Been sunny out for 2 days now and the grass is getting dry, but the ground is still soggy. Been cleaning up around getting ready to put fences in around the field. It looks like the clover is growing good, but hard to say if it is actually the clover I planted or what. I have this Friday off and I’m hoping to get things ready for the fence. The new post hole auger takes 2 people, so I’ll have to wait until Saturday when Jeanne can help me, but I’m hoping to get things laid out and posts put up Saturday. Gotta get the fence up and get the birds out in the pasture.
I’m also hoping to get things planted in the garden. Have a lot of plants in containers out on the deck and they need to get in the ground as soon as I can work it. Got a good jump on the weeds by tilling up the garden area, and hoping I can keep ahead. Picked up several retread tires from the highway that are perfect for raised beds. Now we just need to get things organized.
And Edith appears to be still setting on the turkey eggs outside the little house, and the longer she sits there the stronger the urge will be for her to stay on that nest and not jump from nest to nest. Didn’t go inside and check on the turkey eggs in the box, so we’ll see how that goes. There are 2 turkey eggs in the chicken coop and I’m just leaving them there. See what happens when the numbers get bigger.
In no particular order and I'll try to get captions on them soon.
Spent $400 on tires a few weeks back for the van, and since then we have had 2 flats. Both the back tires, picked up something on the high way. So the last time I took Gavin with me to get it fixed. He loved the “Marshmallow Man” and checking out the new tires and such. Was a great time for both of us.
We have been doing a unit on Ponds at school, and so I have been using my resources here to help make things come alive for the kids. So I took 2 fish from our Molly tank and they are in a small aquarium on the counter. They are ok, the kids can’t see them as well as other things, but they like them. And we bought 3 ducks that we shared with another classroom and the kids got to hold and see and stuff and that was really cool for them. And Jeanne’s mom has a turtle named Golden that they picked up several years ago down by Golden City. So I took him and the kids went nuts over him. We let them touch him and he crawled around on the floor at first. Had the kids sit with their legs stretched out to form an area for him to crawl in and he kept crawling over one of the girls legs. It was so cool. Then we took him outside with us for recess and more kids got to see him. Let him crawl around in the grass and clover. He ate some of it. One of the other classes came and got him and played with him for a while. Then we did it again in the afternoon, letting him crawl around and the kids touched him, and out on the playground. He spent the night and on Tuesday the kids got to see him again. Wasn’t as big a deal the second day, and didn’t let the kids gang up on him quite as much. Some one was supposed to bring pollywogs to put in the fish tank, but so far, nothing.
I took Yaco to school one day when no kids were there, so we could check her out and I could see how she does. Later when we do the zoo unit or something I’ll take her again. She was there for just one day and didn’t talk much or make much noise. Of course as soon as we got her home, she made lots of noise. Go figure. Someone came to me and asked if I had baby ducks. I didn’t, so they asked where they might get some. They wanted them for a day or two to show the kids. I was going to keep them when they finished, and then decided that wasn’t right. So we bought 3 ducks, 1 male and 2 females. We were going to get the Khaki kind, but they didn’t have them, so we got Rouen Ducks. Actually, Jeanne got them on her break, the hatchery is just down the road from her work, and then she brought them to me at lunch. They are really cute. And we have them in the brooder at home now with the 2 geese that hatched in the house.
Put 28 turkey eggs in the incubator. Now I am really going to try to not collect eggs and let the hens set on them. There is a Narragansett hen in the front yard sitting on 8 eggs. Wish she had more but too late to do anything about it. In the peacock cage, there are 2 turkey hens, Brownie and a Narragansett, plus Edith. Well, there is a nest inside the little dog house thing and one on the outside. Both turkeys were laying eggs, sometimes in the nest outside, but sometimes the one inside. Edith was laying in the one inside. Sometimes a turkey would go inside the box and lay an egg, and in appears that at least one of Edith’s eggs were broken, I assume from being stepped on. So yesterday, Edith was on the nest inside and the Narragansett was on the outside one. It would appear she got off after laying an egg, because initially there were 6 eggs, but later in the day there were 8 eggs and no one was on it. So tonight I went out and Edith is on the 8 turkey eggs in the nest outside and the Narragansett hen was inside the box with 4 Edith eggs and 1 turkey egg. So I took the Edith eggs and brought them in the house, and left the single egg under the Narragansett. And it is all Edith can do to cover the 8 turkey eggs, but I’m leaving her there. I don’t really care who sits on which nest, as long as they don’t set on them and start he incubation process and then get off and let the eggs cool and die. So need to watch that. And I’m not sure how to separate them so they won’t be so tempted to swap nests.
