bunnies and chicks...chicks and bunnies

I haven't posted anything about animals lately, so it's time.

We have rabbits. We got them in April. Our intent is to breed, raise, and eat rabbit meat. Miss Kat is in charge of the rabbits. She does a pretty good job with them, but she's rather possessive of them and has informed us that we can't eat any of these rabbits, because she loves them...like we ever listen to her! Our thought is, once we start having baby rabbits, she'll want to get rid of some of the bigger rabbits, so we can safely butcher and she won't notice....that's the plan.

And you all know how my planning works. Yep.

Have you ever tried to sex a rabbit? Well, it ain't easy. Kim and I sexed the rabbits. We determined we had 2 females and 7 males. That's a little off for breeding purposes. We ideally should have 7 females and 2 males.

But, we bred one of our females. We bred her once, it didn't take. Wasn't sure if the male knew what he was doing, or if the female didn't know what she was doing. I do know that some of the time, the male was backwards, trying to mate with her head. I do know that at times, the female was on top.

Neither are conducive to a successful mating. The rabbits might have enjoyed themselves, but this kind of behavior really doesn't result in baby rabbits.

So we (really I) tried again. This time, the male "fell off" upon completion. The book says that he'll "fall off" when he's successful. Of course, he'll be ready again pretty quickly, but he should grunt and fall off. Ok then. He did, and he was in the right position, and so was she. We waited.

Last Thursday, I told Kev and Kim, that we'd probably have to mate the female again because it evidently didn't take. I'd been following the directions of the book...I'd put straw in the cage, 3 days or so before her due date, but she'd eat the straw instead of making a nest. So, I assumed it didn't take, and our 31 days were over. (Gestation for rabbits is 28-31 days.)

On Friday night, as I was helping Miss Kat do chores, we discovered 4 baby rabbits in a small nest of fur. What a surprise! I checked them to make sure all were alive, and we left them alone. Lollipop, the new Mom, seemed protective, they all seemed to be well fed. We were excited with these little ratty looking lumps of babies. One disappeared over the weekend. We assumed that it had died and that Lollipop had eaten it, common behavior. But, on Tuesday night, we discovered 3 dead babies. Lollipop had evidently thrown them all over the cage, because they were scattered and quite dead. Also fairly common rabbit behavior.

The book assures me that she can still become a good mommy, and to give her three tries to raise babies. Miss Kat was sad, but not devastated.

Last night, Andy called me from home and said, "We have 3 baby chicks."

This past weekend, we painted the house and discovered a broody hen nesting in my Russian Sage bush, right against the house. We painted around her, but all assumed that she hadn't been there long. Boy are we observant. Because she had to have been there 19 days to hatch chicks yesterday. (Chicken gestation is 21 days.)

So last night, I went out and counted 4 chicks, maybe 5. (And, these chicks look like Barred rock chicks, not Rhode Island Red chicks, like their momma. Momma evidently was messin' with that OTHER rooster, not the Rhode Island Red Rooster. The hussy.) Momma is still sitting on 2 eggs, cause I saw them and she wasn't eager to move around much yet, so she must think more will hatch. I put some chick food out near her. She ate some, and a couple of the chicks pecked around a little bit. I also set out a waterer for them. But, here's my dilemma...I don't think that up by the house is really a very safe spot for young children. What if another skunk discovers them? What if something bigger discovers them? So, I'm trying to figure out how to relocate them all to a safer spot, like the big dog kennel...

Stay tuned, the next saga will be titled "Moving a hen who doesn't want to be moved." Or, it could be titles "Taking lessons from rabbits, breeding 101..."

Worry

Kevin called me a pessimist. It made me mad, because I don't consider myself a pessimist.

He then clarified, and said that I'm a worrier. That one, I can agree with. I do worry. I can't help it, I was trained by the best, my mother. But, yes, I worry, but I don't let worrying stop me from doing anything, or from changing what I'm doing. And, I'll express what I worry about out loud, to him. Why? Because expressing my fears, my worries makes them less worrisome and I can then move on and just deal with life.

Don't tell him, but he's a worrier too. He's more cautious than I am. Where I'll worry, express myself and move on, he's an "internal worrier" and I'll find out later about how worried he was. So, all in all, we're a good balance.

O yes, remember that job I hadn't heard about? Well, I heard. They've offered me a job. We're negotiating about money. Scary...worrisome stuff. Life changing stuff. And, yes, I'm worrying.

Opportunities

I had an interview for a new job last Friday. I went to this interview thinking I was wasting my time, that I'm "content" right now and that a big move just isn't in our future. But, they'd asked me to come and I decided I would.

This job is a parallel move for me but it would move our family closer to my folks, something I've been wanting to do for a couple of years. They're in their 60's now, still very healthy, but Dad did have that accident with the horse and was laid up for almost 9 months, and Mom's been struggling with "elder care". I've worried for them. I've felt tremendous guilt that I'm not there when they need some help. Being the eldest child, and the daughter, I know that someday I'll need to be there for them. So, I've been watching job openings in the area, one came up, I applied.

