We're back online!

We're back!  After the powerful storm hit us overnight on 29Jun12, we lost power and water.  5 days later the power was restored, 3 weeks and 3 days later the phone service and internet service was restored at our house. 

The power was restored on the 4th of July in the morning.  That gave us something to celebrate!  In the afternoon on the 4th the power trucks all came ambling down my dirt driveway.  I ran out and told them power was restored, all was good in the world again.  However, they informed me that our electricity had been routed over power lines that could not hold the load for long, that we had power lines down which serviced our property that had to be repaired.  They wanted to attempt to drive some dirt roads on our property to get to the scene of the downed lines.

I gave them permission to drive on our property and followed them about a mile down the road to the scene.

In no time they had numerous crews out there removing the trees and replacing the electric lines.  They worked until late in the day on the 4th of July in 100 degree temperatures.  No celebrating for them!  One of their trucks got stuck in the mud on our property and they found another way to get out to the scene without driving through our woods.   

In addition to those power lines that were down, the electric and phone cables that directly service just our house were down.  They ran through deep woods and often we lost electric and phones in the past when a branch fell in the woods.  Once the woods even caught on fire from downed power lines.  And so we got new telephone poles with all new power cable.  This time the poles ran beside our driveway, avoiding the deep woods.

previous power lines running thru deep woods

new telephone pole

The phone cable was previously strung up on those same old poles in the deep woods, and eventually, 3 weeks later, new phone cable was run on the new power poles beside the driveway.

My thanks to the dedicated men who work behind the scenes doing thankless jobs like recabling power and phone lines! 

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Both our house and the other house which we rent out sustained much damage from the storm.  Below is a photo of the driveway of the other house after the storm.

A huge tree hit the roof - you can see the roof is buckled and punctured.

Let the house repairs begin!

Guinea keet update

Life goes on quickly even though we don't have phones or internet access.  Our phone line issue is scheduled to be looked at in a week. 

The guinea keets are now over 2 weeks old. Three days ago they discovered they can fly!  Their little wings are fully developed.  It must be very exciting to realize you can fly!  There's an entirely new world available to them off the ground now.  They fly onto the roosts that we have in the coop, they fly into the nest boxes, and they fly into the rafters. 

The biggest of the babies are the size of doves, the smallest are the size of sparrows.  The mixed color keets are the smallest, next come the white/whitish color, then the largest are the dark brown keets.  The eggs evidently all came from different nests.

We lost one dark brown keet the day after we bought them.  I had purchased all the dark brown and mixed color keets from a man I have come to know who sells birds at the local farmer's market, and then I purchased the remaining white keets from an amish boy, who I also have come to know, who also sells at the same farmer's market.  I noticed that two keets the man had were not up to par, but I didn't feel right purchasing all but two keets that he had.  I couldn't leave those two tired little keets all alone.  And so I had purchased two tired, worn out, very little keets, hoping I could nurse them back to health.  One of the two was dark brown, the other mixed.

I don't think the two keets were sick, I think they were overheated and they were too small.  It's been so very hot here, with temps in the 100's F every day.  The keets were dehydrated and hungry and exhausted when I brought them home.  The two of them just huddled together, unable to lift their heads.  I gave the sickly keets drops of water mixed with antibiotics in their tiny beak that first day, and also a drop of Vitamin E.  By the second day, the mixed color keet was running around with the rest of the keets, but the dark one was still barely able to lift his tiny head.  He died later that day.  The remaining 18 keets survived and are all growing and doing fine.

The one mixed-colored keet is still the smallest of the entire group, but he is eating and drinking and doing fine.  He's not as aggressive as some the largest dark keets, but he's ok.  They get garlic mixed in their water every day, just like our chickens do.  I bought fresh keet crumbles from the feed store - supposingly keet food is higher in vitamins and protein than chick food, but the vitamins break down quickly in high heat and make the food rancid.  Then the vitamins do no good for the keets, and the keets can have developmental issues.  I have seen the developmental issues first-hand in previous batches of keets which we have raised through the years, back before I understood about the special needs of keets.  If keets ever start developing these issues they need vitamin supplements immediately, especially Vitamin E put directly in the beak, starting on day 1.  Vitamins will stop the developmental issues, but will not reverse the issues that have already taken affect to the birds.  Hence, before we knew all this, we had one "slow" guinea and we had several guineas die from previous flocks.