Both goslings in the house are doing great. I attribute that mostly to the even temps under Emmy during incubation. The 2 chicks are also doing pretty good.
Took mom’s turtle, Golden, to school today and he was a big hit. The kids loved him and got to play with him and hold him and everything. We took him outside at recess and let him walk in the grass. He didn’t hide at all in his shell. The fish at school are still doing good, too.
The weather has been rainy all weekend, big thunderstorms and flash floods. So the ground in soaked again. Will be the end of the week before I can get into the garden to plant things. Speaking of which, repotted a lot of the plants and they are on the deck. Think I have gotten a better start on the garden this year, just need to keep up with things. Starting to get plans and ideas about how to fix things around here, the trees and the yard and the field. This winter I’ll need to do some landscaping and work out the drainage so that these spring rains don’t affect us quite so much each year. Need to make paths to walk on and get in fences, make the paddocks for animals and such.
Well seems I haven’t written in here in ages. Sorry. Life has been kind of busy. Seems we get home from work and take care of the animals and get dinner, then it’s time for bed. And with out going back and figuring out exactly where I last wrote, I’ll just kind of try to catch things up with the latest info.
Must be Easter Sunday I was out collecting eggs and thought I heard some peep noises coming from under Emmy. I had calculated she should hatch about the 15th, so that is about 5 days early. So Monday when I was collecting eggs, I peeked in and sure enough, there was a baby looking out over her shoulder. And something smelled bad, too. I set out a bowl of game starter and a small waterer, mostly for the chicks. See how that works. Well, tonight when we got home, I forced Emmy off the nest and collected all the eggs that were under her. And left the 2 goslings there with here. These are the first babies to hatch under a mom on the farm. All the rest have come from the incubators.
I didn’t want to just pitch the eggs, so Gavin and I took them out in the field and dug a hole. Think we had 1 turkey egg and about 2 goose eggs we had taken from the nest. The turkey egg looked like it probably wasn’t fertile, and was soupy nasty. 2 of the goose eggs had developed almost the whole way and died, for what ever reason. 2 more eggs popped I cracked them. They were the ones that stunk, and boy were they nasty! I had a small knife and would chip into the egg near the large end where the air pocket is, and these two just pooped like balloons. One goose egg when I cracked it started to bleed, and I noticed movement, so I stopped and saved it. The last one started chirping when I broke the shell, so I took both of them inside and put them in the hatcher with the other eggs. I have a handful of chicken eggs in there, one of which had started to pip. I think the last one I can save, but I wasn’t sure about the first one that bled. And I didn’t feel that putting them back under Emmy was the best thing to do right now. I also assumed that it had been 2 plus days since the first chicks had hatched and that all the eggs had hatched that were going to. Guess I was wrong. Still hoping I can save at least the one, maybe even both of them.
Of all the goose eggs I had in the incubator, only one hatched and I helped that too much. Ended up with a crocked neck and had to put it down. Sad day. But I have about 40 turkey eggs and several chicken eggs in the incubators and they should start hatching soon. Because chicken eggs take less time, I only have chicken eggs this week, but starting next week we should have both turkeys and chickens hatch every week. The group I put in last week had 26 eggs in it.
But now I have started to let the eggs collect in nests and plan to let the moms set on them and see how many hatch. The worst that can happen is we get no babies. I don’t plan to totally give up my incubators, but if I can have them share the burden of raising babies and still get more, then I will. I can still collect a full set of eggs for the incubators, and then let them lay enough to fill their nests. So we are starting a new era here. Another reason we feel confident in doing this is we put a couple of hens in the peacock cage and so they are well protected, and we have the dogs running around and they should help keep predators at bay. Unless they get the birds themselves.
