Chicken Feathers: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Trumpeter swans

To learn more about these amazing birds, please visit here:

http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/swan-information.html

More pics

dsd

A crow looking for seeds that have fallen from the bird feeder:

Sunday was just beautiful! Let the gang out while I cleaned up the coop area

The plastic that was wrapped around the nest boxes was taken down and all the loose hay and pine chips were raked up. Looks (and smells) a lot better!

Laverne had to investigate all the new hay:

Lucy followed her:

She made a tunnel in the hay to get into the coop. It must have been fun for her - she did it twice!

Charlie inspected the coop later in the day.

Damn deer are getting closer and closer......

It snowed Sunday night..........

...... but by 11 am on Monday it had all melted.

Charlie and the girls were glad to see it gone, too!

Monday, March 30, 2015

English, what a language! Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning. A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym.

You think English is easy? I think a retired English teacher was bored...THIS IS GREAT! Read all the way to the end... This took a lot of work to put together!

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong for me to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same as no chance, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?

Today's funny :o)

Pic dump

Was super busy with the camera over the weekend!

Friday was a yucky day:

One of our many "watchdog" crows:

Shirley's egg on the bottom - Laverne's on the top - none broken!

A rainbow in the clouds at sunrise on Saturday:

The gang:

More mud:

Hubby used the hay from the poopie bin to try to absorb some of it up -

the grass should grow good here!

Some damn deer:

Some more damn deer:

Will post the others tomorrow......

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Easy Listening for a Sunday Afternoon

sdf

.............

Yesterday when I was young,
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue,
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game,
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame;
The thousand dreams I dreamed,
The splendid things I planned
I always built, alas,
on weak and shifting sand;
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day
And only now I see how the years ran away.
Yesterday, when I was young,
So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung,
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see,
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out,
I never stopped to think what life was all about
And every conversation I can now recall concerned itself
with me, and nothing else at all.
Yesterday the moon was blue,
and every crazy day brought something new to do,
I used my magic age as if it were a wand,
and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond;
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
and every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died;
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
And only I am left on stage to end the play.
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung,
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue,
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday
When I was young.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Saturday Night Doo-Wop

Frankie Lymon!

The ABC's of Love

A, I'll always want you
B, because my heart is true
C, come, come, come closer
And I'll tell you of the ABC's

D, darling, believe me
E, everyday my love grows strong
F, find a place there in your heart
And I'll tell you of the ABC's

G, gosh knows I love you
H, heaven knows it's true
I want to be near you
J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q

R, run, honey, and don't be blind
S, sugar, you stay on my mind
T, true love is hard to find
I'll tell you of the ABC's

U, you make me love you
V, vow always be true
WXY and Z
I've told you of the ABC's
Oh oh oh oh oh

R, run, honey, and don't be blind
S, sugar, you stay on my mind
T, true love is hard to find
I'll tell you of the ABC's

U, you make me love you
V, vow always be true
WXY and Z
I've told you of the ABC's

I've told you of the ABC's

Friday, March 27, 2015

Friday Night Steam

All aboard the paddle steamer Waverley!

Image source: http://www.waverleyandbalmoral.co.uk/PSWaverley/

Grab a cuppa and read loads and loads of information here:

http://paddlesteamers.info/waverley.htm

Today's funny :o)

What ?????

Found this on Shirley's left leg the other day:

Yep! That's a spur!

Not a huge as Charlie's, but a spur non-the-less!

(You'll notice Charlie has three new feathers growing out of his poor naked neck.)

Sometimes hens will grow spurs. Some hens can even crow like a rooster. This is the first hen that I've had that has grown them. Shirley's other leg doesn't seem to have one. Laverne doesn't have any. They really do strange things sometimes. Charlie ALWAYS builds a nest in the corner of the coop when I change the hay. He's always done that. Maybe he wants them to use his and not the nest boxes. A lot of male birds build nests for their mates, such as eagles and hawks.