We watch all the keets closely, looking for any developmental issues in the smaller birds, especially the one mixed colored keet.  Everyone eats, drinks, flies, and seems to think for themselves fine.  No one is stumbling around or bumping into things.  No one walks backwards.  Everyone is attentive to what is going on around them.  Everyone has straight legs and can walk fine.  These are the signs I have come to look out for.  I keep any unopened bags of keet food in the refrigerator to keep them fresh.  I think the keets are now healthy enough that they are past the possibility of getting developmental issues, but I will keep an eye on them. 

I've started the keets on food other than keet crumbles yesterday.  I gave them softly cooked peas to supplement the keet crumbles.  At first they just looked at the food, but within a few hours the peas were all gone.  It's weird not having a mother hen with the keets who tells them when to eat.  They don't dive into strange foods, it takes a while for one to peck it and then all the others follow.  Today I gave them some spaghetti in addition to keet food - it only took about 15 minutes for them to realize they love spaghetti.  If a fly or bug dares enter their coop it is gobbled immediately.

Sorry for no photos.  I'm typing this at a location where I cannot bring my camera, as the internet is down at the house.  I can tell you, the keets have long necks and little bodies and are in a very cute but gangly stage.

The Derecho that stopped us in our tracks

Happy Fourth of July!  Belated.

What a crazy past few days it's been!  A bad storm hit the eastern US and damaged our house and also the house we rent out.  We lost power last Friday night until Tuesday overnight.  And when we lose power we also lose water, as we have a well and pump.  Also, just to complete the problem, we lost phone service in our primary house.

Between 9:30 and 11 p.m. last Friday night, one week ago, one of the most destructive complexes of thunderstorms in memory swept through the entire Washington D.C. area. Packing wind gusts of 60-80 mph, the storm produced extensive damage, downing hundreds of trees, and leaving more than 1 million area-residents without power.

It left a massive trail of destruction spanning from northern Illinois to Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey. This kind of fast-moving, long-lived, large, and violent thunderstorm complex is known as a derecho.

Derechos typically form when an atmospheric disturbance lifts the warm air in regions experiencing intense heat, causing thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds to develop. Traveling at an average speed of 60 miles per hour, Friday's storm took 12 hours to cover more than 700 miles before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

It was a rough week after the storm with temps in the 90's and 100s F every day.  We hauled in coolers of water to water all the animals, but everyone was still hot and miserable.

We worked with the insurance company to deal with all the damage to the houses, to get tarps put on roofs for the short term and schedule repairs.  The rental house had a tree impaled into the roof.  There were so many trees down at that house, it was amazing.  It looked as if a hurricane came through.  The old historic house in which we live also had much damage.  I have some amazing pictures of all the storm damage.

And now, almost a week later, we have power to the houses, tarps have been put on roofs, repairmen are scheduled to fix things up, and the phone is still down.  Which means the internet is still down.  Which makes blogging rough.  I'll have to be blogging by alternate means these days.  The phone isn't scheduled to be serviced till next Saturday; not tomorrow, the Saturday after.  And who knows if it will actually be fixed that day, it may just be looked at on that day.  So at some undetermined time in the future I will download my photos from my camera and share the aftermath of this storm.

Stay tuned for more news...and the photos!

Guinea Keets!

Yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market and came home with 19 keets!!!

Yeah, guinea keets!

Here are some photos.

I got 6 light, 6 dark, and 7 mixed.

I kinda like the mixed color, I've never had that color guinea before.

The keets are locked up in the "infirmary/baby coop", which is separate from all the chickens and adult guineas.  Too bad we don't have a broody hen to raise them for us. 

 

I brought the chicken hen named "Mama Charlotte" in to see the keets, thinking maybe she'd want to be a mama all of a sudden.  I guess I was just hoping.  Charlotte was very interested, but that was about it.  She didn't miraculously get all broody or anything.  I didn't let her get within pecking distance, as I didn't want any keets injured.