Came home the other day and Bear was chewing on the wing of one of the red babies. I guess they are about 9 weeks old and getting pretty good sized by now, but still the babies here. Later we found the head and neck, guess he ate the rest. Tied it around his neck. The next day found him chewing on one of the Barred Rock babies. Put him in the pen we had used for the dog in the past. Then the next day we caught Nakita eating eggs out of the coop. We knew that eggs had been disappearing, sometimes almost right before our eyes. We just happened to catch her this time. So she got locked up too. So now the routine is Marshmallow is on her chain all day and the pups are penned up. After all the birds are put away for the night, some nights we let Marshmallow run free all night, like last night. Tonight, we let her run for a half hour or so, then chained her back up and let the pups out. They will stay near her and sleep in the dog house. This way they all get some free time to roam and we get dog coverage. Until we can spend more time to work with them, this is going to have to work.
Speaking of babies, they really like their new run. They had eaten the grass and such down to almost nothing, so we moved their fence to give them fresh grass. It looks like the clover seed I planted has gotten off to a good start. Could use some more rain to help it along, but so far it is looking good. Bought some cedar posts to start on the fence, and looking at a power auger for drilling fence post holes, so we can get that all put in. Then I need to build the field coop for the birds, and move the babies out of the mini-coop and into it. That way, I can get it ready for the next round of babies that will go into it, the turkeys and such that are in the incubators. Haven’t figured out exactly how to deal with momma’s and their babies after they hatch, to keep them separate from the rest of the birds, keep the babies safe and still make sure they have access to feed and water. Working on the plan.
And seems lots of classes at school are working on the “Pond” unit so I had several requests for babies. Since I don’t have any, they have decided to buy some. And since they don’t know what to do with them when they get done, I’m buying into it and then the birds will be mine. So the plan right now is to get 3 Rouen ducks, 2 females and 1 male. They will be the next breed of bird we raise here on the farm. They are a good egg laying breed and are also supposed to be a good meat duck.
And so far, the garden is rototilled, but not planted. Just a few items here and there, and some potatoes.
Weather real quick. We had the warmest March on record, with weeks in the upper 70s and even an 80 degree day I think. Well, those days appear to be over for a while, and we are back to spring weather. The low tonight is expected to be in upper 30s and they have issued a frost alert for several counties, so we brought in the tropical plants from the deck. Was in the 70’s yesterday, but only mod 60’s today. But all in all, think spring is here to stay. After this, as soon as I get the chance, the garden in going on full force. I have many plants started and ready to plant out. Have several trays hardening off on the back deck.
Also have plans for the yard and such, and going to build timber frames around the trees and a flower bed next to house using landscaping timbers. And we got a 12x12 foot pond liner and filter box, so we can build a small fish pond under/near the deck. I still have the old pool liner and will probably try to salvage a piece of that and make a bigger pool, then use the piece we bought to make a bigger filter unit.
Today was quite the day. Started with not wanting to get up, but then again, that isn’t special or unusual. Driving thru Buffalo on the way to work sounded like we ran over something. Stopped down the road a ways and checked the tires, but couldn’t see anything wrong, hear or feel any leaks or find something sticking out of the tire. So we drove on in to Springfield, about 50 miles by the time we go to Jeanne’s moms house and everything. Then I went and got gas before going to work. Didn’t have to take Jeanne to work this morning because she went to an appointment with her mom.
Then this afternoon while we were out for the afternoon recess, the announced on the PA system that a white van in the parking lot had a flat tire. Yep, that’s me. And I knew exactly which tire it was and where it happened. So I used the portable air pump to pump up the tire some, get it off the rim until I could get it fixed. After school I pumped it up more, then headed across town to Big O tires. They installed the new tires in it a few weeks ago and fix the flats for free. Took less than an hour to drive there, and get it fixed. They took a piece out of the tire that looks like it came from the edge of an aluminum rim. It’s about 3 inches long. Amazing that it didn’t completely trash the tire, and that we were able to drive on it all the way to work.
Came home and the pups were still in the chicken yard. I put some boards up in the corner where they were getting out, and guess that helped. Checked eggs and we got our first turkey egg. Not sure who laid it or anything, it was in the nest box up in the wall with some other chicken eggs. So we will see if we start getting more turkey eggs.
