It's a Camel Cricket Leg!

So, did you guess what this was?

This is a camel cricket leg.

To me camel crickets look like a cross between a cricket and a spider.

Here's a website about camel crickets:

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

As the weather gets colder, we get camel crickets in the house.  Not a lot, but usually we have at least one camel cricket a day somewhere in the house.  

The horrible thing is that the cats love to eat them, but the cats always pull off the back legs and leave them laying on the floor.  I've watched the cats work at pulling off the cricket's hind legs with their teeth, while they hold the cricket body with their paws.  I guess the legs get stuck in the cat's throat.  All we find are the legs, and we know the cats ate the cricket body!  I certainly would prefer the cats didn't eat crickets at all, that's for sure.  And yes, the chickens love them, too!

I call these crickets "George".  As in, "I found a pair of George legs on the bathroom floor today."

The first time I saw a camel cricket, I had no idea what it was, and after I ran screaming out of the room, I named it George, and eventually captured George and took George outside.  I assumed George was some kind of freak of nature, a one-of-a kind creature that shouldn't be killed. 
And then more and more George's came to visit, and I realized George's are a normal pest around here.

George, stay away or you may lose your legs!

What is this?

Does anyone know exactly what this is?

What is it?

I know what it is...

If you do know what it is, I feel for you!

I'll publish the answer tomorrow...

Orange Chiffon Cake with an Orange Glaze

Today's special is a orange chiffon cake with an orange glaze.  

Chiffon cakes are lighter and more fluffy than traditional cakes. 

This one is my very first chiffon cake.  Come on over for a piece!

Bobby Cat

Meet Bobby.  

If you've been around Razzberry Corner much, you already know Bobby.

Bobby is a stray cat that showed up outside and never left the porch.  We, of course, feed all hungry souls, and Bobby became a part of life here.  Bobby is a working class cat.  He takes care of the outside.  He catches any birds that are brave enough to land on the ground.  He is friends with all other critters, including Jerry, the woodchucks, opossums, and raccoons.  he knows to let them be and they don't bother him.  Bobby really dislikes the guineas, but he puts up with them.  He doesn't like being locked in the chicken pen, but really doesn't mind the chickens from a distance.  Bobby assisted when a night monster, what we believe was a great horned owl, was killing the guineas and Randy spent many nights outside hunting.  Bobby was by his side all those nights, happy to assist with guard duty. 

The only thing is, Bobby doesn't understand why he lives outside and we have 2 other cats who live strictly inside.  It's getting cold outside.  Poor Bobby.

Here are Shadow and Jack.  Shadow was a stray who lived outside here at this house, and Jack was a stray from a former house.  Both cats melted my heart, moved inside, have been fixed and get all yearly shots and exams.  They now live the good life.

Yes - Shad looks just like Bob. She looks like she could be his mother or sister.  She doesn't have the same personality as him at all, though.

Bob, Shad and Jack are all friends through the glass.  We have been very careful to never let anyone smell noses, as we didn't know if Bobby had FELV (feline leukemia), a deadly and infectious cat disease.

And the good news is that this week we got Bob tested and he does NOT have FELV!  He got his FELV immunization and all his shots this week, and got de-flead and de-ticked.  Next we have to get the Bobster de-wormed, and then he will be ready to go!  We already let all the cats smell noses, and we've been carrying Bobby around the house in our arms, so he sees that there's life inside.  Right now he seems to prefer being outside, but that's just because he's scared inside still.  

This means that Bobby doesn't have to brave another cold winter outside by himself.

Yeah, Bobby! 

Update

Well, hello there my friends.  I haven't been posting lately.  I just have been busy, and when I have a few spare moments I consider all the work that must be done, and decide it's more important than sharing my world via the blog.  I have really missed my communications and support from my online friends.  It's awesome how blogging builds friendships between people with the same interests.

And so, I will probably keep my blog posts short and targeted, but I will try to continue the blog through the winter here at Razzberry Corner.  Winters are cold and rough times, but many holidays all fall in during wintertime.  I guess we need to find something to keep us happy when we are working extra hard to keep everyone warm, and so we have holidays!

So here's a quick update on the happenings here at our farm...

White Boy Guinea

White Girl Guinea over on the right

 The guineas are all doing fine.  I am so surprised that even the "slow" white female guinea is doing great.  She is my favorite now.  She had an issue after birth, when she was an infant, and her developing slowed down.  She did weird things, like walk backwards instead of forwards.  She didn't make good decisions and was brushed aside by the other guineas, often missing out on treats because she wasn't fast enough.  She got very sick at one point and couldn't stand on her own.  We considered putting her down many times.  She quickly was put on antibiotics and vitamins and miraculously she recovered, but she never recovered all the way back to normal.  When they got bigger, the other guineas made her an outcast.  She appears to be blind in one eye still.  But she's a fighter - she wandered alone, and eventually a pair of other shy females who were ousted by the guinea flock joined her and she became the leader of her own little flock of ladies where everyone was accepted.  I always make sure to feed the separate little flock treats, and most times now the 2 flocks join together and just separate during treat feeding times.  The white female guinea is the only pure white child from our white male guinea papa.  He was one of the last 2 guineas to survive from last year's flock.

