news n stuff

I found out today that "Sunday Morning" was accepted into the State Fair Fine Art show! Yay! That rocks, I'm excited that I got a scrimshaw piece in there! I am a little bummed that they didn't accept "Thankful" but that's okay, I'll live.

I have not decided if I will be showing birds there this year, it depends if anything looks like it might be in show shape, and also if any of my usual cohorts will be there to hang out with.

The second batch of chicks hatched on the weekend. The hatch rate has been really good. I'm getting pretty low numbers of chicks though because egg production is tapering off a lot, so I'm just not setting all that many. I'm only going to set 6 batches of eggs (6 weeks worth) so whatever I get is what I get, hopefully a decent number! I don't think I can deal with more than that. This all still feels half-hearted at best, which is hard to admit and I'm still not sure what to do about it.

The belt buckle is coming along FABulously well (inside joke that three people might laugh at!). Really, it looks great, can't wait to show you. My technique is a little "heavier" on this piece so that it will hold up well to being worn. I love my AirGraver! Make no mistake, it's all still by hand, but it sure speeds up work on solid-color areas and lines. Anything other than those two areas I still do with an etching needle.

Shylah is back on a diet. Sigh. That horse...

I think the baby Barn Swallows might have hatched. It's been a rough year for them. There are two nests outside the front door, have been for years. The First Female was nesting in Nest #2 a month or so ago, until one of the Evil Henchbirds (aka House Sparrows) killed her. One of these Evil Henchbirds has killed babies and destroyed eggs before, but this shocked me, and was REALLY sad. :-( The male stuck around, always out there singing and singing. About a week later her showed up with a new lady on his wing. Second Female. She checked out the digs and picked Nest #1, did some repairs, got the place fixed up, and I think the babies are hatched. I don't know how to keep those #$%&ing Sparrows away though, so I'm worried.

There are two Kestel boxes on the property. I think the ones that were nesting in the pasture have already fledged, though I never saw it happen. But I don't see them out there any more, and now the box in the corrals has a nesting pair. Hopefully I can keep a better eye on these ones and get some photos! I know there are baby Western Bluebirds out in the pasture now, I could hear them when I was out riding the other day.

I think that's enough jabbering for today.