Then we went out in the garden and did a little work in it. Mostly I wanted to plant the potatoes that were under the cabinet. First I used the tiller and worked up the ground, then we flopped the big tractor tire around and got a couple of large truck tires form the field. That made 3 sets of tires. I dug down in the soil and planted the potatoes. Some of them had pretty long sprouts on them, so laid some over and a few stood up strait, then added soil around them. On top of that I put some fresh straw and filled the tires up. I also used the rake to loosen the soil in the raised beds I made the other day and then covered them with straw too. For the potatoes, when the plants get big enough and start showing through the straw, I’ll add another tire on top and add more straw. Somewhere along the line I figure I’ll also need to add some type of fertilizer, maybe some of the composted straw I remove from the coop later. Not sure if I plan to clean out the coop this year or not.
The raised beds I’m building I plan to keep using for several years right where they are this year. That will help me with my plant rotation too. And I’ll try to add new ones to them as we go along. There will still be some areas for a while that I do not have raised beds in. Some of those will be corn, my melons and large vine plants. Some I’ll try to train to grow up a fence, and some of the vines can even grow through the corn and help shade the roots. Other than weeding and watering, I really don’t need to get into the corn or the squash and pumpkins and such until I harvest them. So that will be a good dual use of the space. And it should help keep the weeds down.
We have done pretty good so far in tilling the ground and removing the roots and such to get things ready to plant. I need to do some PM’s on the tiller, and then tear up the rest of the garden area. Plan to make a real effort to keep ahead of the weeds this year. I have a lot more in the garden than we are ever going to be able to use, more so because we don’t all eat vegetables and such. I’ll give some to Jeanne’s mom, to people at work or what ever. If we have enough, the thought is to try to sell some of it at the Farmers Market on the weekends, or when ever. We’ll see. We got some tomato seeds the other night, made sure they weren’t hybrid types, and put a bunch in baggies to sprout. So I figure tomorrow night when I get home they’ll be starting to grow and I’ll need to put them in little grow pots. Looked at the other stuff I have sprouted, and I have 2 Rose Mary plants and about 8 Thyme plants. Guess I better find a use for thyme. And plant more Rose Mary. And I need to work harder at getting Oregano to sprout. Evidently didn’t do to well with it the first time.
And lastly, in two days, on the fifteenth, the new list of jobs comes out. Not like I’m excited about it or counting days or anything. Lol. Can’t wait.
We had a nice weekend. Saturday the sun shined and we cleaned the living room and the plants. Tried to get rid of all the fine dust left from the chicks in the house. I got some of my seeds planted and the starts put into small pots, and the lights set up on the shelf. Planted the rose bushes in pots.
Then I went out in the garden and rototilled parts of it. Put in 3 of the frames for raised beds and tilled up several other areas. I didn’t actually plant anything yet, just got the ground ready. Also 2 or 3 of the Oregano plants from last year actually made it through the winter. I took the covers off them and they are looking pretty good. I am totally shocked that they survived the cold. I hadn’t even given it a thought that they would, but when I found them, I tried to protect them some. Of course by then, most of the bad parts of winter was over. And I think they are the kind of Oregano I labeled as “Other” Oregano. It just smells and tastes different, better. And so I’m hoping to get more of it this year. I also bought a Rosemary and Lavender plant at Wal-Mart. I have some I’m trying to grow from seed, but I wanted to be sure I had some. And I’m starting to run out of what I have in dried from last year.
I accidentally killed my Rosemary last fall. I trimmed it way back and figured it would grow back. But I have since learned from reading that Rosemary is one of those strange plants that does not grow new buds. You can trim off parts and it will keep growing from the terminal buds. But if you cut off all the terminal buds, it will not grow any new buds or shoots like regular plants will. What happens is the plant dies. I thought I was just trimming them back for winter and coming inside. Instead, I killed them.
We had gone to the MFA store here and bought about 5 pounds of clover seed. I think it is red clover, I’m just sure it isn’t Ladino clover. It came with some kind of coating on it, could be an inoculant or something to help with handling the seed, not sure. Anyway, got the seed and went out just before dark Saturday evening and scattered the seed by hand over the area we plan to fence off. It covered the area pretty well. I’ll just have to see how it grows and survives the summer drought. Saturday night we got some pretty good rain, and during the day Sunday. So I went out Sunday and checked on the seed. The seed was still visible some, but had been worked down into the ground pretty well. I had forgotten to save a few seeds to test sprout inside. So I gathered up a few and brought them inside.
