice and he hasn’t – phew, so I am now in dry clothes yet again.

Husband is falling over a lot now; today he fell outside, yesterday he fell inside and the day before outside again. He falls because his legs don’t work properly any more but he keeps trying to do the jobs he always did – watering the garden, cleaning the car, emptying the rubbish, sorting out the hose fittings, fixing things etc.

I went up to the local shop the other day and was only gone around 15 minutes. As soon as I reached the driveway  I saw him from a distance – lying prone. The shock! I drove right up to him and leapt out of the car, sobbing, “Are you okay? What happened?” His face was covered in flies because his arms were trapped underneath his body.

Eventually I got him up – me crying and him laughing at me crying! But once we got back into the house I became really stern, told him off; he was already embarrassed but I made it worse and I don’t like that I did that.

So, the beautiful irony of me falling into ponds has given Husband an enormous laugh (a little smile would have been more tolerable, not this huge guffaw!) “Touche, he said  with one of his smiles.

Perspective!

Uncategorized Wings

18 Comments »
Dec 10

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me … six emu chicks!

by jmgoyder

The emus are being delivered just after lunch TODAY!!! I finally admitted to Husband that it was six emu chicks and his initial look of shock and horror was immediately replaced with a huge grin, so that was a great relief. As for Son, well, he still doesn’t know but he will be milking the cows for our neighbours when they arrive so by the time he comes back it will be a fait accompli – ha! I have the perfect sentence ready for Son: “go and suck eggs, kid.” You see, I am becoming quite brave!

We now have a special yard for the emus, very big and newly fortified against the foxes, and I’ve been advised to keep them in this yard day and night for at least a couple of weeks until they reorientate themselves to their new surrounding. After that, I should be able to let them out to free range but I will have to be a bit like a bouncer in a nightclub and do the rounds regularly.

It isn’t just Son’s inevitable disapproval that interferes with my excitement. One of my friends said to me, “You do realise that they grow rather large, don’t you?”

Well, yes I do (they are the second largest bird in the world – I must find an ostrich!) Anyway, just in case you didn’t know how large they grow, this Wikipedia photo gives you a good idea. And when they are this big, those foxes will not stand a chance!

They will arrive in a couple of hours – hurray!

Wings

12 Comments »
Dec 10

Afternoon delight

by jmgoyder

I usually go out to the back yard at around 4-5pm to put the ducks, geese and turkeys into their yards for the night. The chickens all sleep in the trees now, just like the guinnea fowl and peacocks; they have learned the hard way to be scared of the foxes.

The gang all head to their yard of their own accord. They are much more routine-orientated than I am, so sometimes I find them waiting patiently inside the yard and, when I arrive with lettuce, they make a lot of noise and I’m never sure if they’re saying ‘oh, goody, lettuce’ or ‘well, it’s about time!’ I think it’s probably the latter.

The three Indian runner ducks are a bit more difficult to round up. They still don’t seem to understand that they are in danger from foxes and they run away from me in that Basil Fawlty way that is both funny and frustrating. I have to put them in a separate yard from the gang because the male duck keeps trying to flirt (that is an understatement) with the female geese.

 Once the ducks, geese and turkeys are all settled in their yards, I sit down at one of the adjacent picnic tables and have a drink while I feed the chooks. Sometimes I am joined by a particularly friendly peacock. No, he’s not really interested in the beer; he wants to steal some of the chook food!

Wings

8 Comments »
Dec 9

doudou

by jmgoyder

I’ve always been more attracted to words than to art, so my visual abilities are a bit limited; Husband calls it ‘tunnel vision.’

So for me to find something so beautiful and intriguing, that it doesn’t require words, is a bit of a hard task. It’s as if I need to be struck. Well I have been struck! I’ve been struck by doudou’s entrancing work:

http://doudoubirds.com/

These tiny bird sculptures are so fantastic. Look at the expression on this bird’s face!

It isn’t just doudou’s sculptures that compel me; it’s also her concern for the many members of the animal kingdom that we humans exploit, abuse or simply take for granted. Her blog is just as compelling as her art.

Oh yeah, and she’s sculpting me an emu – or two!

Wings

8 Comments »
Dec 9

When are we going to get a proper pond?

by jmgoyder

In the picture on the left, you see Pearl (Sebastopol) and Seli (Pilgrim) having a ‘swim’. In the picture on the right, Diamond has hopped in and there is now a queue – oh, that’s Woodroffe in the forefront by the way.

As you can see, the babies are all grown up now and the shell pools are a little inadequate! I didn’t want to get a proper pond too soon because I was told by one of the breeders that ducklings and goslings can easily drown, and obviously baby chickens and turkeys are even more at risk.

But finally, now that they’re so BIG, we’ve put the first pond in (I can see we are going to need a few of these!) and they are delighted, I think, although a little hesitant as you can see!

The funny thing is that when I lock them in the yards in the early evening (to keep them safe from the foxes), they still love to squish up together in the shell pools. So I still empty and refill these for them constantly, which sometimes seems a little futile as these tiny pools immediately becomes filthy again. But they don’t seem to mind; in fact they seem to find muddy water much more interesting than clean water – more bugs I guess.

The picture below is to remind you of what they used to look like, not that long ago! If I had known they were going to grow up so fast, I would have savoured these childhood moments more. That reminds me, Son graduated from high school this week. I wonder if he is going to require a bigger pond too – mmm?