The young guineas, who were born this year, started laying eggs this autumn before it got too cold.  If I searched I could find their eggs out in the bushes. Next year we will raise more guineas from our own eggs to maintain the flock.


Below is a picture of a typical dozen of our chicken eggs, plus the two little guinea eggs.  we only have light brown and green eggs right now, despite the fact that we got 4 Rhode Island Red and 4 Cuckoo Maran chicks this summer.  Both of these breeds lay dark brown eggs.  Those chicks have now all grown up into beautiful LARGE birds, much bigger than all our other bantam birds.  However, we think that all 4 Reds are roosters, and 2 of the Cuckoos are roosters!  We had a "great" system for picking the chicks from a mixed batch that was being sold at the local farmers market.  We read online how to tell the differences between the sexes of the chicks for these 2 breeds.  Evidently, we did it exactly wrong for the Reds.  Well, hey, we know how to pick Rhode Island Red roosters from a batch of chicks now!  The 2 female cuckoos haven't laid yet, although they are adults.  Possibly we're wrong and they are roosters, too, who knows?  I'll post some chicken pics next post, and will give you more chicken news.  There's always drama in the coop, you know.

Stay tuned, I do have some GOOD, no GREAT, news about Bobby the outside cat...  But you're going to have to wait for it!

Shadow

Autumn Photos

Autumn has hit us here at Razzberry Corner.  It sometimes feels more like winter!

Here are some photos and a video I took last weekend.

This is an old, tired tree at sunset.  To me it has such character.

Look for the historic brick column in the photo below.  It lines our drive.

 

Walking to the front fields, through the trees and bushes...

Fall colors are just starting to show.

You can hear the guineas welcoming you in the below video!

The video is a panoramic of the front fields.

Have a good evening!

Guinea Update

We have 12 guinea fowl.  2 are adult males, born last year.  10 were born this May from eggs we collected and hatched.  And so we enter into autumn with a dozen guinea fowl.  I hope they all survive to next spring.  Last year was a tough year, our guinea flock dwindled down to 2 males.  Luckily in the springtime we collected quite a few eggs from nests we found in the woods before all the females were killed.  Every year I guess we will hatch eggs to keep the flock going strong.

 

My guineas.  They are so sweet.  And funny.  And noisy.

They come to me to be hand fed, although they keep about 10 feet away at all times.  They chase each other all around the house.  They entertain everyone who sees them.  They eat bugs around the house.  This young flock doesn't wander too far around the property, they stay pretty close.  The previous flock used to wander far and wide.

Running Guineas!



Today I found 2 guinea eggs in the woods ~ these are the first eggs I've found from the hens hatched in May.  The guinea eggs are the 2 top ones in the below photo.  The others are chicken eggs.

Eggs ~ Chicken and Guinea

 The news eggs are so small, as they are starter eggs.  Guinea eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, anyway, but these are exceptionally small.  The right egg is dirty - I didn't wipe off the dirt from the nest.  The guinea eggs do have little brown spots on them, but that one has brown mud, too!

Guinea Eggs

Thank you, guinea girls!

Breakfast

Breakfast is an important time here at Razzberry Corner!

Jerry and Bobby, the outside cats, take breakfast seriously!

Jerry

Bobby

 "Leave us alone!" they say.

Both cats are getting their thick winter coats, as it's getting cold out.  Jerry has been here since we moved into this house.  We still are not able to get too close to Jerry.  We will never be able to pet him.  Bobby, however, is a lovebug and loves to be pet.  Bobby loves attention.  We wondered if Jerry would get more friendly after seeing Bobby receive attention (pets) from us and actually not being killed by us.  Jerry acts like if he gets too close to us we'd kill him!  Jerry just watches from a distance when we pet Bob. 

Both cats are well-fed, at least! 

Good morning from Razzberry Corner!

Cardinal Boy

The other day I happened to be hanging around the house, which is rare, and heard a loud "thud".  Prior to the thud I heard a lot of cardinal twitters outside my dining room windows . 

Let me say that we have many cardinals around here, and cardinals have multiple nests/families throughout the year.  That morning I noticed the adult cardinals feeding the grown babies suet from our suet feeder.  The grown babies always love to be fed, even though they are adults themselves, and they tweet like little babies.

After the "thud" I found this grown male baby cardinal laying on the windowsill.  Evidently he flew into the window.  Hard.  He was shaking, his eyes wouldn't focus, his toes were curled up into a fist.  I didn't think he was going to make it.

The little cardinal laid out on the window sill for quite a few hours.  I checked on him about every 30 minutes and could see him breathing.  I made sure my inside cats didn't notice him out there so they wouldn't torment him by staring at him through the window.  The outside cats weren't around, either.