And in the process of doing things and checking stuff, we found the first egg Edith laid in the peacock pen. So she has finally come of age! Will have to keep an eye on her and keep Hot Rod away from her. Not sure what we plan to do with the eggs, I’ll probably try to hatch them and sell the chicks. Not sure that we want to raise very many of these smaller birds. They may be small, but I’m telling you, both of them have some personality! We’ll see what happens.
So Sunday it Rained and we didn’t do much outside. Grilled a tri-tip steak again. Has become a habit, almost a tradition that I hope we continue for a long time. On Sundays, especially when it is nice weather outside, we grill out. We got this steak Friday night and marinated it until Sunday. Then we put it on the smoker and smoke it using pear wood for the smoke. Takes about 3 hours or so. Oh, and we watch the Nascar Races while it smokes. Something new I am learning to enjoy with my new wife. Jimmy Johnson, #48 is our favorite. So about two thirds of the way into the race, the power goes out. Came on and off for a while, but eventually stayed off for over 2 hours. Good thing we were grilling or dinner would have been a poor fare. Had steak and steak fries from the grill. And just as we were getting ready to eat, the power came back on. Nice, as it was getting dark also. We also changed our clocks ahead one hour to Day Light Savings Time. But guess that is a whole other story. Not sure how I feel about it. Monday it really sucked because we aren’t used to it yet, and we had to get up in the dark again. We did like the extra daylight hours when we got home. So we’ll see.
Monday night we tilled up another section in the garden. Then we planted some of the lettuce plants and onion bulbs in it, along with some peas, beets and lettuce seeds. I didn’t have carrot seeds with me or would have planted some of them, too. We got another egg from Edith, but I dropped it and it broke. Emmy has 8 eggs in her nest and hope she starts to really sit on them soon. We got 5 other eggs from chickens, too. Moved a bale of straw into the coop and moved the Dog Igloo into the coop. Tried to get the pups to sleep in it, but don’t think that will work. Maybe the turkeys or something will use it for a nest box.
Moved 4 goose eggs to the hatcher, should hatch any day now.
Been a while since I wrote on here, so let me try to catch up.
One week ago. Took 3 of the chicks we hatched in January back to school a week ago. The kids loved them, they got to hold them and pet them. The ones that weren’t afraid of them any way. It was really an experience for them. Even some of the teachers and staff loved it, lol. Was interesting. Have 12 geese eggs in the incubator right now. The turkeys haven’t started laying yet, but hoping will have turkey eggs to incubate soon. Have 33 chickens we hatched in January, and all of the roosters are destined for the freezer or the canning jar in about 2 months.
Thursday night I took some of the chicks outside and put them in a pen outside our window. It was on the West side of the house and got the afternoon sun. I put a light in it and put up some blankets to form an area that was warmer. We put blankets over the sides and closed it in really well. I put half the chicks out there, the ones we think are roosters. They spent 2 nights out there and seemed to do alright. One of the problems was it didn’t get any sun until afternoon and another was only half the chicks were in it.
So today we moved the mini-coop from the garden out to the field beyond. I cleaned the area up and Jeanne helped me move the big pen and set it up. Then we moved the mini-coop and placed it next to the pen. I cut a new hole in the fence and stapled it to the side of the mini-coop. Because the problem we had last year was the chicks were either in the coop or in the pen. But now I can open the mini-coop and just leave it when we go to work, and the birds can come out when they want to.
I was hoping to get out in the garden and till up some of it so I can plant stuff soon. I have a few plants started in the house. The Broccoli and the lettuce didn’t sprout very well. The Thyme did really well, and I only got 2 Rose Mary plants. I still need to start more plants inside for the garden. I also need to get the seed for the field to grow clover.