Wings

6 Comments »
Dec 8

Lullaby

by jmgoyder

The sound of their wings as they launch themselves up into the wattle trees at dusk is like a lullaby. I sit quietly and watch as all of the guinnea fowl and peafowl go to bed. I love the way each bird chooses a branch for the night and there is never any squabbling. King peacock is usually the first and then, one by one, or sometimes in pairs, they all fly up.

It is too late in the day for Husband to come outside with me to hear this lullaby, to watch this never-ending work of art, so usually I race back inside and tell him and he gives me that bemused look he is so good at. It’s very similar to Son’s ‘yeah, whatever, Mum’ look, so I’m never quite sure how to interpret it.

If you have been following this blog you will know that Husband has Parkinson’s disease. He doesn’t have the Michael J Fox type; he doesn’t shake at all. He has the kind of Parkinson’s that immobilizes him, that makes it very difficult for him to walk, to get up from a chair, to get out of bed, to be who he used to be – a man who used to run around the paddocks for the fun of it and round up cattle without a motorbike – my hero.

We have just bought a scooter for Husband and, even though he wasn’t that keen to have a vehicle made for the disabled, he actually really likes it now, so tomorrow at dusk, Husband and I will watch the lullaby together.

Wings

16 Comments »
Dec 8

Eccentric excesses

by jmgoyder

In yesterday’s post about bird nappies, I withheld my opinion to some extent because I was curious to see if readers registered approval or disapproval of such a concept. Instead, there has been a resounding silence! The news article below is about an Australian business that has had success in this ‘field’ and underneath the article there are three comments, two of which are negative.

http://www.news.com.au/national/chicken-nappies-a-coup-for-seamstress/story-e6frfkvr-1225911147663

So here is my opinion for what it’s worth: I don’t like the nappy idea at all. (Okay, I did contemplate it for two seconds). Of course there is nothing overtly cruel about it, however if birds of any sort were meant to be inside they would build houses, not nests. Occasionally our birds venture into the back verandah, and sometimes into the kitchen, but they don’t stay long because they prefer to be outside. It’s the confinement that bothers me and the more I look at the image of the chicken in a nappy in yesterday’s post, the more disturbing I find it, whereas initially I thought it was funny.

I would love to know what you think.

The image below is of the Sebastopol family that belongs to Michael who sold me our three chicks, Pearl, Woodroffe and Diamond. I cannot imagine anything more ridiculous than these beautiful creatures in nappies sitting on the couch watching television, can you?

Oh yeah, and I am not really getting Wantok, the red-tailed cockatoo, a flight suit; that was a joke!

Wings

14 Comments »
Dec 7

Do you have a spare nappy?

by jmgoyder

A few posts ago, I mentioned the newish trend of putting nappies, or diapers, on pet birds. Well, that elicited a fair bit of curiousity from readers, so here is the link to the blog of one of the companies who sells these extraordinary inventions:

http://www.flightquarters.com/blog/?p=264

As you will see, it isn’t just nappies this company specializes in. So, even though I have decided not to do the nappy thing with Woodroffe, the gosling, I am still quite keen on the flightsuit for Wantok, the cockatoo! What colour do you think she’d like?

Wings

5 Comments »
Dec 6

“My side of the mountain”

by jmgoyder
Falco amurensis

Image via Wikipedia

I have provided a link below to information about my favourite childhood movie.

My side of the mountain chronicled the story of a young boy escaping his suburban lifestyle to subsist in the woods. My favourite scene is when he tames the falcon, but I can’t seem to find that particular clip; alas, I can’t even find the movie.

I was around eight or nine. We had just moved from Sydney, Australia to Toronto, Canada.

When I saw this movie, I wanted to be that boy so much that, in my imagination, I was him. I was the kid living in the woods with all of the animals and I was the one who tamed the falcon.

And, even though now, years later, I have forgotten most of the movie, its premise still grabs me by the throat and makes me yearn!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Side_of_the_Mountain

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Wings

6 Comments »
Dec 6

An emu dilemma or two

by jmgoyder

The new emus are being delivered sooner than expected and I am just waiting for the phonecall from the emu breeder who happens to originate from the same town where we live. Small world! He now lives in Perth but he is coming south to visit some friends closeby so is going to bring us the Emerys – yeeha!

Okay, now the very benevolent Husband knows we’re getting another Emery or two (I thought it best not to mention the number 6), however the not-so-benevolent Son doesn’t have a clue because he has finally unsubscribed from this blog (another yeeha for more reasons that one!) Obviously Son didn’t see that previous post about me getting more emus – wonderful!

This time I will have to much more vigilant. The fox who killed the other emus did so in the daytime when I thought it was safe. The day they disappeared, we had seen them at 3pm but by 4.30pm they had gone. I now have two fox-proof yards with a third one being refortified, plus I have the greenhouse. Every afternoon, at around 4.30-5pm I lock the geese, ducks and turkeys into the yards so they are safe for the night. That’s what I did with the emus before; my mistake was thinking they would be safe if they ventured outside the house block (5 acres) into the surrounding paddocks.

So I have two dilemmas:

1. I will have to keep a very careful eye on the new Emerys; and

2. I will have to prevent Son from noticing their presence.

I much prefer the first dilemma!

I may have used the following picture before but it’s of Emery. I can’t wait to see the new Emerys!

Animal

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