The keets were very hot when we came home.  I gave them food and water, they each drank and ate until they couldn't stand up, then they all took a group nap. 

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On a sad note, the adult guinea hen named "Broken Guinea" was killed by a fox in our front yard yesterday morning.  I hate that the foxes hunt just feet from my front door in daylight.

Randy followed the trail of feathers into the woods and found Broken Guinea's remains.  She was killed this time.  She escaped the fox jaws twice before, but not this time.  Before she died she laid an egg.  Often before a bird dies they lay their last egg.  So sad.

The remaining adult guineas have been very shy, afraid to venture far.  I contemplated giving up on the guinea flock, not getting anymore, but Randy insists he's getting the foxes under control, little by little.  I fear for the keets, but they have a long time before they are released out of their coop.

I will not be able to post anymore photos of the keets until next week, as I will be out of town this week.  I will miss them while I'm gone! 

Where were the photos from - Japan!!

Miss Debbie from Life in the Sandwich Years correctly guessed that I was in Japan from the pictures.  Congrats, Miss Debbie.  Please send me your mailing address at razzcorner@gmail.com and I'll send something from Japan to you!  I will not be able to get anything mailed next week, as I'm going to be away again on travel, but will get it mailed as soon as I can!

I'll explain each Japan photo I've posted real quick... Click on the photos to see them bigger!

This photo was taken near Sasebo, Japan, just from the side of the road.  Japan is a very beautiful country.

The below photo was at Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki, Japan.  It was taken as I talked down the steps to the exact spot where the atomic bomb was dropped. 

This is from Wikipedia:

On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the United States' second atomic bomb attack (and the second detonation of a plutonium bomb; the first was tested in central New Mexico, USA) at 11:02 a.m., when the north of the city was destroyed in less than a second, and an estimated 70,000 people were killed by the bomb codenamed "Fat Man." According to statistics found within Nagasaki Peace Park, the death toll from the atomic bombing totalled 73,884, including 2,000 Korean forced workers and eight POWs, as well as another 74,909 injured, and another several hundred thousand diseased and dying due to fallout and other illness caused by radiation. This bomb was supposed to be more destructive than "Little Boy" but was dropped in a valley, and therefore did roughly the same amount of damage as Little Boy.

In Japan there were yellow lines like this on all the sidewalks I saw.  Many people didn't know what they meant, but one person thought people were supposed to walk to the left side of the line to keep order.  People walk to the left and drive on the left in Japan. 

This was taken at Saikai National Park Kujukushima Visitor Center.

This is back in the Nagasaki Peace Park.

Here's some info about the statue:

This fountain is also in Nagasaki Peace Park.

Saw lots of bikes

I never knew what I was eating.  This was an excellent menu - it had pictures and many courses.  Often I went to places that had no pictures.  When I got many different little courses, there's a chance I'll like some of them.

The bullet train I rode on in Tokyo.

This was also at Saikai National Park Kujukushima Visitor Center.

At Nagasaki, not very far from where the bomb was dropped, there was a prison.  This is what is left of the prison.  It shows the metal bars that were bent by the force of the bomb.

This is a sign in the peace park.

Yeah, I was exposed, according to this sign.  I drank the tap water there at Nagasaki, too.  And, to be brave, I went near the sight of the radiation leak after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent radiation leak from a nuclear power site. 

Cold Soda/water/tea machines were everywhere I went in Japan.  Like on the sides of the road.  I frequented them often instead of stopping in a store for a water or a tea.  Although I never really knew what I was getting until I tasted it, as it was all written in Japanese.

I traveled to several areas of Japan and got to enjoy the wonderful culture there.  I still have lots more pictures, but this post is very long, so I'll close for now.

Happy Saturday.

Where was This Taken? - Clue #4

Where were these pictures taken?

Someone needs to guess where these photos were taken!

Notice the pigeon on the guy's knee?  This statue was huge!

Where Was This Taken Clue #3 or Brindle and Tommy

Here are clues 3 and 4 for my "Where was this picture taken?" contest.

All photos were taken in the same area/place.  Can you figure out where?

Leave me a guess in comments!