I felt comfortable in the interview, not nervous at all. They asked questions, I answered. The body language of the committee was GOOD. I felt like I nailed that interview. They asked this question, "Can you start Oct 1?"

That one threw me for a loop, Oct 1 was 2 weeks away. I was a little evasive and said "Probably, but you realize that I will have to break my contract." Maybe too evasive. But, true. I would have to break contract and be faced with a huge fine. I am short staffed right now anyway, which would leave this place really hurting. But, I figured that maybe we could work something out if they called.

It's been a week. No calls, no rejection letters.

I don't know what to think. I left the interview thinking it had gone really, really well. Now, I'm doubting myself. I've waffled about if I even want to take this job, it would mean that I'd leave before my family did. It would mean selling a house I love, friends I adore, leaving a home of 20 years. It would mean uprooting my kids, one in his Junior year. It would mean uprooting my husband, who is very supportive, but still, this has been his home for almost 30 years. It would also be an exciting career change for me, a chance to stretch my wings, to make a place --a different place, MINE. Just the interview made me realize how much I've done here, how far we've come. I'd like to do that somewhere else too.

But still, no calls. No rejection letters. I don't know what to think anymore. Today, I want this job and since I've finally realized that I want this opportunity, I'm probably not going to get it.

"Going together"

I have finally arrived into that group of people known as "old, lame, dumb" parents. I was told by my worldly and very knowledgeable 16 year old that I "just don't understand kids today."

Yeah, right. Whatever.

Apparently, Andy has a new girlfriend. She works with him, at his new job, Pizza Hut. They are "going out," but haven't had a date yet. But, they are planning on going to the Homecoming Dance together, sometime in October.

Now, last Friday, last FRIDAY, 6 short days ago, he had a date, an honest-to-god date with another girl, a "Freshman." They met at the theatre and went to the show. Andy couldn't pick her up or drop her off because her parents didn't want their daughter in a car with a Junior boy--one they didn't know personally. (I say, good for them.) But, anyway, Andy came home from the date, said they had a nice time and that was that. On Tuesday night, 2 short days ago, he informed me that he and this Freshman girl had decided to "break things off."

Break what off? They went out once! Evidently this is part of that "you just don't understand teenagers today." Ok. Whatever. They went out once to the movies, where they arrived in separate cars and left separately, so now they need to put this torrid affair to rest. I can live with that.

But, last night, not 24 hours ago, I hear from Kim, not my son, but Kim, that he had a new girlfriend, that she used to live in Atwood and that she worked with Andy at Pizza Hut.

All news to me.

Andy came in the room, confirmed that yes, he had a new girlfriend and that they were going to the dance together and were in fact, "boyfriend and girlfriend."

Kev and I agree that we were scared for this boy. We can see him dating a girl for 6 months and then they'll be talking about marriage. I mean, they are "going together" without ever going on a date, so waiting six long months to make a real commitment, a serious commitment is more than reasonable. Right?

So, being the kind and supportive parents we are, we just asked questions...trying to understand how un-hip we are.

WE: So, Andy, let me get this straight. Last week, you had a date with the Freshman. And by Monday, you'd decided--both of you--that this "relationship" wouldn't work.

ANDY: Yep. We decided to be friends.

WE: So, you aren't and weren't "going out."

ANDY: Right. But we did have a date.

WE: Got that. But, now you are "going out" with a girl whom you haven't gone on a date with yet.

ANDY: Right.

WE: But you are "going out" and are "boyfriend and girlfriend?"

ANDY: Right. She's ok with that and so am I. What's the problem? We like each other.

WE: Yes, but how can you be "going out" when you've never actually "GONE OUT?"

ANDY: "Sheesh, you guys just don't understand. My friends do. You guys are just to old to understand."

Whatever. Stay tuned...I'm sure that in 6 months time, I might be announcing an engagement. Unless something changes--next week.

signatures

Monday night, Kev and I signed some papers to refinance our house. In signing, they wanted us to use our middle initials. Since I don't normally use an initial anymore, it proved a challenge to me. So much so, that on two very important documents, I signed Shelly J. Woodruff.

I haven't been Shelly J. Woodruff for 12, almost 13 years now. But, I signed it on not one, but two documents.

Kev looked at my signature and then at me and asked if there was anything I wanted to tell him...

No, honey, I have no intention of changing my name again.

My only excuse is that "Shelly J" was what I signed when I was single. That's how I signed everything. Once we got married, and my name changed, it was just easier not to use that middle initial, so I dropped it. Heck, I usually don't even pick up the pen to sign my name--it's all one motion.

My guess is that "Shelly J" is tied to Woodruff in my mind, and one just automatically leads into the other. It was automatic. And, on one of the signatures, I remember making my "W" look better, because it wasn't "right". Yeah, I'm a certified doofus.