I did a pre-screening interview for teaching positions with Springfield Public Schools, the other day and think I did pretty well. The next round on internal transfers begins 15 March, when positions get posted. They have to be up for 10 days, and then on 26 March, schools can begin interviewing. My name is in the hat for any positions I am qualified for, I don’t need to do anything. I just need to check out the positions and prepare for interviews. In the first round, there were 3 science positions. So either they are still open, or they got filled and now there are open positions where those people came from. So there are positions available, and chances are there could be additional ones also. One of them is with at risk kids. and I think I could enjoy working there, and have a real shot at making a positive difference in their lives. So now, just kind of wait and see what happens.
Oh, and in case you heard about our tornadoes. We did have one a few miles down the road from our place and one person died. Several mobile homes were destroyed, and Buffalo was with out power for 2 days. We never even lost power at our place. Got woke up by the rain and the wind, but no damage near us. The plastic lawn chair in the yard didn’t even get blown away.
Last week. We started putting the puppies in the chicken coop to sleep at night, and then they hang out in the chicken yard with them all day. Bear sleeps under the nest boxes and Nikita sleeps just inside the door. We have the light set to provide light until about 830pm each day, so we put them out in the coop a little after 8 each night. That gives the birds enough time to settle down for the night after we put them away, and then the pups go in and lay down for the night. Has worked pretty well so far. We are betting that by growing up with the birds, they will be less inclined to chase them or kill them. We know there could be accidents, and think we are prepared to accept those. We have been reading books on training dogs and ways to train Pyrenees especially, and how to work with birds. Did a lot of research on the tying the dead bird around their necks thing, and in my opinion it is the best way to go. And I’m trying to take a different view of training the dogs and how they see things and feel about stuff, and how they learn. So far the pups have been great. Mom has been the issue. Jeanne caught her chasing the birds one day, and she had Brownie pinned down and was playing with her. Bit all her tail feathers off, and lost some of her wing feathers, but there wasn’t a scratch on the bird. Now she just looks funny with no tail.
Stopped collecting the goose eggs. We have 7 in the incubator and 4 in the hatcher. Those 4 should start hatching Monday or Tuesday. Then 3 next week and 4 the weeks after that. There are 5 eggs in the nest in the coop now. She sits in them every night, but gets off them in the day time. That is the way geese do it. And so each evening, I have to go in and reach under her to get the chicken eggs, because she moved form the nest she built into the dog carrier I put out there and now the chickens all lay in her nest. We only got 2 eggs today, and 6 yesterday, 5 the day before. Not sure what the deal is. And we got our first egg from Edith today. Not sure what I’m going to do with it. I put it in the closet and will see if we get many more.
Bought 3 rose bushes and some herbs. Planted the roses in pots in the living room. Will grow them there for a while and then plant them in the yard when the weather has warmed up. Also started some seeds. I put some in the other day and they are in little pots now. Filled up the starter tray last night with cabbage, broccoli, beets, 2 kinds of lettuce, egg plants, cilantro, marigolds and some other flowers. Then today I cleaned all the plants under the stands in the house and got them organized. They were all covered with this fine, white dust film from having the baby chicks in the house. I also tilled up the garden some, set up 3 raised beds and burned most of the dead blackberry stalks and such. Jeanne helped me pick the plants out of the tilled areas. Didn’t plant anything outside yet. The peacocks came in the garden and “helped” me. The alternated between pecking at my fingers and the weeds I was pulling. Every now and then one of them would grab a weed and run with it. Other times they’d get my fingers. Not sure what it is about fingers, but they seem to love them.
The baby chicks are doing fine, and 33 is just about the limit of that small coop. The pen isn’t too big for them either. I need to take some of the new fencing out and fence off an area around the cage they can get to when we are home. They are still vulnerable to attack from the air by hawks or eagles or owls even. We also go some clover seed and I spread it in the field. We got 5 pounds at MFA today, and I broadcast it by hand just before dark to night. The seed looked like it was treated, or covered with something that should help it grow better, or maybe just make the seed bigger and easier to handle. At any rate, I waited until just before dark to lessen the chances of birds or something eating the seed. It is supposed to rain tonight, quite a bit, and so my the morning I hoping the seed will be worked at least to the ground layer and maybe less visible to animals. And the rain should help it to get started growing. We are expecting some warm weather the next week, with days in the 70’s and night in the upper 40’s to lower 50’s. 10th of March and not sure if we’ve seen our last frost or not. We got a good one Wednesday and Thursday night. Got down to 28 one night and 31 the other. Those were the first freeze we’ve had in a week or more. And no more are in the forecast right now.