These yellow lines were everywhere on sidewalks in this place.  I've never seen them in any other place.  Maybe they are in other areas, but I didn't notice or haven't been to those places.  They were unique to me.  I will explain the lines when someone guesses where this photo was taken!  Or if you know, please tell us!

Any ideas?

Just take a guess!  Obviously it's not wintertime in this place!

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These are the latest stray cats at Razzberry Corner.  I named them Brindle and TommyCat.  They both had mouthfuls of milk in the below photo.

Happy cats.

TommyCat is a lean hunting machine.  He's a good farm cat.  Even the guineas have adjusted to the outside cats and don't scream at them (much) anymore.

Hope you all have a happy Saturday night!

Where was this photo taken, clue #2

Where was this photo taken?

I returned from a great trip this week.

You have to guess where I was based on the photos!  Leave your guess in the post comments.

This contest started yesterday, 14Jun12, and the first photo was posted then.

Here's the second clue:

This one is hard, unless you've been there.  If you've been there most likely you will remember this exact location.  It doesn't look like much in this picture, but I didn't want to give it all away just yet!

I bet someone will know based on this photo!

If not, there will be more photos in each subsequent post until someone gets it right!

And I'll even send a prize to the person who gets it right!!!

I'll explain the photos when the mystery is solved.

Where's this photo from? or Broody Guinea Hen!

Welcome to June at Razzberry Corner! Lots has been going on and I realized I haven't had time to keep you up!

Let's see...

I just returned from a trip.  A wonderful trip far away.  I had a great time! You have to guess where I was based on the pictures I post.  I'll give hints, but I wont tell you until you guess right!  I'll tell you if you're wrong!  Now those people who know me, such as my sisters and close friends, are not allowed to tell!!!!  No cheating!

Here's the first clue picture:

Ok, now back to the farm...

One of the 2 guinea girls has gone broody.  Which is bad.  Every time we allow a guinea hen to sit on a nest she gets killed overnight. We only have 2 females left.  They refuse to go into a coop and instead sit on a nest out in the woods.  We have to continually monitor where the guineas hang out so we know where they're nests are so when goes broody we can fix it.

And how do you "fix" a broody guinea hen, one may ask.

Remove her from the nest and take away the eggs.  Tonight I went out and attempted to remove her from the nest using my foot.  She didn't like that.  She screamed and attacked my foot.  I didn't dare lean down and try to pick her up for fear she'd peck my eye out!  When she screamed the flock came running to protect her. Her mate, below, attacked me, too, and made me leave.  In a guinea flock vs. human fight, who'd win?  I don't want to find out.

But I'm sneaky.  I don't fight fair.  I tricked the guineas with bread.  They love bread.  I came out with 2 slices of bread and threw it near my front door, causing the husband guinea to make that special noise which called his wife off her nest to go eat.  She went running to get her favorite treat.  I have no idea why they like bread.  And, weirdly enough, they like white bread better than wheat bread.  Isn't that odd?  I pay attention to their strange likings.  But no, really, they aren't spoiled or anything...

And so when Girl Guinea was eating I ran to the nest and grabbed up the eggs.  I felt so bad.  She really wanted to be a mommy guinea.  But I'd rather she lived through the week.

And alas, when she returned in less than 5 minutes from her meal her nest was empty.  She screamed and screamed when she found the empty nest.  All the other guineas came running to see what was wrong.  I felt so bad.  But I want her alive.  Alive with a broken heart for the moment is better than suffering and killed later tonight.  Here's a photo of her empty nest.

She eventually left the nest and went to roost with the other guineas in silent misery.  Mission accomplished, the guinea hen will live through the week.  Hopefully.  And I feel like a mean guinea mama.

Here's some quick chicken pics to lighten your spirits.  Who doesn't love chicken pics?

Zoner is a bazaar looking hen...

Lucy will always be my favorite bird.

Leggy has no tail feathers.  What's up with that?  Maybe it's the new look for roosters for this summer?

Freckles is still alive.  She's the oldest hen, she'll probably outlive everyone.  She hasn't laid an egg in years, but she always sits as if she is laying.

So did you guess where I was?  Next post will have another photo, maybe two.