When it started to get dark out, I figured the little guy had to be checked out.  He couldn't stay out there all night, the night animals would find him, and he'd be blind in the dark and couldn't attempt to fly to safety.  If he could even fly.

He was still breathing.  I tapped on the window, and to my surprise he was able to focus his eyes on me then!  He was coming around!  He still didn't fly away, but it appeared he was waking up, coming out of his stupor.  He looked all around, confused as to why he was laying on the windowsill.  After a few minutes he still laid there, and the sun was setting fast.  If he could fly, he had to attempt it immediately before it got too dark out.  Darkness comes upon us fast when the sun sets.

And so I started opening the window.  I was going to put him in a little cage or something where he could get some rehab until he was able to fly and go free.  By all means, I certainly didn't want to have a cardinal in the house, but I couldn't let the little guy just lay there and be eaten by an owl overnight.

The little cardinal wanted nothing to do with me!  As I opened the window, he immediately looked around, and with a loud baby cardinal twitter, he flew to the tree where the cardinals live!  He was better!  He didn't fly in a straight line, but he flew well enough to make it.  He left behind a huge poop on the windowsill. 

  

The little cardinal boy lived to see another day!  I bet he had a headache!

Key West Gypsy Chickens and More

I was missing from the Razzberry Corner blog for the month of September dealing with no internet connectivity.  And then finally I got the internet back, only to have to go away on travel for my day job.  And, to make it even more interesting, while I was gone, there was a surprise surge and outage at our house which finally killed our old office computer.  That's the computer I use to blog and which has all my photos.  The computer's motherboard died.  It was an old computer anyway.  I didn't upgrade already because it was still running, although it was old and slow and tired. 

And so I was gone another week on travel, and then home a week without a primary computer. 

Yeah, I have other computers in the house, but the home office computer is the one that I always use on the blog.  And honestly, as busy as I am these days, I don't mess around on a computer when I get home.  That's what I've realized about having an old farm - there's always so much work to do around the house and property or dealing with the animals, that there's no free time to play on the computer.  Maybe I just don't want to deal with the computer when I get home, I do that enough at work. 

I'm not complaining, just stating facts.

And so, this week, I got a new computer!  Yeah!  It's all shiny and fast and has cool features and I'm excited!  I'll have to setup my old hard drive in this machine so I can access my old files.  But right now, the new one is clean and empty and fast.

I'm posting some photos that I took with my cell phone while I was on the trip last week to

Key West,  FL.

I absolutely loved Key West! 

It was a warm, tropical, happy place.

I saw this big, old iguana on the side of the road and HAD to get some photos.  

I saw lots of smaller iguanas, but this one was huge!  He was approximately 10 feet long with the tail. 

He probably could have chopped off my head with one swing of that tail.  I know their tails are very sharp and can cut you if they swing at you.  He looked like a hundred years old, I was so lucky to see such a big boy.

  

The biggest surprise for me in Key West was the chickens!  There were wild chickens all over the streets of Key West!  The locals said they were protected animals and were not allowed to be killed.  They are called Key West Gypsy Chickens. 

It so amazed me to see chickens in the downtown area of Key West.  It made me feel right at home!

Here's a link to a webpage about the chickens:

http://sarah-goodwin-nguyen.suite101.com/key-west-gypsy-chickens-a100879

Once last week in Key West I was in the car in a busy intersection.  A big rooster and a number of pedestrian people were standing by the intersection waiting for the light to change so they could cross the road.  The people were talking, not paying attention, didn't even care a rooster was standing amongst them!  When the walk light came on and the traffic stopped, the rooster started walking big as day right across the crosswalk to cross the road.  The people noticed he was walking and followed along behind him and crossed the road.  I was speechless.  He lifted his legs high and proud and crossed the road.  I didn't get a pic of him because I was too amazed to move.

In the evenings the chickens roosted in the palm trees.  I looked around for eggs on the ground, didn't see any.  I was the only person amazing by so many chickens in a downtown area.  There were different colors of chickens; I seem to have only taken photos of brown roosters because brown was the most common color.  I noticed more roosters than hens; the hens were very small.  I watched the roosters having cockfights on a downtown pier one afternoon.  No one else seemed to notice.  I watched them walk amongst the people; no one else looked twice.  I did not see any chicken/car accidents or any dead chickens on the road, although I did see a human bicyclist get hit by a car and I did see a man laying drunk out by the side of the road. 

It was an interesting place!

 The Key West sunset was gorgeous.  As the weather is getting chilly at home, it was nice to get away to the tropics for a quick break.

Can't you just feel the warmth in the below photo?  (I was in my bathing suit when I took it!)

Alas, I am now back at Razzberry Corner.

Hopefully I will start back up the Razzberry Corner blog about all the going's on here at the farm!  Lots is going on!

Stay tuned!