This week the jobs get posted for internal transfers at work. And yes, I am very excited about it.
The Oscars have been acting like they are wanting to nest, or breed. They keep clearing out the gravel from around a rock I placed at the bottom for just such a reason. But the Pleco fish keep harassing them. Think the Pleco would eat the eggs given the chance and the Oscars couldn’t stop them. So I’m going to measure and see if I can get something to separate the tank and put the Plecos on one side the Oscars on the other. Haven’t decided what to do about pools outside this summer, but the plan is to turn the old pool into a fish pond and put the large Pleco in it. Think he’d be good in the tank the birds drink out of, just not sure what I’d do with him in the winter.
Well it has been another weekend and we feel like we have gotten a lot done. We got the pups and mom wormed this weekend. We used a goat wormer that is the same thing for dogs, just comes in a liquid and is cheaper than the dog stuff. You give them a dose each day for 3 days. Monday will be day three. Forgot to do Mom Saturday, so she gets it Monday and Tuesday. Today we saw, or Jeanne saw, a couple of worms in their poop. We thought they might have worms and weren’t sure if we would be able to see them. If I had a good microscope we’d look at them with it, and try to learn more about them. And maybe when I have my own classroom I can do that in the class. Probably on my won and not as class project. Have to check on that.
It wasn’t the best of weekends for weather, but it did warm up both days. Sunday was in the upper 50s and warmer than Saturday, but they wind was awful. We moved the small cage with the bottom up next to the house where the afternoon sun would shine on it and put up plywood around the edge to help protect from the wind. We took the chicks out about noon or so and brought them back in about 5pm.
Marshmallow has been acting strange the last few days. She rough houses with the pups too much when they are out, so we had to chain her up for a while. The pups would go out for hours and then peep or poop the second they came back in the house. Mom just wasn’t allowing them time to do their business. And she hasn’t been eating like she should. Today Jeanne saw her chasing a chicken, so we went out and had to chain her up again. Then we went looking for the chickens. Not sure if any of the pups were involved or not. We found all the peacocks up in a tree and several of the turkeys. All the chickens were hiding in the coop on the top roost. Found Edith hiding in the weeds on the far side of the newer trailer where she goes with the peacocks. Not sure where Archie was hiding, but we looked for him for a long time, and then he just showed up eating some of the bread we threw out to the birds.
I planted some seeds and the lettuce and several herbs are showing thru. The broccoli hasn’t sprouted yet. I didn’t have any cabbage seeds, so had to get some of them. I also need to plant a few Marigolds. We are planning to grow some of them for the school kids so they can take them home to mom, and I need to figure out how long it takes to get them a good size to send home.
Have 8 geese eggs in incubator, and candled them a few times and looks like they are doing great. I have 3 more, and hope to get the 4th one tonight or in the morning and put those in also. Not sure exactly what I'll do with the goslings, but will figure that out later. May try my hand at sexing them and think about keeping another female.
Wednesday afternoon I have a pre-screening interview for teaching positions this fall. So I’ve been working on my resume, redoing it and stressing over that. Think I have it to an acceptable level. And with everything others have done for me to get to this point, guess I have to get the actual teaching job on my own. Just a little nervous. So spent most of today looking at things and reviewing them, and imagining my own classroom, things that could come up and how I’ll handle them, or answer questions during the interview.
Over time I have had a few thought run through my head, and I’ve shared them with a few people. So today I decided to put most of it down in writing. In doing so, I realized that in order to make it a more professional paper, I need to do some research and gather more data.
The general thoughts of it revolve around the two most commonly asked questions by students:
1. Why do I have to learn this?
2. When am I ever going to use this?
And I think I have come up with legitimate answers to both questions. Just in the process of writing it down, I asked myself an additional question. How did our educational system get where it is today? I mean, there was a time when only the rich and well to do were either able or allowed to get an education. Even the ability to read and write was considered above the average person.
