Update on travels and farm activities

I have been away on travel for my job recently, just returned last night.  Guess where I went?  I wont keep you guessing this time...  The following info is from a quick Wikipedia check, along with photos that I took.

Here's Zoltar the fortune teller, made famous in the Big movie.  But this one wasn't in NJ like in the movie, it was on the Venice Pier in Venice, Los Angeles, CA.



Venice is a beachfront neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors. Venice was home to some of Los Angeles' early beat poets and artists and has served as an important cultural center of the city.

Here's the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and Vine Street.  The intersection in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersection.  Today, not many production facilities are located in the immediate area. One of the few remaining is the Capitol Records Tower to the north of the intersection.

The intersection is located in ZIP code 90028.













The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others.

Here's John Wayne's star:

And Michael Jackson's star.

 

I have more photos, but I wont bore you with all the Hollywood glitz.  It was a fun trip, but alas, now I'm back on the farm, where nothing slows down just for a second.

 

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Latest news: FOUR, yes 4, of our dark colored baby guineas have been killed by what we believe is a a Northern Goshawk.  We now have 14 baby guineas and 5 adults.  Some of the babies are as big as adults now.  The Northern Goshawk is a type of hawk, and very sadly, is listed as endangered in the state of Maryland.  Randy finally saw the hawk this morning hunting the smaller guineas.  It only kills the smaller ones and takes away their bodies, it does not eat on site.  I don't know what to do about this situation.  

 

On yet another sad note, our stray cat named Tommy hasn't been sighted in 4 days.  He used to eat at our house twice a day every day.  Now we only have Benjamin and Brindle and occasionally Jerry visit, who are all stray cats.  Tommy was my favorite outside cat, he was so sweet and calm and loved to be pet and sit in laps.  I was planning on finding a home for him before winter, as he would have made a great housecat.  

 

Here are some photos I took last June of Brindle and Tommy drinking milk and Tommy in the yard.  I miss that TommyCat.  He is tall and slender, has an Egyptian cat face.  I thought he was beautiful. 

 

 

 

Chloe the hen isn't acting right, she's been standing off by herself.  Our hens are getting older and I don't expect a few of the older ones to make it through the winter this year.  I'll have to give Chloe some extra treats tonight.

 

And to attempt to end this post on a cheerful note...This afternoon I was out with the chickens and I had a Diet Pepsi can in my hand.  All the hens begged to peck the shiny can.  And then, although I knew I shouldn't, I poured some diet Pepsi on the ground and made a small puddle of Pepsi. All the hens had to taste it, and they all ran off shaking their heads in disgust.  Except for Penny, the former house hen.  She gobbled the Diet Pepsi, she couldn't get enough of it.  She wasn't able to drink much before it was absorbed into the ground, but she loved what little taste she got.  She's such a goofball.  Maybe her former owners fed her soda, as she was a house hen, after all.  Who knows with her, I bet she lived off McDonald's scraps and Pepsi.  She lived in the city in someone's house in her former life and even still she prefers to be inside the house with me than outside with the other chickens.  Silly bird.