Or maybe it's something in the well water up here. Gonna check my ankles tonight......

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Wooden Boat Building In England...

.... during World War II

Found this little film about how boats were needed mostly to rescue downed pilots during the early years of the war. It shows the old time boat builders in smaller towns teaching a new generation how to build these smaller boats that were so desperately needed.

The film quality is excellent and can be viewed on a full screen. 'Hope you enjoy it, too!

Today's funny :o)

H/T to Terry! :o)

After a meeting several days ago, I couldn't find my keys. I quickly gave
myself a personal "TSA Pat Down."

They weren't in my pockets. Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the
car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot.

My husband has scolded me many times for leaving my keys in the car's
ignition.

He's afraid that the car could be stolen. As I looked around the parking
lot, I realized he was right.

The parking lot was empty. I immediately called the police. I gave them my
location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been
stolen.

Then I made the most difficult call of all to my husband: "I left my keys in
the car and it's been stolen."

There was a moment of silence. I thought the call had been disconnected, but
then I heard his voice. "Are you kidding me?"

He barked, "I dropped you off!"

Now it was my turn to be silent.

Embarrassed, I said, "Well, come and get me."

He retorted, "I will, as soon as I convince this cop that I didn't steal
your dang car!"

Welcome to the golden years...........

It started....

..... Spring that is!

When I was letting Charlie and the girls out for breakfast yesterday morning, I heard the most wonderful sound:

They're back!

Huge flocks of them kept flying over all day! This bunch was flying pretty low, so I guess these will stay around here. A lot of the other flocks were heading North, too - but they were like tiny dots in the sky and the camera wouldn't pick them up. But I sure could hear them!.

Let the gang out for a bit before it started to rain:

And spotted these:

Yippee!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Wouldn't do it for a million dollars....

From: http://flight.cz/cricri/english/

History of the most famous French plane called Cri-Cri

The whole story of Cri-Cri airplane, the world's smallest twin-engined aircraft, begun in 1971, when CriCri's aircraft designer Michel Colomban set his goal to build a very small and economical plane powered by two little engines, that would be capable of flying even some aerobatics. They say, that he also wanted not to exceed his budget over 1000 USD including two engines, which was quite hard to believe even in early 70s :-)
Constructional time took around 1500 working hours, spread to couple of years. The plane became reality in 1973 and was given a name after Michel Comomban's daughter, who was also often called 'Cri-Cri'.
Cri-Cri's maiden flight was performed by test pilot Robert Buisson. It took place at 'Guyancourt Airport' on 19th July 1973, just stone's throw from Paris. After some pre-flight landing gear tests, Michel with Robert decided to change CriCri's current two-wheeled gear to more safe three-wheeled gear. Later on, everything was prepared for take-off. Robert gave it some gas and the aircraft smoothly accelerated to 100 km/hour just within eight seconds and took wing above runway...

Is it ultralight or aerobatic plane?

Nowadays it's been more than thirty years, since Cri-Cri had it's first flight, but CriCri's legend is still living, and I think, it will be living for many future years, because construction of this plane is extremely dateless.
On whole world is now registered more than one hundred-fifty Cri-Cries in many construction versions, with different engines, etc. Majority of them flies in their native country (France). It's over 110 planes, the second country is the USA with over twenty registered planes. The United Kingdom, Germany and Canada is following.
Unfortunately, there is no sign about this georgeous ultralight homebuilt plane in the middle or Eastern Europe, so probably everyone who built it would become the very first owner in this part of the world, where I came from.
Many people are in love to this plane mainly because of its fantastic combination of 'ultralight plane' dimensions and high performances. What is really seriously interesting is that it is real to fly an aerobatics with the Cri-Cri, which you can watch in our Cri-Cri video gallery.

Today's funny :o)

Not much...

...going on in Coopville - just a breezy and cool outside.

Hubby went around the yard picking up all the twigs and branches that had been buried under
the snow.

I just let the gang stay out in the yard for a while to get some exercise: