The Eastern Sky - Morning and Evening

A couple nice pictures of the sky from our back yard

Taken just before sunrise in early March

Taken 5/22/11 just before sunset

Chicken Chronicles

It's been 3 months now since we got our baby chicks. Here's the story:

Presenting the "Coop-de-Ville"

Tracy found the plans for this palacial poultry pad online. Complete parts list and step by step directions that we found to be nearly perfect. Another name for this type of design is "Chicken Tractor." Named so probably because it is made to roll around your yard both fertilizing it and giving the chickens fresh stuff to peck at. Pictures were taken before completion (no screening yet, along with other details). We pick it up at one end and roll it around like a wheelbarrow and seem to move it about every 3 or 4 days.
We were very fortunate to have guests right at the time we had the plans and had finished acquiring most of the materials. John & Susie McLeod from Seattle. John likes to stay busy, so he took a look at the plans and said, "let's do it!" We had a blast and really appreciated John's leading roll in the creation. John insisted on top quality including pre-painting all the wood with 2 coats of primer and 2 more coats of the finish paint, both gluing and screwing all pieces and we fastidiously adhered to the old rule, "measure twice, cut once." Big thanks to John for the quality work and inspiration!


But is wasn't all work and no play for John:

Here he is taking a well deserved break on the back patio.

(He's gonna hate us for this)

With the "coop" completed it was time for some babies:

Four little girls came home on Feb. 23rd. They are a day or two old here. They spent the first few weeks on the covered, screened-in lanai (porch) in a box with a heat lamp.

After a couple of weeks they were briefly introduced to their new home outdoors. This went on daily for the next while, spending a little more time outside each day.

A couple weeks later they were spending the whole day outside in the coop and at night we'd roll it into the garage.

Chicken Whisperer

In the garage one day Tracy was just hanging out leaning on the edge of the cage watching the girls cluck about when slowly they just started climbing aboard - HER! On this day I came up with Tracy's new title. They're about a month old at this point.

A couple days later I caught them hanging out on the coup. By the way they have names, ya know: Betty, Blondie, Ruby & Delores. They say you should never name farm animals in case you have to eat......ah, we'll deal with that later.......

First portrait

Two month birthday

Huge celebration!

(be sure to click the pic for full size)

This shot taken 3 days ago on the their 3rd month birthday!

We expect eggs at about 20 weeks which works out to either really late July or early August.

We had no idea how much fun it would be having these gals around. So far so good regarding predators. These days they spend most of their time roaming around the yard fluffling about. They are very well behaved, always returning to their coop and even putting themselves to bed up in their clubhouse each night around dark.

Oh yes, the cost? Well we figure the eggs will probably cost us about.......$25 a dozen???

-;)

What do "The Girls" do when it's time for bed? They play GODZILLA!!! Here's a 5 minute video which shows their rules... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ1N2v1fUIk

New Underwater Flora and Fauna Photos

On a recent snorkel trip we discovered a sheltered bay with pristine, placid water; ideal conditions for snorkeling.

(Once again, remember to click on the pic to see it larger)

We had many first's during this snorkel, the most outstanding being the almost immediate discovery by Tracy of this huge ball of fish called a bait ball. It's made up of 100's, perhaps 1,000's of Bigeye Scad. It attracts hungry predators, naturally. In the shallow waters of the bay the most prominent bigger fish and predator is the Bluefin Trevally. We discovered that both of these fishes are members of the Jack family so, we realized they
EAT THEIR OWN!!!!

Bluefin Trevally moving in for lunch

Lunch (Bigeye Scad)

The Bluefin swim right into the center of the ball scattering it. As the ball separates the Scad swirl back around the Bluefin in an effort to get back together in the ball.

Closeup of the Scad

Closeup of the Bluefin Trevally. The one front and center was about 3 feet long. Totally harmless to us and surprisingly tame. They are just about the only larger sized fish that come into shallow water to feed on coral and the fish it attracts. For this reason they are a prize catch for shore fisherpersons. These and their big relatives, the Giant Trevally range up to over 200 pounds and the locals that can catch them are considered heroes and statewide treasures. The Hawaiian name for these is Ulua (pronounced Ooo-loo'-ah)

Here is an Ace-Eye Hawkfish settled into the coral perching like a hawk would perch in a tree - just watching and waiting for prey.

A kind of Pufferfish. So far we are unable to find it's name. NO, WAIT! It's a

Stripebelly Puffer. Whew.

Reef Lizardfish

Blackside Hawkfish

Day Octopus - most octopuses are nocturnal

Parrotfish

Cornetfish and Cowrie

The Cowrie is actually a sea snail . The shell itself is often spelled Cowry. The term "porcelain" derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (porcellana) due to their similar translucent appearance.

The one pictured here was feeling threatened so all you see is the shell. When not threatened the shell sort of opens up and you see more of the fleshy snail/slug parts.