Specifically I need to learn more about the early days of public education, and how it changed over time. I need to find some documentation and fill in the blanks, but I’m under the impression that at one point people begged to go to school, they fit it in around all the other things they needed to do in their daily life. And they did what ever the teacher asked them to do. If there were discipline problems in school, the individual just was not allowed to continue their education. Of course, on the flip side, there was probably a very obvious connection between what they were being taught, the work assigned to them in school and the real world. That connection is not so obvious in our school systems today. Some where along the way we have added all these things to our schools as society has changed, and some of them are being driven by the testing requirements being imposed on schools by local and federal regulators.
And that is another subject that needs to reviewed and evaluated. Specifically does the No Child Left Behind law actually improve either our schools or the scores of students? Do the mandated End of Course exams or National Standardized tests actually measure what they say? Is it realistic to expect that by placing extra demands on schools we can narrow the gap between the upper and lower performing students? Is it appropriate to hold teachers accountable for students scores on standardized tests, and not the students themselves? Even more so when there is such wide variance in the tests utilized, or when their validity is questioned by professionals in a position to know such things?
But those questions and musings will be left for another day. And the Paper.
Answers to Those Questions
There was a time when public education did not exist. Education was a privilege and normally only the rich and well to do were allowed. Even beyond an in-depth education, it was not that long ago the majority of the public did not know how to read or write. But some where over time, the concept and mentality of the requirement for education has changed, both in the system and how it operates and in the student and the effort that is expended in taking advantage of the opportunities presented.
It used to be that the education was very general, and in some terms “simple”, and it was fit in around the other activities that life back then required. School was usually held in a one room building, and the same person taught all subjects. There were few text books, there was no internet or audio visual materials.
So where are we today and how did we get here? Today we have students in class who do not want to be there, students who don’t understand why they have to take this course or why they have to learn this stuff. We have students who learn material long enough to complete the exam at the end of the unit or course, but do not actually know anything that can be applied to a different scenario. The biggest questions that get asked by today’s students are:
1. Why do I have to learn this?
2. When am I ever going to use this?
The answers to these questions are similar and very simple, yet at the same time they are also complex and reveal what I view as a disconnection between The Real World and The World of Education. But first let’s look at some of the things we expect students to learn or know, but no one is ever going to ask them questions about or test them on. We expect students to be organized, to organize their back packs, their lockers at school and their time, both during school and after school. We expect them to manage their time and complete all their assigned work. We expect them to be civil to each other and to respect those around them. We expect them to take pride in their work and to accomplish all they can, to work to their fullest potential. We expect them to prepare for an adult life outside of the school environment as a productive member of society.
Question number one; Why do I have to learn this? I don’t expect many students to fully understand or appreciate the answer, but the fact is students are expected to learn this because they are told to. At first glance, that may seem like a flippant or arrogant answer, but we are preparing students for an adult life outside the school, in the real world, correct? And how many adults do you know that have ever had a job where they were not told to do something they didn’t want to do? Truth is, being a productive member of society almost always means getting and holding down a job. This job, virtually any job, provides money that can be used to purchase the material things needed in life: A place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear and recreational things. I am not aware of a single job that at some point does not entail being told to do something we do not understand or want to do. This may seem like a stretch, and while I am certain we can find other valid reasons for doing things in school, we must also admit that this is a legitimate reason for learning things in school.
So on to question number two; When am I ever going to use this? The answer to this question is just as simple as question number one but let’s look at it this way. Suppose you and I are out some where together eating and you suddenly choke on your food. Now do you want me to run out and learn the Heimlich maneuver since I now have a need to use it, or would you prefer that I learned it at some point, never knowing if or when I was going to use it, so I can attempt to restore your breathing right now? And there in lies the answer. Some of the material taught in school we may never use, we just do not know. But again, learning to be a productive member of society means following the rules and conforming to the system. This means if the law says you have to go to school and the school system requires you to complete this course or project in or to get a degree, then it doesn’t matter if you think it is wrong or silly or pointless. Just as much as if you were to argue with a Police Officer that you think the speed limit should be 45mph, not 35mph and therefore you should not get a ticket for driving 45mph there.
This brings up one final point. There are some students who feel they are very knowledgeable about society and how things work and think they are, or should be, in a position to decide what is right and what is wrong and what is best for them. While some of students may in fact have good ideas, there is a correct way to get accomplish or implement change, and blatant disregard or distain for rules is not the best way to do that.
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